What a difference a month makes. After a relatively quiet summer it feels like Autumn has stormed in and pushed everything into a higher gear. The big news this month? That Signal to Noise is being translated into French! The campaign for Vers le Silence (which translates as Towards Silence) started just after I sent the last newsletter out and is nearing its goal of 150 backers with a week and a half to go. You can find it here.
This is news that I’ve been sitting on since late last year after Jean-Laurent of Didaskalie got in touch to express an interest in licensing the game. As you can imagine I was over the moon about the prospect and I really hope that the campaign reaches its goal the cover art is absolutely beautiful! What makes this particularly special is that it's not just a direct translation of the game. Alongside Vers le Silence the book will contain a collection of short stories inspired by the game and a bonus second game - Rock Hoppers! It's a fantastic collection and it has been a pleasure working with Didaskalie. As part of the campaign I completed a short interview about the inspiration behind the game, you can find it in French on the campaign page while the original English version is available on the blog.
If you're involved with the French speaking side of RPGs I'd really appreciate if you can share the campaign and help it reach that goal. The campaign runs until the 19th October and is just 20 backers short of its goal as I write this.
Convention Alert: MCM Comic Con
The second big piece of news this month is that I have been invited to join the London Tabletop Indie Network stall at MCM London Comic Con at the end of the month. While I won’t be able to attend in person you’ll be able to find Signal to Noise, Project Cassandra and Rock Hoppers on the stall alongside a selection of other indie RPGs. It’s a massive event and I’m really grateful for being offered the opportunity to join the stall. What else will be on sale you wonder?
Michael Duxbury will be offering a range of games including LadyBeaste, a one shot romantic fantasy RPG inspired by 80s fantasy movies such as Ladyhawke; Crying Wolf, a violent survival horror game and Golden Eggs, a labour exploitation simulator.
Tori Truslow will be present with Tending: A Game of Devotion, a mixed media journalling game where you take on the role of a devotee at a holy site.
Artist Mikhail Malkin will have copies of Nocktem’s Travelling Companions, a selection of battle maps and will be offering sketch commissions on the stall.
From Eran Aviram, the co-creator of Crystal Heart, comes Caregiver, a solo game about a healing spirit trying to aid ungrateful heroes, and Mengerie of the Void, about maintaining an ancient menagerie long after the original creators have disappeared.
Eleanor Hingley brings Talking Thunder, a dystopian duet correspondence RPG, and Ex Libris, a solo library game to the stall.
Finally, Nick Bate will be showcasing the excellent Stealing the Throne, it’s solo spinoff Daring Thief edition and What’s so saring about Sky Pirates. I’m also excited to announce that I’ll be joining forces with Nick at Dragonmeet in December where we’ll be offering our combined range of games on the one stall.
Design Diary
After a slow couple of months progress on Hopes and Dreams of the Orbital Bound has stepped up a gear and is hurtling towards completion. Backers of the campaign have received their BackerKit surveys and I'm on schedule to begin fulfilment at the end of November before it goes on general sale at Dragonmeet in December. I'll be dedicating next months newsletter to a proper preview of the game but for now here's a sneak peak of the draft layout:
The Sign Off
With all of the above to work on October is going to be a case of full steam ahead in order to hit my targets for the end of the year. Coupled with my drop in Call of Cthulhu game moving to a full on campaign and it feels like I’m finally getting into a rhythm for the year just as it is coming to a close! On top of all that I’ve just moved into a new role at work and the phrase “it never rains but it pours” really does come to mind (espeically true at autumn when you’re in the North of England).
Stay safe,
Craig