October Update
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Nov 03, 2020 at 10:10:23 AM

October Progress

The Playbooks chapter is finished! We did another pass through the playbooks for balance, formatting, and renamed some mechanics to better convey their meaning. Additionally, we added sections that briefly tell you what each playbook is, some reasons why you might want to play them, and offer up some sample characters.

What's next?

We'll be diving into the advice for multi-session games, and advice for the Guide. We have quite a bit written, but we need to whittle it all down into something that flows well and distills down what we've learned from a few years of running the game into practical advice. We're hoping this section will move a bit more quickly because we don't have to worry as much about the interconnected moving parts of the mechanics.

After that, there's only a few more large sections: a chapter on how to run the first session and a chapter on how to customize the game (with custom Moves, adjustments to the rules, etc). We also want to create a section that goes into a bit more depth about how to maintain table safety and how to make the game accessible. Part of that will also be doing a pass through the existing content to make sure that table safety and accessibility aren't just siloed into their own chapter as an afterthought.

We still have a good deal of writing to do, but things are progressing. Again, we really appreciate everyone's patience, as this year has slowed things down much more than we'd anticipated.

A Final Word

For all of us in the United States, please make a plan to vote safely if you haven't already. This month promises to be an incredibly stressful time, regardless of how things turn out. Please stay safe and remember to look out for each other. Check in with friends when you have the energy, and be kind to yourself.

Love from all of us,

Richard and the DiM team

September Update - Delays and Writing Progress
almost 4 years ago – Sat, Oct 03, 2020 at 09:22:17 PM

Delays

We're not going to finish the book by the end of 2020.

I'd remained hopeful but it is becoming increasingly obvious that to push hard for that deadline would put the mental health of the team at risk given all the other stresses everyone is facing. We appreciate everyone's understanding and support, and are working steadily to complete the book. If you want to jump in with the playtest version of the game, you can get the Quick Start Guide and play right away.

My best guess is that the first draft text of the book will be done by the end of the year, but we will probably still have some layout and editing to do. As soon as we have a digital copy of the book ready, we'll distribute that.

Physical copies will go the printer as soon as we have the files prepared, which will probably be early 2021.

September Writing Progress

On the up side, the writing progress has been steady, if not as rapid as we'd like. We finished the Moves chapter, have updated some of the typographical choices to make information clearer in the previous chapters, and started on the Playbooks chapter.

We're moving the updates to a monthly schedule, but feel free to reach out to us at any time on Twitter (@DiMRPG) or here. We'd love to hear about your experiences with the Quick Start rules or field any questions you may have for us.

Thank You

Finally, thank you again to everyone. The world is a frightening place at the moment, especially in the United States, and we're incredibly grateful to have so many people believe in us and the game we're creating.

Love and care from all of us,

Richard

August Update - New Art & Writing
about 4 years ago – Thu, Sep 03, 2020 at 03:52:37 PM

August was a good month for progress on the game! Check the bottom of the update for a new art piece.

Just a quick reminder that the game is 100% playable right now. You can find the Quick Start Guide on the website to get started right away. The writing progress we're describing below is for the final text of the book, which will go more in depth and provide more resources for players and guides.

This month we completed the following:

The Basics chapter is now 100% first draft complete. It includes basic information about the game and details on the mechanics.

The Characters chapter is now 100% first draft complete. It includes information about the information contained in Playbooks and how to choose one.

The Moves chapter is about 50% done time-wise for the first draft. The basic information about moves and the section on the Basic Moves is complete.

Finally, we have one more fantastic piece of artwork from Devon George to share...

We hope you're all staying safe and doing what you can to improve the lives of the most vulnerable people in your communities. 

-Richard

Characters Section & Audio Editing
about 4 years ago – Fri, Aug 07, 2020 at 09:02:42 PM

Writing

The Basics section got a once-over by the team and is ready to head to the editor.

I'm currently in the middle of writing the Characters section. Trying to encompass what a character can be in Descent into Midnight can be tough because things are so wide open, and having the Echo as part of the setting means you can be a lingering psychic impression, an aspect of the collective consciousness of a city, or just a plankton with a biotech octopus mech and a surly attitude. Still, it's been fun to try and capture all of that and emphasize that what's important to these characters is their internal journey and their relationship within the group and to their community.

New Actual Play Episode

In addition to the writing work, I've been editing the audio for an actual play episode for International Podcast Month 2020. Technically I'm representing Whelmed: The Young Justice Files for IPM, so you might have expected it to be a superhero game, but I couldn't say no to running more Descent into Midnight. I'll have more details about that when it airs in September, but in the meantime, you can familiarize yourself with the voices you'll hear by checking out The Magpies, Stories of a Broken Sun, and Queer Dungeoneers.

Artwork

We've now received the last of the cityscape illustration submissions from backers, and Devon is charging ahead with those illustrations. We got a color study this week for one of the pieces that is in progress and can't wait to show off the finished piece once it's done!

New Art and The Basics Section
about 4 years ago – Tue, Jul 28, 2020 at 09:25:21 PM

Art!

Devon completed another fantastic illustration for the book interior. This one features a pair of crystal spires grown around dark stone, deep below the ice above.

Writing Update: The Basics

Writing has been progressing steadily! Having an organized writing group is doing wonders for helping me to focus, and working on the "The Basics" section of the book is forcing me to distill a lot of the mechanics and ideas about the game into their most... well, basic forms.

It's slower going than I'd originally anticipated, but we've got an example of play section I wrote as a first draft that we can use in another section of the book or split apart to illustrate various mechanics now. With the new draft, I've got a concise section that essentially says "what the heck is this game and how does it work" that I'll be able to review with Taylor and Rich to make sure we're all heading the same direction as we move on to filling out the remaining sections.

Next up is the "Characters" section, where we'll dig in deep about what makes a character in Descent into Midnight. There's a LOT to say about characters, and I'm looking forward to spending some time exploring and explaining what makes these psionic sea creatures so special.

A Call to Care

It's pretty obvious why, but many of us need may need an extra bit of encouragement or love at the moment. I just want to take a moment and say that whatever you're doing to take care of yourself and the people you care about is valuable. Drink a glass of water, text a loved one that you're thinking about them, or just set a timer and step away from doomscrolling on social media for an hour. If you can, financially support justice for Black folks, follow people from marginalized communities on social media and just listen to what they've got to say, buy some extra postage stamps, whatever. Just pick one thing and do it.

We're grateful as always for the support and love you've shown to us. We hope that you'll also show that same love and support to yourselves and the most vulnerable people around you.

-Richard