400% FUNDING | CASSETTE EXPANSION | NEXT ADVENTURE! | ONWARDS!
almost 3 years ago – Thu, May 20, 2021 at 04:14:44 AM

Hello Everyone!

Another fantastic week for the Kickstarter as we surpassed £40,000, and added extra tracks to Orbital Blues' tie-in cassette and MP3 bundle. Chris is hard at work capturing the signature styles and sounds of the Rock N' Roll future that never was, and we can't wait to hear what he's got in store for us. 

In our previous update, we did hint at our next adventure, bringing us up to a tetralogy of adventures for Orbital Blues' post-campaign future. So without any further ado...

 Should we hit £45,000 in funding, we'll be adding Giuliano Roverato (@KnightRamen) to our ever-growing team of contributing writers! Giuliano is a Brazilian narrative designer that lives for good food, tough choices and exploring weird dungeons forgotten on the corners of our reality. Best known for the culinary adventure, Bakto’s Terrifying Cuisine, he is wondering if the post-fantasy RPG Brave Zenith will ever see the light of day. Oh, and he really wants to write a bossanova inspired adventure for Orbital Blues too, so let's hear about what he has in store for us!

"I want to see the golden shores of my old home, feel its warm sands on my feet, hear the bittersweet melodies, the ones sang to me in bedtime stories by sobbing workers. Day and night the people of Tradis station toil away, forced to clean the planet-side wasteland that the corp calls the “future of living.”  

We are tired, angry and dying. We have nostalgia for a home that is unknown to us. This is not a strike. This a call for help. Bring us home, outlaws. Chega de Saudade."

In Giuliano's stirring exploration of themes of home, nostalgia, place and being, Interstellar Outlaw Crews will visit Tradis station and discover the meaning of Saudade, know the plight of its workers, and be tempted by corporate money beyond their wildest dreams. Here, you can’t save everyone.

Thought-provoking and emotive, Giuliano's pitch is one we're incredibly excited for, and we hope we'll be able to achieve his contribution before the campaign's end. Nothing is certain though, and one thing this campaign has taught us, is to always be prepared. To that end, we're lining up something special for the jackpot of £50,000 if this campaign keeps trending towards success. 

What could this be? We'll have more to say and show for it in the days to come. In the meantime, this week we'll be taking some time to reflect on what's gone into making Orbital Blues, and sharing some of our thoughts on the development process, and how it's got to where it is, and we'll writing those up as some dev-blog updates. We should also have some spreads and book extracts to look at on the back-end of the week, we've just yet to pick our favourites to show off!

Until next time,

See you, Space Cowboys!

- Sleney, Clark, & Cox.

Campaign Funded!
about 3 years ago – Thu, May 06, 2021 at 01:36:33 AM

Hello everyone!

For a game that was a long time in the making, it’s very humbling to see the project fund and excite so many people so quickly. This project was born out of a silly conversation about space westerns taking place too close to a conversation about roleplaying in a pub in the far-off year of 2018, and when the two met, we never thought it’d end up like this. It’s amazing to see it doing numbers like these. We don’t really know what to say other than Thank You. When we’ve got some better, grander words that do the level of support we’ve received justice, we’ll spill ‘em.

First off, some explanations are in order. We had a bit of a hiccup on the pledges thanks to some info typos, and one of the Book + Cassette pledges had to be closed and replaced. Something always goes wrong on the opening night. Rest assured, we’ve reached out to anyone who pledged for these very briefly available tiers to remedy the miscommunication, and everyone will be getting what they intended to pay for. The pledges as they stand now are all correct, and if we add any more it’ll only be because we’ve got cool new stuff!

Next; 

Where do we go from here?

Well hopefully, further up. Our immediate aim is to fund adventures that’ll pump more life into Orbital Blues. We know adventures and supplements maketh the RPG, and we want Orbital Blues material to be plentiful. We’re currently in discussions with many talented writers from all over the world, and already we’ve received some exceptional pitches that promise to blow open the possibilities and realities of life within the Frontier Galaxy. As soon as we know exactly who and what they’re writing, we’ll set establish the stretch goal, and add their bios to the team so you know exactly who and what you’re supporting and pushing us on towards!

What’s next?

It’s been a crazy day amongst the Orbital Blues team. We’ve had very few hours of sound sleep between us, and large quantities of coffee have been consumed. We’ll be updating the Kickstarter graphics to reflect funding first thing tomorrow morning, and we’re pleased to announce that our first stretch goal will be postcard prints of selected Orbital Blues art, included free into the £40 and £60 pledges. For the £25 pledges, these will be made available in the add-ons.

We’ll have another proper update tomorrow, but until then, keep supporting and keep sharing!

See you, Space Cowboys!

- Sleney, Clark & Cox

300% FUNDING | EVEN MORE ADVENTURES! | EP EXTENSION | FUTURE GOALS
about 3 years ago – Sat, May 01, 2021 at 11:12:10 AM

Hey All!

Yesterday saw us surpass 300% funding, which sees Momatoes' EVERJOY adventure join Sinta Posadas' A Starborn Resistance in our post-campaign .PDF bundle of adventures! 

As we reach these lofty heights of funding, we've taken the time to reach out to more writers, and get back to those who've reached out to us. We've also assessed our internal time scales and budgets with fresh eyes and new perspectives, and today we're able to reveal not one, but three upcoming stretch goals we have on the horizon that we hope we can achieve by the campaign's end!

Keeping up the momentum of adventures and adding variety to the style of content storytellers can explore in Orbital Blues, the next expanse in our sights is a sandbox setting, that provides a toolkit of play...

You'll have seen Hagstrom's glossy ads, with their smiling, weather-beaten workers mopping their brows, or relaxing in sleek habitation units, surrounded by their enthusiastic families. You'll have also heard the rumours that Hagstrom's workers are actually indentured to the company, forced to pay off their passage with hard graft. Wollaston's Hold is only a jump away - spool up the drive, and find out the truth.  

All That Glitters pitches your outlaws into a system full of trouble - a corporate cold war is about to turn hot, revolutionary workers are amassing arms to throw off their oppressive masters, and an ambitious pirate queen is looking to pull off an audacious bullion heist. Keep a hand on your gun, don't trust anyone, and you might just make it out in one piece.

Tom Mecredy (@TomMecredy) is a writer and game designer based in the north of England, drawing upon his passion for history and Cold War espionage thrillers to weave tangled conspiracies and revolutions across the stars.  Tom's recent work includes High Speed Low Drag, an introspective, solo-play experience about going to war and the effects it has on soldiers, and Condotto, a Forged in the Dark game about running a company of mercenaries in 14th century Italy.

All That Glitters looks to add a true sandbox experience to Orbital Blues' adventure roster, with a variety of Factions, NPCs and jobs for crews to engage with - it's a style of play fans of games such as Blades in the Dark will be familiar with, and we're super excited to add it to ever-growing library of supplemental content storytellers can utilise for Orbital Blues. 

Music is a key part of Orbital Blues, and we want to make sure that comes across in a full and proper way. At 400% funding, we'll work with Chris to extend the EP Cassette of by a third, adding 3 all-new, original tracks to the runtime on both the cassette itself, and in the MP3 collection. These tracks are perfect for use as background in your games, as atmospheric cornerstones or rip-roaring soundtracks to the adventures of Interstellar Outlaws.

At 450% funding we'll be turning our set of adventures into a tetralogy, with a thought-provoking and stirring reflection on nostalgia, place and being, from an upcoming Latin American writer. Stay tuned for more info - we don't want to play our hands too early...

Thanks to everyone who has helped this campaign get this far - we genuinely never expected Orbital Blues to be this well received, and we're all very humbled and grateful for the excitement that's been generated over the past week. It may seem like we've been a little quiet here over the last 24 hours, but rest assured we've been hard at work setting up and aligning necessary work like shipping, contracts, schedules and print runs, to ensure that this book is delivered with the quality, timeliness and polish that our new-found fans deserve.

We'll have more to share over the coming days, so be sure to keep an eye on the campaign page and your inboxes. In the meantime, be sure to keep supporting, sharing and spreading the word of Orbital Blues! 

See You, Space Cowboys!

- Sleney, Clark, & Cox 

EASY COME, EASY GO - POSTCARDS | POLLS | SINTA POSADAS
about 3 years ago – Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 06:43:05 AM

Hey all,

After yesterday's exasperated funding update, we've had some time to rest and recalculate for what is shaping up to be a very successful campaign, and we've got some exciting announcements! Now that funding is in the rear-view mirror, the road of campaign possibilities stretches us out before us, and our foot is firmly on the gas. 

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed some changes to the campaign page, particularly the stretch goals, but we're compiling them here for a handy little newsletter.  

First up, we've got POSTCARD PRINTS. High-qualityPostcards prints from the Frontier Galaxy featuring Josh Clark's stunning art will be our first stretch goal,  and they'll be available at the very imminent £15,000. These will be included free at all pledges levels of Space Cowboy and above. We'll poll 12 pieces of art for people to decide 3 final pieces, and Bounty Hunter pledges will receive a collection of all 3, Interstellar Outlaw pledges will get 2 of the postcards, and Space Cowboy pledges will receive one. All at no additional cost to anyone's pledges. We'll post links to the poll gauntlet once we hit £15,000!

With the rate we're gaining attention, we hope £15,000 isn't the end of the road quite yet, so we've made some optimistic calls on our communicators and hedged our bets, and we've lined up a second stretch goal in the first proper ORBITAL BLUES adventure for £20,000.

At £20,000 we'll be able to add the talented Sinta Posadas to our writing team! Sin Posadas (@diwataMANILA) is a game designer and illustrator obsessed with the galaxy and all of its possible tragedies that lie in wait, just out of reach.

Sin has pitched us an adventure called A STARBORN RESISTANCE, which we'll be releasing in .PDF form.

Varis X-0 was once a gleaming jewel in the crown of the Wings of Valor Confederacy. The Confederacy constructed "Harvester Homes" of the Scintilla Commune, a string of asteroid belts fitted onto an intra-atmospheric nuclear power harvester, home to any colonist willing to risk their necks for the promise of cheap lodging and a regular wage.

After a cheaper extraction method was found a few million light years away, the Confederacy abandoned the system, leaving the Harvester Homes to rust. These days, it's just a few Interstellar Outlaws trying to keep the place afloat: salvaging equipment, finding food and power, fighting off bandits and worse. In this delapidated backwater, communities need help to keep things afloat. But what happens when a representative of the Confederacy returns, promising to restore glory to the Scintilla? At what cost? To what end for the Confederacy? And what's in it for you?

Sin is the designer of the Planted RPG series, a small collection of tabletop rpgs where you play as sentient plants defending your homes from evil bugs. Their other works include explorations into your deepest fears in the Deep, Deep River, fanciful food trips in Lutong Banwa, and playing out the dramatics of being agents of a Tower racing against the Apocalypse in Navathem's End. They're currently working to complete Navathem's End after it was successfully funded as part of the recently concluded #OurShores Kickstarter campaign. You can find their other melancholic games here, on their itch.io page.

We're super excited to see what Sin has in store for us, and we hope you are too. That's all for now folks, though we'll have further updates as they come in, and we'll post a link to the postcard poll once we hit £15,000. Be sure to stay safe out there, and thanks to all of our backers and supporters for allowing us to realise our vision of ORBITAL BLUES.

See You, Space Cowboys!

- Sleney, Clark, & Cox

200% FUNDING | ART BOOK | POLLS | PLAYLIST | & MORE
about 3 years ago – Fri, Apr 23, 2021 at 06:42:20 AM

Hey All,

We've had more crazy days here on the Orbital Blues team, with the campaign's first week taking us to 200% funding! With this, A Starborn Resistance by Sinta Posadas has been actioned, and writing and development has begun to deliver a .PDF of an all-new Orbital Blues adventure. It's incredibly cool, waiting to see what other people will do with the materials we've made, and we are super excited to see what Sin has in store for us in their asteroid-based adventure.

Also achieved are the postcard prints, which will be included for free at every pledge level. Voting has begun with a gauntlet on picking 3 pieces for postcards, and you can find the first round over on Zach's twitter. For those of you without twitter, cast a vote in the comments, and we'll tally it up at the end of the rounds!

We've had internal meetings aplenty to discuss where we go from here, and now we're well over 200% (sitting pretty at almost 230%!) we're confident in announcing the next step for the campaign's foreseeable stretch goals. All the the information below will be put on the campaign story page.

We've received nothing but kind words and praise for our art direction, so as such we're taking the leap to collect all the creative energies that have made this project a reality, with Wayward Stars: The Art of Orbital Blues. A coffee table art book in miniature (we're looking at 6" x 9" A5 horizontal) Wayward Stars delves into the artistic process, world-building and step-by-step explorations of how the project's art pieces were made, with words from Josh Clark. 

Wayward Stars will be available as an add-on, or available in a higher all-in pledge level that we'll open at £25,000, and physicals will ship alongside core books in August. 

If you're eager to dive into our visions of Orbital Blues, writer Sam has compiled a living playlist of music, containing tracks and artists that inspired the writing, creation and atmosphere of Orbital Blues. 

Music has been a huge influence in the writing of Orbital Blues, and Sam has curated this playlist to reflect the sounds and styles that have imbued the project with so much life. We have no affiliation with any of the artists in this playlist (though if anyone knows anyone, hook us up... - S) and it's purely a curation of tracks that inspired the book. You can listen and follow on spotify here, and you can expect updates to the playlist whenever we have pen to paper in the future. 

 t's not unfair to say that the runaway success of what we presumed would essentially be a small print run has gone above and beyond our expectations. After hearing out Sin's pitch for A Starborn Resistance and being blown away by it, we're doubling down on our commitment for more adventures, and a wider variety of talent to bring new dimensions to Orbital Blues. We've drawn up internal plans to commission three more writers with an eye towards each bringing something new to the team, and to the expansive material of the game. We've got a busy week of meetings and pitches ahead of us here after our surprise success, but if you think you or someone you know would be a good fit, and you'd like to see their names in the goals ahead, please contact SoulMuppet Publishing at [email protected] with pitches, portfolios or writing samples - we're headhunting, but we never know where the next bit of talent could be found. 

We've had a couple of calls from fans in various parts of the world looking for more detailed shipping information so they can properly budget for shipping at a time when so many things are uncertain.  If anyone needs an immediate answer, you can visit SoulMuppet.co.uk and attempt checkout with a similar scale book such as Stygian Library for an estimate depending on where you are. However, we understand this is not ideal, and are working on adding a table infographic to the campaign page with rough estimates for UK, EU, US and RoW shipping (taking into account distributors such as Exalted Funeral handling US distribution) so that backers can make informed decisions, and will make an update once this is finalised and posted. 

We hope everyone has a great weekend, and a huge thank you to all of us for an astounding opening week!

See You, Space Cowboys!

- Sleney, Clark, & Cox