Today we wished to share a small update regarding the continued progress of Jason and the Argonauts.
Though the crowdfunding campaign has ended, much work still continues behind the scenes as we prepare the game for production.
At this very moment, we are hard at work preparing files for the manufacturer, working on the rulebook, organizing production materials, coordinating new stretch goal artwork, and continuing work across many different aspects of the game.
There are still many moving pieces upon the seas, so we do not yet have firm timeline dates to share, but rest assured, those details will be revealed as everything begins coming together more clearly.
And speaking of progress…
Below you can find a few example images of stretch goal artwork that has already begun taking shape for the game!
Journey Card: Fogbound
Journey Card: Fogbound
Argonaut Card: Iphtus
Argonaut Card: Iphtus
Destination Card: Aretias
Destination Card: Aretias
We know everyone LOVES the Stymphalian Birds from Hercules and the 12 Labors, so of course they had to find their way into Jason and the Argonauts....
Journey Card: Medea's Anger
We are incredibly excited to see these new pieces of the voyage slowly coming to life, and we cannot wait to share even more with you all in the future.
Jason and the Argonauts at Gen Con
We are also excited to share another piece of news with the crew!
The official Gen Con Preview List has now been released, and Jason and the Argonauts is on it.
Not only that, but we will also be bringing a demo copy of the game to the convention itself for Adventurers to see firsthand. If you are excited for Jason and the Argonauts, we would greatly appreciate your support by giving the game a thumbs up on the Gen Con Preview List. CLICK HERE
Every bit of support helps bring more eyes to the voyage and introduces new Adventurers to the growing legend of the Argo.
That is all for now, Adventurers.
We shall continue working diligently behind the scenes to bring this voyage to life in the best way possible. As things progress, we will continue providing updates roughly each month so the crew may follow along with the journey.
And as always, should you have any questions, please feel free to leave them within the comments below.
Hey all, I'm cruising right along with the card designs, and settled on something I really dig. At the same time, I wanted to talk a bit about how cards work in the game.
Cards in General
In Deeds Drawn, most of the moment-to-moment follows this pattern:
Read the card's prompt.
Choose your approach to solving it (using character cards.)
Roll for the outcome.
Pretty straight forward, if you're comfortable with some interpretation.
Foes
Below, is an example of a "Foe" card, front and back. As you pass (or fail to pass) challenges, you'll rotate the card a certain number of times. If you would ever repeat a challenge you've already passed, you instead flip the card over. At this point, the mob becomes desperate, and has a new set of challenges. Beat them here, and you defeat them. Defeat them, and you get their reward.
An example Foe, front and back.
In the mix, are "Stat" icons (left of the prompt,) and "Risk" icons (right of prompt.) Stats help determine the DC of a check (which we'll talk about in a later post,) and the Risk determines the effects if you fail a check. Fail softly, and you eat the first risk. Fail hard, and you suffer them both.
Risks can cause you to exhaust your cards, making them temporarily unusable... or they might disarm your weapon, poison you to prevent healing during downtime, flee from the fight entirely, and so on. The goal is to reflect change the entire feeling of a fight... not just beat them down until their health is zeroed.
We'll talk more about stats and rewards later.
Let me know what you think of the current design. Thanks, folks! -Wrel
I know, we are far from it, but...
after Hercules and Jason, why not Ulysses and his Odyssey for the third dice game of Envy Born Games on Greek mythology ? : the Cyclops, the goddess Circe, the Sirens, the whirpool (Charybdis) and the multi-headed monster (Scylla), with a final fight with the suitors of Penelope ? That'd be great ! 😉
Last weekend, the Portent surveys were opened to everyone, and I was promptly poked on Instagram by a friend (thank you, LaLionne!) about shipping suddenly being asked for a digital-only order. I dug around, talked to Backerkit Customer Support (thank you, Ngoc!), and we were able to solve the issue.
This was 100% my fault; I accidentally had the physical art print and the digital art print swapped for 95 people ;^; I feel really bad for the confusion and the jumpscare. My sincere apologies!
After having checked all 95 backers affected to make sure nobody is charged shipping unduly anymore, I can now safely say everything is back in order. So surveys are safe and open for business again!
If you still have any questions (related or otherwise), don't hesitate to poke me.
Thanks for the wait. I initially meant to send you the survey on Friday already, and it was all ready to go at that time too, but I unexpectedly had to say farewell to a beloved pet and I spent some days offline instead.
The smoke test survey has already been sent out a few days ago, and I checked how the smoke test surveys look just now. Based on that, it all looks good to go. And so I am sending out the Portent survey right before I hit send on this notification.
Should you have any questions about the survey, don't hesitate to send me a message. There is a way to contact me through the survey, but you are also free to send me a DM on my Instagram if you have a few questions and need a faster back-and-forth.
Cheers, Natasja
PS. Should you come across a black cat or something referring to a little bear somewhere in Portent when it's all finished and sent out; yes, that'll be my little one <3
If you are a pre-follower, please wait a bit with sending out your survey!
The smoke test did not catch it, but a backer pointed out almost immediately after sending out the full survey that it seems like pre-launch follower rewards are not allocated correctly. You are meant to receive a digital version of the art print as a digital-only backer, and a physical copy when I can add it to a physical package. But it doesn't appear to work that way in the current setup.
I am investigating it with Backerkit Support right now. If you can, please wait a bit with sending out your survey. I will send an update when everything is sorted.
Of course, if you already completed the survey, I'll make sure that none of this will be an issue in the end <3 We'll get it all sorted, one way or another.
I just wanted to share some eye-candy with you all. But first I wanted to remind a handful of you that tomorrow is the last day to fix payment issues after which point your order will be canceled. Fortunately, there have been fairly few failed backers.
Now on to the fun. Free for All is in the middle of a print run of our last game, a Cairn-based rpg based on the Wizard of Oz. We got the production prototype in the mail, and it is very pretty. It will be available as an add-on when surveys are sent out soon. Check it out below.
Since Portent wrapped, a week ago, I have taken a short breather over the weekend and then gotten down to working on the survey and the preorder store. And I'm happy to say they are coming along nicely :D
The survey is also currently in review with the Backerkit team! I am aiming to send the survey out officially on Friday June 12, with a few people already receiving them earlier in a smoke test. The survey is a pretty complex undertaking on my part, so I'm happy to have the help of the team to make sure everyone gets the rewards they selected <3
After it opens, the survey will be open for a while (with a hard cutoff at November 31st) to allow backers with changing addresses over the year to still put in their new shipping details closer to the actual shipping date. I will not be adding anything new except the finalized designs for the pouches over the course of that time, so I'll definitely recommend not to wait unless you're still figuring out if you want those. Stay tuned for the polls, in that case ;)
After November 31st, everything is getting ready for production, with only the first print run of Portent's hardcover having all the fancy stretch goal upgrades. Completed surveys are counted for that first print run; incomplete ones are not. Backerkit will remind you regularly well before that, though, and otherwise I probably will <3
For backers of the Three of Cups tier: all shipping pricing is based somewhere between letterbox and parcel shipping, but I don't think that's fair if you supported the stickers-only tier. That's why everyone who backed the Three of Cups tier receives a €5 complimentary credit to offset that.
If at any time, you wonder how things are coming along, don't hesitate to send me a message by commenting here or on another update, poke me through the contact option in the survey, or send me a message on Instagram!
The campaign was such a success that we have a lot of art to make over here and are adding new material and art to the book as we speak. Showcased here are illustrations for the Early Bird card that early backers will receive, and a sneak peek at Tytus the Owl, one of the Midnight in Jubilation special cards. We also have a draft of one of the Spirit Ambassador cards (still pending approval by one of our generous backers) to show off a cute and angelic little snake.
We're also happy to announce that the pre-order store is up and running if you'd like to snap up one of the last two Spirit Ambassador spots to show off your own imagination or commemorate a beloved pet. This pre-order option will soon be removed and unavailable after we move forward with card and book prototypes. There are plenty of other goodies as well.
Thank you all so much for your aid in bringing this to fruition, Justin Free for All Media
Super quick update: I've had a couple folks ask if they can make a late pledge. If this sounds like you (or anyone who might be interested,) the pre-order store is now open!
Additionally, once the Deeds Drawn survey goes out (which I've tentatively slated for August, but it might be sooner,) there will be a question that asks if you want to bundle the shipping with your Gossamer Frontier order. Folks who backed Gossamer Frontier will see the same question on theirs.
However...
I don't think people who order via the pre-order store see the same survey as the folks who pledged during the campaign. So anyone who pre-orders Deeds Drawn past this point, I'll just reach out to by hand to confirm.
