If you follow me elsewhere, you might have heard that my dog passed away unexpectedly last week. I've been trying to stay on top of things and get my bearings, but honestly, it's been difficult and my mind is cloudy. I know you didn't sign up for sad stories, so I'll keep this short, but if you want to know more, I did write a eulogy for him that you can read here.
Anyway, somehow I did manage to finish the first pass of the layout, including the illustrations. I didn't experiment more with the Trait Sheet, but I revised and added some more examples throughout. Shape-wise, I think the PDF looks almost ready.
This week I'll start rereading from the very beginning and catching any inconsistencies I can, although it's been a bit hard to focus. That said, I want to be clear that I won't compromise our schedule or timeline of production.
I think that's all I have for today.
Have a great week, everyone. And hug your pets for me.
The polls have closed, and we now have the winners for the final two tables.
For the general Spark table, the winner is Dynamics / Relationship—a set of prompts to help define the ebb and flow of tensions, loyalties, and attitudes within the party.
For the scenario table, the winner is Planning—the suggestions and ideas your characters might bring up when they stop to decide their next big move.
As I watched the poll progress toward those results, I went ahead and started working on both tables, and I’m happy to say they’re almost ready. I’m just finishing the curation process now, selecting the final 36 entries from the drafts I wrote.
And with that, our tables are complete! I’m really pleased with the set we ended up with and can’t wait to see how you use them in your playthroughs.
Layout and Trait Sheet
Meanwhile, I’ve also been advancing the layout. I gathered a collection of public domain artwork pieces that I’d like to include and have been cleaning them up and adjusting the colors in Photopea (great free software, by the way) so they fit nicely with the visual style of the zine. It’s all coming together quite well.
On top of that, I’ve designed the first version of the Trait Sheet.
If you don’t recall, the Trait Sheet is one of the ways you can organize your character’s Traits when using Triple-O. You can absolutely play using the character sheets from your system of choice—just highlight keywords that might influence behavior and decisions—or even jot notes in a notebook. But the Trait Sheet offers a simple, structured way to track them separately, especially if you’re using Triple-O as a minimalist standalone tool.
Here’s an example of a filled-in Trait Sheet:
You’ll notice a small visual coding system. On the left side of each trait, you can mark it as:
Default – traits defined during character creation
Temporary – traits gained during play as consequences of events
Prevalent – traits that become more prominent after rolling doubles when you double down on Triple-O
It’s a simple visual cue that helps you quickly see which traits are shaping the character the most.
On the right side, there’s an optional field where you can draw a small symbol or write initials if you’d like to categorize traits—for example skills, background elements, conditions, personality traits, and so on. It doesn’t affect the mechanics at all, but it can help keep things visually organized if you enjoy that kind of structure.
I’ve also designed several variations of the sheet with different levels of printer friendliness, plus A4 layouts with two or three Trait Sheets per page. That way, if you’re running a small party, you can keep all your characters on a single sheet.
Pretty cool, right?
Let me know what you think. If you feel something should be added or tweaked on the Trait Sheets, there’s still time to fine-tune them.
That’s all for today. I hope you have an excellent week.
As I mentioned in the previous email, I had to split this into two messages because the tool here doesn’t allow me to attach two polls in the same update, so I apologize for the double email.
This second poll is for the final general table.
As a quick reminder, the general tables we already have are Action, Focus, Method, Disposition, Motivation, plus Approach on the bookmark. Now we get to add one more to the inside covers.
Here are the options:
Dynamics / Relationship Single-word prompts describing how one character feels toward another. For example: supportive, indifferent, competitive, protective.
Mental State What’s crossing a character’s mind right now. Words like doubt, guilt, suspicion, impatience,and so on.
Impulse This one bleeds into player profiles as well, but it reflects a character’s urges or priorities. For example: loot-seeking, peace-making, lore-digging, resource-saving.
Vote below for your favorite—and don’t forget to also cast your vote on the other poll from the previous email.
Missed the campaign? No worries! The pre-order store is now open. You can grab Triple-O and all the add-ons that were available during the campaign right here.
Morning, folks!
As promised, I’m back with news about how many tables we can actually fit into the zine. And the news is good.
Beyond the Downtime / Campfire table we already added, I managed to find room for one more specific table, which means we get to choose one last table of that kind!
And there’s more!
With a bit of layout magic using the inside covers, we can also include one more general table—those single-word prompt tables. They’re smaller and take less space, so they fit nicely there. All general tables will now live on the inside covers for easy reference during play.
So in reality, we’re not choosing one new table today, we’re choosing two.
That said, this is where we reach the physical limits of what makes sense for a zine in saddle-stitch format. But honestly, I’m very happy with the range of situations the book will cover. I think it will feel complete and useful when you’re emulating your characters.
So without further ado, here’s what you’re voting on.
1. Final Specific Table
As a reminder, the following tables are already confirmed:
Combat, Social Interaction, Exploration, Delving, Interpretation, and Downtime.
These cover many of the most common scenarios characters find themselves in.
Now we get to choose the final one. I’m bringing back the options from the previous poll, plus one new idea.
Planning Use this when the party is safe (at a tavern, camp, hideout, etc.) and trying to decide their next big move. This pairs especially well with the Group Action procedure.
Urban Play You’ve just walked into a city. What do the characters want to do? Seek contacts, visit a temple, hit a tavern, gather rumors, explore the undercity, and so on.
Questions Asked The kinds of clarifying questions players normally ask a GM. For example: Can I see an exit? Is anyone else here? Does it look safe? Are they armed?
Party Focus When the group enters a new situation, what draws their attention first? Escape routes? Environmental hazards? The mood of the place? Someone specific?
2. One More General Table
As a reminder, the general tables we already have are:
Action, Focus, Method, Disposition, Motivation, and the Approach table that appears on the bookmark.
Here are the candidates for one more:
Dynamics / Relationship Single-word prompts describing how one character feels toward another. For example: supportive, indifferent, competitive, protective.
Mental State What’s crossing a character’s mind right now. Words like doubt, guilt, suspicion, impatience, and so on.
Impulse This one bleeds into player profiles as well, but it reflects a character’s urges or priorities. For example: loot-seeking, peace-making, lore-digging, resource-saving.
So that’s it!
These are two separate polls, and you can vote on both. Unfortunately, the tool here doesn’t allow me to attach two polls to the same email, so I’ll have to send them in two separate updates (or you can proactively follow this link and vote on the second one too). I apologize in advance for the double email, and thank you for understanding the technical limitation here.
I’ll let the polls run for about a week while I continue working on layout, polishing the text, and placing the art throughout the book.
And of course, if you have another idea entirely, drop it in the comments. If others like it, I’ll treat the likes on your comment as votes for that idea.
Seriously, I cannot express my gratitude enough. What I thought would be a niche experiment turned out to be my most successful project to date, and that is thanks to you who backed it, shared it with your friends and cheered along the way. Thank you ever so much!
I took the weekend to assimilate all of this (and it was my wife's birthday, so serendipitously we had a lot to celebrate), and now I am back to polish this beauty and tell you what to expect next.
What's next
Here's how the development timeline of Triple-O is looking today:
March: finishing layout, prepping all pieces of art, hammering down which tables will make the final cut (expect a new poll soon).
Second half of March: I'll open the survey/pledge manager so you can pay for shipping, update your address and grab any add-ons. This will be open for a month.
Late March: the PDF on your inbox! You will receive a link to claim it on itch.io, and then you will have some time to play around with it and we can spot any potential typos, goofs or inconsistencies.
Early April: the first take on the interactive version is out! You can test it out and catch any bugs if that's the case, and perhaps suggest some features.
First half of April: I'll be in Brazil visiting my family. It's been more than a year that I don't see my mom, y'all. Gotta give her a hug. So expect limited updates, but I'll be checking my email to sort any hiccups.
Second half of April: final version of the PDF. All polished, proofread, with bookmarks and links in place. I'll send it to the publisher to prepare the files, finish the cover, test print and such.
Late April: final version of the interactive Triple-O is out, available both online and offline.
Late April/ Early May: we will charge cards for shipping and then fulfillment will begin. I'm giving it some breathing room because there are aspects outside our control (cards declined, addresses missing, late surveys, and other imponderables of a crazy world). Regardless, we expect to be completely fulfilled by the end of May!
If you have any questions, please drop them in the comments below and I'll get back to you.
