Hello, backers—

Jewel in the Sky is, like Vocurro itself, really soaring! Thanks to your help spreading the word, we’ve knocked out our second stretch goal. The next one is really exciting, and we envision so much more beyond that to really make Jewel special!

But before we get to that, we need your insight. Read on…

Jewel in the Sky is a love letter to dungeon fantasy, combining the classic experiences that have made gaming what it is today with all the innovation, elegance, and ease of use MCG has introduced over the past decade or so. It’s a return to classic fantasy for our fans—and even more, an invitation to all dungeon fantasy lovers to join the Cypher community. As such, this is as much your campaign as it is ours.

We are thrilled and grateful that over 900 members of our fantastic community have participated, and that’s just in the first couple of days! And we’re just as happy to welcome the 100 or so backers who are new to Cypher.

But here’s the thing: that number—around 100—is weirdly low compared to any previous Cypher campaign. In the recent Numenera campaign, as one example, roughly 1/4 of the backers were new to Cypher. We’re inviting dungeon lovers to our community, but for whatever reason, the invitation isn’t getting to them.

We love that you love Jewel. We want to make this the best and most appealing campaign for all gamers. So we need your help to reach them!

We’ve started a conversation in the Comments section of this campaign. We’d love to hear from you about how you discover new RPGs, and how you think we can continue to build this terrific Cypher community. After you read the rest of this update, please join us there and share your thoughts!

You’ve helped us reach 1000 backers, and the Jewel in the Sky boxed set will now contain roughly double the number of physical handouts. In addition, as we do with each stretch goal, we’re giving every backer, no matter your pledge level, a free bonus reward. This is the XP card you chose in our recent poll:

Vocurro and its dungeons are home to many a strange, dangerous, and sometimes terrifying creature. Jewel in the Sky will include all the stat blocks and other information you need to run encounters with the monsters your PCs face.

But a great encounter gets even better when the GM can breathe real life into the PCs’ adversaries—and you may want to use many of the fascinating creatures Monte is creating elsewhere in your campaigns. So let’s do these monsters justice!

If you’ve ever seen the Cypher System Bestiary, you know what we’re talking about: details such as lair maps, motivations, companions or pets, and expanded lore. And customization options, like alternate special abilities and traits, variant looks, different names, unique mechanics, and more.

We’d like add a major new component to the Jewel in the Sky boxed set: a mini-bestiary. This won’t be a big hardcover like the Cypher System Bestiary, but it’ll be a hefty booklet packed with full-page spreads that build out your knowledge of the creatures introduced in Jewel, and make them more than just passing encounters. We’ll add this mini-bestiary to the boxed set when we reach 1150 backers.

As we do with every goal, we’re adding a free bonus reward for every backer. Which XP card should we add to our growing collection?

Vote for your choice, and it will be added to everyone’s rewards when we unlock the mini-bestiary!

We want to reach as many gamers as possible with word about Jewel in the Sky. Please visit any of MCG’s social media accounts—you can find them all here. Pick a post or three that you like. Give them a share, use them for inspiration for your own posts, or like a good GM going through a published adventure, loot them for text or graphics to make your own!

And don’t forget to jump into the comments and tell us your thoughts on reaching more dungeon fantasy fans!

Thanks for your support!

—Team MCG