Bringing you the Portent September update with lots of news to share!
Playtest progress
Yesterday evening, the Portent playtest officially kicked off. Eleven playtesters have been given access to the v0.1 playtest game and the feedback form, and some have already started playing <3 Although I've worked really hard on Portent (and still am), it is always a bit of a nerve-wracking moment when the game is first given to people and opened up to feedback, so seeing playtesters take pictures of their journals and having fun with the game made me so happy!
The playtest will run until the middle of October, at which point I hope to have close to all the artwork done. Then, it's onto processing all feedback and sending it off to an editor. I've gone a bit off my ideal schedule but we're still going strong for fulfilment in the first quarter of 2027 <3
Artwork
The kami of Portent have slowly been making their way into a visual form. Here are some examples of what I have so far (these are flat colors and not the final artwork):
Drawing all the kami is a lot of fun!
Enamel pins
In the last update, I showed you some pictures of enamel pins in the process of being made, which my manufacturing partner sent me. I can now happily say that all pins have arrived!
My personal favorites are definitely The Chariot (Sensha) and The Tower (Toh), but honestly, I'm very happy with all of them. The Chariot and Sakura Shrine both have gradient pearl effect, a new technique for me, and they came out so well!
All pins are still available in the survey.
In the upcoming few weeks, I'll be attending Connichi in Germany, and then Main Quest Con and Ibaricon in the Netherlands. If you happen to be in the neighborhood, definitely come and say hi <3
Here's your monthly update about Portent's progress, with everything that has happened in the last month!
The update is a little early for an August update, but that has a reason: the preorder shop closes tomorrow. So to anyone who is still considering being part of the first wave of Portent (including mostly the hardcover and tarot deck in their luxury edition; future reprints will not have all the shiny extras of the first edition): the shop closes this Saturday morning first thing after the start of my day.
But aside from that, lots of other things have also been moving!
Wanderer's Pouch prototype and poll
Earlier this month, I visited The Speechless Bard in their workshop to work out a prototype together, using one of the four designs I had made. It was a very fruitful (and extremely heatwave-y) trip to the south of the country, and I loved being able to witness the process from start to finish. Of course, pictures were made!
The first prototype definitely will still have some changes. I want the leather to be a bit lighter (think coffee cream), so I will join Noor from The Speechless Bard to the tanner when we get ready to production to pick out the final leather. The red interior is most certainly staying.
Now is the time, though, to get your input: which design shall we actually make? Scroll to the poll at the bottom and help me decide?
Enamel pin progress
Since I was doing a pin run for upcoming conventions anyway, I decided to include all the Portent enamel pins as well. So that means that more than enough pins of every design are now in production, and are expected to arrive at my doorstep early September.
This is of course very early if you look at Portent's overall planning, but I learned from previous pin campaigns that pins are always a lot more work than you expect, so it will be nice to have some extra time there.
Here is an impression of the progress with pictures my manufacturer sent me earlier this week and this morning:
The game's progress
The game is on its way, too, of course! I initially started on around 100 pages but now that all the 78 cards of the tarot deck get their purpose in the game, it is starting to fluff up a little. It currently stands at 154 pages! Since everything is set up very spaciously and it isn't uncommon for solo RPGs to have a lot of pages, I am not too worried there.
I still need to complete the "Make It Your Own" section, then give everything a good and thorough read-through, and then it should be ready for playtesting!
The artwork got a bit of a delay, sadly. I really wanted to have at least the sketches for the kami ready in July. But I'll catch up on that for sure <3 It's the perfect excuse to take my sketchbook to the park, just get offline for a bit, and draw, isn't it?
Alright, that's about it for this update!
Don't forget to vote for your favorite Wanderer's Pouch tarot holder design if you backed that or if you just like helping me decide <3 And see you in the next update!
We've reached July, the period of heatwaves and holidays. For this creator, it also means there is finally time to focus on Portent <3
I have already started improving the content of the game, cutting down excess in the text for clarity and improving what is there, optimizing the rules, and getting everything ready for playtesting. It should be ready by the end of the month. I also started working on some character sheet templates for journaling; just very basic ones, definitely not like D&D or other TTRPGs. You can copy these into your journal when you play the game. I'm still debating on whether to make a pretty and fully illustrated printable version, we'll see how it goes!
Here's a preview of the character essentials sheet template as it is right now, and the character story sheet. It's all super basic still, it will of course be much nicer in the final version!
Of course, the illustrations of the kami are the part I look forward to the most, but my first priority is making everything perfectly playable without them. Which is making good progress :D
Next Monday, I will also be visiting the Speechless Bard at their workshop to compare leathers and finishings for the Wanderer's Pouch. Four designs have been worked out, and we will be going over how feasible all of them are, or if tweaks need to be made. When the designs are final, it's definitely poll time again :D
From here on, I'll keep you posted on Portent once a month so as not to swamp you with update emails (the poll might be in your inbox faster than that, though). But if you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out in a comment or a DM!
Cheers and wishing you the best July summer <3 Natasja
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.
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.
