Welcome back fellow survivors — all 3,000 of you! We are blown away by the support and excitement for Ink Ribbon so thank you to everyone who has followed the campaign already.

This week we want to talk about one of the fun add-ons we have for Ink Ribbon — Local Attractions. Before we dive in, don’t forget to join us tonight, Friday the 21st, for Episode #3 of Dead on Arrival on the Emerald Collective Twitch Channel. Having almost been ripped to shreds by mutated dogs in the last session, the EC crew now face down a small horde of zombies that has just emerged from the morgue! The stream kicks off at 7:30pm GMT +1 | 11:30am PST | 2:30pm EST.

Local Attractions is an optional add-on you can add to your pledge once the campaign goes live. It adds about a dozen locations around Sparrow’s Rest, each of which includes a description of the area, a map, one or more encounters, and clues about the broader story of Heal-X and the fall of Sparrow’s Rest. Locations include places like a local bar, an abandoned apartment, a ransacked gun store, a neon-lit arcade, a subway station overrun with undead, and more. 

Local Attractions aims to give the GM ready-to-use locations they can drop into their campaign. Groups can use them to explore the city and uncover what happened, or when survivors travel between key locations between scenarios — such as venturing from the Sparrow’s Rest Police Department to the White Oak Mall. 

If you reserve your pledge before the campaign launches, you’ll get a free digital and physical copy of Local Attractions when the game ships. Once the campaign is live, the physical copy will cost €15, and the PDF will be €9 — so if it sounds like your kind of thing, it’s best to reserve now!

A few weeks back, we posted a poll asking all you wonderful people about what you’d like to see in future livestreams. The overwhelming winners were Rules Discussion and Examples, and Monster Design. So next week, live on our YouTube channel, designer Emmet Byrne will kick off a new video series by talking about the rules of Ink Ribbon, making attacks, using Horror, and running monsters. We’ll have more details in next week’s update, but until then, be sure to check out the Q&A Emmet did a few weeks back.  

In the meantime, don’t forget to join our Discord! We have a really active community of folks talking about and playing Ink Ribbon, so come join us if you want to get in on the excitement.

Hey folks, Emmet here. I’m the designer of Ink Ribbon and founder of Old Oak Games. I created Ink Ribbon to be the survival horror TTRPG I’ve always wanted to play, so today I’m sharing three things I love about Ink Ribbon and that I’m excited to see folks experience. Before I dive in, be sure to check out my chat with Ciarán at FOXOF RPG here, which was the catalyst for this little update! And if you haven’t already, be sure to follow the campaign to get a sneak peek at some lovely new art below! As always, don't forget to join our Discord to chat to other Ink Ribbon fans.

NOTE: Last week we said "Six Weeks to Go!", but it turns out I can't count, and it's actually six weeks this week. Whoops!

Nothing breaks immersion and kills tension like long, drawn-out fights with convoluted rules — especially in a horror RPG. Combat in Ink Ribbon is quick and brutal. Most enemies and survivors will drop or be in life-threatening peril after just a few hits, and supposedly easy fights can quickly become FUBAR. Combat is swingy in the best kind of way, and it’s fast. We use Zones and abstract ranges (Short, Medium, Long) to define a battlefield, which keeps things fluid and keeps the focus on the narrative instead of counting how many feet you are from someone. Doing this also lets the players and GM affect the world by barring doors, shooting out lights, and kicking over explosive barrels. Combat in Ink Ribbon is one of the most exciting and fun parts of the game — as it should be!

Oooh exciting! Who doesn’t love organisation? But yes, sad to say that one of the most exciting things to me is a well-maintained inventory. Beyond the aesthetic pleasure of seeing your gear neatly lined up, I love when what you bring with you actually matters. Having a limited inventory space means that you can’t just pick up everything you see. You need to make tough decisions about what to take. Sure, a shotgun packs a serious punch, but it takes up two precious inventory slots — slots that you could keep vital healing items in. I also love how a limited inventory encourages cooperation between players, with items being traded back and forth in the most efficient way while also trying to make sure everyone has a weapon in case the proverbial sh*t hits the fan. 

Followers, be sure to check out a well-maintained inventory in our art sneak peek below! 

One of the things I’m most excited about (and one that I have probably done a terrible job of talking about!) is the Legacy-style element of Ink Ribbon. The intended way to enjoy Ink Ribbon is by playing each scenario as a different group of survivors, with stories happening almost simultaneously across Sparrow’s Rest. This way you can then track where each group was and when on the Sparrow’s Rest map, marking what buildings they explored and looted, and scribbling in how and when characters died. Then, when you play your next adventure, you might witness the aftermath of the first group’s actions, or find the remains of the fallen — or worse, come face to face with the zombified version of your old character!

Alright, there’s a tonne of other reasons I love Ink Ribbon, but I’ve gone on long enough — and I’m slightly biased anyway! So you tell me: what is your favourite thing about the game and what are you most excited for?

Hello survivors, and welcome back. We have just 6 weeks to go until Ink Ribbon shambles to life on Backerkit, so we’re hard at work preparing everything for the campaign. In the coming weeks, we’ll be introducing you to our guest writers, who will be penning scenarios with the explicit purpose of terrifying you — it’s gonna be great! We’ll also be sharing what to expect from our stretch goals, including one in particular that many fans have been asking for… 

In the meantime, there’s plenty of Ink Ribbon for you to enjoy!

First up, Emmet hosted a Q&A on the Old Oak YouTube channel, which you can watch here. He chatted about the rules, his inspirations, using Horror, and lots more. It was a fun hang, and we’re definitely going to do more — so we’re asking what you’d like to see from future livestreams! Cast your vote below.

We also recorded our first episode of Dead on Arrival, which you can catch up on here. Episode #2 will be live this Saturday the 8th of August on the Emerald Collective Twitch Channel here. The stream kicks off at 7:30pm GMT +1 | 11:30am PST | 2:30pm EST.

Next up, Emmet will be joining Ciaran at FOXXOF RPG to discuss Ink Ribbon and what to expect from the game. The interview will be live on the FOXXOF YouTube Channel on Tuesday the 11th, so keep an eye on our socials for a link when the stream starts!

And last but not least, we’ve had some news coverage, with articles from Tabletop Sentinel, Wargamer, and Zatu. Nice!

If you haven’t done so already, be sure to join our Discord. We have a super active community of awesome fans who are already playing Ink Ribbon, so it’s a great place to learn more and chat with other fans as well as the people making the game. 

Until next time, stay safe and keep your inventory organised — it could save your life!

Hello survivors, and welcome back. Today marks just 8 weeks until Ink Ribbon launches on Backerkit! In the run-up to launch on 22nd September, we’ll be giving you insights and a behind-the-scenes look at what went into creating Ink Ribbon. Designer Emmet Byrne will be live on our YouTube channel this Friday, talking through how to make Tests and run combat in Ink Ribbon, plus answering all your questions. So, if you have any questions about the rules, what to expect from the campaign (and our stretch goals!), or want to learn more about the secrets of Sparrow’s Rest, drop your questions below! We’ll gather up all the questions from here and our Discord channel (which you can join here), and Emmet will answer them live on stream this Friday the 31st July at 9pm GMT+1 | 1pm EST | 10am PST

In case you missed it, this past Friday Emmet joined the crew of the Emerald Collective for a playthrough of Dead on Arrival, the introductory scenario for Ink Ribbon. You can watch the first episode here, and be sure to join us for episode #2 on Saturday, the 8th of August.

Welcome back survivors! In case you missed it, last week we asked you what your favourite survival horror videogame is and, somewhat unsurprisingly, the winner was Resident Evil — with Alan Wake and Silent Hill tied for second. Nice!

This week we have some exciting news: starting this Friday, the 24th July, we will be livestreaming an actual play of the Dead on Arrival scenario for Ink Ribbon! Join designer Emmet Byrne as he sicks his shambling hordes of zombies on the unsuspecting players of The Emerald Collective while they try to escape the Sparrow's Rest Police Department. 

We are incredibly excited to once again partner with our friends at The Emerald Collective to bring you this fortnightly stream and give you a chance to watch Ink Ribbon in action. The stream will be live this Friday, the 24th July, on the Emerald Collective Twitch Channel, and will continue fortnightly until launch (or until all the characters are dead!). The stream kicks off at 7:30pm GMT +1 | 11:30am PST | 2:30pm EST. Be sure to join the Discord and follow us on Instagram and Bluesky so you don’t miss out!

To celebrate the upcoming stream, we have an exclusive follower-only art drop!