Hey everyone! Jason here. Apologies for being so quiet the last few months. I've got a lot of stuff to tell you about. First thing, real quick: we're still laying out Shadow Society. It's entirely my fault; as I'll explain in a bit, I basically rewrote half of Shadow Society (that's what I've been doing the last few months). But the writing is done. Below is a link to a folder with the Ready for Layout drafts so you can see what's coming (there are still a few things missing that I'm putting a few little tweaks on, but they'll be added in the next day or two).

Shadow Society (Ready for Layout)

With the above and the Companion App we released earlier this year, you can now play everything in the London setting. 

Let's get into some details.

A few months ago, I was looking at Shadow Society, nearly complete, and... I wasn't happy with it. Something about seeing it all together, in one place, put it in sharp relief for me: it wasn't good enough. A lot of the material was stuff we had published 4+ years ago—much of it not written by me—and while I love that stuff for what it was back then, it wasn't what I wanted for Shadow Society right now. The authorial voice was inconsistent, the material was a little thin, there was a shocking lack of Keeper support, and basically it just didn't measure up to what we had done with the core book in this new edition. Shadow Society is 75% of the London setting, and it has to stand the test of time—we're not making another edition of this game for many years, if ever.

I was pretty heartbroken. But also determined to fix it. I knew I was making a lot of extra work for myself—and in the middle of the Public Access KS campaign, no less—but I made a plan with the editor and set to making Shadow Society what it needs to be. Three months and about 50,000 extra words later, the text is complete. I will apologize because this pivot has slowed down fulfillment, but I will not apologize for making this book the best it can be (and to better fit my artistic vision for the game). I'm sorry I've been so quiet, but I've been deep in the writing and Kickstarter mines; I'm going to endeavor to do better about communication until we ship. 

She's late, but she's much more than what we promised you during the BackerKit campaign. The playbooks are unchanged from what we shared in the Companion App, so there's not much new to report there. Everything else has been changed or beefed-up substantially. The Threats have a lot more Keeper support built in—character generators, inspirational lists, in-fiction advertisements, more characters, more quotes, more everything. I had toyed with this a little bit in the core book with the Whateley Camera Threat by adding in the Fragrant Void section. I've added a lot more stuff like that to Shadow Society. See, for example, the play bill in the West End Wraith, or the Snow Queen's Tales in The Nutcracker (btw, the Nutcracker is also an addition—it wasn't originally part of the BackerKit).

I gave the Masterminds a complete re-do. What I originally had was just re-skinned Theodora Brathwaite. The Conspiracies all worked the same, the Confrontations were just variations of Brathwaite Hall. They weren't... bad, really. I didn't have reason to think backers or anyone else would dislike them. But I knew they could be so much better. So I sat down with each one and had a good re-think: What does each of these Masterminds have to say about genre? Why would you pick this one over that one? How can I use this real estate to say more about London, the broader setting, the "universe" of The Between? I gave them each a chance to change the gameplay experience, to feel different from each other, to just be bigger than life. I focused on language, I focused on play structure, and I focused on world-building. Just take a look—you'll see what I mean.

The Lands Remaining and new gameplay elements
I started the early design process on another game, The Lands Remaining, back in November. That game blazed through my mind, creatively-speaking, and a bunch of new Carved from Brindlewood concepts were born from it (thankfully, I think CfB is essentially done now, design-wise). This was also part of my re-think for Shadow Society: how can I bring some of these elements to The Between? I wasn't going to do it just to do it, but if I could find a solid gameplay case for bringing in some new ideas—and in a way that wouldn't disrupt what we had established in the core book—then I was going to do it.

So we have Struggles now. Struggles are one of the most thrilling parts of The Lands Remaining, and I'm very excited to be able to bring them to The Between, where they are a perfect fit. A Struggle is a partially-scripted boss fight. You'll see them as a result of certain playbook outcomes, as boss fights connected to certain Masterminds, and as part of the Arcane Prison (another big addition to Shadow Society; see the folder). There are about 9 or 10 of them in different places in that folder, so go take a look.

We also now have Aspects. Aspects are connected to certain items and characters, and they're quite powerful: an Aspect can give advantage to a die roll (like Personal Quarters), but can also be used to give a +1 to another Hunter, function as a Clue, or quick-clear a Condition. You still have to use the fiction to explain how you get the benefit from the Aspect, but when used properly, they give Hargrave House an edge. Aspects only come into play in a few places in The Between (unlike in The Lands Remaining, where they're a much more prominent gameplay element): The Volatile playbook uses them extensively, certain Residents found in Shrouded London have them, and a new type of item, Objects of Power, use them.

There are a few other little gameplay additions which I won't detail here, except to say they all help achieve one of my major goals: Hunter survivability. With the new additions to Shadow Society—and careful play—Hunters can now last through three whole Masterminds. That's a major change to how The Between works, and was a focus for me when I was revising S.S.

I do want to be clear that while these additions seem like a lot, they fit into The Between seamlessly. Everything is cabined off in a Threat or Mastermind or some other discrete part of the game; it's all additive, and nothing takes away from the stuff in the core book. 

I'm having a meeting with Harald tomorrow morning to discuss the following: 

I'll let you know those things after our meeting in the morning. 

Also: you will have noticed there are few things missing from that folder linked above. They'll be in there in the next day or two, but for tracking purposes, they are:

Thanks for sticking with me here. I know the wait can be frustrating, but you're going to love it. Think of it like this: your pledge doesn't just get you some books and accessories. Your pledge is also helping us rewrite the rules in tabletop roleplaying games. That sounds like hyperbole, but it's really not. The Quinns Quest review of Public Access has expanded these gameplay concepts to a much wider audience. Quinns found Public Access (and it's been hinted to me he's getting ready to play The Between) because we took the time to get things right. And we can only do that because of our supporters, whether it be here, or on DTRPG, or Patreon or wherever. You're literally helping change the hobby for (I think) the better, and that's something to be proud of. Talk to you soon!

-Jason