T-shirt printing complete
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Oct 18, 2024 at 10:43:40 AM
Most patient of backers,
It's been a month of silence, for which I apologize, but with a wedding ring on my finger and summer finally slain, I'm back with more news of SHRINES and its journey to your bookshelves and wardrobes alike.
T-Shirt Printing
This morning, big machines at Lancaster Print House spun your shirts to life. They're gorgeous, straight up.
I floated around the operators like a gnat to get these photos of the process:
These beauties are staying safe and boxed until fulfillment time, which continues to be "When the book is done," which gets closer every day. I continue to scope-creep, both on the shrine vignettes themselves and with new, unadvertised gameplay tools—simply trusting that you'd prefer a bigger and more interesting book. As always, I'm grateful for your trust and patience as I finish Empty Mountain's first major publication. We shan't pull punches here (we shan't!).
Discord Link
Finally, this wouldn't be an update without a new link to the press' Discord server, which recently gained a play-by-post channel to play, so far, collaborative worldbuilding games like our own SANCTUM. Join us!
Thank you, and in touch,
James
Production status, two shrine reveals, and my impending wedding
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Sep 09, 2024 at 11:12:25 AM
Shrines backers!
The work continues. Here's where we stand.
Production
- We have 100% of your t-shirt specs, so now the printer has the SKUs and design files they need. We're locking down printing dates now. This is a touch behind schedule, but the book isn't finished anyway, so nothing really changes.
- Conner has only a single illustration and a few decorative elements to go, so art for the book is very close to locked. They've done an incredible job, especially toward the end here as the book's vision refined. I'm thrilled for you to see it in full.
- The writing has further to go, in part because I keep increasing scope. In an earlier update I shared that I was expanding the gameplay hooks to offer a bit more crunch, and some of those ideas have spun off into standalone systems/mechanics for the Tools section (I won't name them yet, but one of this update's shrine reveals mentions one of them). This book became more than the campaign described, and while that means we'll nurture it longer before handing it to you, it should be worth the time.
- Soon the full team meets with Khenpo Pema Wangdak for an exciting consultation about how we might better incorporate Tibetan Buddhist mythology. This will mostly impact writing, since the art is mostly done (our consultant from the Himalayan art museum world, Jeremy McMahan, has been instrumental there), and I'm thrilled to learn what new narratives we might include.
Shrine Reveals
As always, click not if ye love surprise, but here are two probably-finalized spreads from the book's main section:
These both went through many drafts and exemplify, I think, the upper level of detail that these vignettes should reach (the balance between practical usability and respectful minimalism remains the book's most operative challenge).
I'm Getting Married!
I swindled someone brilliant, kind, and beautiful into marrying me, and that ceremony will swallow my life at the end of this month. This means you shouldn't expect the next update until mid-October or so while I pause this year's whirlwind to celebrate and breathe.
Discord Link
Finally, here's a fresh link to the Discord server, which now has a member-requested (and immediately active) #writing-buddies channel. We welcome any of you to join!
Until next time, and with love,
James
T-shirt surveys sent, plus color reveal for women's cut of Oracle of Malice design
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Aug 03, 2024 at 10:45:14 AM
Backers!
We're climbing these mountain stairs, one foot in front of the other, toward the Shrine of Holy Fulfillment.
T-Shirt Surveys
Everyone whose pledge includes t-shirts should have just received a survey to select their cut (classic or women's) and size (S through XXL). As soon we get these in, we can lock down our printing dates with our friends over at Lancaster Print House and get these babies on the press.
'Oracle of Malice' Design: Women's Cut
As mentioned in a previous update, the manufacturer of our t-shirt blanks—AS Colour—does not offer women's cuts in the Yellow color we selected for the Oracle of Malice design.
Instead, we'll be printing all of our women's-cut Oracle of Malice shirts on Ecru, which is a sort of grey-yellow beige on which the original design's red ink should look fantastic. Here's a mockup:
Discord Link
As always, because they expire after a week, here's another link to join the EM|NCD Discord server, where we talk about homebrewed pantheons and probability curves and weird sci-fi from the 60s.
Until next time,
James
Massive art progress, t-shirt production scheduled, Discord taking off, and a free worldbuilding tool
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Jul 13, 2024 at 10:55:52 AM
Shrines backers!
Clearly this could've been multiple updates, but when it rains it monsoons or whatever, so here we go:
Art
Conner has been absolutely crushing the illustrations. Their work is surprising, immersive, and deeply affectionate, incorporating insight from our cultural consultants as we continuously negotiate our relationship to the reference material.
Here are three examples, sans text to preserve some surprise:
We're in the home stretch now with exactly three illustrations to go, so we look forward to wrapping art in the very near future.
T-Shirts
Production begins next month at Lancaster Print House for both t-shirt designs.
I'll be on-site the day they go to press, taking pictures of the process, so expect some fun workshop, product, and contributor shots in the following update.
Discord
As always, you're more than welcome to join the EM|NCD Discord server, where a lively and growing cohort are talking game design, roleplaying, and philosophy.
Our philosophy-and-religion channel feels especially rare in the TTRPG space. This book's themes encourage academic dialogue, and boy are we having it. I'm nothing short of honored by the diversity and sophistication of the thinkers here so far.
Free Worldbuilding Tool
Finally, while this only slightly relates, the other day I released a little worldbuilding tool for generating waterfalls with secrets, and obviously this is the right audience.
Here's the high-res link. Enjoy!
Thank you, and with love from the team,
James
Corrected Discord link
almost 2 years ago
– Tue, Jun 04, 2024 at 12:08:17 PM
Hi, everyone!
This will be quick: here's the correct link to the EM|NCD Discord server, which I, an absolute fool of a Took, fumbled in the last update.
Otherwise, we're still hard at work, and I hope everyone's kicking off their summer well.
Until next time,
James
