REACH OF THE ROACH GOD - Part of A Thousand Thousand Islands

PRE-ORDERS NOW AVAILABLE
over 2 years ago – Sun, Dec 12, 2021 at 10:04:53 PM

PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE VIA BACKERKIT

A short update to say that, for folks who missed backing REACH OF THE ROACH GOD during its campaign, pre-orders for both the book and PDF are now available on BackerKit!

Check out our Pre-Order Page >>>Here<<<

Converted from SGD, prices of ROTRG on pre-order are roughly USD60 (for a physical copy) and USD30 (for PDF) respectively.

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A REST

The team is taking the weekend off, trying to recover. (We might be slow to respond to messages, over the next few days.)

Munkao is cleaning house and playing boardgames, Grace has left the city, and I have been walking my favourite seaside. It is a landscape of mangroves, sea moss -- and tankers full of crude oil in the distance.

And also gods. Some folks give their gods unto the sea, now and again. I found Kali Ma in a tide pool. A power we need in these times, more than ever -- so skilled at defeating the terrors of our age, so deft that none of their terrible ichor spatter and poison the earth ...

(These photos are a bit overshare-y, but since the things I see in my walks tend to end up in my work, one way or another -- they kinda qualify as process notes??)

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Praise Odoyoq, who never needs rest.

Zedeck

THANK YOU VIDEO + ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND STEPS ONWARD
over 2 years ago – Thu, Dec 09, 2021 at 02:36:27 AM

CAMPAIGN COMPLETE

Our month-long crowdfunding campaign for REACH OF THE ROACH GOD ends. It has been a gale throughout: mentally, emotionally, physically.

I did not imagine we would come this far. USD103,000+ raised, with 1,948 backers. 

ROTRG is now officially the largest book project I've ever been a part of. I still can't imagine it. 

You got us here. Thank you.

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THANK YOU

We wanted to say our thank yous in person. Here's a clumsy unedited video message from Grace, Munkao, and myself:

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THE NEXT NINE MONTHS

We WILL keep you updated. Not as often, obviously -- but expect regular progress reports, as well as more preview / playtest PDFs as we complete parts of the book.

Details for our current tasks here. We have a whole book to design / write / illustrate / put together. The deadline we have set for ourselves is August 2022.

It's back to work.

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Softly sing:

ODOYOQ, SKIN OF MILK

BRIGHTER THAN A STAR

ODOYOQ, SKIN OF GLASS

BRIGHTER THAN ALL STARS

ODOYOQ, SKIN OF OUR SKIN

BRIGHT OUR ONLY STAR

Zedeck

ONE DAY TO GO + ALL STRETCH GOALS UNLOCKED + MORE CHAPTER TWO ART
over 2 years ago – Tue, Dec 07, 2021 at 07:43:40 PM

THE LAST 24 HOURS

By passing the USD95K mark we have unlocked our tenth Stretch Goal: two more player-character options, and more print-and-play tabletop tokens.

Our final Stretch Goal. We never planned more than ten.

In lieu of saying "thank you" yet again (though, obviously: THANK YOU!), we thought it'd be good to present a progress report of where we are, with REACH OF THE ROACH GOD:

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ART

• Munkao has begun work on Chapter Two -- the book's second adventure, "Temple Of The Spider". Specifically, he is currently working on character art for the Temple's monks. (More below!)

WRITING

• The "Temple Of The Spider" is a monastery, built in a forest, built into a mountain. I has drafted out its forest-bound areas; I now have to write its subterranean precincts.
• I also have to rework the Temple's monks. In my initial draft they were functionally Avatar-style earth- and fire-benders. They can be less boring.

LAYOUT

• hrftype is currently working on completing their test layout of "Quiet Lake". (Teaser here!)

MISC

• Grace is setting post-campaign stuff up on Backerkit! She plans to have backer surveys sent out in August 2022 (our internal deadline for going to print). This is when you will be able to confirm addresses, add-ons (extra copies of the book), and shipping fees.
• Orders should be locked by September 2022. Hopefully, books will ship by mid-October.

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MONKS OF THE TEMPLE OF THE SPIDER

Munkao:

"As its name suggests -- our next chapter, Temple Of The Spider,  has monks (of all genders). Here are my designs for these monks.

Two things inform my design choices:

• Design away from the imagery of Thai-Buddhist / Mainland-Southeast-Asian monks as the definitive SEAsian monk.
• In A Thousand Thousand Islands we usually play around visually with many things. It felt right to play around with monk garb, pushing it towards the ATTI visual style of fantasy just a little bit more."

Hence the Deer monk's robe-fabric antlers!

Also -- anecdote about our process:

As alluded to above, I have not been happy with the way I've written the monks in this text, so far. "Rework Monks!!!" has been on my schedule board for weeks, now.

I was trapped by the limits of my own imagination. In trying to create "magic monks" I defaulted to saffron robes and martial arts and elemental magic -- the most obviously gameable attributes of the Asian-monk trope.

Paltry stuff, relying on tropes.

Munkao sent us his monk drawings, today. His visual explorations are based on other details established in the text: the fact that the Temple is divided in four precincts: that of the Coucal; the Deer; the Spider.

That the monks would take their cue from these divisions? It just didn't occur to me. But it's so obvious! 

Also: the fourth precinct is that of the Boulder. Implying these monks are cultivating towards a spiritual ideal that the Temple's guardians (made of stone and brass) model, and also and maybe and what about --

It took seeing Munkao's art for a dam to break in my brain, and for ideas start flowing again.

Artistic collaboration is an honour and a privilege.

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24 hours to go.

Praise Odoyoq, who provides.

Zedeck

TWO DAYS TO GO + CHAPTER TWO TEASER
over 2 years ago – Tue, Dec 07, 2021 at 05:57:43 PM

THE LAST 48 HOURS

Well, here we are. The countdown clock on our front page has switched to "XX hours to go". This is the final sprint to the end.

I've been saying thank you like a skipping record -- but: thank you. For your trust, your participation, your generosity.

It means the world.

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CHAPTER TWO: ART & LAYOUT

It means that we can settle into working on REACH OF THE ROACH GOD with more confidence. (Though not any less stress, because the work is always stressful; if you follow me on Twitter at all you might've seen me complain about how WRITING SUX ASS AND I HATE IT, etc.)

As I struggle with completing a draft of Chapter 2 -- working title: "Temple of the Spider" -- Munkao has caught up to me; he has begun creating art and laying out pages for the opening portions of the adventure.

Here's a taste of a literal doorway into the Temple of the Spider. And the guardians thereof:

I'm obviously biased, but Munkao's art always floors me. All that detail!

The Temple of the adventure is inspired by Buddhist monasteries; these door guardians in particular reference the gold saints on doors in Thai sacred architecture.

Honestly: what a kick-ass illustration. I'm uploading it twice:

Leave a crack in your gate, so the Roach God may slip through.

Zedeck

Layout Test by hrftype
over 2 years ago – Sun, Dec 05, 2021 at 07:52:16 PM

TEST SPREAD BY hrftype

One of the first Stretch Goals we unlocked for REACH OF THE ROACH GOD was layout work by Malaysian graphic design studio hrftype.

They've been pretty busy, lately -- they generally have a bunch of commercial clients / art projects at any given time; and the Kuala Lumpur Art Book Fair 2021 is in full swing right now.

But, seeing as our campaign is nearing its end, they've graciously taken some time off to work on a test spread. Which we can show you folks! Check it check it check it:

Some necessary disclaimers:

• Very early WIP! 
• This mainly showcases new typography, and refines Munkao's initial layout.
• Usage tweaks (ie: highlighting important information, so they are easier to reference; etc) are not yet included.
• The essential visual identity of A THOUSAND THOUSAND ISLANDS (understated; lots of negative space) will remain.

Side-by-side comparisons:

(PS: If you are wondering, huruf / hrftype are the same folks -- the former is their art initiative; the latter is their professional-studio identity.)

These tweaks are pretty subtle, but make a whole lot of difference!

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THREE DAYS LEFT

Thank you: everybody who's been sharing our project on and off them socials. We see you, we're indebted to you. 

Please: if you know anybody who: (a) might be interested in an art book / RPG campaign about Southeast Asian-inspired fantasy caves; and (b) won't be too grossed out by a profusion of blattodes -- do tell them about ROTRG!

🙏🙏🙏

Also: remember to whisper praise to Odoyoq.

Zedeck