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

SHIPPING UPDATE: EU & AUS & NZ
over 2 years ago – Sun, Nov 21, 2021 at 08:07:28 PM

Shipping. We know the pain of shipping, believe you me. 

We live in Southeast Asia. Everything -- and I do mean everything -- from anywhere in the West is at least double again its original price because of shipping. That's just the way things are, for us ...

So one of our priorities, in planning REACH OF THE ROACH GOD, has been to lessen the cost of shipping for backers. While we were able to secure distribution partners for the US and UK, we were still looking for folks to work with for EU and Australasia distro when we launched the campaign.

We have now found them.

We are really pleased / relieved about this!

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EU-FRIENDLY SHIPPING

Portugal-based publisher of beautifully-designed ENnie-awarded RPGs Games Omnivorous is our partner for distribution of ROTRG across the European Union.

Their help means that shipping rates to EU backers will now cost an estimated USD15-USD20 per book, a USD10 reduction from previous estimates.

Important notes:

•  Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland are not in the EU, and might have their own tax complications;
• There is a small chance that shipments may be held by Portuguese customs for up to two months, causing delays with fulfilment.

Thank you, Games Omnivorous!

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AUSTRALIA- & NEW ZEALAND-FRIENDLY SHIPPING

Australia-based online storefront for indie RPGs Indie RPG Bookshelf is our partner for distribution of ROTRG in Australia and New Zealand.

Their help means that shipping rates to backs down under will now cost an estimated USD15-USD20 per book, a USD5 reduction from previous estimates.

Thank you, Indie RPG Bookshelf!

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BACKING FOR MULTIPLE PHYSICAL COPIES

We are handling shipping charges via BackerKit, after the campaign concludes.

Using BackerKit also allows us to accept add-on orders for multiple physical copies. If you'd like more than a single copy of ROTRG, you have two options:

• Back the campaign at HOLY IMAGO tier, but double (or triple, etc, depending on the number of copies you want) your pledge. This will give you credit you can use in Backerkit, for extra books.
• Back the campaign at HOLY IMAGO tier, then add-on (and pay for) book copies in Backerkit later.

(Just a note to clarify this, since we've gotten a few asks about it!)

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Zedeck

CROWDSOURCING: SIGNS OF A ROACH
over 2 years ago – Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 01:23:20 AM

LET'S MAKE SOMETHING TOGETHER

You are playing a session with your friends. Their characters are about to encounter some minions of the god Odoyoq -- some roaches. You want to telegraph the appearance of these roaches. So you say: "You smell a strong scent of ..."

A strong scent of what?

I know I struggle with keeping my in-game, on-the-fly descriptions fresh. I'm a single person; my brain keeps returning to the same similes. In the case of: "What do roaches smell like?" It always wants to answer: "Stale muesli / stale rice."

Which I guess is fine? Repetition is good! But it's nice to have options.

So I figured: REACH OF THE ROACH GOD has 1,200+ backers. What do they think roaches smell like?

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WHAT IS THIS?

This will be three random tables of roach-y descriptions that GMs / players can roll on, during an RPG session, to add variety / atmosphere / grossness to the game.

Entries on these tables will be crowdsourced -- from you, dear backers! Let's do this. Old-school Gygaxian democracy!

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HOW WILL THIS WORK?

Here are the tables I am thinking of:

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TABLE A -- A roach is close. It smells like:

• 1. Muesli, gone stale at the back of the pantry.
• 2. ...
• 3. ...
• Etc

~

TABLE B -- A roach is within view. It looks like:

• 1. A piece of coffee candy, sucked on halfway then spat on the floor.
• 2. ...
• 3. ...
• Etc

~ 

TABLE C -- A roach is on you. Its touch feels like:

• 1. Your mother's fingernails, gently scratching your skin.
• 2. ...
• 3. ...
• Etc

~

To add an entry, post it as a comment to this update.

Please indicate: the table your entry is for (TABLE A, TABLE B, or TABLE C); as well as your name (the one you'd like us to use when we credit you).

Personally, I find that short, specific metaphors that are plucked from lived experience are most evocative, and work best.

(For example: the "Your mother's fingernails" entry above comes from something that literally happened to me. My mum used to wake me up for school by flicking my ear with her fingers. One morning she woke me up when it was still dark. I wandered into the kitchen. My mum was making breakfast.

"How come you up?" she asked me.

"Didn't you scratch my ear?" I asked her. 

"No," she replied. 

I went back to my bedroom, to turn on the light. There was a roach on the light switches, above my bed.)

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WHAT WILL WE DO WITH THIS?

On Monday (22 Nov), I'll compile your entries, edit them lightly (mainly for formatting) and turn them into random tables. (d20 or larger tables for all three would be neat, but that will depend on how many entries submitted.)

Munkao will then take these tables, lay them out (maybe make spot illustrations for them), and publish them as a PDF freebie!

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WHY NO TABLE D?

I thought about it.

TABLE D -- A roach is in your mouth. You bite. It tastes like:

But, I mean. You folks are unlikely to know what roaches taste like. Right? Right???

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Zedeck

WEEK ONE + EVEN MORE STRETCH GOALS + PRESS + ART FOLDER
over 2 years ago – Wed, Nov 17, 2021 at 11:48:12 PM

THE FIRST 7 DAYS

It has been a week since campaign launch. We've managed to raise over USD65,000. We've hit six Stretch Goals: we now get to make REACH OF THE ROACH GOD at the quality we want, with enough art and fun subsystems and with the help of experts. We get to do some PDF freebies.

We have over a thousand backers.

This feels important, somehow? We've worked on A THOUSAND THOUSAND ISLANDS for 4+ years, now. Dear friends -- who use our work in your games, who share our islands with your friends -- we would not have been able to keep at it without you.

Thank you for being a thousand islands.

The Roach God thanks you.

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NEW & BONUS STRETCH GOALS

I didn't think we'd get this far. But the dice have been kind? Hold up your torch, and venture deeper:

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USD70,000 -- TWO RIBBONS

BONUS STRETCH GOAL! This a book-upgrade thing that we're guaranteed to be doing, now.  We are adding it to the Stretch-Goal queue because of that sweet, sweet Achievement-Unlocked feeling.

Hitting this Stretch Goal will see us stick ribbons into the physical book. Two ribbons! To quote Scrap Princess / Patrick Stuart (from whose Kickstarter campaigns we are basically cribbing this idea from): 

"Everybody loves ribbons!"

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USD85,000 -- BESTIARY

Basic ROTRG will already contain a multitude of creatures, as part of its adventures, cultures, and passage generators.

Hitting this Stretch Goal will allow us to add even more life: animals to befriend; flora to be menaced by; threats to avoid or negotiate with.

Creature entries will include tools that put them in context with the rest of the subterranean world: reaction tables; tables that randomise their relationships and behaviours towards other creatures in the bestiary.

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PODCASTS & MENTIONS & PRESS

We've gotten a bunch of coverage from all over. Here's a selection:

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• "[The QUIET LAKE preview] provides a solid example of what to expect in the full book, from Munkao’s black-and-white illustration style to designer Zedeck Siew’s ability to flesh out both the mundane and the mystical aspects of a place through his words." - Dicebreaker 
• "[A THOUSAND THOUSAND ISLANDS] is a Southeast Asian fantasy worldbuilding project, and the pitch, I think, is amazingly evocative." - Geek Native 
• "Zedeck Siew (Lorn Song of the Bachelor) just launched the Kickstarter for his subterranean sandbox campaign Reach of the Roach God, the first full-length (200-300pp) adventure book for his system-neutral “Thousand Thousand Islands” setting ..." - Beyond The Bundle 
• "Malaysia-based Centaur Games is best known for their POLITIKO: The Card Game Of Malaysian Politics, which has also been adapted into a mobile game. Now, their latest project is a tabletop RPG adventure book inspired by the caves of Southeast Asia ... and it was successfully funded in just 27 minutes ..." - Kakuchopurei 
• "[Zedeck] and Mun Kao’s A Thousand Thousand Islands project is the best fantasy game zine running ..." - The Graverobber's Guide 

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Podcasts! These have been all me; I feel like I've talked people's ears off.

•  The Gauntlet Podcast - Basically did a career-in-RPGs overview, here. Thanks, Lowell!
•  Midgardia - A good overview of ROTRG, and running a KS from SEAsia. Thanks, Garm!
•  Monster Man - It's fun to rant: WHY ARE ANIMALS IN RPGS SO BORING??? Thanks, James!
•  Draw Your Dice - Some talk about shifting the centre in oneself, as opposed to representing oneself to somebody else's centre. Thanks, Jeremy!

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Some neat mentions on Reddit:

• "It would be a crime against humanity if Zedeck and Munkao could not get this book made and I would personally be devastated." - volkovoy, r/rpg (Embarrassing / lovely; thank you so much, Ian Yusem!)
• "Has anyone used [A THOUSAND THOUSAND ISLANDS] zines for solo play? It strikes me as a perfect setup for solo. Each zine provides a few choice descriptions and some amazing artwork to get the juices flowing." - farty_mcbutterpants, r/Solo_Roleplaying (Dropping a link to this mainly because solo play is something we hadn't considered, previously; thread has some awesome solo play reports!)

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VISUALS FOLDER

Munkao has made some ROTRG-themed wallpapers: sized for desktop, tablet, and phone! Snag them >>>HERE<<<

This one's my favourite -- the simplest one, and the grossest:

Speak his name but softly, O devotee / His children are within reach, O delight / Always near enough to hear, O delicacy

Zedeck

DAY ONE + MORE STRETCH GOALS + EXTRA SPECIAL REWARD TIER SLOTS + WALLPAPERS + THANK YOU
over 2 years ago – Thu, Nov 11, 2021 at 01:30:49 AM

THE FIRST 24 HOURS

It’s been a full day since we launched. We have over 800 backers. All Special Reward Tiers gone. Four Stretch Goals unlocked.

With your help, we will now get to make the REACH OF THE ROACH GOD we want to make, and pay ourselves enough to survive while making it.

We didn’t expect things to go this quickly. Nobody on the team has slept much at all -- we’re mostly at our desks: drafting messages, sending emails, watching slack-jawed as your support pours in.

Thank you. 

Hm. Our mouthparts do feel kind of funny. Our faces a little plasticky. Are these the correct amount of fingers?

Anyway.

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MORE STRETCH GOALS UNLOCKED

Oh boy, we are running out of Stretch Goals. Uh. We've got more!

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USD65,000 -- PLAYER CHARACTERS: ROACH APOSTATE & SPIDER-WEDDED MONK

What is an adventure campaign, without player-character options?

Hitting this Stretch Goal will allow us to create a pair of player-character packages: system-neutral, but designed for play with popular RPG rulesets; made available in free PDF. 

• The Roach Apostate has rebelled against its sacred forbear, and seeks its own divinity.
• The Spider-Wedded Monk is a scholar of a myriad arts, and venerates carnal communion with demons. 

(We like fun abilities that aren’t tied to abstract numbers; meaningful choices as characters change. Here are some player-character packages we experimented with, for D&D5E.)

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USD75,000 -- PRINT-OUT TABLETOP TOKENS

I love tabletop miniatures. (One day, A THOUSAND THOUSAND ISLANDS will have its own range of 32mm minis!) In the meantime:

Hitting this Stretch Goal will allow Munkao to create a series of tabletop-scale tokens, printable for use as 2D cardstock miniatures, made available in free PDF. Muster the minions of Odoyoq: Roach Soldiers; Memory Bugs; Chitin Wizards.

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MORE SPECIAL REWARD TIER SLOTS UNLOCKED

All our Special Reward Tiers -- ie: the “receive an original Munkao pencil-on-paper artwork” tiers -- were gone by the second hour of the campaign.

Grace and I have badgered Munkao to make more slots for these Tiers available. As soon as this update goes live, there will be:

•  Five additional slots for the GODTOUCHED HOST tier (featuring original pencil art, hand-drawn and signed by Munkao); and
•  Two additional slots for the ABIDING HOST tier (featuring original pencil art, hand-drawn and signed by Munkao; plus your likeness included in the book as an NPC)

available! Munkao will now have to draw even more art! Mwahaha.

Details on these Special Reward Tiers here.

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ROACH-THEMED PHONE WALLPAPERS

We’ve got an Instagram account now!

Grace is its custodian. She has just uploaded a series of six roach-y wallpapers, which you can use on your mobile device. Look, look:

Find them on Instagram Stories, or under the "ROTRG Wallpapers" category! You've backed REACH OF THE ROACH GOD, right? Why not let the Roach God into your phone, into your heart?

Join us.

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THANK YOU

Here is art Munkao completed just this evening. Welcome to QUIET LAKE. Relax in the sun and the quiet. Don’t mind the water ogre, he's a sweetie.

Zedeck

THANK YOU + STRETCH GOALS
over 2 years ago – Wed, Nov 10, 2021 at 05:04:14 PM

FULLY FUNDED

Wow -- okay -- so -- yeah: REACH OF THE ROACH GOD is funded. My fingers are literally tripping on my keyboard, trying to write this update.

Obviously we hoped for this. Spent months and months working up to it. Strategised for it; planned our entire 2022 around its eventuality.

But it still feels pretty unreal to say: REACH OF THE ROACH GOD is funded.

Munkao and Grace and I get to make a book! Thank you, all. From our very cores. Terima kasih. The Roach God approaches. He gnaws stone, slimes water, slips through mud, breaches the daylands. He breathes the airs of the surface.

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STRETCH GOALS

So: we get to make a book. We’d like to go a bit further, though. We’d like to make a fancy book. Our first five Stretch Goals are designed with that goal in mind -- making our dream version of REACH OF THE ROACH GOD.

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USD20,000 -- IMPROVED BOOK QUALITY

Hitting this first Stretch Goal will let us make a book that feels good: thick textured wibalin cover; thread-sewn binding; 80gsm bulky book paper. We are still getting quotes from printers -- but with the added funds we will at least be able to consider swankier options.

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USD27,000 -- LAYOUT & DESIGN BY hrftype

Layout for A THOUSAND THOUSAND ISLANDS is minimalist and functional -- mainly out of necessity; we have little experience in visual design!

Hitting this Stretch Goal lets us hire our friends at Malaysian type design studio hrftype to create the layout and style of the book. You have already seen their work: they created the bespoke font you see on our project page and in the Preview PDF!

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USD35,000 -- MORE ART

At the basic funding level, REACH OF THE ROACH GOD will be similar to conventional TTRPG adventure modules: illustrated throughout, but with a heavier emphasis on text.

Hitting this Stretch Goal lets Munkao create enough art so that the ratio of text-to-illustration is on par with what you might me used to in the A THOUSAND THOUSAND ISLANDS zines -- effectively making this book an art book that happens to also be a fully-functional RPG adventure campaign.

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USD45,000 -- MORE PAY

REACH OF THE ROACH GOD is a labour of love. At our basic funding level, we will be working throughout 2022 at reduced pay, so we can afford to bring the book to print.

Hitting this Stretch Goal lets all three of us -- Munkao and Grace and I -- pay ourselves a full monthly salary. You will be helping us buy food and pay the bills!

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USD55,000 -- ACTION FIGURE CAVE GENERATOR

So I’ve been workshop-ing a cave-generation system. It’s rooted in this old-ass post about dungeons in the emptied-out hollow of a god. I’ve been using my 30-year-old bunny plushie as a “map”.

This system aims to allow players to take their favourite action figures / dolls, pose them with each other, and use the resulting tableau to generate an underground world!

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THANK YOU

We are truly at a loss for words. Thank you.

Meanwhile: Odoyoq dances ... 

 Zedeck