Day 18 Progress | The Catalog of Lists Deep Dive | Update #9
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Nov 01, 2024 at 11:28:33 AM
TL;DR
- 80% funded!
- The Catalog of Lists is a comprehensive reference for many things that you may need to look at for your character throughout your sessions,
- And the winner of the last match up is... the Bande Dhaben!
- Vote on your favorite between the Fellkin and the Umbran.
Day 18 Progress
80% funded with 14 days left! Don't forget to share our campaign to help us get funded.
Deep Dive: The Catalog of Lists
The Catalog of Lists is, simply put, a bunch of lists. This text is both a mechanical reference text and mix of indexes. Here you can find the mechanics for your Facets and Specialties: major parts of your character which serve as a big part of who they are, their skills and abilities, and more. It contains our Callings which are a lot like occupations, hobbies, and even affiliations. Moreover, it indexes Themes, Area Traits, and Focuses! It is a comprehensive reference for many things that you may need to look at for your character throughout your sessions.
Lineage Knockout Tournament: Bracket #1 Match up 6
And the winner is...
Bande Dhaben!
Lineage Spotlight: Fellkin
Fellkin and Goblins are closely related. They are both quite short in stature, but the Fellkin have soft short fur and weasel-like faces that distinguish them from their Goblin cousins. They have three eyes arranged in a triangle. Their ears are medium-sized, but the large openings allow them to hear even soft noises up to fifty feet away. The Fellkin’s fur usually ranges from beige to a darker orange-brown with dark brown or black markings, but there are some really rare colorings like gray and jet black.
Lineage Spotlight: Umbran
Umbran are a centauroid species possessing six arms, four of which serve as legs but possess four-fingered hands. They have prominent bony protrusions on their fingertips and chest, and a naturally occurring bony plate called a mask that serves as a face. Masks rest on exposed condyles near the lower jaw and act as the upper jaw. Masks can be removed without physical damage; they are essentially connected by a ball and socket joint.
Umbrans require a mask to chew and see, however this doesn’t need to be their original mask as long as it has been appropriately tempered.
Umbran bodies are composed of epithelial, muscle, and bone tissues serving as an envelope around a central cavity that enjoins their two torsos. What appears to be flame in their central cavity at first glance is not the result of a chemical reaction, but several decentralized photonuclear ones that produce energy.
Vote for your favorite in the poll below!
Day 14 Progress | Calibration Deep Dive | Update #8
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Oct 28, 2024 at 11:56:24 AM
TL;DR
- Just shy of 80%!
- Calibration is our step-by-step guide to session zero.
- The team had a great time teaching people how to make compelling ephemera at Big Bad Con.
- As usual Keyassa has been wandering...
- And the winner is... the bat-like Unlelo!
- Vote in the new poll! The Bande Dhaben Vs. the Mortals.
Day 14 Progress
We are chugging along and close to 80% funded with 18 days left.
Deep Dive: The Calibration
The Calibration is our step-by-step guide to session zero and is more than just character creation. It helps a table of an SL and their players put together Themes for the campaign, decide which Area to start in, establish bonds between the player characters, between NPCs, and design characters according to what kind of story they want to play. It also takes time to carefully go over table safety, trying to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to their boundaries and aspirations for the game.
The Calibration is divided into sections and you can go page-by-page, but you can also turn to sections as you need them. It reads conversational and you can read it together as a table as you’re figuring things out.
Making Compelling Ephemera Workshop at Big Bad Con
The Confluence team ran a workshop at Big Bad Con this past weekend. Our Atlas includes tons of ephemera and they wanted to show people how to make compelling ephemera for their own games. Check out these photos from the workshop.
Keyassa Report
Lineage Knockout Tournament: Bracket #1 Match up 5
And the winner is... the bat-like Unlelo!
Lineage Spotlight: Bande DhabenThe Bande come from Engine 3 Sehe Gandia, a completely separate world from this one. Any animal found on Earth and even some mythological creatures may have a Bande analog, meaning there is incredible diversity amongst Bande. They are mostly bipedal, typically having two arms and two legs even when their antecedent species had more. Arthropod-derived Bande seem to be the most common outlier in this regard, but within Bande from the same species, there can be variation even among siblings. Differences in size are also reduced, as the smallest Bande are about three to four feet tall while the largest are about eight feet tall.
Lineage Spotlight: Mortals
Mortals are almost exactly like humans: they have the same bipedalism, as well as variation in skin, body, and hair. The largest difference is that they were once immortal. But that hasn’t been true for thousands of years at this point. Though immortality would be a living memory for the Servitors, it is ancient history to the Mortals today.
Day 11 Progress | Alleyman Touched Bundle | Update #7
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Oct 25, 2024 at 10:49:23 AM
TL;DR
- We have hit 40k!
- For lore nerds that like secrets, the limited Alleyman Touched Bundle is for you! Grab it quick.
- Rowan, Rook & Decard are Kickstarting a tarot-based TTRPG Royal Blood.
- Vote on your favorite lineage, Ell'el Vs. Unlelo.
Day 11 Progress
With 21 days left we have hit $40k. Only $15k more to go to hit goal.
The Alleyman Touched Lore Bundle
For the lore nerds who want something special, this very limited bundle includes the two settings books of the game and will be "touched" by our very own head goblin, Seven! As the holder of all the lore of all the Publishing Goblin canons Seven will be making connections in these books to the Alley tarot deck that no other person can make. You may also find some random (not just Alley) touched tarot cards in between the pages!
Royal Blood Spotlight
Rowan, Rook & Decard are
Kickstarting a tarot-based TTRPG and a beautiful deck of cards to go with it. The cards are illustrated by artist Silvia De Stefanis, and they're a powerfully striking collection.
Backers can get the cards on their own, or invest in the game to go with them. If Rowan, Rook & Decard hit some stretch goals, they'll expand the already full 78 card deck with additional court cards to match those found in variant tarot decks.
The game itself is steeped in tarot, too.
Royal Blood, players portray Royals - descendants of sorcerer-kings and witch-queens with magic in their veins; the court cards of the tarot. They're noble and powerful, but they aspire to more: they covet the power of the major arcana, and with wits and a little luck, the Royals will seize their domains for themselves.
Royal Blood is played fully with tarot cards, to create characters, generate the story, and determine the outcome of risky choices. And if you
do want to use the cards for gameplay, you can also pick up a second set for reading.
Ephemera Review: Aaron Voigt
Check out this
video by Aaron Voigt breaking down the ephemera canon of the The Atlas. Aaron does a fantastic job explaining the differences between the base text and the ephemera and how they can be used to get the details and secrets about the world.
Confluence at Big Bad Con 2024
More than half the squad is currently at Big Bad Con in San Francisco! Find one of them, take a selfie, and post and tag us on Bluesky
@confluencerpg.bsky.social or Twitter @PubGobGames and we will send you a discount code for Confluence funding right now on Backerkit. Don't forget to ask to sign or doodle in the beta atlases floating around.
Lineage Knockout Tournament: Bracket #1 Match up 4
Lineage Spotlight: Ell’el
The Ell’el remind me of insects from Earth, but with more humanoid appendages. When they are born, the Ell’el have fairly proportionate arms and legs compared to the lanky arms and short legs of the Chell. Their chitinous skin often comes in shades of yellow, green, orange, red, and brown. As they grow up, many will choose to add mechanical augmentations to their bodies like metal limbs and plates to perform certain tasks or provide better protection when traveling. Many Ell’el are now modding with Living Metal (metal that grows similar to other flora) and other materials found in Ajurea.
They can be found anywhere across Ajurea. In Motley Coast you can find them in all major cities.
Lineage Spotlight: Unlelo
Unlelo have diverse features that are most comparable to bats. They are long-limbed relative to the length of the core body, with a wide variety of specialized noses and ears. The different suborders of Unlelo vary greatly in size. Unlelo wingspans typically range 1.3 times their height. Their wings and related structures appear delicate at a glance, but the wing bones possess unusual tensile strength by weight and are linked by incredibly elastic ligaments allowing for effective absorption of impact.
They can be found all over Ajurea, and are most populous in the underground and cave communities.
Vote for your favorite in the poll below!
Day 8 Progress | CGLA Deep Dive | Update #6
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Oct 22, 2024 at 03:26:50 PM
TL;DR
- Need $15k to hit goal!
- The Confluence Guide gives you all the rules to play Confluence.
- Some of our wonderful playtesters have made some incredible fan art,
- Presavers that backed get the Jay Dragon adventure for free, but you can also grab it as an add-on.
- Keyassa has been wandering and has a new report for you!
- Vote for your favorite! Goblin Vs. Mjurn.
Day 8 Progress
On day 8 we need about 15k to make our funding goal with 24 days left.
Deep Dive: The Confluence Guide to the Living Archive
The Confluence Guide to the Living Archive (henceforth, the CGLA) is the book that covers all our game’s rules. We’ve divided it into the Player Guide and the Story Leader Guide (Story Leader is what we call our Game Master), but that does not mean that Players shouldn’t peek into the SL section of this book.
The CGLA goes over all of our rules, from the d6 dice pool resolution system, to how we handle progression. It helps teach players that this game is a collaborative effort and that the storytelling does not completely fall only on the Story Leader’s shoulders. As a player, you are encouraged to come up with your own story elements that are essential to your table’s campaign and especially to the development of your characters.
The Story Leader section contains a lot of guidance to help any SL weave sessions together to create a fun story for everyone. There’s tools there to teach you how to handle our mechanics, how to prompt players for rolls, and how to manage everyone’s expectations at the table. We have guidance, too, for how to care for the table before, after, and in between sessions.
Fan Art
Guest Spotlight: Jay Dragon
The Motley Coast Adventures Book will have 8 mini adventures to immerse you into the Motley Coast! We have invited guest writers to write a few of those adventures. Our last guest writer is Jay Dragon! If you presaved and backed at PDF level or higher you get Jay's adventure for free! If you missed the presave you can grab the add-on.
Jay Dragon (she/her) is a queer TTRPG designer and creative in Philadelphia, USA. She's the editorial director of Possum Creek Games and author of Wanderhome, Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast, Sleepaway, and many others. Her games are about the power of community, the true cost of violence, and the magic of the playground.
Keyassa Report
Lineage Knockout Tournament: Bracket #1 Match up 3
Don't forget to vote on your favorite lineage from the Alfira and the Mjurn!
Day 7 Progress | Atlas Deep Dive | Update #5
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Oct 21, 2024 at 09:20:19 AM
TL;DR
- Over 70% with 25 days left.
- The Motley Coast Atlas is only the beginning and it's full of lore for you to use in your game!
- Jeeyon Shim is one of the guest writers for the Motley Coast Adventures Book!
- New lineage poll! Vote on your favorite between Alfira Vs. Mjurn!
Day 7 Progress
Just over 70% on Day 7. We have still have a few things up our sleeves to get this funded in the next 25 days. Stay tuned for more Wandering Tiers and more media from our friends!
Deep Dive: The Atlas Volume 1: The Motley Coast
The Atlas is your in-game guide to the World. It is diegetic and has been lovingly crafted to feel like a book that has been passed to you or a book that you have found, containing notes from all those who have owned this book before you. The Motley Coast Atlas contains all sorts of information about the important locations here and is divided into three: The Coast, Inland, the Swirling Sea. You’ll get overviews about our cities, such as Motley Coast City, Delrun, Crop Circle Junction, and many others. It also contains some details about notable vistas like the Gravity Isles, the Color Dome, and many, many more. We really tried our best to make sure that the world feels alive and lived in, with lots of bits and pieces for you to use for your campaigns. Speaking of…
Ephemera
One of the biggest features of the Atlas is that it contains a sprawling amount of Ephemera that are meant to serve as ideas, plot hooks, and additional flavor for any campaign that you build for your table. There are handwritten notes, doodles, newspaper clippings, folded posters that you can find throughout the Atlas that all tell little stories here and there. Look closely and you may find the hook for your next campaign!
Plentiful Gameable Lore
The Atlas was designed to be a campaign companion, containing ways for you to mechanize the boundless lore on these pages. Throughout the Atlas, you will find things like Area Traits, Themes, Focuses, and Specialties that have some rules attached to how to use them, allowing you to integrate them smoothly into play. Our team went big on gameable lore, with plenty of samples across the pages of the Atlas, with instructions of how to take anything from the Atlas and use it in your games.
Ajurea and Beyond
Our current Atlas only covers one major region of Ajurea: the Motley Coast. There is so much more of the world out there for you to imagine and create your own lore for. Of course, we hope that a successful first campaign for Confluence could mean that we will be able to also release the rest of the world that we’ve been building, but we also welcome you to create your own areas, locations, and ideas within the world we’ve made! Confluence is named so because it is a true melting pot for a myriad of things from several eras, both in the past and future, so truly, anything is possible.
Guest Writer: Jeeyon Shim Spotlight
The Motley Coast Adventures Book will have 8 mini adventures to immerse you into the Motley Coast! We have invited guest writers to write a few of those adventures. Our second guest writer is Jeeyon Shim!
Jeeyon Shim is a multidisciplinary game designer, writer, and artist based in Northern California. Heavily influenced by her background as an outdoor educator, her work grounds itself in her values around art, observation, and stewardship of the natural world. Jeeyon and her award-winning work (Indiecade, Diana Jones Emerging Designer) have been featured on Slate, The Verge, Polygon, and Shut Up and Sit Down. She likes dirt, animals, and green growing things.
Lineage Knockout Tournament: Bracket #1 Match up 3
Goblins Vs. Gods/Fallen Gods..... And the winner is Gods/Fallen Gods in a landslide!
Lineage Spotlight: Alfira
The Alfira are a beloved lineage and are survivors of the collapse of their entire Era of origin, Era 8 Labyrinthea. Alfira look a lot like mice from Earth. They are short and stout with incredible senses, especially their sense of smell. Alfira are the progenitors of one anomalous ability that is widely used in Ajurea: Smoke. Smoke was initially created by Alfira to navigate the mazes of Labyrinthea and defend against anything that might harm them. These days, Smoke is used for more domestic tasks, such as incense, cleansing, and even aromatherapy.
Alfira are found all over Ajurea and are excellent navigators. Would you play an Alfira?
Lineage Spotlight: Mjurn
Mjurn are an amphibious lineage, often presenting as large eels with long double-jointed arms. Mjurn are one of our stranger lineages and even have a vaguely humanoid-like torso for their tongues that allow them to communicate easier with their land-dwelling friends. While Mjurn are capable of slithering around on land, they do not like to be dry for too long. The cool part about them, too, is that their scales can reflect the colors of their environment! Mjurn who live among colorful reefs definitely would have shinier, more iridescent scales!
Would you play a Mjurn?
Vote in the new poll below to see who proceeds to the next bracket!
