DICE! DICE! DICE!

We've just got the samples back from the dice manufacturer (we're working with Tabletop Dominion to create them), and they are looking pretty damn sweet, if I do say so myself.


We've got teal metallic inclusions, we've got copper inking, and we've got a swirl of red ink that, from certain angles, looks a lot like blood in water. Lovely stuff. Whether they look more red or more teal varies depending on the angle, too, so I've included a few shots for the full effect.

Those of you getting the Colossus pledge are getting these automatically. You can also pick them up as an add-on, if you're at a different pledge level. It's possible we'll have a few sets left at the end of the campaign, but it'll be just a handful, so if you want these, now is the time. 

- Chant

We're on the third day of crowdfunding and already nosing towards our fifth stretch goal. 

That you're getting two microsettings, proper rules for character advancement, and four pieces of chapter header art, primarily. Or, to put it another way, you're getting a more developed, sophisticated Meatbags experience. (This is the only time I will ever say "sophisticated" in the same sentence as Meatbags).

The core funding goal for Meatbags was to put this good game into a good book, that would allow you to play action horror one shot games. The stretch goals so far are all about giving you more book and more ways to play - giving you some settings to play around in to save on GM prep time, and giving you a more robust option to keep playing Meatbags, with the same characters, should you so desire. 

Hard to say, honestly. This has all happened so fast! When we planned out this campaign, we thought "eh, we might get £3k. That'd be nice." And, umm... we've nearly done that already. So now Lore and I have to sit in a delightful little coffee shop somewhere and think about how we can thank you, collectively, for your support without absolutely breaking the bank.

I'm told we should be seeing photos and video of the dice this weekend. Assuming they look good, I'll share them with you straight away. I've seen a sample that tested the custom face design (but was the wrong colour; I'm not showing it because it would only cause confusion) and I think those of you who made the brave decision to pledge for some dice, sight unseen, will be pretty pleased with your choices.

Our cross-collab partners, Eerie Games, are streaming their own Pocketopia game, Survivor Sorority, today at 12pm EST. Join them on https://www.twitch.tv/eeriegamesdev if you fancy a bit of afternoon slasher horror. Lore or I will probably be there cheering them on.

That's all! Have yourselves the BEST of weekends, and I'll catch you on Monday!

- Chant

Now, I have personally followed and backed a bunch of Pocketopia projects and I'm pretty sure a lot of you have, too. That means you've got a slew of launched/funded/streaming/doing a little dance emails in your inbox. So if you don't read this one, I won't be upset. But if you do...

THANK YOU!

This is Ex Stasis's first time on Backerkit, and it's like setting up for a party and wondering whether anyone's gonna show up - and you did! You're here! You want the book! Huge relief, honestly.

We're already halfway to our first stretch goal, which requires me, Chant, to actually put some setting in this book (shocking business). I'm thinking a creepy little Twin Peaks style town, but if we get to 50 backers (when. Hopefully when.) I might open it up to a poll so I can write what you actually want.

Also, Lore is getting really excited about making illustrations for this project, so hopefully we'll have more of those to show off soon.

I think that's enough update; see you at the first stretch goal!

THANKS AGAIN!!!
- Chant

Our art director (and artist, and editor - we are not a big team), Lore, has zeroed in on the illustration style for the interiors of the book. We're thinking striking shapes and punches of a single colour per image.

I'm not 100% sold on this font - it'll be a beast to print and I'm not happy with the readability. But for the sake of showing off this illustration, it'll do.
 

At the moment, our plan is for every Antagonist in the book to get an original illustration; for the rest of the book, we're relying on combining Lore's illustrations with stock photos for a scratchy, grungy, photobashed art style. More illustrations is an important stretch goal though, so if you like this, maybe convince your friends to grab a copy of Meatbags too, so we can BUY MORE ART.

See you on Thursday for the launch. 

Cheers,
Chant & Lore

Oh shit, we're three days from launch! 

Despite the silence on Backerkit, there's a frenzy of behind-the-scenes activity as we prepare for launch. We're finalising designs, frantically prepping graphics and, you know, trying to keep the pre-crowdfunder anxiety to a manageable level.

Two out of three ain't bad. 

If you came here via social media you've probably already seen a mockup of the core book, but the cover's nice, so here it is again, plus its PDF sibling.



It's a tidy little A5, looks dead smart on a shelf (well, it will when it exists in actual fact instead of a digital mockup), and it's probably about 100 pages. Bigger if we hit a couple of stretch goals.

It's not just the book, though. We're doing character sheets.



Some games do deluxe, fancy character sheets. We're shooting for convenient and disposable, like Meatbags characters.

We're also making a quickstart - rules, scenario, and horrible art by Brian Yaksha. The scenario's written, playtested, and ready to go - as soon as we drop it into layout we'll make it available for you to download.



And. And. We've got dice. Do you know how hard it is to get a set of percentile dice on their own, especially nice ones? We're just going to have to keep these under wraps for now, cos the samples aren't finished.

Meatbags is part of Backerkit's Pocketopia event, where a ton of small (some not so small, actually) indie publishers come together for a festival of tabletop games. There's some excellent horror on offer (check the Pocketopia collection page on Backerkit), and we're proud to be partnering with the folks at Eerie Games.

Eerie are making Survivor Sorority, a tarot-based TTRPG about the surviving Final Girls of slasher movies coming into their power. It's squarely in the same action-horror space as Meatbags, so we reckon if you like one you'll probably like both. Which is good, because if you back both games, you'll get a free two-part scenario.



The first part's written for Meatbags, and you'll play a bunch of visitors to an awful carnival, plunged into the worst night of their lives. It's the first time I've ever done circus horror, and I'm loving it.

The second part is for Survivor Sorority: return to the Carnival Obscura and make sure this is its last performance.

That's quite a big update. That'll do, I think. Time to kick back until launch, right?

Chant & Lore