August update
over 2 years ago – Wed, Sep 01, 2021 at 08:00:52 PM

Hello! Lots to talk about and lots to see, so let's get to it:

- Sin is edited and in layout now. Here's a little screenshot of Mina's excellent work:

- Conspiracy Kit and GM screen is a solid 95% complete - I hired the tremendous Cat Evans to round out the characters that I was struggling with and hoo boy, it's good stuff.  Wanna see the GM screen? Here it is:

The back half of it is nearly done too.  All that remains now with the book is to tighten up the intro essays and bits that teach you how to use the materials in game; I can't wait for you to meet/fall in love with/betray/kill/kiss these 12 absolute beauties. Here's some more art from Rowan MacColl, both of people and places:

- We've made solid inroads into the Magister's Guide, in as much as we've worked out the rules for operating (and losing!) a safehouse, which has let me get a bit creative and weird with Ministry influence. Here's an excerpt:

We've also worked out the mechanics for Acquisitions, which open up more player character options than ever before and provide a structured, easy-to-use method to use when a player says they want something outside the remit of their class advances. Broadly: it's going to make multiclassing not only easy but fun, which is something we can all look forward to.

- We've sketched out our plans for the Quickstart which, based on the Conspiracy Kit as it is, will function around a mission to recruit, turn, blackmail, subvert or otherwise mess with one of the NPCs. Spire is a game which rewards a) social challenges and b) open-ended approaches, and we're keen to reflect that with the Quickstart. More as and when we write it. Here's the cover, an alternate viewpoint of the Spire core cover:

- The first round of art for Sin is done. Here are some nice drawings that Adrian Stone has done:

- All but one of the maps are complete. We're a little behind on the Red Row Mansion but all of the others are done. Please enjoy these excerpts:

I think that's pretty much everything - we're ticking along as best we can. More news when we know it!

- Grant (and Chris, and Mary, and Mina)

The Revolutionary's Guide takes shape!
almost 3 years ago – Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 02:08:03 AM

Grant and Mina (and additional contributor Chris McDowall of Electric Bastionland fame) have been hard at work on the Revolutionary's Guide, an in-character zine published by some young scrappy hopefuls hoping to make a change for the better in Spire,  upset their parents and maybe earn a sten or two from advertising revenue. Here are some clippings to whet your appetite:

IN OTHER UPDATE-FLAVOURED NEWS:

Sin is text-complete and with Helen Gould for editing. It's officially the longest book we've ever published.

All the art for the Conspiracy Kit is complete and we're about halfway through the accompanying book, hoping to finish and send for editing by end of next week. Quickstart to follow as it will be based on the principles and rules outlined in the Conspiracy Kit.

Beginning work on the Magister's Guide in mid-August.

That's all for now! We're still broadly on schedule and hope to hit our fulfillment date as planned, and if that changes we'll let you know.

Yours,

- Grant (and Chris, Mary and Mina)

June update
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Jun 30, 2021 at 10:45:15 PM

Hello!

Things are ticking away nicely and we're still on schedule to hit our fulfillment dates. We're putting the finishing touches to the structural  edits on the text of the core book and moving on to writing up all the stretch goals you unlocked as part of the campaign. Here are some previews!

GM'S SCREEN AND CONSPIRACY KIT

We've received all the art for the Conspirators from Rowan MacColl, so please enjoy a selection of the reprobates that you'll no doubt be involving in sordid cult activity:

Professor Margot Arkemeton lectures on Applied Eschatology at the University of Divine Magic and is only allowed to live in Spire thanks to eight separate loopholes and a tremendously specific visa, given that she is a gnoll and being a gnoll is highly illegal.

Philydia Wisdom-Grace-the-Unwise is unusual in that she is a drow who has risen to prominence in the Solar Church; she can't stand the Solar Pantheon, and the stress of keeping up the facade has lead to her developing a wide array of unhealthy habits.

Cacophany Gryndel is a debonair socialite, a moneyed mover-and-shaker, and Chris' new wife. 

---

That's all for now. More when we know it!

- Grant, Chris, Mary and Mina

A sort of broad, general update
almost 3 years ago – Tue, Jun 08, 2021 at 10:40:38 PM

Let's keep this brief:

BACKERKIT

The Backerkit is fully up and running now. Please make sure you've logged in and entered your correct address, so we'll know where to send the book when we've printed them. As ever, if you have any spectacularly wealthy friends who don't have enough roleplaying games, send 'em our way.

PLEASE WELCOME: DIOGO ASSUNCAO

Bad news! One of our map artists, Marco Bernadini, had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. 

Good news! We've hired Diogo Assunção instead. You can take a look at his portofolio here. 

He's going to be illustrating the Hive, Spire's premier prison, and we're really excited to see what sort of horrors and nightmares he's going to wedge into the grimy cells.

FREE PDFS

Bit of a weird one this, but: one of our backers has put all of their PDFs from Everything Spire up for donation, because they already had the PDFs, which is nice of them! If you'd like a complete collection of Spire PDFs and you can't afford them through standard channels, drop an email to [email protected] with the subject line "GIVE ME THE PDFS PLEASE" before midnight BST on the 11th of June. I'll pick one of you at random and sort out the PDFs for gratis.  

Right, that's all for now. 

- Grant, Chris, Mary and Mina

Backerkit is live!
almost 3 years ago – Wed, Jun 02, 2021 at 02:04:43 AM

Okay! The Backerkit fulfillment survey and pre-order store is up and running. You can access it here. Tell all your wealthiest friends.

You should receive an email with login details within the next five days; we've already sent out an initial smoke test to make sure everything works, and once we know the website isn't going to fall over, we'll send out all the others too.

Some important points:

1) If your pledge gives you access to PDFs of things that already exist (like Spire core, Strata, Heart etc) you won't be able to download those until we lock your order and charge your card. If you'd like access to your PDFs before we lock down the Backerkit in general (which should be at the end of August) please send an email to [email protected] with the email address you used on Backerkit and we'll go into the back end and lock your order specifically.

(Sorry. I know this isn't the smoothest possible option, but it's the only way we can wrangle Backerkit into doing it without essentially giving away all our PDFs for free.)

2) We are offering a Build Your Own Bundle option! If you'd like to buy more than one hardcover book but the collection isn't offered on the Backerkit, you can select Build Your Own Bundle and tell us what books you'd like in the backer form - then we'll be in touch with a discounted price via email. If we receive a lot of requests for the same bundle we'll put it up on the page. This seemed like the best balance between flexibility and ease of use - we want to give you the books you want in any delicious combination, but not bog down the Backerkit in dozens of different options.

That's all for now. The first round of (structural) edits on the text is complete and we're now working towards getting everything ready for line editing later this month.

- Grant, Chris, Mary and Mina