A tabletop RPG for one-shot cyberpunk action using streamlined Forged in the Dark rules.
Please note, due to fluctuating global shipping rates, we will be charging shipping fees at a later date. We will keep you updated through Updates for when shipping fees will be applied to your pre-order. Thank you for your patience and understanding!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Running on the Edge: Digital Files, Manufacturing, Shipping, Etc.
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 04:25:00 PM
Hey Everyone,
Hope you had a wonderful September! Here's where we're at with CBR+PNK: Augmented Edition:
DigitalKeys
By now, all of you should have received your digital keys either through DriveThruRPG or itch.io.
As a contingency, we'll also be distributing the digital files through BackerKit Surveys- expect a notification from that platform via email that leads to a digital key for the above platforms.
If you haven't yet or are having difficulty accessing your files, please shoot us a message either in the comments below or at: [email protected].
Make sure to look through all the files too! Emanoel included mobile-friendly versions for on the go use as well as some really cool extras like sound files for MIND THE GAP. Have a great time digging through it all and let us know what you think!
Manufacturing
This past month, we've been sourcing manufacturers for CBR+PNK. This has been a very thorough process; all told, we've asked for quotes from 18 different printers. CBR+PNK sits at the intersection of board game and print manufacturing, so that's allowed us to go extremely wide with our search. We're also happy to report that the brochures will be able to be reusable with dry erase markers,; every manufacturer we've talked to has said that shouldn't be an issue.
In terms of final specs, we've decided to include 12 brochures in the final boxed package:
5x Player sheets
1x GM Sheet, 1x Framework
1x Mind the Gap
1x +WEIRD
1x PRDTR
1x Mona Rise
1x Cyberpunk Hunters.
That's up from 8 in the original Kickstarter and includes one bonus Player Sheet because we didn't want to include 11 pamphlets, which seemed like an odd number. We're also exploring the idea of including a dry erase marker in the actual boxed set... may still happen, depending on what our manufacturers say!
BackerKit Surveys
We're ready to send out BackerKit Surveys! You should be getting a notification in your emails shortly about this.
Because we only have 1 SKU for this campaign it should be a fairly straightforward process. The main reason we are sending these now is so we can have a breakdown of our total units per region, to help better estimate and coordinate our manufacturing and logistics. As previously stated, we'll also be using the digital distribution tools in BackerKit as a contingency to make sure you get your digital files.
Pleasenote that we are going to be charging for shipping at a later datecloser to fulfillment. This is to grab the most up to date rates as possible as close to shipping as possible. We'll make sure to update you with the rates before sending them out to be charged.
Shipping
That said, If you missed the good news from previous updates, we've managed to secure VAT friendly shipping to the EU and in general have greatly increased our logistics going forward. We're now going straight from the printer to our various warehousing hubs in the USA, UK, EU, and China, from whence they'll be shipped to you, our backers!
Things in general seemed to have... mellowed out, logistics wise since the madness that was earlier this year. Prices for freight are down to pre-COVID 2019 levels. Hopefully that holds, but who knows what other craziness awaits in the months ahead! So, we're cautiously optimistic...
Updated Timeline
We have until the beginning of October to source a manufacturer. Once we have one locked, here's the timetable:
Lock Printer and Pay Deposit - Early October 2022
Game Manufacturing - Middle October - End of November 2022
Ocean Freight to Warehouses - December 2022
Backer Fulfillment - January-February 2023
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That's it for now. Please, enjoy those digital copies, and we'll keep you afloat on manufacturing as we chug along behind the scenes.
Until next time, chooms!
- Ray
Digital Keys
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Sep 20, 2022 at 07:26:02 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
August Update
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Aug 23, 2022 at 07:34:41 AM
Emaonel, the mad man, has done it.
CBR+PNK: Augmented has gone gold!
The exterior of the box.
The yellow sleeve that wraps around the box.
The Player Pamphlet, 4 of which will be included inside the boxed set.
The GM Pamphlet, with the majority of the rules.
Framework - the GM Advice + Score Generation Pamphlet.
The Cyberpunk Hunters Pamphlet with additional rules for adding antagonist NPCs.
Mona Rise, a complete megacity setting for CBR+PNK.
PRDTR. So you can get to the chopper!
Mind the Gap, a ready to play Score for CBR+PNK.
The mad man did it. And he printed samples to prove it!
Honestly, in all my years doing creative work I have to say that Emanoel's talent is as incredible I've ever seen. He combines so many different sensibilities and a technical expertise and precision that is absolutely phenomenally un-freaking-deniable.
I mean look at this stuff. Incredible, incredible work.
ADDITIONAL EDITING: ERICK SOFGE
We'd also like to announce a new member of the crew today!
Erick Sofge has been helping behind the scenes to edit some of the clarity of rules on the pamphlets. He's done a really amazing job, so we've decided to give him an official line credit in the game. Thanks Erick!
PRINTING
That said, we're close to print!
We'll soon release the digital files and we're gathering quotes from various printers. We were hoping to use the same printer as we did for The Wildsea, but alas some events have led us to believe that it's best if we look for new print partners for the long term. The timetable for locking a printer is the month of September, with a targeted print start date of October 1st.
The great news is the physical specs of CBR+PNK and Emanoel's attention to detail make it very easy to visualize for potential partners. We're trying to add some bells and whistles to the final product including that lamination to make them reusable.
Once that's locked, we'll send CBR+PNK right onto print.
Unfortunately, that puts us right in the crosshairs for the holiday season rush, which is a nightmare logistically. That said, from past experience expect fulfillment to rollover to Q1 of 2023. Between the surge shipping rates from the holidays, the ocean freight that needs to occur between now and then, and just the general congestion that time period entails, we think it's the most realistic timetable for getting the physical products out.
For reference, we went gold with The Wildsea in February and received the first advanced copies in the middle of July. Which is one of the major reasons why we decided to switch printers...
The good news is that we're much better prepared now to streamline the process from production to fulfillment. It's not exciting news, but it is good news!
SHIPPING
Also, in the good news department, we think we figured out shipping! Or, at least, have locked in a way to sell goods there at decent costs.
Basically this involved getting various warehouses on board, navigating the complex EU and UK tax systems, rethinking our global supply chain, automating our fulfillment, and paying for all of the above.
This is all real inside baseball stuff, but it's been a majority of my professional life for most of the year so I am a bit keen to celebrate this newfound infrastructure.
What that also means, dear backers, is hopefully we have found a way to offer cheap and seamless shipping to you with VAT baked into the various regions. That has been the goal and we think we have it figured out... hopefully.
We're testing right now with the fulfillment of The Wildsea. We were able to reduce rates extensively and think we'll be able to lower it yet again in future campaigns based off of what we've learned and implemented (and will continue to implement) over the last year.
Considering the discussion that we were having on this campaign about EU VAT, I'm chalking this one up as a huge win.
PLAYTESTS
Over the last few months I've printed The Wildsea: RPG, launched The Skies of Fire: Collected Edition, went to San Diego Comic-Con, then unto Gen Con for the very first time. It has been like this all year but hopefully it's going to wind down a bit into the Fall with our major milestones out of the way.
Mythopoeia @ Gen Con 2022.
I'm going to take a much needed vacation next week and going off the grid for a little bit. But after I come back, I want to run a lot more games in the Mythopoeia Discord, so more of you have a chance to play CBR+PNK before receiving your editions. I'm especially excited to test out PRDTR and Mind the Gap, so fingers crossed for more games / playtests in September!
DIGITAL
Up next for us is preparing the Digital Files! Heads up - sometime in the next few weeks you'll be receiving a survey from us asking whether or not you'd like your files digitally delivered through DriveThruRPG or Itch.io.
We will let you know when those go out in a separate update, but head's up for now!
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Alright folks, that's it for this month! Next update we'll release the digital files, and a more in depth look into the printing process.
Questions, comments, concerns? You can reach us at this Kickstarter or through email: [email protected].
See you next time!
Ray
July Update - Mind the Gap, GM Pamphlet, +WEIRD
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, Jul 09, 2022 at 12:02:04 PM
Here's our overall update. This past month Emanoel managed to complete the layout for MIND THE GAP, revised the layouts for the GM Pamphlet, wrote the 1st draft for FRAMEWORK, and we received the first pass of layouts for +WEIRD. A lot of progress!
We think overall we have about a month more of production before we can go gold with the project.
I'm a huge fan of the design work Emanoel put into this piece. In particular, the use of the train routes like you would see on a subway map as an accent that cuts through both the title and is used as a Reality Check Tracker (the red line) is just chef's kiss.
Out of curiosity, of you 2,000 or so backers, how many of you is this either
A.) Your first Forged in the Dark game?
B.) Your first RPG ever?
I ask because there seems to be a real excitement around CBR+PNK, but as someone who is very much steeped in the type of game system CBR+PNK embodies, I'm not exactly objective when it comes to reading the text and interpreting the rules, so I'm curious as to how they read to people who are less familiar with the game and systems.
We'd love to hear your feedback on the readability of the text thus far, especially if you are a newcomer to these type of games or RPGs as a whole!
+WEIRD
Last month we brought on board Raul Rinaldi to work on the layouts for +WEIRD. We received a very strong first draft, and it's looking mighty fine!
There are a couple of changes we'd like to make before giving this the full green light, however, which is why it's still notated as in the LAYOUT phase in the Notion tracking document. That said, we anticipate finishing up the revisions in the weeks ahead and be done with the pamphlet by the end of the month.
Here's an excerpt from the backside where you can read all about the various type of METAHUMANS to give your runners a bit more of a shadowy feel if you get my drift ;
I'm really digging the color scheme for this pamphlet. Even though we're only showing the pink sides, about half of the panels are a beautiful white that contrasts so nicely with the pink+blue used throughout. It's quite beautiful and not a palette I see too often. Great work, Raul!
PRDTR
The only major piece of drafting (writing) that remains is for the PRDTR panel. I've told Emanoel that this is pretty ironic considering how strong of an initial idea he had for PRDTR - one of those that seemed fully formed right from the start - and how it was the first piece we received artwork for from Luis Melo. If you'll recall, this is what the cover for that looks like:
Emanoel's been working on the design of the APX:
Designed by the APX Corporation, the Hunter is a Super-Soldier experiment gone wrong.
Looking pretty rad! I'm excited to see what those boxes end up being, mechanically. Super stoked to run this one :D
GEN CON 2022
Mythopoeia will be at Gen Con 2022 from August 4th - 7th at Entrepreneurship Alley!
CBR+PNK won't be quite ready for exhibition yet, but we will have The Wildsea, which Emanoel contributed the design of the Firefly Folio for:
The design of the Firefly Folio by Emanoel.
The Firefly Folio is the wraparound book cover that also serves as a GM Screen for The Wildsea.
This one is for the collected edition of Skies of Fire, featuring the complete story arch compiled from the eight individual issues. We're super excited about this campaign as it's the culmination of eight years of hard work bringing this story to life.
Okay backers, that's it for this month! At this point we're fairly confident we'll be wrapping up production by August. Let us know if you have any questions, comments, or thoughts below.
Otherwise, have a great midsummer!
Stay hydrated!
- Ray
Production Update
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 11:59:04 AM
Hey Everyone!
First of all our apologies for not updating in May. We were knee deep in production and before we knew it the month had flown by, and then ten more days. Emanoel has been feeling a bit under the weather this week, but nonetheless he's made an incredible amount of progress since our last update.
One of the major milestones we reached was the completion of the CYBERPUNK HUNTERS pamphlet by Catscratcher Studios. CYBERPUNK HUNTERS is an optional expansion to CBR+PNK that adds rules for HUNTERS, nemesis-like antagonists that may have hunted your Runners in the past:
The mechanics for CYBERPUNK HUNTERS draws on the core mechanics and gives GMs some mechanical heft to boss encounters, with guidance for GMs to create their own Hunters or to use one of a number of pregenerated ones on the pamphlet.
Here's a look at the front of the pamphlet:
And the backside:
INTRODUCING: JONIEL SANTOS
You may notice the big black blank spot in the front and the white portraits in the backside. Those are going to be filled with awesome character art drawn by the amazing Joniel Santos!
Here's a couple of work in progress sketches of some of the pregenerated Hunters:
From left to right: WIPs of the Stalker, Commando, and ???? Hunters by Joniel.
The final images are going to be done in Joniel's signature inked style and will look absolutely incredible. We're so excited to have him on the team, and in general be able to showcase the amazing talents of LATAM designers and artists in the TTRPG scene.
Mona Rise Megalopolis
Speaking of which, we have also 'completed' work on Leonardo Azevedo's MONA RISE MEGALOPOLIS megasetting!
Mona Rise Megalopolis is a European urban complex controlled by three global companies and you are here for dirty work. An unknown contact has offered you a job you can't refuse and you have seized the opportunity. Now it's time to get this shit done, one last time.
'Completed' is in quotes because Mona Rise was already a beautifully polished piece as you can see from the images below:
I'm personally super jazzed to try out Mona Rise. The RPG world needs more Fiction First + OSR hybrids, dangnabbit!
Looking forward to what sorts of +WEIRD stuff Raul comes up with!
ROAD AHEAD: JUNE + JULY
We are about a month to six weeks behind our internal schedule of locking print ready by the beginning of June.
This month, we'll be focusing on +WEIRD and FRAMEWORK before circling back to the CORE and PRDTR.
In terms of print, we're getting a lot of experience manufacturing boxed games with The Wildsea, which Emanoel designed the Firefly Folio wraparound for.
The Firefly Folio - a GM screen that wraps around the core rulebook of The Wildsea, designed by Emanoel.
All that said, we're chugging along! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please post below, or join our Discord!
