Good morning, Everybody!!
This month has blitzed by!
We’ve been heads down with the Outsourced Kickstarter currently funding, and its been fantastic working with my brother, Stephan, throughout it. This is the first time we’ve been able to significantly work on Spicy Tuna together since 2021 and it's the freakin’ best! The Mercenary Appendix is going to be a fantastic addition to the hearty beastly book because of it. Update below.
I’m super stoked for this episode of The Guac because we have an amazing interview with Kyle Latino (Map Crow) from Cloud Curio about their currently funding book, Monstrous. I plan to use the hell out of Monstrous for a few of our 2024 projects and games in development. It was great digging out some additional information about the book and I’m excited to share below! Lastly, I’m happy to be highlighting some of my favorite episodes of The Weekly Scroll Podcast!
Time for the carne asada!
The Guac 016 Docket
Outsourced and Constant Downpour Update
Monstrous Interview w/ Cloud Curio
The Weekly Scroll 100th Episode
Spicy Tuna Deadline Calendar
Outsourced + Constant Downpour Remastered Update
Outsourced: The Luko Fin Corp Deception is finishing the proofreading stage!!
(Minus The Mercenary Appendix, the final 8-10 pages, which is on track to have writing finished by the end of September!) Very happy to be this far along with
7 days left to back Outsourced on Kickstarter!
>Highlights
>>Unlocked Free Player-facing Stimpak Catalog Zine ($8 Value)
15 New Stimpaks made from the space horror, creature,
and alien DNA found on Trace Atko and Celsio-X in Outsourced.
The Zine comes free with every pledge at $48 and above!
>>Spreads Reveal from the Trace Atko Toolkit in Outsourced
>>Interview + Actual Play
>>>Dr. Violet of RV Games interviewed me about Outsourced and running a publishing company while being a parent. On The Adventure Gaming Periodical
Violet is a fellow Mothership 3PP creator who runs RV Games. Their catalog includes Slasher (by Violet Ballard and River Schenkat) and The Cerdo Cycle (by Chris Airiau) with their latest micro-game, The Progeny, crowdfunding on the GameCrafter.
>>>Actual Play on PlusOneExp. Christian ran the first half of their Bunker Escape adventure for Tony Vasinda, Chris Airiau, Reece Carter, and myself. It was a blast!
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1915237903
PlusOneExp has an incredible Twitch and Youtube channel that constantly features indie ttrpg creators. Their latest video was especially wonderful RPG Layout for Horrified Beginners. You might find useful if you’re also making ttrpg books.
>>27-page Preview. Check out the all-but-final layout for 27 pages of the hardcover book!
OUTSOURCED 27-pg PREVIEW
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DCA_WAtq7L-Y9rbtMp3OH4_nUaxICx27/view?usp=sharing
Constant Downpour Remastered Update.
All packages are officially in the mail !!
It feels incredible to have this project wrapped up. We’ve heard from a ton of wonderful people that they’ve received CDR already with raving reviews of the book itself. I can’t wait for everyone’s book to be delivered!
Monstrous Interview with Kyle Latino of Cloud Curio
Hi, Cloud Curio!
Thank you for being on The Guac. I’m excited to have this little interview with you all and get more details on Monstrous! Let’s get into the cursed meat!!
Q: I love the ethos of this project - telling better stories through monsters, a focus on the rich backstories that inform motivations and actions, and presenting this all in easy-to-use worksheets. Can you start by telling us the origin of this project and what you hope GMs and readers get out of Monstrous?
A: My greatest hope for this project is that folks use MONSTROUS to find new ways to give their favorite monsters more consequence in their campaigns. I think most games have such a strong focus on combat abilities and random tables that they nearly forget that these monsters were metaphors before they became game objects. I don't have any interest in converting anyone into a storygamer, I just think that if orcs, dragons, and liches all exist in a world together, that should have an impact on your game and its NPCs while suggesting scenarios a bit more sophisticated than, "You find 1d4 of these in a basement."
Q: Monstrous does a wonderful job infusing poetry and prose into each of the evocative monster Forms. Can you tell us about the decision on doing three Forms for every monster? How did you decide on what these completed Forms would look like, and how do you hope each aspect of the Forms help GMs use them in game?
A:The Forms are where me and Kenny (my writing partner) get to have fun showing off our twist on a lot of classic monsters! Whatever game you love running probably already has its version of goblins and skeletons in it. We want to show how MONSTROUS adds spice to even the most familiar low-level encounters! We don't expect everyone is going to run our version of Giant Spiders, we just want to show that there is plenty of meat on the bone, and there are still ways to be creative with our favorite old standards!
Q: Fear is repeated when talking about or describing Monstrous throughout your videos, streams, and in the preview. Why is one focus on fear and how does Monstrous help users instill fear in developing their own spins on the classical monster archetypes.
A: I think by adding horrific and/or pitiable elements to monsters, it feels more rewarding to see them defeated in glorious combat! Even if you aren't playing a heroic fantasy, the contract with the player is almost always that they should feel like they overcame perilous obstacles in pursuit of their goals! That should feel risky if not death-defying! So describing a monster and its scenario in a way that makes a player think, "What have I gotten myself into" is a way to give these encounters weight and stakes.
Q: Lastly, I would to love to hear about one or a few of your favorite Forms in the book and anything you’d like to share about them.
A: My favorite form is whatever I happen to be drawing at the time! Haha! But the one I'm most curious to see how many people end up using in a game is the Mind Minister, which is our cosmic horror take on Mind Flayers. Instead of psychic squid men in opera cloaks, the Mind Minister is a Gigeresque, humanoid cocoon with all the minds it has stolen floating behind it, pulled along by slimy umbilical cords. If I'm playing a game and the party comes across a Mind Flayer, my thought is "Oh no! A Mind Flayer!" But with the Mind Minister, my thought is, "What the ever-loving blue-eye hell is that!? Burn your highest spell slots and run for it!"
Monstrous is crowdfunding now with 12 days to go! Check it out here:
If you want to see more about Monstrous you can check out Kyle’s videos on Map Crow
How to Build a Better Monster!! Encounters & Adventures!!
NEW MONSTROUS DRAGON + Big Announcements!!
The origins of the project on Map Crow’s Building Better Monsters Playlist
Or check out the Prep and Actual Play episodes Cloud Curio did with Tony from PlusOneExp
Monstrous Prep | w/ Kyle Latino
Monstrously We Go | Down We Go w/Monstrous
And you check it out now by downloading the preview for Monstrous here.
Weekly Scroll Episode 100
+ Recent Favorite Episodes
Ryan & Hunter published their 100th episode of the Weekly Scroll earlier this month!! It was a great recap of several “smaller” games they reviewed but didn’t previously rate, including Primal Quest, Fallen, Liminal Horror, and more.
More than the reviews, The Weekly Scroll Podcast does a ton of different “shows” on their channel.
>The Weekly Scroll Podcast is where they primarily do game reviews.
>The Adventure Archives are their longer AP series where they are currently playing through Dragonbane.
>Creator Cuts are their shows hosting ttrpg publishers for an interview to talk about their current crowdfunding campaigns
>SideQuests are Actual Plays where they play through and teach games that have been reviewed on The Weekly Scroll Podcast. It is usually hosted by the game’s creator, a third-party writer, or Josh Domanski.
Their first episode was a ton of fun with Disaster Tourism playing the intro adventure for their game Guild, and I’m looking forward to their upcoming episode with Matthew Morris (manarampmatt).
Ryan and Hunter are fantastic hosts and they do great long form deep dives of games, hitting every important beat and giving you a fantastic taste of what the game is like. I’ve been a huge fan of the show for awhile, and was incredibly happy to meet and talk with them at the end of last year where we talked about Knights of Lazarus, Familiar Faces, and Constant Downpour Remastered.
I recommend giving them a listen as both a game designer and lover of ttrpg books.
Here are some of my favorite recent episodes:
>The Weekly Scroll | Episode 100 | ZINE SPECIAL
>The Weekly Scroll | EP 104 | The Company
>SideQuests | EP 1 | GUILD: Sword and Magick for Hire
>The Weekly Scroll | EP 098 | JERT RETURNS
>The Weekly Scroll | EP 101 | FIST: ULTRA EDITION
>The Weekly Scroll | Creator Cuts 09 | Eco Mofos
Lastly, I’m excited to be returning to The Weekly Scroll this November for a Creator Cuts episode for Greenhorns!! More on that when the date is closer :)
Check out the Weekly Scroll links at https://linktr.ee/TheWeeklyScroll to follow or watch them wherever you prefer. (I personally like the videos on Youtube since I usually miss their live streams.)
Spicy Tuna September + October Calendar
>SEPTEMBER
>>SEP.28th_Outsourced_Kickstarter Ends!!
>>SEP.28th_Outsourced_Mercenary Appendix Writing Finished 100%
>OCTOBER
>>OCT.10th_Greenhorns_Final playtesting before Ashcan release
>>OCT.15th_Outsourced_Mercenary Appendix Editing Finished 100%
>>OCT.17th_Greenhorns_Ashcan available for free at spicytunarpg.itch.io
>>OCT.20th_Outsourced_Printing approval process begins
>>OCT.26th_Outsourced_PDFs Sent to Backers
>>OCT.30th_Greenhorns_60% complete (Writing, Layout, Art)
>>OCT.30th_Incorporated Vol.1_Layout Finished 100% and ready for art development
>NOVEMBER
>>NOV.7th_13th_Greenhorns_Kickstarter Launches!!
>>NOV.6th_Outsourced_Ordered!!
>>NOV.15th_Knuckles Co + Professional Rebels_100% Complete. Deliver to Iko
>>NOV.24th_Greenhorns_100% Complete
>> >> Greenhorns_Ordered on or before the campaign ends!!
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