Planet Worldbuilding + Underground Systems

The Guac 001

Thank you to everyone who signed up! The Guac will serve as our way to keep you updated with what we’re up to, products that are being developed, and smack some inspiration down.

We are committed to a monthly newsletter, but as things might pop up - inspiration based or new releases -we may send bonus emails your way.

Lastly, we’ll regularly give free downloads through The Guac Newsletter. (The first free downloads are available below in the “Spicy Tuna Update” section.)

Topics:

• Spicy Tuna Update

  • Sci-fi Adventure and Worldbuilding Notebooks + Zine

  • Knights of Lazarus + Familiar Faces Shipping Update

  • Incorporated Vol.1 Reveal

• Orbital Debris Snippet

  • Art Reveal

• Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel

• Kosmosaurs: The most beautiful book I’ve seen in a long time.

• From the Bookshelf: The Massive

Spicy Tuna Update

SciFi Adventure and Worldbuilding Notebooks + Zine

These are coming to Kickstarter in August! I got obsessed with making notebooks while making the digital assets for Knights of Lazarus and Familiar Faces (there are 5 print-at-home notebooks for wardens and players to use between the two zines).

I’m naturally unorganized and usually type a few words as reminders in my notes app I rarely reference when writing modules and stories. I started designing a few notebooks for myself and decided to send them out for feedback.

There are about a dozen people currently testing the condensed prototype notebooks in different stages of development. The testers range from people I worked with on Orbital Debris, to a comic creator I greatly admire, to people I hardly know.

I’m stoked to get more feedback and feel like it’s shaping into a fantastic asset to assist writers create modules, comics, or any other story. (I want to do a kids line so kids can flex their creativity in the future!)

We’ll be releasing 3-4 Notebooks 20-48 page notebooks (TBD), The Planet Design Book, Asteroids and Outposts Design Book, Satellite System Design Book, and Space Threats + Encounters.

The 12-page zine is packed with random tables to help combat writers block and provide inspiration during the design process.

Lastly, we’ll have 3 playlists created by the wonderful Sam Leigh @goblinmixtape to get in the groove while you’re writing!!

Here’s some sneak peaks of some current pages*

Here are four print-at-home micro-versions! They are formatted as pocket mods and normal sheets to help you design quick threats and planets for your home games or modules!

Knights of Lazarus Kickstarter Update

We have a lot going on here! Knights of Lazarus + Familiar Faces Vol.1 Books will be arriving by July 22nd. Digital rewards were sent out on Wednesday and shipping will start immediately after receiving the print order. For more check out the KS update page. 

Incorporated Vol.1

I’m stoked about this project! The next Mothership zine will be crowdfunded once the 1E rules are released. The Incorporated series will follow a similar vein as Familiar Faces, but instead of NPCs with necessary professions, we’ll have a catalog of detailed corporations to use as recurring adversaries or trade dealers.

The sauce of the project will be presenting each corporation with a branding identity. This will result in a crazy amount of handouts and printable digital assets to give your players regularly. 

Here are some of the process and work (The logo design process, current graphic elements, and a poster teaser) I’ve done for Yucatan Tech Co. which you might be familiar with. (Yucatan Tech Co Issue 1 is free here.)

Orbital Debris Snippet

I’ve talked about it a few times, but I really am grateful to be working on this project with the rest of the crew. I’m glad we took the leap last November and the zine is entering layout stages soon!

Here’s a sneak peek of some of the hex art I’ve done for the project.

Mech Graveyard, written by @le_jean_verne

My own hex, Vat City.

Black Pools and Clean by Reece Carter.

See the most recent KS update here.

Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel

This underground flood water diversion facility is enormous. The project took place over fourteen years and includes 6.4 kilometers of tunnels built beneath with 65m heights. Built in Kasukabe, Saitoma in the outskirts of Tokyo.

The capabilities of this system is near science fiction. The magnitude of the pillars and labyrinth affect paired with the utility of it all is inspiring for my writing. I try to absorb a bunch of current technologies and think about how they can be applied in games, or breathe more life into worlds that would be previously uninhabitable. 

You can read more here.

Kosmosaurs by Diogo Nogueira

This book is breathtaking! It is absolutely packed with flavor, art, and graphic elements. No other book this year has grasped my attention like this. I have it perpetually pulled up on my phone.

(I saw Diogo post that the physical book will be released in the coming months through Exalted Funeral. The itch.io link is for the PDF and Diogo has provided unlimited community copies if it’s more suitable for you or to check it out before purchase.)

https://diogo-old-skull.itch.io/kosmosaurs-rpg

More by Diogo at Old Skull https://oldskull-publishing.com/ or @diogo_oldskull

More fantastic art by Łukasz Kowalczuk https://www.instagram.com/elkowalczuk/

More wonderful layout by Guilherme Gontijo here https://www.gontijolab.com/

Here are some spreads from the itch.io page so they can speak for themselves.

From the Bookshelf: The Massive

This is the first single issue comic I bought, and one of the stories that made me fall in love with comics (which happened when I was about 20).

The Massive follows a pacifist environmental group searching for its larger sister ship The Massive after the world is upheaved by an eco-crash. Large chunks of land now rest below seas, virtually no sense of organized government and limited resources make for a great story.

The art is incredible in this series and there’s a lot to pull from here. The back of each issue generally reveals new things in the world outside apart from the comic’s story. These artifacts are fantastic!

The part that sticks with me the most is the character development. The group is a collection of highly capable people with intriguing and useful backgrounds that usually contradict their moral code. All of this is put through the ringer in the new world.

You can see more here.

That’s it for issue 001. Thanks for reading and have a beautiful day,

Marco (Spicy Tuna RPG)