Audio drama achieved! Plus, blog coverage and Monarchies of Mau excerpt from Early Access!
about 8 years ago – Tue, Feb 02, 2016 at 08:09:04 AM

Hi, Rose here. ^_^ It's been a big couple of days!

Stretch Goals

Having passed $105,000, you've enabled us to create a Pugmire audio drama, which will be based on one of the stories in the Pugmire Fiction Anthology. I'm particularly excited about this one. Back when we started at White Wolf together, one of the first things Eddy and I bonded over was our love of the Doctor Who audios from Big Finish.

Up next, at $115,000, we'll create Spell, Trick, and Condition Cards for Pugmire as game aids and offer them as an Add-on to backers who pledge for a reward tier that includes a physical copy of Pugmire.

After that, at $130,000, we'll increase our art budget by 20% for more art in the Pugmire main book!

Blog Coverage

Pugmire's also been getting coverage around the web. Check out these articles:

• The Nerdist
• The Arcade
• Nerd Approved
• EnGadget (German)

Preview Excerpt: The Monarchies of Mau

In today’s excerpt from Pugmire Early Access, Princess Yosha Pug and Pan Daschund talk about the cats and the Monarchies of Mau.  

Yosha: The Monarchies of Mau are what some dogs call “the cat kingdoms,” although a few of my moggie friends tell me that cats don’t have “kings” the way we do. We don’t know as much about them as we would like: a couple of generations ago, our grandfathers and grandmothers all fought in a terrible war with some of the monarchies, and ever since then there’s been tension between our kingdom and theirs. I personally think that it isn’t fair to treat cats badly just because of something their grandparents did to us, but many dogs openly dislike and distrust them.

By the way, “moggies” are the cats that don’t have families — something like strays for us. A few of the moggies act as bandits, attacking dogs for supplies or (for the bad cats) out of spite. Other moggies come to live in Pugmire, though, and find jobs to help them survive.  

Pan: Count me as one of those dogs that don’t trust the cats, no matter how much they yowl and whine about “honor” and “nobility.” I wasn’t in the war – I’m not THAT old – but I’ve been on the wrong end of a cat’s plans often enough that I can draw my own conclusions. This isn’t about history: a cat will attack you from behind tonight just as easily as her grandfather would all those years ago.

Anthology expansion and Roll20 resources achieved! Up next: Pugmire audio drama!
about 8 years ago – Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 03:31:45 PM

Hi, everyone. Rose here. ^_^

This has been an incredible weekend. Having passed $80,000, we'll commission an additional three short stories that will be combined with later stretch goals to create a Pugmire Fiction Anthology PDF/eBook that we will send to all backers who pledge for a reward tier that include a Pugmire PDF. Included in these three stories will be a story by long time friend of Pugmire, game designer and author Sean Patrick Fannon.

But I'm not done! Having passed $90,000, we will take the Pugmire Introductory Adventure maps and other resources like NPC chits and make them usable on online gaming sites like Roll20.

Up next, at $105,000, we'll do something we've never done before: take one of the Pugmire Fiction Anthology stories and turn it into an audio drama that we will send to all backers who pledge for a reward tier that include a Pugmire PDF.

I'm very excited, and we're only four days in! Thanks for your support!

Eddy on systems
about 8 years ago – Sun, Jan 31, 2016 at 06:44:16 AM

Hi, Rose here. ^_^ Since we've been getting some questions about what rules Pugmire will use and why, Eddy sent me some of his thoughts.

---

(A revised version of a blog post I made on July 17, 2015.)  

After a lot of debate, exploration, and testing, I decided to base the game on the d20 OGL. It’s inspired by the design of 5th edition D&D, as well as the recent wave of “old school” retroclones, with a dash of Onyx Path/White Wolf design ideology. Of course, as I was preparing Pugmire Early Access for this Kickstarter, Hasbro announced a new OGL for 5th edition, so one of my goals will be to tweak the rules slightly to better align with that license.  

So what about using pools of d10s? In chatting with some of the team making the Onyx Path “Storypath” system, I’m convinced that it also could be a good fit for the game, and for a while it was my Plan B, and I’d still like to put out a Pugmire Translation Guide that takes advantage of it in some way. But in the end, a lot of the language I and others have used to talk about the game is heavily based in old-school fantasy gaming, and my playtests reinforced to me that this is the best way to go with the game.  

But it’s not just filing off the serial numbers of an existing system. I’ve spent a lot of time challenging core assumptions, adapting new ideas, and seeing how each piece impacts the others. For example, rather than having a pre-constructed set of abilities, I want to present a series of options so players can pick the Tricks that make sense to them. I also needed to find ways of mechanically representing some of the concepts unique to Pugmire, such as the artisans. Here’s a quote from Pugmire Early Access to illustrate:  

“Last year, I discovered how I could use my focus to create fire! Unfortunately, I accidentally burned down the trees in front of Mr. Hound’s house, but I apologized for that. I know I have it under control now!”

— Princess Yosha Pug  

Artisans are social dogs that love to study masterwork relics and the magic they create. Because it requires a lot of time to understand such relics, many such dogs come from the middle and upper classes — the puppies of merchants, shop owners, nobility, and the like — although any dog with the appropriate inclination and resources can study the art of magic. Many of them also love culture and society, and they find that working with other dogs helps them in their studies.  

Artisans are something between a wizard, a sorcerer, and a bard. I redesigned and moved a lot of pieces around until I got the right feel from the mechanics. Similarly, guardians are more than just “fighters,” but also have some leadership abilities as well — more like warlords or fighting generals.  

Another piece are breeds. There are far more dog breeds than fantasy races, and I knew very early on that there was no way I could give mechanics for all the dog breeds that people were excited about — covering them all would take a whole book! So I had to find a way to allow people to create their own breeds, but still give them some differentiation.  

So that’s where the system is at, seeing if the dozens of small tweaks and changes make sense. Does a Corgi barbarian work? Do games end up feeling like the fiction bits I’ve put together? Is it the right balance of “classic fantasy RPG” and “lightweight adventure game”? I’m hoping that your own experiences will help me to clarify some points, but all in all I feel these rules push things in the right direction.

New pet name reward tiers!
about 8 years ago – Sat, Jan 30, 2016 at 10:30:05 AM

Hi, Rose here. ^_^

Intro adventure in the rulebook! Up next: Expanded anthology and virtual tabletop content!
about 8 years ago – Sat, Jan 30, 2016 at 06:59:18 AM

Hi, Rose here. ^_^

Having passed $65,000 of contributions, we'll include the Pugmire Introductory Adventure in the main Pugmire book itself, increasing the book's word count and usability.

Up next, at $80,000, we will commission an additional 3 short stories that will be combined with later stretch goals to create a Pugmire Fiction Anthology PDF/eBook that we will send to all backers who pledge for a reward tier that include a Pugmire PDF. Included in these three stories will be a story by long time friend of Pugmire, game designer and author Sean Patrick Fannon.

After that, at $90,000 of contributions, we will take the Pugmire Introductory Adventure maps and other resources like NPC chits and make them usable on online gaming sites like Roll20.

Thank you all!