Sneak Preview of the Next Big Project! 🛡 (Patreon)

Welcome Shield Bearers! Firstly, thank you for your immense support. It means the world.

Now... on to the sneak preview of Shieldice Studio's next project! This may very well become a Kickstarter. I would like to introduce you to...

INK RPG! - A stand-alone, storytelling, mapmaking game that can also be used as a world-building tool or campaign prologue for your favourite TTRPG. For solo sessions, and up to five players!

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How it Began: I really wanted to create a minimalist RPG based on world-building, that could also be used a tool, so I set myself the challenge of creating a simple conversational system, including prompts and cards, that would aid role-players and writers in crafting a fantasy world in a fun and engaging way. Then an idea came to me... what better way to craft a world than through the eyes of someone who inhabits it? INK RPG focuses on retired adventurers who each take turns telling tales of their exploits to an Archivist, who then maps and logs these adventures, thus creating a world through narrative. Hopefully it will work in tandem with the Realm Fables products too!

How it's Going: The game is more or less entirely written. I definitely need to tweak some things after a couple of play-throughs revealed slight flaws (such as; Using a single deck of cards seems to limit Archivist question and story prompt connections - so perhaps each player requires their own deck 🤷‍♂️). I am working on tweaks before I begin to drop the game text into the layout designs, and hope to run a few more games with friends. I have also been playing solo, which seems to work well, but certainly asks a lot of the player. I also need to write extensive story prompt lists for those playing who are less experienced at improvisation.

Art and Design: I am a graphic designer by trade so am lucky enough to have the Adobe Suite. The book layout design is coming along nicely (done in InDesign). You can see from the attached screenshots that I have been playing with a very simple format that is reminiscent of more mainstream tabletop games (the layouts are filled with placeholder text so I could get a feel for fonts etc). For the artwork, I felt I wanted something a little more professional than my usual doodles, so have attempted to use commercially free photos and photo-bash them together in Photoshop, then digitally paint textures over them using my old Huion tablet. I am quite happy with the results so far! (The cover design went well, and uses a mishmash of Pixabay images, Unsplash photos, and Artbreeder AI generated imagery).

Timescale: I am hoping to complete INK RPG before Christmas (hopefully sooner if I get the time!). Although the mockup image of the cover shows a hardback book, I am currently trying to cut down the text to its most basic format, so a smaller, A5 soft-cover will probably suffice. That will allow me to get this thing created sooner too! I will drop some updates at a later date.

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Thank you for taking a look at this 'behind-the-scenes' post! Please let me know if you enjoy this kind of content, and if there is anything else you would like to be seeing in regards to my design process etc.

Order of Shieldice, I salute you!