A New PDF and more backer support!
almost 6 years ago – Sat, May 19, 2018 at 06:26:28 PM

Thank You Chibis!

To say thank you for your continued support of the World of Alessia Campaign Primer, Jere recently reached out to the BATCLAM and had some cool chibis made. So, as well roll into our first full week of the Kickstarter, I present you each of you.... well... chibis.

 Upgrading Pledge Levels

As some of you already noted earlier today, Jere and I upgraded the pledge levels this morning. We had a long discussion about our budget and made some minor adjustments we think will add value for backers. While this won't have a lot of impact for lower level backers, if you're a senior backer, these adjustments ensure you get more content.

Additionally, we added two "add-ons" for backers who wanted to make small adjustments to their pledges, as well. With these changes in place, we believe backers will get the absolute best options for their money while still allowing us to make a great product.

 Check Out the World!

If you haven't done so already, please consider downloading and sharing one of our first five free PDFs, listed below:

Seirye Qin, Captain of the Skyship Amethyst Myst.

Taela Liu, Champion of the Mind

Xei, Dragonsworn Ghost Monk

Zhang Wei, Human Peacekeeper and Paladin of the Celestial Emperor

The Kickstarter FAQ

Once again, thanks for backing and we look forward to sharing our newest world with all of you!

Cheers,
Jaye

Answering Questions About Alessia
about 6 years ago – Fri, May 18, 2018 at 10:12:32 AM

Backers,

Over the last few days, you've asked questions. In this update, we answer many of those questions.

What’s the World of Alessia Campaign Primer going to look like?

The primer is going to be 180 pages of content including eleven new species, four new classes (and subclasses), new gear, spells, items, backgrounds, vehicle rules, encounters, and more.

Yes, we plan to stuff some monsters in there, too. To be honest, we’re really hoping we hit 30k, which is where we need to be to turn this into a quality campaign setting, although I think our first push gives everyone a pretty clear picture of our intent for the world and what lies beyond.

GMs can, alongside the Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook (or the Starfinder Core Rulebook, if you back that system), use this primer to create short episodes (our in-house term for shorter adventures), as well as to introduce new classes or species to their games, as well. GMs looking to interject new technology, including strange crystals or intelligent, aware animals will find this primer useful, as well.

How the Voucher's Work

We wanted to take a moment to explain the voucher process and why we initially selected. We regret that it has confused a few folks, and hope our explanation below will make it clearer. When you select an option that includes a voucher, you are agreeing to pay a smaller amount upfront for a book (softcover or hardcover) that will include a secondary cost (printing, plus shipping) based on your region at a later date.

For backers in the United States, this fee normally ranges between for S/ that it has confused a few folks, and hope our explanation below will make it clearer. When you select an option that includes a voucher, you are agreeing to pay a smaller amount upfront for a book (softcover or hardcover) that will include a secondary cost (printing, plus shipping) based on your region. For backers in the United States, this fee normally ranges between $17-$22 (which brings price ranges upward to the $50 to $60 range many Kickstarters print books at).

Although this initially looks like a “hidden fee,” this allows some backers to print their books locally, allowing them to receive their books from inside their region, avoiding import taxes and other origination-based fees that may greatly heighten shipping costs. For Europeans, this specifically means that by opting for a voucher, when you print your book, it ships from the United Kingdom (it’s point of origin) and not the United States; this is intended to lower overall printing and shipping costs, allowing us to offer softcover and hardcover options at lower price points. 

For others in places like Australia, this is even more difficult, because shipping rates can run $55 and upwards for books in the 3-5 lbs range; again, this makes shipping potentially more attractive, as shipping via DriveThru can offer international customers much lower rates (we presume because of the outgoing volume). Essentially, we’re doing everything in our power to make this Kickstarter both exciting and affordable for interested backers!

Adding Additional Pledge Levels…

Will we add more? I don’t know, but there is a chance. Jere and I have been discussing the merits of adding a final, print+ option that includes most of the items people have been asking for – a hardbound pledge level that includes all of the digital stretch goals, as well as all of the future product releases for that line. We’re still discussing this, however, because we don’t want to make any mistakes – once we add a pledge level, we can’t take it back. 

Showing You More So, how many species are planned?

The World of Alessia has dozens of species, although we’ve only shown you the first eleven so far. Over the course of the Kickstarter we plan to show you many more. We also plan to release more of these species over the course of the next few years; some of these species books will represent additional releases for the system of your choice.

So, who are some of the species you haven’t seen yet?

Well, there’s the Dark Ish’ra, a whole species of slavers who have set their eyes on Alessia and their former kin, who escaped their masters’ grasp so long ago.

Starfinder fans may also find the Tir’ians of interest. A species of reptilians with a history of terraforming entire galaxies, the normally peaceful people have arrived at an impasse – they desperately need the resources Alessia has to offer, but don’t want to doom several intelligent empires in the process.

There are also the Yökai Lords and their lines, only some of which we’ve shown you. So far, backers have seen Fengu, Gnoles, Pandrens, and Weaslings, but there are more species including the Harpyans, the Kitsune, the Nagai, the Nekomata, and more. 

Other, more traditional species also walk the face of Alessia. Sentients, a species of intelligent automatons created in service of the faith now serve a wider community of individuals with far more secular aims. The Telg’ra live on Alessia’s innermost moon, where they work in service of those who accelerated their evolution. Minotaurs work alongside Jötunfolk and Dwarves, two species they once considered mortal enemies. In the skies above Alessia, Noble Gnomes work with the Cloud Giants who created them, ensuring their beloved floating cities never crash, Deep below the mountains of Alessia, Rock Gnomes serve their Stone Giant masters, often enacting dangerous plots to redress imagined wrongs. In total, we plan to release all of the species over time, including through the end of 2020. That’s about 25 species in total, although some are arguably subspecies and that should skew backward toward smaller, more affordable products.

Will There Be Monsters? 

Yes! We plan to include a healthy sample of flora, fauna, and monsters to help GMs begin to insert more of Alessia into their worlds. Conversely, GMs who want to pull elements from Alessia into their games should have even more luck doing just that.

What’s next?

Tomorrow we’re releasing another PDF that shows players and GMs more of what exists inside Alessia, what they can bring to their games, and why supporting this project helps us build better worlds!

Cheers,
Jaye

Our First Update!
about 6 years ago – Wed, May 16, 2018 at 04:22:01 PM

Let me start, dear backers, by saying thank you - for both your interest in the World of Alessia, as well as in Storm Bunny Studio's ongoing work.

Welcome to Alessia.

This Kickstarter is, arguably, one of my personal favorites for a number of reasons, one of which is because it's also an ongoing story between two countries' gaming communities converging. Which, when you think about it, is a little what this new setting is about - because Storm Bunny Studios wanted to do something different for the tabletop RPG community.

The World of Alessia represents that step forward and follows the high standards other companies like Paizo* have set for the broader community.

Alessia is a world that steps away from the normal assumptions about space or fantasy; Alessia is a non-human centric world where dozens of species live, work, play, and fight together against enemies on three fronts.

Getting to Questions

We've received a wave of questions from all of you, as well as repeated suggestions to add new print options and pledge levels. So, I'm going to start answering those right now:

Pledge Levels - We've been agonizing over this for a few months now, too, because it was an area of concern going into the Kickstarter. While Jere initially suggested a print run from the U.S., we were both concerned about shipping costs. When we shipped copies of Rhune: Dawn of Twilight to Finland in 2016, the cost was roughly $52 at 3.5 lbs (about 1.54 kilo) for one book. That made physical print runs less attractive, especially when we learned we could ship as print-on-demand from the U.K. for those customers, making the overall process at the end of production less expensive for our EU customers.

So, I've been advocating for vouchers to keep a print price affordable. That, however, has not been what most of you have demanded, even at the potential cost. So, I'm going to look into shipping costs to Finland, Europe, Australia, and other areas of the world to see what prices run so I can accurately dial in shipping costs for folks who only want the physical book/PDF combination (instead of the voucher). So, we'll be adding that new pledge level this week!

We're actively listening and willing to work to make sure the product we're building for you is the best possible example of our vision and ideas! Why? Because we want you to join team Storm Bunny**, that's why!

So, let's talk tech levels.

Alessia is a stellar civilization, so it's a Type II civilization on the Kardashev scale. This civilization manifests in three, unique ways.

First, Alessia has a series of Sky Cities that operate higher in its breathable atmosphere, and citizens of the Empire of Xian can even purchase trips aboard Skyships that travel as high as the Ring of Heaven itself. Beyond the ring, characters must wear protective suits, employ magitech gear, or be in a special vehicle - like retro-fitted Skyships or even Voidships.

Secondly, Alessia has three orbital moons, one of which hangs low in Alessia's orbit, inside its breathable atmosphere. Species like the Telgra have adapted to these extreme atmospheres, allowing some species to perform better in certain environments naturally.

Finally, we need to chat about Ring of Heaven. This ring, created by the Sovereigns (the gods who departed Alessia, blessing it with The Light as they went), stands guard against all those who threaten the planet itself. We expect this is where the play will begin for a lot of Starfinder fans, but the primer is ideally for the larger world below.

Regarding flavor, backers should envision Alessia as a campaign setting inspired by anime and all the classics from traditional science fiction, but more specifically campaign settings like Spelljammer and Eberron. So when comparing it, folks should think more Firefly and Farscape than, say, The Expanse or Star Trek (although science fiction fans will find influences from many of the tropes we know and love).

Concerning Advanced Rules

We will be including rules that are specific to Alessia, and we fully expect GMs/storytellers to export some of these to their home games as needed. That said, we're only converting where system coverage is required already (instead of current). So, we won't be introducing ship combat rules for Starfinder, for instance, because they already exist. We will, however, be giving you rules for Skyship (not Voidship) combat for 5e. If we hit the full campaign guide (a stretch goal), we will likely expand those rules to include starships/voidships, although again, only for 5e.

The World of Alessia Campaign Primer will also introduce new small vehicle race mechanics (again, for 5e) for both Dashers and Drifters, allowing for fast-paced race scenes and other cinematic elements. Starfinder players will also get these small vehicle mechanics, as well.

The larger world.

A significant portion of the primer will also introduce new players to Alessia itself. So, backers can expect to learn more about the Silk Seas, the Empire of Xian, the Plains of Yerwin, the Giant Tribes of Yrim, or even the Fengu Warriors who hunt the Wicked Coasts of Galgaræ.

The primer is more than just the new species, new classes, or new firearms rules - it is an introduction to the world we've built. So we'll be sharing more of the World of Alessia, outlining what the larger world looks like to GMs who want to run their games in Alessia directly.

If we hit our 30k stretch goal, we'll automatically increase the primer to the full campaign guide, too, which will let us add a lot more details for all backers!

Well, that's it for now. I'll be tackling the next round of questions (and building the FAQ) early next week. Until next time, have a wonderful week and be cool to each other.

Cheers,
Jaye

**In fact, we'll be inviting our friends from the E.U. to join us on our new E.U. compliant mailing list. (See: https://litmus.com/blog/5-things-you-must-know-about-email-consent-under-gdpr for more information).

*While we love Paizo, we want to be clear and precise; Paizo is not endorsing us, and we do not intend by mentioning them to infer or state them.