General Update
12 days ago – Fri, Apr 19, 2024 at 09:27:33 AM

Hey there! It's been a while, so let's do an update. (I was hoping to post when I had a fully-completed chapter, but I've been jumping around and redoing sections a lot, so that's not happened. I think we've passed the point where people would rather I just post the fucking update though.)

The Short Version

Writing is fine! Right now the main thing that needs doing is the character sections—I'm going back and forth over PC/encounter stats and how to tune them. The main issues right now are Real Life related—I'm currently a carer for an elderly relative and that eats up a lot of time, for example.

Art is also doing alright! It's slowed down recently as Lo handled some Life Stuff, but we're picking up speed again. We've got a lot out of the way already; at the moment it's mostly backer stuff, and then filling in whatever we can with the remaining budget.

Right now I'm still aiming for a summer release. My plan is to wrap this up ASAP and move on to the Secret New Project (it's a full Hard Wired Island expansion, it's not secret, I tweet about it a lot).

The Longer Version

Look At This Guy

I'm not going as deep as Hard Wired Island on the setting, but I've been trying to throw in enough details to feel satisfying. This is the Zaur, a neogenetic dinosaur reverse-engineered from birds. It is basically Pinnacle City's pigeon. I love it. Look at it.

Character Stuff

Some of you have seen this already, but I've been experimenting with the sample PC spreads. I was having trouble fitting the character writeups/stats and art on one page, so I tried breaking them up into spreads and using unique layouts to spice them up a little. Check these out these drafts:

I think these look cool so far. The main problem I'm having is actually with approaches—right now the left column uses the standard Fate approaches but set slightly than usual (with a cap of 2), while the right column has three roles rated at +3/+2/+1. I'm debating whether it might feel better to switch over to capping the left column at 3 and giving the right column two roles at +2 and +1. This is the gripping life of a game designer.

(Encounters are easier, at least—instead of approaches, most NPCs just have a list of things they're good at. For example, an opponent who's good at fighting and meant to go toe-to-toe with the PCs could just have "Gunplay: Superb (+5)". I'd like to get the PC approaches nailed down before I finish the encounters, though.)

Backers

I'm currently writing up the backer content. All but one backer PC has art, and we'll be completely moving on to the other tiers this month. There are some folks I still haven't hashed out all the details with, but I am running out of other backers to work with. There are also a handful of backers who haven't finished their surveys yet, but as long as I haven't finished the rest of the backer content I don't mind. (Check your inbox though!)

The Future

Real Life has been getting less busy again, so I'm going to try to knock out as much of the game as I can. My current goal is to be text-complete before the art is done. I'll aim to post an update within a month, draft or no draft.

Finally, just in case anyone was squinting at Bazza's spread earlier, here's a bigger version.

February update, setting draft (PC backers, check your emails!)
3 months ago – Wed, Feb 14, 2024 at 08:54:03 AM

Hey folks! We've had another delay, and I'd like to apologise for that. Long story short: in January I got hit with some (non-TTRPG) work with a tight deadline, and I had to focus on that for a while. (I also had some family stuff going on near the end of the month, but nothing major.) I've spent the last couple weeks getting back on top of things.

I also decided to left-justify everything instead of full-justify, and had to change a bunch of stuff to fit. Worth it, probably!

I'm probably going to be pushing delivery back at this point, though I'm still aiming for a (northern hemisphere) summer release. I probably would have had to push back anyway to get all the art in, but that's easy to say in hindsight and it doesn't matter now.

So, here's the news I've got:

Setting Preview

So, I tidied up a bunch of the setting chapter draft and made it available through BackerKit. (It should be available through the Digital Downloads section of your survey.)

This includes the opening pages of the setting chapter (with a general overview of the City), various corporations, a writeup of major locations in Pinnacle City, and a temporary map for reference (I'll be commissioning a better one.) This is a work in progress; I'll probably rename or replace a few locations at least.

It is missing:

• Some stuff about technology in the setting overview (I've been flip-flopping on how much of the augmentation section of the rules chapter should go here instead)
• I feel like I should add a couple more corporations, but I haven't decided what else would generate the best plot hooks, so here we are
• A bunch of corporate logos (I'm waiting on those at the moment)
• A section on minor corporations (it's done, but I want to redo some of it)
• Other factions (Reclaimers, Gangs, and Misc)—these sections have holes in them and I'd rather fill them first
• A section about smaller notable places (e.g. specific buildings with plot hooks) within the listed locations
• Hubs where the players can hang out between jobs (e.g. The Reef, which is mentioned but not described)—this will include a bunch of backer locations so I'll sort those first
• An editing pass, probably

I'm gonna use the rest of the month to tidy some of this up, expand the later chapters, and work on backer content. Speaking of:

Backer Update

First off, some PC backers need to respond to their emails (and one needs to finish their survey)! I am willing to wait until unresponsive backers are the only ones left before cutting them off, but please reply when you can.

Anyway: Lo is currently working on the final backer PCs we have the details of, and then art will move on to the lower tiers. I was waiting until that happens to do more writing, to avoid spinning too many plates at once, but right now it seems like it'd be faster to just go for it. I'll get on that this month.

It's getting late here, so I'll wrap up for now. The next update will come sooner, unless I get hit by a truck and isekai'd or something. See you then!

December update (and some corps to meet)
5 months ago – Thu, Dec 14, 2023 at 08:06:06 AM

Hello! This update is a little later than expected—it's been a busy end of the year, and I finally caught Covid, so that was fun. (I'm fine now, don't worry.) This time I'd like to do an update, then show you some more of the setting setting.

Update

I've been set back a little by That Stuff I mentioned—the setting chapter still needs a bunch of locations—but besides that, we're doing okay. The main thing consuming my time at the moment is working with consultants: Pinnacle City is an artificial island somewhere in Oceania, so I've been recruiting people from around the area (as well as SEA) to help flesh out the setting and make the City feel more like a real place.

By that, I mean they're writing goofy names for me. Wetrunner is a less serious cyberpunk game than my last one, and I'm partly expressing that by giving a lot of characters aquatic-themed pun names. The consultants have been helping me come up with names that work in other languages too.

I've also been asking for location and corporation names. As an added bonus, that means I've been getting suggestions for characters, locations, and corps to flesh out the setting in ways I wouldn't have thought of myself. (So what a consultant would normally do, more or less.)

A lot of this is setup for what I want to post today! I don't have a full draft yet, but I still want to show you something. This is a long one, so if you want to skip it, scroll down to the last header.

Wetrunner Corporations

Pinnacle City was first planned in the 2090s as a response to the climate collapse. It was meant to be a new home for some of the world's many climate refugees—in fact, many of them were employed to build the City with the understanding that they'd live in it. Unfortunately, a syndicate of corporations slowly wormed their way into the project, hollowed it out, and took it over. Once they could set the rules, they pushed those refugees into a slum at the back of the City (which just barely fulfilled their contracts) and turned their sun-drenched new island into a beach tourism paradise.

(Surprise! A big part of the game's aesthetic is fun summer vibes papering over some bleak shit!)

These corporations are a big influence on the setting; they touch every part of the City in some way or other. The biggest ones are described in terms of their focus (though most are big enough to have a ton of subsidiaries), their style (how its employees will probably act in any situation), the kind of fish their leaders collect/are associated with, and their flaws.

Here's a bunch of them! Hopefully not too many for a KS update!

Security Corps

First: When the PCs break into a facility, who does their security?

There are a few options here! Poseidon Group are the biggest—they're a massive US corporation that also dabble in cybersecurity, law enforcement, and defense (read: war crimes). If the PCs' opponent can afford The Good Stuff, they get it from Poseidon. Poseidon Group is owned by the Morin family, who like catfish and all fucking hate each other.

Dragon Tail isn't one of the big corps, but this Australian security and cyberware corp has carved out a niche with aesthetic: handsome guards in matching clothes, plain-clothes guards that can blend in easily, etc. They're basically the middle-of-the-road option for people who can't afford Poseidon.

On the lower end of the spectrum is Gunz-2-U, a small security company from the South Florida Metroplex. They provide the mooks. These guys are so incompetent or bloodthirsty even the police would reject them. Their training course includes action movies. They are low-paid enough to make them susceptible to bribes. They provide the appearance of security for the mark on a budget.

Hydra Lab

Hydra is a fusion of research companies, all founded by long-dead billionaires in the hope that it might make people forget their legacy of grifting and worker exploitation. It has nine departments, each with a different fish as their symbol (Engineering has Holocephali, DeepSea has Eastmanosteus, Security has Dunkleosteus, etc.) Hydra has made some startling scientific discoveries, and though they're small compared to the other "big" corps, they have a lot of influence.

Their main problem is that their departments are always competing for funding, credit, and scientists. On top of that, some of them are still staffed by descendants of the rich sex criminals that founded them, and they wage their own little wars to inflate their family names.

New Tide

These guys were mentioned in the sample scenario! They do everything that gets eyes on screens, from shows to newscasts to VTubers. They put on a show of making content for everyone, but it's mostly pro-corporate propaganda. As far as they're concerned, humans are talking eyeballs whose value is measured in plays, clicks, and views.

Their CEO, Nitride Wei, has a habit of fathering a ton of children and then giving them jobs, so while the company has a "dynamic, low-hierachy structure" on paper, its structure is riddled with toxic failsons who will try to get you fired if you don't listen to them. Wei loves to mentor promising talents and gift them with custom fish which allegedly suit their personality and definitely make them tempting targets.

Sadagat Engineering

A manufacturing company that dabbles in everything from appliances to boats to construction to robotics. Their mission is basically to build your house and everything in it, preferably for a fuckton of money. All their products need related products, attachments, or some other bullshit to get you spending more. (Did you forget to make the product fucking work? Great! Sell an upgrade!)

S.E. is run by Neo Gun Sadagat, an entrepreneur from Manila who lives on a super-yacht that circles the Island. He has everything he wants there—food, handsome men and women, a bowling alley—and no intention of leaving. (Sadagat means “out at sea”, do you get it, etc.) Despite this he still micromanages the shit out of his company; all major decisions must be run by him, even if you have to wait for him to helicopter back to headquarters.

Senraku Fisheries

A biotech company. They're famous for their pharma-fish and cultured seafood, especially their infamous Nu-Seafood™ (The Food You Can See); they also dabble in aquaculture, healthcare, and gene therapy. They have all sorts of fish, including the weird options like necrofauna and prehistoric fish yoinked Meg-style from a deep ocean that climate change disturbed.

Senraku are always looking for new, profitable discoveries, and are willing to take quite a few risks to get them. They've crossed so many lines recently it's been hurting their reputation—in fact, a recent incident in which a bunch of genetically modified fish escaped from their Seattle annex into the ocean has other corporations sensing weakness and plotting to raid them for their rare, valuable aquariums.

Smaller Corporations

There's more, but I am gonna save the rest for later. I do want to add that not every corporation in the book is some huge megacorp—there are a lot of smaller companies which exist to fill niches or provide potential marks for the PCs to go after. (Dragon Tail and Gunz-2-U, mentioned above, are actually examples of these smaller companies; Poseidon Group is the big one.)

There's even more if you count the random tables! If you like your games to come with a ton of tables, I've got some great news for you.

Other companies in this category include:

Kozlov Medical: Cybernetics. Not gonna lie here: KozMed exists to provide "standard" cyberware. They also help rich fuckers extend their lifespans in exchange for help with their shadier research. Its bigwigs have a thing for kaluga and kaluga caviar. I know what you're thinking: why would you make an enormous goddamn beluga that’s as annoying to keep as it is to steal your whole thing? Eat shit, that’s why.

Lucky Cat: This biotech form once worked with Hydra to make a cybernetically-uplifted cat, Tinkles. Tinkles the talking cat quickly became a celebrity, and eventually leveraged that to buy out the company. Lucky Cat mostly help other corporations with their research, so they can appear on all sorts of corporate dives. Tinkles has bigger dreams though, and is currently plotting to raid Senraku for its delicious fi—research data. I said research data.

Second Ocean: The antagonist of the Hard Wired Dive scenarios. This is an enviro- and marine technology research company: seafloor mapping, deep-sea robotics, solar-powered monitoring and plastic collection drones, pollution scrubbers, all that kind of thing. It was originally a non-profit institute, founded by the Reclaimer scientist Mifune Hiryu and his mates. Unfortunately he was murdered by his coworker, Graf Teppelin.

With Mifune out of the picture, Graf has turned Second Ocean into a PR firm disguised as a research institute. Corporations use it to launder their reputations by pretending to support the Reclaimers, and Graf gets to appear on newscasts as the "Reclaimer expert" that provides "balance" against people who actually give a shit about fixing the planet. It's win-win!

The PCs are pulled into this mess by Mifune's daughter Haru, a roboticist with a pile of inherited cash and a burning need to uncover the truth. Over the course of several scenarios, the PCs gather evidence, liberate Mifune's work (which Graf is still periodically releasing and taking credit for), and finally get Graf's ass. Several fish will be stolen.

What Now, Though

Okay, this wasn't the full setting draft, and I'll apologise again for that. Working on it, though! I'll post that up when I can; if I don't finish the whole thing, I'll at least try to present the corps and other factions (Reclaimers and criminal orgs, mostly.)

It's getting late here, so that's all for now. See you soon!

September update!
7 months ago – Sat, Sep 30, 2023 at 08:04:53 AM

Hey there! Before we begin I'd like to shout out the Wandering Monster podcast, who gave an early draft of Wetrunner a test run recently.

Here's A Draft

I've just enjoyed one of life's guilty pleasures (pressing the BackerKit button that lets me annoy hundreds of people at once), which means you should be able to access a work-in-progress draft of Wetrunner via BackerKit. It includes most of the rules, though it's still missing Bases and Briefings—I decided to lock in the City's location writeup before finishing bases in case more ideas jump out at me, and briefings are connected mechanically.

This time it comes with a bunch of cool Cyberpunk Stuff to enhance your character and flesh out the setting. Get weird brain implants! Read descriptions of cyber/bioware that make the setting sound super depressing! Be a Sharkin and listen to your fellow players ask "oh are you Gura?"! Put a brain parasite or an aquarium inside you! The possibilities are limited!

The next draft (in October) will be the setting chapter.

General Update

Things are pretty hectic over here—just this week I was presenting RPGs at Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, and next week I'll be at PAX Aus. (If you're heading there too, I hear the guy hosting Melvin Mindslapper's Cursed D&D Trivia is handsome.) Things should calm down after that though.

Art is going great! Lo has been making some really good pieces, and longtime Ettin fans will be pleased to know that I have once again worked in two art pieces with the sample characters and their players around a table:

We've done the chapter-opening pieces and some of the character art, to establish a general look for the setting. We'll be moving on to backer characters next while I work on the setting, starting with the sample PCs and working our way over to NPCs/bounty hunters.

By the way, you might notice from the draft that I've started leaning towards more of a Y2K aesthetic when it comes to the layout. It's still a work in progress (the class roles in particular are getting new designs to go with their headers), but let me know what you think!

Speaking Of Backers

A few folks who backed to add things to the game never got back to me. You have until I get through the rest of the backer content—as long as I'm not twiddling my thumbs while I wait, it's all good.

Also, if you listed your preferred contact as Discord pre-username-change-fiasco, consider hopping into the Weird Age discord and shooting me a message. (Otherwise wait a bit and I'll figure something out.)

Anyway, that's all I can think of for now. I'll see you sometime in October with a new update!

Rules Preview #1 and general update
9 months ago – Tue, Aug 01, 2023 at 10:25:34 AM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.