PDFs released!
about 1 month ago – Wed, Aug 09, 2023 at 11:44:39 AM

Hey gang,

Short update today -- we've released the final PDFs for:

• Player's Survival Guide (PSG)
• Warden's Operations Manual (WOM)
• Shipbreaker's Toolkit (SBT)
• Unconfirmed Contact Reports (UCR)
• Dead Planet (DP)
• A Pound of Flesh (APOF)
• Gradient Descent (GD)
• Another Bug Hunt (ABH)

You should receive an e-mail from backerkit shortly confirming this. Depending on your pledge level you'll receive different PDFs:

• Digital/Core: will receive the PSG, WOM, SBT, UCR, and Another Bug Hunt
• Deluxe/Megabundle: will receive all of them.

If you added any specific book on as an add-on in backerkit, you'll receive that too.

Pamphlets are not going out yet, we need another week or two to get those together, but they'll be coming out soon.

What's next?
We're currently going back and forth with our printer making minor changes to the files to prepare for print and we're getting our final tweaks on the Deluxe Box finalized as well. Here's a mock-up (the box bottom isn't finalized in this render).

But as you can see we've got compartments for pamphlets storage as well as dice/pawn storage as well. The books fit into the center compartment. This will have gold foil stamping and then a UV gloss coat on all the white parts.

We have cleaned up the downloads on backerkit so now you should not receive duplicate copies of any PDFs, and we've removed all the old WIP files as well. If you have any issues, as always, e-mail Tyler at [email protected] and he'll get you all squared away.

Otherwise, we look forward to talking to you all in August with an update on how production is going!

Thanks so much for all your support!

Files sent to print! PDFs coming next week! Updated production timeline!
about 2 months ago – Mon, Jul 31, 2023 at 12:52:38 PM

Hey gang,

Big news this week as we have finally started uploading files to our printer! We've got information about PDFs and the rest of the production schedule, so let's dive in!

Once our files are uploaded there will be a few days of back and forth between us and the printer as we correct our files for their production process. Usually this is pretty simple, stuff like "can we get the die line for the punchboard as a separate file," or "the bleed is incorrect on APOF, can you update?" that kind of thing. We don't anticipate any major issues there.

This means: we will be sending the final PDFs to backers next week. This includes:

• The Player's Survival Guide
• Warden's Operations Manual
• Shipbreaker's Toolkit
• Unconfirmed Contact Reports
• Another Bug Hunt
• Dead Planet
• A Pound of Flesh
• Gradient Descent
• PDF versions of the Core/Deluxe warden's screens

The pamphlets are being printed with a different manufacturer, so we anticipate sending those out a week or two later once those files are approved.

What's the timeline after that?
Our printer has provided these dates for us:

• Print samples will be made, sent, and confirmed during August.
• We'll be in queue to start printing by the end of August.
• They estimate we'll complete mass production by the end of October (about 6-8 weeks after printing begins).
• Once that happens they'll ship out within a couple of weeks, and are then expected to arrive at our warehouse mid December.
• Because that will be smack dab in the middle of the holiday, we've talked with our fulfillment company and they anticipate beginning fulfillment in mid January to early February 2024.

Phew! So, barring any unforeseen problems, we're about six months away from games being in your hands. We know it's been a long road and we really appreciate your patience as we worked to get everything together. Seriously. We know how agonizing it can be when a kickstarter is running behind, so again: thank you so, so much for supporting us. This project was bigger than anything we'd ever tackled before and we've learned so much from this process. We couldn't have done it without you. 

Here's the last previews we've got before the PDFs  get sent out!

Here's the second punchboard of cardstock pawns! Now with two huge carcinids from Another Bug Hunt and four "anonymous" character in vaccsuits. We're also providing some numbered tokens for keeping track of other NPCs/horrors/points of interest, etc.

We've gone with a super minimal look for our storage box, which is the same dimensions as the core set. One cool thing though is that we're including a sheet of labels that you can slap anywhere to customize how your organize your zines.

So for example: you could have one of our thinner labels on the side, or one of our larger ones to wrap around. We even have a lined label to slap on the back (or front) so you can list what's inside. We're pretty stoked about this one honestly, its exactly the kind of box we'd be using right now to store all our third party Mothership products.

And we've teased some of this before but we've worked the deluxe set to have its own compartment just for storing pamphlets (you can see it on the left side here). 

This means we've got room for the books in the center, pamphlets on the left, and the a compartment for dice and the tokens on the right. The poster map and warden's screen will sit flush on the very top.

Okay that's all for now! Keep an eye out in a week for those final PDFs to be distributed through Backerkit! Thanks again and as always, reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions! We'll have another update later this week when the PDFs go out!

Quick update!
3 months ago – Mon, Jul 03, 2023 at 10:19:02 AM

Hey gang,

Technically this is our June update, but we're sorry for missing that deadline. We're going to keep it short as we are in bunker mode getting everything out to our printer. Proofreading is nearly finished on the books and soon we'll be turning everything over for a pre-press check and digital proof from the manufacturer. We'll also be receiving a new white box prototype with our updated design for the interior of the Deluxe Box.

Above you can see a prototype design of the Deluxe Box insert, which we're in the process of finalizing now. Our goal is essentially to stack the warden's screen and map on top of an insert which holds all the books in the center and has two compartments, one that holds pamphlets, and the other which holds dice and the standees. We're still finessing the details, but when it's done I think it's going to look pretty sweet and also be super functional.

Once all this is uploaded to our manufacturer we'll get our place in the print queue and then outline the next steps are far as shipping and fulfillment go. Additionally, once the final files are approved we'll be releasing PDFs of everything to all of you!

For now, here's a few more screenshots from Another Bug Hunt and Unconfirmed Contact Reports. 

The second scenario of ABH has players choosing which of three factions they'll be siding with and performing a mission on their behalf. The third of these scenarios involves rappelling down a reactor chimney to rescue marines hidden within the bowels of the station.

UCR has some gorgeous art in it and we're very happy with how it's turning out. Above you can see art from Scrap Princess (Stickmen) and Dan Hawskworth (Succubus). There's a huge diversity of styles and approaches to the art in this book which we really wanted. Below you can see art from Nayla (World Worm) and Franck Besaçon (Womb). 

Each spread has quotes and snipped of documents, poems, stories, internal memos, and other in-universe text that you can drop right into your game. Same goes with the art which we approached from the stance of "each piece of art exists within the universe" as an artifact, sketch, photograph, sculpture, note, or piece of art inspired by something a character in Mothership witnessed.

Okay, I gotta get back to it! Thanks for all your patience and support! Have a safe and fun 4th of July for all of your who celebrate, and we'll see you next time. 

Proofreading Update
4 months ago – Wed, May 31, 2023 at 08:59:53 AM

Hey gang,

Things are moving as we get closer to production. This will be a shorter update this month as almost everything is at the same stage but here's where we're at:

We're excited to announce that we've started the final proofreading process. Throughout June all remaining books and components are being turned into our Lead Editor and our proofreading team for final checks. They've already started work on most of them and they'll be continuing their final checks and turning them over to the manufacturer in the first half of July. Once that's done, we'll be able to get a more specific timeline from our printer and give you all a narrowed down release date.

What's the production process like?
While the proofreading team is working, I'm working out the final component specifications with the printer. 

After the books get sent to the manufacturer, we'll receive an updated White Box prototype with all of our changes. For example, we're upgrading the box to a thicker cardboard for better durability and storage.

Additionally, we brought on a packaging designer who is creating the inserts for the Deluxe Set. They have some really cool ideas for upgrading the Deluxe Box inserts for a more premium experience and better storage for the components. I'm hoping we'll be able to share some mock-ups of what those will look like soon.

While we're approving the White Box the printer will also send us a color proof, which is basically all the printed sheets of the components, unassembled. These are usually giant sheets of printed material and we go over them for color as well as to make sure we didn't have any errors in our files when we uploaded them.

After that the products go into the print-queue to get printed and we start working out the shipping plan! Around this time we'll send out final address and payment notifications as well as let you guys know what the final shipping costs we'll be.

We're close to the end!
We appreciate all your patience and support on this huge project. It's bigger than anything we've ever made before and we're incredibly proud of these books and the work we've done on them. This campaign and these products make us really excited for the future of Mothership and we have big plans for what's coming next. 

Thanks again! We'll send out another update next month with our progress.

April Progress Report
5 months ago – Fri, Apr 28, 2023 at 03:22:49 PM

Hey gang!

We’ve made some great progress this month, so let’s dive in.

Dead Planet, A Pound of Flesh, and Gradient Descent, along with the Player's Survival Guide, Warden's Operations Manual, and Shipbreaker's Toolkit, are all in the final stages of proofreading, all our pamphlets are being proofread as well and we're working on the Module Conversion Kit now for all you 0e completionists.

We have also received all the content for the Deluxe and Core Warden's Screens, and we are excited to release this printable Deluxe Screen for you to try at home. This three-sheet screen is perfect for those who can't wait to get their hands on the final product. The margins are a little slim because we can print closer to the edge than most of you can at home. But we're hoping to revisit this once the boxed set ships and make a more printable home-deluxe screen. 

Here's the images of what's included, but I'll send out an actual PDF through backerkit.

Panel 1 is all about combat, life, and death. We managed to get all the survival rules, as well as even the tactical considerations from the WOM in there so that if you're floundering for how to make a violent encounter interesting, you've got a lot of options to choose from. We're also throwing in this new Quick Stats table (you'll see a version of this in UCR) to help you very quickly generate horrors and monsters at the table. The Damage table gives tiers essentially so you can stat up new weapons and attacks with that.

The second panel is all about Warden style content. We've got puzzle components, a price tier list, jobs, pay scale. As well as the Panic table and some options for failing forward. The Puzzle components may feel like a lot but we think if you ever end up having to improv a problem on a derelict vessel, or just have to come up with obstacles on the fly, this table is invaluable.

The third panel is all of our ship content. We've got everything on here and even a little bit of our planetary generation stuff as well to help you quickly create new locations when your players touch down on an unknown, uncharted planet.

Unconfirmed Contact Reports is still collecting art, and we have about ten pieces left to input before it's ready for the final proofreading. Once we have all the art, we’ll be releasing it to backers as well. I know a lot of you are chomping at the bit for monster stats, so we’re pumped to get it to you. 

Another Bug Hunt is in full swing, and we are excited to give you a preview of the first scenario in the book called Distress Signals. This scenario is fully playable, and we can't wait to hear your feedback. With this first scenario, new players and Wardens should have a great introduction to the game.

This text hasn't been through final proofreading yet, but this scenario has been extensively playtested and we really like where it's at. We should have the art for this next week, but we didn't want to push the update into may, so we've got the sketch in there for now. Zach Hazard Vaupen is doing the majority of the art in this book, alongside Don Austin who is doing all the portraits.

The book includes three other scenarios: 

The second scenario, Hive Mind, takes place on a terraforming station with three factions competing for control. The players have to choose between their conflicting missions, and there are three mini-scenarios within this scenario, (one focusing on “solve,” one on “save,” and one on just plain “survive.”). Take a look at this incredible map by newcomer Jacob Haynes.

The third scenario, Mothership, has the players investigating a crashed alien Mothership and attempting to solve its puzzles. This is a classic dungeon-crawl style scenario with multiple routes and ways to get to the heart of the ships and a ton of danger.

The final scenario, Metamorphosis, is a large event scenario where everything goes wrong, and Wardens have to use all the knowledge they've accumulated over the previous scenarios to run this event without any handholding.

As for everything else: as you know, we have ordered and received the shirts at our warehouse, and patches have also been ordered.

The poster map is almost complete, with one side featuring a playable mat with all the information about ship-combat and space travel you need, and the other side featuring a fully-fledged deck plan for the Jumpliner. We know that players who don't have a ship will be traveling in these a lot, so we wanted to give you something concrete to work with. User HailSanta from our Discord, our resident ship designer, created the deck plan, and we absolutely love it.

Our timeline remains unchanged since the last update, but we will keep you informed if anything changes on the manufacturing side. If you have any issues or questions, please don't hesitate to contact Tyler at [email protected].

Lastly, we want to thank you for your continued support and patience. We appreciate it, and we are working hard to deliver the best product possible. We will be back with another update next month!