Cthulhu Dreamt TTRPG: Sci-fi Horror & Metal Soundtrack

September Update: Crypticon, Campaign Release, Art, And Music
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 12, 2024 at 11:26:07 AM

Greetings Dreamers,

Happy September! All of us here in the workshop are hoping this update finds you well. We’ve got some big announcements in this update, so let's get going. 

Cue Music

Because you’ve all been so good, we have another Ambient Track here for you to enjoy! It’s called Sky Encounter Ad Infinitum. It’s very loopable, and is planned for a time in the campaign when absolutely nothing is going wrong, we promise. 

Campaign Release

Speaking of the campaign. We have just finished our passthrough of Chapter 6, the penultimate chapter of the main campaign, and y’all it is just full of twists and turns that I know you are all so very ready for. Seriously, I think when you play this chapter, you're gonna lose your shit. But it's fine, we'll help you find it.

Speaking of playing the game, you’ll be able to do just that very soon! With Chapter 6 in the books (pun intended) and our in-house playtesting progressing quickly and fantastically, we are finally confident enough to say that a public, (to you, our beloved backers) playtestable version of the game and campaign will be released in October! 

We’ll have more details coming soon, but the quicker and more playtesting we can get, the better. So, if you wanted to start planning your playtest games of Cthulhu Dreamt (or even just read through an early version of the book), we’ll have a setting guide, comprehensive ruleset, and a 7-chapter campaign with prelude and epilogue for you by Halloween. Please, enjoy some recently finished art from the game as we all jump with giddiness together. I mean, just look how excited this little guy is to meet you, he's practically blushing!

Enough about the Prose, now the Cons

CON-VENTIONS, THAT IS! Action Fiction and Fable Factory will be at Crypticon in Minneapolis, Minnesota this very weekend! If you’re in the area, consider dropping by! We’ll be in Conference Room D at booth #091, or just look for the image posted below!We’ll have Cthulhu Dreamt albums, art prints, stickers, patches, a DnD 5e Cryptids-based supplement, and a staff that’d be just thrilled to see you! Just let us know you’re a backer for the VIP treatment! Can't make it for the team-up at Crypticon? Here’s a list of the other conventions Action Fiction will be at the rest of the year:

• Cleveland Gaming Classic 9/20 - 9/22
• TORG 11/1 - 11/3
• GalaxyCon Columbus 12/6-12/8

If you’re planning on being at one of those we’d love to see you!

Until next time Dreamers,

All of us at the Action Fiction/Fable Factory Faction

Happy-ish Anniversary - ⚠️ Important info about Dice Trays ⚠️
over 1 year ago – Fri, Aug 09, 2024 at 06:44:46 AM

Hello again Dreamers!!!!

It’s been 1 year since the Kickstarter campaign launched. 
Sometimes I forget how fast time actually moves, and looking back, so much has happened over the last 12 months.

One thing that’s happened is that the studio making the dice trays determined that their laser engraving was creating hydrochloric gas with the materials they were using. So, we’ve got an update and option for materials:

For those of you (of which there are 48) who have a dice tray coming, the new default will be real leather engraved with the Cthulhu design, and you don’t have to do anything. If you have any allergy, or philosophical objection, we can use the old faux leather with a vinyl transfer (similar to how graphic t-shirts are made).

Feel free to leave a comment here, or email me directly at [email protected], and we’ll make sure your request is handled appropriately. If you didn't get a dice tray and want one, you can manage that through your Backerkit 🤘

In other news: We. Are. So. Close. 

The team has finished Chapter 5 (of 7… 8 including the epilogue, which is also complete) and the internal playtest team has completed Chapter 1. Emery/Hanna/Scotia, one of our playtesters, found this worthy of reposting in the PT Discord:

The illustration is of another lovely NPC called Col. Abraham, Omar’s superior.

Anyways, the team is working hard, and we’re still targeting a final v1 to send out to backers for public playtesting in October. Once our playtests are done, that’s when we make last edits to pass to the publisher. And then we play the good old ‘waiting-more-game.’

Until our next update, don’t forget to follow along on the Action Fiction Cthulhu Dreamt Discord channel.

Your brother in Cthulhu, 

Reed, and the rest of the Cthulhu Dreamt Cult

Mid Year Update
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jul 18, 2024 at 08:31:53 AM

Hey Dreamers!!!!

Reed here from the floors of everyone’s favorite Fable Factory! I’d love to update you all on stuff from the Cthulhu Dreamt Universe!

Game: 

• The team is steadily making progress on the writing and initial editing and is about 75% of the way through drafting
• Chapters 1-4 are done, and 5-7 (and epilogue) are works-in-progress. Here’s a little screencap and art that you’ll find in Chapter 6:

• The internal playtest has begun, and you can see early progress if you want… but you may have already reddit 

Music

• All music from the main campaign is complete (unless we decide to add more later)
• 12 encounter tracks remain to be written out of the 79 total, which means the entire soundtrack is 85% complete
• I’ve begun writing Composer’s notes for the orchestral music, which will be included in the Conductor’s Study Score. Here’s a little screen cap (pre-edit) of what you can expect in addition to the sheet music of the six orchestral tracks:

The above musical snippet and note can be referenced while listening to "Binary Decision" on the preview EP on Bandcamp... (And holy buckets does this bring me back to my days in UNI following a score along with the sheet music in my hand. )

• The tablature book, which was one of the unlocked stretch goals, is now completed. This means that anyone who got the Conductor’s Study Score will get the tabs from the Liminality album included. So get your 8-string guitars ready and primed so we can jam together… asynchronously!!!

As the team gets closer to having the main campaign locked we’ll be able to give much more precise dates on the next big milestones. We’re gearing up to make sure you have something in your hands… er, electronic devices so that you can do some reading/running a game by Samhain!

Until our next update, if anyone happens to be attending Crypticon in Minneapolis, you’ll be able to find me, along with Jaron at a Fable Factory booth!!! SO, stop by and say hi, and let’s be friends in meat space 😀

Don’t forget to follow along on the Action Fiction Cthulhu Dreamt Discord channel.

With our love, 
Reed, and the rest of the Cthulhu Dreamt Cult
 

Open call for Playtesters! We need your help!
almost 2 years ago – Sat, Jun 15, 2024 at 03:32:54 PM

A Playtest is Upon Us!

Dreamers, it’s finally time! We’re running our first playtest of the Cthulhu Dreamt main campaign. We’ve just polished off another chapter, and we’re ready to start running a real group of people through the game. If you’re interested, now’s your chance!

Here are some clarifying notes about the playtest:

• Game sessions will be Wednesdays from 7 PM to 10 PM Eastern
• Familiarity with Cthulhu Dreamt rules is not a requirement
• Microphone required, camera preferred (as Cthulhu Dreamt has a few meta rules and puzzles that work best in a face-to-face environment) 
• Game sessions will take place over Discord

Note: Participating playtesters will be credited by name in the printed book if they so choose.

If this sounds interesting to you, click here to fill out an application! If you have any questions, feel free to leave us a comment below. In order to be considered for playtests, you must fill out the linked survey!

If you’re interested in running your own playtest session with your own playgroup, reach out to us on our Discord! We’re working on putting the materials together for an open playtest, and we would love to have your help!

Thank you so much for your time and support. As a treat, check out one of my favorite art pieces from the book so far:

Cheers! See you all soon!

Jaron R. M. Johnson and the Cthulhu Dreamt design team

Quick Production Update
about 2 years ago – Wed, Jan 31, 2024 at 09:15:09 AM

What’s up gang, Jaron here. I wanted to take time this weekend to update everyone on the production of Cthulhu Dreamt and how the writing is going behind the scenes, in addition to all the fun snippets and previews we’ve been sharing. Also sharing a picture of my brother as Master Chief, for reasons.

Writing Progress So Far

The Cthulhu Dreamt book progress breakdown by table of contents currently look like this:

• Introduction (20%)
  • What is this book and how do I use it
  • The World of Cthulhu Dreamt
• Content for All Players (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Rules for all players, including the Facilitator. This is a pretty beefy section, currently 85 pages. This is the bulk of the game rules, but is ultimately just a very detailed version of what was in the preview rules document available at the beginning of the Kickstarter campaign.
• Content for Facilitators (75%)
  • Rules and guidelines only for the Facilitator. This section is shorter, currently only 11 pages and is likely to remain under 20. Since Cthulhu Dreamt is a game where the Facilitator doesn’t roll, most of the mechanics they need is actually in the All Players section. 
• The Mission (85%)
  • Chapter 0: Session Zero (100% complete)
  • Chapter 1: Shock & Awe (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Chapter 2: Plausible Deniability (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Chapter 3: A Faustian Bargain (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Chapter 4: Cold & Righteous Fury (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Chapter 5: We Were Fools (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Chapter 6: Picking up the Pieces (50%)
  • Chapter 7: Hope (60%)
  • Chapter 8: Epilogue (100% complete)
  • Encounter: Springfield Nocturne (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Encounter: R’lyehian March (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Encounter: Canticle of the Stars (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Encounter: Orbital Fugue (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Encounter: Ohm’s Reprise (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Encounter: Kindalnum Etude (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Encounter: [Unnamed, Whisper Machine] (90%, First Draft complete)
  • Encounter: [Unnamed, Moorlands] (90%, First Draft complete)
• Back Matter (?%)
  • Unsure what the specifics will be in this section other than index (which is, for the most part, generated by the final editor)

As you can see, we’re putting up a LOT of high numbers, which is great news! Brad, CJ, and myself have been hammering away many days of the week to make this happen. Every Friday and Saturday for the last few months, plus several weekdays throughout, we’ve been sitting down to body double and work together as a team. We’ve also done a lot of writing on our own to help bring all of this to life. So, special thanks to those guys (y’all should consider jumping down into the comments and giving the writing team a shout-out).

Production Process

After we finish writing our first draft, we’ll send it off to a dev editing team at Storyteller’s Forge, where we’ll get great meaningful feedback. After 3 months, they’ll send it back to us to spend a few weeks tackling any rewrites that need to happen. After that, the book goes into layout, and then print/ship happens. We’ll be posting an update here at each major milestone, with plenty of sneak peeks into the process behind the scenes.

Timeline to Complete

Our planned ship date for physical books was October, but due to some recent struggles (I’ll detail below for TW purposes), we’re going to have to push that back. The plan is to still ensure that you have digital products ready to go by October, in case you wanted to run Cthulhu Dreamt during the spookiest season.

TW: Family trauma, hospital stuff: In December, CJ and I caught COVID. I was also hospitalized for kidney stones. Then, my car (I’ve driven it for ten years) was totalled (not in an accident, just had a system in it die that was more expensive to fix than the car was worth). Then, to top it all off, three weeks ago, my mother was sent to the hospital for emergency surgery. She’s been in the hospital since then, and currently doesn’t have a discharge date. I have a complicated relationship with my mom, but right now, I visit her every day. It’s been one of the most difficult periods of my life, and I struggle to put it into any words which would feel appropriate to share with you as an audience of wonderful strangers who are really just here for the incredible book we’re producing.

All of this has combined to create what will undoubtedly be delays. We’re very close to the finish line for the writing phase, after which the book mostly exits our hands and goes into the hands of our publisher, Storyteller's Forge (who are amazing), after which I will mostly just need to review for changes and edits. All timeline events after the handoff remain unchanged, but at this point I’m spending a lot more time outside of our writer’s room than I had planned. Thankfully, Brad and CJ have really stepped up to the plate and helped me shoulder the writing burden in a VERY appreciated capacity, and everyone right now is writing more than they had initially anticipated. This means, you’ll still get an incredible book that we’ll all be very proud of. It’s just going to take a little longer as I navigate one of the most difficult years of my entire life.

I really need and appreciate your patience right now. I promise you that you’ll still be getting your books; making games and creating fun for folks is my purpose on this planet, and I still love doing it. This is the fourth major book we’ve released, so we know what the process looks like, and we have a lot more help this time around than we have in the past. So we’ll be making this happen: don’t you worry.

Thanks for reading.

I appreciate you all taking the time to read through this. As soon as we hand off the completed manuscript to the publisher, we’ll know the exact timeframe in which your books will be arriving at your doorsteps. Right now, the most specific we can get is “Q4 of this year.” But as soon as we have more details, we’ll share them.

Thank you again for understanding. Any positive thoughts you could send my mom’s way right now would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, talk soon.

Jaron R. M. Johnson and the Action Fiction Faction

jrmj