New Kickstarter Live!
29 days ago
– Sun, Feb 02, 2025 at 07:47:22 AM
Battle School's Kickstarter campaign was launched 1 year ago. A lot has happened in that time.
- Went full-time freelance & game design
- Fulfilled the Kickstarter
- Designed and laid out Pink Security + More
- Attended my first con as an Exhibitor (Pax U)
- Made countless amazing connections
- Built a community of game designers and creative professionals to hold me accountable and to give feedback and support.
- Moved into a new house
- Started 4 new TTRPG projects
Yesterday I launched my follow-up to Battle School, Out of Orbit. It shares the base system I developed, Entwine, focusing on teamwork and collective glory. I have simplified a lot of the mechanics surrounding combat cause this game is much more about survival and exploration. I hope you'll consider backing it.
My main inspiration for Out of Orbit is the 2000s TV show LOST. I was obsessed with LOST. It presented audiences with a large, diverse cast (quite groundbreaking for the time), with a deep well of mystery and quirky sci-fi elements alongside an otherwise simple premise, survivors of a plane crash. They used dynamic flashbacks to dive deeper into the characters in the cast and wove a wild web of a plot that many found... daunting.
Before you come for lost here's my two cents... It's far from perfect. I love it. If I didn't like meandering narratives that ask more questions than they answer... I wouldn't play TTRPGs.
Out of Orbit pairs the narrative framework of LOST with the vibes of the setting from Battle School, Frontier Space. You take control of a crew of survivors of a spaceship crash on a strange alien world teeming with wildlife and the ever-looming threat of the Wraith.
Wanna hear more?
There's so much more for me to talk about but you can hear from me directly in a podcast I did with my friend, Matt Caulder.
Additionally, I'm running a 3-part campaign of Out of Orbit on Tales of Initiative. We started last week and the next episode goes live Wednesday, Feb 5th @ 6 PM EST. You can catch the first episode from last week here.
Zinequest 2025 - Out of Orbit
3 months ago
– Wed, Nov 27, 2024 at 11:00:53 AM
Call me crazy, but I'm doing it again!
This experience was incredible and I've got so many ideas for upcoming games.
This February I'll be launching another Kickstarter during Zinequest 2025. The game is called Out of Orbit and it uses the Entwine system that I developed when creating Battle School.
I would be honored if you visited the pre-launch page and followed me on this next leg of my journey and supported my next campaign.
So, what's the pitch for the game? Much like Battle School, which pulled inspiration from a certain young space cadet, Out of Orbit draws from a handful of my other favorite pieces of media: LOST, Scavengers Reign, and TTRPGs like Band of Blades and Microscope.
Please check out the Pre-launch page follow the project and read more about it below.
Out of Orbit: A Troupe Survival RPG
In this Troupe-style RPG for 3-6 players and 1 Game Master, you’ll collectively take control of a group of survivors—crew and passengers of a crashed starship—on an uncharted and alien world.
Stranded far off course, with no hope of immediate rescue, survival is paramount. Build your camp, explore the ruins of an abandoned outpost, and endure the impending threat of the local fauna as your group struggles to create a new home—or find a way off the planet.
Out of Orbit features the Entwine RPG system, emphasizing collaboration, improvisation, and teamwork. The game flows through a dynamic cycle of dangerous missions and vital downtime as your survivors gather resources, uncover mysteries, and face the mounting tensions of a fractured community.
Will you band together, break apart, or adapt to your new reality? The choice is yours.
My goals with Out of Orbit are similar to what they were for Battle School but expanded:
- Use my Entwine system to emphasize the need to work together to survive.
- Explore Troupe-style play where players puppet a large cast of characters together rather than embody a single character in a story pulling inspiration from Band of Blades from Evil Hat Games.
- Play with non-linear storytelling through Flashbacks inspired by the Scenes mechanic from Microscope by Ben Robbins.
Please check out the landing page and click the button to get notified when it launches. I hope you're excited to be a part of this next project with me!
Books in the mail!
4 months ago
– Mon, Nov 04, 2024 at 11:22:49 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Book is being Printed!
5 months ago
– Tue, Oct 08, 2024 at 09:03:24 AM
Thank you all so much for your patience. I'm excited to share that Battle School is being printed as we speak. Once I have them in hand with the remaining rewards... shipping begins. My whole office is starting to look like a shipping center. It is genuinely all very exciting.
The Encounter Deck prototype ended up being severely delayed and I'm not comfortable printing the full batch until I can test it for quality and any printing issues. That said, it will hold up overall rewards fulfillment until I can get that in hand in the next few days and place the full order for the decks. Hopefully, that order won't have as long of a turnaround.
We're nearing the end. And the beginning.
Battle School has begun a real career for me, I'm currently in talks with publishers and distributors to get compies of it in friendly local game stores near you. On top of that I've started... 5... brand new projects. It is a bit overwhelming but I'm very excited to get the ball rolling and share more about them with you soon. Here's a little bit to tease you with.
Out Of Orbit
Players take control of a large cast of survivors of a spaceship crashlanding on a strange, surreal, and alien world. No signal can escape this place and threats loom around every corner. Where will you build your camp? What strange biomes does this world hold to discover? Are you the first to visit this dangerous and mind-bending place? Find out when you're pulled... Out Of Orbit.
This game is the project that I plan on launching for next year's Zinequest. The difference between it and Battle School is that I hope to have the book fully written before the Kickstarter, as well as a lot of the art. Until about last week, this game was jokingly called "Lost, In Space." Note the comma. It's inspired by the TV show LOST, where characters on a flight crash land on a strange island full of mystery drama and strange and unknown threats.
LOST's large cast of characters needing to work together to survive is the perfect application for the team-based mechanics of Entwine, the ruleset I designed that underpins Battle School. If Battle School asked the question of Entwine, "How does combat work?" then this game asks, "How do exploration, survival, and troupe mechanics work?"
Survivors Guide to Symbiosis
You've been infected with a strange alien lifeform... can you free yourself before it takes over fully? These files you've found seem to say all attempts at a cure have had horrific results but that the person who compiled them has left you research notes. They were infected too... and were working to achieve Symbiosis. Maybe you could too?
SGtS, another Entwine game, explores the question, "What do supernatural powers look like," in the system. This game will function at minimum as a fun supplement for any Entwine game where you'd like to include supernatural or alien powers. Much like Battle School and Out of Orbit, SGtS is rooted in the setting of Frontier Space and is meant to deal directly with The Wraith. This one is on the shelf but will likely come to life alongside OoO as it develops.
Entwine RPG
While developing OoO and SGtS I'm creating, at minimum, a tool kit, at most a full system book for Entwine RPG. I want people to be able to use these rules in other settings they create and have the tools to hack to their heart's content. This might end up as an SRD or a standalone book. I'm letting it develop naturally and will share more when I can.
Other Projects
- All Worlds Fall - A World-Building/World-Ending GM-less game
- Boss Rush - A Megaman-inspired dice game I made with my 5-year-old son
- Others that I'm desperately trying to not work on ;)
I can't wait to share more and cannot thank you all enough for enabling me to go on this journey. Please follow along on social media (primarily Tiktok).
I've also launched a website! Right now it's really just a linktree with a full-fledged website coming soon when I have the time to sink into it. Blogs, free resources, pages for each of my games, and more are all in the cards.
I'll see you amongst the stars,
-Andrew
Backerkit is Finished!
6 months ago
– Tue, Sep 17, 2024 at 02:50:41 PM
Hey all,
Surveys are back and almost everyone has responded. There are a few stragglers and I'll be resending your surveys for you to fill them out.
These surveys are super important for me to get all the information I need to ship you your rewards.
This process of making and printing my first book has been incredible and I can't wait to start sharing what things I have cooking in the future. In the meantime, all my focus is going into getting this book out. I'll be sending the files out to print this week and it'll take about 2 weeks for me to get them in-hand. At that point, I'll start shipping. I am expecting to get rewards to you in mid-October.
This whole campaign has been a learning process and I feel vastly more prepared for future projects. For those of you who have had a chance to play the game, please reach out and let me know how it went. I love this game and can't wait to build on what I started with Battle School.
