We have a new website!

So...  We're not great at keeping this thing updated.  You all know that.  But we always want our fans to have the access to information about what we're producing and how our games can be played.  So, without further ado, we finally have a new website!

We'll still use this blog to announce events and things, but the site will have all of the information you need to play our games and download our 3D designs.  Oh, and we have the ability to take orders for our products, like Wayfarer: Things Beyond Wonder and Pocket-Tactics.

As always, happy gaming!

Big Apple and BIGGER NEWS!

 

Last year, Arian was able to visit MakerBot headquarters, meet the amazing staff, and participate in their first annual Make-a-Thon.  He wasn't sure what to expect - he's an artist, not a programmer - but damn if he didn't fit right in and have a blast. 

 

So this weekend Arian and Jeremy are both attending the second Make-a-Thon, ready to learn some new tricks from other makers and certainly spend some time gawking at the beauty that is banks and banks of 3D printers. 

 

 

As if that wasn't excitement enough for this week, we're also insanely excited (as evidenced by the video) to announce our newest Kickstarter - Drakendar!

Drakendar, much like Wayfarer before it, is an RPG setting codex, but this is a classic sword and sorcery adventure game with a unique dice mechanic.  Random character creation keeps us close to our Continuum roots, while the story brings us back to our early days of gaming. 

We can't thank everyone enough for supporting our last venture.  If you liked what you received, be sure to pledge to this one too.   Please. 

PAX Reminder + Awesome Dragon Thing

Just a reminder to all you locals that Arian will be an panelist at PAX tomorrow evening, August 29th at 6:00 in the Wombat Room.  He'd love to see some friendly faces, but you'll also get to see the awesomeness that is the Pit Beast:

He's HUGE, one of the biggest pieces Fred the Makerbot has ever produced.  And you can bet he'll be featured in an upcoming episode of the Lost Agency Archives...

If this guy doesn't scare you away, we hope to see y'all there!

Summertime and the Livin' is BUSY!

It's nearly Labor Day weekend and here we are after another long posting delay.  Here's a rundown of what's been going on in our world:

• Wayfarer has been published, sent, and well received thus far.  Look for an Errata page here on our site soon (yes, even IGG makes mistakes sometimes...) 
• Did you miss the Kickstarter and still want to play the most comprehensive Multiverse RPG ever?  We'll have hard copies and PDF copies posted to our Etsy site shortly.
• We're revamping Pocket-Tactics. 
• The whole concept of PT has been to have a user-friendly, printer-friendly, pocket-friendly game.  We've simplified the pieces a bit and altered some of the game play, without losing any of the charm.  All the new versions will be posted here soon.
• Arian is speaking at PAX! 
• Such an honor - he'll be talking about his 3D printing adventures and showing off some of his newest creations, including a "weird dragon thing" that he's been printing in parts for the last week or two.  (It's at 6:00 on Friday, so the perfect excuse to start your holiday weekend early.)
• We're joining this decade!
• We've enlisted the help of a friend of IGG to get this blog updated more regularly and also keep up with Facebook.
• We tweet now!  Follow Ill Gotten Games on Twitter please!

Another thing to note - we here at IGG love to hear from you.  Post comments, send us emails, give us a shout through social media.  We want our games to form community, virtual and otherwise. 

Our supporters kick ass by supporting us on Kickstarter

Well, we did it, and we couldn't have done it without all of you! A gigantic thank you to everyone who pledged to our Wayfarer Kickstarter campaign. This game has been in the oven for ten years, and we couldn't be happier that it's finally going to be played by gaming groups other than our own (not that we haven't had a blast keeping it all to ourselves).

Work continues and, as of now, we're ahead of schedule, so it won't be long before the books and PDFs are in the (e)mail. Also, we have for your listening enjoyment (if you're the kind of person who enjoys listening to a bunch of nerds do nerd things) a new episode of the Lost Agency Archives. Episode Two: Return to Nexus City.  Better still, the podcast is now available on iTunes, so accessible AND awesome. 

Meanwhile, more art is being created (we'll be contacting anyone who pledged for custom character art shortly). Speaking of art, check out these awesome 3D models by fellow 3D printer and friend of IGG, Andy de Bruin. They're renditions of art by the amazing Austen Zaleski which will be featured in the book.

On the home front, Dutchmogul been cooking up some models of his own. These 3D printable characters are found throughout the Wayfarer codex and are designed at a small scale (close to standard 15mm) so you can use miniatures without taking up too much table space. If you have a 3D printer (or just want to check them out) all of the models in the range can be viewed and downloaded here in this Thingiverse collection.  (If you don't have a 3D printer, email us about custom prints available through our Etsy store.)

Thanks again to all who pledged and/or supported us.  We'll be posting updates here and on Kickstarter every step of the way, including when we decide what our next Kickstarter might be...  Hmm...  Real life is almost as suspenseful as the Wayfarer setting!

New episode of Lost Agency Archives

We've launched episode one of our Lost Agency Archives podcast. We're on iTunes, so be sure and subscribe there and drop us a stellar rating!



In other news, the Wayfarer Kickstarter campaign is trucking past its goal, and we're all extremely grateful for your continued support. There's a full week left to go, so if you know other tabletop gamers, spread the word!

We've passed the goal! We have a podcast! We like exclamation points!

Well, as of today, we've officially reached our Kickstarter goal.  Wanna know what kind of overachievers we are?  We reached it twice!  Okay, that wasn't our doing - someone cancelled their pledge and knocked us back, but someone else pushed us back over the line - but we still are over our goal and therefore preparing the first volume of our Wayfarer codex to send to the printer.  Yay!

But wait, is that it?  Hell no.  We've got news coming out our ears.  We've been working on a bundle of new designs for printing.  We've got a new Twitter handle.  Our artists are continuing to work on new pieces that we'll be able to add to the book when we get some additional bids.

And, perhaps most exciting, we've posted our own gaming sessions as our very own podcast.  The Lost Agency Archives is available here on our site.

Updates - Maker Faire and Kickstarter

Thanks to all for making our first Seattle Mini Maker Faire a resounding success. Although we know why it's defined as "mini," it sure seemed huge and exciting to our little team. We had a blast meeting y'all and talking about Ill Gotten Games' projects.

We've drawn names for the two copies of Pocket-Tactics we were raffling off at the event. If you didn't get an email asking for your address, we're sorry. However, we still have copies for sale on our Etsy site, so certainly check that out or print your own. We'd love to hear your input as you play the game with everyone you know!

Our Kickstarter is kicking along at a decent clip. As of today, we're 79% funded, with 16 days to go. Not too shabby, right? We'd love to exceed the goal so we can get extra books printed, add more art, etc., so please consider pledging if you haven't already. There are some awesome rewards still available, including some of Arian's 3D printed miniatures that you got to see at the event.

If you hear of other events locally that you think would be a good match for what we do, or if you know of a shop in your community who would be interested in a presentation of one of our games, let us know.  We'd love to hear from you!

We'll be at Seattle Mini Maker Faire!

Oh, there's so much to tell! We're prepping to launch our very first Kickstarter. No, not Pocket-Tactics - we're still figuring out the best way deal with the manufacturing headache. We're launching Wayfarer, our tabletop RPG system, powered by our Continuum Narrative Engine.

Oh. My. Gods. This has been in the works for years!

Wanna come talk to us about our creations? We've got a booth at Seattle Mini Maker Faire on March 22 and 23. We'll be chatting incessantly, showing off (and playing) Pocket-Tactics, talking up Wayfarer, displaying our 3d printed creations, and surrounding ourselves with crazy Maker creativity. The event is at the EMP, 10am to 5pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

We'll be raffling off some cool prizes, so come say hello and see what we do and see why you should pledge support to all things Ill Gotten Games. (Shameless plug for the Kickstarter campaign. Sorry.)

We Went to Hackathon!

It's been a while since we've posted, but it's certainly not because we haven't had anything going on.  We've been BUSY.  There are now 16 factions of Pocket-Tactics, not including a few redesigns lately.  Context is another new game Arian created, a word game this time.  Jeremy and I had a beautiful baby girl, who keeps our hands full and us entertained.  And that's not to mention the hours and hours of development that's been going into three different versions of Continuum - the Continuum Adventure Engine, Continuum Mini, and Continuum Narrative Engine.  More on all of those soon.

But the big news is that Arian traveled across the country and got to participate in Hackathon at MakerBot Headquarters in Brooklyn, NY.  Holy hell. He got to see rooms filled with MakerBot printers while meeting 3D printing enthusiasts across the country who have actually played Pocket-Tactics.  So cool.

Arian's team came in second for the competition at the Hackathon.

He came home inspired and has been pounding out the codex work ever since.  We're still exploring options for printing Pocket-Tactics in a more cost-effective way, but in the meantime there are so many other projects nearing completion.

For more timely updates, be sure you friend Ill Gotten Games on Facebook!

Extra Extra!

As reported in the Nexus Gazette: 

Entropy! The Nexus City Sports Authority reports that in mixed 400 D-league, the Lost Agency Liberators defeated the Mercer Maulers 10-4 in the Liberators' first ever match. This achievement qualifies the Liberators to participate in the upcoming mixed 400 C-league round-robbin tournament. After their contest the Liberators and the Maulers whooped it up all night at one Jaana Hynninen's clinic turned temporary speak-easy. A good time was had by all. 

 Our first Entropy test was a success! 

The game ran smoothly and seemed to capture the essence of combat within Continuum without killing characters or npc's. A game within a game... pretty fun!

Look What Else We Made!

One of the most recent modeling endeavors Ill Gotten Games has undertaken is to design 3D models through computer aided design programs like Tinkercad.  The next step in that process is to actually send these designs through our Shapeways store into production.  For those of us that have been working with (and admiring the detail on) gaming models for years, this is a dream come true.


Shapeways allows us to order the figures in a number of different materials, but to start out we ordered in their base product - a white, strong, flexible plastic material.  Not only was this an inexpensive way to test things out, but our models are also going to be painted anyway.  

Here is our own sprue that Arian designed to modify some 15mm models for the game.  The sprue contains both left and right arms and they totally technoed out our Splintered Light ghoul models perfectly:






But why aim for a couple of arms when we can build whole models?  From scratch?  Without glue??  The Servitor Mech was one of the most complex models that we've yet designed on the computer.

So imagine how stoked we were to discover just how cool the actual model turned out!  We ordered two of these, with differing detail, and both were totally tabletop worthy (in our humble opinion).    

 

But why stop at a single small model when we can build a whole ship?  A whole ship with it's own docking stand, built and ordered separately?  And so, our latest creation is the Roosevelt:

 

 Stay tuned for lots, lots more of these to come.  And check back to our Tinkercad link regularly...  We're very excited about some of the creatures we're creating.  We are rolling random creatures through the Continuum generator, then able to build these beings in 3D the next day, order them through Shapeways, and game with them within a week or so.  It's so cool living in the future.  

Look What We Made This Week!

Our little community in the Pacific Northwest is known for being environmentally friendly.  There is a huge community of artists locally, and many of them celebrate our love of reuse by incorporating recycled bits into their creations.  We like to think that we're a part of that movement in the way we're developing our new terrain pieces and models.  Some people may call us hoarders, but we prefer "environmentalists."


Granted, we're lucky to have family and friends who wash and save random bits of plastic and metal for us.  And we're exceptionally lucky to live in a place that has organizations like RE Store and the newly-opened Allied Arts recycled art supply store, AARTS.  However, most of the parts we used in our new pieces came from the gaming group's kitchens and workshops.  


Because this is a gaming blog, we're going to present these pieces, of which we are exceptionally proud, in reverse order - after and before, as it were.  Take a close look at the pics and then scroll down to see how much you are able to decipher. 

So, that's how the pieces turned out after being sprayed with a new shade of grey-green texture spray paint. 

Here's what they looked like before we sprayed:

Scroll down to see the recipe we used to create our futuristic little world...

We intend to play our first Continuum Mini game with this new terrain in mere moments, so stay tuned for that play-by-play and more pics including our fantastic little 15mm models in action.  Meantime, start collecting pieces and make your own terrain.  We'd love to see photos in the comments for this post!

Continuum Mini

We didn't actually forget about Continuum Mini.  It's like Continuum's feisty little brother, after all, so it wasn't something we were purposely neglecting.  It just kind of happened.  Until this week...

This week we revamped the system.  It's called Mini for two reasons - it's a much simpler game than Continuum and it's a mini game, using 15mm models to enact epic battles.  The biggest similarity to Continuum is that we maintain the modular aspect of the game, meaning that the ruleset is a toolkit that allows you to use any model, any genre, any back story.  So after writing for the last few days, simplifying things even further and cleaning up the last version of the Continuum Mini codex, tonight we had our first game test in months.  Here's how it went:

Initial Setup

The opposing forces were made up of the Circle-tech Incursionary Force on one side and the Midgardian Hill Tribes on the other.  The set up process took a minute, as we reviewed our character sheets for these new squads, but once we got on a roll the game ran surprisingly smoothly.  

Turn 1 - the Combat Mechs moved out to flank the Viking forces, but the Viking force positioned their archers on a hill (thank you Ikea) and moved their Hillfolk spearman and Jotun to intercept the Mechs. Meanwhile, the Circle-tech troopers made a slow advance.

Turn 2 - The Jotuns advanced further while the Hillfolk spearmen charged up a hill.  The combat mechs shot their rail rifles at the Jotun but missed.  The rocket launcher and heavy machine gun trooper made an advance, as did the axe-armed Vikings.

Turn 3 - The Jotuns charged against the Mechs, activating two skill-pushes and destroying them in melee combat. The Circle-Tech troopers charged themselves, cutting the the Jotun down in a hail of assault rifle fire. The Jotun Huntress rushed across to the safety of the hills, ordering the Hillfolk spearmen to advance to occupy a hill of their own. Advancing from the troopers aft, the heavy machine gun-armed troopers cut down half of the Hillfolk, who stood their ground despite the terrible losses. The Viking swordsmen moved forward, hoping to get closer to the action.

Turn 4 - The Jotun Huntress rushed to eliminate the Circle-Tech commander who, despite attempting an interrupt to bring her down with gun fire, fell to her axe. The surviving Hillfolk spearmen rallied atop the hill just before the heavy machine gunners cut down a large portion of the Viking swordsmen, who routed immediately. The Viking axemen made their way through the cover of the hills, suffering minor casualties to rocket launcher fire. 

Turn 5 - The rocket launcher troopers made their way up a hill, while the Hillfolk spearmen moved to the base of the hill to take cover.  The Circle-tech troopers cut down about half of the Viking axe-men.  Meanwhile, the Hillfolk archers also sought shelter at the base of a hill.  

Turn 6 - The Circle-tech troopers wiped out the remaining Viking axemen and the Hillfolk archers suffered minor casualties from the rocket launcher fire.  The Huntress rallied the remaining Hillfolk and fled into the hills.  The battle ended there, with the Circle-tech incursionary force staking a claim to the site, 673 points to 944 points remaining on the field of play.


So, basically, the game was awesome.  We're quite happy with how the test ran, especially after such a recent reworking of the rules.  In total it took about 90 minutes, which was just about perfect.  Can't wait for the next one....

The Current Game

Our current incarnation of Continuum has been epic.  We've been playing with these characters since January 2011, and they've become like family to us.  Because we choose to play in the Multiverse, our characters can vary widely - species and personalities and characteristics aren't limited to a specific planet or other geographic location.  

The Lost Agency:

Operating from the Vagabond, a safe haven for trans-universal adventurers, the Lost Agency may be hired to handle a wide variety of tasks. With an ever-growing roster, the agents of the Lost Agency possess a wide array of skills and no job is beyond their combined expertise.

Mr. Jackson

Species: Human

Home World: Earth

A man with a thousand names, the trans-universal adventurer known throughout many worlds as Mr. Jackson is considered to be the first member of the Lost Agency. The agency carries on his legacy, as it was founded in his honor by his surviving allies after he sacrificed himself to destroy the god-world, Tartarus.

The Professor

Species: Phyto-Processor

Home World: The Observatory

Created and abandoned by an advanced culture, the Professor is a hyper-intelligent, sentient plant dedicated to learning and exploring the Multiverse and ambulating by means of a highly sophisticated robotic suit. Before helping to found and run the Lost Agency, the Professor was a renowned Doorman, a specialized technician able to operate the mysterious Omnispheres, devices capable of transporting their users throughout a network of universes.

Baldev

Species: Jotun

Home World: Jotunheim

Displaced from the Nine Worlds after an invasion at the hands of the then-aligned Tartaran Empire and Techno-Sovereignty, Baldev, prince of Jotunheim, found his way into the company of Mr. Jackson and the Professor. With his great strength, magical prowess and skilled swordsmanship, Baldev has been an invaluable asset to the Lost Agency.

Rayston Berkely

Species: Human

Home World: Earth

Drawn into the Multiverse by a magical talisman left to him by his grandfather, Rayston searches for a way home for himself and his girlfriend, Olive. Armed with a weaponized guitar and aided by Starfall, a magical horse able to transport its rider between realities, Rayston and Olive travel the Multiverse, searching for Earth and adventuring in the name of the Lost Agency.

Rocky Donovan

Species: Tentri

Home World: Tentrus

An alien reporter in human guise, Rocky Donovan was working a diplomatic mission with the Dominion when his brane ship was stolen. Joining up with what would become the foundation of the Lost Agency, Rocky went on many adventures before his life was taken at the hands of the notorious Tartaran assassin, Quilloitis.

Alexandra

Species: Human

Home World: Eden Prime

Freed from a stasis pod after a thousand years of temporal displacement, Alexandra awoke to a world ravaged by war and famine. An expert technician and innovator, Alexandra has been an invaluable addition to the Lost Agency, designing and maintaining field gear and providing leadership in the absence of The Professor and Baldev.

Pigdexter

Species: Pig-Man

Home World: Pig-Earth

Rescued from enslavement at the hands of a Teledrome Quiz Show, the brilliant pig-man outcast, Pigdexter, has made up for his inexperience with raw enthusiasm and bravery.

Henry Cobb

Species: Human

Home World: Earth (Variant)

Leader of a slave-rebellion in a version of Earth where the South won the Civil War, Henry found his way to Nexus City after 150 years of enslavement at the hands of the Observer known as the "Faceless One." Joining forces with the Lost Agency, Henry aids them in their missions, searching when he can for the whereabouts of him wife and children.

Upsillon

Species: Basilisk-Kin

Home World: Bastion (Earth-Variant)

Champion tunnel-delver and unarmed combatant, Upsillon comes from a community of creatures spliced from Basilisk DNA by the last survivors of humanity in an Earth assailed by mythological creatures. Indebted to the Lost Agency for his people's liberation, Upsillon has served them ever since.

Metis

Species: Wood Sprite

Home World: Bastion (Earth-Variant)

Spawned from a powerful book capable of realizing its reader's whims, the wood sprite, Metis, was born attuned to the Professor and is devoted to him and his allies within the Lost Agency.

Mister Mistook

Species: Gnome

Home World: Duskmoor

An unparalleled tinkerer, Mister Mistook's combined scientific expertise and magical prowess make him one of the most sought-after personalities in the Multiverse. Scarred from seeing his work used for destruction by the unscrupulous Circle-Tech corporation, Mister Mistook has since fought to undo their damage and make reparations for the harm his creations have done.

Another Productive Weekend

Here we are at the close of another productive weekend.  Friday a package of 15mm models arrived from Khurasan Miniatures and they were even more amazing than we'd hoped - from zombies to kick-ass women, to policemen and reptilian hunters, these little guys have crazy detail for their size.  So, that was exciting until we realized that we don't yet have the custom 15mm bases we'd ordered and that would prevent us from using the new models on Monday night.  Monday is game testing day at Ill Gotten Games, no exceptions except Halloween last year.  Our gamers know that they practically need a doctor's note to be excused from a session.


So, on Saturday afternoon a little bit of positive thinking paid off and the bases arrived just in time from Sarissa Precision.  We got to work, basing over a hundred little tiny models on little tiny rounds of MDF, the custom cuts so fresh that each little zipper top bag released the smell of a campfire.  We order our bases 3mm thick, so they're strong enough for regular use but not so thick as to overwhelm the smaller models.


While Continuum isn't a miniature-based game per se, it is helpful to have some minis laying around when the characters get into sticky situations and need to visualize their next step.  Seeing as how we also have Continuum Mini (dubbed Minium internally) in which we use models, there is never a shortage.  These new 15mm models, however, are primarily going to be used for MetaTafl.  In keeping with the elegance of the original game of Hnefatafl, the models we use for our game are painted in only one color per team, easily differentiated from the opponent.  That means that the models we based yesterday, which only arrived on Friday, are fully painted and ready to go for tomorrow.


Meanwhile, Continuum's realistic physics have allowed something new - Entropy.  Entropy is a game within a game within a story, if that makes sense.  The group has been exploring Nexus City for a while now, with jaunts around the Multiverse to keep things interesting.  Entropy, as the story goes, is the local pastime in Nexus City. So some of those 15mm bases have become pieces for the prototype Entropy board, which we'll get pictures of soon.  Meanwhile, the Entropy rules are nearly complete (productive weekend, remember?), so we'll be testing those in another few weeks, depending on how the current modules go.


Ahh...  The modules will be another post.  They're awesome, and we're eternally grateful to have such creative team members writing up the adventures for our beloved characters.


Along with the bases, by the way, we also received one of these crazy cool 15mm houses that we'll be using for Minium. It is laser cut MDF, snapped together with ease, and looks amazing.  (We got the biggest one on the bottom of the page.)  We'll be ordering more of these for sure.  


Tomorrow is play testing day, and we can't wait to see how the conclusion of this module unfolds....