A very warm welcome to this update on all things Beyond Cataclysm – these past few months have been incredibly busy but also super productive. Let’s have a look at…

What we’ve been up to –

MÖRK ORG Layout

The main focus of our time and attention is getting MÖRK ORG to the point where we are ready to go to print. Writing, illustrating and laying out 120 pages of content that meets the high bar set by Johan and Pelle is no mean feat! But we are making progress every since week that goes by and will soon have a quick start PDF available.  Here are some examples of work in progress:

WIP: Layout in Excel is a total nightmare!

CEO Art by Tania Herrero

Writing by CM Lowry with Art by Berti McColl

Office Pirate by Simon Amadeus Pillario

WIP: Writing by Panny Lines with Layout by VISIONS

UK Games Expo

Last weekend we spent a rather sweaty time in the swampy halls of the NEC Birmingham at the UK’s largest games event – UKGE. It was dizzying, wonderful, tiring, enriching and an all round excellent experience. We shared the weekend with 20,000 others and it was so great to spend time with friends, old and new alike. Over the course of the weekend Chris had to chance to run an hour long session of MÖRK ORG with friends from across the wider BORG-verse, but more on that later.

What’s next –

Here’s want you can expect to see and here from us across the next few months…

Webstore Restocks

We had large orders in the works from Tuesday Knight Games (all things Mothership), Exalted Funeral (too many good things to name), Games Omnivorous (Prismatic Wisdom) and Rivethead Games (Farewell to Arms). Keep an eye on our store and our social media (see below for links) so you don’t miss out when we announce a restock

Fulfilments

Here are some exciting projects by friends that we’re really looking forward to getting into your hands over the next few months

Bankrupt:CY a CY:BORG expansion by Christian Eichhorn, Wolfesbane a Mothership Module by Simon Taylor and Thieves of the Tome an bookshelf heist RPG by George Philbrick.

If you’re into the CBR+PNK RPG by Mythworks, or anything Forged in the Dark related, then definitely check out Echoes of the Veil, a beautiful hardback book by our friend Raffi that is funding right now on Kickstarter.

Tabletop Scotland

We’ll have a stall at Tabletop Scotland just outside Edinburgh this September. We will have all of our games and fiction publication with us and lots of other goodies too. We might even have some super cool Beyond Cataclysm t-shirts for sale by then!

Upcoming Projects

The following projects are likely to hit Kickstarter before the end of the year and we’re very excited about both of them

 

HELLSPAWN

HELLSPAWN is a new hack of the pitch-black RPG system MÖRK BORG system by Richard Markert and Ilias Iovis, with powerful art by Kim Diaz Holm. Just when you thought hell couldn’t get by any worse! Sign up on the website to get updates

 

Skies of Belief

Skies of Belief is a unique low fantasy setting including ten original human cultures with diverse technologies & philosophies built on a brand new narrative-focussed 2d8 system. Pre-follow on Kickstarter now

Chris has been…

Listening to

Murder by Death – I’ve been listening to their entire back catalogue, ready for their final tour. Key album The Other Shore.

Also a lot of Bembeya Jazz National – 1960s Guinean Afropop. Don’t Ask me why.

My mates in Bolton released a worship album called Yeshua too – been listening to a ton of that, even though its in Persian and I don’t speak Persian

Reading

I read a ton more in the 1632 series from the last update, currently on Book 6, The Bavarian Crisis. I got a bit lost in the weeds with the series since it adds in loads of fan-written additions into the cannon, and gets wider and wider in scope.

I’ve also found The Gospel Comes With A Housekey incredibly challenging, and Purpose Driven Youth Ministry has kicked my bum into gear too; the first about building a lifestyle of radical hospitality, regardless of the beliefs and differences of the people around you. The latter is about putting vision into step-by-step process.

CASCADE finally made it to the top of my read pile.  We covered it on This Book I Read with Zilla, and interviewed the author Rachel A Rosen HERE. I found it a unique whirlwind of magic, politics and post-apocalyptic action. BUY IT HERE. Book two is out now, so I will strongly consider picking it up… and reading it at some point.

Playing

King Domino has reared its head once more in our house, we’ve played it a few times this week, otherwise board games flow through our life as normal. I reviewed the Firefly 10th Anniversary Collectors Edition, which is vastly too huge, but otherwise a cracking game.

RPG wise I’ve enjoyed Doomsong, Rōnin and, of course, MORK ORG which we’ve been playtesting. A life highlight was running a game of our silly office hack for none other than Johan Nohr and Pelle Nilsson (MORK BORG), Luke Stratton and Zac Goines (PIRATE BORG) and Will Rahman (FORBIDDEN PSALM) on the grass outside at UKGE!

Dave has been…

Listening to

The First Four Years by Black Flag, as I’m seeing them (or a tribute band with one former member if we’re honest!) later this month which should be a blast. Also lots of Comeback Kid, specifically the Trouble EP on 12″. I’d overlooked this release and it’s arguably some of their best material. Love that band!!

Reading

The Death of Grass by John Christopher, in preparation for recording an episode of This Book I Read… It’s one of a select few books that I’ve every taken the time to read three or more times. It’s up there with Day of the Triffids and Lord of the Flies if you enjoy sort of dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction.

Good and Angry by David Powlison – I’ll confess I haven’t finished this yet but what I’ve read so far has been incredibly helpful in reframing the way I think about anger, how  deal with it (within myself and others) and heal from its effects.

Playing

Rōnin – Chris and I have a ridiculous late night game after unpacking all the stock post UKGE and managed to both get killed within the first encounter. My character’s face literally melted off . Super fun MÖRK BORG hack with beautiful art, BUY IT HERE

And Introducing Jog Brogzin…

Hi I’m Jog, new resident mapmaker for the ‘What is Roleplay?’ podcast. Chris asked me to contribute a little to the State of the Cataclysm. So here’s what I’ve been up to…

Playing

I’ve been running a short campaign of Broken Weave from Cubicle 7 with my two daughters (15 & 18) and my brother in law. It’s a post apocalyptic fantasy setting where the gods are dead and their corpses litter the decaying landscape. But it’s about hope and community building in that bleak world.

I like running zero prep games (using the many random tables in the book). Some of my favourite moments so far have been: the party randomly travelled two weeks backwards in time, giving them plenty of time to solve their current crisis; after a tough journey into the ribcage of a dead god, my daughter the dwarf waded through a lake of lava to her eventual goal… the God Killer Spear that’s lodged in its breastbone. Honestly I think I’ve given a child a nuke! We’re playing hard and fast.

 

That’s all for now friends. Until next time…

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