Louis Agresta's page

Is that a figgy pudding in this pic?
Combat this terrifying monstrosity (see link above) in Scavenger's Voice, the sequel to Grimmerspace's bestselling sci-fi horror adventure Abattoir 8.

Only Until December 31st!
Hi everyone! Lou and Rone from Iron GM Games, here, and we're excited!

As some of you may know we've finished playtesting Scavenger's Voice, a 4th level sci-fi horror adventure set on a disabled starship and the sequel to Abattoir 8, Richard Pett's terrifying tale of an an orbital meat processing plant gone wrong. They will appear together in our upcoming, 3-in-1 hardcover Grimmerspace Adventures Vol. 1

And Xeno Files, the definitive Grimmerspace bestiary, is getting closer to layout! It features 40 unique monster, all deeply steeped in setting lore. Xeno Files contains tantalizing reveals about the Gliding Rim Galaxy found nowhere else!

Progressing like this also means it's time for us to close our store and stop taking pre-orders. And that makes December your last chance for deep dish discounts on Grimmerspace! Not to mention we've got some amazing holiday bundles going, but only until December 31st.

Please check out the new Grimmerspace pre-order store and holiday bundles today, because they'll be gone just 7 days from tonight!

Happy holidays to all and to all a good fright!

Bumping this thread because there's a new event in Grimmerspace, starting tomorrow at 10 AM EST in the Grimmerspace Facebook group!

Monster March Madness!

In a nutshell, esteemed illustrator Mathias Kollros will display a new monster from the setting EVERY DAY until the end of March!

And if that weren't enough, there's prizes to be had! I can't claim to know any specifics as to the Grand Prize (reportedly worth a cool one grand), but every day, someone will win a poster of Mathias' "Onslaught" picture that captured the imaginations of so many!

Just FYI the grand prize was an original Larry Elmore pen and ink!

GRIMMERSPACE OPEN PLAYTEST
Announcing the ARcop Class, Free to Download
You may have heard we're holding a Grimmerspace Player Options Open Playtest over on our forums?

We made our first two classes publicly available to download and play test the other week. Today, we're announcing that a third class, The ARCop, is on our forums for you to test drive.

To maintain order and serve justice in a mega-arc, a structure so huge it houses a nation’s worth of citizens and is visible from space, requires a special brand of policing. It requires… an ARCop.

For you carry an ARCop’s Piece, which holds the mind of a deceased ARCop. Your Piece is your partner, mentor, friend and confidant. It is both a companion and an instrument of justice, helping you bring law to a dark and dangerous galaxy.

Owen K.C. Stephens (Design Lead for the Starfinder Core Rulebook, Development Lead for the Character Operations Manual, author of our Grimmerspace classes and races, will run the playtest.

To participate just register with the forums and jump on in. Hope to see you there!
* * *
Still Accepting Late Pledges
Worried you missed out on Grimmerspace? Never fear, Grimmer! Backerkit let's us accept late pledges.

Thank you, Garrett. We have... so much to show you...

You may be excited to hear that Owen K.C. Stephens (Design Lead for the Starfinder Core Rulebook, Development Lead for the Character Operations Manual), author of our Grimmerspace classes and races, will run an open playtest for Grimmerspace player options, starting... today!

To participate and get a first look just register with the forums and jump right in!

While we didn't plan to host an open playtest initially, we feel formally involving the Starfinder community in the development of classes and races will, among other things, improve their quality while granting the early access so many have requested.

The playtest is open to all players and GMs, regardless of whether you backed Grimmerspace on Kickstarter.

As of this post, you'll find beta versions of the Recombinator and the Voti Marine classes ready to download from the newly launched Iron GM Games forums. We expect to upload more options in the coming days.

See you there and thank you for your support!

How about this instead, then? We expect to send out the Backerkit pledge manager surveys this week, but until we do we can slip you in under the wire.

Email us at info@irongmgames.com with the pledge level you'd like, along with your paypal email (you can still see everything here). We'll send you a paypal invoice and add you manually, just like you'd backed before the close.

Our ability to do this ends in a couple of days, but you're just in time.

Thanks so much for your interest, Grimmer!

Over 2,600 Backers have unlocked amazing Grimmerspace values and made us the single most backed Starfinder KS (by # of backers) ever!

And there's less than 7 hours left to get in on it!

For example, the Grimmerspace ALL-IN pledge contains:

• * Our core book, Grimmerspace Setting & Adventures book (Print), now 256 pages thanks to stretch goals! In this book, every setting location comes with a unique, short adventure. These adventures range in length from 1 to approximately 3+ sessions.

• * The Xeno Files (Print), our bestiary now including 40 monsters. Thank you, backers!

• * The Grimmerspace Adventures Vol. 1 adventure compendium. Adventures Vol. 1 contains all the module-length Grimmerspace adventures, including Abattoir 8, Scavenger's Voice (together comprising the adventure arc Casket of the Cull by Richard Pett) and now, because you brought us past $150k, Greg Vaughan's Somnium Meld adventure.

• * The Xeno Deck. Laminated, tarot-sized cards with art prints of all 40 monsters from the Xeno Files (thanks, stretch goals!) on one side and stat blocks on the other. Puts the monsters in the palm of your hand, no more hunting for stats and pictures during a fight!

• * The Denizen Deck. Not everything is a monster. Laminated, tarot-sized cards with art prints on one stat blocks on the other. Contains 40 NPCs (thank you, stretch goals!) drawn from Grimmerspace adventures of all lengths. No more hunting for stats and pictures while roleplaying!

• * The Grimmerspace Player's Guide (Print), a softcover with enough detail to ground your players in the Grimmerspace setting that also duplicates player options from our core book for their convenience. Includes 3 bonus copies, our gift to you.

• * 24x36 art poster (Print), "Delicious Slab of Thunk"

• * 24x36 map poster (Print), "The Muckraker"

• * 24x36 map poster (Print), Navigation Map. Use its unique coordinate system at your table to calculate travel times, air, provisions, and fuel requirements when traveling between any two points in the Gliding Rim Galaxy.

• * 24x36 art poster (Print), "You Keep Them Working"

• * The Sci-Fi Immersive Battle Maps book from Yarro Studios. This Grimmerspace Kickstarter exclusive contains a 4-page foldout of the Muckraker plus a special edition cover designed by Tanner Yarro that incorporates Grimmerspace polity logos and iconography. Backers also receive digital copies of the Yarro battle maps.

• * Abattoir 8 Quickstart version, containing the first Quickstart for Starfinder by a third party and a step-by-step walkthrough of how to GM the first section of this adventure. Helpful for anyone, especially great for those new to Starfinder or new to GMing.

• * Abattoir 8 for Roll20. Includes one unlock key for the Abattoir 8 adventure content on the Roll20 platform. As seen on the Roll20 Indie Showcase actual play.

• * Three 35mm metal miniatures of the Hodrak, shock troops of the Sundermage invasion. From modeller Chad Hoverter and Effin' Cool Minis.

• A Premium slipcase that holds all three hardcover Grimmerspace books: Settings & Adventures, Xeno Files, and Adventures Vol. 1

• * PDF copies of all Grimmerspace books

• * All Digital Rewards, which includes VTT support, as well as PDFs of the "Delicious Slab of Thunk" art poster and the Muckraker ship poster, but not PDFs of the Navigation Map or the "You Keep them Working" art poster.

Not to mention pledge levels that include the Starfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook or the Starfinder Beginner box.

I'm not sayin' I'm just sayin' maybe check it out before its over?

The last episode of Grimmerspace News from Vikk26 (Sean Astin) is up and available.

Enjoy!

There's only 1 week left in the Grimmerspace Kickstarter, and you don't want to miss Sean Astin's Grimmerspace News, with Rone Barton (the Jade) and Lou Agresta.

More accurately, I don't want you to miss it!

We had a hoot making these, and I know they'll make you laugh...

Enjoy!

Why do the higher reward tiers include multiple copies of the player guide? What's actually in the player guide?

Hi Ascalaphus!

Starglim has it about right: the player guide duplicates all the player option material for PCs, along with the spoiler-free setting material needed to ground a player in the world.

There are multiple copies because they are intended for the players at your table so you're not passing the Settings and Adventure book around during your game, for example.

It is not a "Player's Handbook" because it duplicates material in the main book, even though we're contemplating adding some guide only material depending on the stretch goals we reach. However, it serves much the same function.

I hope that answers your question!

Ever wonder what it was like, day to day, in Grimmerspace. Wonder no longer!

Sean Astin, Rone Barton and I show you what the nightly news looks like in Grimmerspace...

BREAKING NEWS: First Contact Established with Intergalactic Beings

Some of you knew the secret, and I've been absolutely chomping at the bit to share these. Sean spent 5 hours in the studio donating his time, and it was sheer fun to make these with him and Rone.

Doesn't matter if you love or hate our Grimmerspace project, you'll like the ending to that vid... promise.

Awesome! Thank you so much!

We're bringing Pre-Gen's for level 1 and level 2 (in case you survive that long)!

Thank you all! First update and stretch goals going up soon!

Hah. Well I'm glad to hear you caught one! lol

Lou, are you going to post the link here on this thread? I'd like to take a look at your Kickstarter.

Absolutely, my man! Absolutely. Link will go up either tomorrow or Wednesday morning early in the am.

Right now, I can tell you Wednesday 5/22 10am EST!

I am also excited, my group and I have experimented with the free adventure and they had a blast.

My group consists of my kids, my nephew, and their friend, (Males and Females age range 15 - 18, they are also big fans of Call of Cthulhu, so this was right up their alley)

That's so awesome to hear! I'm so glad everyone had fun.

Thanks MikeoRed! That's encouraging to hear!

It depends on how far you get and whether or not you survive. That said the adventure has a 50/50 chance to play similarly on replay; so the opening will be completely familiar to you and the adventure could go repeat depending on certain choices.

Will this use Pre-Generated Characters?

Yes, indeed. We will provide pre-generated 1st level characters as well as 2nd level characters (for those who survive to level up).

We'll be blasting off for Grimmerspace next Wednesday 5/22. Thought some of you might like to know.

It will be fun! You going to be at Paizocon?

Did we mention free drinks? Just sayin'

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know that Iron GM Games is bringing Grimmerspace to Paizocon to celebrate with you! We'll be running games, sponsoring an actual play streamed to the Paizo Twitch channel (thanks RollForCombat!), and hosting a late night party!

Myself, Greg Vaughan, and two amazing members of the Iron GM Games staff will run Abattoir 8 3-4 times per day, every day of the con (after clicking the link and arriving at the event schedule, select Organizer>Iron GM Games to see them all).

Strap on your armor, charge your environment protections, and toss some extra magazines into your backpack. They might do you some good before this all ends. With this adventure, forget heroism… can you race through the pandemonium and escape in one piece?

Can't make it to Paizocon? That sucks and we'll miss you, but you can download Abattoir 8 for free here, see what all the fuss is about, and then follow along during the actual play as we stream it to both RollforCombat and Paizo's Twitch channels.

After the Paizo Banquet, why stop the fun? Join us into the wee hours for drinks and laughs at the Grimmerspace Launch Party in Cascade 13. We'll hand out prizes, spot you drink tickets for free designer cocktails straight from the Votikun Empire, and offer a chance to schmooze with top designers.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Waiting, waiting waiting for the kickstarter.....

You will not need to wait much longer. We will announce the date soon.

Hey Lou and Rone,

I love what you are working on here! Just got my copy of Abattoir 8 and it looks great!
I know you've mentioned new species joining the Crux as they flee from unnameable things in the Gyre (Vesk, Ysoki, Kasatha, etc) but how prominent are they?
Also, are there species that are more/less common?

I'm also really curious how you plan to handle interstellar travel, the drift or something... different *Nervously eyes copy of Event Horizon *.

I know you need to keep some things secret, but am eager to learn more.

Thank you, so glad you're loving it! We're pouring everything we have into Grimmerspace.

On species, just to clarify, the Starfinder Roleplaying Game races you mentioned aren't fleeing the Gyre. They're arriving in Grimmerspace, directly or indirectly, from the worlds of the default Starfinder setting. And we've designed Grimmerspace so you can play with them as prominent as you'd like them to be. Vesk, Ysoki, Kasatha, etc. are relative newcomers to the Gliding Rim Galaxy. They have been there long enough to raise children to an age that those children are ready to go adventuring on their own, but not much longer than that. You'll learn more about this during the Kickstarter, I promise.

There are definitely new species to play out of the box in Grimmerspace. The five polities of the Crux (the "civilized" center of the Grimmerspace galaxy) contain 6 species, all human variants, but some of these vary so much they border on the alien.

In addition, at the time of the Grimmerspace core setting and adventure book, two species have come out of the Gyre and one you can play right away is called the Jhoom. These are tech-savvy, space-adapted beings who live in enclaves throughout Crux space and about whom we'll be revealing more during the Kickstarter (ahg - you're going to get so tired of me saying that). The other race from the Gyre you can't play -- yet. We'll also tell you more about that one (say it with me)... during the Kickstarter.

Hope that helps answer your question for now?

I am pleased and excited to announce that yesterday Abattoir 8 was released to early access subscribers of the Grimmerspace newsletter. With handouts, player maps, and pregens this entirely free adventure clocks in at 90 pages.

Written by fan-favorite master of dark adventure, Richard Pett, for 4-6 characters of 1st-3rd level, Abattoir 8 introduces you to Grimmerspace. And, while we plan to explore over fifteen different subgenres of horror in our setting and adventures, expect a lot of Splatter and Survival horror in this one.

It’s the kind of adventure that leaves you thinking, forget heroism… can we race through the pandemonium and escape in one piece?

In Abattoir 8 we created tools to help make GMing easy, saving the horror for the adventure, not for when you try to run it. And, on the advice of our allies in the industry, we also threw in a digital map pack with all the maps and art in the adventure already extracted and zipped up for GMing convenience. Also free.

Expect to hear more from us soon about Abattoir 8 and other Grimmerspace News.

The video at the Local FGS was good, although short. You and Rone look great and really stoked at putting this all together. To bad Wesley Snipes is missing out on the fun, right?

Thanks, EltonJ. Wesley Snipes not being around is fine. Simple truth there is that he's no longer involved with Grimmerspace. We were connected to him through a third party who set up the deal but couldn't get him to return our contract signed. Repeated attempts to reach him failed. We waited for months, but eventually realized: we could keep waiting (after all, we were told that we could announce his involvement so we did) or we could just move on and give gamers the game what we'd promised.

We put so much work into this game already, losing a big name wasn't going to hobble things more than the delay itself. But funny thing? During that delay we wrote, edited, engaged concept artists, spent whatever money and time we had on adding to the book and the adventures. If you check out the www.grimmerspace.com, you'll get a sense of how much we've poured into this.

So in a strange way, although humbling, the forced delay wound up making our project much stronger. I'm almost grateful.

As for the vids? We did so many of these, we'll be posting 2 or more a day from now until the end of the Kickstarter! No one wants that much of Rone and I in their faces at one shot. This way you can get your daily dose and maybe it lightens the day a chuckle. I like to think we can do that for folks. That'd be cool.

Thanks for watching! While I was typing this, three more vids went up! lol!

You can check them out on facebook here.

The Jade and I will be checking back to answer any questions raised in the vids, of course.

Rone Barton (The Jade) and I put together a video series, filmed with his old half-busted camera at the Underground Beacon, my warm and wonderful local game and comic book store.

Each 1 minute video reveals another facet of Grimmerspace, our RPG project for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game that we're developing with Sean Astin. We shot 54 of these little monsters, and plan to release one or more per day from now until just before Paizocon.

You can watch the first vid introducing the plan on our Iron GM Games Facebook page, here. Eventually we'll collect them up in batches on youtube and vimeo for folk who don't facebook.

We're premiering our next vid on Grimmerspace tonight. If you want to chuckle along with us for a hot minute and hear something about the Sci-Fi horror galaxy we're building for Starfinder, please join us on our facebook page when we go live around 7pm EST 4/19/19. You can and even get a reminder about it by visiting the page beforehand and clicking on the announcement post.

The short length of these vids sometimes forced us to rush, but we laugh, we cry, and we aim to inform!

I sincerely hope you'll join us and that you enjoy our short video chats when you do.

Congratulations, Louis. May the partnership work out for a long time.

Thank you! Rone and I have our fingers crossed!

MODIPHIUS named as the worldwide distributor of Grimmerspace for Starfinder! Thanks to Big Mo as we pull together an award-winning team to bring Grimmerspace to the widest possible audience! You can check out the full press release here.

You can learn more about Grimmerspace on our website, which has a vid from fellow creative developer Sean Astin hitting the project highlights.

The Jade and I are excited to announce this deal and happy to answer any questions about what this means (and doesn't mean) for backers of the project.

Thanks for that answer that is very interesting to say the least. It is awesome to hear you guys have a friend like that who is willing to go to bat for you and help you promote your product!

And to work so hard on it, the guy's a creative powerhouse! We are lucky, thank you. And very grateful. Help like his and from all the other talented people contributing to Grimmerspace has been both humbling and uplifting. It's nerve wracking to risk so much to bring a dream to life and deeply gratifying when friends, professionals, and the community all respond so positively as they have so far!

Lou, I'll be unable to back this on kickstarter because I have my own 3rd party project to put together. But good luck with the kickstarter!

No worries! May you win the lottery in the meantime and be able to do both! Barring that, good luck with your project. Send me a PM or post on my personal Facebook page when you come up for air, please. I'd love to hear about it!

What is Sean Astin's involvement?

Is he just a celebrity attached to a product to generate interest?

I am pretty sure he doesn't play Starfinder as I don't think he made any mention of it in the video so I'd like to know why involve him?

I'm going to back this project either way but having a guy like that who proabably isn't a cheap addition makes me a little bit more iffy on a kickstarter.

Hi Ograx,

But you're right. Sean's time isn't cheap. Even though Rone (The Jade) and I are funding this Kickstarter with what amounts to our life savings, we couldn't afford what it costs to get a guy like Sean to do even that one vid you saw on Grimmerspace.com.

When we asked Sean to work with us on Grimmerspace, we we had this whole complicated pitch worked out, our BIG PLAN to convince him… and he said, “What are you doing? Stop. Of course I’ll help.” He cut right through it and took all our wind away. Just like that. He told us he'd help because story was worthy, because our story was worthy (his words exactly). It was pretty humbling. Sean’s just... like that.

To answer your question more directly, though, Sean is a friend of Rone’s and mine. And the three of us had been working together (and continue to work) on a totally different RPG-related project from before this one. It’s fair to say that Rone and I introduced Sean to gaming. And while, no, Sean doesn’t play Starfinder (yet), he gets gaming; he’s an accomplished director and writer in his own right; and he has an eye and heart for story like no one else. He’s also, like I said, a really incredible guy.

For Grimmerspace, Sean’s agreed to be a Creative Developer. Meaning, he will review the setting material and adventures submitted by designers, suggest adjustments, and recommend improvements; for example, “Make it cooler here and do it this way instead” or “Really? This doesn’t makes sense because of abc” or “What if we added xyz to these aliens?” Or “I don’t like that storyline, what about this one instead?” And “Wouldn’t it be awesome if…”

Sean will also identify aspects of Grimmerspace best suited to further development in other media like film and television. Specifically, he’ll help us keep Grimmerspace cinematic and suited to adaptation.

Creative Development is important. It’s one of the roles that James Jacobs fills on the Pathfinder AP line, for example, and Rone and I will also act as Creative Developers on Grimmerspace (as well as Designers). Essentially, Creative Developers are the source of feedback the designers receive after turning in their first drafts.

Sean has already given us feedback on the initial Grimmerspace material, and we’ve made adjustments based on his suggestions. And, while we have to work with him via Skype and email more often than we can get together, we expect his input will continue to improve the setting and storylines of Grimmerspace.

I hope that clarifies and answers your question?

Hey everyone,

I thought I'd take a moment to make a formal announcement here. Some of you may have heard The Jade and me talking about our upcoming Starfinder scifi-horror project, Grimmerspace, which will also help launch our company Iron GM Games.

You might not have heard we teamed up with Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings, Stranger Things) on it, that we launched a new website, or that some of our writers might be *cough* familiar *cough*.

On the site you can check out a bit of what we've been up to, catch a first look at Grimmerspace art, and watch a short video of Sean explaining the project. The Jade and I pop in briefly at the end of the vid, see if you can spot us!

We really appreciate you taking the time to check out our efforts. The site is over at: www.grimmerspace.com

Thank you,

- Lou

PS If you want to stay in the loop or be first to get the free Richard Pett adventure we'll be giving away, please consider signing up. We'll notify you when it's out. And if you like what you see at grimmerspace.com, please consider sharing the site with gamers who might like it too. Shares mean the world to us.

Lou and Rone:

How big do you think the finished main Grimmerspace book will be? how many additional tomes are planned for the Kickstarter?

Hi Jason, in part it depends on how big our backers want them to be. The more stretch goals we hit, the bigger everyone's books will become. If we fund fully Grimmerspace's core offering will include a 256pp full color hardcover setting and adventures book (50% setting and 50% short, modular portable adventures). We're currently planning 14 different adventures, one for every location in the book. It will include also include a 96pp+ full color hardcover Grimmerspace bestiary, a 32pp softcover, full-color player's guide, and up to two, full-length 48-page softcover adventures, one from Richard Pett and another from Greg Vaughan. Plus add-ons and other expansions.

Again, the more stretch goals we hit, the bigger everyone's Grimmerspace will become.

If you want to hear Sean Astin tell you more about what were' planning, see some of the art, and what we've been developing you can check it out at the new Grimmerspace website..

I haven't seen any rules either. I'm perfectly comfortable writing rules of course.

That said, I've got a "no satellite" situation, but I should have been more clear. The airlock is on an orbital space station. And I would assume any station has sensors for detecting debris as well as to aid S&R ops.

So much incredible material in the APs it would be easy to miss something, though, right?

If... something... prevents the party from using that equipment there's always the old "triangulation" approach adding a Z-axis for 3 dimensions, I suppose.

Do you think I can convince Syrinscape to record the 24 hour panicked slow death of a companion lost in orbit who goes through all 5 stages of grief and finally suffocates with a Wilhelm scream as their air runs out? As a GM I could play that as the soundtrack for multiple sessions in the background to motivate the rest of the party to find their lost companion. *cackles evilly*

Wait. Is this thing on? Did I say that out loud?

Thanks for the input, and yes, no doubt Hammerjack, taking 20 for 2 minutes of scanning is clearly a recipe for boredom!

I don't know Garretmander, maybe. Space is vast, right? I'm thinking it becomes a question of pointing the starship sensors at the right hex. It's a little fudgey because hexes don't represent a specific distance, except to say they can fit a starship and a starship is bigger than a person in a suit. So if I point the sensors at a couple of hexes and guess correctly I'd detect the floating person. If my floating airlock victim can see the station from which they were shoved, the verbal communication could help the folks in the starship narrow it down.

But I don't see anything in the rules that state armor comes equipped with homing beacons the way it says they all come equipped with environmental protections.

*makes notes for equipment section of new book*

If I tossed your PC out an airlock in orbit, could your companions locate you? If you had a personal comm unit they could talk to you. But could they GPS in on your location? Or just listen to you as your Tier 1 armor's air ran out or you eventually began reentry and burned up?

Anything ever provide more clarity on hp, hardness, and/or what's involved in cutting a titanium alloy cable line?

Hot stuff! Color me interested!

That's how I read it too. Thanks.

So there is unconsciousness from dropping below 0 hp, unconsciousness from non-lethal damage that drops you below 0 hp, and the unconscious condition.

It's clear from Staying in the Fight that resolve points can be used to pop you out of unconsciousness brought on from being below 0 hp, but what about if you just have the unconscious condition but it hasn't affected your hp at all? What if you just have the condition?

Can resolve points "clear" other conditions? As far as I know they cannot; so, I imagine if you gain the unconscious condition through some route other than "hp below zero" (an electrical charge, an alien energy, magic, a drug, gas) than resolve points would avail you naught?

Or is the unconscious condition the one exception?

Any RAW ruling on this?

The Unconscious condition entry reads "You are knocked out and helpless. Unconsciousness can result from having 0 hit points." Emphasis added.

Themetricsystem wrote:

I'm not Lou but I may be able to field that question from a relative outsider perspective.

Magic is almost CERTAINLY not real in our universe but even today there are cultures that value live sacrifice in hopes to achieve personal/communal gain or wealth. Superstition and belief systems do not need to be grounded in the factual/historical reality of the setting mechanically in order for their adherents to believe that sacrifice adds value to their culture.

True, but I've having a hard time reconciling that with an advanced society that is one of the five cultural pillars of the 'no-magic' setting and squaring your approach with the whole "battle of science fiction vs. science fantasy". A culture with the mindset you're describing seems more likely to run screaming to embrace magic (with the purpose of controlling it for themselves, of course, since this is Grimmerspace).

The thing is -- and damn your unforeseen but inevitable perspicacity -- when all the crypt moons of the Emanant Spectrality align and eclipse their homeworld, the people of that Crux polity experience certain... effects... which they ascribe to the ghosts of the Elder Builders. What is actually going on? That is a setting secret to be uncovered in play, within certain adventures. And some of it we expect the sharp, wicked mind of Shanna Germain to expand upon. Is it technology? Is it magic? Are there actual ghosts? Wait and see.

Grimmerspace plans to explore 14 kinds of horror and the Emanant Spectrality lends itself to what we categorize as gothic horror. The fact that whatever has been going on there with this vanished alien race bears such a close resemblance to "magic" and feeds into their cultural fear of death and mortality, as well as their superstitious nature, makes the Emanant Spectrality of all the five Crux polities especially vulnerable to manipulation when real magic makes the scene.

Now, do we know what has really been going on with the Elder Builders? Yes. Am I going to tell you in this post. Nope. Gonna have to get the book for that. Sorry, not sorry. ;)

Louis Agresta wrote:

The Apostasy
Five aristocratic houses rule a wicked civilization of wealthy human sadists and their bio-engineered sycophants spread across the thirteen moons of a single crypt-world. The royal families of each house chase immortality in their own unique way and are always at each other’s throats. But two things unite them: faith in their inherent superiority and the annual festival of Tarthaziel, wherein they spill blood to appease the ghosts of the ancient aliens who once inhabited their home system.

Lou, all of the Grimmerspace teases sound fantastic and I'm anxiously awaiting the Kickstarter! I do have nagging questions though. If Grimmers are science-fiction and magic is new, why is one of the main Crux factions appeasing alien ghosts in a blood ritual? Wouldn't that be a culture built around knowledge of magic? That sounds straight-up science fantasy to me.

Also, are the factions described the largest Crux factions or the only Crux factions? While the factions described sound incredible, they also sound pretty specific and I'm wondering if/where less exotic(?) cultures exist (if, in fact, they do) and where core rulebook races might fit (if, in fact, they do). Galaxies are pretty big, after all.

These are GREAT questions. The Emanant Spectrality as a culture fears death. Each of their houses specializes in a different, bioscience/research approach to life extension technology. They have, in fact, given rise to an archetype, the Recombinator. A sort of biological mechanic who grows genetic experiments rather than build drones, but that's for another post.

As a whole, the Spectrality is also a superstitious culture. Living on the literal tomb-worlds of an extinct alien civilization amplifies their superstitious nature. Whether or not there was anything to that superstition before the arrival of magic in their universe is an open question; whether those who wield magic will attempt to use their superstitions against the Emanant Spectrality remains to be seen.

The five Crux polities are the major technic civilizations of Grimmerspace, but they are not the only locations from which a PC might originate. The Crux polities have all made forays into colonizing the Edge and splinter groups have also established their own independent footholds in the Edge as well. Additionally, alien races have from time to time fled the Gyre and found their home -- to varying degrees of acceptance -- within the Crux.

In the last two to three decades, an influx of new aliens have arrived, from locations unknown. They call themselves Vesk, Ysoki, and other strange names. They too have taken up residency within the thriving polities and peoples of the Gliding Rim galaxy.

Does that answer your question? If not, hit me again and we'll answer. I can also pull Rone in for more clarification!

Sure!

We expect to announce a specific date relatively soon.

We've added James Sutter and Wolfgang Baur to the team. James is writing adventures and Wolfgang's going to do some monster design for Grimmerspace.

We're giving away the first half of Richard Pett's first ever horror adventure for Starfinder before the Kickstarter and folks on our newsletter will get early access even before that. It's called Abattoir 8 and it's heading into its fifth playtest. From there to a final revision and then layout.

We've created more content than what we've discussed previously in this thread, but if there's anything in particular you want to know, just ask!

IT'S COMING!

Just an update to let folks know that Grimmerspace is swinging along behind the scenes.

Today the project forced me to research alternate uses for ungulate manure (thanks Pett) and to write these words: That said, being strapped to a chair, unconscious in Big Boy’s Murder Closet shouldn’t prove the end of player agency.

Which, frankly, aren't words I ever expected to pen in an RPG.

The Jade and I haven't been plastering the boards with our every advance toward the Kickstarter because, at this point, firm and concrete next steps seem the best thing about which to inform folks.

At the same time we do want you all to know we are full steam ahead.

Thank you all for your patience. We can't wait to pull the wrappers off this beautiful beast! More soon.

GM Rednal wrote:

spacetimc wrote:

Not sure if others have addressed this request, but -

I'd like one-shot single-session modules. My group and I don't have the time to invest in frequent sessions to explore long-running campaigns. I don't have the time to sit and develop my own standalones. I'd like something that runs in a long afternoon. Doesn't necessarily have to be tied directly in to the Starfinder Universe either.

While I like supporting third-party publishers... have you considered looking into the Starfinder Society line? From what you said there, I feel like 1-2 missions a session would be pretty good for what you seem to be looking for, whether or not you're doing them the 'official' way.

I've been away working on stuff for a bit, so this may be answered further down the thread, but we've designed Grimmerspace to specifically fit this need. The core book will be divided into half setting and half adventures. The adventures will be organized by a number of characteristics, but estimated session lengths will be primary among these.

So, for example, the book groups your adventures as:

1 session
- adventure
- adventure
- adventure

1-2 sessions
- adventure
- adventure
- adventure

2+ sessions
- adventure
- adventure
- adventure

This of course assumes an average efficient party. I've had gaming groups who could spend 4 hours trap testing an empty room. smh

spacetimc wrote:

Not sure if others have addressed this request, but -

I'd like one-shot single-session modules. My group and I don't have the time to invest in frequent sessions to explore long-running campaigns. I don't have the time to sit and develop my own standalones. I'd like something that runs in a long afternoon. Doesn't necessarily have to be tied directly in to the Starfinder Universe either.

While I like supporting third-party publishers... have you considered looking into the Starfinder Society line? From what you said there, I feel like 1-2 missions a session would be pretty good for what you seem to be looking for, whether or not you're doing them the 'official' way.

I've been away working on stuff for a bit, so this may be answered further down the thread, but we've designed Grimmerspace to specifically fit this need. The core book will be divided into half setting and half adventures. The adventures will be organized by a number of characteristics, but estimated session lengths will be primary among these.

So, for example, the book groups your adventures as:

1 session
- adventure
- adventure
- adventure

1-2 sessions
- adventure
- adventure
- adventure

2+ sessions
- adventure
- adventure
- adventure