The Concept Art of Joe Banner
over 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 17, 2021 at 06:24:08 AM

Hi everyone!

After a week of updates about gameplay, rules, and components, I’m very excited to present another update about the art and the lore of Earthborne Rangers.

But before I get to it, I’m just as excited to share that we’re over 2,400(!) backers, and less than 350 backers away from unlocking the regional manufacturing stretch goals. We have a very good chance of ensuring local production for at least one of the three regions by the end of the campaign, and I’m looking forward to making a run at all three. Thank you all for making it possible!

As Evan mentioned in his update about our art process, the art for Earthborne Rangers is a collaborative effort between Evan, myself, and my oldest friend, Joe Banner. Working with Joe and Evan to bring the world of Earthborne to life has been a wonderful and deeply rewarding experience.

Joe Banner and I have been friends since 7th grade, and from the moment we met, we began creating things together. Mostly, we created laughter, but later we went on to collaborate on comic books, art club projects, and some truly inspired sketch comedy that we would record on his dad’s VHS camcorder.

What I love most about working with Joe is that he's not afraid to follow his muse, and he'll follow it to some pretty wild places. Whenever I gave him a prompt for a concept, he almost always returned with something completely unexpected. I love his imagination, and I loved being surprised every time he’d share his work with me.

Here are a few of Joe’s amazing concept sketches, along with a bit of lore (written by Sam Gregor-Stewart) on each. While these sketches won’t appear in the final game (though some will be in the art and lore book), they will inform the finished artwork you’ll see on the cards. I hope you find them as inspiring and inventive as Evan and I do. Enjoy!

Much love,

Andrew

----------------------

Bearsloth

Bearsloths live in the deep woodlands of the Valley. Their preferred tree is the Yellow Broadleaf Maple, due to its size (able to support a bearsloth’s considerable bulk) and broad, spreading branches, which are easier to navigate. Bearsloths typically claim a single tree as their home, and defend it against other bearsloths and tree dwelling predators.

Irix

Slightly larger than a California Condor, nobody is sure why the ancestors designed the irix. Irix hunt using the soar and stoop technique of many raptors. Their big frames mean they rely on soaring high up in the air on thermals off the mountains to gain altitude. Their eyes are incredibly sharp, and can spot prey from more than a kilometer in the air.

White Sky

The first settlers of White Sky built their homes on stilts near the lake shore. However, the southern shore abutted the forest, and the forest turned out to be full of territorial animals. Slowly, the villagers moved further and further into the lake for safety, until eventually, the entire village was floating on a series of barges and platforms. Eventually, these platforms merged into towering structures, rising from the surface of the lake.

Branch

Branch is built in and around the massive trees of the dolewood forest west of the high basin, sculpted from living wood by the shapers of the Floating Tower. Platforms encircle the largest trees, on which the villagers have built their homes. The forest is a maze of wooden platforms and walkways, all about 10 meters or more above the forest floor.

Plateau

Plateau is built into the sides of a small mesa on the Valley’s western edge. The homes are carved out of the cliff face and rock towers, so from the outside, all one sees are a number of doors and round, crystal windows set into the rock. A number of molecular chain bridges stretch between the different homes, which is how the citizens of Plateau get around. Anyone who grows up in Plateau develops a fearless disregard for heights and a firm sense of balance by the time they can walk, or they move to a different village.

Regional Manufacuring Stretch Goals Unlocked
over 2 years ago – Mon, Aug 16, 2021 at 10:11:07 PM

Hi everyone!

I’m excited to announce that we’ve unlocked the regional manufacturing stretch goals! It’s an amazing accomplishment that we’re here with a full week left in the campaign. That means there’s more than enough time for us to achieve the next set of goals.

In order to make regional manufacturing possible we must reach 2,000 backers each (again at the $80 pledge level or higher) in the U.S., U.K., and E.U. That may sound like a lot, but I know those backers are out there, and if they show up, we can make it happen.

Why 2,000? 2,000 copies per region is near to the minimum we can print without putting the long term health of Earthborne Games (as a business) in jeopardy. Printing regionally is expensive. I wrote about this at length on the Stonemaier Games blog, if you’d like to read more about my rationale. The short version is, in order to make regional manufacturing happen, we need your help to do it. Without your support, it won’t be financially possible.

Right now, at 1,520 backers, we are very close to ensuring a production of Earthborne Rangers in the U.S., but I also feel that a production in the E.U. (670 backers) is well within reach given the time remaining. The U.K. (212) has some work to do, but I know that there must be at least 1,800 more people in the U.K. who would love our game. I’ve seen the crowds at the U.K. Game Expo. There’s a lot of them out there!

If you’re curious as to how we arrived at these totals, the U.S. number includes backers in the U.S. and Canada. The E.U. number includes E.U. and mainland Europe. Missing from these totals are backers in Australia and New Zealand (109), whose number we could potentially add to one of the regions to help them reach the finish line.

I’m excited to see what happens next. No one’s attempted this before, so the fact that you’re here, supporting us in this endeavor is amazing. Thank you so much! Let’s make it happen!

Much love,

Andrew

p.s. The Earthborne Rangers Demo is now live on Tabletop Simulator on Steam. Just search for “Earthborne Rangers KS Demo.” You can find the rulebook here and the campaign guide here. Please let us know in the comments if you have any questions (or if you spot any typos). Most of all, have fun!

The Rules
over 2 years ago – Thu, Aug 05, 2021 at 08:12:06 PM

Hi everyone!

As I mentioned in an earlier update, we’ve received a lot of requests for access to our rules document. Tonight I present them to you in all their unformatted glory.

This particular rules document is the same one that was used by Team Covenant during the livestream on Monday. It was written with the demo version of the game in mind. That doesn’t meaningfully change anything about the rules, but there’s some writing in there that references the demo specifically.

Please consider the following as you read:

• There are no images. The lack of images may make some concepts more difficult to understand than if the document was full of beautiful, step-by-step diagrams and examples of the cards in action.
   
• It has not been edited. There may be typos and inelegant prose.
   
• It is a work in progress. The intent behind the rules and concepts are present, but the wording has not been finalized, and not every concept in the game is thoroughly explained. We will continue to edit, re-write, and refine the rules throughout development.
   
• There are no page numbers. Some sentences refer to concepts and rules appearing on specific page numbers. In each of these instances, you’ll see “@@” instead of a number.
   
• I hope you enjoy them! And I hope that when you open the pages of the final rulebook sometime next year, you’ll enjoy imagining all the steps it took to get there.

A few other items of note:

I participated in a live Q&A hosted by Ben at Frosted Games this afternoon. It was a lot of fun, and I was asked a number of questions about Earthborne and Earthborne Rangers that I had never been asked before. I encourage you to check it out! LINK

Jason Perez moved up the date of Andrew Fischer’s and my appearance on Shelf Stories. It’s live! You can check out our conversation HERE.

Jamey Stegmaier of Stonemaier Games graciously invited me to guest on his industry blog. If you’re interested in learning even more about my vision for sustainable manufacturing in our industry, you can read our in-depth conversation HERE.

Thank you all for your continued support! It means the world to us.

Much love,

Andrew

And now:

What's in the Core Set?
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 04, 2021 at 06:57:59 PM

Hi everyone!

In today’s update, I’ll be sharing our current plans for the contents of the core set. The exact mix of cards, card sets, and tokens may change somewhat over the course of development, but the contents below will give you a very good idea of the direction we're pursuing.

First, let’s talk about the cards! There are currently 535 cards (over 300 of which are unique) planned for the core set. That means the core set includes over 300 unique card illustrations. In case you’re wondering, that’s a lot!

The cards themselves will be “poker” sized (2.5” x 3.5”), made from FSC certified card stock, 350 gsm or higher, with a matte/semi-gloss finish.

The core set includes an in-box storage solution that will accommodate all of the cards in the core set, a Ranger Card Doubler, and the Legacy of the Ancestors campaign expansion (sleeved or not).

Additionally, the core set includes divider cards to help you organize your collection.

Here are the current sets and quantities for the core set:

Ranger Card Sets

• Aspect Set (12 unique cards)
• Universal Action Cards (4 total)
• Personality Set (16 unique cards, 32 total)
• Mission Reward Set (35 unique cards, 70 total) -- The cards in this set are rewarded for completing missions and other tasks. Most can be added to your Ranger deck, while others may alter the challenge deck, or the path deck. 

Background Sets

• Artisan (9 unique cards, 18 total)
• Forager (9 unique cards, 18 total)
• Shepherd (9 unique cards, 18 total)
• Traveler (9 unique cards, 18 total)

Specialization Sets

Each specialization set contains cards for your Ranger deck and 2 unique role cards.

• Artificer (14 unique cards, 26 total)
• Constable (14 unique cards, 26 total)
• Explorer (14 unique cards, 26 total)
• Shaper (14 unique cards, 26 total)

Total Ranger cards: ~294

Valley Card Sets

Landscape Set (40 unique cards)

• Each card in the landscape set has a corresponding location on the Valley map.

Pivotal Landscape Sets (40 unique cards)

• There are 10 “pivotal” landscape sets in the core set. These contain people, features, and animals specific to certain locations in the Valley like White Sky, Lone Tree, and the Northern Outpost. Each pivotal landscape set features anywhere between 3 to 6 cards.

Trail Sets (approximately 56 unique cards, 96 total)

• There are 8 trail sets in the core set, each containing 12 cards. These represent the terrain, wildlife, strange beings you’ll encounter while exploring the trails through the Valley. The current trail sets are Mountain, Forest, Waterline, Marsh, Rainforest, Hills, Grassland, and Swamp.

Valley Set (12 unique cards)

• This set contains the wandering characters and exceptionally dangerous predators you’ll find while exploring all but the aforementioned "pivotal" locations of the Valley.

Weather Set (5 unique cards)

• This set contains the weather cards, which can either raise or lower the difficulty of your game experience.

Mission Set (24 total cards)

• This set contains the cards that will lead you through the main and side missions during the campaign. They include cards that sit in the surroundings and cards that may be added to the path deck or your Ranger deck.

Total Valley Cards: ~217

Challenge Deck (24 total cards)

• You’ll draw from the challenge deck every time you perform a narrative action in Earthborne Rangers.

Tokens

In addition to the cards, the core set comes with a full set of high-quality punchboard tokens made from either recycled paper or FSC certified paper with a matte finish. There are currently 79 tokens in the core set:

• Energy Tokens (32 total, 8 for each aspect)
• Ranger Tokens (4)
• Harm Tokens (10) - 1s on the front, 3s on the back 
• Progress Tokens (18) - 1s on the front, 3s on the back 
• General Use Tokens (15) - 1s on the front, 3s on the back 

Books

The core set will come with two books: the rulebook and the Season of Rebirth campaign guide. Currently each is budgeted to be 48 saddle-stitched pages (8.5” x 11”).

If you’re interested in reading more about the materials that we’re planning to use for the core set and the add-ons, you can check out the “material components” section of the Kickstarter page.

And that’s the core set! There’s going to be a lot of amazing things in there, and I can’t wait to see it all come to life.

Thank you all for your continued support!

See you tomorrow!

Much love,

Andrew

Design Notes – Character Creation
over 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 03, 2021 at 08:07:55 PM

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a chance to watch and enjoy the Team Covenant livestream yesterday. I had a great time answering questions and chatting with you all. They’ll be streaming again next Monday (August 9th) at 1 p.m. CDT if you'd like to watch their continued adventures in the Valley.

During the livestream (and also in the comments here on KS), I received a lot of requests for access to a rules doc. Rest assured, we will make the rules doc available to you all very soon!

The rules document is still a work in progress, but for those of you who are interested in learning more about the technical specifics of gameplay, you’ll absolutely get a lot out of it. I will post either a link to the Google doc or a link to a PDF on Dropbox soon and let you all know when it’s available by way of an update. Stay tuned!

In other exciting news, we’re up over 2,200 backers with nearly 1,900 backers at the $80 pledge level or higher! We’re getting very close to opening up the race to regional manufacturing (which begins at 2,500 backers at the $80 pledge level or higher). With any luck, we’ll be there by the end of the week and have a real chance of making it happen by the end of the campaign.

Thank you all again for your support!

Until tomorrow!

Much love,

Andew

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Design Notes - Character Creation

Hi everyone! Andrew Fischer here again with another design notes update.

Team Covenant’s playthrough was a good example of what the rules and gameplay of a game session will be like, but they are playing with two pre-built Ranger decks that we provided for the demo, so they didn’t get to show off character creation. That video contained a quick overview of how character creation works, but in this update, I wanted to dive a bit deeper into how you’ll be creating characters for Earthborne Rangers. I’m going to give a quick overview of how the process works, what your card options are in the core set, and talk a bit about the design ideas behind them.

To talk about the process, I’m going to walk step by step through each decision you’ll make:

Aspects

To start the character creation process, you choose your aspects. Aspects determine how much energy you have in your pool to play cards and perform actions during the game, and other cards in the following process may require your aspects be at a certain value or higher  for you to be able to include them in your deck.

The core set comes with 12 different aspect cards to choose from. Each of these features a different spread of values across the four aspects ranging from 3 to 1. You choose one card to represent your aspect spread.

Backgrounds

Next you pick your background. Thematically, your background represents what you did in your early life, representing the skills, connections, and resources you accumulated during your formative years. There are four backgrounds to choose from. You select 5 unique cards from your chosen background and add 2 copies of each of the chosen cards to your ranger deck.

Mechanically, the cards in the backgrounds are designed to set up and support the other cards in your deck. They are the “facilitators” of the various synergies and combos in the card pool. Each background’s cards key off of specific elements of the game. Which background you choose will determine what elements of the game board your character is going to “care about” when it comes to setting up their combos. For example, the Forager is looking for cards with the “flora” trait to set up their synergies, while a Shepherd is looking for beings.

The four backgrounds are:

Artisan

In your early life you worked on a specialized craft in one of the Valley’s villages. You are adept in the use of tools, and you know how to work with your hands. Artisan cards key off of and support your equipped gear and the gear of other Rangers.

Forager

In your early life you gained tremendous knowledge of the plants of the Valley. You know how to identify the flora of the wilderness - which are medicinal, which are edible, and which are dangerous. Forager cards key off of cards with the “flora” trait. Forager cards also allow you to spend progress placed on features as a resource, supporting the other cards in your deck.

Shepherd

In your early life you tended a flock of ironwool sheep in the rolling meadows of the soutwestern Valley. You have a natural affinity for animals both tame and wild. Shepherd cards key off of beings from the path deck and can help you interact with and pacify potentially dangerous beings in non-violent ways.

Traveler

Your early life was spent walking the footpaths of the Valley from village to village, or even journeying outside of it. As such, you feel most at home when you’re on the move. Traveler cards center around soothing fatigue and returning cards from your discard pile to your Ranger deck. Traveler cards are great for supporting decks that feature a lot of moment cards.

Specializations

Your Ranger’s specialization represents the training and experience of your Ranger’s adulthood and the role they play as a part of the Ranger organization. There are four specializations to choose from, and each specialization has two roles to choose from. You’ll choose one of the two roles (I”ll explain those next) and then select 5 unique cards from your chosen specialization and add 2 copies of each of the chosen cards to your ranger deck.

Mechanically, if the background cards I mentioned set things up for your ranger deck, your specialization cards make them sing. These cards are all about using the resources and support from your background cards to achieve your goals on the table: making progress and pursuing your objectives. These cards make the synergies and combos in your deck truly come to life.

The four backgrounds are:

Part engineer, part visionary artist, you are dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge and a master craftsperson. You are a student of both the technology of the past and the innovations of the current age. Cards in the Artificer set are mostly gear and attachments.

Even before you joined the Rangers, you were dedicated to helping the communities of the Valley, aiding anyone in need in matters great and small. You are a natural mediator and protector. Constable cards specialize in connecting with the villagers, protecting them from predators, and navigating the habited areas of the Valley.

The people of the Valley are natural explorers, but you have an affinity and aptitude for exploration that has made you an expert of the wilds. The Valley cannot keep secrets from you for long. You are a natural at charting new paths and overcoming any obstacle set before you. Explorer cards center around putting progress on features and landscapes. They also allow for more efficient movement along the paths of the Valley map.

Many years ago, you walked the perilous stair to the monastery at the top of Blind Peak where through decades of study and practice in the Floating Tower, you learned to focus your intent and alter reality through the use of a conduit, a wonder of advanced technology, inoperable by any but the most disciplined and self-aware. Shaper cards require you to include a special piece of gear called a “conduit” in your deck. They make use of powerful abilities that can manipulate parts of the game systems that are usually inaccessible to other ranger cards.

Roles  

Each specialization set has two different role cards to choose from. Role cards always start the game in play and give you a repeatable, consistent ability. Because role abilities are always available, they can act as a foundation for the other cards’ abilities in the pool. We’ve tried to make these abilities as fundamental to the system as possible to maximize their interactions with all the other cards and tricks in the card content.

Personality

Personality cards are not split into different categories like the backgrounds and roles are. Instead, all of the personality cards are in one big set that all rangers can choose from. Each Ranger chooses one personality card from each of the four different aspects (Awareness, Fitness, Focus, and Spirit) and adds 2 copies of each chosen card to their deck.

Personality cards represent your Ranger’s unique approach to everything they do. These cards are great all-rounder cards that let you customize the balance of approach icons in your deck. They are great general-use cards that are good for most Rangers, so if you prefer to pick them solely on theme and the kind of personality you want your Ranger to have, you can. However, if you’re someone who greatly values deck optimization, from a mechanical perspective, you will be pleased to find a lot of little tricks in this card pool designed to help shore up some of the deficiencies that might surface in specialized deck builds.

Outside Interest

Finally, the last choice you make for your deck is your Ranger’s outside interest, and I think is also my favorite. For your outside interest, you pick a single card from any of the aforementioned card pools, regardless of what background and specialization you chose for your ranger, and add 2 copies of it to your deck.

This card has a ton of potential, and I think it’s going to drive some of the most interesting deck builds in the community after Earthborne Rangers is out in the wild. It can make your deck more well-rounded for solo play, or it can facilitate unique combos with the cards in your background and specialization sets.

As you can probably imagine, this final decision can be intimidating. But don’t worry, we’ll provide a helpful list of “safe choices” if you just want to quickly choose an outside interest and start playing quickly.

I hope this give you a good sense of the wealth of options available to you during character creation.

Once you’ve built your ranger, you will soon begin to expand and change your deck as you play through the narrative campaign and gain rewards for accomplishing missions and tasks. We’ll go into more detail about progression in a later update.

Thank you for reading!

Until next time!