1 week to go | Bagua Battle Mat | The Keeper's Kit | Livestream | Development
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, Jun 01, 2024 at 11:14:15 PM
The Sassoon Files 2nd edition Kickstarter is entering its final week. We are happy with how this Kickstarter has progressed so far; please help us make it better by spreading the word!
We mentioned the design for the Bagua Battle Mat in a previous update. We received the pre-production sample yesterday. As you can see, it’s quite big. Big enough for a group of 6 investigators to LARP the finale of S1: Strange Gates, Hidden Demons.
We are excited about the Keeper’s Kit. Here is what it includes:
- A high-quality Keeper's Screen with original art. The Keeper’s Screen will have 3 sides and stand 11 inches tall.
- Large, historically accurate campaign maps.
- Props, including paper talismans for protection and summoning spirits, a Ba Gua Battle Map, and a Chinese name seal for commanding demons.
- The Sassoon Files themed "Evidence Board", used as a prop aid for the display and organization of clues. On the reverse-side of this board will be a Shanghai campaign map.
- All campaign handouts, including pre-generated character sheets. Most handouts will be on a 5x3 index card sized cards so they can fit into an index-card box. There will also be portrait cards of key NPCs. These will all be designed to fit in on the Evidence Board.
Below is a gif of the Evidence Board and a few cards from The Blessed and the Blasphemous, our previously Kickstarted CoC book:
Here is a picture of Chinese talismans:
And here is the seal:
Here is a picture of the Keeper's Screen from The Blessed and the Blasphemous. The Sassoon Files screen will have different images and Keeper-facing content. It's quite sturdy.
Our friends at Smoking Dragons live-streamed their play-through of “Ride a Crane West”. You can watch it here.
Smoking Dragon's live-streams are in support of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital annual charity fundraiser (donation link).
We have updated the development chart; please see below.
In the last week we finished the first draft of the second scenario “When in Rome”. Hence, all the first drafts and content except Stretch-Goal scenarios are complete. When in Rome will go into 2 play test groups, one of which will be the live-streamers “Smoking Dragons”. We also completed the commissioning of 7 more NPC portraits.
This week we are primarily focusing on end-of-Kickstarter tasks and content creation. However, this week we are starting some of the the start-to-end content review. We will send out the Stretch Goal scenario “The Strong Feed on the Weak” for first pass copyediting.
Fuzhou Rd. Tea House Reached - Unlocking New Scenario! | New Character Artist | Streaming & Friends | Development
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, May 25, 2024 at 05:27:46 PM
We have reached our $40K goal, Fuzhou Rd. Tea House and we are half-way through the Kickstarter! Our friend and writer Damon Lang has completed writing the bonus scenario “The Strong Feed on the Weak”, so we have decided to change the stretch goal by unlocking this scenario and including it in the core book. The scenario focuses on the disgusting eating habits of the “Fish Eaters” and their bargain with the Japanese Black Ocean Society (Gen’yosha):
“A missing persons case in Shanghai leads to a terrifying triangle trade of human trafficking, mutilation, and hybridization by carnivorous alien creatures. Investigators must follow the trail from kidnappers, to foreign conspirators, and to hungry monsters hiding in plain sight.”
Below are three concept drafts for the cover image for this scenario, created by Kasumi Lang:
We’ve engaged the very talented artist Lesley Carol for character design of major NPCs. We have are excited to share the progress of her work on two major characters appearing in the book:
Lao Che, on the left, is the boss of the Four Seasons Gang and a powerful sorcerer who venerates the Father of Masks, an avatar of Nyarlathotep.
Su Baobai, on the right, is a seemingly immortal Daoist priest who has mastered the unorthodox ways of Maoshan (Reed Mountain).
Our friends at Smoking Dragons live-streamed their play-through of “The Strong Feed on the Weak”. You can watch this here.
Smoking Dragon's live-streams are in support of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital annual charity fundraiser (donation link).
We expect to receive a prototype of the bagua map in the coming days. The bagua map, to be included in the Keeper’s Kit, will be printed on a 1.5 square meter fabric mat.
We are quite pleased with the wood name seal prototypes pictured below.
We are nearing completion of our draft of “When in Rome, Do as the Romans,” and hope to begin content and editorial review before the completion of the Kickstarter campaign. This scenario has direct ties to characters and themes featured in classic Call of Cthulhu campaigns.
Over the next week, we will be focusing on the creation of new pieces of original art and new NPC portraits.
First Portraits | Bagua Map | Live-Stream | First Week Development
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, May 18, 2024 at 06:56:16 PM
We received the first NPC portraits from Hsiang! Pictured from left to right:
- Deng Bing: the senile leader of the Order of the Bloated Woman.
- Lu Kai: Son of “Lao Che” and 4 Seas Gang leader who has fallen in with the Order of the Bloated Woman.
- Madame Gao: Shanghainese owner of the House of Clouds, an opium den. In her late 30s; clever and greedy.
- Four-Fingered Zhou: 4 Seas Gang Enforcer. Placing a bet at the roulette table.
The Keeper’s Kit will include a Bagua Battle Map printed on a 1.5 square meter foldable mat. In addition to being a displayable curiosity, the Bagua Battle Map serves as an immersive prop for the scenario, “Strange Gates, Hidden Demons.”
Daoists use a Bagua Battle Map for divination and the summoning of spirits. This design incorporates taotie images; animalistic faces found on ancient Chinese bronze vessels.
Our friends, Smoking Dragons, posted a recording of their second Sassoon Files live-stream on Youtube. In this play through, the investigators confront the horrors of the new scenario “Muddy the Waters to Catch a Fish.”
Smoking Dragon's live-streams are in support of St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital annual charity fundraiser (donation link).
Development this week focused on project management and liaison with contributors, fulfillment partners, and artists. Part of this work includes reviewing vendor quotations and double-checking our financial analysis and planning for timely fulfillment.
Our portrait artist sent us the first batch of NPC portraits. We also designed a Yellow Emperor Name Seal and a Bagua Battle Map. We expect to receive sample protypes of the seal and bagua map by the end of the coming week. We’ve nearly completed writing the “When in Rome” scenario and will playtest it in June. All other scenarios are complete, except any stretch goal scenarios we unlock.
We remain committed to an October 2024 delivery date.
Thank you to all Backers for your support!
First Stretch Goal Reached | The Long Bar | Seal of the Yellow Emperor | Development
almost 2 years ago
– Mon, May 13, 2024 at 11:13:24 PM
We made our first stretch goal, The Long Bar! We will now commission 2 more full-page art pieces for the book. We will also commission another half-page character art piece from our newest artist collaborator, Lesley Carol. Please visit the “About Us” section to read more about the artists we work with.
The current Long Bar is in the Waldorf Astoria hotel, which is in the former Shanghai Club building. Jason, a regular patron of the Long Bar, once ran a session of the Sassoon Files at a table beside the window overlooking the Bund. From our in-game description:
“The Famous Long Bar of The Bund. Beautiful tile floors and lavish interior design can be seen, across the bar. Large crystal chandelier lights hung from the ceiling. The bar itself stretches across the room to the large windows overlooking the Bund. Behind the bar cabinets contain liquors and spirits from all over the world. The oaken smell of fine scotch lingers in the air and is accented with the slightly sweet smell of cigars.
The Long Bar, literally the longest bar in Asia, stretches almost 35 meters from the entrance to a set of windows overlooking the Pu Jiang that serves as a thoroughfare for all manner of travelers, luxury liners and other sea-worthy vessels. Normally, a patron’s status is discernable based upon where they are seated at the Long Bar; wealthy patrons are seated near the window; sailors and prostitutes congregate at the opposite end. The Long Bar, turning away no paying customer, may be a microcosm of the society residing within the International Settlement.”
The Long Bar as depicted by our artist Carlos Cara:
The Keeper’s Kit will include a name seal prop central to the first scenario, “Strange Gates, Hidden Demons”. We’ve designed the following imprint:
The Chinese characters on the right side, in old-style seal-script, say “Yellow Emperor”. On the left is an eldritch symbol depicting twins who emerge from inside a black star.
In the two days since our last update, we made progress in completing content for the second scenario, “When in Rome”. Other development work included updates to our form-fillable character sheet template. We also touched base with vendors, artists, and writers.
Funded! | Livestream & Friends | Development
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, May 11, 2024 at 05:57:40 PM
We funded and are very close to reaching our first stretch goal in the first 24 hours. We are so thankful to our Backers who made this possible.
At the upcoming stretch goal, we will invest more in the book, commissioning two new full-page art pieces and finding other ways to improve the production quality of the book.
Our friends, Smoking Dragons, are live-streaming select scenarios from The Sassoon Files. This first stream is of Strange Gates, Hidden Demons; the first scenario of the book (Youtube link). Next week they will play “Muddy the Waters to Catch a Fish.” The event is part of their annual charity fundraiser for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital (donation link) For most of this group, playing this scenario was their first Call of Cthulhu experience. We at Sons of the Singularity are honored to have new investigators start their pursuit of unspeakable horrors from our Shanghai book.
The below chart sets out the tasks that we must complete to bring The Sassoon Files, Second Edition to life. We will provide project status updates using this format during and after the Kickstarter campaign. In parallel to the Kickstarter campaign, we continue to work on development.
In edition to 3 original scenarios, 3 new scenarios are already written and have gone through first-pass editing. We still need to write one more core scenario. In anticipation of reaching future stretch-goals, Damon Lang has just completed first draft of his scenario and we will be play-testing that shortly. We hope to send off the entire manuscript for copy editing and proofreading shortly after the close of the Kickstarter campaign.
We still need to work on maps and handouts. However, we have designs for the various components of the Keeper’s Kit, including design options for the seal, which we will show off on a future update.
The first batch of NPC portraits were commissioned, as well as character design work for 2 of 4 “baddies”, which will get a half-page treatment. The Backers' pregens will not be commissioned until after the close of Kickstarter.
