Kickstarter

Here's a bit on one of the factions known as the Vale, and a WiP image of the visual end of the character development. 

The members of the death cult known as the Vale believe that humanity has run its course. Some of the cult believe they are the rightful heirs of the planet, others believe that all mankind needs to end (others first), while still others believe that they are the harbingers of death, sent to this earth by the gods in space, to finish the work started nearly 2 centuries ago, of ridding the planet of human life.

After the Exodus, and after the collapse of the 'Push, are times when death cults flourished like never before. Many of these cults saw death as the only option, and in many cases, for the starving and destitute, they may have had a point. However, very few lasted beyond a couple of years, for fairly obvious reasons.

However, one such cult has maintained a pervasive grip on the hearts and minds of those in the North American wastes... the Vale. They maintain a network that rivals that of the Reclaimers, and a ruthless quest for death that is unmatched, even among the most brutal charioteers and and warlords of the Western Wilds.

The years following the collapse were some of the most trying for the human race, and the the need to escape from the doldrums and misery are higher than ever before, which is how a group that rejects reality completely is so appealing to so many. The Vale is a tapestry cut from every cloth seen in Year Zero- the cult is comprised of disillusioned Stakers, heretic Reclaimers, banished No Ghosts, (overly) psychotic Stitchmen and every shade of wanderer and lost soul that are to be found.

The book is progressing every day, and we'll have a couple of chapters done and laid out very soon, so that we can post and show that level of progress. Editing has been a real bottleneck for us, as many of the editors that we've worked with have taken several months to get their projects back to us. But we are making significant progress. We'll have something a little more substantial to show on the core rulebook very soon.

We've been busy beavers over here at Hyacinth, and we're going to make a concerted effort to keep our kickstarter backers more in the loop, rather than posting primarily on facebook and our message boards only. We're working diligently on getting the parts o the book edited that we have written, and art has been rolling in for months.

The vast majority of the art is something we're keeping in the can for now, as we don't want you to open the book for the first time, and not have any surprises, but trust us on this, there are piles of great artwork we have already done.

Just to show and prove, here's a work in progress shot of the cover art, being worked on by our good friend Kostas. 

More soon!

Hello pledges,

We here at Hyacinth hope you had a nice holiday season and your 2013 is off to a great start!

We prefer to release updates with substance, so our apologies for going dark on here these last few weeks. We have been extremely busy on all fronts, but have had little to show up until now.

If you would like to check on our pulse you can always follow the little morsels of info at: www.wreck-age.net, Facebook.com/hyacinthgames or twitter.com/wreckagerpg. That being said, we hope this update is worth the wait, as it has some substance to it!

The book is coming along at a steady pace, and a number of chapters are now being edited.

The basic outline of the book looks something like this:

What is a Wreck Age, and a RPG and table top skirmish game? (in editing)
8 pages

Terminology
2 pages

3: How Year Zero came to be (in editing)
A: Current Day
B: The Big Push
C: Exodus
D: Collapse/Darkness
16 pages

4: The Resurgence (in editing)
4 pages

5: The People Left Behind (Alphabetical) (all major factions in editing)
A: Hy Plains Drifters
B: Reclaimers
C: Stakers
D: Stitchmen
E: Church of Fun
F: The Arhk
G: The Vale
H: Unicephalon
I: Other Factions
70 pages

6: Building A Community
A: Rebuilding after collapse
B: Example (and floating) communities
C: Combat vs Compromise
4 pages

Community and Character Creation 8 pages (revisions)
A: Stats and Skills 12 pages (in editing)
B: Unique and example characters 6 pages
C: Assets (mercenaries) (for table top) 2 pages

Community and Character Advancement (revisions)
16 pages

Flora and Fauna (in editing)
24 Pages

Game Mechanics (in playtesting/editing)
60 pages

7: Technology/Scavenging
A: Goods necessary for community survival or growth
B: Weaponry of Year Zero
8 pages

Gear (in editing)
A: Weapons (by type)
B: Survival Gear
C: Misc
12 pages

Hobby Section
16 Pages

Game Information
A: Disasters for a community (both natural and otherwise) 4 pages
B: GM Tools (For RPG) 10 pages
C: Misc 8 pages

The Spider’s Lair (revisions/playtesting)
30 pages

Tables
A: Combat mechanics 3 pages
B: Skill Tests 2 pages
C: Character and Community Sheets 2 pages

Closing Comments
A: References and inspiration
B: Creative commons
C: Web info/products sheet
6 pages

Here is a short sample from the Stakers section of the book. We will have this laid out and be able to show everyone this entire chapter in the next week. This specific section addresses how the Stakers avoid becoming a bunch of inbred monsters;
'Now that surplus is an actual possibility with the Resurgence in full
swing, populations have been growing at an unprecedented rate.
Children no longer starve at the levels that they did during the Dark
Times, and with survival and surplus comes a higher birth rate. This
has led to the practice of younger children being traded between
communities in order to add some variety to a communities’ gene pool.
Stakers forsake their xenophobia with these new additions, and treat
them as equals in their community, as long as they adhere to the
culture and mores of their new home. Often, families trade an equal
number of males and females with each other, unless there is a
disparity of a gender in one of the communities. The sexes are prized
equally, the generally monogamous nature of the Stakers minimizing the
breeding impact of either sex. '

Speaking of monsters, our RPG group has been play testing the Spider, the introductory RPG adventure for our rulebook. This intro module is intended to show players a small slice of Year Zero. Here's a short excerpt from their briefing:
'The affliction that plagues us is so ancient that we only see mention
of it in the histories, but we have cross referenced the material and
believe it to be a strain of 'small pox'. The name itself gives little
insight to the terrible damage that the organism creates in a human
host. Productivity and morale have suffered greatly since its
introduction to the Data Haven, as you well know.'

'Our research has also uncovered a medical facility lost to time that
may have answers to the erasure of this malady. The Center for Disease
Control was once home to the most powerful weapons to counterattack
plague on this continent, but it is located in the great lost city of
Atlanta, of which little is known to us. We have sent a number of
surveyor teams to Atlanta over the past decade, some were lost, others
found nothing but the picked clean bones of a gone era. We now send
you to discover the location of the Center for Disease control and to
return with a full appraisal and, if it exists, any technology or
knowledge that can be used to fight this small pox. We acknowledge
that the probability of your success is low, and knowing that have
dispatched other parties to investigate other means of eradicating the
disease, but the rewards may outweigh the risks in your mission.'

Furthermore, quickstart rules are in progress, and should be posted on our website in the next week. This will give you the bare-bones basics for a shoot-out or other basic combat scenario.

Playtesting has been going full-force, with scenarios and RPG modules being tested on a regular weekly basis.

In April, we will be hosting a large multi-player event at Adepticon 2013 (www.adepticon.org), called: The Battle For Tenpike. It will be our first foray into large scale skirmish battles (with more than three players) and we're looking forward to it. We hope to see some of you there!

Additionally, The Stakers miniatures box set is currently being finished up at the caster and will be shipping to us next week. This marks the completion of our first box set, and we are aiming to release another box set a month for the next three months, with Drifters being next on the docket, Stitchers after that, and Reclaimers finishing up our initial offerings in late April or early May.

Hello all,

You may have noticed we have a current campaign running that is offering bonus minis for every Rulebook and Box Set pledged for- we would like you all to know that due to the fact the rule book has yet to see the light of day those bonus minis will also apply to any earlier pledges for hardcover rule books. So your pledge to this earlier project will also net you bonus miniatures in line with the stretch goals (and probably a few freebies to thank you for your patience). Please let me know if this is unclear, or if you have any questions. 

Right now, after hitting the $10,000 stretch goal that is a bonus blister of pack dogs, a bonus Staker mini and a Bonus Drifter mini, for a total of 5 minis. 

In short: Free stuff! 

Thanks again, everyone.

-Matt