View From the Pelgrane’s Nest – November 2023

First up, a shout-out to our estimable Patreon backers – Andy, Michael H, Samwise, Ranting John, Andreas, Michael B, Scott, Michael M, P. Troilus, Bryant, Michael K, Craig, Emma, Jim, Clark, Bryan, and Peter!

We had a Real Talk a few weeks ago, which has helped to firm up in my head how I want the Patreon to run. They came up with some really fun ideas for content and rewards, and their support and encouragement has been a real solace of late.

The biggest shake-up in these parts recently has been Ibrahim Celik joining the Pelgrane team. I’m currently going through some dull medical stuff which will reduce my ability to work by an unknown measure until at least March 2024, and Ibrahim’s going to be covering the most time-sensitive of my duties during that period. He’s already soaring way above the Nest, competently juggling everything from social media and marketing to website installs to artist-wrangling, and he’s endeared himself to the team with his enthusisam and invaluable insights into Turkish street food. I know you’ll make him welcome on our Discord and socials if you see him around.

NEW RELEASE: Brought to Light

Finally, the long-awaited first book for Swords of the Serpentine is available to pre-order! Brought to Light collects four one-shot adventures Kevin Kulp wrote so that we could demo Swords of the Serpentine to attendees Gen Con. These adventures were specifically designed to showcase some of the awesomest aspects of Eversink:

• Ragamuffins dives down to the street level, where Eversink’s children play in the gutter; each with their own relationships, priorities, and world view, living out their lives as free of the disruption of adults as they can
• Murder Most Foul represents the elite establishment of the ancient city; the smug, self-righteous, always-know-betters that people in Eversink have to endure all the time, and shows how even within that rigid structure, humble PCs can strike a blow with a clever investigation (also, it’s a classic murder mystery, and who doesn’t love those?!)
• Smuggler’s End is all about the City Watch; as anyone who’s read Pratchett knows, the many crews scattered around Eversink offer a great lens through which to frame a campaign in the city
• Takedown centres skulduggery and pure intrigue at its finest; running messages between the guilds, currying favour with the highest of high society in the jewelled towers of Alderhall, and not knowing who you can trust.

Ibrahim is working to commission the final illustrations as I type, but you get the Brought to Light pre-layout PDF and pre-generated characters straight away when you pre-order.

More Swords of the Serpentine: The Losing Face adventure and quickstart rules

ICYMI, I wanted to flag up that we’ve made this year’s Free RPG Day adventure, Losing Face (along with the included Swords of the Serpentine quickstart rules) available as a free download from our Free RPG Day collection. (It’s also available as a pay-what-you-want option over on DriveThruRPG, if wanted to chip in something towards it). It’s an ideal starter adventure to launch your Eversink campaign, and contains all the rules and pre-gens you need to run it as a one-shot. It’s a perfect recommendation if you’re looking for a way to persuade your players (or GM) to try Swords of the Serpentine for the first time.

Ibrahim and Kevin are making plans for future Swords of the Serpentine books at the moment, and we’d love to know what you’d most like to see for it! You can fill in our poll on the main See Page XX post.

My works-in-progress: The Borellus Connection

One of the biggest things still on my plate at the moment is Borellus. Jen is finished the layout, and we’ve sent over Ken’s indices for it, along with some final text tweaks and page XX references, which she’s working on incorporating at the moment, into what’s become a 416-page book. We’ve got three cartographers working on the final maps, and once they’re done, they can be slotted into place, and – without wanting to jinx it!! – that should be it! We’ll email all the pre-orderers as soon as we’ve got a final PDF available to download, and it’l be shipping in print format about four months after that, printers willing.