State of the Patreon: July

June was an up and down month for the blog.  For the blog itself, viewership fell off sharply, and even on Patreon, I didn't see any up-tick for access when Orphan of the Stars came out.  The conclusion I must draw is that, despite much praise for the ideas, there wasn't a lot of interest in Orphan of the Stars.  I suspect this is likely because I haven't built up an audience.  There are certainly people who have been coming to this blog for Psi-Wars for months now who took a vacation from the blog while I took a vacation from Psi-Wars.

But that vacation worked.  I have more material!  Next month, I'll unveil planetary governments and (unless things go horribly wrong), four noble houses of the Alliance.  I haven't decided if I want to break corporations out into their own thing yet or if I want to wait until I start looking at the galaxy as a whole.  Stay tuned!

Despite the general lack of interest in Orphan of the Stars, my Patreon has picked up, especially here at the end of the month!  I've hit my second goal, which means I have the funding for art!  It does turn out that art is more expensive than I'd hoped, but the monthly $50 I've set aside for it should get us a nice piece at least once a month.  I would like to announce that I'm going to change the remaining stretch goals.  I have two sketch artists working on general designs (Patreons who participated with the Trader polls will remember some sketch work by Michelle) and concepts for me and they're doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, but they actually do charge money when other people ask, and I think it fair that we pay up if we can, so the next couple of stretch goals will be about making sure our sketch artists get paid.

Next month will be a little touch and go like this month has been, but it looks like you might get a second look at cybernetics, and then I'd like to dive into starships, including: more detailed thrusters, a deeper look at hyperspace travel and how to detect it, and then corvettes, corvettes, corvettes.  If I'm lucky, I'll have a new template for you, but I'm still trying to build up ground on the aristocracy, so we'll have to see!  Speaking of the aristocracy, $3+ will see the aristocrat documents as soon as they're ready, and for $5+, I have perhaps the oldest poll I had arranged, the poll that kicked off the idea of polls, which is the poll for a new aristocratic house.

I want to thank everyone for supporting my patreon, and for supporting this blog.  I do this for you, so it's wonderful to see it so appreciated. I also thank you for your patience.  Transitioning into fatherhood has been a wonderful adventure.

The Senate of the Alliance

star-wars-age-of-rebellion-ambassador-by-anthonyfoti

The last time we looked at "the Senate," it was a relic of the Federation's past, a rubber stamp for the Emperor's wishes.  Naturally, the Alliance, which claims to be the true heir to the Federation, has a Senate of its own, one with real teeth and real power.

Today, I'll look at this ultimate government for the Alliance, the one point at which all members of the Alliance converge to air their grievances, to welcome new members, to plot the overthrow of the Empire, and to make panicked plans with the Empire finally turns its great military juggernaut upon them.

Patreon Post: Mech Mob, the Rebellion of Grist

Last month, I gave my $5+ patrons a chance to vote on a rebellion, and I chose Dun Beltain's homeworld of Grist, as it was the only world that had serious details available for it already.

Today, for all $3+ patrons (as it's a preview!), you can now see the result of the poll, the fractious and idealistic Mech Mob, and the various tools they use (or seek to use) against the Empire in their pursuit of indepedence.

If you're a patron, check it out!  If you're not, I'd love to have you (Have I mentioned lately that we just reached our second goal of art work!  More about this soon).

Patreon Post: The Rebellion of Grist Poll Results

Last month, after we finished discussing insurgencies, I put up a poll where my Patreons could vote on the Rebellion of Grist, a junk world in the Empire near the dangerous border with the Cybernetic Union.  Today, after  along delay, I have the poll results and notes on how I've chosen to synthesize them.

If you're a $5+ Patron (a Companion or better), check it out!  If not, I'd love to have you (but note that this'll likely be less interesting for you, as you didn't participate in the original poll.  Tomorrow, however...)

Patreon Post: Modular Robots

Hello, dear reader.  I've been hard at work finishing the Rebellion of Grist based on our vote, oh, last month and one of the choices I offered, that people took, was combat robots.  I don't have combat robots!  Well, I do: Ultra-Tech has combat robots (about 2), but if I use those, then I'm using the same ones over and over again.  I knew I wanted to look at robot design eventually, as I wasn't happy with the robots I had on hand, by I thought I would wait until I took a look at the Cybernetic Union, but no such luck: I needed that system now.

So, that's what I have for you today!  For today, for all $1+ patrons, I have a modular robot design system, inspired by the Modular Mecha pyramid article, including a design journal discussing why I made the choices I did.  If you're already a patron, go check it out!  If you're not a patron, hey guys, it's $1!  That's less than a pyramid article, and you get access to all of my other $1 articles, including the recent tech-week.  Check it out!

The Alliance

Well, my dear reader, we've finally returned to Psi-Wars.  I have the Alliance for you, the rump state of the old Federation, which combines the remnants of the old Maradon noble houses with rebellious planets and anti-Imperial corporations to create an industrial base from which the rebellion fights the good fight.

I've noted before that Psi-Wars will go in a different direction than Star Wars, and this is where that difference starts to become obvious.  The Empire of Psi-Wars and Star Wars tend to resemble one another strongly, but that isn't so here, and that's because Psi-Wars has some core needs that Star Wars doesn't.  Star Wars prefers the simpler black-and-white politics of the good Rebellion, an underdog desperately outmatched, vs the evil Empire.  Psi-Wars, being an Action RPG, needs to have the sort of crazy internal politics that you tend to see in most action movies (You know, where the CIA sends you to topple a dictator that it, itself, put into power).  I also don't want to tell you who you should be playing as, and who your opponent should be.  Imperial players need a good Alliance to go up against, and Alliance players need internal problems to solve.  Thus, the Alliance needs to be more nuanced than the Rebellion of Star Wars. Furthermore, Star Wars draws a lot of its inspiration from World War 2, but that didn't involve the French Resistance defeating Nazi Germany, but the Allies, industrial powers like the US, Britain and Russia, defeating Nazi Germany, with an assist from the French Resistance.  Where, pray tell, does the Star Wars rebellion get all those carriers and capital ships?

Hence the Alliance.  It represents a fractious and often politically tentative alliance of powers drawn together by their opposition to the Empire, and their general preference for the past.  This makes it a complicated group, heterogeneity in contrast to the Empire's homogeneity, and that took me a lot of work (and, as of this writing, still not complete yet).  I'd love feedback on it, as I slowly unveil it, especially how tenable a setting it presents.

Patreon Post: Alliance Preview 1: Planetary Governments

Hello my dear Psi-Wars fans! The time I took off has been well spent, and I come to you with the latest installment of Psi-Wars: The Alliance!

First, I want to note that the Alliance of Psi-Wars is very different than the Rebellion of Star Wars. Where the Rebellion is a bunch of rag-tag rebels from various walks of life who have managed to inexplicably get their hands on serious hardware. The Alliance is the rump state of the old Federation, the last hold-outs against the Empire, who take on a role similar to the Allies in WW2 and the Senatorial forces in the Roman Civil War. Thus, the Alliance has not only its own military, but it's own government and law enforcement!

The Alliance has also turned out to be much more complex and heterogeneous than the great, monolithic Empire, so I need to discuss the various parts of it. Today, I have the first chunk for you, which are planetary governments, which turned out to be much more important than I thought. Not only are they diverse, but you can also use ideas presented herein to create independent worlds out in the galaxy (which is effectively what they are), though this is an element I should revisit.

This is available to all Fellow Travelers ($3+). If you're already a patron (perhaps to check out the Orphan of the Stars document?) check it out! If you're not, I'd love to have you!