February Update (one year on!)
about 4 years ago – Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 11:26:17 PM

Well, here we are. One year since you all helped make Stealing the Throne a reality. Hopefully you've all received your zines by now, and maybe even executed a giant robot heist or two! 

There's a lot happening now that the game is in the world, so let's get into the update... 

Current Status

• Ancient Hero playsets drafted. I've wrapped up writing on draft playsets for Alpha Regalis and The Solemn Antic, and sent them on to the Ancient Hero backers. I'm very much looking forward to hearing what they think!
• Reaching out to potential map artists. I'm currently in contact with an exciting prospect for the interstellar map stretch goal. We'll have to see if schedules (and budgets!) align, but fingers crossed!
• First print copies for sale online! If you missed out on a print copy of the zine (especially if you're in the US), I have good news: you can now buy the zine from the Floating Chair Club! Tell you friends, head on over to the site, and tell Sam I said hi.
• A small favour? If you like Stealing the Throne, I'd be grateful if you popped over to the game's itch page and gave it a rating! A comment on the page is also a great help - maybe a mini-review, or a brief recount of one of your own heists?

Actual people actually playing  

Since we last spoke, two Stealing the Throne actual plays have appeared:

• Friends at the Table. The incredibly talented folks at Friends at the Table have played Stealing the Throne as part of the Road to PALISADE, the build-up to their next mecha season. They literally try to steal a Divine! This is hugely exciting for me - I love Friends at the Table, and their mecha seasons have been a huge inspiration. It's honestly hard to explain what it means to me as a game designer that they played my game. The episode is currently Patreon only, but you can bet I'll let you know when it's in the wild!
• Black Armada Tales. You all know I'm on an actual play podcast, right? With four excellent humans, some of whom also design excellent games? We've just wrapped up a long-running Apocalypse Keys campaign, so we figured it was time to steal Tensword! This is a great place to hear how I facilitate the game, with a top-notch crew of talented Throne thieves. If you do give it a listen, I'd love to hear what you think!
• Also, big thank you to Adam Bell on the Have You Played This? YouTube channel for including Stealing the Throne in the inaugural episode of Games Ive Read And Want to Play. It's a great list of games (including some other #ZineQuest3 alumni) and I'm very grateful to be on it! (Hey Adam, if you do play it, let me know how it goes!)

If you're on a roleplaying podcast, channel, blog, or stream and you'd like to play or talk about Stealing the Throne, please reach out to me! I'd love to chat, or help out any way I can.

#StealingTheJam: five weeks to go!

The deadline for #StealingTheJam submissions is March 31st - that's five weeks away! Entries have slowed since we last spoke, but I'm hoping a few more will arrive before we hit that deadline. Maybe something you're working on?

In the meantime, there are three excellent hacks already available that I haven't spoken about yet:

SAVE OUR SOULS, by The Dice

You sold your soul to The Damned One and now you regret it. It's time to break into their domain and take it back! I really like what Save Our Souls does with the thieves' motivation - though each thief followed a different path to get where they are, they're united by a shared experience and a shared goal. I'd wager that makes for a really interesting dynamic in play. Plus, who wouldn't want to break into "an ever collapsing timewarped spire" to steal back their soul?!

(I played Stealing the Throne with The Dice at Dragonmeet - they were responsible for possibly the finest blaze of glory that I've ever seen in a getaway. Top notch stuff.)

SEALING THE FATE, by Nick Wedig

For generations, your order of witches has watched for the arrival of a Chosen One who is prophesied to seize divine power, and you're tired of waiting. You're going to secretly shepherd a hopeful towards their fate and, at the last moment, steal their power. Sealing the Fate is a really interesting hack which makes extensive use of a Tarot deck both in gameplay and as an oracle: to decide who the Chosen One is, to name your coven of witches, to guide the creation of prophesied events, and so on. In a way, Nick has managed to incorporate playset-style aides directly into the game using the Tarot. It's really clever, and a perfect match for the game's theme.

STEALING THE CRONE, by Logan Timmins

It's time for the most epic heist of all: busting your grandparent out of their retirement home! (Not that you need to bust them out - they love where they live, and they could leave anytime. But they also love a bit of mischief!) Stealing the Crone is the sweetest, wildest, most charming thing. The concept is genius, and Logan's execution matches the theme beautifully, right up to a lovely optional debrief where you reflect on your own relationship with your grandparents. 

Folks, I love Stealing the Crone so much. It's the most joyful thing. I can't wait to play it!

Zine Month 2022

You may be aware that Kickstarter have pushed Zine Quest back to August this year. In its place, we have a community-led effort called Zine Month 2022 (#ZiMo2022). There are a ton of cool indie rpg zines funding right now, across a range of crowdfunding platforms. Here are just five that have caught my eye:

• LAST SENTINELS: a mecha RPG zine by Jason Price. A GMless storytelling game about a doomed mecha pilot defending the last survivors of massive invasion as they flee aboard a titanic starship? With art by Turbo Torbo and layout by Lone Archivist?! A hundred times yes.
• Signal to Noise by Craig Duffy. An epistolary game for 2 players, who write to each other as one journeys to the stars on a generation ship and the other stays behind on Earth. This is extremely my kind of thing, and it's part of Craig's Dyson Eclipse series of games, for which I know he has big, exciting plans.
• For Small Creatures Such As We by Anna Blackwell. Based on Becky Chambers' Wayfarers series (which blew me away the first time I read it), this is a solo or co-op journalling game about small spaceship filled with an alien crew exploring the galaxy. Astrobiology, curiosity, and adorable space otters!
• Lone Eons/Lost Eons by David Blandy. David is raising art funds for Lone Eons, a solo entry in his Lost Eons series of solarpunk science-fantasy games and supplements. A mashup of 24XX and Blades in the Dark - if David didn't have me at 'solarpunk' that would've sold me!
• In Other Waters: Tidebreak by Lone Archivist. An underwater exploration adventure which can be played solo, or using the sci-fi horror game Mothership. It's based on a video game of the same name, and folks, it looks gorgeous. Another Lone Archivist project - it's going to be a long wait to November to get my hands on this one!

Most of these are ending real soon, so go support them out while you can!

Next Steps

• Finalise the Ancient Hero playsets. Once I've heard back from the Ancient Heroes, I'll finalise their playsets and get them into layout. That'll be the last of the pre-stretch goal rewards signed off!
• #StealingTheJam entries. I've got one I'm hoping to work on in March. Maybe (hopefully!) I'll be reading yours too?
• Onward to the stretch goals. Once the Ancient Hero playsets are finalised, we've got two stretch goals waiting in the wings: the aforementioned interstellar map, and solo rules for Stealing the Throne. 

That's all for this time, folks. Gotta fly! 

- Nick

January Update (now with more jamming!)
about 4 years ago – Mon, Jan 24, 2022 at 06:15:17 PM

Happy new year everyone! I'm sure we can all agree that 2021 was a tough one. But it was also the year that Stealing the Throne happened, so it'll always have a special place in my heart...

Current status

• Holidays are the best. I took a really lovely, relaxing break over Christmas and the New Year. Totally worth it. Saw the new Matrix Resurrections, too, and that got me thinking about Stealing the Throne hacks...
• Ancient Hero playsets. After my break, I've picked up the keyboard again and I'm making some solid progress on the Ancient Hero playsets. It's fun to be back!
• More #StealingTheJam entries! We're up to ten entries so far, including a couple of new playsets (!) - so much cool stuff to check out!

#StealingTheJam extended

The punchline first: #StealingTheJam will now run until March 31st 2022, the end of my birthday month. That's a couple more months to join in the fun, making hacks, supplements, and playsets for Stealing the Throne! We've got ten already - could we get to 15 do you think?

Why the extension? #StealingTheJam was originally scheduled to end a week from now, and that was making me a bit sad. I'm having so much fun checking out what everyone is creating, and I know there are a few more cool hacks in the works. Plus I know some people have only just discovered it's happening. I was reflecting on this when it dawned on me: there is literally no reason why I can't extend the jam. And so I have! 

Is this a very long jam? Yes. Do long jams suit me? Also yes. I hope they suit you too!

Two new indie Thrones

In the last update I spoke about four #StealingTheJam entries: three fascinating hacks, and one super useful toolkit. Since then, two Stealing the Throne hackers have submitted Throne playsets to the jam, and I couldn't be more excited about them! Throne playsets were a new addition to the game, made possible by this Kickstarter, and I've always been interested in seeing what other people do with the format. Now Unnecessary Games and Rrok Anrolle (aka Thomas Minser) have generously granted my wish!

THE CURSED ONE, by Unnecessary Games

The Cursed One has had a thousand masters, a poisoned chalice that kills (or worse) everyone who possesses it. Are you absolutely sure you want to steal it?

I really love what Unnecessary Games has done with the Background prompts on this playset: five of them are rumours about very specific Curses that the Throne bestows (on its owners, or its enemies, or both? I guess you'll find out, and probably too late!), making for a truly frightening Throne. The lists of Thieves and Rivals are also super interesting: a member of the Galactic Council working for the thieves? A woman who will inherit the Throne (and surely suffer a grim fate) as a rival? I'd love to find out how that plays out!

Oh, and one more thing: The Cursed One has art! A fabulously ominous piece by Fabio Gagliardi, which I believe was commissioned expressly for this playset. So cool!

THE FUSION KNIGHTS, by Thomas Minser

You know what Stealing the Throne doesn't have? Combining mecha. Until now, that is!

The Fusion Knights brings us two combining Thrones: The Valorous Knight and The Tragic Knight. Arch enemies, they clashed in an epic duel which tore them asunder and scattered their component mecha across the galaxy. Which of these Valors or Tragedies will your thieves try to recover?

I love how Thomas has experimented with the playset format here, giving us a huge cast of twenty-four characters, and ten mecha hidden in ten different locations to steal. I bet the getaway is ridiculously fun, each thief retrieving their own mech during the heist and then finally building the combined Throne... The Valors and the Tragedies all have excellent names, too; I think Integrity Gale might be my favourite.

So, those are two excellent new Throne playsets - what would you do with the format?

(We've also got three excellent new hacks to talk about, but I'll save that for next time. Why not beat me to it, and check out Save Our Souls, Sealing the Fate, and Stealing the Crone right now?)

Next steps

• Ancient Hero playsets. My top priority for the next month is getting drafts for the two Ancient Hero playsets in good order.
• Hacking? As I predicted might happen, I spent part of my break thinking about a Stealing the Throne hack. Maybe, if I can find the time...

> Operator, I need an exit. _

- Nick

December Update (zines arriving and jam submissions!)
over 4 years ago – Fri, Dec 24, 2021 at 05:05:30 PM

It's December 23rd, and you know what that means...  

Obviously.

Current Status

• Zines are arriving! I've had reports of zines as far away as Canada, France, Belgium, the US, Finland, and even a couple in Australia. Keep on sharing those photos, folks - each and every one brightens my day!
• First submissions to #StealingTheJam! We're up to 35 participants and 4 entries to the Stealing the Throne game jam already, which is ace. Come and join the fun, check out the entries, and maybe make one of your own?

#StealingTheJam

Stealing the Jam is in full swing, and I'm really excited to say that we've got 4 submissions already (plus the original game)! These four consist of three hacks and one supplement, and I think they’re a wonderful window into what's possible with the engine. I'm going to highlight each of them here, but I'm also really excited to see what else comes out of the jam. If you're thinking about joining in, it runs until the end of January 2022, so there's still plenty of time! (Personally, I'm hoping we see a few Throne playsets before it's done!)

(Pictured: me, watching cool game designers transform Stealing the Throne!)

STEALING THE STONES, by Joshua Fox

If you thought stealing a thousand-year-old giant mech was ridiculous, how about stealing Stonehenge?! Stealing the Stones is the original Stealing the Throne hack, and still the only one I've had the pleasure of playing. Aside from the fun of the game itself (and it's ridiculously fun), there are a number of interesting twists on the engine here, including a recruitment montage which would work great in just about any heist. Plus: rules for Merlin!

NEAR CARBON BLADES, by Craig Duffy

Craig was super quick out of the gate, releasing the first Stealing the Throne supplement before #StealingTheJam even began! It's a series of cool prompts for the planning phase, designed to generate backstory detail about the Throne, your crew, and the threats they'll face. Just flip a card to generate a random prompt, and see where it takes you! I love this so much - particularly the hearts - and look forward to incorporating it into my own games.

HEALING THEIR OWN, by Alex Rinehart

Officially the first submission to #StealingTheJam, Alex's hack imagines a crew even more badass than the thieves: the trauma team sent in to rescue an injured thief who got left behind on an earlier job. One of my favourite things about game jams like this is the emergent interactions you get between entries, and Healing Their Own is a prime example: if you've just had a thief go out in a blaze of glory in Stealing the Throne, why not play a follow-up game of Healing Their Own to rescue them? Mechanically speaking, Healing Their Own also adds a countdown to the job, which I’m keen to borrow for other hacks!

BREACHING THE HOUSE, by Léon Othenin-Girard

Breaching the House is the biggest drift from Stealing the Throne so far. It's about an Intrusion into a strange House searching for answers, inspired by Susanna Clarke's Piranesi. It absolutely oozes atmosphere (one of the Houses: "The Labyrinth of Statues, at the mercy of the tides"), and Léon has flipped the card mechanic so that the deck belongs to the Intrusion and your hands to the House. It's a super interesting design, and I can't wait to try it out!

AND MORE TO COME...

Over on discord, a bunch of other cool jam entries are brewing. Here are a few teasers: 

• Logan Timmins is working on Stealing the Crone, a hack where you play Grandkids helping their mischievous Grandparent escape their retirement home! (I adore this one so much!)
• Marren is toiling away on Stealing the Scone, where players take on the role of daring pigeons preparing for their most perilous heist yet: freshly baked scones from the café down the street!
• ZeeNovos is poking at two different hacks. In Stealing What's Grown, you're a group of hard working prize veggie growers who need to steal seeds from the usurpers who have taken your spots for the last two years. In Stealing the Bones, you're a group of thieves who desperately need a wish granted, and in order to get it you have to rescue a magic-user's resurrected familiar.
• Unnecessary Games is working on The Cursed One playset: in a thousand years, The Cursed One has had a thousand owners. Will you be the next? (The first playset in the jam, which is very exciting!)
• The Dice is working on Save Our Souls, where you break into the domain of a Dark Power to steal back your stolen soul.

So, which one of these hacks would you play first?

Next Steps

• Christmas break! It's been a big year, from Kickstarter planning at one end to delivery at the other, all in the middle of a pandemic. I'm really proud of what we've done here, and I think we’ve all earned a little rest!
• Drafting Ancient Hero playsets. Once the Christmas holidays are over, my top priority is the Ancient Hero playsets. I've already had some seriously cool input from those two generous backers, so I'm looking forward to putting figurative pen to figurative paper! 

(What do you reckon the odds are that I'll end up spending some time over Christmas at the game design drawing board?)

- Nick

It's time: shipping complete!
over 4 years ago – Mon, Dec 13, 2021 at 12:03:48 PM

As of yesterday, all of the zines have shipped! That's a whopping 406 packages, all in the hands of the Royal Mail. Read on for some more details, but that's the big news! 

Just the facts

• Zines have shipped! If you completed your BackerKit survey, your zine is on its way, and should be with you before Christmas. Exciting times!
• #StealingTheJam has begun. The game jam has begun - come and make cool Stealing the Throne hacks and supplements with us!

Help spread the word!

Now that the game is out in the world, let's spread the word! Here are five things that you can do to help:

• Post pictures to your social media. Lots of backers have been doing this already as their zines have arrived, and it never fails to make my day!
• Tell us about your games! I absolutely love hearing about your heists, and I'm sure other folks do to. I've noticed a trend, too: I don't think I've seen any clean getaways yet. Will yours be the first? Tag me in so I can share your exploits!
• Ratings, reviews, and comments. Five star ratings help keep the game in the charts, so new people can find it. If you liked it, pop over to the itch.io page and leave a rating! Reviews are also amazing, but itch has a weird quirk where only the creator sees them. If you'd like everyone to see them (and why wouldn't you?!), drop them in the comments on the game's page as well.
• Podcasts, actual plays, and blogs. Are you on a podcast, actual play, or blog that's interested in featuring Stealing the Throne? If so, please give me a shout - I'd love to talk with you.
• Join #StealingTheJam. Join the game jam to make hacks, supplements, playsets, and other Stealing the Throne mods. We've got 29 participants and 4 cool submissions already, plus lots of chatter on the discord! I know there are more excellent games on the way...

The shipping adventure

As of December 10th, all of the zines have been shipped. According to my post office, I beat Christmas shipping deadlines no matter where you are in the world, so that means you should receive your zines before December 25th (fingers crossed!). Christmas is always a busy time for international shipping, so please do give it until then for them to arrive. If you haven't receive your zine by Christmas, drop me a message and we'll sort it out.

(Just a quick reminder, particularly for folks in the EU, that any customs fees or import duties are your responsibility - unfortunately, I just couldn't figure out any feasible way I could cover them. I haven't had any reports of fees so far, so with luck there won't be any, but I do want to be transparent about this!) 

Anyone want to see pictures? This was my first time shipping anything on this scale - it was a learning experience, but I'm pleased to say that everything seems to have go smoothly. So far, at least! 

There are sixteen stragglers who haven't yet filled out their BackerKit surveys. If you're one of those people, please do it as soon as you can - I can't send you your rewards if you don't. You can find out what to do if you've lost your survey email in the November backer update. 

A small Kickstarter bonus

When you receive your packages, you'll notice a couple of cards inside. These are a little bonus I cooked up for generous Kickstarter backers (and con attendees). I absolutely loved Galen Pejeau's work on the Throne icons, and wanted somewhere else I could feature them... 

If you're lucky enough to play Stealing the Throne in person, you can use these cards to mark who is the Throne and who is the Thief in each scene. I did something very similar at Dragonmeet, and I think it worked pretty well!

(You may recall when you filled out your BackerKit survey, I asked you which Throne you were going to steal first. That's how I decided which Throne card to include in your package!)

Of course, they double as business cards, with a little advertisement for the game on the back. If you don't think you're going to get any use out of them, why not give them to a friend who might be interested in the game, or drop them off where other gamers might see them? If you leave one somewhere cool, send me a pic!     

What's next?

• Throne playsets for Ancient Hero backers. Now that the zines are out, it's time for me to return to Alpha Regalis and The Solemn Antic and give them the attention they deserve.
• Stretch goals. There are two stretch goals outstanding: the solo rules supplement, and an annotated galactic map. As soon as the Ancient Hero playsets are sorted, they're next!
• More hacking! More about #StealingTheJam in the next update, but it's already underway so come and join the fun! 

(Me, after I dropped the last of the zines at the post office.)

- Nick

November Update (PDF release and game jam!)
over 4 years ago – Mon, Nov 22, 2021 at 09:50:31 PM

Folks, it's November and it's all happening!  

(This is me battling Kickstarter fulfilment logistics.)

Current Status

• Final PDF released! You should soon receive an email from BackerKit, with a link to your Stealing the Throne download key. This key unlocks your access to the finished game in PDF!
• Join the Stealing the Throne game jam! From December 1st to January 31st, we're going to make some cool Stealing the Throne-inspired stuff. Come and join the fun!
• Printing is under way! I've sent the final files off to the printer, and they should be hard at work making your zines. I'm picturing giant printing presses like in the movies: "Extry! Extry! Read all about it! Giant robot stolen by crew of dashing thieves!"

Digital zine released!

You should shortly be receiving an email from BackerKit with the subject line "New Digital Content for Stealing the Throne on BackerKit". That email contains a link to your unique download key, granting you access to the final, complete Stealing the Throne PDF zine (plus separate PDF versions of the Throne playsets for printing).

Go! Go now!  

To access the PDF files, just copy the download key link from BackerKit and paste it into your browser window. You'll need an itch.io account - if you don't have one already, they're free and quick to set up, and they give you access to a world of amazing indie tabletop game design. Why not take a look at some other games by the Stealing the Throne crew: Galen Pejeau, Jane Hermiston, Melody Watson, Sam Tung, and me? This game and this game feature mecha art by Si Sweetman too.

If you didn't receive an email from BackerKit, don't worry. Here are some things you can try:

• Check your junk folder!
• Make sure you filled out your BackerKit survey, and that your payment details are correct. If you lost your BackerKit invite, you can recover it here.
• Log into BackerKit directly, and go to your Digital Downloads to find the key.
• If none of that works, drop me a message!

When you've had a chance to read the game (or, even better, play it!) I would absolutely love to hear your thoughts. You can find me on twitter and discord as usual, and ratings and comments are always welcome on the game's itch page. And if you run a podcast or actual play stream and you fancy talking about the game, reach out!

Game jam! Game jam!

To celebrate Stealing the Throne making its way into the world, it's time for a game jam! 

A couple of months back I mentioned that I think Stealing the Throne is extremely hackable - it's a simple, expandable framework for epic heist games. If making something like that sounds fun to you, then this is your chance: come and join Stealing the Jam! For two months beginning December 1st, we'll be making all sorts of things inspired by Stealing the Throne: new playsets, supplements, expansions, even entirely new games. 

There are some cool hacks in the works already - what's yours going to be about? 

Next Steps

• Wait nervously by the door for boxes from Mixam. 
• Steal the secrets of Royal Mail Click & Drop. This is my first time shipping on anything like this scale. The shipping materials are all ready to go, but I need to crack the last few arcane secrets of Royal Mail Click & Drop so I'm ready to send out your zines.
• Play Stealing the Throne at Dragonmeet on December 4th! Are you going to be at Dragonmeet? If you see me, say hi! Fancy playing some Stealing the Throne? There'll be sessions running at Indie Games on the Hour! 

Exclamation mark!

- Nick