Drakaina Letters #2
about 3 years ago – Tue, Mar 16, 2021 at 05:44:56 PM

Continuing our updates which are the Drakaina Letters! Unpacking the drama and narrative arcs of our gangs and their members! Each gang leader received a message from Drakaina, the former leader of the Flaming Skulls, inviting them to a meet. The meet doesn't go as planned, and everyone is blaming everyone else. But these letters may hold some hints as to what happened and even what is to come.

Here's the second one, Drakaina's letter to the Valkyrs:

Adelante,
I hate writing this. The life we shared so long ago is a fond memory, but remains only a memory, nonetheless. I knew you then to be sentimental, but I never was. Perhaps our fates have switched. I am now going to presume so much as to hope you will agree to something, even if it is only out of the respect, and perhaps love, we shared then. What is broken can’t always be fixed, but please believe I have carried that brokenness with me.

Neo Babylon mocks Val Broceliande. Mocks us. Will there ever be an end to the way it swaggers through the world, the way it oppresses us with unabridged audacity and afflicts us with its merest glance? They speak of Neo Babylon the way we spoke of Val Broceliande. And look at how it ended for both of us.

When I invited you to the Undercity after the Satyawe and your exile, it was with the best intentions and expectations. But it didn’t turn out how we wanted and I couldn’t be what you wanted. I had become something else, and you changed as well. We are no longer on the same path. But perhaps we do not need to be enemies any longer. I became the leader of the Flaming Skulls to achieve peace, and to stop you from hurting the ones I’ve come to call my people. But as of yesterday, I’m no longer the Boss of the Flaming Skulls.

Instead, I want to offer something. A united Undercity. A federation strong enough to make demands and threats of the Overcity. Strong enough to demand respect, to protect ourselves from their machinations, and have a share in its prosperity. I have other goals, greater ones, but things have to start somewhere. I want you and Mormeghul (I would never assume you would come without him) to join me, along with the other leaders of the major Zigtown gangs, for a gang meet. I’ll explain more then.

Perhaps, Adelante, you are swayed by my words. But I doubt it. So instead, let me offer this; I am nothing if not practical. If you come to the meet, and support my plan, when we achieve victory, I will rally an army of Undercity soldiers for you and personally hunt down the Enkeura traitors you hate so much. It is the first step to getting your vengeance. Your revenge isn’t my fight, but I will make it mine, if it means you’ll join us. I am hoping your desire for revenge is stronger than your bitterness for me.

If this is acceptable, or perhaps you only wish to hear what I have to say, I will see you and Mormeghul at the old Mess of Porridge factory in South Zigtown, on the first day of Tebutu, when the night lights come on.

Drakaina

An update is still an update
about 3 years ago – Fri, Mar 05, 2021 at 12:29:21 AM

Hey Unicorns! 

I keep waiting for better news to share, but instead I just have a lack of news. Unless something goes terribly wrong, we'll be receiving parts of our products in early March. The products that we sourced from overseas were tokens and boxes. So once we get those to the warehouse, we can start the process of putting stuff out. But our minis are coming from the US, and Covid (social distancing, sourcing, etc) has had its impact here, too. That means our minis are still not here as well. We felt overwhelmingly comfortable saying we'd have them by now, but I have learned that no matter how much we plan, the manufacturing process doesn't work as we want it to. 

Here's what I learned this last year. Manufacturers, factories, etc. want your biz. So when you shop around, they will tell you they can 100% meet all your needs, do what you want, and have it within the timeframe. I am now aware (thanks to many of you who work in these fields) that meeting deadlines is never a priority since once you are committed, they feel they can always negotiate with you on details and deadlines. 

So that is where we are. Things are moving ahead. Just slowly. 

Here's where we stand:

-The Full size books need final layout (happening right now, will take less than a week).

-Full size books need to be printed (will take 2 weeks, from a small press place here in the states). 

-Boxes need to get here. 

-Minis need to get here. 

-We still need to purchase bulk bases and clamshell packaging (takes 1-2 weeks to arrive, but I need the minis to get here first).

Once we get all that, we send everything off to you! Tip of my hat to all of you who said December was too Pollyannaish. You were right. Lessons are hard to learn. But We'll know better next time. 

 - Opti

Drakaina Letters #1
about 3 years ago – Thu, Mar 04, 2021 at 10:46:53 AM

One of the things we are doing with Gangs of the Undercity is working hard to build the narrative of the warfare. Why are the gangs fighting? What is at stake? Do the personalities matter? 

We have a goal in mind, a story that gets told over a number of "campaign seasons," that will only be revealed a bit at a time, with campaign packets, big events, new releases, etc. We don't want it to get out of hand, but we think narrative campaigns, along with a few new models to accompany them, is a neat approach. The narratives, and even the models we release to some extent, will be affected by the interactions you the fans make as you play. 

To set this off, and to begin unpacking some of the drama and narrative arcs of our gangs and their members, we've included the Drakaina letters in the Full Sized Rulebook. In addition to some new pieces of art (which I'll be showing off along the way), we are including a letter written to each gang. Just before Gangs of the Undercity takes place, each gang leader received a message from Drakaina, the former leader of the Flaming Skulls, inviting them to a meet. The meet doesn't go as planned, and everyone is blaming everyone else. But these letters may hold some hints as to what happened and even what is to come. 

Here's the first one, Drakaina's letter to the Flaming Skulls:

Dearest Vengeance,
I know you never desired leadership. My leaving the Skulls was a shock and must feel like a betrayal. And perhaps it was. But it was a betrayal that had to happen. The other gangs would never agree to meet, much less speak of unity, unless there was someone they trusted who had no gang allegiance. I had to be that person.

That must be the hardest thing for the Skulls, and you in particular, to bear. That I no longer have allegiance to the Flaming Skulls. It is perhaps more correct to say I have broadened my allegiance to all the Undercity, but that won’t be of any comfort, I think.

I also know that even now, you are still loyal to me, even if through gritted teeth. I believe you will still come to the gang meet. You’ll be there, looking out for danger. Even now, I believe I can count on you to join me. But I want to make one thing clear: I am not coming back. You are the Flaming Skulls’ boss now. You must hate it and feel overwhelmed and unqualified. But you are not unqualified. I didn’t make this decision without reflection. You are the best choice. You have what every truly great leader possesses. You are willing to do what must be done. You will protect the Skulls and you’ll give up anything to keep Zigtown from falling further into rot. You’ve already lost so much. I wish I could give it back to you. But instead, I will only promise you will lose more, but it will be worth it.

If my words sting, please believe I am sorry. But I will see you at the meet. Bring Char with you. She is more powerful than you realize. But watch her, invest in her, or you’ll regret it. She will be your strongest help or she will be your downfall.

Your support at the gang meet is the last thing I will ever ask of you. Help me save the Undercity and claim our rightful place in Neo Babylon.

Drakaina

Large Rulebook Art, Notes, and Fulfillment Update
about 3 years ago – Tue, Feb 02, 2021 at 12:58:00 AM

Hey folks! Some artwork has come in for the full size rulebook. This is art that isn't in the pocket rulebook and will accompany various playable characters such as gang leaders or other important freebooters. In addition, I don't have great news about dates for fulfilment, but I do have something at least a bit more concrete. 

Full Size Rulebook

The full size rulebook will be an upgrade to the pocket rulebook in a few ways. First, it is bigger! It is comparable with the other full size rulebooks you have on your shelf such as D&D or Warhammer. Second, it has a bunch of new art, some of which I'm showing off below! Third, it has additional fluff/lore. It contains the letters of Drakaina, missives to each gang, written before the all-out war began. These letters outline the gangs' motivations and hint at their upcoming destinies. Fourth, while not many, we will be fixing a few typos and updating a few words here and there. We expect these to ship alongside the main 2-player box. 

Art

UpR1z3r, the leader of the Neverkin

Chirashree, Bulls of Heaven Boss

Demon Kober, Boss of the Shadow Caste

And a few works in progress of Lawjack Captain Smythe, Minna from the Misfits, and Greyson from the Hetairoi...

Fulfillment Update

Not the news anyone was hoping for, but as frustrating as it is, I've promised to be honest with what's happening. It took me a good deal of time and grey hair to navigate international shipping issues for importing our boxes and preparing to export the game worldwide. Covid has made this process slow to a crawl, and the Chinese New Year didn't help, either. Our shipping company has finally hooked us up with a firm date for when the boxes will be arriving. According to their word, the shipments will leave the factory on February 10, and arrive at our warehouse on March 7. This is of course, barring any further Covid delays. 

Other games update

Folks, I know that we made it clear on the initial campaign page that Covid delays were going to happen, but this has been so aggravating for all of us at Fragging Unicorns. BUT. We have also learned a great deal about the process and the industry, so moving forward, we are confident things will only get better. But we haven't been wasting time. 

While we haven't been able to move forward much on sending things out to you, we have been getting other ducks in a row. The Gangs of the Undercity fiction anthology is all written, and is in the editing phase right now. That means you'll soon have an entire book's worth of GotU stories to read! The cookbook is also moving ahead, so you'll be able to cook like a Neo Babylonian from the comfort of your own home.

Lastly, our next game, Subversion, a tabletop role-playing game set in the world of Gangs of the Undercity, finally has its alpha playtest rules ready and an introductory adventure to go with it. So any of you who also love RPGs in addition to minis games can hop in and check things out. Mind you, this is an alpha playtest, so many things aren't set in stone yet, but if you love to look at early stuff and give feedback, let us know and we'll hook you up! You lot get first access before anyone else!

Thanks for the continuing support and patience, folks!

 - Opti 

Production Update
over 3 years ago – Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 08:12:25 PM

Hey everyone! 

I wish I had good news, but the news isn't terrible, either. 

International production has a really big learning curve. Our packaging (not any models) are coming from overseas, and as they were ready to ship out, we learned about a lot of paperwork and forms and clearances we needed... that we didn't have. But... after pulling our hair out a while, I realized that the fulfillment company we are using to get product to our international backers was an ally we could use. They helped us navigate all that, so we are back in business. 

On the minis production front, our US manufacturers, Fortress Figures got slammed with multiple large kickstarter orders at once. We were second in line. However, as a peace offering, Fortress has redone all of our master molds, increasing the quality even better than they were before. What this means is that the 2-player Starter Sets will not go out until February at earliest. BUT the prints and master molds are done. Production molds will be done by next Friday, and actual production starts the following Monday. So we won't be getting the first models in our warehouse until early February. 

We will keep you as updated as we can whenever we get more info. Nothing is wrong except delays. We are still 100% on track to fulfill. We have learned a big lesson on what we can and can't control, and to put extra time in our expected timelines for things like this that happen. Thank you for your patience, folks. 

In other news: 

 - We are looking at attending GenCon and Origins game conventions this year, depending on vaccine rollout and safety. 

 - Due to the pandemic and production delays, we've been able to put more effort than expected into our second game, which has been in production in the background of Gangs of the Undercity. Our second game, a TTRPG called Subversion, is a role-playing game set in the same universe as Gangs of the Undercity. We now have a working Alpha version that we are seeking a few GMs to look at perhaps run with RPG gaming groups they are a part of. 

 - We are still working on GotU, and in fact we already have our first sculpt for our first expansion. In our next update, I'll give you an update for the new art that will go into the full-size rulebook. It is fantastic. 

Thanks again for your patience, everyone! We're doing our best, and if you have any questions, please reach out!

 - Opti