Court of Blades: The Final Countdown
almost 3 years ago
– Sat, May 22, 2021 at 09:17:56 PM
Retainers,
We are in the final 12 hours of a campaign that has done what we never dreamed possible. Well over 2000 of you have pledged your swords to the Esultare of Ilrien, and surpassed every challenge and stretch goal we put in front of you. Every comment, tweet, and message has been fuel for our fire, and we are excited to keep creating for you.
We are similarly excited to announce that our partnership with BackerKit means that even if you cannot pledge before the end of the campaign, you can still get your hands on a preorder copy of Court of Blades. The BackerKit will be launching tomorrow. However, let it be known that our early supporters are entitled to all of those juicy stretch goals with no additional charge. Late pledges will have to add them on through the pledge manager on BackerKit.
So consider this, noble Retainers, your final Kickstarter invitation. Pledge sword and service in the next twelve hours and reap everything Ilrien has to offer in one fell swoop. Skullduggery and romance awaits.
Shawn and Navi Drake
A Couple of Drakes
Court of Thrones Unlocked
almost 3 years ago
– Sat, May 22, 2021 at 09:06:53 PM
Retainers,
You have accomplished what we ourselves did not dare hope. You've smashed every stretch goal we've put in front of you with panache and aplomb. You have given us the means to make this game more than we ever thought possible. From the very depths of our hearts, thank you.
Let's talk about Court of Thrones.
Court of Thrones (our working title) is an expansion that fits neatly into an ongoing game of Court of Blades, a secondary game played between the Social Seasons of Ilrien in which you take control of powerful members of the House of the Esultare which your normal Court of Blades retainers serve. Like the Legion Roles in Band of Blades, these roles allow you to determine the direction of your noble house, engage with factions on your own terms, and drive the destiny of Ilrien while unlocking powerful bonuses and special permissions for your coterie. Right now, we are aiming for five roles.
The Crown- The Prince, the inheritor, and the heavy head upon which the crown of the House rests.
The Bishop- A Grace in service to the Temple of the Lady and the House. Perhaps in that order.
The Magus- A Peer of the Hidden College and master of the Art.
The Knight- A Cavalleri and Champion, the House’s sword and shield.
The Rook- The Intelligencer atop a web of whispers and lies.
Each role will essentially be a second character that the player controls between Social Seasons, complete with character creation options for look and traits. They will also come with a variety of Destinies to be selected, allowing you to determine an eventual goal which will guide the character's scheming and maneuvering over the course of play. The Crown, for instance, may wish to eventually ascend to First Prince of the City and work within the strictures of the Great Game of Houses, but they may also have the aim of becoming the Justiciar of the Grand Council (the only Tier VI faction in the game!) They may instead decide that Ilrien is not enough, and select the goal of once more uniting the Principalities under one banner...by force if necessary. These Destinies will come complete with mechanics and currencies which may be spent and advanced to enact sweeping changes in the city of Ilrien and the world of the Principalities.
The push and pull of these competing destinies will furnish your weekly game of Court of Blades with all manner of interesting hooks and intrigues, furnish you with plenty of juicy drama, and may even force your Coterie to decide where your true allegiance lies. Set against the backdrop of an open, sandbox-y world full of competing aims and deadly misdirection, we'll include tools to keep you up to your eyebrows in romance and skullduggery all the while.
That being said, we're not going to be creating this expansion in a vacuum. We now have all manner of people who have shown that they want this game as much as we do. We'll be reaching out to our Paramours first to help us with playtesting and soliciting feedback. As updates become available, we'll get the playtest versions into our Paramour's hands as PDFs, and may be reaching out to you for personal playtests. When the mechanics feel right, when they sing, we'll be sending digital copies to all backers.
Stay nimble. Retainers. The world just got a whole lot bigger.
Shawn and Navi Drake
A Couple of Drakes
6 More Let's Plays
almost 3 years ago
– Sat, May 15, 2021 at 06:25:18 PM
Retainers,
We hear you. Rewards have been updated.
Let's play a game.
Shawn and Navi Drake
A Couple of Drakes
Court of Blades Twitter Challenge
almost 3 years ago
– Sat, May 15, 2021 at 06:25:11 PM
Retainers,
We're six days from the finish line. It's been a flurry of activity for House Drake. The playsheets are formatted and gorgeous, the early PDFs are formatted, everything is coming together for the big day.
But this tweet still only has 65 retweets. 35 more and we can unlock 6 more Paramour + Let's Play slots to get you and three of your friends into a game of Court of Blades with the Drakes! More, that gets us that much closer to our "Court of Thrones" stretch goal! I've gotten messages lamenting that all of the slots were already claimed. Take a moment and give an assist to the Coterie. Spread the word.
Ilrien is within our grasp, Retainers. Stay hungry.
Shawn and Navi Drake
A Couple of Drakes.
Court of Blades Community Zine and Twitter Challenge
almost 3 years ago
– Wed, May 12, 2021 at 06:39:31 AM
Greetings, Retainers.
This update comes a couple days following your last glorious achievement, but I'm certain that you can imagine the amount of heads-on-fire scurrying that has gripped House Drake. Thanks to your phenomenal support, we officially have the opportunity to reach out to some of our favorite TTRPG writers and designers and commission more cool stuff! We're really excited. These fabulous human beings are taking it upon themselves to help us put together another 'zine filled with intrigue-laden situations, NPCs, setting material, rituals, alchemical and clockwork contraptions, and more. It's going to be...mmph, just chef's kiss good.
If you haven't trolled through the Kickstarter page and gotten the full scoop on each of them, I'd heartily advise taking a look. These are talented folks making cool stuff. Now they're making cool stuff for Court of Blades, too!
We're also running a social challenge over on my Twitter (@DrakeandDice) right now. We saw how quickly the "Paramour + Let's Play" tier sold out, and I've been having kind of a dark night of the soul about it. It's my dearest wish to not leave people who want to play this cool game with me out in the cold. So if we can get 100 retweets on my pinned tweet, we're going to open another 6 slots for Let's Plays. I can move stuff around, and we can get a game together.
If we get over the 100 retweet hill, I expect they'll probably go fast again, so keep your finger on the trigger, Retainers.
Again, at the risk of sounding a bit like a befuddled broken record, thank you so much for the support and engagement. This entire Kickstarter has exceeded our wildest expectations and has added fuel to our creative fires. We're incredibly excited to get this game into your hands and get started on the other half-dozen projects that we want to share with you. Ilrien is just the beginning.
Shawn and Navi Drake
A Couple of Drakes
