I just got a newsletter from one of the Kickstarters I’ve backed – Trench Club Legacy – which started with: “Here is the monthly newsletter.”
And I thought: “Oh my God, it’s the start of the month again!”
Let’s just say my life is full at the moment – in a good way: in a very good way; not in a bad way. But I’m getting up at 3 in the morning with my head buzzing with things I need to write down, and I’m often not going to bed again until long after my usual bed-time of 10 o’ clock in the evening.
There’s a reason why I never take a TV job unless it wakes me up at 3am thinking about it – I’m going to be doing that anyway, so it might as well be a job I really want to do!
And this one truly is. We fly out to the location at the end of this September; but before that, I have a crash course of research to do (ongoing), a Treatment to write (done), followed by a script (ongoing), a drama script (working on it), a rough filming schedule (getting there), a detailed sequence breakdown (pending) and a whole bunch of phone calls with various different experts and performers and commissioning executives for which I have to be prepped and ready, with the facts and figures at my fingertips – and I’ve only been on the job for 2 weeks!
Then I come home and engage with the game.
Which is going well, you’ll be pleased to hear. We ran another series of tests and demos this month, which has confirmed just what a good idea it was to reconfigure Noise and has added more new members to the Crew – welcome.
Both Kris and Rick have also been busy. Here is how the Trophy Hunter has transformed from a fairly static (if cool-looking) character into a kick-ass Death Metal gun-totin’ rock star of oblivion!
The Hunter’s really interesting. Instead of drawing an AI card in the Nasty Action Phase, it follows a pre-set list of priorities which involve it launching a Drone which heads towards the First Target and locks onto the first creature it encounters. This then becomes ‘the Trophy’, which the Hunter stalks implacably until it’s dead; when the Hunter launches another Drone to repeat the cycle again. It makes for some interesting decisions in Noise manipulation, as players attempt to get it to either go after their rivals, or lock-onto one of the other Nasties to turn the Hunter into a temporary ally, helping the Crew.
And this is ‘Cap’ in his current form. Tbh, I’m less happy with this as it stands. He needs more red on his uniform (he’s the red character in the game); so I’ve asked Rick to make his collar red and add some red breast panels to his uniform. I also don’t think he looks worried enough. After all, he’s just an ordinary bloke thrust in at the deep end, trying to keep his crew alive – and he’s terrified! It may be too late to change the expression now, but I shall keep banging the same drum until Rick does something about it.
Or am I worrying over nothing? Please let me know what you think in the comments.
I need to go now because I’ve got things to do; but plans are still afoot to get out the Tabletop Mods, a 'How to Play' video, a PnP awareness-raiser and we’ve mapped out a convention schedule to the end of the year, which I’ll talk more about later.
Until then: don’t back into any dark corners…
M€