The long-awaited new sci-fi TTRPG as heard on Fun City: unique, flexible rules + an unforgettable game universe!
If you missed the Kickstarter campaign, you're not too late! You can still order the professionally designed and illustrated, ~340-page hardback book.
You can also pick up our second official venture (playable scenario), The Rain Thieves. This is politically charged eco-horror at its finest!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
New year, new game
2 months ago
– Tue, Feb 06, 2024 at 08:23:34 AM
We’re very excited to still be creating books for the game—including Ian Derk’s richly imagined espionage setting-sourcebook, Qadida, which we are currently sending off to the printer. We also have several other Stillfleet books in the hopper (and new fantasy games by Ethan Gould and others!). We’ll share more about these later in the spring.
Right now, we are updating our website, which is long overdue. (Shout-out to Aaron H.!)
The big news is that the next Grit System game, Blister Critters, is live on Kickstarter! This amazing game by Tony Grasso (who has some great art in the Core Rulebook!), co-developed by us, uses the same Grit System that powers Stillfleet. But in Blister Critters, you play as small mutant animals—the eponymous Critters—in a cartoon-show version of the world where humans have disappeared in the Poof… (We don't talk about the Poof.)
The game is a real mash-up of genres. You can run episodes that are Zany (cartoony, where the laws of physics give way to artful film-editing) or Gnarly (more focused on the post-eco-apocalypse and the awakening of sapience in animal-kind). Both have been super fun to playtest and write out.
The core book is filled with so many animals and Blisters (mutations) as well as new, cartoon-inspired rules (e.g., Ad-Libs for informercials), but it still clocks in at only about 100 pages. Plus, there are CCG-style cards for Beasts and plastic monsters called Bliffs!
Right now, you can reserve a Blister Critters Boxed Set at a special early bird price. Check it out!
Quick update: Gen Con!
9 months ago
– Fri, Aug 04, 2023 at 05:04:52 AM
Dear Core Rulebook backers, Aaron H. (Stillfleet Studio banshee and the author of The Rain Thieves) and I (Wythe Marschall, creator of the game) are at Gen Con 2023! Find us and play some wildcat Grit System games! Connect by DMing me here, DMing @Stillfleet on Twitter, or—easiest—joining the Discord.
We are also running one official Gen Con Online game, which is a great way to try out the game if you're new, hoping to play with the design team, and or just free this summery Friday. Wythe will be running a story set in The Span on the world of Qadida (BackerKit store now open). Sign up if you like haunted landscapes and Weird physics…
Oh, and friend-of-the-game Will Savino is giving a talk on creating TTRPG music here, Saturday at 11 AM Eastern. If you're in Indy, come check it out!
The Stillfleet Studio inspector, inspecting
Mini-venture / an end to shipping / Qadida closing soon
9 months ago
– Tue, Jul 18, 2023 at 05:01:25 PM
A few quick but important updates
One, we have published the final Stillfleet mini-venture paid for by the 2022 Kickstarter. This 19-page story, "Around the Dome," was written by Ian Derk as a way of further playtesting some of the material in his upcoming espionage-themed setting sourcebook, Qadida. Check out "Around the Dome" here >
Two, we’re finally done shipping! The entire team pitched in, and we all learned quite a bit about sorting, packing, and shipping orders of books and merch across the globe. This process took longer than expected. TL;DR: any delays or mispacked shipments are solely the responsibility of Wythe; just DM me. That said, we’ve had very few issues so far, so I’m hoping that almost all of you have your books by now. Thanks for your patience—especially international backers.
Three, Qadida is closing in about two days! If you have enjoyed the Stillfleet Core Rulebook and The Rain Thieves, please consider picking up a copy of our new spy setting. It offers 4 new classes, 4 new species, 2 full ventures, dozens of illustrations by Ethan Gouldini, rules for mutations, a quantum-haunted demilitarized zone, and plenty of random tables, archaetech, NPCs, and encounters. Help us bring the newest setting to life >
Mongrel seraat (street fighter) art by Ethan Gouldini
Shipping update / Qadida launch
10 months ago
– Tue, Jun 20, 2023 at 12:08:23 PM
TL;DR: we just need cards
Shipping is ongoing. Suffice to say, it takes a lot of time, energy, and materials to sort, pack, and ship different permutations of heavy (but beautiful!) books, shirts, other objects. We are getting the hang of things. In retrospect, we could have said we’d have books shipped to folks within a year rather than nine months… although we feel we are still moving pretty dang fast, by new-to-this-business standards!
As of today, we’ve finished shipped 273 of orders, and another 153 people ordered reference cards. That leaves several international orders that we have packed and are now actually shipping.
Regarding our logistical devil, we were told that the reference cards would arrive in NYC around June 13. [Narrator voice:] The cards did not arrive in NYC around June 13.
We are waiting on the final freight manifest from the card printer, but we hope that it won’t be much longer, given the additional weeks and weeks of waiting. After much prodding on the part of Sunaree and myself, all they've told us is, “there was an unexpected delay with unloading the shipping vessel due to port congestion.”
…Which, if I'm honest, sounds like a dog-consumed-my-homework excuse. [Shrug emoji.] In the meantime, the stalwart Aaron H. and I have already packed many of the card orders, sans cards, so they will be ready to ship with alacrity.
Major news: Qadida is live!
The idea was to ship everything, then launch the Kickstarter for Ian Derk's espionage-themed setting/sourcebook, Qadida, which offers new official rules for Stillfleet including 4 playable classes and at least 1 species, alongside at least 1 spy-tastic full-length venture. (And, of course, a lot of very weird random tables. There are flowers that function as grenades, e.g.)
Given the delay with the cards, we are launching anyway! We'll just keep shipping all 2022 books (and mini-ventures) while working on the new gazetteer. Qadida is a great project, and we want to make sure we properly support its development and printing.
If you've enjoyed the Stillfleet Core Rulebook and The Rain Thieves, please consider supporting Qadida. (Amazing draft art by Ethan Gouldini.)
Stillfleet will be joining Alchemy, the most well-designed virtual tabletop service (VTT), in September!
At least the Core Rulebook and thus the rules system will be available. Over time, we hope to integrate all of our content on Alchemy so that you can run Sleeper in the Sky, The Rain Thieves, the mini-ventures, and other official ventures on a VTT. We’ll also set up streaming games on Alchemy as soon as we’re able.
More updates when we have them!
Shipping has begun! / mini-ventures / streaming
11 months ago
– Tue, May 23, 2023 at 09:33:43 AM
Shipping has begun!
As of last week, we have received all of the 2022 books and Stillfleet merchandise other than the encounter and archaetech cards, which are en route. Due to the large number of orders to ship, we are simply starting by shipping orders that don't involve cards. By the time we finish those, the cards should have arrived. (Fingers crossed.)
To be clear, we are kindly asking folks who ordered cards to wait just a couple of weeks. Thank you for your patience. This makes the shipping process much, much simpler for our small team.
That said, if you live in the United States and ordered cards, and you do want your books/non-card merch sooner, no worries at all. Please message Wythe. We'll ship you the books/non-card merch as soon as we can. (International backers—thank you so much for your patience.)
If you have questions about your order (such as the desire for a tracking number/specific update), please message Wythe. If you like the books, please feel free to post a pic/comment/review and tag us (@stillfleet everywhere)!
Overall, the fulfillment process has required a steep learning curve. In the future, we will fulfill orders somewhat differently. The good thing is, the books look fantastic. We are very happy with the colors, the matte coating on the covers, the paper stock—every aspect of the final print.
It turns out, three pallets of books is QUITE A LOT of books to deal with.
Each carton contains either 10 CRBs or 40 TRTs. So far, none of the books has been damaged!
Mini-ventures
Now that you have your rules (the CRB) and epic desertcrawl (The Rain Thieves), what other stories can you run using Stillfleet? Thanks to the support of our patrons and backers, we have published five mini-ventures, which introduce new writers, extend the game into new genres, and explore new settings and rules. Here are the links:
The latest—"The Sphere of [REDACTED"—is a pyrate-filled detective story across Spindle and the planet Kakudun (of Float City fame) by guest writer Leonardo Andrade, whom we love working with. Check it out!
We'll continue to publish these shorties, including sneak-peeks of our fantasy games, on Patreon and Itch.
The city of Graafa, as imagined by Ethan Gould.
What's next? A spy setting! Streaming!?
While fulfilling the 2022 Stillfleet Kickstarter, we are also finishing the next book—Ian Derk's urban, spy-themed setting/venture, Qadida.
Qadida extends Stillfleet in fun ways: 4 new spy-adjacent classes! New advanced powers! Rules for unhumans! Factions factions factions! Mutations! Spy ventures! Checkpoints! Document-forgery! A Weird demilitarized zone! Secrets of H.Co.! If you've enjoyed Stillfleet to date—and especially if you like modern/detective settings for RPGs—we hope you'll come with us into the domed and divided city of Qadida.
In fact, you can watch a special streaming mini-campaign set in Qadida on Twitch. The spy-versus-spy action features two teams of voidminers, three GMs, and unlimited brilliant acting.
