Step into a bizarre, post-apocalyptic America with two new regional settings for the Backwards: American Gothic Horror universe.
Please Note: Shipping fees for this project will be calculated at a later date. We plan to enter & charge backers for shipping a month or two before fulfillment when we have the most accurate estimates of what it will cost to ship rewards. We will alert backers when shipping costs are finalized & before we charge cards. We will keep you informed all along the way!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
August 2024 Update
13 days ago
– Sat, Oct 05, 2024 at 09:09:15 AM
August 2024 Update
This is our monthly update for the month of August. If you’d like to hear more from us, you can check us out on twitter, sign up for our newsletter, follow us on itch, or chat with us in our discord.
Hello, Backwards Backers!
Progress! Yes, that's right. We are making progress. Where are we at for art and writing? Backwoods: 100% done! Backchannels: 98% done! We are waiting on about 1500 words and one art spread.
And as you know: The adventure books are done except for adventure hooks. The Create-Your-Own-Monster tiers, new character sheets, dice, and miniatures were all finished and delivered ages ago.
Onward! We have started the next stages: sensitivity reading and layout prep. We're working with three sensitivity readers. One has already finished. Two are just starting and will likely be done by the 26th. After that, we'll begin edits and seek approval from our writers for feedback that affects anything they had written. Then begins layout!
Updated Timeline? We've missed our original timeline. But we're not too far off! The original estimate for delivery was Dec 2024, but now we're looking at some time in Q1 of 2025, sometime between Jan and March.
A quick pitch: Did you know that gothHoblin's Grimoire Issue 3 is out now!
Open these pages to find a selection of articles, creative pieces and inspirational tools for your TTRPG table. All system agnostic and all written by actual human people (definitely not cryptids).
Why am I sharing this absolutely free zine? Well, it has some pretty great content in it. Also, it's the spooky season. And thirdly, some great people organize and contribute to this zine.
Okay, I'll also say that I wrote something in this zine. In fact, it's the very first article! I critique a common depiction of rural settings as "backwards" in the folk horror tradition and then offer some praise and analysis for Cassi Mothwin's Carved by the Garden. I will neither confirm or deny whether I mention the time that Bigfoot was spotted in the small rural town where I grew up. You'll just have to read it, if that's something you care about.
One more reason to read it: Basil Wright has an interview in here! Basil is one of several featured writers in Backchannels, and xe shares some of his powerful experiences with folk horror and its possibilities. Basil talks a little bit about writing for Backchannels too!
I'm starting to forget what I have and haven't shared at this point! But I am pretty sure I have yet to feature this wonderful and bizarre monster, which came out of a Create-a-Monster pledge: The New England Devil Turkey in Backwoods. You can catch a glimpse of what I'm trying with the new layout here and enjoy Carlos Eulefi's badass art in the process.
The New England Devil TurkeyLong ago, it is said that wild turkeys were nearly driven to extinction in New England. To many, this fact is hard to believe, as it seems more likely that the turkeys — particularly the New England devil turkeys — could drive humans to extinction… As the story goes, wild turkeys were reintroduced to New England before The End. Their population boomed at a time when the human population wavered, and from these birds descended modern turkey monstrosities and the considerably larger devil turkeys that dominate the New England countryside.In order to keep the devil turkeys at bay, some New England townsfolk must constantly establish themselves near the top of the “pecking order,” the social structure of turkeys in which they assert their status through dominance. Wild turkeys are already aggressive to humans and pets and are known to strike out at anything, including their own reflection.Devil turkeys take this aggression to another level, trapping carts and wagons on roadways, nesting in the village square, tormenting livestock, and occasionally eating villagers who fail to best them in a display of dominance. Devil turkeys prefer to assert their dominance by scaring and bullying those who get in their way, and they have been known to scare their prey to death. Yet, they will certainly resort to outright violence if they must, and they are truly formidable creatures.Devil turkeys travel a wide range in flocks, which vary in composition based on the time of year, usually divided by age and sex. Sometimes two mates travel together, and many turkeys travel solo during nesting season. At night, devil turkeys roost in trees for safety, if any tree is large enough to hold them, and they will swoop down to frighten off predators. However, unlike the wild turkey, devil turkeys have few natural predators.Benjamin Franklin once called the turkey “a bird of courage,” and for some time the Founders believed that it was a good omen to cross paths with a turkey. After decades of contrary experiences, this belief has died out and now they too know that only bad things and devilry can come out of these wild beasts."As a New Englander, I hate to complain, except about our weather, politics, tourists, and grocery prices... But one thing that I can’t abide are the devil turkeys that plague our woods. I once read that these birds were nearly extinguished here in the Old World until some New Yorkers shipped in a dozen flocks from the Adirondacks. Leave it to a New Yorker to spoil our peaceful New England countryside.” —Siderius Plug, PhD
September 2024 Update
about 2 months ago
– Sun, Sep 01, 2024 at 07:32:15 AM
September 2024 Update
This is our monthly update for the month of September. If you’d like to hear more from us, you can check us out on twitter, sign up for our newsletter, follow us on itch, or chat with us in our discord.
Hello, Backwards Backers!
The Backwards Tabletop crew is still moving forward! Last month I mentioned that the project ran into its first delays. The original goal was to finish all art and writing by then, so that we could begin proofing and sensitivity reading. We're still waiting to wrap up just a little bit of art and writing, some of which is my own (sorry!).
Where are we at for art and writing? If I had to make an estimate, I would say that it is 99% complete for Backwoods. All of its art is done, and there is only a little bit of writing to complete. Backchannels is around 93% complete -- but is still very close!
My goal is to wrap up art and writing for both projects by the end of this month and then begin sensitivity reading. The adventure books are nearing completion too. The adventures are written; only hooks remain. The Create-Your-Own-Monster tiers wrapped up ages ago; the dice were delivered a while back; and the miniatures are all set.
Art Previews
We have a lot of new art to preview, since most of it wrapped up in July. Today, I'll show some of the Backwoods pieces by Nala J. Wu! (@naladraws)
Up first: A globster washes ashore on the New England coast. The setting is modeled after Provincetown, and I think Nala did an incredible job capturing it as well as some post-apocalyptic touches. They also did an amazing job with the colors and (what I, an amateur would call) texture.
For those who have not heard the term, a globster is "an unidentified organic mass that washes up on the shoreline of an ocean or other body of water. A globster is distinguished from a normal beached carcass by being hard to identify, at least by initial untrained observers, and by creating controversy as to its identity." Thanks, Wikipedia!
I love the idea of a globster in post-apocalyptic New England. Here's an unidentified organic mass that has washed ashore. Is it something familiar that looks different because of its decomposition and water-logged state? Or is it a friggin sea monster? This piece is inspired in part by the Montauk Monster as well as the St. Augustine Monster globsters.
Next: Another piece by Nala J. Wu: We peek through the trees at several witches, who are dancing beneath the moon in the New England woods. The three witches represent different types of witchery and different stages. One is a conventional witch. Another is in a woodland mask, seemingly part of the natural world. The third is an initiate, dressed in colonial garb.
What do I love about this piece? Again, I love the colors, especially on the left side, where the fire draws your eye to the scene of the witches. I also love how the spread splits its focus: on the left/verso page is the drama. On the right/recto, is the post-apocalyptic setting: a tree has conquered the logging truck and reclaimed the woods.
I mentioned this while sharing the WIP, but I also really enjoy the perspective of this piece, which positions us as outsiders peeking in. We swoop in from the post-apocalyptic setting on the right to the witches' drama. Then we are drown upward by the fire and treetops which stretch to the sky and the swirling nimbi clouds, which carry us into the full, bright moon.
August 2024 Update
3 months ago
– Sat, Aug 03, 2024 at 11:29:00 AM
August 2024 Update
This is our monthly update for the month of August. If you’d like to hear more from us, you can check us out on twitter, sign up for our newsletter, follow us on itch, or chat with us in our discord.
Hello, Backwards Backers!
I missed an update in July! It was the 4th of July weekend, and I was visiting family, trying to escape some of the fireworks in my neighborhood for my dog's sake.
It was also a busy time because July 15th was our big deadline for writing and art! Almost everything was finished by the deadline -- some of it was finished with plenty of time to spare! And it was great to see some of our contributors' final products. I genuinely believe that these are the best books in the series yet. Much of that is due to our awesome contributors, (plus, I feel that we've hit a stride, after the first two projects).
The main news is that the project did run into its first couple of delays. The current timeline includes a buffer to account for such things, so the project still is scheduled to be delivered on time, at the moment. The original goal was to finish all art and writing by July 15th and to begin proofing and sensitivity reading at that time. Instead, we are around 90% complete at this point. Ultimately, the project isn't too far behind the original timeline. Next step is layout, after finishing the last bits of art and writing.
The fact that we're not too far off of the timeline is thanks to a couple of existing contributors who picked up some extra work for us and thanks to one new contributor:
Matt Joro is a writer, game designer, and TTRPG influencer from Boston, MA. He is the owner of Gemmed Firefly, a luxury shirt store for nerdy lifestyles, and can be found on most platforms as @Dungeonglitch. Links: @DungeonGlitch, Website.
John Gregory is a Charleston-based writer who has written for Lowcountry Crawl , Bridgetown , Gourmet Street , the Book of Gaub and more! Links: @Odd_Johnisms, Website.
Our New Contributor—Furt, aka TheFurtiveGoblin: The Furtive Goblin is a writer from Upstate New York who has contributed to The Book of Gaub, Bridgetown, and many miscellaneous things. He posts his personal fantasy and TTRPG stuff on https://furtivegoblingaming.blogspot.com/ and can be poked at @FurtsBurrow or @furtsburrow.bsky.social
Adventures Updates
Speaking of Matt and John, I should mentioned that they have finished (or essentially finished) their adventures for the Backwoods Adventures and Backchannels Adventures books, respectively. Both adventures are genuinely excellent.
Matt's adventure lets the PCs crawl through an abandoned New England Cider Mill. As the PCs progress through the rooms, a backstory unfolds along with key clues to a larger mystery. It also opens up the doors to a larger campaign, if a GM is interested. I personally wish we could do an actual play series based on the campaign hook that Matt provided.
John's adventure takes PCs to a colorful setting in Beaufort, South Carolina, where they solve several small supernatural problems that in turn lead to one big supernatural problem. The characters and setting are fantastic, and John has built out some very cool tables that are there not only to add flavor but to facilitate gameplay.
Miniatures
The minis have been manufactured and delivered! I've packed them up this morning, and down the line, I'll be shipping them to our fulfillment partner. Eventually, they'll go out with books, dice, etc. Price-wise, they cost just about as much as our original option for manufacturing, so no new expenses for us to account for.
Art Previews
We have a lot of new art to preview, but we'll save some of it for future updates. For now, check out these two big pieces and two smaller pieces.
Up first: Aaron Radney's full spread, which will be the cover for the POD versions of Backchannels. I love some of the real Miami architecture here, as well as the landscape/environment that can be explored on the makeshift fanboat with a sail.
Next: Zak Goggin's full spread, which will be the cover for the POD versions of Backwoods. I love the covered bridge and water wheel, plus the broken down truck. The figure walking a path in the woods at night -- with a pink ribbon in the nearby tree -- invokes Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown and is rather suggestive about the nature of the snake/serpent in the canopy.
Character Art: Lonnie (They/She), leader of the Redbud Settlement, featured in Backchannels and written by Basil Wright. Illustration by Tate Allen, depicting Lonnie's wicked sense of humor and loving heart (but also a rifle, because she doesn't brook nonsense unnecessarily).
Filler Art: A hazmat helmet and Geiger counter, created and distributed by the legendary Providence Trading Company. Art by Tate Allen. I've said it before, but I love how Tate uses colors in so many of their pieces. Even a small piece like this one looks great and feels special.
June 2024 Update
4 months ago
– Sun, Jun 16, 2024 at 02:33:35 PM
June 2024 Update
This is our monthly update for the month of June. If you’d like to hear more from us, you can check us out on twitter, sign up for our newsletter, follow us on itch, or chat with us in our discord.
Hello, Backwards Backers!
Fewer updates this week. This update will mostly feature art and monster previews.
The general update is that work on writing and art continues for both Backwoods and Backchannels. We're largely on time to finish them by mid July, including the new adventures. There are one or two question marks, but all in all we're in a great place. The goal is to begin layout in early August, then.
The other update is that I have confirmed a vendor for fulfilling miniatures and plan to make the order now so that it will be ready for fulfillment.
By the way, if you're one of the very few people who has yet to complete their Backerkit survey, please do so ASAP.
Create a Monster (CaM)
As I said in our last update, the Create a Monster rewards are done! So, I can share a couple more previews below!
As a reminder, the stat blocks reflect an update to our typical layout for monsters. One of the changes that I’m making with these books is that I’m encouraging a little more autonomy among GMs when it comes to monster abilities. I’m doing so by taking the prescriptive rules text for abilities and making them descriptive with suggested mechanics. I’m also adding in potential adventure hooks based on some monsters.
The Postmasters (Create a Monster) One of the two CaM previews this month is the postmaster, which is a lost soul tasked with carrying lost letters to the living. I loved the idea for this monster from the start. Again, it offers a different type of monster, one that is not necessarily about combat but rather is instrumental in introducing story hooks or building on backstories. Plus, it has some great tie-in to the greater lore and American history. The backer who came up with the idea of the postmaster was actually a descendant of a postmaster in colonial Maine too, and so it felt perfect to include in Backwoods.
Giant Parasitoid Wasp (Create a Monster) Our other CaM preview for this month is a giant parasitoid wasp for Backwoods. The backer's core idea for this monster was something parasitic and/or eusocial. We landed on a parasitoid wasp and spun off from there. Really, this is a cross of two different types of wasps and we leaned heavily into the paper wasp's appearance as well as some other facts about paper wasps. For example, paper wasps make their nests by chewing wood and creating a papery paste. This wasp chews up bones for a similar purpose, which I think is wonderfully creepy.
I also can't help but comment on the art here. From the start, we needed to demonstrate the parasitism in the art, but I couldn't think of a better "host" than a beekeeper.
Art Previews
I can share a couple more updates on the maps by Aaron Radney, which are so close to being done. Aaron is working on a list of minor edits for us before wrapping these up! He's removing and adding a few cities for me, cleaning up part of the Mississippi River, and updating some font-related requests. I'm loving how these are looking, as they head into the final stage!
Aaron is also working on the cover art for the trade/market version of Backchannels. Here is a quick preview of the thumbnail that we went with and the direction it's heading.
Some new art updates on the interior spreads for Backwoods. Nala J. Wu is working on two interior spreads for us, and I'm excited to share sketches for both! The first is a quick sketch of a beach in Provincetown, MA, where a globster has washed ashore. The second piece depicts three witches, dancing at midnight in the New England backwoods. I really love the perspective of this piece, which positions us as outsiders peeking at their revelry. I also like the logging truck, which the woods have conquered and claimed.
And that's all that I have for this update! Sorry for limited updates this month, but the team and I are as busy as ever.
May 2024 Update
5 months ago
– Sun, May 19, 2024 at 08:01:32 AM
May 2024 Update
This is our monthly update for the month of May. If you’d like to hear more from us, you can check us out on twitter, sign up for our newsletter, follow us on itch, or chat with us in our discord.
Hello, Backwards Backers!
In this update, you can find some details from our most recent newsletter, as well as a few more art previews.
Writing and art continues for both Backwoods and Backchannels! Not much new to report, except that the goal is to wrap up both by mid July and then begin layout. We are still on target for that goal, and the big news is that the Create a Monster tiers are essentially done.
By the way, if you're one of the very few people who has yet to complete their Backerkit survey, please do so ASAP.
Create a Monster: Done!
As I said two sentences ago, the Create a Monster rewards are essentially done! Illustrations for all of the Create a Monster rewards are complete; lore is complete for all of the Create a Monster rewards; and a stat block has been drafted for all of the rewards.
As a reminder, these stat blocks reflect an update to our typical layout for monsters. One of the changes that I’m making with these books is that I’m encouraging a little more autonomy among GMs when it comes to monster abilities. I’m doing so by taking the prescriptive rules text for abilities and making them descriptive with suggested mechanics. I’m also adding in potential adventure hooks based on some monsters.
From the Newsletter: The Sea Pestilence (Create a Monster) In our most recent newsletter, I previewed the Sea Pestilence, which just has tremendous art accompanying it. This piece will be part of Backchannels and is a great addition to some of the sea monsters that can be met while traveling a polluted, post-apocalyptic Atlantic. In fact, the suggestion fit so well that it replaced something else I had in mind for the “corrupted stock” of fish in the Gulf and Atlantic. I love how it brings in pollution and undead fish into one gigantic blob, and I think there are cool opportunities with the blob to incorporate flotsam/jetsam. Maybe the pestilence is a way to introduce an important plot item or larger adventure!
The lore was inspired by the backer’s own experiences growing up in Georgia but in reverse: they saw a school of shad and thought it was a Thing. I took that story and flipped it for the lore, which is more narrative than descriptive for this monster. I also modeled the narrative (to an extent) off of a great horror short story by Stephen King, “The Raft.” The story takes place in Pennsylvania and follows four college students who go for one last swim in an isolated lake in October. While swimming, they see a patch of oil and think nothing of it… That’s a mistake! The Thing traps them on a raft and waits hungrily.
SNEAK PEAK: The Whaling Specters (Create a Monster) The third of our Create-a-Monster previews is the Whaling Specter(s), which is to be featured in Backwoods but can also be used in Backchannels. I love this idea for two reasons: it speaks to New England history and it naturally invites several different types of adventure. I love the idea of sailing past an abandoned ship --- how can you ignore the temptation to explore it? And what if by exploring it, you bring a curse upon your own ship and crew? On the other hand... what if instead of battling and defeating these ghosts, you were to help them find eternal rest through one last quest upon the sea?
I'll admit that the name was my pick (vs the Ghostly Harpooners, which is also a very solid name), but I couldn't pass up the wailing/whaling pun. I also had to create a wailing ability: the specters can wail a haunting shanty that discourages even the most courageous sailor.
Finally: what incredible art, again!
See the Sneak Peek section for a companion to the Whaling Specter.
Miniatures
In last month’s newsletter and update, I shared an unexpected change of plans for miniatures: I went to print them early and due to some unforeseen circumstances started searching for another way to manufacture them. Basically, the person I was going to work with has moved and is no longer available to print, at this time.
Last month (April), I identified a potential service to fulfill this part of the campaign and ordered some proofs to check the quality. If I move forward with this option, there will be no delay and no additional expense (which I would cover anyway).
This month's (May's) update? I am still waiting for the proofs to arrive; however, they were shipped two weeks ago.
Art Previews
In the newsletter, I can share some map updates from Aaron Radney. Aaron has started adding boundary lines and is playing with the color of the maps, labels, etc. A few things are still in flux:
Color of territories in both maps
Some of the text/labels and their appearance
The shape of Lake Superior
Aaron is also working on the cover art for the trade/market version of Backchannels. Check out the thumbnails with color variants below.
PLUS: An Exclusive Sneak Peak Preview In our newsletter, I shared a rough draft of the Devil Whale that Carlos was working on. The Devil Whale will be a monster for the Backchannels book but fits into the Backwoods setting as well. Well, the art is done, as is a drafted stat block and lore. Check it out below!
And that's all that I have for this update! TLDR? Busy as always and making progress on both of the new books. You'll hear from me again in June!
