itch.io

It's still in the area of our to-do list affectionately referred to as the "meatlocker." Not currently a priority, but still something we intend to return to for further development and refinement.

This sounds absolutely excellent. I love a good ship story and am perpetually looking for new things to read. That's certainly worth a community copy! (Though in the spirit of full disclosure, I was going to make sure there was one for you anyway.)

15 Copies up on the board. Grab one and find the horizon for me, skydog!

Well, how could we possibly refuse? 10 copies going up, just because you asked so sweetly.

Sorry to hear you been havin' the Devil's own luck gettin your hands on a buddy-breathe copy. Just tossed 15 on the stack. If those are gone before you manage to snag one, let me know and we'll keep trying.

There are a few up presently! Thanks for the kind thought, sky dog.

We have put our heads together and come to the startling realization that while we have seen prints go sideways a /lot/ we have never seen anything quite like that. That is very strange.

Is it all of the various headings or did it hang up on just a few? 

Not at all, and it took over 50 hours to paint. Seriously, this whole AI accusation thing is getting out of control. 

Sprout Quest is an ashcan release. It's a digital only game for the foreseeable, too small and niche to justify crowdfunding or printing for the moment. But Dead Belt started out that way, too.

Time will tell, but for now, it's only a .pdf.

Great question! The Player Kit.zip includes all of the Character Sheets and GM sheets necessary to play the game and does not require purchase. 

Thanks so much for bringing the issue to our attention!

Thanks for reaching out, hoss. Couple of buddy-breathe copies just went up on the pile. Grab one and get salvaging. 

More copies are up, Skydog! Now go and find that horizon!

Errata:

Page 2

Under the Mercurial Court, "The GM then rolls 4D6 to determine which Sidhe ascends" should read "The GM then rolls D46 to determine which Sidhe ascends."

We'll get this patched up with the next update! Thanks for the all the eyes.

I look forward to hearing about it! Bring me some fresh scandal, Retainer. It sustains me.

Now. 

But for clarity's sake, typically when we reach a major milestone in followers on one of our social media accounts or we get linked an article or we celebrate a birthday or...someone asks nicely, we'll toss a couple copies up on the pile. 

Greetings Retainer Hopeful,
We're always happy to send over the keycode for a PDF copy with any proof of purchase, to include sending a fantastic selfie posing with your physical copy, in case you pick it up at the local FLGS and lose the receipt along the way, or get it secondhand. Just shoot us an email at acoupleofdrakes@outlook.com and we'll get you sorted. We don't do physical copy distribution for ourselves... yet. But Amazon always has Court of Blades in both soft and hardcover options.

Thanks for inquiring!

Howdy, Belter.

Now I'm not one to tell a scraphound what sort of thing in the cargo-hold steadies their nerve and makes them feel lucky or competent again, but we've all got our particular tricks for when the day's labor becomes hinky. The answer is an unsatisfying one, I understand, but to go ahead and pull the curtain back a little and divorce from the fiction, I'm gonna tell you Game Balance and Testing.

Glow's an edge-stat that don't get checked often like Grit, and having a surfeit of it makes for a less interesting and engaging experience. Also them OmniFlash batteries is miserable power-drawers and when we plugged one into a Kildeer, it damn near ate the fusion drive just keepin' itself topped up. Honest and true, Grit's refilled by suit-patches, little lucky-dos, a quick smoke, or maybe a little nip to settle yourself before you button up your hat and step once more into the old groaning ghost of a Bird. 

So yeah, Belter. I agree, when dealing with the fiction it makes plenty of sense to have some Flash batteries kicking in stowage more than a quick and heady "okay, I can do this" waiting back at the airlock. But also some things gotta get square on the meta-level. Indulge me, if'n it ain't too onerous. Or hell, scritch it out and change it. I ain't your pa.

Best of luck out there. Chariout, out.

Absolutely! We've got some really nice sheets on Roll20 as well as a fillable GoogleSheets version. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1oTRb7CZoIYCyBOtszYVxTVepClfSHTue_7thzmRf...

Hope you find all the best kinds of trouble in Ilrien!

Each unit of Gas drops your Gas number by 1, Belter. So if you’re on 4, one Gas from the spares bank puts you down to 3. Same thing with any you scrounge on a Bird, each unit’s one box on your sheet. Be a lot cooler if they were tanks, I’ll grant. But it’s rough out here like that. 

Hope your luck hangs tough out there, Belter. Y’all let us know if you have anymore questions. We’ll keep the channel open.

Chariot, out.

Gotcha, hoss. Couple of copies going up now.

We hear ya, Belter. Trying to get a print order set up for more copies, and as soon as we got a firm timeline, we’ll point you in the right direction. Proofs should, Empty night be kind and the grav don’t cut out, be arriving today. Gotta ask y’all to hang with us a mite longer?

Concordat ain't listening, but I am, Belter. Now, per page Twenty under the Bank section, it says y'all got a single salvage operation after you hit debt 10 to pay down your principle or else your friend loses the ship and goes to work off the balance in their ledger on one of the core-ward Wealth Reclamation Facilities. Means their time out on the Gasping Frontier's at an end, I'm afraid. But hey, they got one more shot to bring home enough to get back to limping, right?

It's not all dark, no stars yet...but yall can see it from here. Get to scrappin' hoss.

Chariot out.

Sure thing, Skydog. Let me throw some copies on the pile for ya.

Send us a message at our business inbox,  acoupleofdrakes(at)outlook(dot)com, and we'll get you situated, hook, crook, or plas-torch. No Belters get left behind. 

Thanks to a couple of kind hearted Belters, we got a few copies newly on the pile. Go quick now or send a follow up wave. We'll get you out here scraping the big empty right alongside us, no worries. 

Chariot out.

For you, Belter? Anything.

Appreciate the spotlight, Belter. One thing the Belt will teach you, every little bit of oxygen goes a long way. Hell of a vid.

We're working on getting them into production and into eager hands, for sure. As soon as I've got more copies in hand, I'll be circling back to point you in their direction, never you fear!

We're working on getting hardcopies available through Indie Press Revolution currently. When we're completely through distribution, there may be a couple of copies left over, but that's an ongoing process. As soon as I've got a link to point you towards, we'll circle back and ensure you're situated to snag yourself a copy, Belter.

Absolutely. Go and find that far horizon!

Howdy, Belter. 

We've got the Born on the Belt SRD that'll get you on the path toward hacking together your own game of desperate exploration. But before we go exchanging data packets here, I need y'all to understand that I'm expecting you to tell me when it's all put together so that I can both play it and send other folks to check it out, too. If that sounds like a deal, then this here's my go-ahead and blessing, Belter. Done and dusted.

Thank you so much for this! It makes my heart absolutely soar.

We’ve got a couple more games like this simmering on the back burner, so stay tuned!

A-Yup. Might consider that your luck broke bad and decide its time to pack it in. Otherwise, you might ensure your egress kit is in good working order. Either way, only way across the vasty intervenin' is to take a little walk outside. Yeehaw.

Nope. Community copies come around every so often, but the game is priced based on the amount of time and effort that went into development and playtesting. If you're uninterested at 12 dollars, I'd advise shrugging and giving it a miss.

Sure thing! Let’s get a couple copies up on the pile!

Absolutely! 

Well then let me throw a couple copies up there for you!

Welcome aboard. Now go find that horizon!

Ain't no one on the Belt for longer than a minute can't say they're too old for this particular ration of nonsense. You're in good company, Belter.

Movement on these birds is orthogonal. Modules got four sides, we move in four directions...unless we're space-walking.  But it turns out, maneuvering through the fathomless black is a whole rasher of additional trouble. If you stick to making your way through the hatches, it's either long-side or short-side on the map. Corners don't come equipped with doorways, I'm afraid. Structural concerns, y'understand.

Hope that gets the headware back on the right track, Belter. Y'all let me know if you run up against anything else makes for friction, and I'll see if I can't sort it for you.

Hang in there, pard. I'll be hanging with you.

Chariot, out.

We tend to be loud people.

Look, I love dice, but this is kind of brilliant. The use of character narrative beats is exceptionally exciting. Working more of those into Regions is fertile ground and I for one am really excited to get this to the table.

Great work here, Spencer. This is a very exciting direction you're working toward. Journey on.

Howdy Belter,

We're in the midst of fulfilling the Kickstarter currently, but just as soon as we can come up for air, we're planning on getting to work on getting Dead Belt up on Amazon and shortly thereafter we hope to have it available through Indie Press Revolution. Hang tight, and we'll be loud and proud just as soon as we can get a physical copy into your hands.

Chariot, out.