One of my favorite things about writing Murka is how I incidentally wind up learning a lot as part of the research we do. For example, you might know that the Statue of Liberty was a gift; but did you know that the U.S. had to pay for the platform she stands on?

You might know the Empire State Building is, uhhh... a big-ass building. But did you know that during its inception, architects had planned for the upper floors to be a tiny blimp airport?

The More You Know...

I know, I know, that isn't the order I wrote the post title in. But what are you gonna do about? Come to my house and throw a rock at me? Please don't do that, bludgeoning damage hurts.

ANYWAY, this morning, I have just sent out the surveys to everyone! So be sure to check your inbox or inquire with your local writwit to find yours and fill it out. The test surveys that we sent out seemed to be without issue, but I'm sure I goofed something somewhere, so if you run into any issues, please don't hesitate to leave a comment below.

Okay this is the MEAT and POTATOES of the update (what is this, some kind of Restaurants and/or Retail?). We unlocked the Community Suggested Additions stretch goal, so things that YOU ALL suggest are going INTO THE BOOKS!  That means, if you head over to our Discord RIGHT NOW, you'll be able to make a post in #Murka-Community-Suggestions and give us your best (or worst) ideas. We are collecting community suggestions until November 30th, so be sure to get your ideas in!

This suggestion process will happen in two phases: The first takes place on our Discord server, where you can make your suggestion as well as vote on others. At the beginning of December, we'll organize them into a series of Backerkit polls for everyone to vote on, so only the cream of the crop rises to the top! Will it be your cream? Our lawyers told me I still can't ask that question.

They also said "stop calling me, I'm not a lawyer, this is a Wendy's" but what tf do they know about Wendy's? They're lawyers!

Also, as a neat little reminder, we've added Community Copies to our add-ons! A Community Copy is a limited number of freely available copies that anyone could claim - that way, folks who maybe can't afford the game but still want to play it have a chance to. When you fill out your survey and it takes you to the add-ons section, you'll find them at the bottom. Community Copies will be available through Itch.io once PDFs are available!

As mentioned in this week's earlier update, editing is going well, and we're working to get playtest material ready for you ASAP! Hopefully for the holidays. Things are taking a bit longer than expected, but that's because we're nearly doubling the amount of content that these books have, so our hands are quite full between redesigning and editing existing stuff and designing new stuff. We appreciate your patience, y'all RAWK.

Yours across the plains of Midwesteros,

Jaron R. M. Johnson

And the Action Fiction Faction

I'm commandeering this top line to let you know that we're combining the concept of a Wolf of Wall Street with Cocaine Bear. That's it, that's the top-line announcement.

Enjoy that imagery while we continue working to take it from a stupid idea to a stupid reality.

That means, if you head over to our Discord RIGHT NOW, you'll be able to make a post in #Murka-Community-Suggestions and give us your best (or worst) ideas. We are collecting community suggestions until November 30th, so be sure to get your ideas in!

This suggestion process will happen in two phases: The first takes place on our Discord server, where you can make your suggestion as well as vote on others. At the beginning of December, we'll organize them into a series of Backerkit polls for everyone to vote on, so only the cream of the crop rises to the top! Will it be your cream? Our lawyers told me I can't ask that question.

We're sending out what Backerkit calls "a smoke test" - this means about 1 out of every 10 of you will receive a Backerkit survey. This is to help us double check that all our questions make sense, our add-ons are configured correctly, etc. - also, as a reminder, shipping will be charged closer to the shipping date. This just helps to make sure the costs are as accurate as possible.

So, be on the lookout for that survey, and if you have feedback on the survey, please leave some comments below! 

Editing is going really well. Honestly, at this point, we're doing a lot more "new designing" than we are editing. This past few weeks, we've been working on updating the boroughs of Magnamalus, as well as adding a fashion design-themed Fighter subclass (you might imagine this character singing a silken song in terms of playstyle) and a whole slew of new monsters and backgrounds. At this point, I can confidently say that Chromatic Gamut will have the most player options out of any of the books, with more subclasses, more backgrounds, and more feats, than any of our other books! Also our layout artist Cheyenne is working on designing a cute little ratfolk with a few subrace options, so be on the lookout for that as well!

I've asked Cheyenne to start prepping our more mechanics-focused content chapters for review, so we can upload some of the stuff we've already designed and let y'all start weighing in on all the ways the items and abilities we've created are super-busted-mega-OP-cracked (we hope not, but you'll be the judges of that). As soon as we've got stuff to share, we'll be posting about it here on Backerkit, so stay tuned!

Yours across the plains of Midwesteros,

Jaron R. M. Johnson

And the Action Fiction Faction

Rumors of our demise were greatly exaggerated. We're not dead, and in fact are merely chained to the walls of the editing dungeon (see: my dining room). Provided nobody brings a bulldozer through my house, we're likely to survive all the way to the end of editing (my bulldog who is constantly dozing off not withstanding).

tldr; There are 4 Series of minis, and you, the community, will vote to get a creature of your choosing included in each series. We are currently voting on two series, but Backerkit only lets me attach one poll. So remember to vote in both of the following polls:

We will hold two more polls at a later date to choose some creatures to go into Series' 3 and 4, but we gotta pace ourselves (because our hands are mighty full right now lol).

SO GO VOTE RIGHT NOW. Here's a preview of one of our minis as a treat, but only if you vote in both polls. So you have to pinky promise that you're gonna go vote before you scroll down and look at the... aw man, you already looked, didn't you?



Okay okay you got me, this is a pretty cool mini. This is the Walrog, one of the fiendishly powerful members of the Manageri, stalking the halls of Walmoria. You'll be seeing more of him in the future. But look at his little bow tie, how cute!

Okay okay fair!

Editing is going really well, but it's taking a bit longer than we expected. We thought we'd be finalizing Chromatic Gamut before October ended, but we're actually just about to crack that book open and start adding new content to it. I'm not sure exactly how this will affect our delivery timeline, but the upshot is that it's all to bring you a LOT of new content.

The main thing we've been working on lately is our new and improved pantheon, with a few major changes. The first of which is, each book will have a pantheon of gods available. The gods in each book are relevant to that book (and beyond), and will help our divinely-aligned classes feel at-home in the capitalist hellscape known as Murka. We've also put a lot of elbow grease into explaining how the pantheon works, how the cast of gods in Murka is always evolving, and included some advice on how to swap gods in and out for your home table!

Our gods also got a lot more complex in their design, and now include noteworthy NPCs relevant to the god that can be easily dropped into any campaign as a questhook, giving you more tools for telling satisfying satirical stories. That was a mouthful, but hopefully it made sense.

Tonight we're also finalizing Holly Woods, which is one of the final nails in the coffin of Arcana Americana! Cheyenne is already hard at work laying out our new writing into the Murka PDFs, so you'll be able to peruse them and look at the pretty new art even run games with them.

I know I know I am behind on Surveys, I have reached out to Backerkit and I'm still waiting to hear back. I need their help adjusting something on the backend, and as soon as they help, we'll be good to go!

I'm diving back in since tonight is another editing night (we edit Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays between our day jobs, and then big long full editing days on Saturdays), so I gotta go get strapped in for that. DON'T FORGET TO VOTE IN BOTH OF THE POLLS.

BOTH OF THEM.

thx ur the best



Yours across the plains of Midwesteros,

Jaron R. M. Johnson and the Action Fiction Faction

Saw "Weapons" last night, was a fantastic, phenomenal watch. My favorite part was when Jennifer Garner went on a 20 minute rant about whether or not an unarmed strike counts as a Weapon attack (spoiler alert: it does).

Can't wait for the sequel, "Spells." Zach Cregger is a genius.

We've reached the end of our second Great Murkan Road Trip, arriving in Nawlins and unlocking Sprayed/Illustrated Page Edges for ALL books. But don't you worry—the road trips aren't over. We still have another week left, so we'll have some ALL NEW Stretch Goals for the final week soon!

We have now unlocked:

 These will easily be the most gorgeous books we have ever gotten to make. I am already drooling directly into my keyboard, which is causng me totype badle becaue is stickykeys.

The fancy pages are no longer limited to just the deluxe books; now, ALL our hardcover books will have decorated page edges! The designs will be different for standard and deluxe books:

We're awaiting some samples from our printer to show some of the deluxe design elements, and as soon as we have them, you guys are gonna EXPLODE. I mean, not literally, because that would be bad for business. We'd have to shift our entire business model. Probably. 

We'll be doing our FINAL Live Stream on Friday, August 15th, at 10:00 AM Eastern, 7:00 AM Pacific, (THAT IS A NEW TIME, DOUBLE CHECK IT PLZ) where we'll be doing a full-on Monsters of Murka Jeopardy (Sony Entertainment plz no sue, is just a prank), Brad, CJ, and I will be playing a Jeopardy board where our knowledge of our own work will be tested (and found wanting, I'm sure, lmao). It's sure to be an over-the-top time, and we've got a lot of other stuff planned.

An astute observation, dear reader, yes it does! Backerkit has something called Overtime Mode which allows us to extend the campaign even after the end time, as long as backers are still rolling in. That means you guys can keep us on the hook as long as you want (potentially indefinitely! We may be trapped in a live stream shadow realm of our own making!). 

Come hang out, chat with us, ask us some questions, and trap our immortal souls in a digital prison for the rest of time!

I am pleased to announce the winners of the Soundtrack Poll! The top 3 winners, each of which will become a 10-minute loopable track chock full of references in a high-fantasy bardcore style are...

Discovery & Wonder was SO CLOSE with 24 votes!

Stay tuned for the next drop of Stretch Goals as we enter our FINAL WEEK! Chat more soon.

Yours across the plains of Midwesteros,

Jaron R. M. Johnson

And the Action Fiction Faction