¡Next Steps, Muchachos!
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 08:29:12 PM

¡Hola, amigos!

First, thank you de nuevo for your generosity and support. You made this campaña an incredible success, and I’m still a little stunned that the project is real. If you had told me a few years ago that I’d be making this game at this scale with this level of support… it’s loco, cabrones.

But it’s time to get to trabajar. No rest for the wicked. We’ve got a juego to finish! 

Kickstarter Pledges & Backerkit 

Right now, Kickstarter is collecting all the pledges from the campaña; they’ll release the funds to us sometime around May 10th (más o menos). Please keep an eye out for emails from Kickstarter letting you know about errors with your pledge! We can always fix things later if something’s going wrong, but it’s easiest to resolve problemas directly through Kickstarter.

While we’re waiting for the funds, we’re setting up Backerkit, our pledge manager. After all the pledges have been collected, we’ll send out surveys through Backerkit so that you can tell us what add-ons you want, give us your address, etc. If you want to select additional add-ons or up your pledge to a new tier, you can do all that through Backerkit too.

Backerkit is a wonderful, flexible system that helps us keep track of everyone’s pledges, so please fill it out as soon as you get your survey! (And we’ll post here to remind you all that those surveys have gone out.) 

Production Schedule 

For the next few meses, I’m going to be working with the Magpie team to get the Cartel core rulebook in order. We’ve got new art to commission, several new sections to write and edit, and layout to complete. It’s a lengthy, complicated process to construct the final text of a book from the finished game, but I’ll keep you updated about our progress roughly once a month (starting in June 2018).

On that note, our first update will have a few piezas for you all to playtest, including La Rata and El Güero. I’ll be distributing early release previews and playtests via Backerkit, so make sure you fill out your Backerkit survey as soon as I send it out! 

In the Meantime…

Please keep playing the Cartel Quickstart, participating in our Cartel G+ community, and tweeting/posting about Cartel with the #cartelrpg hashtag. You all are an amazing community, and I love keeping up with all of your stories and thoughts about the game!

And once again… mil gracias. I am so excited to spend this year devoted to this game!

¡Órale! We’ve Reached El Final!
almost 8 years ago – Wed, Apr 18, 2018 at 05:22:26 AM

¡A huevo, cabrones, this campaña was a wild ride. The Cartel Kickstarter has come to a close, and thanks to all your support it has been an increíble success.

Over 1,000 backers. Over 1000% funded. Over 1 Million Pesos!

Years ago, I tried to connect my love for indie games to my Mexican heritage. I wanted the kinds of dramatícas that were intimately familiar to me, that treated people like me as the norm instead of outliers. Cartel is the culmination of that journey...and maybe even the start of a never-before-seen explosion of Latinx games like Pasión de las Pasiones, Nahual, and more.

We funded two complete supplements. A full deck of cards. Digital overlays and backgrounds. A physical CD. A cloth map. Candy meth! 18 total stretch goals, all designed to make Cartel a lot of fun at your table. It’s a ton of stuff.

There are times when I think that this industry doesn’t have a place for me or my stories, days when it feels like I’m struggling just to make a little difference in my corner of the world. ¡Mil gracias, amigos, for reminding me that my work has a purpose and that people believe in what we do! Thank you!

And thanks to everyone who made this campaign happen: Marissa, Brendan, Sarah, Justin, Derrick, Katherine, and Miguel. I could not have done this without all of you. <3

On that note, here’s a quick note from Miguel Ángel Espinoza, our Mexican consultant and graphic designer who has been an amazing compañero during the campaign:

Un Puente Over The Wall

I owe Cartel a big deal.

I remember it was quite exciting for me when Mark Diaz Truman started supporting my game Nahual in Patreon. I mean, one of the big ones in the industry was interested in my juego! No mames!

When I saw on the internet that he was making a game about the carteles mexicanos, and that it was located in Durango, a city two hours from my hometown, I was a little jealous—he was making a Mexican RPG!—and hugely excited—he was making a Mexican RPG!!!

I read thru the ashcan, which had some palabras en español, with some minor errors. Then I wrote Mark, offering help with the español and hoping to be at least a minor part of this project. This went un chingo further than that… beyond my pinche wildest expectations!

Cartel was the bridge that connected me with my hermano Mark. We talked on video call, first about Cartel, then about Nahual, then about me doing graphic design. And after a while Mark offered me work as layout artist for Magpie, and thanks to that I’ve also met the rest of the team! Marissa, Sarah, Brendan, Justin. It’s been such a grande honor to work with these wonderful people.

Then Mark pointed me to the IGDN Sponsorship program for Metatopia. And after some hurdles I was there playtesting Nahual and meeting a whole bunch of other amazing people! Chingao I get lágrimas in my eyes as I write this! In a year in which a president like Trump was giving shit to Mexicans and talking about walls, we were jumping over them!

I for sure could have never dream that I would be able to get my Visa to travel to the U.S. with a president like that in the White House.

So as I said… I owe Cartel un chingo. I cannot be more thankful to Mark for making me a part of this, and to all the backers for making the dream go más allá… son unos chingones todos! Mil gracias!

Next Steps 

As for me, I’m going to take a few days to get some descanso, review all our timelines and production schedules, and start getting things ready to make Cartel a reality. We’ll be using a pledge manager like Backerkit to manage all the add-ons and rewards, so I’ll have information about all that (and more) next week.

For now, I’m going to celebrate. Thank you so much for your support. It’s meant el mundo to me, and I will never forget it. Never, muchachos. It’s too big to ever let go. So...I’ll leave you with a few words from Once Upon a Time in Mexico…

Carolina: What do you want in life?

El Mariachi: To be free...

Carolina: Simple.

El Mariachi: No.

Goodnight! Thank you!

¡Chingón! Corridos de Durango CD and a FINAL Stretch Goal…
almost 8 years ago – Tue, Apr 17, 2018 at 01:55:45 PM

We’re down to our last twenty-four hours, muchachos. Just un día left until the Cartel Kickstarter comes to an end (Sunday, April 15th @ 11:59 Eastern)! It’s impossible for me to explain how much this last seis weeks has meant to me, how it feels to watch this cosa that I dreamt up in my living room years and years ago take on a life of its own. Increíble. It’s beyond my mediocre words. 1000% and rising...

In this update, we’ll talk a bit about our final stretch goals and give you a few links to reshare the campaign in this last day. We’re almost there, amigos. ALMOST THERE.

Unlocked Stretch Goal: Physical Narcocorrido CD 

¡Híjole! That was rápido. We’re doing a physical CD for all the narcocorridos funded by the campaign! I’m so pumped to have a physical copy of Corridos de Durango, featuring all the art and lyrics from the album!

We’ll make the Corridos de Durango CD available as a $20 add-on in Backerkit, so feel free to add-on $20 to your pledge if you want a copy. And remember that everyone who is getting El Narco’s Stash already gets a copy of the CD for free with their pledge. ¡Gracias, amigos!  

Final Stretch Goal: Cartel T-shirts ($60,000) 

We’ve got one day left, enough time for one, último stretch goal: a Cartel t-shirt!

If we reach $60,000, we’ll print up a batch of Cartel t-shirts in a variety of sizes (Men’s S-XXXL / Women’s S-XL), featuring the cover art from the game. We’ll make those shirts available as a Kickstarter exclusive add-on, and we’ll throw in a free shirt to El Narco’s Stash!

You gotta step out in style, cabrón. You don’t want your best dressed día in a casket. 

Tell El Mundo, Muchachos! 

As we enter the final day of the campaña, it’s so helpful for you all to share the page and let folks know why you’re backing the project. We do our best to get the word out, but there’s nothing like hearing from backers to convince people to take a serious look at Cartel.

If you’ve got a moment today, please post on social media! Here are a few quick buttons to help you out. Just hit the button and you'll be all set to share out a Cartel message letting people know about the campaign:

Un Último Día 

And here we are. One day left until the campaña comes to a close. Again, I can’t express in words how much your support means to me. From the bottom of my corazón… gracias. You’ve reminded me why I love this crazy thing I do, why I believe that games can change el mundo, and why it’s never too late to seize your identity and make something lasting from it.

¡Gracias! I’ll see you all on the other side. <3

¡A Huevo! Aztlán 2033, Roll 20 Overlays, and Physical CDs!
almost 8 years ago – Sun, Apr 15, 2018 at 09:52:15 AM

Are you kidding me, cabrones? We hit our $45,000 stretch goal (Aztlán 2033) last night, but I wake up this morning to find that we’ve already hit our $47,500 goal (Roll20 materials) as well. You all keep me muy ocupado.

But we’re not done yet, chamacos. The campaign ends TOMORROW so that means more stretch goals today. And don’t forget to tell your amigos that they still have time to back! 

Unlocked Stretch Goal: Aztlán 2033 

I cannot lie, güey; this stretch goal is probably my favorite in the whole bunch. I love noir, and the moves and structures of Cartel (stress, get the truth out of someone, get fucking shot) all hint to the way that narcofiction overlaps with the hardboiled detective novel. I’m so excited to take those pieces and build something radically new with them in Aztlán 2033!

Like all the hacks and new playbooks in Sin Fronteras, we’ll be releasing playtest materials to backers as we develop them. I’m going to focus on getting the corebook wrapped up first (obviously) so look for Berlin 1981 and Aztlán 2033 around the end of the year! 

Unlocked Stretch Goal: Roll 20 Overlays & Backgrounds 

I can’t say enough about how online gaming has changed our hobby. I’m especially thrilled to see the growth of groups like The Gauntlet, a community organization that’s focused on connecting people who might never get a chance to play with each other outside a convention. And I can’t wait to give anyone who uses our materials online more cool tools!

We’re going to make as much available through Roll20 as we can, including the Deck of Locations, playbooks, etc. We’ll also deliver a variety of digital backgrounds to add more Cartel to everything you do. ¡Órale!

New Stretch Goal: Physical CD for Corridos de Durango ($50,000) 

I’m so excited to be working on a custom soundtrack for Cartel. We’ve unlocked additional songs through stretch goals, and now we’ve got a chance to make a physical CD as well!

If we reach $50,000, we’ll create a physical CD for all the narcocorridos we’ve funded throughout the campaign. The CD will have all the lyrics for the narcocorridos, cover art...and a few secret surprises. We’ll add the CD for free to El Narco’s Stash and make it available to everyone as a Kickstarter Exclusive Add-on ($20).

Los Últimos Dos Días 

We’re down to the wire, amigos. The campaña ends tomorrow night, and we’ve still got time to let people know about Cartel.

¡Mil gracias! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This has been amazing, and I can’t wait to see where we end up.

¡No Mames! Only Four Days Left, Narcocorridos, and Roll20 Overlays!
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Apr 13, 2018 at 04:53:26 AM

¡Hola, amigos!

We’ve got less than four days left in the campaign! I can’t believe it’s almost over. In this update, we’ll review a bit of what we’ve unlocked, announce the santos candle winner, and reveal our next stretch goal! 

The Campaign So Far 

First, I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for contributing to the campaign. So far, we’ve reached nearly 900% funded and unlocked more than a dozen stretch goals, including:

• Six new playbooks: La Rata, El Güero, El Abogangster, La Esperanzada, El Tahur, La Mariachi 
• Twenty cartas de amor: two love letters for each playbook 
• Fifteen new characters for our first supplement, Amigos y Enemigos 
• A second supplement, Sin Fronteras, to include all those playbooks, cartas, and hacks that let you play in other settings, like Berlin 1981! 
• Twenty-eight new location cards for the Deck of Locations, bringing that deck to 54 cards 
• A custom map of Durango, with a cloth version of the map available as an add-on 
• Two new custom tattoos from Miguel Ángel Espnioza, available as add-ons 
• And a new santos candle!

This is such an increíble amount of awesome stuff. I am completely floored that I get to spend so much time working on Cartel… and I can’t wait to put all this cosas in the mail for you all. Thank you, thank you, gracias, mil gracias. I can’t say it enough in either language.

Speaking of new santos candles, it’s time to announce the winner. With nearly half the vote, the clear victor was… LA MARIACHI!

La Mariachi is now available as an option for the custom santos candle add-on. If you’d like one, please add-on $20 to get a set of santos candles (and choose La Mariachi in Backerkit) or back at a level that includes a santos candle (like La Barbie or El Chapo).

Thank you all so much to everyone who voted! ¡Gracias, amigos¡

Unlocked Stretch Goal: +2 Narcocorridos 

Since we reached $42,500, we’ve also unlocked two more custom narcocorridos for Corridos de Durango! The album now has a total of six songs, each telling the story of a fictional narco out of a Cartel story. I’m pumped to have Justin working on new songs!

If you want to pick up Corridos de Durango, you can add $10 to your order to get it as an add-on or back at the El Narco level and above. We’ll deliver the files (when finished) via Backerkit’s digital download system.

And remember, when we hit $45,000, we’ll add Aztlan 2033—my Mexican cyberpunk hack of Cartel to Sin Fronteras! ¡Órale!

New Stretch Goal: Roll20 Overlays + Digital Backgrounds ($47,500)

Some of my best games of Cartel have been via Google Hangouts and Roll20. I love at the table interactions, but… I don’t live near all my favorite players.

If we reach $47,500, we’ll add a set of Roll20 tools (including overlays) in order to make Cartel easier to play and stream online. We’ll also throw in un bonche de desktop backgrounds, phone backgrounds, and other digital tidbits to let you add a dose of Cartel to your vida digital. These tools, overlays, and backgrounds will be available to all $20+ backers getting the digital stretch goal package. 

Solo Cuatro Días! 

We’re down to the wire here, cabrones. The campaña ends on Sunday, April 15th, so please get the word out. It’s especially helpful to post online about why you’re backing Cartel. Let folks know on Facebook/Twitter/G+ that they’ve still got a chance to back! ¡Corran la voz!