The Fallen Cycle: What’s on deck for 2023

The workstation in its natural state.

I wanted to share some general announcements about the Fallen Cycle projects currently in the works, or waiting in the wings. Truth be told, I've been planning on doing this since the turn of the year, but I looked up and it was already March. So it goes...

First off, through our social media groups and the Fallen Cycle email, some people have been contacting us wondering when the second season of The Witchdoctor is going to continue. I appreciate the interest, and wish I had a more concrete update to give. The short story is pandemic attrition has certainly been a factor in delaying ongoing production. I will post here when and if everyone involved is on the same page in terms of having the time, energy and focus to continue.

Believe me, we'd like to, all being equal. We've also kicked around ideas about exploring a Witchdoctor era arc in comic format, or getting into the BLACKOUT 2054 material in that form, but pulling the trigger on that means committing to a lot, so it's one of those back-burner ideas at the moment.

A great deal has been progressing in regard to the FC roleplaying games. We've been playing every other week for 3 years now, so not surprisingly, there has been a glut of world-building and character building that has been dovetailing with that... or maybe it's the other way around. In either case, I hope to have some more concrete announcements to have in that department for 2024 or 25. The current iteration is the first we’ve been running completely stand-alone rules, and as a very early, bare-boned alpha-version of what the resolution system will be, I’d say it’s holding up well.

One element I will share is that action pools are composed of a combination of fixed traits/competencies, and dice that are committed to the pool which refresh on a basis, (either scene-to-scene, or session-to-session). Whether in a chase or fight scene to an investigation or battle of wits, do you want to throw in everything you’ve got, go for an even burn, or hold that energy in reserve and work with what you know? This isn’t a truly unique approach… in some ways it’s similar to one component of Cypher Systems. But it adds a critical dramatic element to what can otherwise become somewhat mechanical dice rolls and stat checks, and it serves drama, but adds an interesting tactical layer as well.

I am also pretty well along in the process of producing an 8 (ish) page teaser for Quicknife. Set 50 years before Gran’s journey to Alterran in Tales From When I Had A Face, the spec story follows the rise and fall of a cunning “goblin” tunnel-rat named Quicknife as he navigates the treacheries of Highmount, a city of contrasts where wealth and opulence coexist with poverty and struggle. An escapee of the lower mines, worked by captives of the crown or Feyn cross-breeds such as himself, day to day he hopes for little more than the next big score. Little could he know that would entangle him in a continent-spanning final struggle for freedom and survival against the Chernayan Empire.

Talin Quicknife is actually a character I first played in 5E D&D campaigns, but he has been working quite well in the Second World, and should it come to fruition, this series may allow me to explore Eluane’s dealings in human affairs from a very different vantage point that as he appears in Tales.

My current plan with Quicknife is to finish that teaser, and make it easily accessible on the Fallen Cycle site. Then, when there’s enough fuel in the tank to take on a Kickstarter, I may go that route, or look for another way to get it into production for longer (24 page) issues. Using my present workflow, integrating AI as a comping and concept art tool into my existing digital painting process, makes this theoretically feasible... Something that can be done with a couple grand, rather than several times that. But it’s still about 8-10 hours a page, and I’ve been trying to learn my lesson about committing thousands of hours to spec projects. So the teaser will be up soon, the rest I guess will be up to posterity.

Speaking of Kickstarters, there still hasn’t been a lot of movement in my efforts to get Tales picked up by a publisher / agent for a broader release. In general I’ve found it harder to get traction since 2019. I’m going to give it a few more tries. But sometime next year… supposing that doesn’t change… I’ll begin looking into the process of getting it released directly through online bookstores. 

There are a handful of Tales Limited Edition hardcovers left from the Kickstarter, which can be secured by contacting me directly, and of course whenever I’m doing public events again. 

Let’s see, what else? I have been working on digital paintings of the 12 Fallen archetypes. Likely the first of several versions. These are not meant as a concrete embodiment, but rather one example of them in symbolic form, like a Tarot card. At this moment 11 of the 12 are well enough along to be posted on the Mythos Overview page, check them out. (I hope to wrap up the final -- the Trickster/Craftsman -- shortly).

There's so much material just waiting to be made, really, but only a small handful of us -- all artists / writers / producers -- so that's the bottleneck with the next phase of things. The more people share it around, and continue to help with the Kickstarters, the more likely that this thing really hits a critical mass. I hope to return to Cons sooner than later, although chronic health issues and the ongoing state of pandemic make large events like that a no-go for the time being, even while I've thankfully had a chance to reconnect a little bit through small gatherings. Maybe 2024?

I think that's all for now.