The Great Soul Train Robbery—ZineQuest

GM Reference Sheet
about 2 years ago – Tue, Apr 12, 2022 at 10:29:04 PM

Howdy, Desperados!

Hope these trails have been treating you well since I was last in touch. I have made a GM reference sheet for The Great Soul Train Robbery. All of the information it includes is drawn from the game text, just now put onto a single (double-sided) sheet for ease of reference at the table. I have made the sheet free to download on itchio and via Google Drive here. I hope it serves you well when you run the game!

One little feature I will highlight: At the bottom of the front page is an illustration of the train, with the caboose on one end, the engine on the other, and blank tracks in the middle. As you play The Great Soul Train Robbery, you can use that space to sketch out the train cars your Desperados confront. This will turn your GM sheet into a memento of your session. If you do draw your train this way, no matter your level of artistic skill, I will be very happy to see it. Please tag @ClovenPineGames on Twitter if you share a picture of your filled-in train!

PS: If you're a fan of The Great Soul Train Robbery, check out our new game Back Again from the Broken Land, a Tolkien-inspired game of small adventurers sharing stories on the long walk home.  You can buy the game in PDF form or pre-order it in print right now from PledgeManager!

Zines Headed to You!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 01:30:23 PM

Dear Desperados,

One week ago, I shipped out a large batch of zines. If you filled out the Backerkit survey before the deadline, I sent a zine to you. Some of you may have received your copies already. But if not, expect it sometime soon. And if you want to take an unboxing picture, please feel free! If you tweet it and tag @ClovenPineGames I'll roll up and describe a Desperado for you to use in a game of Great Soul Train Robbery.

Huge thanks to our friends at Plus One Exp for their clutch help in shipping the game. If you dig the Great Soul Train Robbery, you'll probably also want to check out Plus One Exp's YouTube channel, where Tony Vasinda hosts great interviews, actual plays, and other videos highlighting what's cool in the indie roleplaying scene. Plus One Exp's latest project is Down We Go, a minimalist dungeon-crawling game designed to hit the table fast (the core rules fit on the one-page character sheet!). They're funding a zine edition on the crowdfunding platform GameFound.

So what now? Well, it's not quite the end of the line. As you play Great Soul Train Robbery, I'd love to hear stories from your tables! Feel free to tag me on Twitter @ClovenPineGames. And if you backed for a physical zine but haven't filled out the Backerkit survey yet, please do so ASAP so I can ship you a copy in my next round. The BackerKit pre-order store will remain open for non-backers to acquire copies, while supplies last. Plus, folks will always be able to buy the PDF of the game on itchio or DriveThruRPG.

I will also be back in touch occasionally with the handful of remaining stretch goals and any major updates about new Cloven Pine projects that might be interesting to you. Those updates will be more sporadic than these have been, so if you want to stay up-to-date with all our gaming endeavors, follow Cloven Pine Games on Twitter or Substack.

We did it, Desperados. We robbed the train and lived to tell the tale. But now you've got to ask yourselves: what will you do with the prize?

Shipping Starts Friday!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 11, 2021 at 03:09:58 PM

Dear Desperados,

A quick update. I plan to ship the first round of zines this Friday. I will lock the surveys for that round of shipping tomorrow night, at 11pm ET. So, if you have yet to fill in your survey, or you need to update your address, do so before that deadline!

Thanks to everyone for your support. I'm mighty pleased that soon you'll have the zine in your hands.

Backerkit Surveys Sent!
almost 3 years ago – Mon, Jul 19, 2021 at 10:01:28 AM

Howdy Desperados!

If you backed for a physical copy of The Great Soul Train Robbery, you should have now received an email with a special link to your BackerKit survey. (If you don't see the survey, double-check your spam folder or promotions tab.) It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards.

You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. In the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond and provide your shipping information. You can also purchase additional copies of the physical zine as an add-on item via the survey.

After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys (probably around the end of July) and get our final counts.

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://great-soul-train-robbery.backerkit.com/.

If you did not back the Kickstarter at a level where you get a physical zine, you still have a chance to pre-order one! Check out our pre-order store on Backerkit here: https://great-soul-train-robbery.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders. This is also the place to point friends who are interested in snagging the physical game but missed the Kickstarter.

Lastly, if you are someone who knows me personally and wants to pick up the zine in-person, select "Local Pickup" from the country dropdown in the shipping section of the survey. If you've already picked up a copy in this manner, follow the same procedure so Backerkit knows that you're all set. Thank ye kindly!

That's it for now, Desperados. Let's saddle up and get all these surveys filled in so I can get these zines galloping towards your mailboxes!

Zine Arrival
almost 3 years ago – Fri, Jun 25, 2021 at 03:41:09 AM

Howdy Desperados!

Just a quick update for you. Today I heard an ominous train whistle outside my door. When I checked my porch, a package was waiting, smelling of gunsmoke and brimstone. What was in it? This was:

That's right, the zines have arrived! Expect another message soon, and with it, a BackerKit survey. I am so excited to send these zines out to you.

Yippee-ki-yay!