The Lost & Found Collection: Counterpart, Artefact & BoB

April 2025
11 months ago – Wed, Apr 30, 2025 at 11:33:49 PM

Hey! Apologies that this is a day late, I've been fighting my way up out of the Easter holidays backlog!

Fairly brief update again this month:

• Jason & I have been continuing to work on making Artefact the best it can be, and it's been a very enjoyable process. Should be done fairly soon. ✍️
• Artwork has started coming in from Torben for Bucket of Bolts, and unsurprisingly it's fantastic! 🚀
• I'm generally doing much better and enjoying the sunshine 🌞

Here's some of the stuff Torb has been posting:

That's it for this month! Cheers,

Jack

March 2025
12 months ago – Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 04:21:52 AM

Hey all!

We're emerging into the warmth of Spring here—schedules are being renewed, art is coming in, and I'm feeling pretty good.

We're ticking along nicely over here, with not much to report again. The process of writing and editing is starting to get running again, and I'm glad to be back in the rhythm. Should have some near-final stuff to share with you all soon!

That's it for this month though. Peace!

Jack

February 2025
about 1 year ago – Fri, Feb 28, 2025 at 03:42:48 PM

Hey folks! I'm exhausted. I moved house a week ago, and it's been a never-ending circus of cardboard and manual labour ever since.

Still, it's mostly done now. Next week I am considering, perhaps, doing something fun and nice instead of wondering where to store a vacuum cleaner or puzzling out second-hand IKEA furniture.

I don't have much to report this month for this project, but I wanted to update you anyway (that's the Mousehole Press Promise™️). You've all been very good at completing your BackerKit surveys, so thanks for that. 89% of you have completed it already!

I'm feeling happy to be done moving, and the sun is due to shine on us for the next few days. Onwards to March, I say!

Cheers! J

January 2025
about 1 year ago – Wed, Jan 29, 2025 at 08:36:57 AM

Hello, and happy new year to you all. Life continues to be challenging in January, but it does really feel like an end is in sight for the first time in a long time. Thanks to all of you for supporting my creative work throughout this challenging period.

BackerKit Surveys

BackerKit is all set up! It’s always a faff, ha, but it’s done.

I’ll start sending out the first few surveys later today, with the rest going out early next week once we confirm that there are no issues.

For those of you who haven’t used BackerKit before, it basically just does a better job of helping me fulfil your rewards than Kickstarter’s own offering. You can manage your address, receive digital downloads and add extra items to your order if you wish.

Please note that, as with Koriko, I’ll be charging shipping separately (at a later date) when I have final costs. I’m not expecting any changes from the estimates I’ve given in the project, and I’ll communicate final shipping costs to you in an update ahead of charging cards. I have a couple of scenarios drawn up to mitigate any impacts from Trump imposing tariffs on Chinese imports, but let’s wait and see what happens there first. Hopefully we can continue with Plan A.

If you used Apple's ‘hide my email’ feature when you signed up for Kickstarter, you’ll need to send me a message on here with an alternative email address—otherwise the emails from BackerKit will be blocked and you won’t get your survey.

Heavy Weighs the Crown

Jason and I are putting out a small game for Zinequest, on Kickstarter 1st February. It's called Heavy Weighs the Crown, check it out!

For those who don't recall, Jason (creator of Notorious and Revolt!, which you can find at Always Checkers) is helping me write the Lost & Found games. We also play board games together most weeks and talk feverishly about one day having the time to play Blood Bowl...

Jason created Heavy Weighs the Crown—a hack of Artefact—a couple of years ago. You embody a magical crown, sentient and powerful, and you're worn by many monarchs over the history of a realm. I think it's a cool lens to tell a story through, and it would also make a great group activity for collaboratively building a campaign setting.

I'm excited to help, both with publishing (layout/printing/logistics) and some writing. If you like either of our games, there's a very good chance you'll like this too. Torben is back doing the art for us, too :) We're also offering free worldwide shipping for the project! 

Please check it out if you're interested!

We wanted to be part of Zinequest, which runs throughout February, but we don't actually plan to start working properly on the game until we're done writing the L&F Collection—hopefully in a couple of months.

Writing

Jason and I got into a nice flow of writing through November and December, but Christmas and illness (as well ongoing trials of family life) have made January more difficult. February looks like it’s going to be easier, though. We’re still very much on track, just not quite as far ahead as we were before.

My hope is that by next month, Artefact will be complete 🙂

Art

Liam is back from vacation and working on Counterpart again, now getting through the Fortunes and Fates. We’re still at the sketch stage, but it all really feels like it’s coming together. I'm excited to start writing these cards soon!

~

That’s it for this month! I hope you’re all doing well. Thanks again for supporting my work :)

Jack
 

December 2024
about 1 year ago – Mon, Dec 30, 2024 at 03:13:07 AM

Hello! We’re almost at the end of 2024, and boy what a year it’s been. It’s always a dangerous thing to hope that the new year will herald easier or calmer times ahead, but it would be really great if I could catch a break...

Anyway! On with the update.

Writing

Jason & I are continuing to work through the cards. We’ve had Luke review the first batch as our editor, and Neil is ready to proofread them soon. The Keepers for Artefact are done, and the rest of the cards will follow shortly (to complete that game!).

I am loving working like this. After six year of doing it all myself, it’s so refreshing and energising to be able to work with someone else. And the quality of work we’re producing is, I think, some of the best stuff I’ve put in any of my games ☺️

Soon we’ll be moving on to Counterpart!

Art

Counterpart and Bucket have been on pause this month, to resume in January. Conner’s continued to work on Artefact, now moving on to the Fortune and Fate cards. Here’s one of my favourites from the new set.

Surveys

Turns out, December was a busy month for family stuff (who knew!). I’ve chosen to prioritise writing over setting up BackerKit, because at this point it still isn’t super important. It’ll get more vital as we move towards production though, so I am aiming to get it all set up in January.

~

Cheers for now!

Jack