logbook – martin barnabus noutch.com

Update 22: Logbook sent to the printer

On Tuesday morning I ordered three hundred copies of the Adventurer’s Logbook with my printer. That feels great. To know that one of the many components of the rewards is complete and will soon be in my hands is a big relief – it feels like I am on the downhill slope at last.

It was a lot of fun to create. Time-consuming, yes, but it meant that I got to skim through all four of my books and check that my notes were accurate, meaning that within the last two or three weeks, I have effectively filled my head with every single Steam Highwayman achievement and escapade – and it makes me very glad and proud. Sorry, perhaps, that almost ten years’ work can be read in a fortnight, but happy with the quality.

Although I produced hint sequences for the most of Highways and Holloways, there wasn’t space to include this amount of content in the logbook. I’ll release these digitally later, rather like the 94 things to do in Smog and Ambuscade I created a while ago. This was also taking a lot of time, so I haven’t yet created full hint sequences for The Reeking Metropolis or Princes of the West.

Still, I was able to grade each achievement on its complexity – largely to do with how many dice rolls or unique items are needed to achieve each one. A simple system of stars indicates each achievement’s difficulty.

After finishing, I edited some typos and made some corrections to Princes of the West that I had found as I read through it. The team of proofreaders and playtesters are doing a fab job – thankyou to each of you reading this – and in a few weeks I’ll be collating everything and doing a final edit.

I began editing the Players Companion to update it to include the write-in information for Princes of the West. There’s a lot! So far I’ve begun by listing codewords and possession boxes – of which there are around thirty.

So what next? I mean to continue editing the Companion, hopefully finishing that by next update, together with working on the maps and guidebook. I might even get to Harvest of Death.

This update is early because I really mean to be offline tomorrow! It’s been a mega-busy week and today took the biscuit, so I don’t want to have any jobs on my plate when I (eventually) get up tomorrow morning.

Next update due: 10.4.26

March 13

Update 21: Proofreading and Playtesting Underway – Extras in digital production

We have a team of around fifteen keen playtesters and proofreaders currently at work, already exploring Devon and Cornwall through the passages of Steam Highwayman: Princes of the West. It was a great feeling to have other eyes – and enthusiastic ones at that – on the text again, after many months of solo endeavour.

What’s the point? Well, along with getting some feedback on macro gameplay like difficulty and pacing, I hope to squash as many of these as possible…

The dreaded broken link – every gamebook enthusiast’s nightmare. In a book of 2251 passages with almost 10,000 links, there is a lot of opportunity for mistakes.

The proofing and playtesting window is two months, which gives me time to work on all the other parts of your reward bundle. This week I have been working on the Adventurer’s Logbook…

That means revisiting Highways and Holloways and writing out a Hints and Achievements list like I did for Smog and Ambuscade. It’s not a quick job but it’s very enjoyable – I get to enjoy reading all the quests I wrote in 2018, many of which I’ve forgotten. I mean to do something better than a simple printed list – perhaps a table layout for one or more dates or ticks to say, yes, I achieved this on this date during my fourth playthrough or something… It’s not quite certain yet. For the sake of originality, I was looking at a fun paper size (eg long and slim, like DL) and maybe ringbound, but due to cost of both postage and printing, I’m more likely to go for a stapled A5 booklet at the moment. But we’ll see.

Perhaps something like this – this was the DL layout. Either way, the list of achievements is a great way to advertise the book. What can you do in a Steam Highwayman adventure? A lot more than defeat some fantasy monsters, rob a dungeon and defeat a wizard, that’s for sure, in both variety and length. These lists of achievements don’t tell the whole story of the adventures in the books – both the prose and the gameplay are needed for that – but they give a great flavour.

What next? In the next fortnight I mean to…

Complete the Adventurer’s Logbook

And that will be plenty to get done!

Next update due: 27.3.26

July 1June 30

Princes of the West LIVE ON KICKSTARTER!

At last, the Kickstarter for Steam Highwayman: Princes of the West has gone live! Over the next thirty days, I’ll be accepting pledges from backers who want to take part in seeing the book printed, illustrated and published – all those who want to make their own impression in the worn leather of the Ferguson velosteam, and each of those desperate heroes keen to see the flag of St Piran flying proud and free over Cornwall.

The fourth book in the series has been a joy to write and I’m really excited to share it: it’ll make a great starting-place for new players, with better game balancing, an engaging main quest and forgiving gameplay. But for experienced readers, it’ll also tie in with dozens of choices you’ve already made in previous books, allowing you to feel the consequences of your actions. Smuggle, steal, rob, defend, explore, put jam on a scone – you can do the lot! If you haven’t tried the sample yet – what are you waiting for?

Every backer in the first 48 hours can choose to receive the Adventurer’s Logbook as part of their pledge absolutely free – getting their gauntletted hands on an achievement-and- hints booklet that will allow them to track their progress through all four volumes, pointing out those corners and encounters that even the most experienced reader has yet to discover.

Not only that, but with enough support, we’ll reach stretch goals that will allow me to share a series of one-off, standalone Steam Highwayman adventures in a print-and-play or digital format, ready for you to enjoy as part of an existing playthrough or to whet your appetite while waiting for your books.

I’ll also be live on youtube from just before the launch, ready to greet any backers who join in, and sharing a read-through of part of the new book.

It’s going to be a great ride – as long as you’re involved. After all – YOU are the Steam Highwayman!

June 11June 10

Back Princes of the West Early… and Receive a Free Thankyou Gift!

The Adventurer’s Logbook will be a real must-have for seasoned players, completionists and anyone hungry to unpick the secrets of the Steam Highwayman series. And it will be ENTIRELY FREE in the first 48 hours of the upcoming Kickstarter campaign!

Last year I was prompted to create a list of 94 things to do in Steam Highwayman: Smog and Ambuscade. It was offered as a hint list for those struggling to make progress and as a set of achievements for anyone keen to feel they had made the most of the first volume.

Now with the Adventurer’s Logbook, you’ll be able to record your adventures, tracking which events you have experienced and edging ever closer to “completing” the books. Much as a modern crpg will give you a percentage tracker, indicating how much of the map you’ve explored, or how many side-quests you’ve finished, the Logbook will allow you to tick off the quests, the events, the friendships – and even the beers drunk – in each of your playthroughs.

The exact design of the Logbook isn’t set yet, but I want it to be a notebook that sits alongside the Touring Guides, with separate sections for friendships established, beers drunk and encounters met. There’ll be a rarity indicator of some kind to show what’s harder to accomplish or rarer to find, and probably some other bells and whistles included. I don’t think it will be a full replacement to the Player Companion, which is really a glorified Character sheet, but rather a record to look back over, maybe with the dates of your playthroughs and sessions.

And what do I mean by free? If you order Princes of the West with the new map pack (The Touring Guide Number 2) within the first 48 hours of the campaign, you’ll be able to get the Adventurer’s Log bundled in for no extra cost. Look out for the Earlybird Committed Villain and the Earlybird Mastermind to take advantage of the offer. When the time comes for fulfilment, the Log will be shipped along with your Touring Guide, with no increase to the shipping cost.

Essentially, I want this to be a real thank-you to everyone who has previously supported the project. Perhaps it will also encourage people to join the campaign early on, and help us reach – and surpass – the funding target…

So please share this opportunity with friends who haven’t yet discovered life on the midnight road, and are yet to taste the adventure found astride the Ferguson velosteam. They’re all welcome to back the Kickstarter in the first 2 days and receive their own free Adventurer’s Log!

Finally, make sure you’re following the Kickstarter to get a notification as soon as it goes live. I’ll be updating again here too. After all,

YOU are the Steam Highwayman!