Patreon QnA Week 1

Thursday night chats are getting out of control, so we're taming it by shifting Q&A to a weekly top-5 vote.

Better answers, for the questions readers actually want to know.  Plus I can blog and log 'em for easier reference.  Here's the first round of questions voted for by our backers:





How are you doing Dave and Liz?

Good. 

THAT'S ALL YOU GET.

Well it's an official question, so I'll elaborate a bit.   Highly pleased that warm weather finally showed up, excited that we got to crash the Thoughtcops podcast, looking forward to False Start Chapter Zero, and happy that Volume 5 updates are off to a good start.   Also relieved that Skirmish is finally in the manufacturing stage- I can hardly wait to get our shipment of games and start shipping them.  Liz is tearing it up with figurines and Firebrat coloring. 


Been looking for a opportunity to ask. what is fallguard and how is it played?

Fallguard is Anduruna's most mainstream sport.  We haven't nailed down specific league rules, but the general idea is as follows.

There's one field with two teams.  Each team has an endzone, like in football.  Any time a player enters the endzone of the opposing team, they score a point. 

Players have massive blocky boxing gloves- and they use them to fight opposing team members.   No grabbing or holding is allowed- and the gloves are like huge rectangles, so it's pretty much impossible to hold someone even if you wanted to. 

The field is cris-crossed by padded trenches.  They're like ten feet deep.  If you fall into a trench, you have to run to the sidelines, and you climb back onto the field into your home area. 

It's a long-shot to try jumping the trenches.  And there are a handful of choke points near center field, that serve as bridges, so they gain massive tactical importance.   If a team can control those choke points, they have a good shot at blocking enemies from coming across and scoring. 

So the game plays out in several rounds, where players try to karate each other into trenches and rack up scores by penetrating enemy territory.  Big strong players that can fight well provide certain advantages, while agile, nimble players provide other advantages.   

And that's Fallguard.



With regard to springers, how do they compare to our guns in terms of energy/velocity of the bullets, recoil, and noise generated by the

Patreon only allows so many characters in poll questions, so for future reference, gotta be concise!  The full question was intended to be: 

"With regard to springers, how do they compare to our guns in terms of energy/velocity of the bullets, recoil, and noise generated by the shots?"  For future Q&As we'll have to keep it limited to whatever fits into the Patreon poll question area, I can't respond to five essays a week.

I would say offhand, it probably depends on the firearm in question, and the springer gun in question.   I don't know that much about guns, so I don't even have a good handle on the range of muzzle velocities or impact energy.    But noise I can answer- springers are not as loud as guns.   Every gun I've fired has been way too loud, you have to wear earmuffs.  I feel like I'm Princess Leia going on a killing spree. 

Springers would still be loud- but not loud enough to damage hearing.  Think of a sharp slapping crack as the cartridge casing snaps, then a bursting metallic whang as the spring bursts open and propels the round.   Followed by a fun sproingy springy after-sound when the spring ejects and wobbles to the ground. 

The springs are a special kind of metal, to allow for the compression, storage, and kinetic effect in the story- Placeholder name, "Cartoonium."   But that's not canon, just a placeholder.

I'd imagine springer rounds travel slower than most bullets- but a lot of them look larger and heavier than bullets too, so the impact would still be something to avoid.


It's made clear that the Viscount and family live near the top if Sabbaton Towers, how is the rest of Sabbaton arranged in terms of social (hierarchy)

I don't think I can give a full-blown essay on exactly how the Sabbaton Towers are organized and what's on every level, because I haven't made everything up yet.  Mainly we pull things into focus when they become relevant to story events. 

But the Big Library is near the top, with that cool view of the stars across the ceiling.  The Viscount level is high up, above the clouds, but not the very top level. 

Lower levels include living situations:  Some levels are for diplomats, bureaucrats, and other functionaries.  Some are for private professionals and are rented out like condos.   So some levels are private residencies, but some are public access.   There's a mall level, a hospital level, the very bottom is the Foundation.   And underground- between the foundation and the surface- are some prison levels, which are the most high-security prison facilities in the entire city. 


That's it for this week!  If you'd like your question to be in the running for next week's Top Five, become (or finagle) a Commanding Vote backer to do it on Patreon.