Spire’s End: Volume 1 – Special Edition

We made it to $125,000!

That means the alternate Marge Merriwether celebration card is officially being added to the Spire’s End Special Edition.

Behold: Marge in all her glory, as she’ll appear on the card commemorating next spring’s Spire’s End release celebration at Solemn Oath Brewery.

Bertho Horn originally created this wonderfully cheeky artwork for the brewery collaboration, and now every Special Edition backer will get a little memento of the event, whether you can make it to Chicago or not.

A word of caution should you ever encounter Marge in person: she is a powerful woman, but also a sensitive one. Compliment her profusely, preferably while maintaining a respectful distance, and everything should be right as rain.

🍻 One last toast to $125K. Drinks are officially on Marge!

But we’re not quite finished yet.

There are still two Backer Achievements on the table before the campaign closes:

1,750 BACKERS • NEW CARD-BACK ART
Unlock brand-new card-back artwork for the new Ending Story Card.

2,000 BACKERS • The Mad Baroness has one final surprise waiting.

Less than 48 hours remain. Let’s see how far we can take this thing.

~Greg

As part of the release celebration for the Spire’s End Special Edition next spring, Solemn Oath Brewery and I are planning a special Spire’s End beer for the event, tentatively a pale ale brewed specifically for the collaboration.

Marge Merriwether made her debut in Maren’s Collection, the bridge expansion between Hildegard and Spire’s End: Volume 1, worth checking out if you haven’t already.

Marge felt like the natural choice for the collab. She’s already an accomplished cook for the Baroness, so apparently adding brewmaster to her résumé wasn’t much of a stretch.

For the occasion, Bertho Horn created a special piece of artwork just for the can.

A quick note on what you’re seeing below: this is the first draft of the label, not final production artwork. Planning meetings have already taken place and the collaboration is very much in motion, but there’s still plenty of work between now and next spring. The artwork, copy, beer itself, can size and format, and other production details may all evolve as the final release comes together. Solemn Oath and I want the creative freedom to make the finished beer exactly what it needs to be.

The artwork is wonderfully cheeky, completely in the spirit of the brewery celebration, and I figured: why not make a card out of it too?

Only a small number of backers will be close enough to Chicago to experience the release celebration in person, so I wanted there to be a little piece of the event that could make its way to everyone who helped make the Special Edition happen!

So, if we make it all the way to $125,000, I’ll add this alternate Marge character card to the Special Edition as a memento of the Solemn Oath celebration and one last toast to the campaign.

Let’s make it a full round. Drinks are on Marge ~Greg

We made it! The campaign has reached 1,500 backers, which means our first Backer Achievement is officially unlocked. One lucky campaign backer will earn a bit part in the next Spire’s End game, with their name becoming part of an enemy character in Spire’s End: Volume 2 – Episode 2.

As I teased in the last update, I already have a wonderfully strange place in mind for this unfortunate soul: the Weenie Roast, an abandoned cookout on the road to the Spire where something has clearly gone very wrong. So, one lucky backer is officially going into the story. 🌭🔥 Details on how the backer will be selected, along with additional information about the Achievement, will be announced after the campaign has closed.

We’ve now passed $111K, and I have one more bonus planned if we can make it all the way to $125K:

🍺 $125K BONUS: A TOAST

I’ll share exactly what A Toast means in an upcoming update. In the meantime, we also have our next Backer Achievement waiting at 1,750 backers, which will unlock new card-back artwork for the Special Edition.

There’s still plenty left to chase with six days to go. Thanks again for getting us to 1,500, and let’s see how much farther we can take this thing.

~Greg

We’re almost there. Just 18 more backers and we’ll unlock our first Backer Achievement: one campaign backer will earn a bit part in the next Spire’s End game. And I already have a pretty good idea where that backer is going.

Spire’s End: Volume 2 - Episode 2 is currently about a quarter complete, with a considerable amount of artwork already finished and several sections of the adventure taking shape. One sequence I’m especially excited about is similar in spirit to The Sunken Pearl from Rangitaki. It plays almost like a game within the game, using a branching dialogue tree to create a small mystery that unfolds as you explore it.

This time, the party comes across an abandoned cookout on the road to the Spire. What happened there, what you uncover, and how the encounter unfolds all feed directly back into the larger story. 

My tentative plan is to work our selected backer into this sequence. So whoever gets picked won’t simply end up buried in the credits. One lucky backer is going into the story.

If you’ve been following the campaign and waiting to jump in, now is a great time. And if you’ve already backed, sharing the campaign with one friend could be all it takes to push us across the line.

~Greg

We did it. Spire’s End: Volume 1 Special Edition has reached $100,000!

🦌 $100K STRETCH GOAL: LEOFRICK UNLOCKED

That means Leofrick’s Alternate Ally Card is officially unlocked and will be included in the Special Edition.

Leofrick marks the final one of the original Spire’s End allies to receive a brand-new alternate interpretation through the campaign stretch goals. It’s been incredibly fun seeing this new lineup come together, and I’m thrilled that we made it all the way through.

And there’s still more for the community to chase.

🎭 1,500 BACKERS: BIT PART
One campaign backer will earn a bit part in the next Spire’s End adventure.

 🎨 1,750 BACKERS: NEW FINALE ART
Unlock brand-new artwork for the finale card back in the Special Edition.

Thank you to everyone who has helped push the campaign all the way to $100K. It’s been an incredible run so far, and we're not finished yet.

~Greg