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Derby Drama

Created by Libby Horacek

A tabletop role-playing game about the drama and excitement of skating in a roller derby bout.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Digital copies, shipments, and website updates
over 3 years ago – Sun, Sep 06, 2020 at 03:33:41 PM

Digital copies are here!

Derby Drama is now available for download on Itch.io! Everyone should have received their key to download the game - you just need to click the link in the email from BackerKit and make an Itch.io account to claim your copy. You'll also get any upcoming updates for free!

First round of shipments is finished!

If you finished your survey before the deadline and I was able to charge your card for shipping, your package has either already arrived or is on its way! Please give the package some time to reach you - I sent everything via USPS First Class Mail, which is a bit backed up in places. If you receive the package and something is wrong with it or I forgot something or sent you the wrong thing, let me know right away via email (libby [at] daydrea.me) and I'll get it fixed.

Thanks so much to everyone who volunteered to take a non-handcrafted stress token in their package - I was able to stretch all the tokens I'd already made and didn't have to make any new ones. That was such a big help in getting everything shipped!! Y'all are the best.

Also thanks to RudyRiot and Jen Vaughn for sharing pics of the game! I love seeing people excited about the game, so please tag me @horrorcheck if you share unboxing pics on Twitter!

If you filled out your survey after the deadline, I'll still send your package - it just may not be for another few weeks.

Feedback and support

I love feedback of pretty much all kinds. Praise is lovely and constructive criticism is my lifeblood. So please let me know what you think of the zine! This is my first game - the first one longer than a page anyway - and I have so much to learn. So I'm eager to hear what you like about it and what still needs work! Send me an email at libby [at] daydrea.me.

If you do enjoy the zines, please consider rating and reviewing the game on Itch.io - it makes my day and helps the game reach more people. Between art, editing, materials, printing, and shipping, I made a grand total of $0 from the Kickstarter campaign. That's how I budgeted it from the start, but still it would be nice to pay myself a little something from digital sales. If you can share the game with others and give it a nice rating that will mean a lot!

Website updates

I've updated the website with playbooks and cheat sheets, more detailed instructions for online play, and some of my favorite roller derby videos from several historical periods to inspire your games. I plan to continue adding more content over time, and if you have ideas for things that should be on the website, please let me know!

Digital copies coming soon, plus postcards
over 3 years ago – Sun, Aug 30, 2020 at 06:37:15 AM

Yesterday I picked up the settings zines and postcards from the printer. I don't think I've mentioned the postcards before - the postcards with art by Alex Wright and Nova Bundy will be included in Power Jam and Star Pass bundles! They're lovely and you can buy stamps to support the USPS and send derby joy to your friends!

Now that I have the settings zines, I can start shipping The Pack, Power Jam, and Star Pass bundles - I already sent out the first batch this morning. I'm also still working on the other levels too. It will probably take a week or so to pack and ship everything. I would love to hear when folks get their zines - please tag me @horrorcheck on Twitter if you share pics!

A couple people asked about their digital copies - I planned that those would be sent out before I sent out the physical zines, but I wanted to have the character sheets ready first. I asked a designer to help me with character sheets, but I waited too long to ask and they're still working on them now. I think they'll be done soon - as soon as the sheets are ready I'll upload to Itch.io and send out the keys!

Thanks everyone for your patience. <3

Good news: shipped the first packages! Bad news: stress token stress
over 3 years ago – Tue, Aug 25, 2020 at 06:46:15 AM

Good news!

I shipped out the first copies of Derby Drama today!! The printer said the setting zines won't be ready until the end of the week, but I already have the rules zines, so I sent them out to all the domestic backers who didn't get any of the settings zines. I should start shipping everybody else's packages next week!

Bad news

Unfortunately, as I was sorting everything out to get ready to eventually ship, I realized that I had a lot fewer stress tokens than I hoped - and then I ruined my mold with a bad resin pour as I was trying to catch up. So I'm pretty stressed out over the stress tokens!

I still have a few sets of printed cardboard tokens: 

I also found these spiral-shaped charms, which seem to be perfect for a descent into Meltdown:

If everybody wants the handcrafted stress tokens, I'll pour a couple new molds and get back to cranking them out while I'm waiting for the settings zines to be ready but TBH it would be a big load off my shoulders if some folks might be willing to accept some mass-produced tokens instead. I've definitely learned from this project that 2,000 handcrafted anything is A LOT, no matter how small each item is...

If you would like to help me out by volunteering to get some of the above as your stress tokens instead of handcrafted ones, please let me know by entering your email and preference here. I'll thank you by giving you an extra sticker!

Anyway, thank you, everybody! I'm so excited that this project is nearing completion!

Orders lock soon! Plus update on progress
over 3 years ago – Thu, Aug 06, 2020 at 07:46:28 PM

In a couple days, I'll lock orders so that I can get the complete list of names for the layout of the book. There are still 26 backers outstanding - your name will not be in the zine unless you complete the survey this week! If you haven't completed it because you don't have money for shipping, you can reduce your reward to a lower level on BackerKit, or contact me for other options. I know y'all pledged pre-COVID and I don't want this game to be any hardship!

When it comes to progress - I've bought and packaged all the dice and completed half of the stress tokens!

A big pile of packaged dice and tokens!

I've also started laminating all the scoreboards. The scoreboards fold in half for easy storage with your zines.

I'm working on the layouts now. Liz Pavlovic is no longer doing the layout for Holler Derby, due to COVID-delay-related scheduling problems, but she is making an illustration for the zine!

As always, thank you all, and let me know if you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns! <3

Backer surveys, editing and playtests, stress tokens
over 3 years ago – Sat, Jul 25, 2020 at 05:01:49 PM

Hi everyone, things are starting to come together! The rules and settings are almost finished, I've started working on layout, and I've ordered all the dice and reusable scorecards. Still plenty to do, but also lots of progress made!

Backer surveys

There are still 33 people who haven't completed their surveys. If you haven't completed your survey by August 1, your name won't be listed in the book, so please complete it!

Here's a preview of what a page of the Thank You section might end up looking like:

If you want your name to appear under the "Skaters", "Officials", or "Volunteers" sections, please note that in your survey answer. You can edit your survey any time by using the link from the BackerKit email. 

Editing and playtests

I'm really excited to be working with Noella Handley of Wildhawk Editing on this project! They've been a hugely helpful feedback, including an incredibly useful editorial playtest.

The rules are now in the proofreading stage but I'm running just a few more playtests to test out a couple tweaks. These playtests will be next weekend in Gen Con's First Exposure Playtest Hall.

Stress tokens

I'm still working on making all the stress tokens! I knew it was going to be a large undertaking, but I definitely underestimated it. I think I've made about a thousand tokens, so I'm around half done. They are very handmade. Here's a look at my work space and progress with these things, if you're curious.

A - The finished tokens, in separate bags by color

B - Tokens that have been cast but still need edges cleaned up

C - Mica for the gold bolts. I've switched from white resin to resin tinted with mica so I don't have to use primer or as much gold paint.

D - Ice Resin tint. I love these colors!

E - One of my old silicone molds, made using Smooth-On Mold Star silicone. I'm retiring this one because chunks around the corners of the bolts have been torn out.

F - Setting up to create my next mold. Unfortunately I've lost some of the original bolt charms so I'm making copies from copies now.

G - The resin I currently use is Smooth-On Smooth Cast 326, which is a translucent resin that cures in about an hour.

H - My earliest casts, from March. They're kinda stubby because I wasn't good at getting the resin to fill the corners of the mold.

I - When I started casting again in June, the results were very weird. The plastic was almost opaque and kinda... foamy?? I thought the resin had gone off, so I called the wonderful folks at The Compleat Sculptor for advice. They said that it was the heat and humidity! I was originally using a very quick-curing resin, so I decided to try a longer-curing resin.

J - Here's what the casts look like now that I'm using the longer-curing resin. So much better! I'm also using a little less tint since that seems to improve the curing process.

K - Originally I was using white resin for the gold bolts. I used white plastic primer, then spray painted a thick coat of gold. It was a pain and took forever.

L - Now I'm using mica in the resin for the gold bolts, so they're already gold. However, they aren't shiny. So I'm still spraying with a coat of gold paint afterward.