Beam Saber is a Forged In The Dark game about the pilots of powerful machines in a war that dominates every facet of life. They are trying to do their part, then get out physically and mentally intact. The organizations that perpetuate The War throughout all of known space are too incomprehensibly huge to take down. There is no “winning” The War, there is only surviving it. Hopefully you can help others get out too.
If you want to purchase the PDF alone, go to https://austin-ramsay.itch.io/beamsaber
Latest Updates from Our Project:
FEBRUARY 2022 UPDATE
about 2 years ago
– Sun, Feb 20, 2022 at 03:23:41 AM
Here's how things are progressing with Beam Saber
Sasha continues to work on laying out the reference, pilot, squad, connection, and factions sheets. All those things that you'd want to print out for your players. They'll be interactable so you can either print them with pre-filled information, or use them online!
Hadrian continues to work on the chapter art and it looks great! I've decided to continue the sneak peaks with the Squads and Factions chapter art that was finished.
Jess Whitmore continues to work on her spot illustration pieces. I've included an example from the History of Vehicles section.
Now onto the art!
Squads and Factions chapter art
History of Vehicles art
ALMOST Final Printouts
about 2 years ago
– Thu, Feb 03, 2022 at 03:05:06 PM
Hello everyone,
This is a supplemental update regarding the printables for Beam Saber. Sasha has largely finished their layout! The only thing that's left is to make interactives in the PDF so you can use them digitally or print them pre-filled out, but while they are working on that I would ask everyone to go to https://austin-ramsay.itch.io/beamsaber and have a look at the new pilot and squad playbooks, reference sheets, and factions sheets (all helpfully labelled as V0.62).
Once you've read them over (and even better if you get a chance to play with them), please send any feedback or bugs you spot to [email protected]. This will help ensure that you get the best possible final product.
We hope you enjoy them!
JANUARY 2022 Update
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Jan 20, 2022 at 06:40:18 PM
Happy new year everyone!
Here's how things are progressing with Beam Saber
Sasha has largely finished the layout of the book! What remains is the last few spot illustrations, any errors that sharp eyed readers have found, one FINAL editing pass by Lauren McManamon, and to add any remaining Backer names who have not answered their BackerKit survey. Next PDF update made public will be V1.0!
Sasha has moved onto laying out the reference, pilot, squad, connection, and factions sheets. All those things that you'd want to print out for your players, and I've included examples below!
Hadrian continues to work on the chapter art and it looks great! I've decided to continue the sneak peaks with the Vehicles chapter art that was finished.
The spot illustrations continue to be worked on. Ben Fleuter has completed the additional pieces I commissioned from him (a couple examples below), while Jess Whitmore continues to work on hers.
Orders Locking
With the book done, BackerKit surveys will be locking SOON! So make sure that your address is up to date if you're getting a non-POD physical copy of the book. If you haven't purchased a physical copy and want to, or know someone who does, the opportunity to do so is will soon pass! Whether you are updating your address or buying the print version, go to https://beamsaber.backerkit.com/!
Now onto the art!
Vehicles chapter art
Adamant Council of Nor character examples
Democratic Federated Systems character examples
DECEMBER 2021 Update
over 2 years ago
– Sun, Dec 19, 2021 at 09:26:16 AM
Got a real chunky update this month, so let's get into it.
Here's how things are progressing with Beam Saber
Sasha continues to work on the layout of the book. Most of the hiccups in layout and pdf formatting from the last version have been ironed out, however, the new layout has also necessitated a few more spot illustrations.
Hadrian continues to work on the chapter art and it looks great! I've decided to continue the sneak peaks with the Fiction First Gaming chapter art that was finished.
The spot illustrations continue to be worked on. Imani Kelker and Andrew Ferris have both completed their contributions (a couple examples below), while Jess Whitmore continues to work on hers, and I've commissioned Ben Fleuter for a few more pieces that have cropped up due to the new layout described above.
Some Good News
I'm super excited to be writing a mech focused playset for Ariadne And Bob which is now on Kickstarter! If you're a fan of GMless, 2 player games inspired by odd couple stories you should back this game!
Some Bad News
I have heard that the printer I was planning on using for Beam Saber, Bang Printing, currently has an 8 month waitlist due to many logistical issues. These problems are not Bang's fault. The ongoing pandemic has caused many supply chain problems; shortages in paper and shipping containers are the main problems for us. The former means there's insufficient quality paper on which to print the book (and I'm sure no one wants a 1 ply Beam Saber book), and the latter delays anything that needs to move across the ocean, which is basically everything involved in manufacturing. Ultimately what this means for Beam Saber backers is the following:
PDFs will not be affected, so hopefully you will be getting the finished version of the game into your hands in Spring 2022.
Hardcover backers will likely be getting their books in late 2022. I know this is extremely disappointing to everyone, myself included, but this is the reality of dealing with a global supply chain in the midst of a pandemic.
Print On Demand backers will probably be affected by these shortages as well, but how much of a delay they will experience is entirely going to depend on where they are located since POD through DriveThruRPG uses the printer that is closest to the customer.
"Why can't you fix this?" you may be thinking. I am currently looking at alternative printers, but that presents two problems.
First is that using another printer could potentially raise the cost of printing through getting charged a premium for hurrying the order, which won't affect you backers directly, but may not be in the cards financially.
Second is that every printer is going to be affected by these supply issues, it's just a matter of how much they may be affected. I could potentially print outside of the US but that invites major issues for shipping, which again, may not be financially viable.
So that's the situation. Printing is in a bad place right now, I've heard rumblings about this from the traditional side of publishing for a bit now, and I'm doing what I can to do right by all of you wonderful backers. Thank you for your support and your on going patience.
On a final note, it's December so work will slow down during the holidays, thus January's update might be a bit sparse compared to this month.
Now onto the art!
Beam Saber: Rush Wars is live!
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 03:11:34 PM
Use this Beam Saber supplement to bring your game to the "real" world through a setting inspired by the Fast & Furious series, Saints Row games, and Speed Racer. Use the rules and changes to make racing a major part of your campaign experience. Become the heroes and villains of the race track, and battle for your fans during the day, while you battle the cops at night!
For those concerned about how the release of this supplement has impacted the progress on the rule book you all backed, it has not! My task on the core rule book currently consists of managing the contractors whose work continues (December update later this month), so in the time between that I work on other TTRPG designs, such as the previously released Growing Conflict, Dracula, and now Rush Wars!
I hope you all enjoy bringing a serious rush to your Beam Saber games!
