Welcome To CalazCon!
Hi, I’m Austin Ramsay, the creator of Beam Saber which is a Forged In The Dark TTRPG about pilots and their powerful machines in an everlasting war. I’m also the project manager for the CalazCon! Actual Play Series which this crowdfunding campaign is raising money for.
This project will be a pre-recorded actual play series released on Youtube and as a podcast! CalazCon! is going to innovate in the largely unexplored space of multi-group actual play. 30 players across 6 groups will go to war for an exhausted Democratic Federated Systems army as it crashes into the massive CalazCon! which occupies a local Jovangellian town.
Will the DFS be able to free the Jovangellian citizens from both their oppressive empire AND the nomadic convention, or will they get sucked into becoming fans of the Calazar media franchise?
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What Is Beam Saber?
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.
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CalazCon!'s Structure
The show will have a cyclical format. Each squad will conduct a Mission, followed by a Downtime session, and then the squads' legislators will vote on what happens next.
The Missions will take the form of a traditional Beam Saber mission. Pilots will get into danger, struggle to get out of it, and help each other overcome obstacles. At the end, they'll gain supplies, trust, and rep, as well as accrue vendettas and entanglements.
The Downtimes are also use the normal Beam Saber format. After a harrowing mission, the pilots take this moment of quiet to recover, fix their vehicles, cut loose with each other, pursue their long term projects, and generally develop their relationships with each other.
Once every squad has completed one Mission AND one Downtime, their legislators gather for a parliamentary session. Each squad's legislator gets a chance to make public speeches and private deals to further the goals of the DFS, the squad they represent, or their own personal desires. There are only so many votes they can cast, so some pursuits will have to be left by the wayside.
Once the votes are tallied, the goals are set, and passed along to the squads as objectives that they must pursue in their next Mission.
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Cycle 1 will be unique so that you get to meet every squad within the first 5 episodes which will all be released in the same week! After that we'll switch to a weekly schedule for releasing the first Missions' conclusions followed by each squad's first Downtimes, then finally the first Legislative Session. In all subsequent cycles we'll keep the camera focused on one squad as they move through a complete Mission/Downtime cycle.
The show will consist of 5 cycles total. Each squad will have 10 Mission, 8 Downtime, and 1 or 2 Epilogue episodes. The Legislators will have 8 Parliament episodes and 1 or 2 Epilogue episodes. The show will be roughly 110 episodes released weekly!
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What We Need & What You Get
This is going to be a big project and so has a some serious funding needs. Here's where the funding will go and if we exceed our goal, the additional funds will increase the performer and editor pay. All the costs are in CAD.
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Music: $390
- Character art: $2500
- Vehicle art: $1600
- Map art: $260
- Video editing software: $390
- External hard drives for file storage: $650
- Performer pay: $10,400
- Editor pay: $8,800
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Rewards
There are many different reward levels for supporting CalazCon! All the costs are in CAD.
- For $7 you can provide an NPC name who may appear in the show at some point (no promises if they’ll live through it)!
- For $10 you can sponsor an episode by getting a shout out at the top of an episode. (Limit 65)
- For $30 you can name one of the squads’ Direct Superior (no promises here either). (limit 5)
- For $45 you can sponsor a squad's episodes and get a shout out at the start of each of their episodes. (limit 5)
- For $60 you can sponsor the Legislative Assembly and get a shout out at the start of each parliamentary session! (limit 1)
- For $100 you get to name the Speaker of the House, played by Austin Ramsay! (limit 1)
- Note that any names or characters submitted may be modified to suit this project’s needs (such as removing offensive elements).
Anyone who doesn't get one of the limited rewards above still has good reason to support us because:
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All supporters of $30 or above will receive a digital copy of Beam Saber: The Growing Conflict which has all the setting details of CalazCon!
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All supporters of $80 or above will receive a digital copy of both Beam Saber AND Beam Saber: The Growing Conflict!
CalazCon! is going to be an expensive project but if we don’t meet our entire goal the project isn’t ruined since IndieGoGo's flexible funding format means we still get funds even if we don't hit the goal. If necessary, I’ll contribute my own funds from Beam Saber towards this project. CalazCon! WILL happen, we just want it to be the best that it can be and that takes funding.
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The Impact
The series will be delving into the largely unexplored format of interconnected actual play stories. Almost every actual play story focuses on the story of a single group of characters, and if they involve more than one play group, the story is recorded in broad summaries and the groups often do not affect each other, only the world they share. This project will record in detail the story of several groups and how their actions intersect. The actual play community will have a ground breaking series to reference for those who want to try something similar. They can learn from our successes and mistakes.
Many of the people involved in this project have extensive experience with producing actual play series. I was the project manager for the You Don't Meet In An Inn podcast for 7 years. This required organizing groups of 4-5 people (and often not the same people) to record audio for 3+ hours twice a month, if not more frequently; 25 people over its life. Many of the other participants have similar experience that will serve this project well.
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Risks & Challenges
This is a BIG actual play series and will likewise be expensive to make. This crowdfunding campaign is part of addressing that challenge. There’s a lot of people involved in this project with a 30 player cast and more crew adding art, music, and editing! The effort required to co-ordinate all these people is why I am taking a minor role on screen. I’ll be facilitating the GMless legislative sessions to make sure that the most experimental part of this show goes smoothly, but more importantly this will allow me to focus my efforts behind the scenes to ensure that all the pieces fit together. My experience managing artists, writers, editors, and layout designers from developing Beam Saber will keep the project on track.
Speaking of keeping things on track, the GMs in each play group will remain in regular contact with each other to organize their notes for cohesive action in the setting. They’ll be updating each other through outcome summaries of their group’s developments.
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Other Ways You Can Help
We know that not everyone who wants to see this project succeed can afford to support us financially, so we ask that you please share this project on your social media! Tell people why this your so excited to see CalazCon! come to life!
