Pre-Order Store - Rōnin: Densetsu

Community Feedback, Production Progress, and Incoming Playtest
4 months ago – Thu, Nov 27, 2025 at 06:09:07 AM

Hi everyone,

First off, nice one for the overwhelming response to last month’s update.

We always try to take a community-first approach to development, and the feedback was loud and clear. Nearly everyone who responded said they’d prefer we keep the full Densetsu content and accept a delay. That kind of support means a lot, and we’ve adjusted our production timeline accordingly.

So, Where Are We Now?

Since the last update, we’ve made solid progress across the board. As mentioned, we’ve expanded the SRG team, and they’ve been hard at work:

• Tidying up the Mini-Adventures and Dungeons in Densetsu
• Reviewing and refining the Yokai entries for The Book of Yō

The goal is to have both books ready by Christmas, although The Book of Yō might need a little more time. I’ve been focusing on writing alternative Yomi Encounters and introducing new Yomi Demons, so that section needs a bit of extra care to get right.

Densetsu Art Complete

All the art for the Densetsu book is now finished, and I’ve included a few more pieces below. The visual style has really come together across the Tales, and we can’t wait for you to see the full collection.

Playtesting in December

We originally planned to run a closed beta through our Discord, but after reviewing things, we’ve decided to stick with our usual approach; so the Densetsu playtest release will go out to all relevant backers next month.

Once the PDF is live, we’ll be collecting feedback on mechanics, clarity, and how the Tales play at the table. This is a big part of our process, and your input will help us shape the final version. If something is good, or something doesn’t quite land, we want to hear about it.

Thanks again for all the support, and we’ll see you next month with the playtest drop.

Sacha & The Slightly Reckless Generation

Densetsu is Huge
5 months ago – Mon, Oct 27, 2025 at 05:26:52 AM

Hey wanderers,

This month’s update is a big one, so let’s get stuck in.

Densetsu is Massive

We’ve now fully ported the Densetsu book into a playable document ready for playtesting. At the moment, it includes just under 30 Tales, plus all the new rules variants, setting history, and supporting content. I’m incredibly proud of where it’s landed so far and this is easily the most ambitious project we’ve taken on. The Densetsu book took me longer than Rōnin and Berserkr put together to write.

But here’s the thing.

After planning the book out in InDesign, it’s currently sitting at well over 300 pages. That’s more than double what we initially envisioned for half of the expansion.

From a backer perspective, this isn’t exactly a bad problem, the book is shaping up to be way meatier than promised, with significantly more value and content.

However, the reality is that if we keep it as-is, it will likely push production back by 6–8 weeks. We're a long way from fulfilment but I wanted to flag it as a potential issue earlier rather than later. We want to be upfront about that and involve you in the decision-making process.

So here’s the question: Would you prefer we trim some content to stay on schedule, or keep the full book intact and accept a slight delay?

I’ve already cut about 7 Tales to get it to this point, and cutting more just doesn’t feel right given the strength of the material and the incredible art we’ve received. But we’re open to your feedback. As always, we take a community-first approach to development.

Let us know what you think.

Below is some more art from the project:

Expanding the SRG Team

In part to deal with the above, we’re expanding the Slightly Reckless Games team.

Up to now, it’s mostly been just me and Dom holding things down, with outside help for art and other stuff. But with the scope of our projects growing, we’ve decided it’s time to bring in some familiar minds to help us stay on track and keep delivering at the level we want.

Playtesting

As many of you in the Discord already know, we plan to start a closed beta of sorts for Densetsu.

We’ve been running plenty of internal tests, but the nature of this material means it really needs outside input. The closed beta will be open to Discord members and run briefly before we open up playtest materials to all backers for feedback.

Everyone is welcome to join the Discord to get involved or follow along.

Production Status

Our editor is booked for mid-November. We are still on track to have all the main books written and document-ready by the end of the year.

The Starter Set is also progressing well. Each core SRG team member is taking responsibility for one season. I’ve chosen Winter, expect blood on the snow. I’ll also be handling the endgame section. I'm really excited for you guys to see what we're cooking.

Final Thoughts

That’s quite a meaty update this month, but we want to keep you in the loop every step of the way.

We’d genuinely appreciate your input on whether to cut or keep the expanded Densetsu content. This project means a lot to us, and your feedback will help us shape it the right way.

Thanks again for your continued support and don’t forget to hop into the Discord if you’d like to join the discussion or help test new material.

See you next month,
Sacha & The Slightly Reckless Expanded Fellows

Rōnin on VTT, Densetsu Playtesting, and Big News from Tokyo
6 months ago – Fri, Sep 26, 2025 at 04:51:35 AM

Hey everyone,

We’ve got a packed update this month with Rōnin VTT support now live, Densetsu playtesting on the horizon, and some big news about our new office in Japan...

Rōnin is Now Live on Alchemy VTT

We’re excited to announce that Rōnin is now officially live on Alchemy VTT! It’s been a long road to get everything set up properly, but we’re finally ready to run games on the platform.

To celebrate, we’ll be giving away 25 free Alchemy codes over on our Discordnext week. All you have to do is join, and we’ll share the details there.

Roll20 Support Coming Soon

Roll20 support is almost ready as well. We’re still ironing out a few kinks, but the character sheet is looking fantastic so far. Here's a preview of where it’s at:

Densetsu Playtesting Begins in October

Starting in October, we’ll begin internal playtesting of the new Densetsu game elements. We're all proper excited to get stuck in with the new classes specifically.

And if you’ll allow me to drop the PR voice for a moment, I want to talk honestly about Densetsu.

This book is incredibly important to me. I’ve felt a real weight of responsibility to create something that does justice to both the folklore that inspires it and the culture it represents. While I could release the materials in its current state and it would hit the quality bar we’ve set with Berserkr and Rōnin, that’s not enough for me.

I want Densetsu to surpass expectations, mainly my own, and that’s meant putting the work in. I think I’m on my fifth set of revisions at this point. I’ve been painstakingly analysing every word of every tale, living on thesaurus.com, and going line by line to make sure it feels right.

There are no delays to worry about, production is on track, but I just wanted to share where I’ve been with it and why this phase has been particularly intense.

New Art Preview from Hatori Kyoka

We’ve got new pieces from one of our incredible Japanese artists, Hatori Kyoka.

The visual direction is coming together beautifully, and the tone Kyoka brings to each Tale is exactly what we hoped for.

Slightly Reckless Tokyo is Now Open

Big news — we’ve just opened a new office in Harajuku, Tokyo.

This is a huge step for us. It will allow us to deepen our partnerships with anime, manga, and video game creators in Japan, and help us work more closely with our Japan-based artists and collaborators. I’ll be splitting time between the UK and Japan moving forward.

If you’re local and ever want to organise a Rōnin or Berserkr game while I’m out there, feel free to shoot us an email. Always happy to roll some dice!

Shoutout: Ghost of Yōtei

Lastly, I want to give a shoutout to our friends at Sucker Punch, who are releasing the long-awaited Ghost of Yōtei next week.

It looks incredible. As some of you know, I travelled to Hokkaido earlier this year for Densetsu research and had planned to climb Mount Yōtei; though I unfortunately got sick and had to skip it. Still, I loved my time in Sapporo and Hakodate, and I can’t wait to see how some of those iconic landmarks, like Goryokaku Fortress, appear in the game.

If you’re planning to play it too, let us know what you think in the Discord!

Thanks again for all your support, and I’ll see you in next month’s update.

Sacha & The Slightly Reckless Nakayoshi

Writing Progress, Starter Set Structure, and More Art
7 months ago – Fri, Aug 29, 2025 at 08:59:19 AM

Hey Wanderers,

Time for the monthly update. Not a huge amount to report this month, but we’ve got a few solid production updates to share.

Writing Progress

Writing continues to go well. I'm currently finishing up on Densetsu, and in September, I’ll be moving on to The Book of Yō. We're aiming to share playtest materials for both books in October, and we’ll be looking for lots of feedback to help refine the new content. More details on how to get involved coming soon.

The Starter Set

The story and structure for the Starter Set campaign are now locked in. It’s a five-part mini campaign, set across the four seasons with a final story segment at the end.

Players will be able to start in any season and then progress through the others, hunting down the legendary Five Thorns.

The campaign takes inspiration from Blue Eye Samurai, Kill Bill, Ghost of Yotei, and Sifu; stories of revenge, precision, and deadly confrontations across time and landscape.

Art and Layout

We’ve got more technique artwork coming in, and our team of Japanese artists are still hard at work on the Tale illustrations, all of which are due by the end of October.

Meanwhile, Dom is wrapping up on Berserkr and will be moving on to layout and design for Densetsu in September.

That means we should have some early spreads to share with you next month.

Thanks again for all your continued support, and we’ll see you in the next update. If you haven't already, join our Discord for up-to-date info and a chat with a lovely load of people.

Sacha & Slightly Reckless Thorns

Mini Update: Shipping Fees and How to Fix Them
8 months ago – Wed, Jul 30, 2025 at 10:48:28 PM

We've had a few questions from backers seeing unexpectedly high shipping rates in the Pledge Manager, sometimes into the hundreds. If that's you, don't worry, there's a simple fix.

In most cases, this happens because the country or region hasn't been properly selected during address entry. For example, US shipping is broken down by state, and until a state is selected, BackerKit defaults to a very high "every other country" shipping rate as a placeholder. 

So, if you're seeing abnormally high shipping costs:

Double-check that you've selected the correct country and filled out your address details properly.

If you're in the US, make sure to choose your state from the dropdown list.

Once completed and saved, your shipping rate should automatically update to the correct (and much lower) amount.

If you’ve done all that and something still looks wrong, feel free to reach out and we’ll take a closer look.

Thanks for your patience and support as we work through post-launch logistics!

Sacha