Pre-Order Store - Rōnin: Densetsu

Rōnin on VTT, Densetsu Playtesting, and Big News from Tokyo
9 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
10 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
11 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
 

Pledge Manager is Live + Early Concept Art
11 months ago – Wed, Jul 30, 2025 at 08:44:30 AM

Good news everyone (Professor Farnsworth walks in) the Pledge Manager is now live!

Following a successful smoke test last week, everything is up and running. If you’ve been waiting to confirm your pledge, grab add-ons, or join us via late pledge, now’s the time. Head in and go nuts.

Early Concept Art

We’ve started receiving early concept art for Densetsu, and I’ve attached a couple of exciting early sketches below.

Vacuum Blade – One of the new Techniques from our expanded Ways. 

The Thorn-Tied Promise – A visual from one of the Tales, brought to life by our Japanese artist team.

More art is on the way, and we’ll continue to share previews as the visual side of the project develops.

Writing and Travel

Writing continues to go well. The framework for the Tales is solid, and now game development is continuing smoothly and I'm looking forward to starting internal play-testing in the coming months.

I’ll be travelling back to the UK next week after a very productive period in Japan. I’ve had some excellent meetings and made real progress on long-term plans. Perhaps even a trip to GamesCom in Cologne on the cards. More on that in the future...

Stay Connected

If you have any questions for me or Dom or just want to see more behind-the-scenes updates, be sure to join the Discord.

Thanks again for your support, and we’ll see you in the next update.

Sacha & The Slightly Reckless Troubadour

Pledge Manager Delay, Writing Progress, and Artist Reveal
12 months ago – Fri, Jun 27, 2025 at 07:53:22 AM

Hi Wanderers,

Pledge Manager Delay

First off, sorry for the delay in launching the Pledge Manager. We know many of you are eager to confirm your pledges, grab some add-ons, or jump in through late pledges. While this delay is not affecting production in any way, we still want to acknowledge it and keep you informed.

The delay is due to some additional work required on the fulfilment side. We’ve partnered with a fulfilment provider who is handling much of the backend in BackerKit. This partnership has allowed us to offer significantly better shipping rates than we could otherwise, but it does mean we’ve needed to update a number of SKU codes and shipping profiles to match their system.

The good news is that everything on our end is complete. We’re just waiting for final reviews and shipping profiles to be confirmed before we can hit publish.

Again, we really appreciate your patience and apologise for the hold-up. We are now aiming to go live with the Pledge Manager in July.

Writing and Worldbuilding Progress

On the creative side, things are moving smoothly. The tales for Densetsu are now finalised, and last week I had the chance to visit Goryokaku Fortress in Hakodate, a key location featured in one of the tales. It was surreal to see it in person after spending so much time writing about it.

We’ve also now locked in our Japanese artist roster for Densetsu. Each artist has been assigned their respective tale and has begun early concept work. Some of you might recognise their names from other projects. Fans of Magic: The Gathering may know them from the Japanese Mystical Archive Bonus Sheet in Strixhaven or the woodblock-style art treatments in the recent Final Fantasy set. Not often I get to talk about MTG in these updates, so that’s a fun one.

The Book of Yō and Beyond

The briefs for The Book of Yō have also been sent out. That book is following Densetsu in terms of the production schedule, with the Starter Set and other peripherals planned for the final stage.

So, what’s Next?

Keep an eye out for the Pledge Manager in July and thanks again for your support and patience. I’ll see you in next month's update!

Sacha & The Slightly Reckless Bunch