You are the captain of a ship, embarking on an important voyage with only the fickle stars to guide you. Chart your course by reading those stars, and keep record of your triumphs and tribulations in your captain’s log. Will you become a legend of the seas or slip silently beneath the waves?
What's The Game?
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In O Captain, you roll a pool of dice, build constellations from the result, and answer the corresponding prompts. These prompts further your story and can grant you boons to help you find new shores. But it's not all smooth sailing; gather too many setbacks, and you may find yourself swept away!
Your Dice Pool
d6s — These are the stars in the sky. When you roll your pool of stars, use their position and value to build a constellation from the book and respond to the corresponding prompt.
d8s — Your assets. You can use these dice to get a better result on a constellation. They work only once, so use them wisely!
d4s — Your setbacks. These dice may give you a worse result on a constellation. You decide when a setback comes back to bite you, but if you accrue too many, it's the end of your Captain!
d10s — Your hard-won experience. Challenging constellations grant rewards and special abilities. A d10 is like a stronger asset, and your captain keeps it ‘till their last days at sea.
Chart Your Course With Constellations
The Star Chart has two types of groupings: clusters and constellations. When you roll your dice, you decide which constellation to build.
Clusters are small and easy to build. They grant your captain resources and plot hooks into the larger game.
Constellations are larger groupings of stars, where each cluster within is a beat of a larger story. Constellations grant rewards and titles, but they’re challenging encounters made up of multiple acts. Make sure you've gathered enough stars and assets before attempting one.
Meet the Team
 | Leon Barillaro and Scott Bullock — Designers & ProducersScott is the Head Writer at Future Proof, a multimedia company in Brooklyn, NY. Leon is a freelance game designer (MCDM, Ghostfire Gaming, EN Publishing) living in Los Angeles, CA. They are best friends! Leon and Scott are storytellers and game designers with experience in all kinds of media: tabletop games, video games, immersive theater, alternate reality games—you name it! They worked together telling silly stories about robots for three years before Leon left their job to move across the country. They missed working together, so they set some time aside and made this game. They hope you love it. | | El Segal — Cover & Interior ArtistEl Segal is an illustrator, guided by culture, identity, the ornate, and a personal lexicon of symbolism. The beauty and the mystery of the sea and stars inspired their work for O Captain. El often finds themself relating to being lost in the black, searching for hope in a guiding light. | | Sadie Lowry — EditorSadie Lowry is a gold ENNIE-award-winning writer, game designer, and editor who has worked with Critical Role, Wizards of the Coast, MCDM, and Ghostfire Gaming, with notable credits including Critical Role Presents: Call of the Netherdeep and Spelljammer: Light of Xaryxis. When not lending her pen to epic stories, she can usually be found baking cupcakes, watching (awful) movies with friends, or drawing her D&D characters. |  | Anja Svare — Layout DesignerAnja Svare Productions has collaborated on a multitude of products in the TTRPG space, as well as producing their own roleplaying materials. Some of the best-selling products they have worked on are the FASERIP-inspired Astonishing Super Heroes ruleset, the Odyssey series of Theros-based adventures, the Shipwrecked series of Solo adventures for 5e D&D, the Crooked Coven Adventure series for 5e D&D, as well writing, designing, and collaborating on over 70 products for both Pathfinder and Dungeons & Dragons. |
Financial Breakdown
Editing: $2000
This is a journaling game with a light crunch to it. We want to make sure any rules we add are solid, clear, and easy to grok. Sadie's done a fantastic job with the core rules, and we'll need her expertise to make the rest of the text just as enjoyable.
Art: $2000
The art budget is important to us. Much of this book requires you to look at a picture of a constellation to make important decisions, so we want those pictures to be both clear and evocative. We would also like to get some more spot art to inspire readers as they learn the rules and play. Also, the world just needs more art from El Segal.
Layout: $650
We want to make sure all of the information is clean and easy to read. That starts with good visual design. We're estimating the final book to be around 55-60 pages, which Anja will lay out in the same gorgeous style she's brought to the preview PDF.
Materials/Production: $800
We’re planning on using Mixam or a similar publisher to put out a softcover book. This is a generous estimate of the cost of a 100-copy print run in a world where it gets more and more expensive to print a book with each passing day.
Fees: $500
These are the platform fees for using Crowdfundr! If you opt to pay them when pledging, the money we set aside for this will go towards making the book better.
Buffer: The remainder
Every project has risks and hidden costs. This buffer will ensure we’re prepared for it. All money that doesn’t get used up for the book will go towards paying Scott and Leon.
Timeline
Nov. 1 - Nov 30: The Crowdfunding! We Are Here!
Dec - March: Additional Design & Illustration
- Everything we plan on adding to the book goes here. We want to add new constellations and their art as well as more detailed Captain creation tools.
- If our stretch goals fund, that design will also be happening here.
April: Editing
May: Layout & Proofreading
June 2023: Printing & Fulfillment
Weigh Anchor!
We really believe in the O Captain system, and we want the book to be the best it can be when it reaches your hands and screens. In addition to the PDF and physical softcover book, we’ll also release a System Reference Document for the system. Once the SRD is out into the world, anyone* will be able to hack, publish, and sell supplements and games using the O Captain constellation framework.
*unless you’re a nazi; then get the hell out.
Stretch Goals
$8000 — The Crew Expansion
We’ll make a whole supplement for O Captain that adds new rules for unique crew members. A bosun, a navigator, or a cook may make the world of a difference at sea. The PDF will include two new constellations geared towards finding your crew and strengthening your bonds with them.
$8500 — Expand the Crew!
We'll get Sadie Lowry (Spelljammer: Light of Xaryxis and the editor of THIS BOOK!) and Thomas Manuel (For the Other City and The Spider in the City) to write a constellation for our Crew Expansion.
$9000 — Expand the Crew Part Two!
We've got A Couple of Drakes (Court of Blades, Dead Belt) and Carlos Cisco (Star Trek: Discovery, MCDM's ARCADIA) for another round of Constellations.
$9500 — Expand the Crew Part Three!
We'll bring in Erin Roberts (Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, Hunter: The Reckoning Fifth Edition) for another Constellation on our Crew expansion!
$9501 — Leon and Scott Get Paid!
This stretch goal, and every dollar thereafter, goes directly to Leon and Scott after taxes and fees. We appreciate your support!
Perks
You'll get a download of the full O Captain PDF, and your name in the credits.
You'll get the full-color softcover version of the book shipped directly to you, a PDF copy, and your name in the credits! The image here is a mockup and not representative of the final product.
Shipping will be collected sometime in 2023, close to the game's release.
Grab a 5-pack of die-cut constellation stickers. This image is a mockup; we may use different constellations for the stickers than the ones shown here!
Shipping will be collected sometime in 2023, close to the game's release.
Pay it forward! You can add a community copy to your order using this reward. When you purchase a community copy, one PDF of the game is made available for someone who is not able to purchase it or otherwise support the project monetarily. Community Copies will be available via Itch when the game goes live.
Give us the name of a character you've made and a little bit about them. We'll immortalize them in the stars, as part of a constellation or the lore that accompanies it. You'll also receive a PDF copy, a physical copy, and a sticker pack. Shipping will be collected sometime in 2023, close to the release of the book.
Note: Leon and Scott reserve the right to request a different name or character be used for any reason.
We'll work with you to build a three-act constellation based on your ideas. The final product will be subject to internal edits, but we'll make sure that your vision shines through. You'll be credited as a Crowdfundr Reward Designer on the Constellation we build with you.
You'll also receive a PDF copy, a physical copy, and a sticker pack. Shipping will be collected sometime in 2023, close to the release of the book.
Note: Leon and Scott reserve the right to deny content be added to your constellation design for any reason.
Highlights
See all activity278FAQ
Will I Need Extra Materials to Play The Game?
This is a game that uses dice pools. You'll need about 8 d6s, and at least 1 each of the d4, d8, and d10. Of course, the more dice you have, the better!
Can I Play This On My Stream/Podcast/Etc?
Yes! If you do, please let us know!
Does the Softcover include a copy of the PDF?
It does! I keep trying to update the wording on the reward itself, but something is preventing me from doing so. You will get a PDF download if you buy the softcover.
Activity
You'll get a download of the full O Captain PDF, and your name in the credits.
You'll get the full-color softcover version of the book shipped directly to you, a PDF copy, and your name in the credits! The image here is a mockup and not representative of the final product.
Shipping will be collected sometime in 2023, close to the game's release.
Grab a 5-pack of die-cut constellation stickers. This image is a mockup; we may use different constellations for the stickers than the ones shown here!
Shipping will be collected sometime in 2023, close to the game's release.
Pay it forward! You can add a community copy to your order using this reward. When you purchase a community copy, one PDF of the game is made available for someone who is not able to purchase it or otherwise support the project monetarily. Community Copies will be available via Itch when the game goes live.
Give us the name of a character you've made and a little bit about them. We'll immortalize them in the stars, as part of a constellation or the lore that accompanies it. You'll also receive a PDF copy, a physical copy, and a sticker pack. Shipping will be collected sometime in 2023, close to the release of the book.
Note: Leon and Scott reserve the right to request a different name or character be used for any reason.
We'll work with you to build a three-act constellation based on your ideas. The final product will be subject to internal edits, but we'll make sure that your vision shines through. You'll be credited as a Crowdfundr Reward Designer on the Constellation we build with you.
You'll also receive a PDF copy, a physical copy, and a sticker pack. Shipping will be collected sometime in 2023, close to the release of the book.
Note: Leon and Scott reserve the right to deny content be added to your constellation design for any reason.
