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Koboa: The South American 5e, PF2 and Black Flag Setting

Created by The Word Refinery

Koboa is a Tabletop RPG setting for 5e, PF2, and Black Flag created by an all South American team and based on our stories and culture. Due to the volatility of shipping prices globally right now, shipping fees for this project will be calculated at a later date once we have the best estimates for everyone. We will alert backers when shipping costs are finalized & before we charge your cards in your BackerKit pre-order. We will keep you informed all along the way!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

October Update!
about 1 month ago – Fri, Oct 18, 2024 at 08:37:17 AM

Hi all!

Development on Koboa continues chugging along.

I don't have a lot of updates for all of y'all this month. We've been working hard despite some setbacks in the team, including illnesses and family emergencies. We've had our first few layout tests done and I love the way the test pages look. Expect to hopefully see some previews of what pages will look like in the next update. We will have the PDF ready by the last week of December at the latest, we are hoping to have it ready sooner.

Have a great October/November!

Adrián Mejía

September Update
2 months ago – Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 05:23:33 AM

Hello hello!

Adrián here. This is your monthly Koboa progress update. 

First off, developmental editing is done for the 5e english book, and copy editing is 95% done. This means 95% of our text is finalized at this very moment. We've started the layout process. It is possible we will not be done with layout by this time in October, so possibly we won't be getting PDF's out until early/mid November. We'll see! Either way, it feels like the PDFs are coming soon and the whole team is so excited!

For the Portuguese localization of the book, we've almost finalized a licensing deal with a Brazilian publisher. The tentative plan right now is to do crowdfunding through a brazilian platform sometime in the first half of 2025 to help reach more people in Brazil (not everyone in Brazil uses Kickstarter) and then get the localization and printing going. 

For the Spanish localization of the book, we've decided to do it in-house. Once the text for the English version is locked in, we will start the Spanish localization. 

Black Flag conversion is chugging along. We have converted forms and backgrounds and are now working on magic items. So far we've created one new heritage (5 of the backgrounds translated well to Black Flag backgrounds, while the sixth we found worked much better as a heritage). We are hoping to get the editing process on the conversions started soon, as a first round of conversions gets through editing we'll be putting it to you all for playtesting.

PF2e conversions is also chugging along, but the process is proving to be more work-intensive, since PF2 has a lot more differences from 5e than BF does. Currently we are focusing on forms and hope to get a preview out in the next month or two.

Finally, our layout artist, Manchae, wanted to share his experience playtesting Koboa at an event!

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Hey peeps! Manchae here. Today, I want to talk with you about a playtest run of Koboa I DM’ed at an event a while ago, how players received it and what surprised me the most about the material we have so far.

For starters, Adrián and I prepared a character sheet for each new subclass we have in Koboa, using our new forms. From the School of Sun and Moon Wizard Guveng to the Ranger of The Sacred Below Ghintak, we were very confident that we had an amazing roster of characters for players to choose from.

I had time to DM the sample adventure 4 times, and the first thing that engaged people were their unique forms. People loved to describe how their backwards feet and fiery hair looked like as a Ghintak, and what sort of insect swarm their Guvengs were. A young girl was amazed that she could be a bunch of fireflies, lighting up in constellation shapes as she moved.

After the initial amazement at the new forms, the adventure went on and our party of Stoneseekers discovered the threat of Neo-conquistadores at the border, and how they steal lives, land and culture. It was an amazing moment to see them rally up to help villagers and their kidnapped pet (a cute capybara) from the scouting party of the enemy army.

A surprise battle ensued, players getting the higher ground,  and I made sure to throw an atrocious line with each Neo-conquistador counterattack. “Why can’t you be conquered in peace?” and “You’re rejecting progress! We are the progress!” were the ones that made players the angriest. They were so engaged in combat that they were describing their attacks and actions  without me even needing to prompt them.
 

After combat, characters reunite the village with their pet and learn that the capybara is the holder of the sacred amulet that makes the town invisible and protects the border. I gifted each player the character sheet and handout of the character they played, so that they can use them on their home games.

Talks after the game session revolved around how amazing the character options are (both the form powers and new subclass abilities) and how engaging the world seems to them. Players  compared it a lot to Brazilian folklore “but presented in an epic way, like Greek mythology”, and had the most fun punching Neo-conquistadores in the face, which granted them a “feeling of overcoming powerlessness in the face of oppression."

What amazed me the most were how they were easily pushed to working as a team and how eager they were to interact with the world. Also, how mad they got when the Neo-conquistadores revealed their plan to colonize Koboa once more. All in all, I’m super happy with the results, and how easy it was to get players to engage with our stuff.

Can’t wait to hear from y’all how your playtests go!

Manchae

August Udate!
3 months ago – Tue, Aug 20, 2024 at 06:24:09 AM

Hello everyone! 

Here is our August update! Editing continues at a good pace. I'd estimate we have about 80% of the book's text finalized and ready for layout. This includes all classes, subclasses, spells, magic items, and two of the five gazetteers. Hopefully by next month or by October we'll be well within the layout process! 

On another note, we made t-shirts for some of the team members to wear at cons and what-not. The site we used made it easy to put the designs into a digital print-on-demand store, so we did just that! If any of you would be interested in Koboa shirts, you can check them out here.

Conversion for PF2 and BF goes well. We've got our first draft of conversions for all forms and subclasses in BF and are working on our conversion for forms in PF2. We'll send you playtest docs as soon as they are in a good state.

That's all for now friends, thank you so much for your support!

Adrián Mejía

Atualizações do Projeto (Julho)
4 months ago – Mon, Jul 15, 2024 at 04:22:52 PM

Olá, galerinha! Aqui é o Manchae, e eu sou o responsável por Koboa no Brasil. Vim trazer para vocês algumas atualizações sobre nossas projeções de lançamento e de término das tarefas atuais. 

Cronograma de Lançamento 

Sinto muito pela demora na atualização do nosso novo cronograma de lançamento. A gente tem trabalhado arduamente para garantir um alto nível de qualidade de tudo, mesmo que isso signifique demorar um pouquinho a mais para entregar os produtos para vocês. Peço sinceras desculpas em nome da nossa equipe, mas ao mesmo tempo estou bastante empolgado para que vocês vejam o resultado final. Nossas projeções originais para o início dos envios eram as seguintes:

  • Produtos digitais seriam entregues por volta de Outubro de 2024
  • Produtos físicos começariam a ser enviados a partir de Fevereiro de 2025

Agora, as projeções de datas atualizadas ficaram assim: 

  • Produtos digitais serão entregues por volta de Janeiro de 2025
  • Produtos físicos começarão a ser enviados a partir de Maio de 2025

Lembrem-se de que estas são datas estimativas que fizemos devido ao tamanho do trabalho a ser feito - eu e toda a equipe queremos que nosso trabalho chegue em suas mãos o mais rápido possível, e temos esperança de bater nossas metas internas e lançar as coisas mais cedo (mas não posso prometer nada, pois não sou vidente). 

Pesquisas 

Estamos planejando o que priorizar após completar a versão 5E em inglês do livro de cenário de Koboa. Estamos trabalhando arduamente nas versões PF2 e Black Flag, mas a previsão é de que elas só sejam concluídas algum tempo após a versão 5E. Por isso, fizemos uma pesquisa para medir o interesse de vocês nessas versões alternativas e na possibilidade de mais produtos impressos. Atualmente nosso plano é oferecer versões impressas do livro de cenário (versão 5E) em inglês e português, e todo o restante em PDF. Esta pesquisa nos ajudará a decidir se podemos expandir essa oferta para as outras versões de Koboa. Faça a pesquisa aqui.

Pra fechar esse comunicado,  fique com esta prévia do livro: a ilustração de uma cidade de Novpo, por Edwin Lozano.

Atenciosamente, 

L Gustavo "Manchae" Pelatieri

Actualización de Julio
4 months ago – Mon, Jul 15, 2024 at 04:22:18 PM

¡Hola!

Este mes les comparto actualizaciones en tres publicaciones, cada una en un idioma distinto: español, inglés, y portugués. Las publicaciones contienen la misma información. Esta es la publicación en español.
 

Cronograma

Lastimosamente, nos estamos demorando más de lo esperado en completar el proyecto. Seguimos trabajando duro para crear un producto de máxima calidad, ya que nos es más importante terminarlo bien de que terminarlo rápido. Sin embargo, nos estamos esforzando por aun así entregarles el producto final lo más pronto posible, ya que estamos emocionadísimos por mostrarles lo que hemos creado.

Nuestras proyecciones finales eran las siguientes:

  • Productos digitales en inglés entregados en octubre de 2024
  • Productos físicos en inglés enviados en febrero de 2025

Nuestras proyecciones nuevas son las siguientes:

  • Productos digitales en inglés entregados en enero de 2025
  • Productos físicos en inglés enviados en mayo de 2025

Recuerden que estas solo son proyecciones - las cosas pueden cambiar, pero el equipo y yo tenemos la esperanza de aún poder terminar temprano (no les prometo nada - no soy brujo y no puedo predecir el futuro).

El texto del libro en inglés necesita estar finalizado antes de que podamos comenzar la localización al español. 

Encuestas

Estamos planificando las áreas en las que nos enfocaremos mientras terminamos la versión de 5e del libro en inglés. Estamos trabajando arduamente en las conversiones a PF2 y Black Flag pero creemos que se demorarán un poco más que la versión de 5e. Hemos creado una encuesta para recibir sus opiniones de lo que más les importa a ustedes y también para determinar cuánto interés existe para las versiones físicas de las diferentes versiones del libro. Les recuerdo que nuestro plan garantizado implica ofrecer libros físicos de Koboa en 5e en inglés y portugués, mientras las otras versiones existirán en formato PDF. Esta encuesta puede ayudarnos a ver si es factible ofrecer libros físicos en otras versiones.

Pueden llenar la encuesta haciendo clic aquí.

Vista Previa

Termino esta publicación con la arte increíble de Edwin Lozano, dándoles una mirada a una ciudad de Novpo en Koboa.

Gracias

Adrián Mejía