Hello outlaws,

There's a lot of news to share today. Most of interest to non-owners:

COPPERHEAD COUNTY PRESENTS: EL CAMIÓN: A COPPERHEAD COUNTY SALE

You may have heard that today is the premiere of a certain spinoff movie about an El Camino. In honor of this holy weekend, Copperhead County is 20% OFF until Tuesday. Copperhead County doesn't have anything so cool as an El Camino, but we do have a cool truck (aka "el camión") on the cover. Get it? El Camino? El Camión? Hey, we're having fun here.

Seriously folks, when people mention this game they like to talk about Justified. That's fine. I love Justified. But the #1 biggest influence on Copperhead County, gliding over all, is Breaking Bad  (and its partner in the ABQiverse, Better Call Saul). Copperhead County isn't the only Breaking Bad-influenced game on the RPG market, but I would submit, in its embrace of long-form, process-oriented, serialized campaign play, it is the closest.

So if you enjoy El Camino this weekend and think, "garsh, what if I get me a tabletop RPG that's kinda like that except in a different state," you know where to turn.

COPPERHEAD COUNTY v8

During this transitional period from the Early Access game to the final game, I've been loath to update the EA PDF too much, because I don't want to bother you and I don't want to devote time to it that could be better spent writing a book. But sometimes in the course of development it behooves me to do so anyway, and today is such a time. v8 of Copperhead County includes a bevy of edits that have trickled down to the EA game from my work on the final game, like:

• A bunch of fixed typos and shit on the sheets (and if you notice something is still fucked up, pls let me know)
• A reorganization and streamlining of the claims system, which is now called the "Business" system
• Expanded each claim entry with more detail
• Replaced a crew's starting claim with an ongoing "Business Focus" mechanic
• New downtime activity: Run the Business
• Now using the Hardcore Resistance variant, where resistance rolls use your lowest die result
• Changed some special abilities for the Cleaner, Hazard, Stringer, and Outfit
• Edited and cleaned up special ability, upgrade, and item text

PROGRESS REPORT

Where are we with the final text? The past few weeks have been a flurry of activity from me. A lot of the changes in v8 come out of me finalizing the Characters, Crew, and Business chapters. Between those three chapters, that's a big chunk of work that's almost finished.

There's still a big chunk left. I've also been working on reorganizing and expanding the setting chapter, adding more locations, NPCs, and example jobs. Plus there's a lot of gameplay stuff left to finalize, like telling you how to roll dice and set effect and consequences and whatnot. But I have sincerely been working on this every night for the past few weeks and am making good progress.

LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, AND SHARE

The Labor Day sale was pretty successful, and I hope Copperhead County appreciators can help the EL CAMIÓN sale be pretty good, too. 

If I can provide a peek behind the glamorous curtain of obscure, indie, DIY TRPG development and publishing for a second, Copperhead County is very close to breaking even. When I started this journey on itch.io last year, I was uninterested in using a certain monopolistic internet retail TRPG competitor who eats 35% of your revenue, and I was uninterested in using a certain monopolistic, anti-union crowdfunding platform who also eats your revenue (which should recognize their workers' union btw). Starting a project like this independently and making a product that anyone wants to buy takes capital, which all came out of my pocket: software, art, additional writing, and those shiny new playbooks all cost money. Happily, this game is getting closer and closer to at least making that investment back. Plus, if I can raise any more money, I can do things like... buy more art! Pay for badly needed editing! Pay for more writing and consultation! Make you shiny roll20 sheets! Etc!

But to raise money takes customers, and it's hard for indie RPGs on this website to stand out in a marketplace dominated by big companies, big platforms, and big projects raising tens or hundreds of times the funding this game will ever see. So if you like this game, are interested in its success, want to make it even better, and want to support actual independent game development, please consider smashing that BUY NOW button and encouraging others to do the same (perhaps by smashing that RT button).

That's all for now!