Stories From the Slip launches May 6th
+ 6 celebration foods
Welcome to the worlds by watt newsletter. I’m watt, creator of the ecological science fantasy tabletop roleplaying game Cloud Empress. You can preorder the new Cloud Empress box on Backerkit. You can find worlds by watt digital products at DriveThruRPG. For all things Cloud Empress go to CloudEmpress.com.
TL;DR Summary
📜 Stories from the Slip launches May 6th
📈 Why crowdfund now?
🧇 6 celebration foods expansion
📖 What I’m reading and playing
📜 Stories from the Slip launches May 6th
Three new Cloud Empress zines will launch on Backerkit on Tuesday, May 6th.
In Bodyhopping in Polite Society, bodyhopping expert Tasha 'Sweet' Hart outlines the do's and don't's of donning human corpses. This supplement is perfect for players and Game Wardens looking to add flavor to the bodyhoppers in their campaigns.
In Ballad of the Blooming Blade, you'll learn of the fabled Sellsword, Boulder, information about the Frog Dog Company, and their rivals the equally infamous League of Death. This supplement adds numerous dangerous enemies and special chalk-powder sword-spells.
The Cloud Empress Almanac, Vol. 2, collects my second year's worth of newsletter expansions in physical form. Enrich your game with celebration foods (see the newest expansion below), descriptions and stats for many Cloud Empress's wildlife, and new Cloud Empress NPCs.
Finally, don't miss an adorable 3" embroidered patch of the shrimp-mouse, a pivotal critter featured in Ballad of the Blooming Blade.
These new zines are some of the most adventurous and creative writing I’ve done to date. I can’t wait to share it with you! To deliver the project within three months, production will be limited to a 1000-copy print run and will not be available at retail.
📈 Why Crowdfund now?
I wanted to dive deeper into why I chose to crowdfund new Cloud Empress expansions and alleviate some fears about running multiple campaigns simultaneously. Let me start by saying, I’m averse to creators running multiple crowdfunding campaigns. It can lead to all sorts of unfortunate situations where a publisher (intentionally or accidentally) robs Peter to pay Paul. Let me explain why I’m running another crowdfunding campaign while Cloud Empress: Life & Death is still being printed.
I’m running this campaign lean. No stretch goals. One pledge level. Printed in the US and shipped out of my basement (like the first Cloud Empress campaign). The number of pledges will be limited to 1000 to keep turnaround reasonable.
I’m afraid of tariffs. The United States has been ramping up an international trade war. Recent tariffs on Chinese goods will cut into the first campaign funds and having a buffer from another campaign will help offset unpredictable costs.
I’m paying artists to create great stuff for 2026. I have two art teams working on monthly commissions for future projects (I can’t wait to tell you more about them). Keeping a steady stream of income means I can keep my art teams paid and working.
I have little or no personal work left to complete on Cloud Empress: Life and Death. At this point, the Cloud Empress box set samples are being prepared and production will start in late April or early May. I like making stuff and don’t want to sit on my hands for the six or so months it will take to ship Cloud Empress: Life and Death internationally.
Quite a lot of ‘Stories from the Slip’ is complete already. I’ve been commissioning artwork for the project for months and writing for just as long. I’ll share a more detailed picture of the project's progress in May.
I’m testing Backerkit Crowdfunding. Ideally, I’d like to launch two campaigns a year between multiple crowdfunding platforms. Stories from the Slip will allow me to build a Backerkit audience and test out the crowdfunding platform. Having experience and followers on multiple platforms means I won’t be beholden to a single company (which feels particularly important in this day and age).
🧇 6 celebration foods expansion
Baked Gelatin. A Cloudling favorite in winter months, in no small part due to how long these wobbling mounds last when placed under glass covers set against frosty portholes. Children pick out the floating chunks of candied fruit while elders avoid cracking their teeth on the same treats.
Caramelized Crickets. Insects thrive in abundance under the Spread. While crickets might ravage an untended Farmerling’s crop, young hands turn a plague of locusts into a veritable feast. Summer campfires and birthday parties fry up crickets by the hundreds using dashes of sugar or tree sap to create caramelized cricket’s signature sweet taste, although hot pepper flakes may also be added for savory treats.
Cheese Cobs. Not all delicacies require ingenuity or skill. When among milk-producing goat-mules or cow-cats, Farmerlings peel back ripe ears of corn and nest gobs of cheese between the hard kernels and husks. The cheesy pockets then get placed on hot coals until the cheese melts onto the soft kernels, but before the corn pops.
High Rising Cinamon Sponge Cake. The Hereafter’s supply of sweets severely declined with the arrival of the Century Brood and the invasion of the 29th Expedition. Veteran Couriers know some summers are best left to the bugs. Still, six cinnamon sticks are worth more than a handful of chalk to a Cloudling chef—and a Courier could live off of a handful of chalk for a month. Farmeling stories say High Rising Cinnamon Sponge Cake tastes like clouds dappled in a bee’s honey. Farmerling stories say the Emperor slices fresh cake at every meal while their children go hungry.
Layered Sap Chips. Delicate layers of sap sugar dry and peel from sheaves of Imago wings. Imitated across the Lowland Wastes, but rarely surpassed in quality, Brood Monks prove Imago wings are integral to the coin’s thick layers of sweet sugar. Brood Monks treat the collection of sap and crisp drying process as another part of their asceticism. Imago wings must only be collected from fragments blown off of an Imago by the wind. Brood Monks rarely taste their own produce, instead trading the whole of their ribbon-wrapped crisps for the necessities to survive brutal winters in the Thickwood during visits to Tack Town. Brood Monk children make for especially fruitful barterers when trading the season crips.
Sweetberry Pie. Farmerling bakers often claim their recipes descend directly from Mother Sweetberry herself. Mother Sweetberry gets credited for seeding the cherished sweetberry bushes in the Breadbasket, taming the first wild cow-cats, and crafting the first cast iron pan out of a Cloudlings pauldron. Frightful divisions among Farmerlings erupt when the preferred quality of a sweetberry pie is mentioned (flaky or soft). Arguments over whether sweetberrys should be mashed or baked whole have led to violence and even threatens to undermine Farmerlings’ military efforts against the 29th Expedition.
You can download a PDF copy of the 6 celebreation foods expansion, and all previous newsletter expansions here.
📖 What I’m reading, watching and playing
Severance (Season 2)
The Big Squirm by Luke Gearing
The Dinotopia series by James Gurney
Monster Hunter Wilds
Magic the Gathering Commander (Food deck and mono-red dragons)
Thanks for subscribing to the worlds by watt newsletter!
For all things Cloud Empress go to CloudEmpress.com.
-watt
This is all extremely cool as hell.
I like the idea of in-universe books!
Was there a print edition of the first volume of the Cloud Empress Almanac?
Thanks!