Fluffle

This campaign will go on after the Fig campaign that is correct. And I agree that the $8 dollars for the BIB badge may be confusing with this campaign. It was not my decision to separate these two things. I actually did want to combine them. Once again, please, do not misunderstand me. I do not intend to complain. It is your money and you should know best where and when and how to spend it. And I am very grateful to anyone who decides to spend their money on this! I am merely curious by this ration of 122 voters on the poll and 26 backers. So it's about 21% of the voters who also decided to donate. Okay so I gather from your replies that you are waiting for March and I understand that. Thank you for letting me know

Okay, so, let's make an observation: This thread is soon going to have 7000 views. 122 people voted on the poll of this thread. But only 26 people actually donated. I have been spending much more time on this already than I intended. My actual idea was to fund a Black Isle, therefore several weeks ago I put up this poll: https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/91401-backing-a-black-isle-for-the-deadfire-archipelago/ 105 people voted that they would join crowd funding a Black Isle. Then the developers decided to give us a Black Isle for free but at the same time encouraged us to try to fund a pirate crew. My naive assumption was the Black Isle Bastards would get the same support as the Black Isle. I am beginning to realize that that is not the case. From 122 people who voted on this poll, it seems that roughly about 100 people would not even spend $1 on this. I do not judge you for that and this should not come off as a complaint (it's your money after all!), but as an observation. I am not a fund raiser, and I don't want to have my own little crowd funding campaign here where I need to sweet talk people into donating their money. Either the support is there based on the opening post or it is not. I am very unsure what to do next, how to go on. I think the most realistic approach is to go for the item tier at $750. At this point a huge thank you once again for the people who did donate on this. But for the moment I would actually like to know what is keeping people from donating. This was originally supposed to be a community project. You were to meet the Black Isle Bastards in the game and people would say "Hey, the Black Isle Bastards, those are from the Obsidian Community! How cool! Awesome!" or something like that. Let me know what you think. But spending so much time and effort on this was not what I initially signed up for.

Okay that is funny. But I do not take responsibility for that. Guys, I expect you to read the opening posts before voting. The same goes for the thread where we collect the money for this cause. And I also expect people to read very carefully and thoroughly the F.A.Q. in the opening post of that other thread BEFORE donating. So please, be sure to read the opening posts completely! That is my sincere request to you. A lot of misunderstandings and false expectations can be avoided by that. And if something is indeed left unclear in the opening posts, then let me know. Luckily in the case of voting you can change your vote later on.

Also we should limit the size of a captain's log if we are going for the log. Imagine we would get 50 or more backers in the end, then that log would be very long indeed. So I suppose that we put a cap, like 20 people or maybe 30 - and the other way to make sure the log doesn't explode in size would be the amount of the donation required to be entered into the log. I think, we may not even have to decide on one option. Let's say, we agree that 20 people can be mentioned in the captain's log. We could still additionally make option D for 10 other donors. Oh and I just had a new idea: E) Carve your name into the ship of the Black Isle Bastards. You represent a former member of the BIB and all BIBs have carved their names into planks of the ship.

I just wanted to make clear that you would not be able to submit "Fluffy Marshmallow" (for example) as a character name and expect Obsidian to put that into their game. If we agree on submitting names, they must be reasonable, and Obsidian must be allowed to adjust/change them so that they better fit into the game. Or they may ask you to come up with a new name altogether. Which they could also adjust/change.

Just remember though, no matter what we decide on, any input that you submit to Obsidian for this may be subject to change. This also applies to names. So if you submit a name, then Obsidian is free to change it into a name that better fits into the game. But you would hopefully still be able to recognize your name. I just don't want to raise false expectations here. This is necessary so that what happened with the tombstones does not happen again. Whatever you submit may be subject to change by Obsidian. As such there is no guarantee you would recognize your submitted input. I think that's why option A may have one advantage over the others. Obsidian wouldn't have to change the input so that it fits into the game.

The tombstones are different in so far as you could write a message and it was taken 1 by 1 into the game. That will not happen again anyway, so don't worry. You know, Obsidian could just write any book ingame and hide a secret message within that could lead to a treasure. Just that in option B) we could provide some input and Obsidian would work with this input and turn it into something that fits into the book and the game and its lore. So it would differ very much from the tombstones.

@Gromnir I added a special note in the opening post to clarify that polls like this one serve as suggestions to Obsidian and that they're not bound by the results. So if Obsidian shares your concerns they will not do it anyway. Yet people should be able to vote for and express what they like or dislike. Just as you just expressed that you rather dislike one idea.

It would not be the real names of our donors, maybe I should have clarified that. It's rather that our donors would be able to choose a fantasy name. And Obsidian would additionally make sure that that name fits into the game. But I share your concern about that backer content should be optional and you should be able to ignore it if you want to. On the other hand the donors would only provide the fantasy names which would additionally adjusted by Obsidian if needed be. The log or ledger would be written by Obsidian, not by us!

So, I was thinking about immortalizing our donors into the game. First off, very important: I do not want something like the tombstones in PoE1 to happen. They were ill received for breaking the fourth wall/immersion. So any idea about immortalizing one self into the game must be with respect to respecting the integrity and the lore of the game. There are some ideas, and maybe you will have more ideas, then please don't be shy and do share them. A) Special pirate credits for our donors in the credits of the game. As an option you can choose a "piratey" name for you (within reason). B) In the game you can find a captain's log of the Black Isle Bastards. In that log you can read about the people they met on their journeys through the Deadfire Archipelago. And our donors would represent those people. Aarik told me about this idea. I think it was Adam's idea originally. I would like to have such a log an actual use in the game. Therefore I had the idea that there is a secret message hidden within that log, that the player needs to decipher. And if the player manages to do that he or she will be lead to the location of the treasure of the Black Isle Bastards. So such a log would serve two purposes: Immortalizing our donors here, AND finding the treasure of the Black Isle Bastards in the game. The log could also be a ledger of former members of the Black Isle Bastards. C) A talking parrot who'd talk about deceased/lost members of the Black Isle Bastards who represent our donors D) An old member of the Black Isle Bastards who tells stories about deceased/lost members of the Black Isle Bastards who represent our donors In any way, being immortalized via one of these ways or even another way would require a minimum donation for our cause AND a separate request for being added to me via PM (so that I can take track of all the donors who'd like that). Please do not be upset about a minimum amount of donation for this, because that is our aim. We do want to raise money after all and by that support Obsidian. Let me know what you think. Also you would have to agree that Obsidian can adjust the content that you would submit so that it does not break immersion/fourth wall. I really don't want something like the tombstones and Obsidian doesn't want that either (or else they would have offered that on Fig).

So, attention everyone, we actually do have a discord channel made by @Aarik just for us! So if you prefer to chat in real time drop by any time you like!

Don't worry combining options is always an option. I still do not enable multiple choices because I would like everyone to pick their absolute favorite choice in each category.

"The Heaving Harlot" has been added to the options. I removed on of the options that nobody had voted for yet. Please check your vote if this concerns you

Ahoy Korin, and thank you very much for your donation! Welcome to our crew! And thank you, Kennyrules, for your good wishes! I hope we will make it!

@Madscientist Funny that you mention a kraken. Because I made a map of my personal vision of a Black Isle (note: it's just a fantasy map, it will not be the actual Black Isle). There is a place called "Kraken Bay" and I asked a friend to draw a kraken for that! And he just sent me his drawing, right a few minutes after you posted. My old map: And here comes the kraken! All credits for this kraken go to lolien on the Beamdog forum! So, here's the updated map: So yeah, Kraken Bay, has a new inhabitant and I strongly advise AGAINST swimming there, or sailing there...

Hey everyone I have put up a new poll for our ship! Hope many of you will participate See you there

(Note: The purpose of this image is only to support the crowd funding of our pirate crew. By no way does it make any decisions on the Black Isle Bastards' ship. Credits for the font used on the image go to Raymond Larabie: http://www.1001fonts.com/vinque-font.html#license Credits for the image go to: https://de.fotolia.com/p/205428757 ) Ahoy mateys! We have had a lot of support from Obsidian, making the Black Isle come true and creating the Black Isle Bastards forum badge for us on this forum. Now, we would actually like to make the Black Isle Bastards come true in Pillars of Eternity 2. We are therefore collecting money in another thread, and some people have already generously donated to our cause. So at this point a huge thank you to Obsidian Entertainment and to our donors. Our next step is to discuss our ship, how else can the Black Isle Bastards sail through the Deadfire Archipelago and reach their destination, the Black Isle? This is what this thread is for. You can vote in this thread and comment on the subject of the ship of the Black Isle Bastards! Also feel free to make new suggestions about the the ship at any time! Note: As always a poll like this serves simply as suggestions to Obsidian and Obsidian is in no way bound to the results of this poll. For the first question see the links below to get more information of the different types of ships: 2.) Barque 3.) Sloop 4.) Brig 5.) Brigantine 6.) Canoe 7.) Caravel 8.) Junk (Ship) 9.) Pirogue 10.) Schooner 11.) Frigate See you on board, mate!

Hey, tilly and Koth, thank you for your donations! And welcome on board! For a very brief moment I had that idea too, but then I felt uncomfortable with the implications of calling them "bastards". It's okay to call ourselves that way in an ironic way, but personally I'm uncomfortable with calling the devs that way - even indirectly only. However, we are going to give Obsidian a lot of freedom in designing anyway. At least that's the current plan. And if they would like to model the ingame Black Isle Bastards after themselves I would not object.

Hey Jonathan, welcome on board! Arr! Yes, every dollar counts and helps us! Thank you Also you are very welcome to participate in creation of this content!

Wow we have collected $666 now xD But in disregard of the curiosity of that number once again, a big thank you for everyone supporting this

I think some of the stories of the backer NPCs where quite good. The problem was, they where all over the place and almost always where godlikes. What if every donator could write a very small pirate story (I mean very short. Basically just anecdotes, jokes or piraty poems) and on the island there is this old pirate telling those stories if you speak to him? I like that idea a lot actually. But I see the problem in checking the content. There is a certain habit. When backers try to immortalize themselves into a game, they want to be "special". Now when a lot of people do that, then it may sound ridiculous at one point. You would get one pirate after another who'd be more special and awesome than all other living beings ever witnessed. There is a huge risk that that could happen. Someone would need to check the backer-written content. And have the authority to adjust it. Also it must be lore friendly and in no way break immersion. I had a similar idea. I was thinking of a talking parrot who could say one liners about deceased or lost members of the Black Isle Bastards.

Also I have updated the opening post by a disclaimer and I will post it here again so that everyone who does not regularly look for an updated opening post sees this too: Disclaimer: I am the sole person who is collecting the funds and who is responsible for the donations. Obsidian Entertainment is not involved in these donations in any way, however they are fully supportive of this project. Donating here will NOT give you a copy of the game (an exception may apply for one of the most generous donors as specified in the F.A.Q.).

If we want that, yes. We ourselves are not funding a tavern/inn. And as I said above we should not make our ship a inn, because another backer is making their inn a ship. Plus, I doubt anyway that we are allowed to make a fully fleshed out inn out of our ship. Because that is what the tier "Own an inn" is for. Not our tier. So yes, we can try to find a backer who'd like to put their inn on the Black Isle.

So, there were quite a lot of "yes" votes on this poll. I would just like to inform everybody who was in support of this, that Obsidian has decided to give us a Black Isle for free: So now we are going to pursue crowd funding the Black Isle Bastards a pirate crew that is associated with the Black Isle! Obsidian supports our project, if you'd like to know more about it, check it out here.

Hey hey hey welcome to our crew! Arrr!