Seven years ago, I made some promises regarding Streets of Bedlam. Promises I didn’t keep. Promises I likely will never keep. And I apologize for that. Over the past seven years, my life has taken a number of twists, turns, dips, roundabouts, dropoffs, peaks, and valleys. My life has changed, friends. Considerably.

The very foundation of this here neo-noir game changed as well. A great new edition of Savage Worlds came out in 2019–itself already five years old. Tons of new neo-noir films have come out (a genre in which I am woefully behind). I no longer have much time for personal projects.

That said, I still love Streets of Bedlam to pieces. Such a fun world to crash into now and then. Such fun characters to write. I feel a need, a draw to do something with it.

A new edition? A novel? A video game?

I want to do all three. But I ain’t promising anything.

Not yet.

Maybe when I get one of ’em closer to the finish line, I’ll talk about it.

Until then, thanks for stopping in. Thanks for thinking of my old friend.

See ya on the streets.

The past two weeks have been a busy time full of signing, packing, stamping, filling out customs forms, and spending a lot of money at the post office. All in the name of Kickstarter fulfillment! Here’s where things are:

If You Pledged $25

Your book is either on its way or in your hands! This includes domestic and international backers. Three batches went out: one last week; one on Saturday; one today. All the internationals at this level went out last week and Saturday (most of them last week). The domestics were fairly split between Saturday and today. A few domestics went out last week so I could gauge postage cost.

If You Pledged $45 or More

I had originally intended to wait until the hardcopies of Five-Story Drop were in-hand but I can’t, in good conscience, leave you all waiting. So I’m going to fulfill all your hardcopies this week, including any dice or additional books due at your pledge level, and then ship Five-Story Drop separately once it’s done.

Five-Story Drop

Speaking of, Shawn and I both are still in production on this book. I hope to have it done (including print copies) by end of November but I can’t hard promise that. I will keep you all in the loop.

Sounds of Bedlam

Ed is still hard at work getting the last half of the soundtrack together. I don’t have any further news on that front currently.

Ready-Made Characters

A lot of you are due that six-pack PDF of ready-made characters as well. I should have them done the same time as Five-Story Drop.

All of this is much later than I had anticipated and promised. I will keep working to make this up to you all. Your patience has been amazing and humbling. Thank you all.

Hey all,

If you haven’t since late last night, download a fresh copy of the Streets of Bedlam PDF to see the new drug rules, Edges, Hindrances, random episode generator, and a bunch of other touch-ups and polish.

In addition, I’ve uploaded the files to the printer and have ordered the physical proof. Once that’s approved, I’ll order the books!

The next book Five-Story Drop is in production currently. I hope to have that all done inside six weeks. It’s been a slow crawl back from the delay caused by the out-of-state move, starting a new job, etc. Thank you all for your patience. You’ve been wonderful.

Hey everyone! As you may know, I’m in the midst of a new job and an out-of-state move but I wanted to give you all an update on where the print edition of SoB and the PDF/print edition of Five-Story Drop are at.

SoB: Print Edition
I was lucky enough after launching Streets of Bedlam to receive some raw, honest feedback on the book. The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive but fans of Savage Worlds and neo-noir weren’t shy about pointing some areas that could be strong. I’m taking advantage of being able to update the PDF prior to committing to print to tweak the text a bit, add some more content, and do more and more edit passes. My aim is to get the print edition in-hand next month.

SoB: Five-Story Drop
My plan for the first supplement, Five-Story Drop, is to get it out in PDF in September and then in print around early October. If I can do earlier, I certainly will.

All of this is about half-a-year out from my initial target. I apologize sincerely for that. I could push out the PDF to the printer right now and have everything in hand by mid-August, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make SoB even better and give you all even more content.

SoB: Sounds
Ed is currently hard at work on the tracks. The stuff I’ve heard has been amazing. I’m aiming to get “Side A” of the compilation out to backers next week or so with “Side B” to follow sometime after.

SoB: Dice
For those interested, I’ll be doing a pre-order for the Streets of Bedlam dice very soon. Folks who backed the Kickstarter at $60 or more are already getting these custom dice, but I love them so much I made a bunch to share with you all. I’ll get that pre-order rolling soon.

I was going to write a fake-out post about how I was pushing it back yet another week but decided I couldn’t do that to you good people.

Nope, the Streets of Bedlam corebook is out now in PDF. If you pre-ordered the book or are a qualifying Kickstarter backer, you should have received an email from DriveThruRPG with a link and discount code (taking the price down to zero dollars for you). If you haven’t yet, that means I’m still working through the list and you should by the end of the day. I’ll update the Streets of Bedlam twitter account when all the PDF codes have gone out so be sure to check there!

UPDATE: All codes have been sent out to Kickstarter backers and those who pre-ordered. If you don’t see the email from DriveThruRPG, check your spam filter. If you still don’t see it, please drop me a line and let me know.

While I wish this book was perfect and I could dust my hands of it, I still have some work to do.

1) I have typo edits to go through still. These came in from advance readers and I’ve been too busy with everything else to attend to all of them. So I don’t recommend printing this file out yet as I’ll be updating it over the next two weeks as typos are obliterated and layout errors and inconsistencies are fixed.

2) There’s no index! Not yet! But there will be! I didn’t want to do the index until the interior text is polished. The final PDF and print book will have an index to ease in navigation.

3) The print book will be uploaded to the printer in about two weeks. Should take two to three weeks for those copies to get printed, bound, and sent to me. I’ll then go about getting them all sent to you. I will need some patience processing everything but will try to do so with efficiency, expediency, and something else that begins with e.

4) The Kickstarter-exclusive Archetypes will roll out in a week or so. I’ll notify everyone when they’re available. I think you’ll really dig them.

5) Five-Story Drop is currently slated for August, as is Sounds of Bedlam. If I can get either out earlier, I will.

Alright, that’s it. Streets of Bedlam is out! I appreciate all your support and understanding from the moment the Kickstarter went active to now. Now go, buy, read, play, do bad things to worse people! I’d love to hear your thoughts, stories, and more either in the comments here or, even better, over at the official SW Licensees forum.

Something Shawn and I noticed going through the NPCs list is that a good 90% of the Kickstarter characters are men. This is a product of the Kickstarter demographics, of course, but it makes for a heavily-skewed public directory. Normally I’d just add a bunch more female NPCs but I’ve created some 250+ characters and, hey, I still need to get the book out.

So, here’s the thing: If you are a male Kickstarter backer who is being represented in the book (and if you pledged at least $5, that includes you) and would like to volunteer to have your NPC turned into a female, that would be awesome.

Shawn and I realize this is a strange request. And none of you are under any obligation to volunteer. I realize part of the incentive in being an NPC in the book is the ability to point at the listing and say, “Hey, that’s me! I’m a coked-out corrupt cop under investigation by Internal Affairs. SWEET!”

But if you’re up for it, just let me know.

This past week has been a blur of faces as I work through the 250 minor NPCs and good dozen or so Major NPCs from the Kickstarter backers. And that’s not including the other Major NPCs. So, yeah, lots of characters for you Savage Worlds gamemasters.

The rest has been fine-tuning the Archetypes. If you checked out the Bulldog PDF preview last week, you got a good glimpse of what I’m doing for all the Archetypes in the book and the Kickstarter-exclusive Archetypes and the Archetypes I’ll be rolling out for special events and promotions and whatnot.

When I said Streets of Bedlam was all about character, I wasn’t kidding.

I’m having outsiders put their eyes on the write-ups to make sure the rules-related stuff is crystal clear. The game has a definite voice, and I really like writing that way, but I don’t want the mechanic and system stuff to be obscured by lingo or flavor. In fact, thanks in big part to Streets backer Josh Bazin, the “Can Take a Punch” Edge description for the Bulldog is now much clearer.

Anyway, working through the character sections of the corebook is like trudging through the swamp. It’s seemingly slow progress because it’s a series of heavy, concentrated steps. Once you’re free from it though, you’re running like the wind.

To give myself breaks, I’ve been alternating between PC and NPC work with setting stuff and scenario stuff. This is all coming together very well. I’m not 100% sure this book will be out in PDF before month’s end but whatever delay comes shouldn’t be crazy.

Sounds of Bedlam
The stuff Ed has sent over is jaw-dropping. Cannot wait for it all to come in. If you haven’t already, check out the teaser I posted last week. You can hear a full track on the trailer I posted a few months ago as well.

I’m so very happy that Streets of Bedlam will have a soundtrack of this quality. Thank you so much for making this happen. I never could have commissioned it without your Kickstarter support. I hope you all enjoy the tracks as much as I do.

Five-Story Drop
Outside the initial scenario write-ups, I haven’t yet touched this. My entire focus has been on the corebook.

In Sum
That’s where things are at! I have three full workdays this week and plan to get A LOT done. I’m aiming to finish up all but the last chapter this week. Can’t guarantee it, but that’s definitely the goal.

Later this Week
Could it be…the cover reveal?

I am very pleased to announce that long-time Savage Worlds fan and webcartoonist Shawn Gaston (Clockworks, Doors and Windows) has joined the Streets of Bedlam team as an illustrator on the corebook.

Shawn got the vision for Streets of Bedlam immediately and had the same ideas as to the feel, style, and mood as I did. Everything clicked right away.

Shawn has already turned in some amazing artwork. The first of those will be revealed on Monday as the previews start rolling out. I think you’re really going to like what he’s done.

You can catch up with @SAGaston on Twitter along with me (@JasonLBlair) and @StreetsOfBedlam.

The Kickstarter for the Streets of Bedlam tabletop roleplaying game is now live! For the full rundown of backer levels and rewards, visit the Streets of Bedlam page at Kickstarter.com. To hear my yammer about the game, check out the video below!.

Thank you for your time and for your support!

Bedford and Lamrose. Two sides of the same river. Two sides of the same coin. One, an affluent metropolis teeming with industry and aspiration. The other, a cesspool of crime and vice. Both dirty, both begging for the match that will set this whole city on fire.

Bedford and Lamrose. Locals call this place Bedlam. It’s a fitting name.

Streets of Bedlam. A Savage World of Crime + Corruption. By Jason L Blair.