My Ghibli-inspired aeronautical adventure game, Rust Wings, is live on Kickstarter.
about 2 months ago
– Tue, Mar 03, 2026 at 08:34:52 AM
Rust Wings is live!
The moment of truth has arrived! Rust Wings is my take on Studio Ghibli’s Castle in the Sky using Mausritter's fantastic rules. Rust Wings is a hefty box set with over 100 cards for compelling gameplay at your table. Please help bring this upbeat and joyous project to life.
Back Rust Wings now to receive a free Grumpy Frog portrait card!
Campaign feedback survey, stretch goals shipping, and Rust Wings preview
2 months ago
– Fri, Feb 20, 2026 at 03:24:44 PM
Life & Death pretty much fulfilled
Hey all, a few updates this week. So far as I am able to see, nearly all backers have received their Cloud Empress: Life & Death, and so far things are looking good! We have about 80 stretch goal packs to send out to preorder backers, handle a couple of late payment pledges, and stolen/missing packages, but the project is nearly complete! Thanks for all your support in making this game a reality.
If you have any issues with your order, don't hesitate to reach out to worldsbywatt (at) gmail (dot) com.
Campaign feedback survey
If you've received your pledge rewards, please take a moment to fill out the campaign survey to share your thoughts about how we did and help me improve future crowdfunding projects.
Stretch goals shipping
If you're an EU/UK preorder backer missing stretch goals, we needed to ship them from the US to our hub in the UK. The stretch goals package was set to arrive today, meaning the replacements should be shipping out next week (free of charge to you).
If you have any issues with your order, don't hesitate to reach out to worldsbywatt (at) gmail (dot) com.
Rust Wings launch page update
Finally, I've been hard at work on the Rust Wings: Ghibli-inspired adventure TTRPG launching on Kickstarter in two weeks.
I have a bunch more images of the product and pledge levels over on the Kickstarter launch page. I'd love it if you could show your support by following the campaign before we go live on March 3rd!
All pledges in the mail* + missing stretch goals
3 months ago
– Wed, Feb 04, 2026 at 10:04:41 AM
All pledges in the mail*
At this point, all of the Cloud Empress Life and Death boxes should be shipped! I just re-ran charged cards that did not successfully process, so there are about 30 more games we will need to ship in the next few weeks. In addition, there are a handful of failed deliveries or damaged packages I'll be working to resolve.
I've been seeing your posts on Bluesky and comments on the Kickstarter page. From what I've read and seen, boxes have been well-packed, and folks are thrilled with the games they are receiving!
If you have a problem with your order, please reach out to me at worldsbywatt (at) gmail (dot) com.
Missing stretch goals
Speaking of problems, there are about 83 preorders missing their stretch goals bundle (Cloud Empress Almanac Vol. 1 + Rivals Pamphlet).
What happened?
My two fulfillment companies, GamesQuest and Quartermaster Logistics, use different spreadsheet formatting and fulfillment systems. I forgot I needed to manually update each UK/EU/European preorder to include the stretch goals SKU in my import spreadsheet. When I checked the order list for accuracy in the Shipquest website, everything looked fine, but orders were displayed chronologically, so I didn't notice last 30-50 orders (all preorders) were missing their stretch goals.
Anyway, all UK/EU/European preorder backers, will be sent the missing stretch goals free of charge in the next few weeks. We should have enough stretch goals on hand to fill the mistake at GamesQuest, but there's a world where we need to ship extra stretch goals from the US, which might take an additional week or two. I will keep you updated.
If you're affected, I apologize for missing part of your order. Thanks for your patience and support.
Questions? Please reach out to me at worldsbywatt (at) gmail (dot) com.
worlds by watt Patreon
In a previous update, I had a few folks reach out wanting to cover some of the shipping costs incurred. All told, worlds by watt covered about $12,000 in backer shipping fees and shipping discounts (for returning backers). I'm happy to do it. Offering reasonable and ideally affordable shipping rates is my duty as a publisher. I'm also a bit cash-strapped until my next project Rust Wings launches March 3rd.
So what's a creator to do? Last week I launched a new Patreon. With the worlds by watt Patreon, I’ll be able to:
- Create a steadier stream of income to help me continue to commission artwork for future projects.
- Share more in-development posts and images of upcoming (and currently unannounced) projects without messing up my press cycle.
- Create an additional expansion every month (to be released in future almanacs).
- Start a worlds by watt TTRPG book club.
- Create a yearly Cloud Empress Patreon sew-on patch.
In this month’s Patreon, I’ll be:
- Announcing the name, artwork, and updates on Project WYRM, my Princess Mononoke-inspired dragon game.
- Sharing a “ripples of violence” Cloud Empress expansion, where violence creates further narrative implications
- Discussing what it means for my work to be Ghibli-inspired?
- Voting on the first worlds by watt book club title
If any of this sounds interesting, you can subscribe to my Patreon here.Your support means so much to me and helps me bring strange and wondrous worlds to life.
Questions about fulfillment? Post them below, and I'll do my best to get them answered!
Fulfillment underway!
3 months ago
– Thu, Jan 22, 2026 at 06:36:07 PM
I won't spend too much time on this, but Minneapolis (where I live) is going through an extremely challenging time as masked agents roam the city, indiscriminately kidnapping hardworking immigrants, US citizens, 5-year-old children, and half-naked senior citizens. It's hard to convey the frequency and the growing normalcy of these horror stories to folks outside the Twin Cities. Despite the intentional chaos and terror, the people of Minneapolis have come together for mutual aid and resistance. My family and I are safe, but it's fair to say it's taken up a good amount of my bandwidth. I have a small email backlog I am working through, and should have a clear inbox by early next week.
Fulfillment updates
Onto more positive (Cloud Empress) news...
It's happening! Copies of Cloud Empress: Life & Death are traveling all over the world to your homes, apartments, and places of residence. Here's my understanding of the current status of the fulfillment process.
- USA: Fulfillment underway
- Canada: Fulfillment underway
- Australia: Fulfillment underway
- UK: Starting likely next week
- Europe: Starting likely next week
- Rest of World: Starting likely next week
Fulfillment should take a couple of weeks once it has started, so if you have not received your books, or a notification about your books, don't worry. I'll be getting most of the first wave of fulfillment done and then going back to retry declined cards again for backers who have yet to pay for shipping (later this month).
For those who received your copies, please email me at [email protected] if anything looks wrong with your order.
Also, please share your books/shelfies on social media, and tag me on Bluesky at @worldsbywatt.bsky.social!
Project timeline
With fulfillment underway, the vast majority of backers should receive their games by the end of January to mid-February, depending on shipping times! We're in the home stretch.
Rust Wings launching March 3rd
Just over one month until my Ghibli-inspired adventure Mausritter setting is launching on March 3rd.
Follow the Rust Wings Kickstarter campaign today to make sure you don't miss out on a free grumpy frog player portrait card when you back in the first 24 hours.
That's it for this update. Thanks for your continued support, and I can't wait until you receive your copy of Cloud Empress: Life & Death! If you have questions, put them in the comments and I'll do my best to get them answered!
Shipping fees charged and Fulfillment starting in January
4 months ago
– Fri, Jan 02, 2026 at 12:00:28 PM
Happy New Year, everyone!
Shipping fees charged
As you may have noticed (and was previously mentioned), the final shipping fees were charged this morning.
If you received an error message because your credit card on file has expired, please update your card by following the steps in the Backerkit email as soon as possible to make sure your order is not delayed.
If you have any hardships related to shipping, please email me at [email protected], and we can figure something out.
Fulfillment starting in January
All the copies of Cloud Empress Life & Death have made their way through customs to their fulfillment centers.
Here's the test packaging for fulfillment in the US and Canada.
Once funding is charged, transferred to Backerkit, and sent to my bank account, I'll be paying fulfillment companies to start delivering games!
Most backers should receive their copies in January and February 2026, depending on where you live. I'll be posting further updates this month and next once I get more information from Quartermaster Logistics and Gamesquest regarding fulfillment updates.
Rust Wings launching in March 2026
My next Studio Ghibli-inspired game, Rust Wings: Dystopian Adventure Roleplaying is coming to Kickstarter in March 2026. It's about teenage discovery, frogs, androids, and robots.
Follow the project to be notified when we launch.
