Notorious: Tales of Hardscrabble Bounty Hunting

Update 08: all Class artwork complete, progress update
about 1 month ago – Fri, Jul 24, 2026 at 01:15:45 PM

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the delay - everything has taken a little longer than I expected but I've got more fantastic art from Torben to share with you this month, along with a little preview of what to expect from each of the 12 Classes.

I'm also pleased to say that Jack and I are now fully focused on writing and designing Notorious: TOHBH over the summer now that we've finished writing and designing his three Lost & Found Collection games.

Progress report

We're currently doing a lot of conceptual and world-building work, mapping out all of the 450+ cards we'll need to bring the game to life and finalising the game flow, dice system and other fundamentals.

There should be smaller gaps between updates now as we make our decisions and begin writing cards. Starting next month, I'll be posting an update at least once a month even if there isn't a lot of tangible progress to report!

Class artwork

As I mentioned, Torben has now completed all 12 of the Class cards. These are combined with a Background (see the previous update) and Portrait to build your Nomad.

Each Class card provides you with a three-tiered path that you'll move along if you're successful in your hunts. Your choice of Class determines how you fight and which type of challenges you're best at.

• The Armour: an oath-bound warrior encased in armour
• The Brute: an imposing specimen who hits hard
• The Tech: a smart operator with a knack for gadgets
• The Blade: a lone wanderer wielding a powerful sword

• The Uncanny: a strange mystic with a range of psychic powers
• The Duo: a scrappy team who always have each others' backs
• The Beastmaster: a trainer who commands a mighty creature
• The Heavy: an ex-soldier with a penchant for the biggest guns

• The Assassin: an efficient marksman who strikes from range
• The Gunslinger: a cool-headed duelist with a quickfire shot
• The Augmented: a modified cyborg with a weapon attached
• The Leader: a calm strategist who heads up a crack team

What's next

Torben is now working on two more planet maps; one snow and one cyberpunk-themed. Once those are finished we're basically art-complete other than some card backs and a few other bits and pieces.

Jack and I are working towards running a small internal playtest so we can check that our ideas for the game work, are actually fun(!) and that both setup and rough playtime match our expectations.

I'll be back next month with a progress update!

- Jason

Update 07: new artwork drop, progress update
5 months ago – Fri, Apr 10, 2026 at 06:24:29 AM

Hey everyone,

Hope you're all doing well! It's been a little while since the last update. I prefer sending these out when there's something substantial to show you, rather than a token "yep, we're still working on it!". 

I'll always answer comments quickly, so please don't hesitate to post on the page if you have a question or need some reassurance in the meantime.

We're continuing to make good progress on Notorious: TOHBH. The bulk of the card writing will happen in the summer once the art and design has taken shape, but I have some things to share this month so let's get to it...

All background art completed

Torben has now completed all 12 of the Background cards. These are combined with a Portrait (see the previous update) with a Class card to build your Nomad.

Each Background card provides you with two paths to choose from. Your choice will give you some bonus abilities and some unique narrative options. 

So really, there are 24 Backgrounds spread across 12 cards. Here's all the artwork and a little summary of each:

• The Deserter: you've left one of the in-game factions and signed up with the Guild
• The Rookie: you have fresh gear, a fearless attitude and more than a little naivety
• The Survivor: you're the last one standing and now you have a vendetta to pursue
• The Traveller: you've come a long way and things don't work the same around here

• The Veteran: you've been a Nomad for a long time, or you're back for one last job
• The Robot: you're one of many others just like you, but somehow you're different
• The Indebted: you owe someone and working in the Guild is how you'll pay it back
• The Zealot: you worship a strange god and being a Nomad is how you honour them

• The Scion: you've inherited a Nomad's legacy, whether you chose to or not
• The Celebrity: you were already famous but you've decided on a career change
• The Collector: you're in this line of work for the thrill of the hunt, not just credits
• The Fugitive: you're being relentlessly pursued after escaping from captivity 

Next steps

Next up are the 12 Class cards, which determine your stats, gear and abilities. Each card has three tiers and you can upgrade your Class by succeeding as a Nomad. We showed off the first Class—The Armour—in the campaign.

We're finalising the last two Class concepts at the moment and then Torben will start working on those in the next few weeks. Expect all 12 of these in the next update.

That's all for now :)

- Jason

Update 06: new year, new artwork
7 months ago – Sat, Jan 31, 2026 at 01:01:00 PM

Hey everyone,

Happy New Year! It's still January, so I feel okay saying that.

After a little post-campaign break in December, we're back to working on Notorious: Tales of Hardscrabble Bounty Hunting and I have something to share in this month's update.

All portrait art completed

Our artist Torben has now completed all 30 of the character portraits! These are multi-purpose cards that will be used to represent your Nomad, your Target and any allies you recruit along the way. 

You'll combine a portrait with a class and background card to build your Nomad, so these represent your character before donning their armour or any signature equipment. The final versions will also have unique names and flavourful quotes on the cards, but here's a preview.

Our starting point when designing these was "could you imagine this being your main character?" and we went through several iterations before settling on the final 30. 

I wanted to get examples of most (all?) of the original species from the Notorious/Outsiders books, plus a few new ones in Torben's signature style.

I think we've ended up with a characterful, diverse range of characters. I love 'em all and I hope you do too! Tag yourself (we're three robots in a trenchcoat).

Next steps

Jack and I are currently creating a list of all 12 of the class and background cards, which has been really fun so far. There's going to be some you may recognise and expect, but stretch goals have allowed us to get a bit creative and weird with a few of them too!

Torben will be starting to put together all of the unique art for these cards and I hope I'll be able to to share some of them with you in the next update.

- Jason

Update 05: digital addons, preorders, new artwork
9 months ago – Thu, Dec 04, 2025 at 06:55:39 AM

Hey everyone,

In this December update, I have a few bits of news and some new artwork to share!

Digital addons

If you selected any digital addons (first editions of Notorious/Outsiders, Revolt!, Heavy Weighs the Crown), you should have received an email from DriveThruRPG this week with your download links.

This will have gone to the email address you use for Kickstarter. Please message me if you have not received this and you think you should have.

When BackerKit surveys go out next year, you'll automatically get a link for an itch.io download key, in case you prefer to store your games there.

Community copies

Thank you to everyone who added digital community copy bundles on to your pledges. These have now been added to all of my games on itch.io.

These are for anyone who cannot afford to buy the games to claim and I know they are appreciated by those who (legitimately) use them.

Late pledges live

The BackerKit preorder store is now open, for anyone who missed the Kickstarter campaign:

Here's a link to the store

Please do share this with anyone who would like to order a copy now or in future :) There's also a link on the Kickstarter campaign page so you don't have to dig through updates.

New artwork

Torben is already hard at work creating all of the new character portrait cards for Notorious: Tales of Hardscrabble Bounty Hunting (30 in total!). The initial sketches are looking really cool.

I'd rather share them when they're finished, but in the meantime here's the completed artwork for the in-game currency, known as credits. You'll get a set of these credits in the box (think Monopoly money, but no family arguments), so you can keep track of it as you play.

Your final total at the end of each bounty will have an impact on your score—what is the goal of a bounty hunter if not to earn cash?—so you'll want to manage this resource carefully.

That's all for this month, but I'll keep sharing new artwork and updates as we make progress in the new year. Have a great Christmas (if you celebrate it) and here's to a great 2026!

-Jason

Update 04: all stretch goals hit, next steps!
10 months ago – Fri, Nov 14, 2025 at 01:34:34 PM

Hey everyone,

Our campaign wrapped up yesterday after an exciting final 48 hours that saw us hit our final stretch goal of £70k with a few hours to spare.

This means we're now able to include 30 portrait cards in the game and—alongside the other stretch goals we've unlocked—brings the total number of unique cards in the box closer to 500!

A thank you

On a personal note, this campaign is my most ambitious project to date and I was a bit nervous looking at the (realistic) funding goal we had set back when the campaign went live a month ago. 

But we hit that in the first couple of days and it's so cool that we were able to add stretch goals and commission a load more of Torben's awesome art. I know he's excited to get working on it. 

So this is a heartfelt thank you for your support! I know we're going to make this game something special and can't wait to get started.

Late pledges / upgrading pledges

At some point in the near future I'll be opening up a BackerKit preorder store for anyone who missed out on the campaign. There will be a link from the Kickstarter campaign page and I'll also post an update when it's live.

Just to confirm that if you've back the campaign at any level—even a dollar—you'll be able to upgrade to a digital or boxed edition when BackerKit surveys go out much later down the line.

Digital rewards / community copies

Once BackerKit is set up I'll be looking at emailing out codes to anyone who purchased digital addons for my other games. Hopefully next month, but as soon as possible.

I'll also be adding digital community copies to itch.io in a few weeks when Kickstarter confirms the final totals and thank you to anyone who paid a bit extra to provide these.

Future updates

I'll aim to provide a short update on our progress at least once a month. This is an opportunity to share some of the new artwork when its ready. 

I can also go into more detail on some of the other planets, concepts and game mechanics that I skimmed over on the campaign page.

Until then, a final thank you from all three of us!

- Jason