Notorious: Tales of Hardscrabble Bounty Hunting

October update: art complete!
11 days ago – Sun, Oct 04, 2026 at 12:53:56 PM

Hey everyone,

Another short update this month to show off the final two finished maps. The game is now art-complete after all of Torben's hard work!

Jack and I are getting together in-person quite a few times this month to finalise the design and crack on with the important business of writing a ton of cards throughout the rest of this year.

I hope this means I'll soon be able to provide some more interesting progress updates that get deeper into the mechanical and narrative side of the game, with some playtest reports.

For now, I hope you enjoy this look at where your adventures will be set (along with the desert planet featured on the campaign page):

Until next time,
Jason

Update 09: August progress update
about 1 month ago – Tue, Sep 01, 2026 at 05:28:05 AM

Hi all,

As promised, here's a (very) short monthly update.

Sorry it's a bit late. I was holding out to see if we could finish up at least one of the new maps, but since it's rolled over into September I though I'd better get something out now :)

In August we've been doing lots of world-building and conceptual work, trying to understand and map out absolutely everything the completed game will eventually need in terms of writing and production, as well as what we should write first to enable a minimum playtest.

Jack and I gave Torben the final text and briefs for the other two game maps (Utov, a snow-themed planet and Iyama, a megacity). They're still a work-in-progess but looking really good. 

I'd also expect both of these to be finished in the next few weeks. To give you an idea of the progress on these, here's the completed desert planet of Talus:

Once these are finished, the game itself will actually be art-complete (other than some card backs, maybe) which is a huge milestone!

In general I'm expecting September to be pretty productive now the summer holidays are over so I'll be back later in the month with another update.

Thanks,
Jason

Update 08: all Class artwork complete, progress update
3 months 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
6 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
9 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