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How I Heard It - Campfire Storytelling Game

Created by First Pancake Studios

Gather ‘round the campfire to tell the tale of a folk hero long past in this storytelling TTRPG inspired by framing narratives like Name of the Wind. Explore themes of power and history as the story is warped by the conflicting ideals of those telling it

Latest Updates from Our Project:

How I Heard It Funded! Stream with Weird Place today!
18 days ago – Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 09:04:40 AM

First Pancakes!


We have Funded!

A brief update today to say thank you so much for your help. We're only able to do this thanks to you supporting us. I'm so excited to have the funds to be able to hire and work with great guest writers and artists.

Also wanted to let you know that we have just over 48 hours left in the campaign. If you haven't backed yet, this is your last chance to get the game for a reduced price, and to get the exclusive hand printed linocut zine if you want to really support us.

Stream Today

I'll be Joining Weird Place's end of Zine Month wrap up showcase and launch party for their new game. Come join us and hang out at 2PM EST! https://www.youtube.com/live/sDalXw_IDfU

Actual Play Live Now

The actual play is now on YouTube. We had a lot of fun making this, and Declan did a brilliant job doing all the technical work and editing to bring it together. If you've been holding out to see how the game plays, now's the time to check it out!



Thank YOU Backer, and let's cruise towards those stretch goals so we can feature even more cool writers!

George Philbrick
First Pancake Studios

Mostly There, Art, and Live Stream
24 days ago – Thu, Feb 19, 2026 at 10:33:44 AM

Hello First Pancakes!

We are 85% of the way there; That's so close! With a week remaining, I know we've got this. I'll need help from all of you to fund and to hit our stretch goal. If we get to $6000 we'll get to feature some truly cool stretch goal writers!

I wanted to spend a little time today to share the process of our wonderful cover artist, who will also be doing some fantastic interior pieces that I can't wait to share with you. So without further ado, here's some words from Nala J. Wu on how they created the cover design.

How I Heard It Cover - by Nala

My cover design for “How I Heard It” went through a long ideation process. George and I talked at length about what we wanted on the cover, and how to balance our ideas with ensuring the game has shelf presence (being able to stand out on a shelf from all the other products around it) and a unique branding identity (how easily can people see this cover and get an idea of what the game might be about, what vibes playing it might bring, etc.? as well as being a unique image that can be used for marketing) 



He was a fantastic client because he had an idea of what he was looking for already, AND had an ashcan layout already so I could read the game and get more context. The game is centered on the oral tradition of telling stories around a campfire and so we agreed some sort of illustration showing people around a fire was the general direction to go in. The second thing we agreed on was the use of my digital linocut art style—a process that mimics a traditional linocut print, which are created with sharp tools to carve a linoleum (or rubber, or foam, or other material) block that you then make prints of. My art style mimics the look and process of traditional linocuts (also called block printing) while being done using a digital art program (no generative AI was used in the making of this art, or any of my art). 

I'm really happy with the thumbnail we decided to go with. The stylized smoke allowed me to get some REALLY fun shapes in the composition to help with flow, and I really enjoyed the direction I took the 'stick figures' around the fire because they feel personalized and 'different' but still ambiguous enough. I decided on orange and a desaturated teal (plus black) for the color palette to keep it simple while also being a unique color scheme that is more visually interesting to look at than just a black and white cover. 

I also used the same orange for the title and the accent details.I specialize in hand drawn title design and was very excited to get to flex those skills here as well. I can't wait to come up with a completely different design for the special cover, which, unlike this one, will be an actual traditionally-carved linocut print with hand drawn ink details on top, making each print a one of a kind!

Project Recommendation: The Wanderer's Bookshop


My literary heart is happy to recommend yet another book-inspired project, and one that Nala is working on at that! If you want to play the role of a rare book collector, while getting to actually READ books, then this is the game for you! They recently reached the stretch goal at which Nala will be doing the layout for the whole book. Nala's unique digital collage style looks super rad and will be perfect for an eclectic book collecting game like this.

The Wanderer’s Bookshop is a solo* journaling bookshop simulator, guided by tarot cards; you collect stories, read books and find your “white whale”.

Upcoming Live Stream

We'll be streaming a real actual play filmed around a campfire at 8PM EST on February 23rd! Declan has done an excellent job with the production and I'm excited to share a video that is equal parts roleplaying game and chill campfire video to put on your TV. Stay tuned here on Backerkit for that livestream.

In flame and word,

George Philbrick
First Pancake Studios

Stretch Goal Writers Revealed: Alex Roberts, Kyle Rawlings, Aaron Steele
about 1 month ago – Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 08:47:01 AM

First Pancakes,

We're 70% funded and have reached our first community goal! As I promised, at 100 backers I'll reveal our first stretch goal, so here it is! At $6000 we'll welcome 3 new stretch goal writers. They all pitched a super evocative worldsheet and I'm really excited to work with each of them. And look at their backgrounds! Some really cool games have been designed by these folks.

Alex Roberts is a game designer, counsellor, and educator living on Lkwungen territory in Victoria, BC. She is best known for mechanically elegant but psychologically complex games like Star Crossed (winner of the 2019 Diana Jones Award) and For the Queen. When not concocting lists of bizarre commands (sometimes known as TTRPGs), she can usually be found tinkering with her vintage video game collection or brewing a lovely cup of tea. Keep up with her antics at helloalexroberts.carrd.co


Project Lead for Five Points Games and Freelance TTRPG Writer, main driver behind Blasting Off Again!, The Road is the Enemy, and A Monster's Tail. Avid cider maker and firm believer in the power of a story and a meal shared and an evening spent with friends both old and new.


Aaron is a writer from the South Pacific. He tells stories between the sea and the stars.

Another Zine Month Recommendation

If you've followed my work in the last year, you know I love books and games that utilize them! I Have Lived a Thousand Lives is a Solo RPG about exploring the books in your shelf. You bring 4 of your books and go on a metafictional quest diving in and out of them, bringing characters and ideas between worlds and exploring them in different contexts. Cool! another way to use the books on your shelf! Check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2018387307/i-have-lived-a-thousand-lives


Keep up with our project next week for a word from our wonderful cover artist for a behind the scenes look at how the cover was designed!

In Flame and Word,
George Philbrick
First Pancake Studios

50% Funded, Guest Writers
about 1 month ago – Thu, Feb 05, 2026 at 10:16:45 AM

First Pancakes,

50% Funded in 48 Hours!

We are over 50% funded in the first 48 hours! I set a much more ambitious goal this year and I'm super proud of YOU for helping us barrel towards it! There's still halfway to go, so please share the game out with your friends, and help us fund a wonderful camping experience for everyone.

Guest Writers

One of the main reasons I set a more ambitious goal this year is to hire guest writers! Folk stories and oral traditions are deeply rooted in culture and identity, and I'd be doing this game a disservice by being the only writer involved.

For that reason, I am super excited by our 3 guest writers that we'll have working on the project. They'll be writing 5 world sheets that will give you totally different perspectives on storytelling and how influential people change the tales we tell.


I'm so excited to read their work, and when we fund we can add their wonderful voices to this game!

Even More Guest Writers???

My greatest goal for this game is to be anthology of compelling worlds to tell tales of around the flame, so the stretch goals are going to allow us to introduce even more guest writers! The first goal will introduce 2 new writers and 3 new worlds. I'm not ready to reveal them quite yet, but I'm setting us a community goal to reveal them to you! Once we hit 100 backers, I will reveal the first set of guest writers we'll be working towards as a stretch goal!

A Friend's Game: Food & Evil


Jordan of Goosepoop games is working on another banger! Do you like silly games? Do you like food? Have you ever wanted to be an infernal demon running a food truck? Jordan is a master of both silly and food based games (see the game Good Soup), so I can only imagine this is going to rule. And the guest writers he's got on this one!? My gosh go help him hit those stretch goals PLEASE!

Check it out: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/goosepoop-games/food-evil


In Word and Flame,
George Philbrick
First Pancake Studios

First Day Going Strong, Actual Play Around a Fire
about 1 month ago – Mon, Feb 02, 2026 at 04:09:10 PM

Hello First Pancakes,

How I Heard It's first day is going strong, so let's keep that train rolling. The first 48 hours are the absolute most important part of the campaign (or so the algorithomancers tell). To reward you early backers, I'm giving everyone who backs in these first 2 days a free one page RPG inspired by Daredevil!



I  spent this weekend among friends around a campfire to record a very unique actual play! It was one of the most fun gaming experiences I've ever had and I can't wait to share it with you soon. It may be the first actual play filmed around a real campfire, but please prove my cursory googling wrong!




I am very excited to share the actual play and more info about our guest writers in future updates, but for now, keep pushing. The sooner we fund, the sooner I can talk about the stretch goal guest writers in waiting!

In Flame and Word,
George Philbrick