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The Long Watch Seeks New Beaconers with Crowdfunding Campaign

Studio Squidink's uncanny solo RPG about running a severely underfunded transdimensional lighthouse launches a Gamefound campaign for its physical edition on September 15th.

Nerius.

Nerius.

— 3 min read
The Long Watch Seeks New Beaconers with Crowdfunding Campaign
The Long Watch launches a physical edition crowdfunding campaign
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The Long Watch is an uncanny solo RPG about staffing a desperately underfunded transdimensional lighthouse. It launches its Gamefound crowdfunding campaign for a physical edition on September 15th.

You’re a Beaconer; an employee of a mysterious and chronically underfunded organisation that discovered a method to ensure safe passage to transdimensional travellers…and then shoved that technology into lighthouses across the world, time, and realities. Isn’t that lovely?

Tending Your Beacon

You’re posted alone to a Beacon of your choosing (you could tend a storm-battered Atlantic rock lighthouse, or perhaps you’re twisted enough to take care of the hollowed-out carapace of an eldritch cryptid), where you run a structured daily cycle: handling problems with your Beacon, forecasting conditions, and making preparations before tending the nightly Watch itself.

You’ll be an ambassador to strange travellers, defender against threats, and the poor soul holding the place together when it’s nothing more than bricks and sentient homicidal porridge. Mechanics use a combination of dice rolls, playing card draws, tables, and your own imagination to foresee, plan, and resolve the weirdnesses that haunt your time in your Beacon. 

Going (Mostly) Solo

Every 8th day, Beaconers get to (have to) “enjoy” a well-deserved single day off. After all, we don’t want to risk another incident like the one with the slugs that live inside the mirrors. You can spend these days repairing your Beacon, investigating unhinged mysteries, or corresponding with another Beaconer (another player engaged in their own solo game of The Long Watch) to share information, resources, or — let’s face it — Beaconer gossip.

Logs and Tributes

In keeping with the teetering balance of bureaucracy and superstition that props up the organisation you work for, keeping your trusty log is a core part of gameplay. You’ll also earn tributes from grateful travellers for successes during your Watch — strange and often baffling gifts that help you accumulate Legacy points on your way to an ending. What type of ending? Well…that depends on what kind of Beaconer you are.

Shiny, Shiny Beaconry Things

The Long Watch is out now, free on itch.io. More excitingly, it was also selected for Gamefound's RPG Party 2026 cohort, with an upcoming campaign to crowdfund a physical edition of The Long Watch, designed with the same DIY, punk attitude as the game itself. 

Rewards will include:

  • An expanded and improved zine-style print edition of the Beaconer's Guide to Beaconry manual, with new artwork and additional mechanics for Beacon creation, Beaconer correspondence, and tribute features.
  • A bootleg-optimized digital zine, formatted specifically for cheap home printing and hand-to-hand distribution. Copies are designed to carry personal marks from each owner, creating a legacy document as it’s passed along.
  • A custom deck of cards, featuring special artwork and suggested encounters relevant to each suit and number.
  • A log book individually cover-stamped with a hand-carved linocut print of The Long Watch sigil.
  • Custom correspondence stationery, a side quest regarding the species known as The Crom’ties, and other physical accessories for at least vaguely competent Beaconry.

Follow The Long Watch on Gamefound now to be notified when the campaign goes live on September 15th.

Go well to your Watch, Beaconer.

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