Three Proofing Files Distributed!
almost 3 years ago – Sun, Jun 27, 2021 at 11:11:28 PM

Those who were PDF-only had their cards charged and orders locked a few minutes ago.

That segment of 186 people received what I call "proofing copies" of 

• Delvers to Grow: Core Book (aka Build-a-Bjorn)
• Delvers to Grow: Strong Delvers
• The Crypt of Krysuvik

These are entirely usable and nearly complete. What's not done?

• I need to go through and take care of hyperlinks
• I need to go and make sure the layers that are made in the PDF make sense
• There are a few art tweaks yet to occur to a couple covers and the hirelings in Strong Delvers

Those folks who also ordered physical goods, I will be selectively charging and locking orders through the next few days, with the UK and Australia/New Zealand folks being the last, so I can figure out shipping.

Find an Error? Use the Errata Page

If you find a mistake, please go to the Gaming Ballistic Errata Page 

If a mistake is not submitted there, I probably won't see it and might not get it fixed. Doing it there gets me what I need to know. These books have been reasonably well checked already, but some things slip through. (Come to think of it...there's something I need to fix in the core book.)

Once I get final ship approval and correct any legit errors, I'll send out the truly-final versions of the files, and spool out those same versions to be printed.

From Lock to Charge to PDF...
almost 3 years ago – Sat, Jun 26, 2021 at 08:44:33 PM

OK, this is how this is going to work.

Sometime later today, the order will lock and no longer be changeable. Locked orders still allow updating of shipping address.

If you're waiting to see what happens to international shipping prices, I suggest you don't. More on that later.

Things That Don't Change

Once orders lock, I will charge cards on these groups:

• All PDF-only orders anywhere
• PDF and Physical orders shipping into the USA
• PDF and Physical orders shipping to the EU and Canada

Once I lock-and-charge, these folks will be able to download prelim PDFs from Backerkit, and I'll start uploading/sending out comp copies of existing PDFs via DriveThru.

Once THAT happens, I'll dig into the Australia and UK contingent. If I can find a way to locally print and re-ship, I'll change shipping to AUS, NZ, and UK. Then I'll lock and charge.

I can't promise a solution; international shipping is horrible. But I can promise to look. I'm currently optimistic about the UK, slightly less so about AUS/NZ.

Progress Update

• Delver to Grow: Core...complete
• Delvers to Grow: Strong Delvers...complete
• Crypt of Krysuvik: three pieces of art tomorrow, a ToC/title page tweak, then complete
• Delvers to Grow: Fast Delvers: prelim layout of core elements. Need background/fluff text, etc. And a few hirelings. Maybe one or two days of work. Art underway.
• Delvers to Grow: Smart Delvers: Pending. Art underway.

For smart delvers, it more or less boils down to one day for getting the core elements in place, a second day for design notes and commentary, and a third day for hirelings, though I can probably start those this weekend. 

If all PDFs aren't out this time next weekend...I'll be a tetch surprised, though life can happen.

Product Catalog

I spent some time putting together a product catalog last week.

Gaming Ballistic Product Catalog (Summer 2021)

If you have a Favorite Local Game Store in the USA...maybe they should see it?

48 Hours: Locking Orders
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Jun 24, 2021 at 10:53:04 PM

I've pushed the button to lock orders, which will take effect in 48 hours.

You will still be able to change your shipping address, and I won't charge cards until I take a look at international shipping. The only place prices will go is DOWN if they go anywhere...I won't change shipping plans unless this occurs.

Once I lock and charge, I'll start distributing PDFs. Existing books right away. Delvers Core Book, Crypt, and Strong Delvers will come first. Then Fast and Smart a few days later.

From there, I'll pause for a week or so to get errata feedback from you guys if you find any (by and large, you will). Once I have that, I'll push ALL product to DriveThruRPG for final PDF distribution, and place print orders.

From there, it's usually 10-14 days until the books arrive at my house or a fulfillment center, and then they go into the mail as soon as I can pack them.

Strong Delvers: 20 pages (All example books, actually)
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Jun 24, 2021 at 10:52:40 PM

Page Inflation

It just worked out that way.

We decided that each example needed a full page for the new content and design notes. That meant we were at 17 pages right there. Introduction made 18...and that leaves two blanks, which we'll naturally fill with four 62-point hireling/NPCs.

In any case, the Strong Delvers book is effectively done. Still a bunch of editing to do, but it's pretty straightforward stuff.

But all of the example books are now 20 pages.

Intro Page

What's on the intro page now?

More Guidelines than Rules

The professions, modules, and templates presented in the Dungeon Fantasy RPG and Delvers to Grow books are meant to guide character concepts, not serve as unwanted straitjackets. The characters here have some...unusual capabilities here and there, and extra rules and design notes explain why certain choices are made.

Delvers to Grow can be used in several ways. The most obvious is to pull together an effective character in moments, so that the group can focus on play. For a new player to the Dungeon Fantasy RPG, this keeps the focus on at-the-table play with friends, rather than digging through rules minutiae.

For more experienced players, or those who just like to tinker, use Delvers to Grow to arrive at a starting point for a viable character satisfying the key roles for the niche...and then start tweaking. This sort of “polish” after roughing out the shape of your paper person focuses time and decision-making where it matters most to the player, while still ensuring a complete character.

The characters in this book are made more in the second mold, showing how to add racial templates, tweak out advantage packages, and encourage more flavor.

Wrestling with the Rules

The writeups in the book assume that you’re using the grappling rules from Fantastic Dungeon Grappling. This is mostly because those rules do require some additional calculations up front and we want to make sure that work is done for the player, but also partly because the author just likes them better.

If your game isn’t using that book then disregard the Control Maximum on the character sheet and any reference to “CP” or “control points.”

Advice for Strong Delvers

This section deals with some common design pitfalls for the four professions, including:

• Armor
• Axe Me Again
• Close Encounters
• Double Crossed!
• Dwarven U Alumnus
• Grappling Skills
• Movement
• Shields
• Swing Away

Bonus Content

Strong delvers now features

• Special racial features for the dvergr wrestler
• New rules for hirelings, harpoons, and of course tearing off a limb and beating a foe to death with it
• Three example holy abilities from Hand of Asgard
• Two new disadvantages

Book is really shaping up nicely. Some more tweaking...and then on to Fast Delvers!

Cover Art; Progress Update
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Jun 24, 2021 at 12:34:57 AM

Covers Coming In

Of the covers, I have three in hand, in a basically-final state. 

Ksenia is working on Fast Delvers and Smart Delvers as we speak.

Development Progress Update

There's been a lot going on under the waterline here. So let me explain. No, that would take too long. Let me sum up.

Delvers to Grow: Core Book. Finished. Like totally done.

Crypt of Krysuvik. Layout finished. I think I have three pieces of art that are coming in in the next few days from one artist (who is still not late, as the deadline hasn't passed), one update of an image, and three that look done, but I need to confirm with the artist that they're done. I expect to finalize that by the weekend, I think.

Strong Delvers. I think I'll be finishing this up today. The character layout is done, most of the extra text bits are either in place or going to be. So real soon, this one is finalized.

Fast Delvers. I'll get the character spreadsheet and design notes either today or tomorrow, and then it should take me 3-4 days to get it into final state. 

Smart Delvers. This one should come on the heels of Fast Delvers, and again, 3-4 days to finalize.

Backerkit

So I'm really aiming to have all of the books ready for PDF initial distribution by July 1.

With backerkit, we're rapidly approaching 90% complete, which means that in a short bit I'll start locking orders.

I will probably start by locking orders for PDF-only people first. This is something like 45-48% of backers. It gives more than enough of a pool for folks to provide "hey, typo!" type feedback and ensure that these are ready to go to print. It also buys me just a few more days to make shipping decisions.

Here's where we stand with that

USA: Well, clearly no issues here.

Canada: There are only five identified backers from Canada, total. So no matter what they order, it won't be worth it to print locally and reship, as the setup cost of the new books (and any additional ones, especially the big ones) will quickly outstrip even the outrageous postage costs we see to get stuff from me to you. Alas, no relief here.

United Kingdom: There are 18 UK backers, all but two have filled out surveys. As it turns out, I have more stock than backers already in the UK for everything but Nordvorn (9) and Hall of Judgment 2e (5). Currently there is only one order each for those...so I should be able to print locally and use only Royal Mail for this. I'll get rates from Kixto and adjust shipping costs accordingly.

Australia/New Zealand: This is where it gets interesting. There are 11 backers (10 of whom have already filled out their surveys, so thanks for that!) Most people have more or less the same orders. There is a single outlier who wants everything. I'm going to sit down over the next few days and do a detailed workup of "cost to me" and "cost to these people" and see if we can find something that minimizes overall costs to everyone. This will basically be "can I find a better cost proposition where the additional cost of local manufacture - mostly the setup costs - plus shipping via Aussie post to both Australia and New Zealand is less money than something like $65 per person to ship them from the USA." I've got someone who's volunteered to do the shipping for me if there is a solution, but there may not be.  Just on the two 40-page books, the delta in cost for local manufacture is going to be $6 more per book per person. On the other hand, 2 books x 10 people x $6 = $120 of what looks like a $650 shipping budget. If I can do it and merely break even (so you're not paying less for shipping), I may do it anyway because then this contingent gets books in 3-4 weeks instead of "whenever."

Summary and Schedule

In short, look for PDFs to start showing up in your InBox in about a week, with PRELIMINARY copies being delivered through Backerkit. All PDFs of existing products will also be distributed at that time via DriveThruRPG, as promised in the campaign. Once books are finalized (figure first week in July), PDFs will go out via DriveThru and print orders placed. Usually two weeks to get those books (third week in July), and then they'll start shipping. 1-2 weeks for domestic orders from that point (and that includes "domestic from the UK to UK, or AUS to AUS, if that works out." So end of July, but probably August, for physical product delivery for most.

Canada books will go by USPS rather than UPS to avoid the "brokerage" crap. 

All other physical product will use the best speed/rate combination I can find, but I'm just going to ship them from the USA. There just aren't enough books to make odd reshipping worthwhile this time.

So at the moment it looks like we're maybe 4-6 weeks ahead of the published schedule from the campaign. I'll let y'all know if anything changes.