Hopefully final schedule update
over 6 years ago – Tue, Dec 12, 2017 at 01:09:33 PM

I'm expecting the print proof (final) of Lost Hall of Tyr for domestic shipment tomorrow. I expect the second DriveThru proof for international folks Thursday. I will examine and compare the two. Should they, as I expect, both prove worthy [1], I will immediately place the international orders (including international comps for folks like Juan Ochoa, Todd Crapper, Rick Troula, Gerasimos Kolokas, and Roland Warzecha.

Nearly there, folks! 

Final Lost Hall Digital File has been distributed
over 6 years ago – Mon, Dec 04, 2017 at 09:26:20 PM

Pretty much what it says on the tin. I went through and did a read-and-update of the stuff, and since the errata post has been dead silent, I've uploaded and distributed a final digital copy.

The print files are at both DriveThru (being reviewed) and PubGraphics (being uploaded). I'll get a proof from PubGraphics and already got one from DriveThru. Since all the hard stuff (image quality, trim lines) was proven with the DriveThru proof, the international orders will go out as soon as that file is approved.

I want to get the PubGraphics proof Just In Case things go differently, and I'd rather re-do one book than 150. Once I see and inspect that, I'll place the order, which will ship to my home. Then I'll pull a marathon pack-and-wrap session and get all just shy of 100 copies in the mail.

Inching towards final release
over 6 years ago – Fri, Dec 01, 2017 at 01:35:21 PM

So . . . close

I've spent a good few days working on the proof copy as well as the digital files. I posted an errata list on my blog, and have managed to adjust all of those. I also went through and tweaked some things - such as ensuring spell names were in italics, re-inserting some em-dashes where space-endash-space was used, and unifying the look of hyperlinks with the print and PDF files. I'm happy with the print file at this point, and have re-uploaded it to DriveThruRPG. If that's accepted (sometime next week) I will lock down the physical copy and get things moving for international deliveries.

For US-deliveries for print, the internal file is the same as DriveThruRPG, which is easy. The cover file is not, because the templates for the printers are different. I'll finish that up tonight, and order a proof copy from PubGraphics. Because the files aren't exactly the same, it'll make me feel better to have a physical one before I mass-order.

Also this weekend, I'll go through and add/validate bookmarks for the PDF.

Speaking of PDF, I want to draw attention to something wonderful Todd did at my request, but he pulled it off wonderfully.

Onions have Layers; so do PDFs

And no one don't like no parfait.

More seriously, while I'm sure everyone knows this, I will repeat just in case. PDF files can have "layers," which are bits of presentation that are like overlaid sheets, and can be turned on and off.

I ask that my games be prepared with layers. They can  be found, usually, in a bar like the one shown here in Foxit Reader

 You can see that there are several layers Todd used, but the important one I wish to call out is the "B&W Text Only" one.

Some of the graphical elements are white-on-dark. This is visually striking but obviously if you turn off images and everything else so you can not cast meteor swarm on your toner cartridge if you want to print something out, the boxed text vanishes.

 What Todd did is to insert a complete text layer, with everything on it, which you can get to by unclicking the first four boxes and clicking the fifth. That renders the pages in a very-printable and very-readable fashion.

 Just wanted to call that out, because it's a neat feature of the PDF.

Still on Track

With that, I feel that we're winding down. There are two folks who got physical copies that haven't filled out their Backerkit surveys or otherwise given me completed information in order for me to get them their physical copies. All digital and other backers are sorted.

The two folks who will be getting portraits and characters have received their supplemental material but are very busy; that's not "due" until April anyway, though like the rest of this project I have faith it'll be early.

I suspect I'll get final PDFs and international print copies moving next week. I will guess it'll take me two weeks to get the proof from PubGraphics, and then another two or three weeks to get the 125-150 copies of that I wish to have for US physical fulfillment and a bit of inventory. Then 1-3 weeks for pack, ship, and receipt.

Pretty much everyone should have everything by the last day in December.

So, with that, I'll get to it. If anything changes, I'll let you know. The most likely sources of any delay at this point are

• The re-submission of print files, or the new proofing for PubGraphics, has errors that must be corrected. This will add two weeks per iteration
• Mail congestion due to the Christmas and New Year holidays. Probably about a week of delay possible.

Even so, the confidence I have that my kickstarter will deliver all digital and physical rewards before the January 31 date by which the PDF was promised remains high.

And with that, I'll be quiet, finish the job, and then plan my next adventure.

Literally.

Oh? What's Next?

Two things, actually.

I've got a 100,000-word draft of a complete Sci-Fi RPG, complete with three 5,000-word short adventures (with 27 more where that came from if the project goes well) nearly in hand, from another author.

That project, titled Venture Beyond, must first go through some internal and then public playtesting. When it's ready for public playtesting, I'll post an announcement on my blog, discord, and mailing list.

The second effort will be another adventure in the land of Etera. This one will be more involved, and is designed to take starting adventurers from 0 XP through the middle of 5th level.

It's going to be much more, well, sandboxy, with multiple overlapping plot elements - more like problems to be solved than plot arcs - that can be tackled in any order, so long as the party is up to the challenge. 

So far I have about eight different elements that I'll be developing. Many overlap. Not all are "go fight the monsters," and some are purely roleplaying opportunities. Plus a minimum of three dungeons/ruins to explore.

As with Lost Hall, it will hopefully drip with Norse goodness.

Until then . . . thanks for hanging with me for this ride, and I hope you enjoy the next ones!

First round of errata reports
over 6 years ago – Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 08:25:56 PM

Errata Report Post

As noted, I've made a blog post on Gaming Ballistic to keep track of errors. I looked carefully through my proof copy, and found some (including the type on p. 5 that a few of y'all called to my attention).

If as you read through the PDF you come across any others, please leave a comment on that post and I'll add it to the list. You can see the format I prefer:

• Page number: so we know where to look.
• From: a short snippet of existing text that's long enough that I can do a find/replace search to go right there
• To: your suggestion 
• Notes: explanatory stuff or rationale

Not all changes can be made, especially if they break layout. But what can be managed, will be managed.

I did a hard read through the beginning of the Bestiary thus far. 

Proof inspection: Wow.
over 6 years ago – Sun, Nov 26, 2017 at 09:50:03 PM

After returning home from the wildlands of Boston, I immediately tore into my packages and inspected the proof copy of Lost Hall of Tyr.

Well. Well, well, well. This is, dare I say it, a damn fine looking book.

The Schedule Still Holds

So: the official countdown clock continues. On December 4, 2017 I will close the Errata phase of the project, make changes as needed, and start the process of uploading and ordering print copies. I expect folks will start getting their international copies 2-8 weeks after I place the orders, which I expect to do before December 8.

Domestic (the US) orders will oddly enough take longer, because I will print and take delivery of about 150 copies of this thing personally, then pack and ship things myself, in order to ensure things stay on budget. But even so, they'll arrive faster, so I would say that the same file upload and order date holds (December 8), and then I'd expect 2-3 weeks to print and ship to me, a week to pack 'em up, and another 1-3 weeks to arrive, depending on where you live. So 4-7 weeks for domestic orders to arrive.

The only remaining piece of business is for me to contact my high-level backers, and those two folks will generate some characters and we'll get those illustrated. As noted, they'll also get a preliminary layout copy of a few chapters of my big Dragon Heresy RPG project . . . which they may use as inspiration or not, as they choose, for their characters.

Surprise Digital File

In a day or so I'll upload a few more image files. Dan Roy of Bogie Maps provided me with to-scale grids for the various versions of the map. Two files per grid type, one sized to the 8.5x11" versions of the map, and the other for his full-size JPGs. These will let you play using the most common scales by layering the image with the grid of choice and printing them together. You can also use the grid as a temporary aid to make the internal grid in a VTT scale properly with whatever map you with to use. Import both images on different layers, match the VTT scale to the grid map scale, then delete the import aid. Whatever works for you.

The grids scales are 5' squares, 5' hexes, and 3' hexes (in case you want to take a swing at running this in the Dungeon Fantasy RPG, Powered by GURPS)

Pictures of the Proof