Layout: Block and Tackle

I’ve been working really hard to pull things together, and the efforts are paying off. In quick-point format:

• Sean “Dr. Kromm” Punch, GURPS Line Editor and author of the DFRPG, will be contributing the Foreword to Hall of Judgment! I made the offer to SJG, Steve pronounced it virtuous (his word!), and I’m very excited to have that going in there.
• John Adamus, editor extraordinaire, turned around my manuscript in twelve hours, and caught enough detailed points that it was clear he got both content and copy. If you’re in the market for an editor: hire this man.
• I’ve got the first full layout pour of the document in place. So there’s a page for just about everything that needs to go there. Title page, Kickstarter Backer credits, Table of Contents, Crazy Norse Words pronunciation glossary, Town, Journey, Dungeons, the Hall itself, Grappling, Pre-gens, Bestiary, and a bit of modified backstory for those that care.
• The PDF as-is, no maps, no art, no orphan text fixes, is 116 pages. So my delivery target for a print book will be 128 interior pages; likely the PDF will be 131 or 132 for spacing and facing for the cover.
• The maps are still being worked, but there’s lots of time for that. Each is a page in size, so they’re easy to plan for in layout. No delays expected there.
• The pre-gens are coming along nicely. The eight promised with the book are done. I think I have 2-3 of the backer-submitted ones in hand already, if not fully laid out.
• The monsters are also coming along; perhaps half done. The core 16 that originally came with Lost Hall of Tyr are finished, and the 14-15 more that are added with Hall of Judgment are next on the list.
• Fantastic Dungeon Grappling got another small revision and is looking solid.

I’ve got 22 days left until the deadline set by “we plan to release the product in August” promise I made in the April 1 announcement, and the PDF will be ready by then.

Printing

That leaves us with the print question. At this point, we’ve got 275 (ish) print backers. That’s more than enough to get us out of POD, but not enough to drive to a full offset print run.

Wild and crazy things can happen, and I hope they do. What does this mean? It means unless we see a wild uptick, I’ll be using a short-run printer in the UK to deliver 140gsm interior pages (that’s about 93# paper; typical DriveThru is 70#/105gsm).

Because the printing is in the UK and the fulfillment partner I’ll be using is also in the UK, I expect to be working hard on the shipping side of things. I’ll probably know more in two weeks on that score.

Ask Me Anything

I’m working on a “final week Ask Me Anything” session, probably a few hours long, sometime this week. Not sure what that will look like, but I want to do it and take questions about the process, the adventure, and anything gaming-related. Or viking related.

Campaign Close Process

That brings us to the finishing touches.

The campaign closes July 14, which is this coming Saturday. I would deeply appreciate re-shares on social media, and talking about the project in general. The better we do, the more likely SJG is to want to do this again.

When the campaign closes, I’ll ready and fire up the Backerkit phase, which will have a short survey to get your pledges allocated to product. For those not getting add-ons, is all you’ll do with the “survey” is:

• Validate you’re getting the product you want
• Pay for shipping
• Select any add-ons you’d like
• Answer a few questions about the product, and what you’d like to see next

It is pretty important to be prompt on this one, and the survey period will be short: Probably 7-10 working days.

Note that Backerkit does not set the pace for digital reward delivery. As long as the funds settle and there’s no weirdness with payment (this happens every campaign; it’s depressingly normal) you’ll get your PDF on August 1.

So that’s it! This is the home stretch, and while there’s still work to be done, that work is pretty well defined at this point.

Grab your axe and shield, board your longship and let’s finish strong. Glory awaits.