With the PDF now shipped to customers, I have opened up pre-orders on Backerkit for those interested in jumping in on Dungeon Grappling at lower-than-retail prices.

Critical Reception (will be updated)

Peter Dell’Orto, who helped with the original concept of the rules for Manor #8, reviews the PDF of DG here.

Eric Diaz says very nice things about the PDF product.

Cameron DuBeers of Beer, Pretzels, and 20-sided Dice offers the ultimate compliment: “I will be incorporating these rules into my S&W based campaign rules.”

Dungeon Bundles

You can pre-order as follows:

• PoD Only: $20 (including shipping*)
• PDF Only $7.25 (available immediately)
• eBook Only $5.00
• PoD + PDF: $23.50 (including shipping*)
• PoD + eBook: $22.50 (including shipping*)
• PoD + PDF + eBook: $26 (including shipping*)

If you order any item that includes the PDF, you’ll get that immediately, as it’s available now. The eBook should be ready in 1-3 weeks, and the PoD will be ready to ship in the same time period (they’re generated from the same file). Then it’s just “how long does it take to get to you,” and that’s 3 business days to 8 weeks (!) depending on country.

Note that the PDF is both layered and hyperlinked. If you want to save toner, open up layers, turn off background and images, and you’ll get text-only.

*Brazil is really expensive. I plussed-up: it’s $18 just to get a single copy there. So if you’re in Brazil, print copy bundles cost $13 more.

You can see preview images of the cover and interior here.

Update: Proof and Print Timing

I just uploaded the POD cover and POD content file to DriveThruRPG, after consultations with the reps there. The total ink amount was still higher than 240%, despite us setting it to 235% in Photoshop. Weird. They corrected it in about five minutes, though, and the changes aren’t noticeable. At least to me.

So it’ll take “about a week” for Lightning Source to examine and approve the file, and then I’ll order a proof, which I’ll presume takes another week. If it looks good, I’ll gather up all of the submitted errata and change text where appropriate*, and make a new PDF content file. DriveThruRPG promised another lightning-fast turn-around on color correction, as well as providing a custom Profile for us to use to ensure proper total ink coverage in the future.

Sorry for the “inside baseball” here, but I wanted to keep y’all informed as to where we are.

Short version: Two weeks or less to get a proof assuming LS approves the POD file. The team makes any changes to text (a few hours) and spits out an appropriate file (maybe a business day, depending on availability and timing). DriveThruRPG corrects the color if required, and then I upload final corrected files to DTRPG, and re-distribute the corrected PDF to you folks.

Y’all will get your ePUB versions at the same time as the corrected PDF.

I’d hazard that if things go well, you should start seeing books in hand within the first two weeks in February, roughly 10 weeks ahead of the promised deadline.

I sincerely hope you guys are enjoying the product. If you do, please post reviews, tell all your friends, and otherwise direct them to the Backerkit Preorder Link.