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!