Today I finished what I like to call the “pre-final” PDF.

What does that mean?

• It’s got a front and back cover
• My proofreaders and testers comments, as well as my own “print it out and go over it with pen in hardcopy” edits, are in
• It passes muster at 300dpi for printing
• It’s the right page count
• It should be fully playable (a word on maps in a moment)

What’s not done?

• I will be updating the backer list in the PDF until y’all stop telling me to change your names. I will be downloading and comparing your KS names and Backerkit survey responses to help me with this
• I will be compiling an index. If this fits on one page, we’re REALLY done and I don’t have to delete any monsters or change layout. If it needs two, I will consolidate ulfjarl and wolf to one page and give it two
• If y’all catch anything truly wrong (and not just “I’d have done it differently”) I will be able to make changes for the next week
• Hyperlinks for internal references
• Final ToC update

Lockdown and Cards Charged

I’ve done the first round of “lockdown” and charged cards for those backers that finished their survey. That means that if you ordered PDFs of my other game products, they’re awaiting your download!

I am going to send out the preview file for HoJ tomorrow, for folks to read over the weekend and tell me where I done them wrong (say that like Scarlett Johansson from Ultron). Then I’ll fix that, get final blessings from SJG, and if that’s all good, the final file will be pushed to you guys on August 1.

Then also on August 1, I will send the file to the printer, beginning the cycle for physical product delivery. As I’ve noted before, I expect that to take 5-7 weeks.

Maps

The maps in the PDF and book are, frankly, too small to use.

No worries. I will be preparing PDFs and other digital files that will have GM-only and player-eyes-OK versions for import into VTTs (the digital maps come in 32×40″ files with grid files with 1-yd hexes OR 5-ft squares, your choice). Those will go out over the next few days as well. I understand how important maps are to play, and will do my best to make that as convenient as possible given my source material.

This is not the end . . . actually it IS the beginning of the end.

With mad props to Winston, this begins the process of giving you what I promised. It’s on time rather than ahead of schedule, and the upgrade in print quality does mean physical product will hit in September rather than August.

But the first third-party release for the DFRPG is about to be in your hands. I’m thrilled, and I hope you are too.

Now: play it. Write about it. And tell me what you want to do next.

I’m all ears.

Douglas Cole
Gaming Ballistic, LLC
July 26, 2018