Ballistic’s Report for Week Ending Feb 26

Don’t Bury the Lede

I was on the Talking Crit show with Erik Tenkar and “Bad Mike.” We spoke for over two hours. It was ridiculous fun.

Gaming Ballistic Patreon

To help with ongoing funding of art and speed eventual time to delivery, Gaming Ballistic started a Patreon in January 2021. Here’s the weekly update on Patreon status.

• Membership status: 41 patrons and $266 per month
• Special Content: Camelia’s Magic Shoppe, Gaming Ballistic 2021 Business Plan
• The funds from the Patreon are 100% going to be reinvested in the business for advance work. Pre-visualization and early-stage art for projects prior to launch is going to be the most likely sink for the funds. Some of these can turn directly into products; others have a longer lead time.

New Releases

New projects available for retail sale.

• Gaming Ballistic Website: none this week.
• Gaming Ballistic on Warehouse 23: none this week
• DriveThruRPG: none this week.

Product Announcements

• No announcements this week

Currently Fulfilling/Shipping

Project where hardcopies and PDFs are going out, or scheduled to do so.

• All but nine packages in the USA have been delivered. Still waiting (and waiting and waiting) for the 17 EU-bound packages to be able to be sent duty-paid from the UK.

At the Printer

The last stage of production. Following PDF finalization print orders get placed, then take anywhere from 10 days to several months to print and arrive at the shipping center, which is basically my house.

• Nothing currently at the printer

Crowdfunding

Announced or active campaigns.

TFT Character Collection (Launched Friday Feb 19)

• Campaign funded in the first day, in nine hours
• We passed the first 350-backer stretch goal on Feb 24
• The campaign is in the “doldrums” period but currently adding roughly 15 backers per day. BiggerCake is projecting 635 by the end; my own projections are more like 605.
• While the 700 and 1,000 backer goals do not seem likely, they are not impossible; if we DO hit 635 backers, it will still be my best campaign ever
• While nothing is certain and all depends on how many people add cards, counters, and softcover books…if even the middle estimates come through (all of which are lower than those found on Four Perilous Journeys), the campaign will do well for GB financially. It’s not over until it’s over; if we meet the levels of card/counter/books from Four Perilous Journeys…it would be a fantastic start to 2021.

In Development

Writing and content creation for announced projects. Some of this may be cryptic.

• Art for Character Collections 2 and CC1 is 75% complete and I expect to have the rest of it by the end of the weekend. That should finish up CC1, CC2, and CC3 to be ready for production.
• I started writing on CC4 Wizards anticipating completing that stretch goal. I expect to have it ready for art in a few days. I may pull the trigger and start my team on the art part of this sooner rather than later. I really want to deliver finished PDFs the very first moment it’s sensible.
• I discussed yet another item for TFT with David Pulver; I need to work with him on some ideas for a few more
• Monster count for the Nordlond Bestiary is currently about 200 plus any unique/new ones from the existing Nordlond material. That should make a nice book. Oh! Maybe more…I forgot my current draft had been stripped of Elder Things because the original published setting did without them as well. So…maybe more!
• Kevin’s new project has some solid work on it. The internal deadlines have moved around a bit, but the overall project is still on schedule (one milestone moved longer, others shorter, net effect zero)
• There’s another idea I have in mind that I want to noodle on more

Friction

Bits of news and items that put a monkey in the wrench.

• Still need to move some of my titles to DriveThruRPG
• Still not getting the velocity on Nordlond monsters I wanted. Have to do better.
• Even though Character Collections is on track to be among my most-backed Kickstarters to date…I was really hoping to simply crush the 500 backer goal, and have a solid path to 700 and 1,000. That is at risk, though not impossible. I simply must push into that “thousand or more” territory if some of my more ambitious projects are to be realized. My prediction from last week was precisely correct!
• The number of potential product groups on Character Collections may prove a challenge. I’ve structured the campaign to allow people to spend money in small increments (a $10 card deck here, a $11 softcover book there, a much larger deck at $25 or 30, counters at $10 per sheet)…but that makes for very complex pick-and-pack states. This campaign will be a learning experience there.

Fair Winds

Information about things that move GB forward.

• Down to fewer than two dozen packages on MPJ still not in backers’ hands…good progress.
• I purchased the card die for the 3.5×5″ NPC cards; it should take about 10 days to be in-hand.
• I spoke to someone about better marketing for Gaming Ballistic
• I wrote a 2021 business strategy plan and shared it with my Patrons and my license partners at SJGames.
• I spoke to another potential partner about logistics and fulfillment; their rate sheet is public and affordable. Predictability is key. I may well use them on Character Collections
• I have now been on Nerdarchy, Talking Crit, and RPG Ramblings (that one drops this weekend) talking about gaming, GB, Character Collections, and Kickstarter.