Delvers to Grow: Three Covers Done; Schedule and Progress
Covers Coming In
Of the covers, I have three in hand, in a basically-final state.
Ksenia is working on Fast Delvers and Smart Delvers as we speak.
Development Progress Update
There’s been a lot going on under the waterline here. So let me explain. No, that would take too long. Let me sum up.
Delvers to Grow: Core Book. Finished. Like totally done.
Crypt of Krysuvik. Layout finished. I think I have three pieces of art that are coming in in the next few days from one artist (who is still not late, as the deadline hasn’t passed), one update of an image, and three that look done, but I need to confirm with the artist that they’re done. I expect to finalize that by the weekend, I think.
Strong Delvers. I think I’ll be finishing this up today. The character layout is done, most of the extra text bits are either in place or going to be. So real soon, this one is finalized.
Fast Delvers. I’ll get the character spreadsheet and design notes either today or tomorrow, and then it should take me 3-4 days to get it into final state.
Smart Delvers. This one should come on the heels of Fast Delvers, and again, 3-4 days to finalize.
Backerkit
So I’m really aiming to have all of the books ready for PDF initial distribution by July 1.
With backerkit, we’re rapidly approaching 90% complete, which means that in a short bit I’ll start locking orders.
I will probably start by locking orders for PDF-only people first. This is something like 45-48% of backers. It gives more than enough of a pool for folks to provide “hey, typo!” type feedback and ensure that these are ready to go to print. It also buys me just a few more days to make shipping decisions.
Here’s where we stand with that
USA: Well, clearly no issues here.
Canada: There are only five identified backers from Canada, total. So no matter what they order, it won’t be worth it to print locally and reship, as the setup cost of the new books (and any additional ones, especially the big ones) will quickly outstrip even the outrageous postage costs we see to get stuff from me to you. Alas, no relief here.
United Kingdom: There are 18 UK backers, all but two have filled out surveys. As it turns out, I have more stock than backers already in the UK for everything but Nordvorn (9) and Hall of Judgment 2e (5). Currently there is only one order each for those…so I should be able to print locally and use only Royal Mail for this. I’ll get rates from Kixto and adjust shipping costs accordingly.
Australia/New Zealand: This is where it gets interesting. There are 11 backers (10 of whom have already filled out their surveys, so thanks for that!) Most people have more or less the same orders. There is a single outlier who wants everything. I’m going to sit down over the next few days and do a detailed workup of “cost to me” and “cost to these people” and see if we can find something that minimizes overall costs to everyone. This will basically be “can I find a better cost proposition where the additional cost of local manufacture – mostly the setup costs – plus shipping via Aussie post to both Australia and New Zealand is less money than something like $65 per person to ship them from the USA.” I’ve got someone who’s volunteered to do the shipping for me if there is a solution, but there may not be. Just on the two 40-page books, the delta in cost for local manufacture is going to be $6 more per book per person. On the other hand, 2 books x 10 people x $6 = $120 of what looks like a $650 shipping budget. If I can do it and merely break even (so you’re not paying less for shipping), I may do it anyway because then this contingent gets books in 3-4 weeks instead of “whenever.”
Summary and Schedule
In short, look for PDFs to start showing up in your InBox in about a week, with PRELIMINARY copies being delivered through Backerkit. All PDFs of existing products will also be distributed at that time via DriveThruRPG, as promised in the campaign. Once books are finalized (figure first week in July), PDFs will go out via DriveThru and print orders placed. Usually two weeks to get those books (third week in July), and then they’ll start shipping. 1-2 weeks for domestic orders from that point (and that includes “domestic from the UK to UK, or AUS to AUS, if that works out.” So end of July, but probably August, for physical product delivery for most.
Canada books will go by USPS rather than UPS to avoid the “brokerage” crap.
All other physical product will use the best speed/rate combination I can find, but I’m just going to ship them from the USA. There just aren’t enough books to make odd reshipping worthwhile this time.
So at the moment it looks like we’re maybe 4-6 weeks ahead of the published schedule from the campaign. I’ll let y’all know if anything changes.
If you missed the Kickstarter and any of the above is of interest, you can pre-order the books here.
