Ballistic’s Report for Aug 6
I set a weekly alarm for last night this time, so hopefully I’ll be ready to go each morning with an update these days.
The most important thing that happened is all the books from Delvers to Grow arrived, and physical fulfillment has begun. This means I closed the pre-order store … but I was very, very pleased with the last-day response. The orders received really help offset the shipping costs, which are much higher than planned.
- All 2,000 books arrived at my house for the three example books and Crypt of Krysuvik.
- I spoke to Marshall LaPira about a new book; we’re going to try it systemless
- There are 78 packages shipped already; 42 more are packed and printed. This is my big task today and I hope to get a LOT packed up.
- I didn’t exactly announce it, but the next TFT project is going to be David Pulver’s Tower of the Moon, and I’ve already got it in layout, working on art.
- I’ve made substantial progress on a new Dragon Heresy item as well.
- I have organized the monsters (about 200 of them) for the volumes of the Dungeon Fantasy RPG Nordlondr Ovinabokin … the Nordlond Enemies Book. More below.
- Phil Reed and I met for lunch last Tuesday at Brit’s Pub in Minneapolis. Food was good, conversation was good, and I’m well pleased with the plans we made.
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: 52 patrons and $353 per month.
- Special Content: Patrons got to see David’s new adventure, in “all but art and maps” state. Patrons also got the all-in-on PDF of the Omnibus edition for Delvers to Grow, a patron-only special. The new Dragon Heresy book got a preview as well. Yes, this was all in the last week.
Also gained a few patrons since last time. This really helps.
Currently Manufacturing/Fulfilling/Shipping
Project where hardcopies and PDFs are going out or scheduled to do so.
- Delvers to Grow: All PDFs delivered. All books in house. Fulfillment has begun.
Crowdfunding
Delvers to Grow(Launched Friday May 7 at 10am Central Time, Ended May 25 at 9pm Central)
- Pre-orders are now closed
- DtG still has two pending surveys that need to be fulfilled. As soon as the last package goes in the mail, these get refunded if surveys are not complete.
- All five books are in backers’ hands in PDF format.
Product Announcements
The full Product Cataloggot revised a bit. I also developed an order form, which is available upon request and was sent to a lot of retailers.
My SJGames project: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 4: Ring Fort was released to backers as part of the GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge! Peter Dell’Orto liked it.
In Development
Writing and content creation for announced projects. Some of this may be cryptic.
- Tower of the Moon, by David Pulver. Maps are underway. Art is underway. Concept cover is being worked on by Billy Blue. The vector on this one has changed a bit. More later.
- A full day was spent planning the Nordlondr Bestiary. Five volumes, 193 entries.
- Each volume has a theme, though not 100% of all the monsters in each volume fit that theme.
- I may do PDF-only for these, as that lets me get all of the hard stuff done, and then when the books are all out there, I can do a push for the One Giant Hardback. I’m undecided on this one because the physical books really help a project succeed.
- Nothing here is set in stone
Friction
Bits of news and items that put a monkey in the wrench.
- Last week was a pretty good week.
- I still owe Steven Marsh a bunch of PDF files to get on Warehouse 23.
- The Kickstarter text editor keeps inserting random spaces into my posts. Do not want.
- The new Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 that was leaked/teased on a recent Kickstarter update has a page that seems to cover some of the same ground that one of my planned Delvers to Grow sequels does. Even so, I doubt that the book will cover “pre-built 25-point Upgrade and -25-point Disadvantage packages already tuned for Delvers to Grow,” so even if the material overlaps a bit, the utility of each book is likely still strong. Possibly reinforcing. See Fair Winds, below.
Fair Winds
Information about things that move GB forward.
- Very productive meeting with Phil Reed from SJGames.
- Had a video meeting with Marshall about our project, which is to be the first systemless product offering from GB. You can tell things are going well when your author keeps saying “Now that you say that, it gives me another idea…”
- I am very encouraged by the leaked image of the DF Companion 3. At up to 160 pages, it’s going to be chunky. And the hint-page brings social oomph to the Dungeon Fantasy RPG, which those that play in the Nordlond Setting have been doing for a long time. I see nothing but good coming from having David apply his usual zest for systems to the topic, while I attack it with my newfound love for “get to the table faster.”
- I posted some of my sword images to the D&D Fantasy Art page on Facebook … and have over 200 “likes” and nearly three dozen comments. That makes it likely the most popular social media post I’ve ever done.
- Speaking of swords, I sold another one, bringing the tally of pieces I’ve moved out to four to paying clients. This more than pays for all the tungsten, brass, and tungsten carbide I purchased as part of my experiments. My Viking Martial Arts instructor has volunteered to put them up for sale on his (pending) retail site! So that’s exciting.
