Wow. I haven’t done one of these since Dec 17. In a way, that’s not surprising. That week ended with Christmas, the following week ended by ringing in the new year, and the last three weeks since have effectively been nothing but Bestiary, Bestiary, Bestiary.

But there’s been great progress there.

So, what went on?

• So much spreadsheeting.
• Then more art direction and art procurement.
• I got the entire monster section of the book in preliminary layout! Every one of the intended monsters is in place, with most of the work done. I’ve got a few spell lists yet to populate. I hate those.
• We’re at 27 pending surveys. 15 of those are $1 pledges that I do not expect to convert. SIX have physical goods attached to them and if I don’t get the surveys, I’ll have to downgrade pledges. Six more are PDF-only. Only a few of those have a pending balance.
• Finally, some of my Patreon members and a few of the top backers have been running monster test-fights.
• A fellow blogger and backer wrote a review of the first 25% of the monsters from a prelim look. He liked it.

So, the next week is finishing up the PDF, and it’s starting to look pretty healthy.

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: 61 patrons and $497 per month.
• Special Content: Over the last month, Patrons have received preliminary looks at many of the monsters, and h have taken an active hand in testing and altering them to achieve PC-killing perfection.

Steady going and lots of help this month.

Gaming Ballistic in Media

• Rory Fansler wrote a review on his blog about his initial thoughts about the book.
• Otherwise, nothing new this past month, really. I’ve been head-down in the Bestiary, which is to the good.

Currently Manufacturing/Fulfilling/Shipping

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

• Nothing new this period. GB is current with fulfillment and shipping.

Crowdfunding and Product Launches

The Bestiary Kickstarter is in the finishing up the PDF draft stage. The surveys are essentially all done, though there are six people who really, really need to get on their surveys if they want their books.

Product Announcements

The full Product Catalog is still out there.

I may still need to update the catalog. It’s been that kind of month.

In Development

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

• Inns and Taverns, by Marshall LaPira. Systemless. Revised tavern submitted on Nov 11, returned with comments in early November. Nothing since then.
• Two Warring Houses, by Douglas Cole. Systemless. Outline stage and writing, but on hold as the Bestiary gets launched.
• Nordlondr Bestiary, by Douglas Cole. Dungeon Fantasy RPG. See above, workin’ hard.

Friction

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

• I got notified by my printer that my prices might go up by 10-25%. That’s a lot, and I scolded them, but this is the result of the shipping and logistics issues and there’s nothing I can do about that. Even if the increase is on the high end, it won’t break the project.
• I can’t complain otherwise. Things have really come together with the book.

Fair Winds

Information about things that move GB forward.

• Super happy with the art in the book. I hope folks dig it, because it’s really, really good.
• People are really stepping up to help test monsters. Feedback like this is crucial.
• I’m on schedule. Let me say that again: I’m on schedule. This is a 200-page book I’m mostly putting together myself, so I’m very proud of this fact, despite it growing from 128 to 192 pages and whatnot.