This two week update was overlapped my kids’ spring break, which did nothing awesome for productivity. Even so, by the time this update gets published…there’s exciting news on something I’ve been griping about for years!

• The big news was that I got my new eCommerce site launched! My new Shopify site is live, and I’ve already placed a few orders. The thing screams, has excellent filters and sorting, and is much cleaner, both in presentation to the customer and also on my end. Gotta love proper batch editing!
• All items on my store are 13% off from now until the Day After FnordCon on May 2! Including gift cards!
• Paid my taxes. Was painful. Change of business process required there; I know what to do.
• Finalized a few things on international shipping and expect to see orders moving out next week!
• Books for the USA scheduled to come into port May 1. This irks me quite a bit, since I was really hoping to have copies to sell at FnordCon where folks could walk away with their book. I have a backup plan, but GRAR!

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: 62 patrons and $488 per month.
• Special Content: Nothing yet for April; “try it and see” discount on the new web store.

Lost a patron; mostly folks are just saying times are hard, and they’re watching expenses. Which they are, and they should. I did survey the audience a bit with some good ideas on April Patreon content.

Gaming Ballistic in Media

• Unboxing video for Bestiary quick reference cards
• Unboxing video of me fondling the books.
• I got a very nice comment on my blog about the book:
  “An absolutely fantastic product that is worth every penny! It more than doubles the monsters available in Dungeon Fantasy. He provides exhaustive examples, advice, hand-holding that enables the new game master to get up and running very quickly. All of these are the product are part of a coherent vision, yet they are easily broken apart and usable for many other campaigns. He has done a superior job and is very much keeping the flame of Dungeon Fantasy alive! Very well done!” -Scott Shafer

Currently Manufacturing/Fulfilling/Shipping

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

Nordlondr Ovinabokin: Bestiary

• ShipQuest should initiate internationsl fulfillment next week.
• Anticipate arrival of US books in Baltimore May 1, which suggests 3rd or 4th week of May for fulfillment. That’s totally subject to random change.
• Have confirmation that we’re waiting on a GGA update and then we can go with a demo and trial of the Foundry VTT module; I’ll have some license/access key stuff to work out once that is ready, then we can figure out how to distribute that properly.

Crowdfunding and Product Launches

The Bestiary Kickstarter is in the fulfillment stage

The new store is live, which means the Spring Sale is on!

Get 13% off all purchases in the New GB Web Store until May 2, the Day after FnordCon!

Product Announcements

The full Product Catalog has been updated for Spring 2022. It now includes Delvers to Grow, Tower of the Moon, and the Nordlond Bestiary. Any pre-orders for the Bestiary will be filled roughly April 2022, once the shipment comes in. I will be changing my retail discount structure to be much simpler, with only two discount levels: 30% and 50%.

I have embarked on a project to convert the Nordlond Bestiary to Brazilian Portuguese. I’m getting amazing volunteer help from several people and I’m excited to see what happens here, if anything. First step will be a PDF-only book to see the best way to reach the audience. A print book will follow, after a suitable time to allow backers to comment on my poor Portuguese.

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. Poked author recently on progress now that Bestiary is in finalization.
• Two Warring Houses, by Douglas Cole. Systemless. Actually saw some writing over Valentine’s Day.
• Nordlondr Bestiary, by Douglas Cole. Dungeon Fantasy RPG. See above, workin’ hard.
• Portuguese Nordlond Bestiary, by Douglas Cole. Workin’ hard.
• Secret Stuff: David Pulver and I signed a contract for a new thing.

Friction

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

• Shipping annoying but moving forward
• Spring Break was just brutal for productivity, as it coincided with an all-week meeting and my wife was MIA the entire time, with my youngest daughter at home. Basically nothing got done.

Fair Winds

Information about things that move GB forward.

• Super pleased with new web store.
• Had a big shield-making party for Viking, and we figured out a way to make training shields that feel and weigh like they should for about $30-35 in raw materials. Really good stuff.
• Exxar and I are hatching plans for FnordCon 5 and the Skogurenda Meatgrinder.
• I had a job interview for a “real job.” It would be a bit of a “dream job” if I get it, though there’s a long way to go between now and then, including at least one round of face-to-face interviews that I’d need to get screened into. But it’s a perfect fit for my qualifications, and would actually free up my mindshare to work only my passion projects, which would be excellent for my peace of mind, self-worth, and family situation.
• Played another session in the fantasy age-of-sail campaign. Still fun.