I may be the only person at Gaming Ballistic, but it’s still a business, and I like to keep folks up to date on what I’m doing now, and doing next.

An odd week this time, with some amazing “just keep hitting F5 until you believe it” and some sluggish work that’s starting to turn around.

• Till Death Shipping is complete.
• Shields Up has begun playtesting and even a bit of fight-testing in earnest. A few good points of correction made, one big on around “thou shalt not nerf existing characters.” It wasn’t a big nerf, but it was a nerf, and that will be un-nerfed.
• Serpents of Legend saw more progress, including discussions with a new artist over the cover. We had some really fun ideas on that one.
• The OSE Solo Adventures Kickstarter continues to do very well.
  • As of this morning, it’s got 444 backers and $19,900 (give or take)
  • It has at the very least done what I needed it to do from an income perspective, and the project is not even half-over yet
  • Speaking of the end, it’s already crushed my prior record for campaign followers, with almost 1,100 total, and only 140 of those have pledged. So over 950 people are “following but not backed.” I’m not sure exactly what they’re looking for, or if they’ll jump in late…but if they do, we’re probably looking at anywhere from 240-380 people in a final surge.
• I was – and still am – concerned that a 23- or 24-day Kickstarter was 7 days too long. I still have that concern. But a late rally on Thursday maintained a good slope. This is a big deal for me in a lot of ways, which I’ll touch on later.
• I did a bunch of editing on Dark Lord’s Doom, but not as much as I hoped. I do think I’ll finish the manuscript tweaks today and get it into final form by the end of the wekend, though. Then it’s on to Belladonna and Dragon Hunt, which I expect to be harder because of the special abilities of the critters.
• Even more behind the scenes work, but that should be petering off soon.
• Steve Jackson Games 2022 Pyramid Scheme Kickstarter came to a successful end. They ran a simultaneous sale and counted purchase of GURPS products on Warehouse 23 towards stretch goals. That was a big different and an excellent strategy: $17,533 raised in Kickstarter (which would have cleared the 44-page stretch goal in a squeaker), but another $13,596 in their company store brought the total to a highly respectable $31,000. Backer count was solid at over 1,400
• I have done three interviews with folks talking about gaming stuff over the last week, and two of them are live. Check them out in my media section.

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 $456 per month.
• Special Content in August: Preview of Shields Up. Preview of monster stats for Serpents of Legend.

Steady in July. I know what I need to do for 2023 to help with this, but I need some breathing room to do it.

Gaming Ballistic in Media

• I was on Talking Crit with Tenkar and Bad Mike, and we chatted for two hours. Robert Douglas, one of my playtesters and frequent backers, said “…those two hours flew by,” so apparently it was at least entertaining.
• I recorded Old-School Essentials with Che Webster, and it’s up and live.
• The interview I did with one of the Steves at Me and Steve Talk RPGs won’t be up until early next week (late Monday or early Tuesday) but in the meantime, check out their other work
• Rob Conley of Bat in the Attic posted a short review of the version of Till Death Do Us Part that I sent him, the first of the four to be “basically complete.”

Currently Manufacturing/Fulfilling/Shipping

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

• All past projects are in the “Gaming Ballistic is finished with these” stage. I continue to get “package was delivered” on some stragglers of TDDUP, and the international packages have all gone out and are arriving…but this is in the “wait and see” stage.
• Some time this next week I’ll ensure that comp copies go out for ALL products via DriveThruRPG from TDDUP if I haven’t already.

Crowdfunding and Product Launches

 

Old-School Solo Adventures

• Launched Aug 4 at 10am. Funded by 11am. Currently flirting with the $20,000 mark.
• This is a very healthy project, in actuality and even more in potential. Various projections put the final total near $36-38K, which is dancing around 800-850 backers. Maybe more. So
• Glynn Seal of MonkeyBlood Design and Publishing and I chatted and worked out something that should see the light of day on this project, probably in a week or so, maybe just in the Backerkit phase…but we’ll see if folks like it and want it. Yeah, yeah, cryptic I know.

Product Announcements

The full Product Catalog has been updated for Spring 2022 and probably needs an update for Summer 2022.

Let Us Rejoice! is a systemless exploration of festivals and gatherings as great ways to make a world come alive. Uses and collects the Nordlond material that is scattered over several books as examples, but also goes further than that. This will be GB’s first systemless release, it was aimed at mid-August, but since that’s three days away, that’s not happening. I really wanted to get this into 2022, but it may slip into 2023. That’s not a problem as such; having a robust “what’s coming next” is good.

Serpents of Legend. Formerly “Bestiary Project 1,” this is partially just a book of cool snake-themed monsters written by Marko Vujnovic (the Chaotic GM). But it also contains some serious serpent-related cosmology for Nordlond, and a really nifty section on snake cults. More work, this time on the rules and prose section. When fighting critters the size of hills, you might need guidance for fighting a monster while standing on top of the monster.

Shields Up! Testable draft in hand! Author paid. Fight-test … starts now if you’re a Patreon subscriber.

In Development

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

• The “Bugstiary.” Contract signed. Work slower than anticipated (which itself was anticipated). This one is looking at 32 pages, and much more of a strict bestiary book of cool bug-and-insect themed monsters.
• Delvers to Grow Companion. Some new professions. A whole bunch of new disad packages. Epic Upgrades. Who knows what else will strike me? September/October plan. I know what I want to do with this one, and shall get on it as soon as this OSE project is finished.
• Gear Catalog 1? There’s a good start at what is probably a nice 32-page book, maybe a bit more. Also DFRPG. I’ve talked with a potential author on this one and we need to work out a few things, but not in a bad way.
• Inns and Taverns, by Marshall LaPira. Systemless. Still postponed indefinitely. A good time for this would either be along with Let Us Rejoice (in a few months) so probably next year.
• Two Warring Houses, by Douglas Cole. Systemless. Actually saw some writing over Valentine’s Day. On hold as other things come first.
• Infinite Archipelago is going to be my new framework for settings that should cross over systems. I have plans for TFT/OSE version of Nordlond, plus more, that GMs will be able to pick and choose and place what’s there. It implies sea travel in many ways, so there are ideas around that. Looking forward to this as a building block for 2023.
• Secret TFT Setting by David Pulver. Chatted with David about plans for this, and there’s a hole in his schedule at the end of the year. Chatted more, and liking how it works.
• Secret Nordlond-ish Setting by [CENSORED].
• OSE Conversions of Character Collections. I don’t see why not. Monsters, ready-to-go PCs/NPCs with just enough background to make ‘em interesting. Some art for visualization. I may work on this together with two other CC volumes I’d like to make, so they hit as a six-book bundle.

The two settings are part of a grand plan you’ll be seeing more of next year.

I note that for new authors, Delvers to Grow and Bestiary entries are fantastic ways to get into the game, as such projects lend themselves very well to focused writing and fast turn-around. The new concept that I’m shopping around to my circle of authors and contributors will be another entry…but the nature of the concepts requires a firm hand on the wheel for gamer utility. So not going public with that yet.

Friction

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

• Yet another business trip for my wife, who is playing Construction Manager in Del Rio, Texas. When I say “playing,” I really mean “rocking it,” because as her last lead construction contractor said, “Look, if you have any questions, just ask Alina, because she’s f—king knowledgeable.” She’s off building plants to help turn cow poop into usable gas rather than just release the byproducts into the atmosphere. It’s really cool work.
• Didn’t really get as much done this last week as I wanted on DLD, but…

Fair Winds

Information about things that move GB forward.

• The OSE project is really looking friendly, and may enable some shenanigans with how I compensate myself as Gaming Ballistic (involving arcane things like S-Corp) that will have me much less frantic about eating each month.
• Till Death got done in less than two months.
• Shields Up is looking really good.
• Liking the way that other project is looking.
• Got an order for a new Viking-style weighted sword that will be a great challenge. The user is a really big guy, and he wants a sword with a 36” blade and embedded metal in it to get the weight and balance right. Will be the largest such commission ever for me.
• Part of me can’t help but wonder if I’ll actually cross the 1,000-backer mark this time. It doesn’t seem likely…but it’s also not implausible.
• GameCrafter’s prices have gotten darn reasonable for funky counters and existing 1” square ones. I wonder if it’s time to re-investigate them for future products.
• Also, had an amazing day yesterday on my Shopify store. Moved all sorts of product, mostly DFRPG stuff, including two “all the Nordlond” bundles, one in physical and one PDF. That’s a good day.
• One of the key things that the OSE success (and hopefully rest of year projects) brings is some ability to go “head-down” on some larger projects…such as the oft-mentioned but daunting Mission X RPG, Powered by GURPS. So I’m really starting to give more than side-eye to that project.