Two weeks absolutely packed with stuff.

At this time two weeks ago, Artifacts of Legend had just funded, and concluded on June 10. Since then, I have finished up most of the layout, put most of the artwork in place, and launched the Isle of Sedra Kickstarter for The Fantasy Trip. Oh, also fulfillment for Best Supporting Actors should be truly on its way to finalization by next week. Two big things happened in the home life zone, but they shall remain private for now.

• Best Supporting Actors Australia fulfillment should begin early next week, as the eight orders that go to Oz land Down Under on Monday. Somehow, I wound up short two copies of Till Death Do Us Part (OSE) in the UK, but those arrived this week and the last to UK-Hub orders should dispatch next week also.
• The Isle of Sedra campaign launched yesterday and hit 50% funding in about 24 hours. The campaign runs until July 15, so plenty of time to fund, over-fund, and beyond.
• A whole lot of folks are jumping on the Books and Cards pledge, far more than I anticipated. This is excellent.
• Artifacts of Legend late pledges are open on Backerkit. This underperformed in the Kickstarter, but it’s shaping up to be a gorgeous book.
• Peter and I did a final submission of our project outline.
• Vast improvements in range of motion on my frozen shoulder. That has led to both more sleep and better
• I get to play my new knight for maybe five hours tomorrow, then I have the “50-round challenge” at Asfolk. 50 matches, 90 seconds continuous fighting each, 30s break in between.

More after the break.

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 $444 per month.
• Special Content in June: Preview of art direction for Artifacts, as well as WIP actual layouts as they develop.

Currently Manufacturing/Fulfilling/Shipping

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

• Best Supporting Actors books and cards are either out to backers or about to be.
• Australia backers’ materials arrive in country Monday; there are two UK-hub backers whose books should go to them early next week. That’ll finish it up.

Media

• I’ve been asked to do a bit of an AMA about the Infinite Archipelago. I’ll need to decide on a time and channel, but look for it shortly: It’s a good idea.

Crowdfunding and Product Launches

• The Isle of Sedra for The Fantasy Trip launched June 22 with a goal of $21,750. It runs through July 15. We are currently at 56% funding after two days. The $85 “Books and cards” pledge is remarkably popular, and if we continue at this pace we’ll hit funding at 330 backers. The usual TFT runs to 550-600, but things have been weird recently. If we do hit that level, it’ll provide a much-needed boost to GB’s sustainability. We’ll see.
• The Artifacts of Nordlond project launched, funded, ended at $14,739 of a $13,000 goal.
  • 425 backers is about the level of Nordlond Sagas and Delvers to Grow. That’s not really enough to continue producing large works like the Artifacts project (84 pages of full-color material have a “break even” cost closer to $29,000 in a crowdfunding campaign).
  • Not sure what to do about that.
• Best Supporting Actors is about a week from being fully complete.

This is the first time I’ve feathered three Kickstarters/Crowdfunding campaigns, but it seems doable. I’m currently in the last stages of getting art for Legends. I haven’t been paid by Kickstarter yet – I expect that this weekend – and I do expect that preliminary full-of-art PDFs will go to backers for review by the end of next week. Once we get a nice period to check for errata, I’ll get them to the printer.

Product Announcements

 

No new products or uploads these last two weeks.

In Development

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

Let’s see where we are on other things…

• Infinite Archipelago is happening. I have the first plan here with the TFT books David is making right now, and big plans for late summer or early fall for bringing Nordlond into the OSE and TFT as part of this line. Heck, I think I even have a logo for it.

• Delvers to Grow Companion. Some new professions. A whole bunch of new disad packages. Epic Upgrades. Everyman Adventurer modules. This can’t happen in its planned form with only 425 backers. I just now had an idea of what to do with this, so I’m going to see what I can make of it.

• Mission X: It’s time to start development work. I may wind up submitting a Kickstarter format early, and seeing how many followers I can get before launching.

• Let Us Rejoice! Looking at my planned releases and the work required, this is either 2024 or “as time permits” in 2023…and I hope it’s a non-crowdfund release in 2023 and time does

• Inns and Taverns; Two Warring Houses, by Douglas Cole. Systemless. 2024 is likely, and I’m probably going to solicit new authors on both.

I actively encourage prospective authors to drop me proposals having to do with any of the above projects, but bear in mind that there are guidelines and strictures that must be followed to make a sale and move from concept to final.

Wish List

I’m looking for contributions for the Infinite Archipelago. Authors must be detail oriented, capable writers who can take on projects and deliver them to specifications while still respecting the constraints of both system and setting. Some “demesnes” have been mentioned in other works before and can be considered pre-approved for the right writer:

• A realm modeled after a mix of historical and mythological “ancient egypt.” This could be an original homeland to what became The Scorpion Empire on the Isle of Sedra, or something similar. Known to be one of the origin places of the cat-folk mentioned in the Nordlondr Folk book.
• A realm loosely based on Kamakura-era Japan. Hints to this realm, called “Inthriki” in the Nordlond and Dragon Heresy materials exist, but could easily be altered to taste.
• The realm of Morevel, which was based on a mix of Hellenistic and mythical Greece with a focus on an uneasy period after totally-not-Philip-of-Macedon unified disparate states by force of arms. This one should probably be a set of idyllic, Mediterranean-climate island nation-states with lots of rowed galleys, phalanxes, heroes, and monsters.
• The neighboring nations – and we can talk about island or no, but probably yes – of Arnulf and Brionnu. These are “not Carolingian France, really” and “not Celtic Britain, we swear.” Arnulf and Brionnu were more or less created to give the Nordlondr somewhere to go raid and pillage…but that’s up for negotiation too.

Friction

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

• Artifacts struggled more than I’d like. Funding 48 hours before the goal – and at a level that gets the book made but makes me no money – is not sustainable. Ultimately, this sort of full color work requires about $325 per page to cover the development costs and pay everyone the rates for writing, art, layout, etc. Artifacts brought in $175 per page. Owch.
• I need to give serious thought how to move forward for the rest of the year. The TFT launch is certain; after that, I need more and better planning.
• My daughter’s YMCA “archery” camp revealed itself to be nothing of the sort, and they shoot 6-9 arrows each day, the rest being very campy camp activities. That’s not what I thought she’d be getting. We try and make up for it by shooting 50-100 arrows in the backyard, but I don’t feel like the camp is living up to our expectations at all.

Fair Winds

Information about things that move GB forward.

• School ended for the kids, and summer has begun.
• BSA probably a week from “as done as I can make it.”
• Legends is going to be gorgeous.
• Sedra did hit 50% in about a day (then again, so did Artifacts) and the campaign will be longer.
• That major household event I was alluding to resolved itself positively. Still can’t reveal what it is, but it’s good for us.
• I did something else that might change things too. Yeah, vague but it was a positive development.
• Finished and submitted the outline for the project with Peter
• A new paper man emerges, a human knight who likes bastard sword and shield.
• My shoulder is well enough that it hardly ever hurts anywhere in my normal range of motion. We dropped down to PT appointments every other week. I will push as hard as I can to get in two PT sessions at home each  day because the more I put in the work, the sooner the shoulder will be back to 100%.