(oops. Apparently I wrote this in August and forgot to post it. So today will be a two-fer.)

Three weeks this time. A lot of under the waterline activity, and a bit of fun vacation for the first time this summer.

• Artifacts of Legend is fulfilled and closed. My Australian counterpart should have put the remaining 6-7 parcels into the post. I have canceled and refunded the four backers with incomplete surveys. And the Pre-order/late pledges are closed. I’ll put the books up for sale on my website, and the PDFs on DriveThru, this weekend.
• Isle of Sedra is currently at 93% survey completion. I’ve got two of the three books basically all done except for some pending art, and about 1/3 of the Decks of Destiny cards are formatted. Still waiting for the Sedra Sourcebook proper from the author.
• Late pledges are still open  for The Isle of Sedra. This is going to be a very robust adventure setting, and if you’re interested in ready-to-play material, you’ll like this.
• All the covers are done for the books.
• Played Felltower again. Too many turns wasted thanks to repeated improbable critical fails. Otherwise, a good time.

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: 67 patrons and $479 per month.
• Special Content in August:
  • Scorpion Labyrinth and Monster Hunter Belladonna complete adventures, as art-complete as I can make them. Previews, basically.
  • Lots of discussion about future works in the Discord.

We picked up a few new members in the last weeks (yay!).

Currently Manufacturing/Fulfilling/Shipping

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

• Isle of Sedra has all prior work distributed but still waiting on the Sedra Sourcebook manuscript, and art for MHB and TSL, which I’m expecting most of this weekend, I think. I hope.

Media

• Been quiet. Probably too quiet.

Crowdfunding and Product Launches

• The Isle of Sedra is in the Backerkit phase and accepting late pledges. If you missed the Kickstarter, this is a good time to get it, as page count estimates went from “96 pages total” to “128-132 pages total” since the project launched. That’s 28 pages for the GM’d adventure, 40 for Monster Hunter Belladonna, the solo/programmed adventure, and 60-64 pages for the Sedra Sourcebook.
• Final color cover for Sedra!

Product Announcements

 

Now for sale on DriveThruRPG:

• Shields Up

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 has taken its first steps, and making this one has helped define the next. Logical next step would be Elazar, the neighboring island to Sedra, plus of course moving Nordlond into the mix for TFT and other systems.

• 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. I think I’m going to turn this into Patreon-only content. It’s the right level of “get it done over time” and a solid reward for the Patreon community that can come frequently. But it also means it’ll have to push out in terms of any sort of public release; the market just doesn’t seem to be there right now.

• Mission X: I’ve started to generate some inspirational artwork and will probably see this in a few weeks. Once the art direction and prelim layout for Sedra is in place, I’ll turn my hand to steady daily development of this project. That being said, I expect a LOT of backers are needed to make a full RPG happen, and with backer counts down by 20-25% over the usual, this may be a bigger lift than I can accommodate. We shall see.

• 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:

• Now that Sedra is rounding the corner from “thought” to “product,” I would welcome adventures and scenarios set there.
• 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 (or the region around Japan, Korea, and China which has so much game-adaptable history to it). 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. And “Carolingian France” is darn close to “Vikings, but continental” in their equipment and such, but the cultural differences are enough to make it quite interesting.

Friction

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

• Really been a slow year, and I’m not sure what to do about it.
• The Sedra Sourcebook is still being written, and no solid visibility on when I’ll have it.
• I think the art team and I are both frustrated by the “a bit at a time” nature of doing art for incomplete books.
• My motivation is suffering a bit, with a poor year behind me and great uncertainty ahead.

Fair Winds

Information about things that move GB forward.

• I’ve started some concept art and actual design work on Mission X. Not a ton, but it’s moving. It will move more as soon as Sedra is done.
• I think I’m going to try and blitz some older material into conversions of other systems at the same time as MX development. The work is excellent, but sometimes the systems are small enough to be limiting.
• Congratulations to Gavin Norman for an even bigger Kickstarter with Dolmenwood than his OSE Box Set. Over a million dollars, likely to make it to over a million GBP, and over 8,000 backers. That’s the sort of project that inspires.
• I’m down to a handful of pieces remaining, and parceling out the “pending/unassigned” card art for the books I have. The art team is, as always, awesome.
• Had a great vacation in Duluth that was mostly hiking. Our last day we did something like 8.5 miles in 4-5 hours, only marred by unhappy children. Back in my day …