Editing and Artwork
over 2 years ago – Sun, Aug 27, 2023 at 03:41:52 PM

Hey, everybody. I wanted to check in and give a quick update on the project as it's starting to come to a close. Two things specifically I want to touch on. The first being the editing of the one shot adventure and where that currently stands. It is the last big hurdle for me to wrap up this project. I've got the content in the hands of the editor and they are moving through it diligently but the document turned into a much larger addition to the book than I was initially thinking it would. Currently, with the added stat blocks for the monsters that appear in the adventure, we are sitting at a 38 page google document. Editing started work late the week after I got back from GenCon. The editor had another project he was trying to wrap up before jumping into the adventure document. Right now it stands at roughly 1/3 of the to completion. The speed this is going, I think the editing should be finished over the course of this coming week. Once it is, I'll be doing the revision work which I think should cover the course of a 1 or 2 evening stretch. Once that is finished, all the text for this book is ready to go and I'll get the last chapter laid out. I'm very excited and ready to be at that point because I think this is going to be a very enticing supplement at everybody's tables. 

Now for the art related news. Because the editing is taking a bit longer than expected and I have some time allotted before I begin the revision work, I've decided to to add some better maps and new maps to the accompany the adventure. Initially this was just going to be the final dungeon at the end of the adventure but I've taken the time to create a new map for the town that will be the opening focus of the adventure and to update the regional map of the area around Kalorr. Those that purchased the Knights of the Shadow Realm earlier map remember the regional map being a zoomed in version of the world map. Well, I wanted something bit more detailed to go along with this adventure and I've got both of the maps finished at this point. So, here is a sample of the maps that will now be accompanying the adventure. 

The Region of Kalorr

The Town of Braedon

I'm excited about both of these maps. I'm saving the final map so that it can appear for the first time along with the adventure. I'm hoping that the next time I make an update it will be to alert everybody that this project is wrapping up and the PDF is about to drop for everybody. Until then, I hope you enjoy the maps and continue to look forward to this coming out as much as I am. 

David Barrentine.

A Quick Update
over 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 01, 2023 at 07:57:53 AM

Hey, everyone! I wanted to take a minute to give a quick update on the project and on plans for this week. For the project itself, I was really hoping to have this finished and ready to hand out at the start of this week but we've hit a small snag that I'm trying to iron out. As it stands right now 4/5 chapters of the book are finished and ready to go. The final chapter, the one shot adventure, is still waiting on its last round of editing. Once that is wrapped, I can get it placed alongside the art and then this project is finished. I'll continue pushing to get the editing finished as soon as possible so we can get this wrapped. 

In the meantime, for this week, it's GenCon! And I'll be there helping Zac to represent the World of Game Design booth. I'll be working at the booth Thursday and running games the rest of the week. If you're up there, feel free to stop in and say hi! We'd love to see you. 

Also, because the book is almost finished and I want to share some of what it's looking like, here are a few screenshots from the various chapters. 

Job and Kickstarter Update
almost 3 years ago – Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 07:35:52 AM

Hello everybody!

This last couple months have been incredibly stressful for me. I've put out a couple hundred applications looking for jobs since I was laid off and for the most part I was left without any responses. It has been a nonstop draining experience that has left me in a pretty bad state BUT as of yesterday, I've finally gained employment again. Now that that complication is out of the way, focus is going to return to this project. 

I appreciate everybody being patient while I've been going through the job search. During that time, I got an update from the editor with the revision work done. I'll be starting on getting the revised text into the layout this weekend. Once I have that done, all that will be left is a town map and dungeon map for the adventure which I've already got work started on.  Once those are done, this project is finished and I can release it to PDF for all of you! I know it's been a long time coming and I thank all of you for helping this come to fruition.  I'm hoping to have everything wrapped up on this in the next two weeks so I can put this out and start getting this ready to ship out to print. 

Once I have this ready for digital release, I'll open up the backer kit for everybody and get things sent out. Once that opens, I'll make an update for everybody. I'm looking forward to finally wrapping this project up! 

Speak with you all soon as I get this wrapped up. 

 David

A Couple of Stumbling Blocks
almost 3 years ago – Mon, May 15, 2023 at 06:28:34 AM

Hello everybody. Wanted to check in here and give a recent update on the state of this project. It's still moving along but the editing and revision phase isn't going as quickly as I had hoped. It's still proceeding and the document is getting nice and cleaned. But it's still going a bit slower than my initial estimates. That being said, editing isn't the biggest stumbling block that I've recently hit. 

I'm an independent creator. As such, this is a hobby that I enjoy. Making things to put out there and share fills me with immense joy but it's not what I do to pay my bills. Everything from this project is being fed back into this project and setting up future ones. I work in the tech industry as a Frontend developer and recently I've fallen into the same issue that many developers have and I've been laid off from my job. This is putting a sever wrench into my time. As of now my focus has to be on finding a new job. I don't think this will take a large amount of time but it will mean that continued work on this project will have to slow down further. Editing should continue as I have an editor already but the revision work I've been doing based on the editor's comments is where things will slow down. 

My goal was to get the PDF of this out around this week or near the end of this month but that doesn't seem like it will be the case as of now. I sincerely apologize for this delay. I will do what I can to keep this moving forward but right now my focus has to be on supporting my family and myself. I don't foresee the job hunt stalling this project for too long but I do think this may have to push the PDF release back until end of June or mid-July. I really appreciate the enthusiasm I've seen for this and I hope everybody can forgive the slight delay. When I find a new job, I will make an update again letting everybody know that we're back on the normal focus I've been giving. Until then, I apologize again for this hiccough. It was an unforeseen thing and, believe me, if I could have made it not happen I would have. 

Thank you all for your patience. I hope to have another update soon letting everybody know the job hunt is over.

Until then...

Art and Update
about 3 years ago – Wed, Mar 22, 2023 at 10:16:18 AM

Hey, everybody! It's been a little bit since I've given an update so let's fix that by giving you an idea of where the project is currently sitting and sharing some of the amazing artwork that's been coming our way. 

First We Art

I really want to share the artwork first because we've been getting  some amazing pieces in for this book. Here's a sampling of what we've been getting. 

I am in love with so many of these pieces. I can't wait for this book to come out so I can share the rest of the work with everybody. Speaking of the book coming out, here's a bit of a progress report. 

Book Update

For those that don't really want the specifics, the big picture here is we're still expecting this to come out on time, potentially a bit early dependent on editing and revision work. The goal is mid to late May for the PDF to come out. We'll start sending the PDF out for print samples the moment the PDF is launched. Now, if you're interested in the nitty gritty, here's all the details on where everything is sitting. 

Writing

As of this point, my work on writing the book is complete minus a couple tweaks. These will be wrapped up this week and mostly concern reviewing mechanics on the new school of magic, the School of Kinesis. 

The NPC stat blocks that Zac was working on are also finished with the exception of Gribble's stat block. While it is technically complete, I still need to review it and make sure the spell list works. Other than that, the NPC stat blocks are ready to go. 

The guest writer adventure. This is the area that still has the most work. This turned out to be a lot larger than I was expecting. Right now it's sitting at nearly 22 pages in google doc form. This is also adding an unexpected gain for everybody that backed this because now we're getting a lot more stat blocks, new magic items, and some campaign setting expansion that I hadn't initially considered adding to this book. I've helped Chris Hopper through some of the world lore and I'm very excited to get this into players and GM hands. This is a tier 4 adventure that includes a town siege, location hopping, and long lost ruins and lore to be unearthed. Chris expects to have this wrapped up very soon which leads into the next part of the update. 

Editing

This has been the biggest hurdle. I've only just now, like minutes before posting this, locked an editor in for this project. It's put this part of the project slightly behind but now that we've got one, I'll be able to get the ball rolling in this aspect of the project. 

Artwork

As I've shared, a lot of the artwork is in. In fact, all but 2 pieces have been finished from the artists I've commissioned. But there are still quite a few pieces that I'm working on. Specifically, the town map and dungeon map for the adventure and some minor pieces throughout the book. I'm tackling my duties in chunks and expect to move into the artwork after I have my writing 100% finished. Given that only tweaking small items remain, I expect to shift focus to my art pieces this week or next week. One of the piece of constructive criticism I received on my previous work with Knights of the Shadow Realm was there wasn't enough artwork so a large portion of the Kickstarter funds has gone into making sure that isn't the case this time and I think, once everybody is able to see the whole thing, they will agree it was worth it. This book is looking amazing with everything coming together in it. Which brings me to the final bit. 

Layout

I've been working the layout and graphic design elements as this has been coming together so mostly of this is already where I want it to be. I'm holding off locking everything into place until after editing and revision work is done as that can shift some of the layout around but I don't except there to be massive changes come from this. At this point, Layout is one of the easiest things left to work on. Once I have all content finalized, it should come together quickly and we can get this out in PDF form to everybody. 

Wrap Up

Alright, that's basically it for the update. Once I have the PDF ready to go out, we should be able to open backerkit and start locking everybody in for their orders. Once we have that ready to go, I'll send out the PDFs of Gribble's Guide alongside the 3 adventures that were unlocked in the stretch goals. I've already had a few people reach out with address changes and other requests. I've noted these down so, as we set everything up on our side, we'll make certain everything comes to where it's expected to go. 

And that's basically everything. If anybody has questions or concerns, feel free to message me. I'm more than happy to field them and answer how I can. I'm hoping the next update that comes out either says when we'll be wrapping up or that we have wrapped up. Looking forward to being able to send that one out. Until next time!