Progress
about 5 years ago – Fri, May 03, 2019 at 02:42:44 PM

Yesterday was good and bad. My internet went out completely and will not be restored until Sunday. That's the bad news. The good news is I don't need the internet - in fact it's a distraction, as we all know - to work with the InDesign files.

So, I got the index done. The two monsters that were missing are done. The Nordvorn map has some labels added to it, though there's enough going on in town that I could cover the entire thing in labels and still not get it all. I may go back and put in some more for Ainferill and Longbru as well . . . but the only thing NOT done is the relationship map, and I'll do that Saturday night and Sunday. Hopefully I'll have internet then.

I may try and send out the current draft for comments, but things going to and fro over my LTE hotspot has been dicey.

The last thing undone is the hyperlinks. I've got a bunch in, but I know it needs more. I will try and take care of that this weekend as well. That will allow getting to the printer early next week for this file.

Then the last thing remaining is to place the orders for the bookmarks in both the US and UK, and get them off to their proper destinations. I left that last because the companies I use get the job done super-fast, so they'll be sitting at the proper place long before the books arrive.

Meanwhile, it's time to start hard work on Four Perilous Journeys: New Adventures for The Fantasy Trip.

No rest for the weary: I hope to launch that next Tuesday or Wednesday!

Two of Three Files Sent to Printer
about 5 years ago – Wed, May 01, 2019 at 11:36:53 PM

I realized that while I'm still finalizing Citadel, HoJ 2e and Fantastic Dungeon Grappling are quite done. So I exported them with the new printer's settings (they are the first I've had ask for crop marks and PDF-X/4 output) and sent 'em over.

I don't know if you saw it earlier, but the lay-flat sewn binding on the Hall of Judgment 2nd Edition will, just like Citadel, be 14mm thick. The current version is 11mm. 

That's an increase from 0.43 to 0.55", or about 28% in spine width. There will be no mistaking the new edition! I decided to stick with the original cover, since the thicker book is unmistakably different.

Still working on Citadel. The art is 100% done. I think I made all the changes folks were looking for that were errata, and I got the two important new monsters in there. Had to lose Beasts of Burden and the longer writeups on the faerie . . . but you can get those in Hall.

Soon, then. Very soon.

While I'm working, let me distract you with art
about 5 years ago – Wed, May 01, 2019 at 04:18:55 PM

Hey, while I'm finishing up the relationship map and the index (I took care of the monsters last night), let me distract you with some art and artists, in alphabetical order. I also use stock art by Dean Spencer, and his Patreon portfolio (and DriveThruRPG work) are a great aid to any RPG publisher.

Thomas Denmark

Thomas and I actually have a longer association than I thought, though this the first time he's accepted an art commission from me. He and David Pulver featured a short grappling system for OSR games (that would eventually become Dungeon Grappling for That Other Game) in Thomas' Guardians Superhero RPG. Turns out we both share a love for Viking/Norse lore and culture.

 https://www.thomasdenmark.com/portfolio-samples 

Ben Jan

Ben specializes in landscapes and environments, and does a spiffy job with both. He was lightning fast on the commission work. 

 https://www.artstation.com/winterkeep 

Ksenia Kozhevnikova

Ksenia has a wide repertoire of styles to choose from, and I loved the sensibilities she brought to the work.

 http://kseniakoz.com/portfolio/illustration-portfolio/ 

Juan Ochoa

Juan and I have been working together since my first Kickstarter, Dungeon Grappling. In fact, we worked together before any kickstarters were launched, as I commissioned him to do pre-visualization on Dragon Heresy. He's done two different covers for me, plus some neat other work.

 http://www.juanochoa.co/ 

Glynn Seal

Known best for his Midderlands OSR setting and that he won a Gold Medal ENnie for Cartography last year, I've used him for both of my Dungeon Fantasy RPG projects for cartography. I love the style and detail he puts in to the maps.

 https://monkeyblooddesign.co.uk/cartography/ 

Ricardo Troula

Rick did the cover work for Citadel, so you've been seeing his stuff from the get-go. But he's also got some great work inside the book as well, such as this more pastoral scene.

 http://ricktroula.com/ 

Kriz Villacis

Finally, Kriz - another who's been working with me since the beginning. 

 https://www.artstation.com/krizevil 

Nordvorn pre-final v22 sent out
about 5 years ago – Tue, Apr 30, 2019 at 03:44:07 PM

I'm running a bit behind my intended schedule; I moved this past weekend, and it did not go to plan.

Here's what I've done:

• The art is now 100% in, or should be, for what has been commissioned.
• I've corrected a lot of errata and typos and whatnot, but I'm still not satisfied I've got 'em all
• I've added to the glossary
• I added a regional map to p. 4 to put everything in context. Isfjall, for those that care, is basically straight up the Wodenain to the west

Here's what I feel I have yet to do

• The index needs to be completed
• I promised you guys a relationship map
• I somehow left off two critical monsters
• I need more labeling on my Nordvorn map to show braethralag regions and key temples and halls
• I need to go through and finish the hyperlinks

The first four are vital to get the book to print; the last is needed for a satisfying PDF experience. 

In order to put in the two critical monsters (Gyda and Asgrimr) and the relationship map I need three pages in a full book. I'm going to cut down the repeated Nordalfar sections from Hall of Judgment and just list a brief summary of their stats, more like the NPC writeups. There are four pages of nordalfar - nordalfs, storalfs and elder storalfs, and hobs. There's also the thurs and the (pretty important) half-page description of the faerie powers. So if I can get that down to 2.5 pages that leaves me the three I need for two monsters and a relationship map.

These are not quick nor easy fixes, and the indexing and hyperlinking is tedious detail work. "Fortunately," if you can call it that, my daughter is home sick today, so she'll be curled up and I'll be at the computer for most of the day.

In any case, that's where we stand. I thought I'd be farther along than I am with the move and book finalizing, but some of the nights I expected to spend doing the above were spent packing and moving furniture and boxes.

In any case . . . I'll keep you informed.

Initial PDF Distribution is Complete
about 5 years ago – Tue, Apr 23, 2019 at 06:51:47 PM

Well, time for the deep breath before I move (tomorrow).

PDF Distribution 

Anyway . . . all PDFs that were part of this Kickstarter have been sent out. In four cases, these are the "final" files: Fantastic Dungeon Grappling, Dragon Heresy, Lost Hall of Tyr (2nd Edition), and Dungeon Grappling.

In two cases, Hall of Judgment and of course The Citadel at Nordvorn, I'm taking errata and comments until Apr 29 or so, when I send the final files in to the printer.

The Backerkit and pre-order phase of the project will be open until I send the order to the printer next week. After that, the PDF sales (and print-book pre-orders) will migrate to my website. Once both print and PDF products have been sent out, a quantity of all the books will be sent to Warehouse 23 and listed there, plus PDF sales. Of course it's best for me if you buy them directly from my website . . . but as Guy Fleegman once said, "I'm just jazzed to be on the show, man!"

Say Things Please?

I've gotten a few nice comments as part of proofreading, for which feedback I thank you. That being said . . . if you have a review, initial impressions, or comments about the book, telling me is great. Telling Facebook, SJG Forums, RPG.net, Reddit, Twitter, theRPGPub, etc what you think is even better. If you feel strongly, you can always include a link to the hosted pre-order page:

https://the-citadel-at-norvorn.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

The author saying "buy my stuff, it's fun!" is all well and good. If I didn't think it, I shouldn't write it. But the backers saying "was worth it," or even better "I'm going to run this/I ran this and it was fun!" is even better.

No Rest for the Weary

If you've seen the Gaming Ballistic publishing schedule for 2019, you'll know I've got a lot going on:

The next on the docket is "TFT Group 1." That will be four adventures for SJGames' The Fantasy Trip.

I'm pleased to say that I took a break from Nordvorn to do a draft layout of one of the four adventures - I've got them all in hand already - and I'm pleased with how it breaks down. The complete adventure text, with reflow, comes in at about 11 pages or so, with some room for art. The remaining five pages are going to be tokens and maps, more art, and of course a title page and table of contents.

I like doing a bit of layout first. It's somewhat silly, but it's far easier for me to see things, edit things, and get a good drink of a draft if it's on paper. Also: I need to do it eventually, and being able to directly import a file into something that looks good makes for a better Kickstarter presentation.

And while "April 19" has but a week left in it, the first two weeks in May is very possible for a crowdfunding launch. In fact, May 8 through June 2 looks like good dates for the campaign.

I've played a bit of The Fantasy Trip at FNORDCon and GameHole Con, and it's a great little tactical combat game, and in the "old-school" fashion, is easily expanded into a "roll and shout" RPG with In the Labyrinth. 

The adventures being funded are not (yet) Nordlond adventures. I don't have an issue with doing some! And I may well throw down a few Viking-esque adventures later (I've got an idea there, in fact, that would be a great short scenario).

Realistically, that puts crowdfunding completion and backerkit surveys finished in the first week in July, with The Dragons of Rosgarth launching in July, and Forest's End in September/October. So there should be  three completely new books for the Dungeon Fantasy RPG, plus Fantastic Dungeon Grappling and Hall of Judgment (2nd Edition) in 2019 for the Powered by GURPS crowd.

We'll finish up the year with yet another project for The Fantasy Trip, and the authors are hard at work there as well.

Final Touches

Even so . . . I've still got a week to go on Nordvorn, and I assure you I will not be idle. The proofing and commentary has already proven valuable and continues to be more so, and those edits will be reflected in the released draft. A reminder on what you can help me with:

• Spelling, typos, and errors in layout/formatting. Y'all are rocking this already.
• Mistakes in monster stats. Gotten a few of these, and they're vital.
• Glossary Entries. "How do you pronounce this?" and "Oh, more Nordlond phrases" are both good reasons to stick an entry in the glossary. I've gotten one or two of these, but suggestions are welcome.
• Index and cross-reference suggestions. Some of these are obvious: "see [Section Topic here]" will always get a link. Some are NOT so obvious. With PDFs, you can always just do "Find X," but you can't do that in print, and that's where a good index comes into play.

And that's that!