Layout Progress, Fulfillment Changes, & Printing Updates
about 1 year ago – Fri, Dec 01, 2023 at 05:12:24 AM

Hello Backers!

The last two months have shown incredible progress on the zine's layout, and the production continues on.

Layout Persists
Cenza  and I have been busy passing the document back and forth making  corrections and tweaks to the layout. We're at the final stages of this  now, hunting typos and making sure everything is aligned on the page.  There's a lot of content in these 48 pages (well really 46 the covers  don't count) and we want to make sure its not only legible but easy to  scan and reference at the table. We're at the limit of how many pages a  staple binding can reliably hold, so we're looking at every inch of  space – rewording phrases, consolidating sections, and shifting the  order of content.

I've had to cut one page in order to make room for  the player rules: "Shops & Services". This single page contained a  list of items with prices broken up by the type of shop you'd find them  in. I'm still going to use this information and make it available for  free as a supplement to TDLBY on the itch.io page after launch.

Fulfillment Partner Changes
If you follow the Indie TTRPG space, you may have already heard that our  fulfillment partner, Peregrine Coast Press, is sun-setting their fulfillment services. If you're interested, you can read their  explanation of this situation here: https://peregrinecoast.press/en-us/blogs/articles/so-why-is-fulfilment-going-away
I'd  personally been working with Hugh and can only say great things about  how helpful he was. I've reached out to them as well as other folks in  the scene to see if anyone is able to pick up our project for any or all  of those regions.
Additionally I've made the decision to seek out a  fulfillment partner for US orders as well. At this point I feel much  more comfortable finding someone with the experience to tackle this  project, instead of setting up a distribution center in my basement for 2  week.
No one has yet been charged for shipping fees, and this is  part of the reason why. Postal rates across the globe are inconsistent  now, and we want to be able to offer the best rates. Once I have all of  the fulfillment partners lined up I'll update here with the new rates,  as well as updating the rates in BackerKit. Shipping addresses will be  able to updated up until the point that we are ready to ship, which will  be after cards are charge and the print is ordered.

Printer Pending for January
Now  that the calendar year is winding down, a lot of businesses are closing  their books for 2023. I've been in communication with our sales rep at Risolve Studios for all of 2023 and we're looking towards January now for booking a  printing date. As I mentioned above, we're close to finishing the  layout, but not quite done yet. I'll update here when we have a contract  with them for a printing date.

PAX Unplugged
I'll be at PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia this weekend, handing out some slick business cards that Cenza designed.
If  you're tabling or attending and want to meet up let me know! I'll be  bringing a small amount of materials to run the sample dungeon from the  zine, but don't have anything booked. If there's interest I can try to  snag a table in Free-Play. Any interest should go through the discord: https://discord.com/invite/UcK2ZmeHgv

As  always, thank you for your patience. Every week the zine is better than  before, and we're so excited to get this out the door and see it in the  wild

- deldon

September Update: Steady Progress on Layout
over 1 year ago – Fri, Sep 08, 2023 at 12:39:26 PM

Hello Backers!

Cenza here, I am working hard on the layout, currently in it's second draft. Overall we're about 75% of the way done with the game's final layout. I've printed it out and am editing by hand! 

Anyway, we're thankful for your patience, this is hard and we're doing our best. 

Aug update: Layout Progress, Printer Timeline Updates
over 1 year ago – Tue, Aug 01, 2023 at 06:24:26 PM

Hello backers!

July has been a busy month of back and forth on the layout between Cenza and I. We're currently looking at 48 total pages (including the 2 covers) for the zine, giving plenty of room for the Dungeon chapter to breath. Here's a preview of the first two pages. (note that the page numbers are not yet updated)

I'm currently in conversation with our printer on when we can slot into their schedule. They are closed for the month of August, so we're trying to get in for late September. I'll post an update when we have a better idea of the exact turnaround. For now though, the BackerKit Pre-Order store and Pledge Manager will remain open through August. If you haven't filled out your surveys yet, please do so!

More than a few of you have messaged me about updated addresses. Rest assured that you will be able to update your address right up until we lock orders, charge cards, and purchase shipping. We will give ample notice and several reminders as to when that will happen.

That's all for now! Thank you for your extended patience!

July Update: Pledge Manager Extension, new shipping from Peregrine Coast Press
over 1 year ago – Mon, Jul 03, 2023 at 06:26:33 PM

Hello backers!

Pledge Surveys closing Aug 1

As per the last update, Cenza is still hard at work on the game's layout. It's coming along great, and we're confident that the next revision will be a final print-ready file. As such, we've pushed back the deadline to finish the Pledge Survey to August 1st, 2023. All backers have the rest of July to finish filling out the pledge surveys, of which 83% of you have already done so! Thanks!

Shipping Price Increases for Non-US/CA backers

Our UK/EU/ROW shipping partner, Peregrine Coast Press, is scaling up their fulfillment capabilities! We're very excited for them, as they have been hugely helpful in getting our shipping costs down to the majority of the world, and in their general support of the indie TTRPG scene at large. With the change does come a slight increase in shipping costs. I am still working with them to sort out the exact details, but most backers will see a slight increase in shipping costs, of about £0.20-0.50. One of the reasons we have not charged shipping yet is this exact scenario. We want to be able to charge the cheapest possible rates at the time of fulfillment, and not a moment sooner!

Zine gets lengthened

As part of the layout process, we've added 4 pages to the zine in the Dungeon Building chapter! The text of the manuscript hasn't changed at all, but we're able to include more art and helpful diagrams to really elaborate on the concepts in this chapter! I like to think of this facet as the game's core, so getting it right on the page is paramount. I'm very excited to see Cenza's next revision!

That's all for now!

Book Layout Progress
over 1 year ago – Wed, Jun 21, 2023 at 11:26:45 AM

Hello Everyone! 

Cenza here- so far so good on our progress making this booklet. We really appreciate everyone's patience, especially considering this is my first time as a graphic designer making a full booklet from start to finish (and I have two other jobs). Here's a sneak peak at what the pages are looking like, there's some wonderful illustrations along the way I can't wait for y'all to see. Happy gaming, we'll keep you updated as we go!