Production Update: ABRE OSR & DCC Complete; Pipeline Progress
almost 4 years ago – Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 05:22:01 PM

Hi all!  Happy Thanksgiving week for those who celebrate it.  Without further ado, let's get into this massive update of good news and progress.

ABRE: OSR & DCC Completed

Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm, Volume 2 for OSR and DCC have now been completed, and are published.  This brings a long-awaited end to the production of this massive bestiary across all 5 supported rules systems... and the end, finally, to basically two entire years of pipeline delay as I could not lay things out in an automated manner and was forced to do so by hand.  For nearly 20,000 pages of content, it was... a lot of work.  But it's finally coming to an end.  Which is good news not only for my hands, but for all other products eagerly awaiting my attention in the pipeline!

Digital fulfillment of V2 for OSR/DCC is underway; if you're entitled to either one of these newly-released products and don't receive an automated notification today, please let me know and I'll investigate.

Bestiary Hardcopies

For those entitled to hardcovers of Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm, good news: over the Thanksgiving break, I plan to finalize the content and cover files for every single volume of the Bestiary across every single rules system, and submit them for review.

The first week of December, I should be in position to order what I hope to be the final proof copies.  Once I receive them, likely in January, I will review them, and assuming all is well, will then commence with hardcopy fulfillment.

If you're entitled to a hardcopy of ABRE, I will reach out to you individually at that point to see what your preferences are regarding: rules system edition; address confirmation; and whether you would prefer the hardcopies still, or would prefer a partial refund if you're satisfied instead with the PDF version you've already received.

Conversion Guide

With the OSR and DCC conversions of the Bestiary completed, this Guide is about a week or so away from completion.  Look for fulfillment in December, I'd guess.

Monsters of Aquilae (MOA)

This is up next as my main focus.  I estimate it will take about 1-2 months to complete now that I can focus fully on it.

I will be laying things out for this book across all 5 supported rules system editions (PFRPG, P2E, 5E, OSR, and DCC) simultaneously.  As I've noted before, the "crunch" has long been completed for all 5 editions of this; it's just a matter of laying things out on pages.

If you're entitled to a hardcopy of this, it'll follow the same approach described above regarding the finalization, the proofing, and the individual reach-out.

Bestiary Master Index

The original vision for this was to merely include the Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm monsters, but a number of backers have urged me to also include the MOA critters in the listing, which does make sense.

Once MOA is complete, I'll be able to finish the Master Index; all told, it should take about 1 week to complete once MOA is done.

FTEG SAT

Yeah, this.  One of my most beloved initiatives, more than 30 years in the making, the Solo Adventuring Toolkit also one of the most delayed.

I once again apologize for the backup on this; everything listed above is either even more delayed than FTEG SAT, or such an easy finish (e.g., the conversion guide) that it doesn't make sense not to wrap it up quickly.  Rest assured it's still top of mind.

My full focus will be on completing and delivering FTEG SAT ASAP in the new year.  On the plus side, I can guarantee your money's worth: between the Solo Character Compendium and the QuickStart, it's already delivered quite a bit more than many backers reported expecting in the first place, so I can't wait to finish the huge entirety of my vision up on this and get your feedback.

Giving Thanks

I'm honored and just all around lucky to be able to do what I love most.  And if you're reading this, you are 100% the reason I am able to do that.  I never for a day take that situation for granted, and every time I put pen to paper on IGS work, I appreciate anew the fact that I get to do this.

So: it's trite and vapid to say this, but it bears mentioning nevertheless: I'm thankful for you.

Have a happy thanksgiving weekend, whether you celebrate or not, whether you are able to be with family and/or friends or not, and no matter your circumstances.

Onward!

ABRE: Volume 1 for OSR Complete & Fulfilled
about 4 years ago – Fri, Nov 06, 2020 at 11:50:25 AM

Production Update

Just a quick note that Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm for OSR, Volume 1 is now complete, published, and fulfilled in PDF format.

If you are entitled to this and have not yet received an automated notification from DriveThruRPG, first check your spam folder, and then message me/comment/email and I'll investigate to make sure you get what you're owed!

Timeline

OSR Volume 2 should finish in time for Thanksgiving, after which it's full-focus on Monsters of Aquilae in all *five* supported rules system formats.

Onward!

Production Timeline & New Kickstarter: Dark Harbor & FREE Gothic Horror Fiction Novel
about 4 years ago – Sat, Oct 03, 2020 at 02:31:23 PM

Production Timeline

Here's a mini-State of the Realm update: Following the release of v1.1 of Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm which expanded the world's largest bestiary by 60 additional monsters, we continue to make HUGE progress on a number of items in the pipeline.

The remainder of 2020 should see ABRE: OSR/DCC, the Conversion Guide, Monsters of Aquilae, the ABRE Master Index, DO1: Collectors Edition, Mystery of Brushgather Farm, and the Solo Adventuring Toolkit published at minimum.  AA3 and other projects that have been long waiting will follow shortly.

I've said it a number of places, but the hugeness of the impact bears underscoring: Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm consumed more than TWO YEARS more time than I had originally planned, due mostly to a lack of automation where I had anticipated being able to automate things (but my Day Job and COVID certainly didn't help).

With this enormous project now nearly off my plate, I get to focus fully on fulfilling the backlog of committed work, and let me tell you, I'm even more excited to do that than you are to receive it.

That segues us to...

New Kickstarter

It's Ravenloft meets Planescape, by way of Saw.  If that doesn't spark some interest, then skip the rest of this message and have a great weekend.

Between the timing of the season, and the enormity of progress and the tens of thousands of pages of work that's been accomplished lately, I felt the time was right to formally initialize the next thing in line.  Check it out here.  I'm also switching to an official honest-to-goodness business Kickstarter account for Infinium Game Studio.

A few things of interest here:

1: No Impact to the Pipeline

There will be zero impact to the timeline of existing committed work.  Dark Harbor will ONLY deliver AFTER all existing committed work is delivered.  I am keenly, keenly aware that I owe a great deal of stuff to a great many people, all of whom have collectively made doing what I love most possible to begin with.  I am working as hard as is physically possible to deliver hundreds of pages of content each month, a pace which I hope to keep up going forward.

2: Target of Halloween 2021

It's gothic horror, so launching in October and delivering on Halloween next year makes a helluva lot of thematic sense.

The main reason I'm launching now is that I want to have a lot of artwork in this.  The stuff I have in the Kickstarter is representative, but it takes a huge amount of lead time: the dozen or so pieces I have already completed were the result of organizing things with artists over the past 2 years in the background.  So I'd love to get a sense of what the collective interest level, and my budget, will allow.

Also, based on my throughput over the last year or so, I fully expect that I completing my entire backlog of work by October 2021 will be entirely feasible, so the timing makes sense from that standpoint as well.

3: Free Novel

Years ago, I finished a horror novel set in the present day situated in the mythology of the Dark Harbor campaign setting.  Dark Harbor the novel is not quite the same thing asDark Harbor the RPG concept, not least of which because the former is present-day and the latter is swords and sorcery, but the basic structures are there, and if nothing else, it'll give you a feel for things if you're interested but on the fence.

4: Who Gets What

If you're a backer of Dark Obelisk 2, Gauntlets & Gaslight, or Western Realm Gazetteer, or are otherwise already entitled to "Dark Harbor", fear not: you will automatically receive all digital products from the campaign; no pledge or additional involvement necessary.  There's more detail in the Kickstarter campaign description but you get the idea.

FREE Gothic Horror Fiction Novel

Grab your FREE PDF of the Dark Harbor fiction novel here.  Despite having published over 50 RPG products spanning tens of thousands of pages, I'm actually somewhat embarrassed and shy about my actual fiction writing, which is why I've only finished 3 novels of which one is entirely unpublished because it's semi-autobiographical, so take it easy on me in the feedback department with this book.  :)

Onward!

Production Update: Version 1.1 Released, OSR & DCC Layout, MOA Layout & Timing, & Hardcover Status
about 4 years ago – Tue, Sep 29, 2020 at 01:48:00 PM

Hi all!  Great Aquilae Bestiary news today that I'm thrilled to share.

ABRE Version 1.1

Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm (ABRE) version 1.1 has been published.

No new products here; instead, each of the existing 6 volumes comprising ABRE has been updated with new additional content: to wit, 60 new monsters, 240 new statblocks, and up to 192 additional pages of new content.

These updated files are available now on DTRPT, and are of course free for everyone who already has them.

OSR & DCC

Layout has commenced, is full-focus, and is going very rapidly.  I should have these completed in October without question.  Each will be a 2-volume set, comprising 1,680 pages in total.

Master Index

Should be about 2-3 days of work to lay out following completion of the OSR/DCC editions.

Monsters of Aquilae

As I've reported, all the crunch and content is complete for this; I'll begin layout following completion of the OSR & DCC editions of ABRE.  I'm hoping to complete MOA by Halloween, but we will see how quickly Day Job lets me focus on things!

Hardcover Status

I'm regenerating the content files for all of the ABRE books--28, all told.  Once I submit these and they're approved, I'll have to order proofs, review and approve them, and at that point, I can begin fulfilling the hardcopies.  I will be reaching out to each of you who is entitled to hardcopies individually to ensure correct mailing address, edition selection, etc.

Furthermore, in response to backer requests and in recognition of the fact that it has taken me literally 2 years longer to fulfill this than I had originally planned, I'm offering any hardcopy backer the option of getting a partial refund, essentially reverting your pledge from oh-so-long-ago to a PDF-only pledge.

You will have this option right up until I reach out to you to confirm your hardcover options, so don't worry: I'll be asking you and providing clear options once we get to that point.

Conclusion

I realize it has been a very long wait for everyone, but the general feedback is that the wait has been worth it... ABRE has indeed fulfilled its vision of being the largest, most complete fantasy bestiary of all time.  And it's thanks to your help that this is so.

Onward!

Version 1.1 Publishing Next Week, Production Update for OSR/DCC Versions & MOA
about 4 years ago – Thu, Sep 24, 2020 at 12:37:26 PM

Version 1.1

Version 1.1 is now complete and heading your way next week.  I just need to regenerate the PDF files and upload them, and will post another update when this occurs.

If you've opted in to notifications from DTRPG, you'll receive a heads-up automatically when the new files are available.

As a reminder, "Version 1.1" is a small expansion of the content, adding 60 monsters to the mix, bringing the grand total to 1660 and burgeoning all 6 volumes by hundreds of pages.  Anyone who already has any of the Bestiary products will automatically receive the update.

OSR & DCC

The OSR and DCC versions of Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm are in layout now, and should complete in October.  Thence to Monsters of Aquilae, which will be laid out simultaneously for all 5 supported rules systems (P1E, P2E, 5E, OSR, and DCC).  I expect that to be complete by Thanksgiving, hopefully sooner.

Stay tuned!

Onward!