November 20, 2006
Time for an update.
Except for Hero approval, the second product is all but ready. Basically, all the PDFs are done, as is the read me file. All that?s left is to do is to zip everything up, upload to all the relevant servers, and write the marketing copy. Essentially, a day?s worth of work (assuming upload problems, 6 hours without). So that?s almost completely to bed.
I wrote the teaser and first act of the fifth adventure last week (or rather the play test notes, which is a sparser version). I think it?s going to rock. We started it Saturday but got started a little late due to a combination of dinner and pre-game character stuff. We got halfway through the teaser, and this one is pretty combat heavy, so two fights with critical-resistant creatures was good progress. In the past, we had another game running when I wasn?t play testing and so I felt guilty about going longer than four weeks. Now we?re just playing whatever we feel like on most weeks, so a slow start doesn?t worry me anymore (and I?m not taking time off work like I did on the other playtests to give longer feedback sessions and the like.)
So. Play test. Product. What else?
I put up a POD survey, but so far people don?t seem very interested in physical copies of the books, so I?m not going to stress about getting my POD ducks in a row (I can?t figure out how to do product 2 in POD anyway). I figure we?re at a point now in development where most people are just downloading and reading the products, not playing them yet (people need to find time in their schedules, after all). When people start running the adventures I expect the clamor will arise, and so now I?m just enjoying the idea that I might have one less worry on my plate.
Speaking of stuff on my plate, I think I might take time off in December. I expect to have product three written by the second or third week, so my thought is I should take my first break in . . . wow?a year and a half? . . . play
Neverwinter Nights 2. Then go back to writing. I HOPE I can. If I have some sort of deadline trauma, it might not be an option.
Talking of deadlines, I decided I hate breaking promises. So I?ve decided to reset all my production schedules so that I?m delivering early instead of late. Don?t worry, the books are coming out at the same times, I just won?t feel guilty about it.
Essentially, I set the first release date as a writer, not as a publisher. So when I went in afterwards and set up a spreadsheet to track all the little things that need to happen for a book to come out, I found out I was 150 days or so behind schedule on the second product. Then we had the laptop problem and I realized that I was just winging it these days anyway, and that the year it would take me to catch up would kill me.
So I reset all the production schedules so that they flowed seemlessly forward assuming that I start writing product 3 a week from today (which is when I intend to start writing product 3). That puts me WAY ahead of schedule, and so I?m happy. I don?t work any slower when I?m ahead of schedule, so I figured it doesn?t hurt anything, and if I slip a week here and there I won?t lose sleep over lying to the fans (I haven?t developed that thick, missed-production skin most publishers seem to have). As a way of comparison, I expect product 2 to release on December 19th (the day after the HERO timer runs out, IIRC). The actual set release date is now January 3 (so it should come out two weeks early or so). I expect Product 3 to come out somewhere around feb 19 (two monts later). The official projected release for that one is April 13th. All of this is probably just my subtle way of slipping the schedule now, when my release is already delayed for approval, instead of during product 4.
See, I?m pretty sure I can get product 3 out in SOMETHING like 2 months. But product 4 scares me. Product 4 is the
Bestiary. I might have to get every person I know who?s ever even played
HERO working round the clock for 2 weeks just to do the
HERO version. I know less people who?ve played
HARP. For
D20 I think I can get in the zone (I did a HUGE
d20 monster piece once). So even if I get everything going in a smooth two-month schedule for product 3, product 4 might just break me and everyone I?ve ever met.
So, might as well get the schedule redone now, when you?re used to bad news.
Product 5 might need prestige classes in the
d20 version. I?m fighting the urge SO hard. That?s neither here nor there, I just feel like I?m in confession, so I?m mentioning all my sins.
Anyway, for those who?d like a run down of the official and suspected release dates, along with brief descriptions, (no marketing speak) here they are:
All titles after product 2 are tentative. I?m still looking for new ways to say ?dirt? in a title.
Product 2. Official Release Jan 3rd 2007. Projected actual release Dec 19th 2006.The Last Free CityThe sourcebook on Felric?s Redoubt. Looks like 79 pages.
The Festering EarthAn adventure IN Felric?s Redoubt. 52 pages or so. It begins to let the characters see what the premise of the entire series might be.
Product 3. Official release April 13th 2007. Projected actual release Febuary 19th.The Lost Kingdom of the DwarvesLooks like the first 20 pages (after intro stuff) is just going to be all about dwarves. What their culture is like. Why they hit their hands with hammers on purpose. What?s going on with the royal line of Uzar?g after a thousand years of exile. After that we discuss Uzar?g itself and the orcs that live there.
On Corrupted GroundAdventure in . . . you guessed it . . . Uzar?g. Characters find out they definitely have a good idea what the series is about. End of Act One of the overall story.
Product 4. Official release Jun 15th 2007. Projected actual release . . . hopefully sometime before Jun 15th.BestiaryWe?ve got a lot of little things different because of the whole infernal/angelic-blood-mixing-with-mortals thing. Here we take care of nephilim and Demons. Since some systems have less than 6 primary elements, we probably fill in holes like putting a light elemental into
HARP and
d20 (if they?re missing, I?m only assuming they are. I don?t RESEARCH my dev journals). This is the big book of baddies. Otherwise known as the book that finally kills me.
The Tainted TearsAll hell begins to break loose in this one. The party begins a race beat the bad guy, now that they finally know his evil plan. My editor calls this my hammock adventure. It gets you from here to there.
Product 5: Official Release Date Aug 15th 2007. Projected actual release: two months after my eyes stop bleeding from product 4.In His NameThe big book of Churches. Her we cover the Church, as well as all the other acceptable faiths (like the other savior-based beliefs and the Atavists.) I suspect they?ll be no room for pagans and demon worshipers. We?ll need to save them for a big book of evil churches.
The Last Hallowed Place (I ran out of words for ground, on Product 4, in fact, but I had another title for that one).
This is the act two twist of the campaign series. The party finds out what this series is REALLY all about.
After this, I?m not making promises. That doesn?t mean I?m not finishing the series, I?m just saying that the Sourcebooks are not written in stone from here on (the adventures have to be pretty firm, for plotting reasons).
Product 6. Official Release date Oct 15th 2007. Projected Actual Release two months after the last one.The Land of Barbs and BladesWrite up of another permanent Ulcer. This one should definitely happen.
The Day Before ApocalypseThe tone and drives of the adventures changed the last one. How do the characters deal?
Product 7. Official Release Date Dec 15th 2007. Projected Actual Release two months after the last one.Than the Sum of its PartsNon-human cultures. Basically the big book of other PC races. This is one of those books on the chopping block if I suddenly realize there?s a book I HAVE to put into the release schedule.
The Man Behind the MaskThings progress. This is the last adventure in act two so there isn?t a lot to say from here on without major spoilers.
Product 8. Official Release Date Feb 15th 2008. Projected Actual Release two months after the last one.To Master Dark SecretsBooks on magic and witch-hunters and the like. This one probably needs to stay in the schedule due to the thematic links to the setting.
To Hold the BreechBaaaaaadddddd things happening.
Product 9. Official release April 15th 2008. Projected Actual Release two months after the last one.The Silent GuildI think this will be a book on crime. There?s no real thematic link to the adventure, but this is a good place for that as the characters are covering old ground, geographically. This is the FIRST book to go if I have to drop a book.
To Stand AloneThings get worse and worse.
Product 10. Official Release June 15th 2008. Projected Actual Release two months after the last one.The Book of ProphecyA placeholder title. Right now I?ve slotted this as a book where I answer any questions I?ve had to leave hanging previously. If there aren?t any, then I?ll find a new book for this slot. This is far enough in the future that it?s still nebulous. Another book that might go here is a guide to the planes for the setting, dealing with Heaven, Hell, and everything else. That?s what I THINK will be there at this point, but I need the place-holder in case everyone deciding they need a nautical sourcebook or something.
O What a Hell Would Heaven BeThe final dramatic climax, both of the adventure and the teasers. In fact, this one might be longer than usual, composed HALF of teaser plot as I bring the past and present to simultaneous close. Think of it like a flashback-heavy episode of Lost (but where the writer actually knows what?s going on).
So that?s it. This one went long and I have to finish the play test notes, so have a nice day.