October Update
over 2 years ago – Sat, Oct 16, 2021 at 12:02:45 AM

    Hello backers! It's been a busy month for us here and we've waded through most of the remaining work needed to get the book off to the printer. We will be delivering the files to the manufacturer within the next two weeks. We're currently doing our final proofreading and finishing up the final touches and then off to printers. 

    Truthfully we are a bit behind where we'd hoped to be. This being our first book, the workload was a bit more than we anticipated. Colin and I have always stuck to a philosophy that it is more important for us to deliver you the best product we can and felt it was better to be a little late on our anticipated shipment than rush to complete the project on time. We are sorry we're behind, but we're confident it's going to be worth the wait. Once we've delivered the file we will pivot to getting a pdf copy of the book out and available to you as quickly as possible. 

    We also want to be upfront and let you know that with the current state of shipping we're just not sure how long it will take for the book to go from production, to shipment, to your door. We are going to stay on top of our manufacturer to find out a timeline and as soon as we know, you will know. We will do our best to keep you updated with shipping updates as we get them.  

Survey

We'll be sending out the backerkit survey today as well, so watch your email. With the survey, we'll be adding a new add-on option. We've got the dice samples back and we're excited to show them off to you. We'll be offering full polyhedral sets, a d20 two-pack, and individual d20's. 

Join the Discord

Finally, we've put together a discord channel and we'd love to invite all of you to join. Colin and I will be readily available to you for any questions you have about the book or if you just want to touch base with us.  You can sign up here: Join the Discord

September Update!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Sep 08, 2021 at 07:09:01 PM

Hello backers, 

Going to keep this one short and sweet. We are in the final editing and proofreading phase working to lock in and make the book print ready. Our focus right now is on getting that file to the printer. We sent out the preliminary files for a pre-press check which helped us to make sure everything will be ready for our printer. We just finished with our notes on the second stretch goal adventure which will feature a Gnoll name Ogrel seeking strength in forgiveness. That adventure recently entered its editing phase, and the art is just about complete for it as well. No fancy layout pictures this time, I don't want to spoil any more! Once the files are delivered to the printer we will start work on the PDF and get it out to you as soon as we can.

Dice 

The dice needed a redesign because it just didn't seem like the d20 symbol was working as well as it should have. It wasn't reading properly, and we weren't happy with the colors, so we ordered another sample set and are waiting to get a look at them. Once we are satisfied we'll make an update showing you the dice which will be available as an add on. When the sample images have been shown to you we'll be sending out the backerkit survey. 

To Conclude

We have a team of four working as hard as possible on Tavern Tales right now. Two part-time (they have other fulltime jobs) and Mike and I are working full time to get the book out to you. 

As always, once we know more and have a good chunk of news to update you on we will get another update out.  

Thankyou all for believing in us! Until next time!

Colin and Mike

Subclasses & Shops Update
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Aug 05, 2021 at 11:51:50 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

A Patron and a General Update
almost 3 years ago – Thu, Jul 08, 2021 at 06:30:03 PM

Hello Backers!

Just wanted to keep you up to date on some work that's coming in and include more basic information on our end. We have a lot of amazing artists and writers working on all the extra content right now and all that work is being finalized and making its way into the book. We are going to try and put as much art into the book as makes sense for us financially, so if there is anything leftover, we assure you, its going into content and art. 

Ognjen Sporin was working on one of A Trip Away Inn's patrons for us over on his Twitch channel last week if you didn't catch it. He's done a lot of great work for us so far and we love his style.

Manufacturing

We have super officially signed with our printer, placed a 50% deposit, and are beginning to work with a pre-print specialist to make sure that when the book layout is complete we can send it to print with no issues. This will definitely cut down on any troubleshooting when that time arrives.

We have a test batch of Tavern Tales dice currently in production, it should finish this next week and be shipped over to us the following week. Once we get our hands on those and if they are up to our standards, we will definitely show them off to you and include them in our add-on section of our backerkit pre-order store.

Engagement

We are here for you, so feel free to reach out at anytime. We love talking with backers and want to hear what you have to say. We are most likely toiling away in one of the many programs it takes to make a great book, or furiously typing emails, or trying to figure out how the hell VAT is going to work. Anyway, its been a joy so far and we really look forward to making this book fantastic for you all. Last thing, I know people had been requesting layout screenshots and updates. I will try to get some in the next update!

- Colin

Progress Report
almost 3 years ago – Tue, Jun 08, 2021 at 04:23:37 PM

Hello backers! 

We know you've been itching to see how Tavern Tales is coming along and while we were eager to give you an update a few weeks ago the news just wasn't there. Unless of course you wanted to see Mike and I hunched in front of our computer screens. So we opted to wait until we could actually update you on some book progress!

The Book

Tavern Tales is coming along nicely.  Kailey Bray's adventure is already off to the editors and we are finalizing talks with the writer for the second stretch goal adventure. Next week we'll be meeting with our Local Legend pledges and preparing their characters to be passed on to one of our artists. 

The layout of the book is also cruising along, right now we are full steam ahead on maps and adventure integration with our Iconography system. This is a ton of work but once the platform is fully integrated it will really bring up the value of these adventures and the book as a whole. 

Our manufacturer is going to take a section of Tavern Tales and run it through their system so there are no hiccups when it comes time to press the "print" button. That should be happening at the end of the month so we can work out any kinks as the book gets finalized, not after the fact.

We've been working on the new player options and have been working out some balance issues. We'll be playtesting them soon as well and as soon as they're a little more polished we'll give you a peek at the new sub-classes. 

Add-Ons

•  Dice: To be completely transparent, the process of getting dice manufactured within our budget has been trying to say the least. We had everything lined up and a quote on the table, we accepted, and two weeks later they realized they had made some mistake and the quote came back 600% higher. We managed to work out a compromise and have a mold currently in the works! As exciting as this is we can't be sure this mold will meet our expectations. So fingers crossed!
•  Enamel Pins: We've looked at several pin manufacturers and will be adding screen printed enamel pins to the pre-order store and pledge manager closer to launch. 

If you have any questions please reach out to us in the comments and we'll get back to you as soon as we can. We'll continue with updates about the manufacturing and progress of the book as we go so we can keep you as informed as possible.