Production Timeline & New Kickstarter: Dark Harbor & FREE Gothic Horror Fiction Novel
over 3 years ago – Sat, Oct 03, 2020 at 03:20:45 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
over 3 years ago – Tue, Sep 29, 2020 at 05:46:21 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
over 3 years ago – Thu, Sep 24, 2020 at 04:40:39 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!

Version 1.1: 60 New Monsters Coming Your Way
over 3 years ago – Fri, Sep 04, 2020 at 07:34:24 PM

Hi, folks.  A quick expansion on the snippet mentioned earlier this week in the State of the Realm update.

I was doing some housekeeping and I identified another ~60 monsters that I can generate and convert for Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm.

The new monsters are as follows.  Alphabetically, they fall across all 6 volumes, although Volumes 1 and 6 feature the greatest number of additions.  Crunch has already been generated; it's just a matter of a few days of layout to get everything updated and regenerated.  You'll receive updated versions of everything you already have automatically, and I'll post another update announcing the completion.

It has, and remains, my goal to have ABRE be the definitive, most complete, largest bestiary, so adding these in seems like a no-brainer.  They will also all feature in FlexTale Encounter Generator books, and the upcoming Master Index as well.

Look for them soon!  Onward!

• Aasimar
  
• Android
  
• Angel (Iophanite)
  
• Aracnotheign
  
• Archon (Stag)
  
• Astomoi
  
• Ataxian
  
• Basileus
  
• Black Claw Elite
  
• Burleev
  
• Caligni
  
• Catfolk
  
• Chalkost
  
• Dapsara
  
• Demon (Swaithe)
  
• Devil (Accomplice/Hesperian)
  
• Fetchling
  
• Gathlan
  
• Hand of the Inheritor
  
• Hive Larva Swarm
  
• Hive Queen
  
• Hive Warrior
  
• Karumzek
  
• Kasatha
  
• Kyton (Lapidarius)
  
• Lawgiver
  
• Machine Soldier
  
• Mother's Maw
  
• Nagaji
  
• Night Monarch
  
• Orsheval
  
• Pavbagha
  
• Personification of Fury
  
• Psychopomp (Ahmuuth)
  
• Samsaran
  
• Sarcovalt
  
• Sea Cat
  
• Steward of the Skein
  
• Suli
  
• Sunlord Thalachos
  
• The First Blade
  
• The Grand Defender
  
• The Grim White Stag
  
• The Menotherian
  
• The Old Man
  
• The Prince in Chains
  
• The Spirit of Adoration
  
• The Stabbing Beast
  
• Tiefling
  
• Trox
  
• Vanara
  
• Vendenopterix
  
• Vishkanya
  
• Wayang
  
• Wyrwood
  
• Wyvaran
  
• Xocothian
  
• Yhohm
  
• Zentragt
  

IGS State of the Realm Q2(ish) 2020
over 3 years ago – Thu, Sep 03, 2020 at 09:44:34 AM

Okay, so "Q2" is probably stretching it a bit; the just-published State of the Realm update has been long overdue.

Updated Project Targets

This has been the overwhelming most popular request: for the stuff that's taking longer than expected initially, what's the new vision for timing?  In the past, I've tried to avoid saying anything explicit if I wasn't very, very certain; in my management day job, I've usually worked in climates where citing a revised date and then missing that is viewed as worse than just being honest and vague about what a reasonable target might be.  But I recognize that this is not a management day job, and that people want to understand, and that a best guess is often better than open-ended ambiguity.  So, I've added targets in the SotR update.

I want to stress, and thank you for, the overwhelming amount of optimistic, understanding, sympathetic, and generally positive feedback I've received.  Most of you seem to be super thrilled; many of you are eager to hear more, and I do respect that some of you are frustrated.

I have always delivered, and I will continue to deliver, as rapidly, and as completely, as I am capable of.  I thank you for your patience, now in this bizarre 2020 situation more than ever, and for the nearly 10,000 of you who have received at least one IGS product already, I'm always eager to hear your feedback!

Thank You!

Thank you as always for your patience, support, and constructive feedback.  2020 has been a heck of a year for us all, and yet, IGS has continued to produce a TON of products spanning thousands and thousands of pages and over a dozen books.

We're looking forward to much, much more yet in what has already been a record-breaking year of productivity for our teeny-tiny indie geekfest company.  None of this would be remotely possible without you, your support, and your own passion.

So: Thank you!

Onward!