Update 8/3
over 6 years ago – Thu, Aug 03, 2017 at 10:57:09 PM

The end stretch!

I know it's been a little while since my last update, but the reason is a good one!  We're so close to sending the book to print that I've delayed posting an update in hopes that I could report that the book has been posted off to the printers. Well, we haven't sent it yet, but we're just a few days away from doing so!

As soon as we do, the printing company's pre-press team will look at each page of the book, and let me know if all the print specifications are correct. That means that the extra paper which will be cut from the pages (the bleed) is of the correct width, the colors are displayed correctly and any images that cross between pages are overlapped properly, etc. If there are changes that need to be made, I'll fix them on the spot and send it back. When we get the green light, the printing process will begin! The printing lead time + shipping is approximately five weeks. Which means, as soon as we get the go-ahead, we can be sure we'll have your physical copies in hand five weeks later. 

Once that ball is rolling, we'll redirect our attention to finalizing all the other bits, like the printing of the battlemaps, hyperlinking the pdfs and things like that, so that by the time the books are in our warehouse, we'll be ready to start mailing out your reward packages!  Most of the add-ons are already produced and lying in wait for the corebooks to arrive, or else they'll be on the way shortly. 

In the meantime, here is a screenshot of a couple of my favorite Mythos Resistance fighters. I know these fellows had been asked about specifically by some of you!  

Stay tuned for more information as we move into the printing process!

Lee Pruitt, Project Manager

Monday update 7/10
almost 7 years ago – Mon, Jul 10, 2017 at 10:58:47 PM

The home stretch! 

We're getting very close to wrapping up the corebook, folks! The latest batch of design and layout tweaks are looking really good, including a new, classic design for the title pages at the beginning of each part, a new page background with an aged-paper look, which really makes the pages pop, and a whole batch of updated and new artwork from Tom Rodgers and Dexter Weeks. The book is bursting with artwork at this point!

One of the pieces that is also in development are the battlemaps, which are being hand drawn by Herald artist Dexter Weeks, and they are looking fantastic! I sent over a photograph of a truly hideous, drawing that i made of a battlemap layout and promptly received this sketch in response. The final, inked map is being colored as we speak, and I think it's anxious to get some 32mm Herald miniatures on it! Speaking of which, the sets of six Herald minis are coming out of the foundry over at Bronze Age right now, and the sample sets they've sent us are just beautiful.

The poker chips for "bennies" are in production and should be at the warehouse soon, which is where the Herald playing cards are already waiting. 

The pieces of the Kickstarter puzzle are falling into place, so stay tuned for more news on our estimated shipping date. I will get that information out as soon as humanly possible!

Lee Pruitt, Project Manager

Monday update 6/26
almost 7 years ago – Mon, Jun 26, 2017 at 11:48:16 PM

Hello again Herald backers!

We're hard at work this week, plugging away on the design of the Herald RPG corebook. We're really excited about the way that the book is looking and we're looking forward to releasing production dates and estimated delivery schedules. We'll send out an update with that info as soon as we can!  

In the meantime, here's one of the character's from the yearbook chapter, that was invented by one of you! Angela Ashcroft and Aaron Morrow are probably somewhere nearby as the three of them are an adventuring trio and the subject of one of the book's adventures (bonus)!

Victor Eisenberg

Victor Eisenberg is the only son of proud German immigrants who came to America looking for business opportunities and a bright new future for their family. Tutored and mentored by some of the greatest scientific minds in the German immigrant community, young Victor was performing complicated scientific experiments on his own before he even started school. Losing interest in what he found to be unbearably remedial, Victor left regular school at age 13 and entered straight away to Brown University, where he excelled. His designs for a working automaton were considered groundbreaking, but ultimately far too expensive to ever produce. His young age didn’t seem to be a hindrance at all, and he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering, earning top marks in every course. The brash young 16 year old graduate refocused on the new and exciting field of atomic physics. Three years later, he earned his graduate degree and continued on towards his doctorate. Now just one semester from another graduate degree in his hand, Victor is realizing that what he has learned in his recent studies in theoretical physics has only raised even more deep questions-- questions that won’t be answered by the same methods everyone seems used to in the scientific community. The next academic step for Victor Eisenberg is likely the brand new Niels Bohr Institute in Denmark, where he hopes to study with one of his heroes, Niels Bohr. He may disagree with the relative intensities of spectral lines in Bohr’s model, but nobody’s perfect, right? To say that Victor is overconfident is an understatement. But it’s worked for him well so far.  

Until next week!

Lee Pruitt, project manager

Monday update 6/12
almost 7 years ago – Mon, Jun 12, 2017 at 09:04:16 PM

Hello backers!

We've got some really awesome new character art which we just received from Tom Rogers. We went hog wild with the Yearbook chapter and have created illustrations for every one of these 50 characters!  Right now they're travelling overhead (or possibly through wires) in digital form to be colored by Dexter Weeks and we'll have some awesome material to show off in the coming weeks. 

Today I'm posting a list of the 50 characters which are included in the yearbook section. There are ten more characters which are wildcards that will appear in another chapter of the book. You should have a great time thumbing through Encyclopedia Britannica finding out all you can about these fascinating characters from the 1920s. Are they heroes fighting against the ever encroaching Cthulhu Mythos, or are they the focus of some villainy to be thwarted by your characters in an adventure of your own design? Who knows!

As ever, if you have any comments or questions, send us an email at [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!

Until next time!

Lee Pruitt, Project Manager   

Herald Comics!
almost 7 years ago – Mon, May 29, 2017 at 04:01:48 PM

Greetings backers!

It was difficult to decide what to show you guys this week, since there is so much I'm excited for you to see. But, since I had promised it (and it's fantastic) I'm showing off the full-page comic strip which shows the opening, introductory scene of John Reilly's standalone adventure "A Fistful of Dholes." As we mentioned before, the main adventures and one-shots will open in this way, so you can have a fantastic prop to get your group into an adventure right at the beginning. 

"As a cold lake-wind blows through Chicago’s downtown docks on an early December morning, a pair of stevedores exit a truck by a warehouse." 

 Another beautiful piece of art by Tom Rogers!

As we mentioned previously, Team Ravendesk will be at Gen Con this year, where we will be running a booth. We sincerely hope that you will be able visit us there! The sessions of Herald, which will be run by John Reilly and Pete Sauber sold out instantly, but you can still swing by and hang out with us in what is going to be a cozy and comfortable booth!

Last, but not least, those of you whose pledge levels included digital copies of the Herald comics, get over to backerkit and download them from the Digital Downloads section of your account page!

Here's a link to backerkit if you haven't set it up.

Until next time!

Lee