Monday update 5/15
almost 7 years ago – Mon, May 15, 2017 at 07:00:15 PM

A Peek at the NPCs!

Greetings backers!

This week we're showing a picture of another page spread, this time from Chapter 5: The Yearbook. This is the NPC chapter, which includes a large number of characters from the world of Lovecraft and Tesla. The page spread shows Mark Twain and Sonia Greene and, like all the NPC profiles, it includes all relevant stats, a "tie in" to give some ideas of how to tie the NPC into your adventure or campaign, and a bio that explains who the character is and what makes them tick. When you go through this chapter, it's hard not to be struck by the sheer number of fascinating characters that lived in the 1920s. It's been a blast bringing them all to life and they will make great additions to your adventures. 

Last week we talked about how each of the main adventures and one-shots will feature a comic strip that introduces the plot. I know that I mentioned I would show off the latest comic from "Fistful of Dholes" in this week's update, but it is still in the process of being inked (which happens after the pencil drawing phase) so it's not ready to show off yet. It will be in the next update, for sure! Having looked at the pencil version, I can tell you that Tom Rogers has created another amazing comic strip! 

In other exciting news, Ravendesk Games will be running a booth at Gen Con 50 in Indianapolis this year!  We sincerely hope that some of you will be able to swing by the booth and chat with us! More details as they develop!

Until next week!

Lee

5/3 Update!
almost 7 years ago – Thu, May 04, 2017 at 12:35:50 AM

Good morning, backers!

I am plugging away at the design layout for John Reilly's standalone adventure "A Fistful of Dholes." Which is an absolute blast to play and really captures the world of Herald. You guys are going to love it!

For the layout/design of this and our other main adventures and one-shots, we've decided to include six-panel, full page comic strip, illustrating the introductory sequence of each adventure. As an example, here's the initial scene where Mark Twain sets his friend Nikola on the path to team up with H.P.. We think reading and showing your players an actual comic page will be a super-fun way to kick off an adventure or key one-shot. Especially since many of the adventures will lead into eachother, it'll create a great look and feel in the adventures chapter. 

Tom Rogers is currently working on a one-page comic for the tense introduction to "A Fistful of Dholes," and I will show that to you in our next update. 

I have all six Herald miniatures sitting in front of me on the desk, but I'm going to wait until we get them professionally painted before I show them off. I could paint them myself but, trust me, it would be a poor way to showcase David Soderquist's fantastic sculptures!

Until next time!

4/16 Update!
about 7 years ago – Sun, Apr 16, 2017 at 11:58:06 PM

Hello Herald backers!

We’ve been very focused on hitting our April deadline for releasing the book, but in the last week it’s become obvious that we need a little more time to make sure we deliver a game that lives up to and hopefully surpasses your expectations.    

These last-minute speed bumps are concentrated in three areas. One is the fresh perspective you get when you switch over from working on individual parts of the book to reading the entire thing cover to cover. That’s when you get a clearer sense of elements that need to be expanded and others that need to be trimmed back. The second area is in proofing the book, which is not only very time-consuming but, as we’ve discovered, requires another pass after even minor edits. The third area is having people who have never played tabletop RPGs review the book so that we can make sure that what seems clear to us is also clear to someone completely new to this kind of experience. This is the part of things that ended up taking the most time compared to what we’d anticipated, which is frustrating. On the other hand, it’s also helped us sharpen our language and keep the emphasis on what’s fun. 

 There are other details we’re polishing as well, of course, but the first three areas are the ones that have had the most impact on our production schedule. So in order to make sure we’ve got the time to get things right instead of, you know, almost there, we’re pushing our completion deadline to July. 

 I know that Kickstarter delays can be annoying and sometimes disconcerting, especially when there’s a lack of communication and accountability from the people managing the project. That’s not going to happen with Herald. I’m committing to fortnightly backer updates from this point forward, including not only a report on our progress but also completed elements from the book: a finalized illustration, an excerpt from the text, or even a page from the book itself. Again, you’ll receive these updates from me every two weeks from now until the day the book ships to our backers. 

 I know you’ve all been waiting patiently to launch into the Savage Worlds of Herald: Lovecraft & Tesla—and we can’t wait for you to get started! You have all made this book possible, and we are tremendously grateful for your patience, support, and enthusiasm. 

 I’ll be back with another look at the game and an update on our progress in two weeks! 

 Lee Pruitt, Project Manager

Today’s update is a very special one that we’re particularly proud of: the final cover artwork for Herald by Tom Rogers and Dexter Weeks!

 

Of course, your questions and feedback on this as well as everything we share here in the updates are always welcome!

Monday update!
about 7 years ago – Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 11:35:22 PM

Hello again Herald backers!

This week I thought you might like to take a peek at the layout of the Atlas section of the book in its current form. There will definitely be some changes to the design before the document is finalized, but this will give you an idea of what it will look like. Larger or more important locations like Miskatonic U, which is shown here, have a main location description followed by a series of subsections describing the various locations within it. The right page shows the Occult and Esoteric Literatures Department and the Department of Physics with illustrations by Tom Rogers. The Atlas chapter fleshes out the detail of the game world and plants a ton of seeds for your imagination, so when it's time to create your own adventures, you'll have all that you need. 

In the upcoming weeks I'll be sending along peeks like this into other chapters but we're also really excited to show off the cover illustration for the Herald RPG which will is currently being created by Tom Rogers as well. Spoiler alert: it's fantastic!

Lee Pruitt, Project Manager

Backerkit Update
about 7 years ago – Thu, Feb 02, 2017 at 02:27:50 PM

Hello Backers!

In response to concerns which some of you have raised regarding the shipping of add-ons, we have decided to delay the charging of backerkit accounts until the end of the day tomorrow, and send out this short update to clear things up. 

In order to provide savings to our backers, we adjusted the shipping cost of all pledges to allow for the bundling of add-ons. This means that if you ordered multiple add-ons, you will not incur additional shipping charges for each item, rather they will ship in the same box for one price. In every case where a backer chose multiple, physical add-ons, this has reduced the cost of shipping.

Due to the discounted shipping rate which we attached to the initial Kickstarter reward tiers, we unable to place additional items in the tier reward shipments. If we did, shipping costs, especially international costs, would be disastrous.

Please take a look at your backerkit order one last time. If you are in any way displeased with what you see there, we would be more than happy to remove any of the add-ons which you have selected. As these pledges are "locked down" please email us at [email protected] and we will adjust your pledge before any charges are made. If everything looks okay, you do not need to do anything, we will put the order through at the end of business tomorrow: Friday, Feb 2.

I would also like to thank you, our backers, for your understanding and patience as we have worked to resolve these issues.

Ravendesk