First things first: an apology for last week’s link mishaps. I genuinely don’t know what went wrong. Since most people were able to access the download on the first try, it doesn’t seem like a typo or a settings issue on my end. My best guess is that some strange, unknowable bit of internet gremlin magic was at play. Not your fault either, mind you, it was just... weirdness.
That said, if you’re still having trouble accessing anything for whatever technological goblin reason, please reach out to me directly and I’ll sort it out. I’ve been doing this for folks already, and it usually takes just a couple of hours—half a day at most if time zones are involved. I promise I’ll get you sorted.
Now, onto better news.
Proofreading & Print Prep
The proofreading process is going very well. I should have the file back next week, at which point I’ll implement the final changes and send the completed PDF over to Tim at Critical Kit so printing can officially begin. So that's exciting!
I’ve already delivered the finalized cover file (with the back cover integrated) as well as the exclusive postcard for the early bird backers, so those assets are ready to go to print. Things are moving along smoothly on that front!
First look at the web app
Working on the interactive PDF ended up clarifying a lot of what I want from the web app. The main goal is simple and practical. No bloat, no overengineering.
I’ve been experimenting with a first version, with some help from a friend in Brazil who volunteered to pitch in as a way to practice his programming skills. That help was very welcome. I also want to acknowledge that several of you reached out during the campaign offering to help with the web app, which I really appreciate.
Because of that interest, I’ve made a decision: the web app will be open source.
Once it’s ready, I’ll put it up on GitHub (I’ll figure that part out later; it doesn't sound that complicated, I am probably one tutorial away) so anyone who wants to contribute, tweak it, or build their own version can do so. Since all the project content is already under Creative Commons, this feels like the right move.
The app itself will be a single responsive HTML file—HTML, CSS, and JavaScript all in one place. That may not be best practice, but it makes it easy to run offline, drop onto a phone or tablet, or just open locally without setup. And since it’s open source, anyone who wants to refactor it properly will be free to do so.
Below is a first screenshot of how it’s shaping up.
You can roll everything at once or roll individual elements, just like in the interactive PDF.
I also added a small scratchpad: click the + sign next to any result to send it there, then edit and refine it however you like. It’s already proving pretty useful in my testing. (Also, I've made it "float" on the page over the other elements, so you can always have access to it no matter the size of the screen. How do we like that?)
With a bit more help from my friend, this should turn into another update fairly soon. And, as always, it’ll be added to the same download page (hopefully seamlessly this time).
One Last Reminder
Before I let you go, this coming Monday, February 2nd, the Triple-O campaign launches.
There will be early-bird specials in the first 48 hours, cross-collab bonuses (including combined shipping across projects), and a free e-zine that Backerkit is assembling for backers of five or more projects—which I’m contributing to with an animal companion emulator.
I’ll also be hosting a livestream one hour before launch, where we’ll play together, GM an adventure module, and hang out. If that sounds like your kind of thing, make sure to follow the project page to get notified.
That’s all for today.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a great weekend! —Cezar
