It's been a while, but I'm back with a key update - all art is in, and I'm getting final print proofs! There's been a big gap since my last update, which is due to a few factors I do want to explain for clarity:
I moved city, then moved again
I changed jobs to one that's a lot more high-stress and involved
I was feeling a bit of project-related burnout, especially with the relative complexity of running the pledge manager for the first time; as such, I wanted to make sure I didn't overdo it so Vralkast can be delivered on time.
Thank you for bearing with me on this - with hindsight, attempting to get the smoke test ready under these circumstances was very silly indeed. BUT, during this period, I've been working closely with Michael Fiore and the wonderful Rebecca Gray on NPC art and design, and have ordered initial print proofs to check for any flaws (elements too close to the margins or too dark when printed, text errors, etc). As a result, the book is now complete, with the sole exception of Backer names to add in that I'll obtain during the upcoming survey.
I've also been working on writing and formulating the Sea of Sorrow Field Guide. The base layout is complete, and most of the text is in - I'm just deliberating if/how I'm going to get some cool 'field sketches' commissioned for some of the entries.
Overall Status
Vralkast (Core Book) - Final Print Proofing Siren Song Adventure (5e/PF2) - Complete Sea of Sorrow Field Guide - In Layout Stretch Goal Adventure- In Writing
Surveys
Soon I'll be sending out the initial 'Smoke Test' surveys, ACTUALLY this time, where a small proportion of backers will receive their survey as a test to ensure everything's working correctly. Once this is done, I'll be sending out all surveys to collect postage addresses, names for inclusion in the book as thanks, and let people confirm their add-ons and the like. Shipping prices will not be confirmed at this stage, but as close as possible to actual shipping to ensure accurate pricing.
This will also allow me to share the various completed digital files when ready.
It's the end-of-March update, and layout is effectively very kind of almost done!*
What I mean by this, is the core book and all writing is complete, but the 'peripheral' stuff - Table of Contents, Backer Thanks page, and the like - is awaiting the final info I need. That means I can share stuff like the spread below, which is easily the most complex in the book, and I'm almost ready to begin the prep work for printing the physical softcovers. In total this means progress is at:
Overall Status
Vralkast (Core Book) - Layout 95% complete Siren Song Adventure (5e/PF2) - Complete Sea of Sorrow Field Guide - In Writing Stretch Goal Adventure- In Writing
Completing the core book is my priority, so I have as much time as possible to sort out the print proofs. I'll be working on the Add-ons between getting print proofs and such, as them being digital means I can complete them on a much shorter time-frame.
Surveys
Soon I'll be sending out the initial 'Smoke Test' surveys, where a small proportion of backers will receive their survey as a test to ensure everything's working correctly. Once this is done, I'll be sending out all surveys to collect postage addresses, names for inclusion in the book as thanks, and let people confirm their add-ons and the like. Shipping prices will not be confirmed at this stage, but as close as possible to actual shipping to ensure accurate pricing.
This will also allow me to share the various completed digital files when ready.
Layout & Art
Lastly, art is in progress on multiple fronts, including the color city map (and this is NOT an easy city to map!). To highlight some of the cool stuff, and also show a sample of the layout for the most complex and arty spread, here are a couple of sneak peeks:
I stole that top-left page from a basement in London Zoo. Don't tell them. Please.
Initial sketch of the district of Harrowmark and the fungal forests beyond the grand gates
The crowdfunding campaign's over, and I'm nearly two weeks late in saying so. Why? I don't really have a good reason, I just wanted to be dramatic, and also I received thirty different emails from Backerkit at the end of Zinetopia and didn't feel like adding one more. With that out the way, I've actually been preparing to move cities for a job, collaborating on the shared adventure reward with Moon Beast Games, and generally chipping away at the hit points of the beast known as Layout Design.
Vralkast Progress
Michael is currently in the process of sketching truly the world's most difficult city map - a three-dimensional view of Vralkast, with cutaways to the caverns that riddle its stone bones. The plan is for it to have all kinds of references to the content of the book, and I'm rubbing my squamous hands with glee at seeing the full thing. I also need to apologise to him (again) for making a city going forwards, back, up, down, left, and widdershins.
I am currently in the process of inputting the text, tweaking the text, having a good idea for layout, then tweaking that idea for hours until my dopamine-deficient brain realises I haven't eaten yet - which is all to say, things are going well. This will be interrupted over the next few days as I move, but I'm still feeling confident about my timeline estimates. Here's a rough spread from the underwater district of Cartilay:
Collab Adventure: Siren Song
For those who backed both Vralkast and Scuttle!, I've been furiously working on completing my half of the reward - the adventure Siren Song! This will be a 30-page standalone adventure for both D&D 5e and Pathfinder 2e suitable for use with both settings. Intended to last 2 sessions, Siren Song crashes the characters into the rocky island of Melody's Break, awash with armed reavers. They've taken a wyrmling hostage, and are using the leverage to command its ancient mother to wreck ships with hypnotic hymnals. To escape, the party will have to stage a daring heist, then descend into the deep with the wyrmling in tow. Check out the current cover: More updates to come with the sea winds.
Thank you again for believing in my weird little city, Jamie
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by the way, IF YOU WANT TO UNSUBSCRIBE from the update emails, the button's below!
...and just like that, Vralkast has hit all Stretch Goals!
I cannot thank everyone enough for contributing to this project; I had never expected to reach this point so soon (let alone at all), and I'm blown away by the support you've all shown. I've been musing about adding a final stretch goal that should last until the end of the campaign, but I also don't have anything firm in mind. If anyone has any thoughts on something that isn't 'physical knick-knacks' or a risk of delaying printing, I'm all ears.
In the meantime, production continues:
Art
Character references for the six Ward NPCs are in production, a terrible Paint map of the city has been sent along with a mood board, and grand under-dragons are being sketched. In a couple of weeks I hope to share some more concrete stuff, but right now everything's in a hive of motion. In the meantime, have a snippet of Great Olm:
The great serpentine form of a Great Olm, typhlotic and squamous, emerges from the Sea of Sorrow - Ia! Ia!
Giant Tier Characters
I've sent out emails and messages to all Giant Tier Backers to ask about NPC ideas and provide a document synopsis of the city and other relevant info. If you haven't seen this yet, please check your Junk folder, as I've had reports of Backerkit stuff ending up there. If there's nothing, I'll send another email in a few days and go from there.
Layout
The way I work on layout design is by iterating endlessly, tweaking components until they feel just right. I'm still doing this as I work my way through the sections page by page, so I'm somewhat reticent to share anything right now (as it'll be different tomorrow and the day after anyway). That said, keeping everything under wraps is no fun, so here's a pixel-compressed sneak peek straight from the first chapter in Affinity - More art and production updates to come next tide -
It's been 48 hours and I'm still reeling like an angler with a catch. Having passed £2250 earlier today, three Stretch Goals have now been annihilated, requiring me to sheepishly ask Michael Fiore if it's fine for me to dump a whole-ass map and 6 character reference sheets in his inbox (but not to do all at once, dear god). I also have to seriously consider if I should prepare additional stretch goals (bizarre! absurd!), but that'll come later; for now, time to buckle down!
I'm currently in the process of preparing references for the Ward NPCs, and have already sent reference sheets for the city map (a full spread, what luxury). I've reached out for help with the NPC reference sheets from the wonderful Rebecca Gray, a fashion guru who I worked with on Textiles of Eberron (a full fantasy fashion magazine!).
The writing for my Siren Song adventure is majority complete, which I'm aiming to finish tomorrow on the train. This is half of the freebies you can get from my collaboration with Moon Beast Games.
The writing for Vralkast is 90% complete; I'm just missing some Ward Encounters and Rumors to dredge from my brain, and some extra stuff on the cursed E𝔦𝔤𝔥t𝔥 of Vralkast's seven Wards.
What is done is the cover, and it blows me away every time I see it. I've attached the front half below - oh, and don't forget to vote on the Community Poll to decide which NPCs get art!
