CONTENT WARNING: There is a bloody great spider picture at the bottom of this update. If you do not want to see it, stop scrolling when you get to the "Do You Like Spiders?" header. I repeat: it is a massive spider. I think it's quite cute, but that's because I like spiders.
So…
We’re still in overtime mode. Until we go a full ten minutes without anyone backing a Megadungeon Month project, overtime mode will continue. So this is a bit of a weird “end of campaign” update, in that it’s 66 hours (at time of writing) after the end time and we’re still going.
Things that have happened since Friday night:
Gar, Kieron, and I have celebrated. Quite a lot.
About 40 more people have pledged (hurrah!)
Kieron has had several ideas about incorporating the concept of time limits and 10 minute extensions into one of his dungeons (hey, crowdfunding’s been a huge thing in TTRPGs for a couple of decades now)
The F5 button has worn out on all our keyboards
But! It’s Monday now and we all deserve some closure, even while we keep refreshing that page. So…
Here’s What Happens Next
Soon? Backerkit will collect the funds for your pledges.
June: Pledge manager will go live, and you’ll be able to do your surveys. As always, we won’t charge for shipping until later.
June to December: Gareth, Kieron, and the rest of the team are writing. I’ll share monthly (ish) updates and - when there’s text worth showing - some previews.
January to June 2027: Art happens! I’ll keep up monthly previews (this remains true for the duration of the project), including sketches and work in progress if the artists are happy for me to share, which will vary by artist and piece of work.
April to May 2027: First edit round
June to July 2027: Any major rewrites
July to September 2027: Tentative plans for a playtest - this means you!
October to December 2027: Revisions based on playtest and final edits. Layout happens.
December 2027: PDF release.
January 2028: Backer feedback on the PDF. Based on other big projects we’ve done, this period is invaluable. DIE isn’t a particularly crunchy game, but we always find things we thought were clearly expressed that aren’t as good as they could be, and of course a selection of delicious typos.
February 2028: Revisions.
March to May 2028: Printing/mass production.
June to August 2028: Books are freighted to warehouses. Disgusting business.
September 2028: Orders shipped out to you.
You’ll notice one major change from the timeline on the crowdfunding page: since I wrote that page, I have decided Metadungeon would benefit from a playtest. And since it’s, uh, big, playtesting’s going to take some time. So it’s going to take longer than I said it would, but for what I hope is an enjoyable reason: I’d like you to play the game as early as possible and give us feedback.
You’ll also notice this is much longer than most crowdfunder fulfilment timelines, and that’s deliberate. We’ve left plenty of time in there for, broadly, good ideas to happen. For example, printing time is deliberately really long in case we discover a new material we really want to use, or determine that the paper we’ve chosen isn’t quite opaque enough - a genuine thing that happens when you’re as nerdy as we are.
If we finish any of these stages faster than anticipated, great, but I am leaving time both to do everything as well as we can, with no crunch, and also to enjoy it as much as possible, because that’s how we give you the best possible book.
Join Us in Discord
If you’ve got questions, or general DIE enthusiasm you’d like to share - you’re not alone.
Come and join us in the Rowan, Rook & Decard Discord server, or even the DIE specific server. The first one’s useful if you have questions like “where are my books?” or “Chant, how on earth did the timeline change before you even started work?” (I’m genuinely sorry, the playtest is one of those good ideas that I should have had earlier, and then announcing it got lost in the excitement of number go up). The second one has Kieron in it, as well as the most knowledgeable DIE fans (of the comic and the RPG) I know.
Oh, one last thing:
You Like Spiders?
Some of the RRD team really like spiders. In space. If you’re looking for a new crowdfunder to fill the void of anticipation now Metadungeon is “over”, you could do a lot worse than check out our upcoming Children of Time roleplaying game. Written by Minærva “Legacy: Life Among the Ruins” McJanda, with close consultation from Adrian “Children of Time” Tchaikovsky, it’s a space epic (based, hopefully obviously, on the Children of Time series of novels) where you play both the crew of a centuries old ark ship transporting humanity to the stars, and the accidentally uplifted sapient animal species on the planet the ship’s headed for. Crises abound.
Children of Time’s coming this summer and I am delighted to say it’s nothing to do with me: I will be making the Metadungeon (and Hollows!) while my colleague Elaine Lithgow pilots this immense and powerful spacecraft.
