Right. Tl;dr - we’re waiting for additional materials and doing a second round of sampling. As a result, there is another delay. On the positive side, VTT plans are coming together. Please read on.

You saw the videos, they look fantastic. However, they weren’t perfect. Some of the foil was misaligned on the special edition, and most importantly the boxes for Wretched Domains and the component kit were slightly the wrong size. It’s only a few millimetres, but it matters: being able to easily take the Wretched Domains pamphlets out of the box is the difference between them, and the box, lasting you for years or starting to show wear and tear within a few weeks; having the component kit box fit neatly into the slipcase without excess space means it’s going to travel better, without things moving around and boxes bumping each other. And, unfortunately, we’ve not yet seen samples for the slipcase: the first version did not fit the contents correctly, and it’s had to be remade.

We’ve made another handful of fixes at the same time, like adding a couple of lines of text or extra detail to covers and boxes, and we’re (finally) correcting the stats for the pregenerated characters in the quickstart. Major thanks to Slappy in our Discord who not only identified the issue but figured out the reason for it. (We forgot to apply the stat penalties for the Weapons. Oops.)

The manufacturer has given us adjusted templates, we’ve sent the new design files, and I’ve reviewed the digital proofs. 

At this point, I’m going to let a little frustration slip out. Sorry in advance. 

As you may be aware, we’ve had some issues with book materials already. Unfortunately the materials that our printer originally sent us were not right for this kind of book, and we’ve had to do a lot of work with them to get the right paper and coatings ordered in. Just before we locked pledges, we got a chunk more orders in. We’ve also revised how many copies we’re going to need for retail stores, based on how well some recent products have sold. In most cases, that’s great - we have fewer books sitting in warehouses. For the slipcase edition, the extra orders would have left us perilously short of copies. So we asked our manufacturer to increase our order of those.

This is not the frustrating thing. More orders is a good thing! 

The frustrating thing is that it turned out they’d only ordered enough of our paper to print exactly the quantities we originally estimated. Presumably with enough left over for a handful of misprints, but it’s been extremely difficult to get a clear answer from them. (What were they going to do if there was a serious print error? We simply don’t know. This is not how a big print run is supposed to work.). 

So not only do we have to wait three additional weeks for more paper to arrive before they can start the print run, it took way longer than it should have to find this out. 

Since we’re waiting for paper anyway, we’re using that time to get a second round of samples sent to us, so we can check the fit of those boxes with the revisions we’ve requested. Also so we get to see the slipcase up close, because it wasn’t included in the first round.

Approving the samples neatly aligns with the time for the extra paper to arrive. This is us making the most of an existing delay.

Manufacturing takes fifty calendar days (7 weeks, if you’re counting) after sample approval. Shipping then takes 6-8 weeks. 

So, on our new schedule: we will be collecting the books from the printer in July. We should have them in our warehouses by September, which means we can’t fulfil until September-October, for most of the world. Australians, you’ll get your books in the early part of that window. UK and Europeans, your books’ journey takes the longest, so you’ll be towards the end.

If you’re counting, that’s a three month delay and an explanation that covers maybe six weeks of that (three weeks for paper, three weeks for messing around with design files etc.). That’s because our printer’s initial timeline was… just wrong. We - Maz and I specifically, not the faceless RRD entity - were annoyed about the paper; we are even more annoyed about this. 

This sucks. It sucks for us, and it sucks for you. Usually I’d say we’ll do everything we can to expedite the process but we already are, and it has not helped significantly. We will continue to do that: we’re pleased with the results on the books we’ve seen, thrilled with the component kit, and we’re sure that as a result of the work we are putting in with our manufacturer, you are going to get something beautiful at the end of it. But we’re frustrated at how challenging and slow this has been, and we know you will share that frustration.

There’s no strong closing statement to this part of the update. Apologies are wearing thin, but nonetheless we are sorry for the continued wait. We’re keeping things moving as much as we can, and we have absolute confidence that you will get your game: we are moving forward more slowly than we’d like, but we are still moving forward. If your financial situation has changed, or your patience is also worn too thin, we understand: please email [email protected] if you want to change your pledge or order at this stage.

A couple of months ago now, many of you kindly filled in a survey to tell me about what sort of digital tools you wanted. The answer was Foundry, by quite a large margin - not unanimously, of course, but it emerged clearly as the preferred solution. 

So we’re making a Foundry module! It’s still in the very early stages, but we had a really exciting conversation last week with a Foundry studio and a Hollows fan who has already done a lot of work on a Hollows Foundry module, and things are looking promising. I’m not going to say more until contracts are signed, because that’s a really fast way to disappoint a lot of people, but that’s the plan.

We’re aiming for a release along with the physical books, but the studio also suggested we give you all beta access so you can play around with it and share your feedback. I’m happy they said it before I did: it’s a good sign we’re on the same page. We’re also hoping to make the community licence work with our VTT plans, so that if you choose, you’ll be able to release digital versions of your Hollows that work with the system we want to create. More on the community licence in a future update.

Foundry wasn’t the only VTT you wanted, and it’s not the only one we’re working on. We’ve been in discussions with Alchemy VTT for some time, trying to work out how it’ll deal with a game as feature-rich, in a VTT sense, as Hollows. We continue to do so, and if it works out, we’ll also make that available for free to everyone who pledged for VTT access.

In addition, we’ll have a set of free digital tools:

We would also really like to make a Hollows wiki, for those who do not wish to spend their entertainment time in a spreadsheet (to each their own). For it to be worth doing, and for it to be something we can actually maintain, we’d need an elite cohort of editors. If you are a Hollows fan with wiki editing experience, and might like to be involved with editing and maintaining a Hollows wiki, or even just providing your opinions on what makes a good wiki, please let us know in the comments, by grabbing Chant on Discord (chantwrites_25926) or emailing admin@rrdgames. I may not get back to you immediately, due to the printing and Foundry module, but I will absolutely get back to you.

Alright then. Onwards!

- Chant

The time has come.

Today, in fact. I’m going to push the big button in Backerkit that starts the process. That will prompt an email to each of you from Backerkit, informing you that your orders will be locked in 48 hours, and subsequently charged - so this is a good opportunity to check your card info is up to date in Backerkit. 

If the charge fails, you’ll get follow up emails from Backerkit advising you of what to do in response. Backerkit will also periodically try again to charge your cards - so if it doesn’t work first time, fear not: your order is safe and sound as long as your card’s been successfully charged before we start trying to ship out packages.

IMPORTANT: We’re not charging shipping fees at this moment in time. We have shipping costs, but the world is currently… turbulent (even more so than it has been for the last few years)... so while we need to lock orders and finalise our print quantities, we’ll charge shipping fees once the products are actually on the way to our warehouses. 

EVEN MORE IMPORTANT: Maz and I have just received the physical samples for everything except the Hollows slipcase. Once I hit send on this update, I’m going to tear into the massive cardboard box and start reviewing them! If I can find some decent light in this benighted dwelling, I might even do you an unboxing video.

- Chant

WE HAVE SAMPLES! At least, we have videos of samples, and the physical samples are in the post and on the way to me and Maz. 

Based on the videos, they look really good - the gold foil on the special edition core book looks like it might be a little off-centre, but I’ll get a measuring tape out when it arrives and check. Other than that: real nice. See?

As per the previous update, Logistics Alex and I will be doing that this month. For more information, see the last update.

Assuming the samples all pass muster when Maz and I inspect them, we’re on track. 

This also means I’m one, maybe two, updates away from handing communication over to Logistics Alex, who will keep you informed about where the books are, once printing and assembly is complete.

Thank you to the nearly 500 people who answered the short survey about VTTs that I opened up last month! The data’s analysed, and now I just need to squeeze in a meeting with the rest of the team to discuss the results before I tell you about them. 

I did notice quite a lot of people are sleeping on the Glossary, which I personally think is one of Maz’s finest creations. I use it heavily when I’m running (or writing) Hollows. Now, that might be because I haven’t shown it off yet (I genuinely don’t remember). Just in case… here it is.

Onwards!

Chant

As promised last time we spoke, there's an update coming on VTT plans later this month. This is a sort of prequel to it.

We've reached a point where we have several good options for a virtual tabletop. We've also got ideas for additional online tools that we think will be useful and fun.

We could just make all of them (OK, not all, some are quite expensive, but certainly any of them), but we're not going to spend time making things nobody wants. So before I make any big announcements, I want to know what you think.

To that end, I've made a survey. Fear not: it is short. Two questions, plus some quite detailed descriptions of the tools we're thinking about. The survey will be open for feedback until 22nd March, giving you just over two weeks.

https://forms.gle/8E12J6prVsefB5yq8

Expect results at the end of the month, and an update on what else is happening on Hollows sooner than that.

- Chant

As reported in January, all the print files are ready. We sent them to the manufacturer a few weeks ago. Their technical team has reviewed them, and I in turn am about to review the digital proofs they produced, checking everything still looks the way we intended. This is all on schedule.

The printer has now shut down for Lunar New Year, but we’ve achieved what we wanted to before the shutdown. We’ll pick up again in early March. The key stages are Maz and I receiving samples, then mass production. By the time I write the next update in March, I should have photos of the samples to show you.

We fully expect to make changes based on those samples - their look and feel, how much we like the closures on various boxes, whether the texture of book covers, slipcases, etc. feels correct and pleasant, and whether there’s enough (but not too much) space in the component kit and Wretched Domains boxes. We’ve scheduled in time for that.

Including that stage, we’re expecting mass production to conclude in the third week of April. Once that happens, I’ll hand over these updates to my colleague Logistics Alex, who will keep you posted on Hollows’ journey to our warehouses in the UK, Europe, USA, and Australia, and then on fulfilment.

A note of caution: we will keep sampling until the books are right. There’s a non-zero chance that we’ll need to do more than one round of sampling. We think it’s unlikely enough that we haven’t planned extra time around it - unless these are real, major problems that we think will affect your enjoyment of the books, it’s time to stop refining and actually make them, so you can hold them, read them, and most importantly play the game with them. But if we get our hardbacks and find, for example, that the spines aren’t strong enough to support the rough handling a well-loved RPG book is exposed to, we’re not shipping it until they are.

We’ll do this once mass production is underway, meaning mid-April. At this point we’ll charge all outstanding balances on your account. For most people that just means shipping, but if you pre-ordered (rather than backing the crowdfunding campaign), or added extra products in pledge manager, you’ll be charged for those as well. 

You can check your outstanding balance in your Backerkit account.

Backerkit has a standard process for this: you’ll get an email from them 48 hours before your order is locked and your card is charged. 

You’ll still be able to change your address after this point: we won’t lock those down until we have the books in our warehouses and are ready to start shipping out orders. 

A note on Americas orders: we’re applying for an advance decision from US Customs on whether the slipcase, including the books and component kit, counts as a book (which affects a bunch of import paperwork and possibly how much we have to pay on tariffs), or not. This process is supposed to take a couple of weeks, but we appreciate that the federal government is, uh, stretched a little thin right now, so we’ve allowed some extra time. 

That means orders coming from the US warehouse are likely to be fulfilled in July rather than June. If the stars align and we get a decision quickly, it might be sooner.

We have now actively started work on this. We’re still too early in the process for me to give you a reliable timeline, but expect a proper announcement in March.

Expect this to drop around the same time as the books.

Now that we’ve made Hollows, we’d like to invite you to do the same, under our Hollow-Born licence.

You may or may not know that RRD has community content licenses for most of our games, allowing you to make compatible material (and even sell it, if you so desire). We’ve already seen excellent community content starting to emerge from the RRD Discord, and I suspect there’s a rich seam of creativity amongst you, ready to be unearthed.

Hollows is now open for community content! That also means that if you make something for Hollows we would love to hear about it: at the very least we’ll be excited to read it, and if it’s good then we might want to talk to you about selling PDFs or printed copies for you through our website. 

You can read our community license here. We'll be adding a Hollows-specific section in the near future, but there's no reason you should wait to start creating!

These have now all been updated. If you haven’t grabbed the updated files already, they’re in your Backerkit account. If you like, you can also have them added to your Rowan, Rook & Decard account (making for easier updates in future) by emailing [email protected]. 

We’re getting very, very close now, folks.

Onwards, Hunters! 

- Chant