THE BOOKS

Mass production rolls on. The printer has confirmed that they’ll be finished and ready for pickup at the end of July. Alex and I are having lengthy discussions with them about exactly how many pallets the books need to go on, and in what order they should be stacked, which makes everything feel satisfyingly/terrifyingly real.

They’ve even sent me some pictures to prove this is really happening. What a big pile of pages that is. And that’s just one spread. Imagine the volume of paper we’re using, here.

Pictured: A stack of red and green single sheets with blurb and barcode, a satisfyingly deep pile of bone-effect dice, an entire slab of page spreads from the Steel City Hollow, and some deep purple bundles of cardboard packaging for the tactical grid.

Also pictured: some dice, some packaging, and the inserts we’re packing with the special editions and slipcases so we didn’t have to put gross, ugly barcodes on the beautiful books. It’s the little things.

TIMELINE

REMAINS UNCHANGED!

Hollows VTT and Digital Tools

The contract is signed and the Foundry build is commencing this week. More info as it arrives.

HOLLOWS PODCAST

I said last month that this might expand. It’s definitely expanding (there are already 90 minutes of audio in the can, and the crew are not finished yet), we’re just trying to decide how much.

Some of you already kindly sent questions in the comments on a previous update, but you’ve all had the PDFs for a while now, so I’m putting the call out again: if there are any questions you’d like designers Grant and Chris, or production and business guru Maz, to answer about Hollows, stick ‘em in the comments please.

HUNTERS, MEET ALEX; ALEX, HUNTERS

You’ve probably got one last update from me to confirm mass production’s finished, then it’s fully over to Logistics Alex to make sure your books reach you safely. Alex, in his own words:

Did you know that if you know the name of your cargo ship you can track it online for free like an old fashioned pirate?
Did you know that cardboard boxes come in bespoke and standard sizes, and if you ask really hard you get to decide what gets printed on them too?
Did you know that international freight companies are a complex interconnected web of symbiotic micro-organisms like Trill that inhabit the inner workings of cargo ships?

Only one of these is partly false.

Apparently I have developed a reputation for being obsessive about the exact geoposition of our cargo vessels, volumetric weight & cajoling stevedores. I am assured this makes me exactly the kind of person you want handling your sizable orders of elaborate, fancy Hollows books.

Currently i’m working with our Chinese printer and our UK freight forwarder to set up all the processes and paperwork needed to get books from the factory to your very doorstep (wherever in the world that happens to be!). Turns out there’s a lot of doorsteps, and they aren’t all conveniently located, so i’m going through a lot. Please be nice.

Chant is under the illusion that this switchover means this update will be the last purple, overwrought title you’ll have to read. Little does he know I’ve been playing Hollows for the past year and I’ve been storing up all my most weird titles just for this project. However, when it comes to getting books into your waiting hands, I’m a big fan of clarity, so you can expect plenty of helpful headings in the updates, like “WE HAVE CLEARED CUSTOMS” and “LOCKING EU ADDRESSES ON FRIDAY”. There will still be gags tho.

SHIPPING CHARGES

Right, that's enough out of Alex for now. This update's my show.

As I said in a previous update, we’re not going to actually charge shipping until the books reach our warehouses (or at least are on the right land mass). However, Alex has set it all up in Backerkit. Please take this opportunity to look at your order and see how much you’ll be paying for shipping. If you foresee any problems, from “I am being charged for shipping but I only ordered PDFs” to “I am emigrating in August and need to change my address”, this is the time to sort it.

If you need to change your address, you can do that yourself in Backerkit. For any other problems please email [email protected] and Alex or our patient, friendly, helpful customer service person Jim will sort you out.

PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW

With that, I entrust you all to Alex’s capable hands. Thank you for your patience over the last two years, and it’s been a privilege making these books for you. I’ll be back occasionally to provide things like podcast drops and VTT updates, and in due course to talk about what’s next for Hollows.

Au revoir,

Producer Chant

1

Share

Edit