Project Update: A Few Bumps on the Road, but We're Moving Forward!
10 months ago
– Fri, Jan 05, 2024 at 09:21:39 AM
Hey All,
I hope this update finds you well ion the New Year. As we navigate through some unexpected turns, I wanted to reach out and share where we are with Black God's Kiss.
A Heartfelt Apology for the Delay
First and foremost, I want to extend a sincere apology for the delay since our last update. It's been a challenging time for our team, with households affected by a series of health issues including pneumonia, COVID, heart surgery, pancreatitis, and a plain-old-nasty respiratory virus. Your understanding during this period means the world to us—so thank you again for the support.
Progress on the Core Book
Despite these hurdles, we've made significant progress. The layout of the core book is basically complete! We're now fine-tuning the smaller details, primarily focusing on rectifying spacing issues to ensure a polished final product.
Digital Soundtrack Incoming
Exciting news on the digital front – we're on track to deliver the digital soundtrack via Backerkit next week! We can't wait for you to experience the audio journey we've crafted.
Core Book Sneak Peek and Your Role
We're also close to sharing the first version of the core book with you. Once Derek is happy with layout, Walt will give it one more round of proofing and then we'll share it with you all before it goes to pre-press. This is where we invite you, our amazing backers, to play a crucial role. We'd greatly appreciate your input if you see anything that we somehow missed. Your keen eyes and feedback will be invaluable in this phase—so stay tuned for that opportunity.
Looking Forward
Your patience and support have been the backbone of this project. We're doing everything we can to ensure that Black God's Kiss is nothing short of amazing. Expect another update soon, and as always, we're eager to hear from you.
Stay connected with us:
Thank you for sticking with us through thick and thin. We're getting close!
xo The Black God's Kiss Crew
Pledge Manager, Pre-Orders, and PDFs Oh My!
11 months ago
– Mon, Nov 20, 2023 at 04:16:38 PM
Hey All,
I hope you're all faring well as the holidaze approach. Big update ahead ...
Pledge Manager + PDF Delivery
As a backer of Black God's Kiss on Kickstarter, you'll be receiving a survey via email very soon from Backerkit. This is where we'll gather crucial details related to your pledge, such as your shipping address and any additional requests or modifications you'd like to make to your pledge.
Responding to this survey is crucial. It ensures that you receive your Black God's Kiss PDFs and allows us to gather your shipping information (if applicable).
With Backerkit, you also have the flexibility to switch your pledge to a different tier or add extra items if you wish!
No need to create a Backerkit account—simply follow the link in the email and fill out the survey.
We ran our "smoke test" for the surveys last week to 5% of our backers to ensure everything ran smoothly—and it did (though some of you still haven't redponded to it). Everyone else should receive their survey this evening.
Once you complete your Backerkit survey, you'll gain access to all your Black God's Kiss PDFs as each one becomes available! (More on that in a minute)
If you're planning to move soon, no worries—fill out the survey anyway. You'll have the option to update your information later if your shipping address changes, or if there's anything else you need to adjust in your responses. We'll send out reminders to keep you updated.
Late Pledge / Pre-Order
Do you have friends experiencing FOMO because they missed out on our Kickstarter campaign? Good news! With our pledge manager now open, we've also launched a pre-order store for those who didn't back the project initially. Please note that not all items are available, as some are truly exclusive to Kickstarter, but all the essential offerings are there. Feel free to share this widely with anyone you think might be interested!
Project Updates
- The core book has gone through two round of copy-editing and is in its third and final round now. It goes to layout tomorrow ⚔️
- The full digital album has been mastered to tape and is ready to go! This will be available as a digital download once your complete your Backerkit survey, and is also available as a physical cassette with exclusive min-adventure as an add-on in the pledge manager.
- The newly design first module, eponymously titled TheBlack God's Kiss, is now in the first round of copy edits. It is clocking in around 12K words, which—for reference—puts it around the same length as the official OSE adventure scenarios from Necrotic Gnome such as Halls of the Blood King.
Timeline
So what does all this mean for a delivery timeline? In our previous update we had said we expected a PDF delivery around this week. The copy editing process took longer than expected but it really tightened up the text and we feel like the investment was definitely worth it! This is the first time the individual members of our team have worked together on layout so the timeline is hard to pinpoint but I would guess a PDF will now be available of the core book in a few weeks. We plan to release it to you as early as possible and invite additional eyes on proofing it for any errors before we finalize it for printing.
With regards to the entire box set shipping, our best guess is April 2024 (taking into account long manufacturing and freight lead times). But PDFs and digital downloads in Dec and January.
TL;DR status on individual components:
- The standalone game is completely done.
- The core book is written, illustrated, and copyedited. Goes to layout this week.
- The Black God's Kiss Module is written and going through the first round of copy-editing
- The Black God's Shadow Module is illustrated but writing is still in-progress.
- The Hellsgarde Module is written and illustrated and awaiting copy-editing.
- The Encounter the Architects Module is in concept and design phase.
What's Next?
Expect another project update around Christmas, once the core book PDF is distributed via Backerkit. In the meantime, we are always eager to hear your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Please feel free to reach out to us here, or via one of the channels below.
xo The Black God's Kiss Crew
Project Update + Playtesting Feeback
12 months ago
– Fri, Oct 20, 2023 at 10:01:56 AM
Hey All,
I hope you're having a great Halloween (yes, we celebrate the entire month of October as Halloween in this house)! I'm going to jump right into it because I want to get back to some edits today ...
Project Updates
- All the illustrations for the Hellsgarde module are now also done—which just leaves illustrations for the Encounter the Architects module.
- All the writing on the newly expanded core book is now done! We are still making a few tweaks (see the Playtesting update below) and fine-tuning stat blocks and appendices, but it's basically done.
Playtesting
We're thrilled to report that during a recent playtest that Max ran, one of our foundational custom gameplay features—the Humanity points mechanic—received overwhelming positive feedback. Players particularly loved its engagement value, noting it stands out compared to other stat-burning mechanisms in other games. The tension it introduces, especially after psychic encounters with the Black God, was a highlight. Other elements, like the Black God psychic combat and the diverse array of creatures and shadow monstrosities, also resonated well with the players.
We also revisited some mechanics we developed around the Black God's interference with divine casters, and developed a more in-depth exploration around the types of light that impact shadow monstrosities.
Furthermore, based on playtesting feedback to streamline the gameplay, we're providing clearer mechanics for time and travel tracking (which are both critical in the Black God's realm), and we're in the process of designing a digital cheat sheet to help players navigate our unique setting-specific mechanics.
To enhance the GM's experience, we're also looking at how to structure hex information, essential tables, and maybe even dedicated spaces for noting time and encounters on either the GM screen or a printable sheet. It added a few more weeks to developing the core book but we're confident these adjustments will elevate the game experience!
Timeline
So what does all this mean for a delivery timeline? In our previous update we had said we expected a PDF by Halloween. The revisions from playtesting described above added another couple of weeks of work, but we're still not too far off that.
We are sending the final version of the core book to its proof-reading stage after this weekend. Our new layout wizard, Derek Kinsman (who has worked an a veritable treasure trove of amazing indie TTRPGs), is offline until Halloween—but when he gets back the files will be ready and waiting for him to move to layout. So we're looking at now maybe two to three weeks after Halloween for the first PDF to be delivered!
Pledge Manager Update
We have all the info we need to open up the pledge manager at this point. It has continued to take a back-burner to getting the other work completed. Once the core book goes to proofing next week, I will turn my attention to opening up the pledge manager!
What's Next?
Expect another project after Halloween, once the core book has gone to layout. We will also make a quick update when the pledge manager opens. In the meantime, we are always eager to hear your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Please feel free to reach out to us here, or via one of the channels below.
xo The Black God's Kiss Crew
Behind the Scenes: Writing Hellsgarde
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Sep 14, 2023 at 06:48:55 AM
This week we wanted to share an update from Peter Bebergal, contributing writer on the Black God's Kiss module and lead writer on the Hellsgarde adventure—and editor of the superb fiction anthology, Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons. If you want to check out more of Peter's writing, he also has a new essay, titled "Son of Frankenstein," up at The Virginia Quarterly Review last week, in which he unearths the story of Frankenstein's monster in 1960s and 1970s popular culture and its consoling effect on his own childhood anxiety.
Peter Bebergal, on writing Hellsgarde:
I have been putting the finishing touches on the Hellsgarde module, and it’s been a great experience writing it, albeit not without its challenges. C.L. Moore’s original story is a terrific sword and sorcery tale, but like many Jirel stories, our heroine rarely does any actual fighting. She is often at the mercy of other forces and has to use her guile and cunning to survive. In this story, Jirel is confronted by a group of living vampires that feed off the energy of the undead, and their desire for consuming the dread soul of long-dead tyrant, Andred, has them camped out in Hellsgarde Castle. Moore is spare on her details and—except for a few areas—much of the castle is not described.
Like a lot of RPG material that draws from literary sources, the developers have to imagine beyond the stories themselves, while staying committed to the spirit of the original text. I began with thinking of the castle first as a location, empty of all but its history. To this end, I made sure to include all the basic rooms one might find in a structure of this sort. I then slowly populated it with as many details from the story I could glean. It was then a matter of shaping that into an adventure for PCs, one not dissimilar to what Jirel herself experienced. Moore’s genius was providing a story so rich in atmosphere, it was not too difficult to populate it with all manner of traps, hauntings, and other surprises that felt akin to Moore’s vision.
I look forward to this getting into the hands of the backers to see how they survive (or don’t!) the terrible secrets lurking in the heart of Hellsgarde Castle. Here, the living and the dead are often difficult to discern. Keep your weapons close, and your wits closer, and you might be able to brag that you kept apace with Jirel herself—and make it out alive.
Progress Report + Updated Timeline
about 1 year ago
– Fri, Sep 08, 2023 at 12:53:46 PM
Hey All,
Sorry to miss the August update; I was on the road all month—visiting family and friends in Minneapolis and then teaching and performing in the Bay Area. But while I was traveling work continued on this project. In fact, Max Moon and I got to sit down *in-person* in Minneapolis and hash out some very meaningful ways to restructure the box contents.
When we launched the project, the inclusion of fiction and RPG material related to the Black God's Shadow story was our $50K stretch goal. As such, we had been envisioning it as a separate book which supplemented the core setting material. This approach meant that the box would include (among other things):
- Core book (setting material + 1st module)
- Black God's Shadow booklet (setting expansion material + 2nd module)
But over the past several months, as Max and I worked on the setting material and compared notes, it became clear that all the setting material really belongs in one single volume. We came to this conclusion partially because it became increasingly difficult to disaggregate the rules from each other across two setting books, and also—more importantly—because having them all in one volume will make for a better gaming experience and ease of reference for GMs. So we have combined all the setting material into one book and broken out the two modules into their own book. The new structure looks like this:
- Core book (all the setting material in one volume)
- 1st Module
- 2nd Module
As a reminder: in addition to those two modules, every box also comes with a 3rd module, Hellsgarde—which was our $100K stretch goal—and the Deluxe Set backers will also get a 4th module, Encounter the Architects (available as an add-on to anyone who didn't pledge at the Deluxe or Black God's Bundle tiers).
To reiterate messaging in a previous update: though this restructuring is now resulting in an additional booklet in the box set, there will be no added cost to backers.
And now...
Project Updates
-
The 'Gambit' standalone is all laid out, proofed, and complete!
-
All the illustrations for the core book, the first module, and the second module are done—and the final inking for those will be complete by the end of this month.
-
All the writing on the first module and the Hellsgarde module is done, though some additional stats and mechanics to make compatible across 5e, OSE, and DCC are still being added.
- The writing on the second module is about 80% complete.
- The writing on the newly expanded core book is about 80% complete.
Timeline
So what does all this mean for a delivery timeline? We are currently two months behind schedule delivering you the PDFs, which were originally estimated for a July 2023 completion. There are a few factors in this delay—some of which have been touched on in previous updates. But probably more than anything the delay has been due to underestimated the complexity of making this box set compatible across three different RPG systems, while maintaining a satisfying experience that feels true to each style of play. So there was a lot of heavy-lifting up front to make that work (including conversations with Joseph Goodman for DCC and Gavin Norman of Necrotic Gnome for OSE ... we decided not to consult with WotC lest they sue us 🥸). But we're in a good place with it now and things are chugging along.
We are now planning to deliver PDFs of the core book to you by Halloween, with the PDFs of the 1st and 2nd module a couple of weeks behind that—and PDFs of the final two modules in successive 3-ish week releases after that (as we iteratively proof and layout each one).
This effectively means that the PDFs will be delivered 3-5 months behind our original target date. Depending on manufacturing time, I expect the physical rewards to also be delivered about 5 months behind their original target date (in Feb 2024).
I'm sure this is disappointing to some of you. We hope that all the additional materials that we have added since the campaign wrapped—including the additional system compatibility—will make up for the wait!
Pledge Manager Update
We have all the info we need to open up the pledge manager at this point. To be honest, it has just taken a back-burner to getting the other work completed. That said, now that we have a target release date for the first round of PDFs we will open the pledge manager soon!
What's Next?
Expect another project update next week, with a behind-the-scenes look at writing the Hellsgarde module and a sneak peek at some more of Saprophial's art! Then in the beginning of October we will open the pledge manager and confirm our progress towards a Halloween delivery of the first PDF. In the meantime, we are always eager to hear your thoughts, ideas, and comments. Please feel free to reach out to us here, or via one of the channels below.
xo The Black God's Kiss Crew
