Best Supporting Actors: Funded with more than 2 weeks to go!
about 1 year ago – Tue, Mar 21, 2023 at 07:54:40 AM

Best Supporting Actors has passed its funding goal with more than two weeks left in the campaign. Stretch goals remaining include a custom cover (though I do love Dean Spencer Art) and a hardcover offset print run.

Thanks to a double-whammy, I think, of inclusion in Gavin's newsletter and being the subject of a blog post at Tenkar's Tavern, we saw a real surge in pledge volume yesterday, which made it the second most active day on the campaign with the exception of opening day.

Progress!

Today I'll be taking the 90-100 or so characters that are done-done and lining them up against the 84 that can cast spells. That's more than 172 so it would appear that I duplicated one or two...but that's not surprising. I'll work the stats for all of them, and then I can proceed to preliminary layout for that part of the book.

I'm on course to having an awful lot of the content in place by the end of this week, which means PDFs are likely to be available and ready for backers pretty much as soon as the Backerkit phase goes online. "End of April" seems right.

Can We Hit the Stretch Goals?

Now that we've funded, there are two stretch goals on the horizon.

Custom Cover

That stretch goal is roughly 85-100 backers away at $15,000...and since there are roughly 500 folks following-but not backed (and 50 followed-and-then backed, which means we're picking up more than two direct pledges for each converted follower), the odds that we'll hit that goal are good. Not a lock yet, but an optimistic take on the campaign suggests we'll get there.

Hardcover Offset Print

The one I really want, though, is the hardcover offset run. The printers I've received quotes from include the very same printers who did the Rules Tomes (Classic and Advanced), plus another in Latvia with whom I've worked before. So the quality of the book will be very good.

Upshot

If you could take a moment and share this link - which has a tag in it identifying it as coming from this update - it would help. It helps a lot, especially when it comes from "not the creator," which is (correctly) deprecated as self-promotion on many forums.

You could, of course, also decide to drop in and pledge. That helps even more. :-)

But in the end:

• We funded
• We have more than two weeks to go
• Stretch goals are - in absolute terms - not that far away
• The project is making excellent strides to completion long before the campaign ends

That's all for now! I'll leave things alone until a few days before the campaign ends. 

Gaming Ballistic Week(s) in Review for March 17, 2023
about 1 year ago – Fri, Mar 17, 2023 at 09:26:19 AM

Every week or three I publish a "behind the scenes" look at Gaming Ballistic, as I try and make things happen as a publisher in the TTRPG industry. You can see this and more on my blog, or if you like contributing to the success of indie creators, my Patreon.

The new Kickstarter is up and running! I knock down some important housekeeping items. My new sword remains awesome.

• The Foundry VTT module for Nightmare Fuel was finished and sent to backers last week, closing out that project completely.
• Best Supporting Actors: Adversaries and Allies launched with, well, mixed success. On the one hand, it was identified as a Project We Love by Kickstarter, the first time that has happened to me. On the other, it’s not doing well, sitting a bit over 75% of the funding goal (for the second time, having lost something like 5% of its total in two days as unexpected bills came due), and with history suggesting it’s going to be a very near thing.

• I did my taxes; no S-Corp for me this year, as I didn’t make enough income to have the extra tax return and permanent change to that status a lock. On the other hand, I had good revenue, and reasonable income for the year as a whole. Focusing on the June to December period – maximum productivity – looks amazing.
• One background project is stalled; David’s TFT project is running behind but that’s OK.
• My new sword continues to be excellent.
  

Gaming Ballistic Patreon

To help with ongoing funding of art and speed eventual time to delivery, Gaming Ballistic started a Patreon in January 2021. Here’s the weekly update on Patreon status.

• Membership status: 59 patrons and $440 per month.
• Special Content in March: OSE Kickstarter Preview; Early look at GB 2022 Year in Review.

I’ll also be releasing 45 new spells for Old-School Essentials for review and comment in the next few days I hope.

Currently Manufacturing/Fulfilling/Shipping

Projects where hardcopies and PDFs are going out or scheduled to do so.

• The OSE solos project is essentially closed.
• With the distribution of the Nightmare Fuel Foundry VTT module, that applies to Nightmare Fuel as well.
  

Crowdfunding and Product Launches

• The Best Supporting Actors: Adversaries and Allies project launched on March 7. It got off to a slow start, with only 75-77% funding over the first 10 days. This is a long project for me, so there’s still more than three weeks to go. It will probably fund. 
• On the other hand, it was selected a Kickstarter Project We Love, which is the first time this has happened to me. The utility of a book like this, especially combined with the quick-reference cards, becomes more apparent in play, not less (the TFT Character Collections serve a similar and very useful role).

• We have OSE in March, TFT in May, Powered by GURPS in July, OSE again in September, and finally Powered by GURPS in November. With luck, there will also be some other “quiet” releases that don’t get full campaigns.
  

Product Announcements

The full Product Catalog is accurate as of Sept 3, 2022 but needs a refresh for new product and a Winter 2023 update. Look for that and dissemination of my new PbG products to all sales channels.

The Nightmare Fuel books and the VTT Module are now available in all intended formats on my shopify store!

• Serpents of Legend
• The Bugstiary
• Garden of Evil
• Nightmare Fuel Foundry VTT Module

In Development

Writing and content creation for announced projects. Some of this may be cryptic.

Let’s see where we are on other things...

• Let Us Rejoice! Looking at my planned releases and the work required, this is either 2024 or “as time permits” in 2023...and I hope it’s a non-crowdfund release in 2023 and time does
  
• Delvers to Grow Companion. Some new professions. A whole bunch of new disad packages. Epic Upgrades. Everyman Adventurer modules. Who knows what else will strike me? I know what I want to do with this one. I’m hoping for this one in July 2023.
  
• Artifacts of Norðlond. Working title and Marko Vujnovic as lead on this one. I’ve seen a first revision by Marko based on an original manuscript by CRR, and it’s in the middle of a second revision right now. I suspect this will be a “surprise” release when it’s ready and as funds allow to do the art, with an appearance as a crowdfunding pledge level in June as well (probably another All the New Things level, which was well received in Nightmare Fuel).
  
• Inns and Taverns; Two Warring Houses, by Douglas Cole. Systemless. 2024 is likely, and I’m probably going to solicit new authors on both.
  
• Infinite Archipelago is happening. I have the first plan here with the TFT books David is making right now, and big plans for late summer or early fall for bringing Nordlond into the OSE and TFT as part of this line. Heck, I think I even have a logo for it.
  
• “Gwalathar” TFT Setting by David Pulver. The solo books David wrote for me have an implied setting and there are a minimum of three books – likely more – planned and in writing at this time that blow out that setting as the first example of the Infinite Archipelago concept. April.
  
• Mission X: Working contract details with SJGames and I can’t really dig in on this until I have the formal list of materials accessible to me. I have been actively discussing this with SJGames and as one might imagine for a stand-alone RPG, the discussion of “what this will be” can get hung up on both macro and micro details. I’m still optimistic we’ll land on a happy place, but the trajectory to get there is non-trivial.

I actively encourage prospective authors to drop me proposals having to do with any of the above projects, but bear in mind that there are guidelines and strictures that must be followed to make a sale and move from concept to final.

Friction

Bits of news and items that put a monkey in the wrench.

• I seem to have torn my rotator cuff, which interferes with my sleep and generally makes life more difficult than it needs to be.
• Still no Mission X contract.
• I’ll tell you…while the concept of a book full of PCs/NPCs might be a head-scratcher, I’m surprised at the response (or lack thereof) to Best Supporting Actors, and it’s weighing on me. Having a party of rival adventurers or tavern-dwellers or hirelings or evil bosses ready-to-go with no prep? That’s just useful, and folks who have messed around with the versions of these for The Fantasy Trip have noted they rapidly become an invaluable resource. Basically: Still not there on conveying my message from a marketing perspective.
• I stalled a bit on the project with fun co-author. Not pulling my weight there.
• The TFT manuscript(s) are delayed, but then, I’m still doing copious work on OSE, so that’s not tragic.
  

Fair Winds

Information about things that move GB forward.

• I got my taxes done and submitted. If the information I have already received from my accountant is correct, I covered myself and then some with pre-payments, so hopefully no sudden tax bill from the Fed, which is excellent.
• I have been making screaming progress recently on moving Best Supporting Actors’ manuscript into the ready-for-layout stage. I’ve got something like 90 of 172 characters ready for spooling to layout, and I’m nearly ready to write up 45 new spells. At 3-5 spells per page, this will be a substantial part of the book’s preamble pages. I’ve also expanded the list of “background skills” from the OSE Advanced Rules Tome to very nearly 100 entries.
• My sword is still awesome, and despite rotator cuff problems, I continue to train (a bit) and teach at the Viking martial arts school in Eagan. I had a particularly good class yesterday.
• Closing out both Old-School Solos and the final deliverable for Nightmare Fuel was a big relief stress-wise.
  

A Bit of Fun: Kickstarter likes Best Supporting Actors!
about 1 year ago – Tue, Mar 14, 2023 at 01:36:31 PM

I had just hit "send" on a "first week out of the gate" update on Best Supporting Actors, when my mailbox "dinged" with the news that the project has been selected as a "Project We Love" by Kickstarter!

This is the first time this has happened to me out of 16 or 17 crowdfunding efforts, so I'm hopeful that it has an effect!

Thanks to Kickstarter for the nod, and may we see this honor bear tasty fruit!

I've spent almost all day working on the book. This has been about half "get some mundane characters into the layout template" and half "new spells, backgrounds, and supplemental details."

In the end, I have to wonder not "if" it will exceed 192 pages, but maybe "by how much?"

The project is about 75% funded right now, with maybe 50 backers needed to fund, and a more substantial 325 before we probably hit the hardcover printing. Even so, that would only be about 450-500 total, just slightly more than half of what we saw actually pledge to Old-School Solos...so hope is not even close to lost, especially with three weeks to go!

Look at that Projects We Love badge on the lower left! Pretty, ain't it? ;-) 

First Day Update for Best Supporting Actors
about 1 year ago – Wed, Mar 08, 2023 at 08:33:49 AM

The Best Supporting Actors campaign has completed its first day live. (Don't worry, you won't be getting too many of these updates.)

The good news is that not only are we more than halfway (about 55%) to funding, but the pledges are coming in "hot," which means they're significantly higher than I predicted on a per-pledge average. I usually and conservatively plan assuming a very modest uptake in higher-level pledges, so that I don't set goals or expectations to unreasonable levels. In this case, I assumed a pledge mix that would mean about $35-40 per pledge, and we're coming in closer to $60 than that. So we should fund at fewer than 200 backers, and we may only need about 500 or so to hit the hardcover stretch goal.

This campaign was a bit unusual in that I was playing rapid catch-up from the WotC OGL debacle, and so I didn't execute nearly as much preparatory bombardment, as it were, as I would have preferred between KS approval, getting the entire package to the point were I was ready to show folks, and launch day. So I suspect this one will be a bit of a slow burn...but again, we only need a bit more than half the backers that we got on Old-School Solos to hit the point where we threaten to unlock the hardcover book stretch goal.

For now, though, it's head-down time as I prepare all the characters and fill the 20 pages budgeted for random encounter tables, new spells, expanded backgrounds, and a few new weapons.

More later! I'll try not to bombard you with Updates unless something significant happens.

Thanks to all who have supported so far!

Best Supporting Actors: Adversaries and Allies is now Live on Kickstarter
about 1 year ago – Tue, Mar 07, 2023 at 08:06:22 AM

I just hit "go" on my latest project for Old-School Essentials, the Best Supporting Actors book and card deck.

Best Supporting Actors: Adversaries and Alliescontains 172 ready-to-play characters built as individuals. Each has a brief story, describing something of their past, motivations, and salient details. The book is in A5 format (like the various rules tomes)

There are enough that you'll likely find one to fit your needs, as an adversary, ally, person encountered in a tavern, or as a pre-generated PC to get a game going fast. It's likely that there are sufficient numbers that you won't need to use the same character twice!

These make great wandering parties of pilgrims or adventurers, allowing you to pick out a half-dozen or a dozen to answer the question of "who's in the inn?" Caravan guards worthy of chatting with around the fire. A remnant of a mercenary company who would make terrifying bandits or worthy hirelings. Or both!

I hope that those of you who followed and backed the Old-School Solos project will help support this new one. As both a GM and a creator I enjoy making resources to make games run smoother and faster, and I've always liked the concept of a large book of interesting folks so that our fictional worlds seem a little bit more real.

Please join me and support Best Supporting Actors: Adversaries and Allies. It runs for about a month, from today through April 8.