Make wilderness journeys just as exciting as the destination with this worldbuilding book for GMs - For any fantasy roleplaying game.
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Hello, dear Wondrous backers!
We are back with another big update, with some very important info about our new fulfillment ETA, so keep reading. Time has been a little strapped the past few weeks, so this update comes without a full-blown video. We know you liked the behind-the-scenes insights, so we will try to sprinkle those in as much as we can.
Let's get the difficult news out of the way first, before we move onto the good bits. We already let you know in previous updates that the Wondrous Expeditions Kickstarter development has fallen behind schedule significantly due to my (Chris VDL) mother's illness, COVID-problems, and other factors. We never clearly figured out what the exact effect was until now. The painful reality is that we will not be able to start delivering this project to you until the next year. Read on for the full details.
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A complete re-check - Over the past weeks, we rigorously checked our development schedule by analyzing the status of the book, card deck, pocket guide, and subsequent manufacturing timelines. This was a big undertaking but needed in order to create some clarity. Being a new creative IP (Intellectual Property) instead of a new installment of the Remarkable series, this project had a lot of unknowns and it tripped up more than we expected.
New workflow and progress tracking - Our thorough analysis resulted in a minute overview of every single asset (hundreds of items, across writing, art, layout, editing, etc), and where each of those deliverables is in the development stages pipeline. Many of these deliverables have dependencies on each other, so it is a complex puzzle. Based on this new overview, we have been able to make both a new schedule as well as a plan of attack on how to most effectively walk through the remainder of the development. Such a granular, per-asset tracking workflow wasn't in place before, and we are going to keep using it for all future projects without a doubt.
May 2022 ETA - This is what we expect is a realistic date to start fulfillment. Our experience is that due to COVID, manufacturing and transportation times to get goods from the manufacturer are now at least 3-4 months. We are also relying on 3 different manufacturers (book, pocket guide, card deck) which is a challenge in terms of aligning the production and transportation timelines.
Digital Product Lock - We are confident we can get the project ready for manufacturing this year, but it is more uncertain how long it takes for all printed goods to arrive in our warehouses around the globe. We are hellbent on finishing the book, card deck, and pocket guide this year, and distribute the digital versions of these in advance, to serve as a review moment before the final versions go to print, as well as to already have something in your hands.
Lessons Learned - This has been our most ambitious project ever, and boy does it show in sheer scope and complexity. Despite having done 9 consecutive Kickstarters delivered in a timely manner, it plain sucks to have 1 that didn't pan out as expected. We want to admit that we underestimated in part. The scope, paired with unfortunate setbacks beyond our control, eventually cascaded. One can't really plan for the unforeseen, but we can improve our own process. We have taken this experience to heart and used it to improve our company workflows so it doesn't happen again in the future.
So where are we in terms of development status for all 3 core products? Here's the full breakdown:
Core Book - Having undergone various rigorous overhauls, the final complete version of the book is now quickly coming together. Each week, chapters are being finished and moved over to our editor. This includes receiving a draft layout, typesetting, and illustration pass. We are still working intensively on a few specific parts of the book, but it is coming together, including the many stretch goal contents we have unlocked such as the extra adventures.
Backer review - All of our attention is focused on getting the core book and other materials in shape as quickly as possible, so we can get a digital version to backers at one point for proofreading. We are hoping to get valuable feedback from you on where to make some final improvements before going to print. Once we are able to turn over the work, it will be a massive update and you will have loads to feast your eyes on.
Illustrations, paintings - All the while, our team of artists have been turning over work every single week, such as the fabulous Ferdinand Ladera (see image above). They are continuing to turn over more illustrations and paintings every week, to find a place on the page layouts. Things have found a good rhythm with this, and our new "asset" tracking system makes it easier to see where each of the hundreds of items is in the pipeline. It is a constant symbiotic cycle between writing being turned over, informing the artists what to illustrate, and then back to the graphic artist for layout and typesetting.
Card Deck: The new card deck is very far finished, and we expect to be able to have it ready for backer-review within several weeks. It turned out great and we are excited for you to have a look at it.
Pocket Guide: We have not been able to start on this yet, as it relies 100% on the core book to be finished. For this reason, it is our main priority to lock down the contents of the book asap, so we can start developing the Pocket Guide contents that are derived from the main book's contents. We don't want to waste any time updating two products back-and-forth for every edit, so this will start as soon as the main book is "locked".
Maps Stretch Goal: The map artist we had originally commissioned had to drop out because of other obligations that clashed because of our timelines slipping. We are now in the process of hiring a new artist to create the materials for this stretch goal. With our large roster of talent, we are confident we can get this going on short notice.
Our primary concern is always the customer. We don't take your support lightly and work hard to earn that respect. Beyond the serious bummer of delivering later, another impact is that potentially Loresmyth will not do a second Kickstarter this year. This means a loss of more than a third of our yearly gross revenue which is an unprecedented financial impact. We are investigating if we can financially manage not having another Kickstarter, so Wondrous Expeditions gets the 200% focus it needs to get to the finish line. More news on this at one point.
It's a lot to take in, and we can imagine you may be left with a few questions still. In that case, we invite you to join our Discord, which is a great place to reach out and chat with us.
That's it for this update. Appreciate your understanding and ongoing support.
Talk soon,
Chris VDL.
Hello, dear Wondrous backers!
Things are cooking at Loresmyth and we are firing on all cylinders! Here's the next update on our development progress, and this time we are trying it as a video format, to see if that's something you'd like to see more of! Comment below or join our discord and say hello!
With the core structure of the book in place and the majority of writing done, we are now focussing on rewrites. Small sections of the book are done and going to the next phase: editing and layout. Pretty soon we will have larger chunks of the book ready and we will consider having you, the backers, review those to provide feedback if we are getting it right. All in all, very good progress, and we will be able to show more and more visual progress from this point onwards!
Thanks for your support and patience!
Chris VDL.
Hello, dear Wondrous backers!
In our lengthy previous update, we talked about the challenges we faced so far developing this entirely new product, but now it's time to look forward. I'm happy to say things are moving along nicely. In this update, we will share some of the progress and will continue to do so in future updates.
Before we dive into the good bits, I want to let you know that we are in the process of updating our development planning now that it is clear the original one is kinda out the window. With this new planning, we will be able to give out a much more realistic new estimate of how things will go from here on. The good news is that the restructuring of our company to have a dedicated product development manager (instead of things hinging 100% on myself) is working out great. Christopher Mahon is now solidly overseeing all product developments, which includes the Remarkable Cults, Wondrous Expeditions, and some other unnamed projects. I like to thank everyone one last time for being so incredibly understanding with all that happened since this Kickstarter launch. Things went completely different than I expected, but your heartfelt reactions really alleviated a lot of the stress. Now the game is on to deliver an amazing product! 💖
As you know, we've been solidly writing the Wondrous Expeditions: Forest book for many months. In fact, a rough version of the entire book has been in place for a while, and while parts are very exciting, we felt unsure if this first rendition really captured our vision entirely. After some serious deliberation, we decided to overhaul parts to better meet that vision...
In the image above you can see for the first time the entire scope of the book. After shuffling a lot of the draft contents around in various setups, this is what we ended up with. It feels very logical and is honestly amazing to see the very skeleton of what will be the template for all books in this series going forward. The process to get to this point involved us going back over the incredible survey feedback again, to make sure the book really delivers on your expectations, as well as have a logical flow to the book's contents.
After the introduction and a short look at various ways to handle travel in roleplaying games, the meat of the book starts with what makes Forests special. This section will return in every Wondrous book, specifically detailing that particular environment. The next large chapter of the book is all about creating your own forest environments, from wide-views to incredible micro-detail and atmosphere. This is a GM's toolbox to put together different and exciting scenes every single time the players take a journey through a forest.
The next chapter is all about making the journey be the adventure. It covers an enormous amount of content about how to roleplay a journey (or expedition in our jargon) and how to make it be much more than just a travel-montage to skip to the action. It explores everything from making player choices matter, to what happens to morale and the story when journeys take longer than a day.
The next large chapter of the book provides you with four extremely detailed pre-made special forests that you can drop into your game world instantly. They use everything presented in the book and serve as a showcase for what is possible. Each comes with its own new flora, fauna, landmarks as well as natural hazards and more.
The first Appendix will be our Expedition System which is an extensive (optional) gameplay ruleset to elevate wilderness journeys from quick asides into an integral part of your adventures. Many of the phases and actions in the Expedition System reach back to topics covered earlier in the book, so you will have a complete interwoven fabric at your hands. The remaining Appendixes include the one-shot adventures, maps, and 5e statblocks.
Please note that the page counts in the image are still very WIP, they can and will change as more rewrites happen. We sometimes get the critique that our books are not as page count heavy as other creators, but we really believe in quality over quantity. Anything that does not add to the product will get culled. So please know that some of these things may still change as we get closer to a more final iteration of the book.
With this final structure in place, we are now deciding what parts are going to get a rewrite. Now that the major creative headscratchers have been solved and we know what the final product needs to be, we can go in with laser-precision and finalize each section in the book. Some need very little work, others are getting a complete overhaul. Again, since this first book will be the template to follow for each next installment, we are not cutting any corners and trying every potential improvement.
There we go! With the next updates, we will be able to start showing off more of the actual page contents as well. Our artists have also continually been cranking out illustrations and paintings so things are moving along at a good pace.
We invite you to join our Discord server which is a great place to hang out and chat more!
https://tinyurl.com/lorediscord
Talk soon!
Chris VDL
Hello, dear Wondrous backers!
While work continues on the Wondrous Expeditions Forests book, other exciting things are also cooking behind the scenes of Loresmyth. And one of those we can finally lift the veil a little bit at least: Our Random Generator website project
LoreSmyth is building a "random generator" site and we are looking for your thoughts. We plan to make it into something special (let's face it most of these kinda sites are ugly and sometimes hard to use). We also have quite epic plans to eventually move the service beyond plain random gen. To inform our decisions we love to hear your opinion!
Do you have a minute? Are you a GM? Have a look! 🙌 It means a lot to us:
Thanks for tolerating me/us in your crowded Inbox. The next update is going to be about the Wondrous Expeditions book again, but I just thought you wouldn't want to miss the next crazy Loresmyth invention.
In case you can't contain your excitement (or other emotion) then come say hi on Discord!
Talk soon!
Chris VDL