Last Day and a Half
over 2 years ago – Mon, Dec 06, 2021 at 08:12:47 AM

Where are we?

Well, the short answer is we got Undead at 144 pages, and we're about $600 or so from the next stretch goal at 160 pages. That gives us a bunch of Dire Animals.

After that?

• 176 pages: Demons and Slimes
• 192 pages: Animals and almost-humans
• 208 pages: Dinosaurs and Plants
• 224 pages: Human foes
• 240 pages: More animals

Some of these may move around, and I've got some in reserve in case layout says "we need more."

Can we get there?

We really can. There are still over 400 folks following who haven't yet pledged. There are plenty of GURPS, Powered by GURPS, and Dungeon Fantasy RPG fans, not to mention newcomers via the Girl Genius RPG, who could make use of 144-240 pages of pre-written monsters for grab-and-go goodness. One of my Patreon Subscribers is intending to use them in a Star Trek game.

We can do it, but we'll need some sharing and some commitment from followers. 

So take a deep breath, and let's sprint to the finish.

And the 48-hour bell sounds!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Dec 05, 2021 at 11:23:00 PM

The automatic Kickstarter "this campaign has 48 hours to go" email has gone out, and I can see some responses already.

There's no telling what will happen, but bear this in mind:

• This has already raised more funds than any Kickstarter I have ever run. It is also the most ambitious one I'm running that is adhering to a budget (Dragon Heresy was a giant 288 page hardback paid for mostly out of my own pocket).
• There are 760 folks who have followed the campaign. Of that 760, 342 have already pledged. That leaves 418 who are keeping track of the campaign. Not only is that enough potential funding to hit every stretch goal, it puts us into a place where the TFT stretch goal looks pretty doable.
• We've not shot every shell when it comes to marketing blitzes, either. I'll be sending out a few, and who knows who might notice things. 

The next two days may well be VERY exciting. 

If you want to help, social media shares really do make a difference. A surprising number of pledges have come directly from the RPG.NET and ENWORLD.ORG threads. So, as a reminder, I'll sign off with this:

Gaming Ballistic in Media

Shadow of the GM: Discussing the GURPS Bestiary with Douglas Cole. Why a bestiary? Why now? How portable? A really good chat.

Nerdarchy: TTRPG Monsters with Gaming Ballistic.

Talking Crit with Erik Tenkar and Bad Mike. This has a primarily OSR/D&D audience, but they have always dug my works, they recognize that I’m one of the better planners for Kickstarters, and they value my insight and commentary after running over a dozen projects successfully.

SJGames Live with Hunter Shelburne. This discussion was pretty focused on the Dungeon Fantasy RPG. Lots of previews and screen shares.

Highlights That Might Draw Attention

• The Kickstarter page, of course. Lots of updates. Some of the more interesting ones: follow
• Update 9: “So…what’s really in the book?” A list of most of the creatures in the 128-page version.
• Monsters of the Day appear in various updates. Gremlin, Edderkop, Fjallatroll and Baenadyrid, Rock Lizard, Totally not an Invisible Stalker, Horses.
• The VTT Pack was added to all pledges of $100 or more
• A new Pledge Level for the Starter Pack PDFs AND the QR PDF and VTT pack was added at $70. If you are new to Nordlond but have the boxed set (or want to get it), this is the pledge you want if you’re a digital kind of person.
• Gaming Ballistic’s Blog
• The GB Discord channel
• Threads in the SJGames Forums, including the DFRPG and GURPS forums
• Reddit has threads on r/GURPS and r/RPG. That second one was started by a fan, so it is a better place for people to comment than those started by the publisher.
• Reddit actually has several threads going on, all of which are worthy of dropping a note into to keep them current
• The Nordlond Bestiary Campaign Ends Dec 7 has been very active, with lots of positive comments and a self-proclaimed art critic.
• Nordlond Bestiary – Baenadyrid in Action is a post by Exxar, the Chaotic GM, testing out the “Mantis Demon” vs one or more 62-point knights using Delvers to Grow. It’s a few combats, from 1-1 to 3-1 in favor of the monsters, showing that, as intended, they’re a speed bump, but a capable one.
• Monster of the Day posts from Nordlond Bestiary: Collected. Instead of trolling updates, this thread has them all in one place.
• The Nordlond Bestiary and Enemies Book project is now Live! The post that started it all.
• Same deal with this thread on RPG.net, and another on ENWorld, which have already gathered some commentary. Posting to these has generated a non-trivial number of pledges, so contributing to the discussion is valuable.

Ultimately, this is the Fourth Edition Bestiary some of us have been looking for since 2004. If we want it to be 240 pages, then a bit of help on the promotional side would be more than welcome. I'll basically be pounding that drum until Tuesday night. 

So, let's get out there and roll and shout!

144-Page Stretch Goal UNLOCKED!
over 2 years ago – Sat, Dec 04, 2021 at 03:21:29 PM

We did it! The first stretch goal fell before the 48-hour warning, which is tomorrow. This is excellent news, and we just added 16 more pages full of undead to the book.

I love using the undead as bad guys, and this stretch goal unlocks some very powerful ones, such as mummies and vampires.

The next goal is at $42,000.

How are we doing?

If you read my weekly report, you'll know I was pretty glum over Thanksgiving. We had a hope-inducing surge, but the Kickstarter doldrums started early and stayed hard. 

However, on Dec 1-2, we got a breath of air in our sails, and have really surged since then

We have 524 actual backers and 738 project followers, of whom 330 have already pledged. That means 408 who have NOT yet pledged, and nearly 200 pledged without following first...which means many folks are finding out about the project, showing up, and pledging.

This has interesting implications

• It may be nothing much more happens. But that belies the usual surge at 48 hours.
• We are averaging nearly $73 per pledge. That means only (on the average) 55 people are required to hit each stretch goal. 
• There are six goals left...330 new backers required. Hey...that's less than the 400+ currently following. We are already tracking enough people to unlock the full 240 pages.

And I strongly suspect that once we get close to threatening $62,000 we'll start to see folks who want the Bestiary converted to The Fantasy Trip, and there are a LOT of those. Over 830 folks pledged to support the most excellent Book of Unlife (I really dig that book), and if they threw in $15 each, we'd easily surpass the TFT goal as well.

There are MASSIVE synergy effects at play here. Success breeds success, and my next marketing note to my mailing lists will include funding, the Foundry VTT news, and the first stretch goal, and it will go to everyone who has ever pledged to one of my projects, PLUS retailers (who usually ignore them; they get a lot of mail).

But if this weekend, you happen by your Favorite Local Game Store and say "you really ought to check out this Kickstarter" that goes a long, long way towards success.

Thanks folks! Next goal: $42,000.

FUNDED!
over 2 years ago – Fri, Dec 03, 2021 at 08:28:08 PM

OK...what a big day was yesterday.

Over $3,000 raised in a single day, making it the second-largest day of the campaign. Even bigger than the second day, which is traditionally carried over from launch day.

So now it's about stretch goals. There are still 400 people who have followed but not yet backed this campaign. There are thousands who just became aware of it thanks to this update on the Girl Genius RPG page, courtesy of SJGames.

So don't be too shocked if folks pile on, and for those of you saying nice things in various places and encouraging folks to jump on: keep it up, it's working.

How to Add the VTT Pack to your pledge
over 2 years ago – Fri, Dec 03, 2021 at 07:41:18 PM

This came up on Reddit, but it's worth repeating.

If your pledge doesn't already include the VTT Pack, you can "add it" by adding $15 to your pledge so long as your pledge level includes at least the PDF of the Bestiary.

I've tried to anticipate likely "upgrades," so check out which pledge levels already include it explicitly, and list it in the "INCLUDES:" details of the pledge level description.

These levels below explicitly include the VTT package:

• All New PDFs - Book, QR, VTT ($50) - Digital only reward.
• Copy of Nordlond Starter + QR/VTT PDFs ($70) - Digital only
• International New: Book + New PDFs ($80) - Physical and PDF Bestiary, QR PDF, VTT PDF. The Bestiary, the Quick-Reference 'print your own' file, and the VTT Pack are the "new" part of "international new." Despite the name, you may certainly get this if you're in the USA.
• Bestiary, Cards, and VTT Bundle ($100) - Physical Bestiary and Cards, PDF Bestiary, QR cards, and VTT Pack

Due to an oversight on my part, when I added the VTT Pack to the Kickstarter before it launched, I forgot to plus-up some of the higher-tier pledges to include the VTT Pack:

• Bestiary PDF + Nordlond PDFs (now + VTT Tokens) ($100) - The PDF of the Bestiary and ALL the Nordlond PDFs, now includes the VTT Pack.
• Bestiary (Print+PDF) and All Nordlond PDF (now + VTT Tokens) ($125) - The print Bestiary, the PDF of the bestiary, and all of the PDFs from the Nordlond setting.
• I Want it All! includes the Cards, VTT Pack, and QR PDF for $400. You pays me $400 for "it all," and you gets it all.

If you don't see the precise stuff you want on the above, you may need to pick a close-enough level and then add funds to cover the a la carte items as add-ons. The VTT Pack is a $15 add-on. Other books and content are also available. Scroll down to see them listed (farther down. No, even farther. Almost there. Good.)

Note that some of the PDF collections are pretty deeply discounted. Before you spend (hypothetically) $123 on pick-and-choose PDFs one-by-one, make sure that you're not bypassing the cheaper "Bestiary PDF + all Nordlond PDFs" for $100.