Saturday, July 27, 2013

Countdown to 5AK - Ten Days Till Release

Give or take.

[somewhere in the San Juans....Orcas Island to be specific...]

The magic of the internet is truly a wonderful thing when it comes to "getting work done." I can email manuscripts to proof-readers I've never met, get the documents back, and (after making changes) get the  finished volumes of to the printer electronically. If I was so inclined, I could simply have the printed books shipped to my home and never see anyone but the postmaster...but I'm too much of a control freak to be that hands off.

It was back in February 2012 that I first suggested people stop wasting their brain power absorbing new rule systems being published as part of WotC's business model and simply write their own version of D&D, an idea I referred to as "D&D Mine" (in direct opposition to "D&D Next"). My idea at the time was to do a small, free supplement for OD&D, not unlike Planet Eris, that would simply combine a bunch of my house rules along with (perhaps) a simple setting fit for the D&D game.

Somewhere along the line in the last year and a half, that idea morphed into something waaaay different. Deconstructing the original game led me to building the thing from the foundation up. The "simple setting" became a deep research project into the 8th century middle eastern history and culture. The small, free supplement became a three volume fantasy adventure game with its own set of custom dice. I didn't start this project with any particular ambition, but sometimes stuff just snowballs, ya' know?

Yesterday, I sent the final manuscripts off to the printer. I'm hopeful that the print run will be complete by the 5th (in time for Dragonflight) and that there won't be any issues. Barring potential problems and set-backs. 5AK should be ready for release to the public within ten days or so. The price point hasn't yet been determined, because I don't know what the final cost per copy is going to be (the price per 3-book set has gone up $3 in printing costs just between my May quote and now, but I'm hoping they'll swing me a break and allow me to "pass on the savings to my customers"). My plan is to also make the books available as PDFs for a substantially lower cost, and that will probably (hopefully) happen by mid-August.

Anyway. Just wanted to give people a heads up. Now I've got to wander down to the ocean and see if I can find my family. Expect more updates in the near future.

2 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congrats, can't wait to see it in the (paper) flesh! Meanwhile, say hi to the ocean for me ;-)!

    ReplyDelete