Don't be upset
about 7 years ago – Mon, Apr 03, 2017 at 09:43:52 PM

All, 

I misinformed you two weeks ago when I wrote the update saying US + Canada backers will get two waves of plastics. That plan will not work for us, unfortunately. We have to send a single sending of ALL plastics, which means it must wait until the remaining sets of plastics arrive in Seattle. 

Nothing will change for the rest of the world, but for US it means your miniatures sets won't be on their way until about the last week of April. 

Here is the full lowdown again, which is the same as last update, minus the change to US reducing to a single wave:

US/Canada containers arrive April 13th. All plastic sets will probably be in the mail within 2 weeks after that point (after going through customs, and freighting to warehouse, then pick and packed, etc.)

EU containers arrive in Germany April 20th. All plastic sets will probably be in the mail within 2-3 weeks after that. (Possibly 2, as our German shippers are fairly quick).

Australia/NZ container arrives April 8th. Again, I'd estimate 2-3 weeks until it's in the mail. 

Asian orders are already being sent, and most have already arrived (according to tracking).

What about the book?!

The book is on the same basic schedule I outlined in the last update - everything fully laid out by April 24th. 

I'll try to resume weekly updates (the past two have been every two weeks), to let you know the status of the final copy editing and layout. 

With things like this, there is certainly a chance we don't hit our April 24th deadline. I cannot see the future. However, we have a good team of freelance professionals finishing it up and I would bet positively on them.

I know sometimes these updates are not fun to read, but please do not remotely turn up my pain sensors. I can only handle so much. Yearck!

 - Brain Cylinder #83.7.1 (Arthur)

Anticipated Rest of Schedule + a Shipping Mixup
about 7 years ago – Tue, Mar 21, 2017 at 12:55:15 AM

All,

This is a long, crunchy update with lots of information you will be interested to read! I apologize in advance for its length. The tl;dr is that the physical book will be in your hands this Summer, and the PDF sent to you by the end of April.

It's been a while since we've discussed the schedule for this project (aside from the plastic shipments, some of which is happening now). I am going to outline the entire rest of our projected schedule. It is no secret we are delayed in delivering the book to you. We'd like to now share where we are and where we expect to be in the coming months. 

Expected Book Schedule and Milestones

The final copy, final editing, and final art are still not quite finished. It has taken longer than expected to put together a lot of the stretch goals and added content than we anticipated, combined with a few fairly massive changes to our company structure and personnel in the intervening year since this Kickstarter project. Needless to say, we have not been able to follow our own internal schedule for this project. The silver lining is that it is likely a much better product as a result! 

Just as an FYI, there will be about 41 pieces of color illustrations commissioned for this book! That is not including the nice photos of painted miniatures that will be used for the bestiary section. The final count of art may be different than that - it may be a few less, even, if the last few ones don't make it in time for final layout. But it should look very nice! You've seen some of them in updates here and there. 

here's another to break up this long update! One of my personal favorites - the chapter illustration for the chapter with new Magic!

We are working towards having the layout and everything complete for the entire volume on April 24th. It would be then that we can release the PDF, and the same day the printing process will begin in China. Note, that is our expectation and goal. With the vicissitudes of putting together the final version of a very large book like this (and it being the first time we've done this!), April 24th is merely the goal we are reaching towards to have the PDF and printer files ready.

The next milestone to know about is when the printing will be done. If the process begins on April 24th, then we should have the physical books ready to ship out of China by the end of June. As you know, shipping is a big beast unto itself, but with a ship ready date of end of June we can reasonably expect a rough delivery of the books around the world in late July and early to mid August. 

However, I cannot stress enough how these are projections. We cannot see the future, and so by definition cannot know for a certainty that we will hit these dates as planned. That said, I am reasonably confident in them. We are getting fairly close on the book content itself, and the printers are the same exact ones Paizo uses for their books, and so I feel I can trust their expected timelines as well. 

What about the Plastic Miniatures?

There has been a mixup in the initial plastic miniatures shipment to US + Canada that we did not discover until the fulfillment house had received the product and opened the cartons to arrange for fulfillment. It turns out that not all the plastic miniature sets were sent out from China yet, for US + Canada backers. 

The shipment erroneously did not contain the following sets:

• Former Human Horrors
• Cosmic Nightmares
• Shadows out of Time
• Primal Horrors
• Shadows out of Space
• Foulness from the Stars
• Designer's Collector's Kit
• Tcho-Tcho Horde
• The stretch goal box that includes the Tcho-Tcho High Priest + 1 from each Horde Pack

All the other plastic sets ARE in our Seattle warehouse and will be shipping out this week for US and Canada backers (look at the bottom of the update for that full list). These plastic sets (in the list just above) are currently in containers bound for Seattle on a vessel that has left its China port TODAY (March 20th, 2017). These will arrive in Seattle in early April (about a 14 day journey across the water) and then they will hopefully be at your home before the end of April, if you live in the Western Hemisphere. 

This means, for US and Canadian backers this Kickstarter has suddenly changed from a 2 wave to a 3 wave project. (Wave 1 is shipping this week from Seattle to your homes, wave 2 leaving China today, and wave 3 being the physical book itself this Summer).

I humbly ask your forgiveness for this unintentional mixup. We believed that all the plastic sets were on the initial vessel - indeed, that was our instructions to the factory. 

What about the plastic sets for the rest of the world?

Everyone in the Eastern Hemisphere is still getting all their plastics at once (with the book this Summer, of course). For Europe, the vessel containing all the plastic sets left last Thursday, March 16th, 2017. The containers for Asia and Australia have not left port yet, but should very soon - I will get you the departure dates as soon as I have them. (It's likely Asia and Australia backers will still get plastic sets before Europe given the proximity to China anyway). 

Full List of plastic sets that ARE shipping now to Western Hemisphere backers.

• Dwellers of the Dreamlands
• Dwellers of the Abyss
• Cultist Horde
• Deep One Horde
• Moonbeast Horde
• Ghast Horde
• Mutant Horde
• Ghoul Horde
• Painted Gate
• Glow in the Dark Elder Thing
• Single High Priest

 - Brain Cylinder #83.7.1 (Arthur)

(No, I am not a "set" being shipped to US/Canada backers right now. It just looks that way because the dash looks like a bullet point. Don't be looking for the brain cylinder that houses me in your package! You'll only be disappointed).

Glow in the Dark Elder Things have pushed us though customs
about 7 years ago – Wed, Mar 08, 2017 at 10:18:25 PM

This is a picture taken several months ago in China of the glow in the dark elder things. I realized I hadn't ever shown you what they look like:

The shipment containing all the plastic miniature sets bound for US and Canadian backers has passed through customs and will arrive at the fulfillment warehouse today. 

They expect the first shipments to go out the door Monday - but it could take longer. That's an estimate. Tracking emails will go out as well when your package is sent.

Miniatures at US customs!
about 7 years ago – Thu, Mar 02, 2017 at 08:46:20 PM

As explained in a prior update, the plastic miniatures bound for the US region (which includes Canada - all of the Americas, actually), left China a few weeks ago.

The shipment arrived on Sunday in the Seattle port as planned. It is still physically at the port (don't actually know if it's off loaded yet), but it has not yet passed through customs. We are hoping it is only a few days more before it can be freighted to our fulfillment warehouse, and then shipped out and on to your homes!

And, as stated previously, the miniatures bound for the rest of the world will be shipped out the second week of March (exact days will depend on the region).

We are sad that the book itself is not yet ready for sending out (nor is the PDF download), and I will give updates on that as soon as I can. 

- Brain Cylinder #83.7.1 (Arthur)

a few final images!
about 7 years ago – Fri, Feb 24, 2017 at 11:28:01 PM

All,

Just a short one for this week's content update. It's the final illustration for the Cults chapter, from Kent Hamilton (a work horse artist for Paizo, having done bestiary and other illustrations for them) - 

Also, a while ago we showed you the non-final form of the insane king (for the chapter on Insanity). Here's the final form:

 Also, here's a teensy person who was born less than a month ago. Her entire existence in mortal form has been during the time I've been a developer and writer for this book, so natually my wife and I named her Li'l Shubby:

 - Brain Cylinder #83.7.1 (Arthur)