Gamebook Proofs Accepted!
about 7 years ago – Wed, Apr 26, 2017 at 08:14:20 PM

Gamebook Proofs Accepted.

Yesterday was exciting—the proofs arrived for my review. Everything looked great with the exception of a small detail on the cover (and that was my problem, not the printer's), so the small edit and the approval went out today. Exciting times.

I've been told to expect printing/shipping to take at least 20 business days, so I should be signing gamebooks late next month. As mentioned before, I will be able to immediately ship to some backers as well.

DriveThruRPG Reviews/Sales

I hope that by now everyone who backed for a PDF or the gamebook has downloaded theirs through DriveThru RPG! I greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to also rate the game on its catalogue page, and am even more grateful to the few who have taken the extra step of writing out a review of the game there! Right now Wearing the Cape: The Roleplaying Game is listed as DriveThruRPG's #1 Superhero gamebook, and is in the Top 10 overall. That's big news, and I'm sure is in part due to the ratings/reviews, so add to them if you can!

Coming Appearances

I don't know if you will see me there, but it looks like Wearing the Cape: The Roleplaying Game may be making an appearance at GenCon this year. It may be up for an Ennie Award, and be one of the featured gamebooks at Indie Press Revolution's booth. This is contingent on my being able to get the first wave of signed gamebooks out to backers (see previous update). This year I'm mainly focused on finishing the sourcebooks, campaign fulfillment, and the seventh WtC novel, but I may get to one or more conventions. Next year will be a different story.

WtC: RPG (PDF) Released!
about 7 years ago – Wed, Apr 19, 2017 at 09:17:04 PM

With the backer survey closed and the final few edits completed, we have submitted Wearing the Cape: The Roleplaying Game to DriveThruRPG for publication in its PDF format. It should be purchasable within a couple of days, for anyone who missed it in the Kickstarter or who didn't pick it up through Backerkit before the survey closed.

But more importantly, you should have gotten an email in your mailbox a few minutes ago, letting you know that if you pledged for the PDF edition it's ready for pickup! Please let me know if you did not receive a notice, or had any difficulties redeeming the discount voucher for your gamebook. As mentioned in the email, I look forward to hearing your opinion of my first foray into roleplaying games.

And thank you, everyone.

Marion G. Harmon

Gone To Print!
about 7 years ago – Thu, Apr 13, 2017 at 02:24:35 PM

Hello, everyone! It has taken longer than expected (and it was actually slowed a bit by backers sending in errata notes on the pre-release PDF), but the print file has finally gone to the printers. I should be reviewing a proof copy next week for final approval, and then it's about a month for the printers to print-and-ship.

All backer's copies will be coming to me first, to number and sign the bookplates, which will add a little more time. So how is this going to work out?

The next steps are:

1.) The Backerkit Survey will close at the end of this week.

2.) Everyone who pledged for an electronic copy of the gamebook will get their download links for it. In the licensing section in the front of the book, you will see that you have permission to make your own copy for use (I've heard from several backers who wanted to ensure that they could take the file to their local copy shop for printing).

3.) The order for the dice will also go out next week; estimated time on dice production is a couple of months. You guy really exceeded my expectations there; for the volume prices I was hoping for I needed to order at least 1,000 dice. Well, the order is for around 3,200 dice.

4.) Shipping Waves. Since the dice, the special edition, and of course the sourcebook, will all be hitting completion at different times, I will be handling shipping in waves. I will be pricing different wave strategies to see what works, keeping in mind that everyone has put down at least $15 on shipping. This should allow me to use different methods with each backer. For example, a backer in the states who backed for the PDFs and the gamebook will get the gamebook sent to him right away, and if he also backed for some dice I may be able to get the gamebook and dice shipped separately in that $15 budget.

This means that some backers will see their gamebooks long before others, which can't be helped since I'm not going to sit on a backer's gamebook for two or more months so that everyone gets everything at the same time. I hope that everyone will have patience; this is my first experience with a production process like this, and although none of the elements of it are uncertain, completion times are the question at each step.

I am looking forward to getting that galley proof and I'll post a picture here if I can take a good one. Speaking of pictures, here's a pic of the dice blanks being used. Nice and shiny.

As always, let me here your questions, on this update or directly. And have a wonderful Easter.

Marion G. Harmon

Going to Print
about 7 years ago – Wed, Mar 29, 2017 at 10:02:13 PM

Hello, everyone! It's been a few days, so I have several items of news.

Going to Print

Wearing the Cape: The Roleplaying Game is preparing to go to print. I have held the editing process open a little longer than I expected to, largely due to the great input received by backers who received the pre-release PDF. Some errors were caught, and a few sections tightened, so thank you, everyone!

Shipping and Distribution

Roughly half of you who pledged for the gamebook also pledged for the printed sourcebook. We are on track for a June shipping date for those pledges. It looks like the sourcebook will take a little longer than originally anticipated. As has become my experience, art is the bottleneck. Looking at what the sourcebook artist is turning out, I think you'll agree that this is acceptable.

I am leaving the Backerkit survey open for now, so the opportunity is there for anyone who wants to order extra gamebooks or sourcebooks with their surveys. Meanwhile it looks like I will have a contract with Indie Press Revolution for distribution to gamestores across the country.

And so far Wearing the Cape: The Roleplaying Game has attracted the attention of three domestic and international publishers interested in publication rights; the game may go far beyond this band of backers.

The Survey

As of today, 90% of you have answered your surveys. Thank you! Of course that means I haven't heard from around 50 of you, and I would like to. An added note, answering the requests of a few backers, I included an "art component" in the survey; anyone who pledged for a printed gamebook can add $12 and have a set of 3 glossy prints of the covers of the first three books in the series (the art of Viktoria Gavrilenko) shipped to them free with their gamebook. They're going to be beautiful.

Electronic Editions

When the final draft goes to print, the electronic edition of Wearing the Cape: The Roleplaying Game will also be released. In addition to the edits it has received, it has also been formatted for bookmarks to make it an even easier book to read. Everyone who pledged for it during the campaign will be receiving download information for the released copy!

Thank you again, everyone, for helping to make this such a successful campaign! Advisors with Kickstarter experience had not been sure that the campaign would even clear the $10,000 goal for printing the gamebooks. You cleared the funding goal in 2 days, enabling me to make something really special.

Backerkit Survey Sent!
about 7 years ago – Tue, Mar 21, 2017 at 12:20:59 AM

So it's out, just a couple of days later than I'd hoped. More importantly, I hope I set it up properly so that everyone who pledged Guardian level or higher, who is now locked in for the gamebook PDF, will have received a link to download their own pre-release copy!

You will know it's just the pre-release because I made sure to include a "pre-release version" watermark in it; there will likely be a few more small edits to its text (if you find a spelling or grammar error yourself, let me know!), and so I don't want anyone mixing them up with the market-release copy later. Which will be as soon as the Backerkit Survey is locked. Which brings me to the schedule.

The Production Schedule

While it will take awhile for the sourcebooks to be ready, I want to proceed to printing on the gamebook as soon as possible. I have decided to leave the survey open until at least the end of the month and then decide, based on orders, how many gamebooks to print. At that time I will send the printer the order, locking in the print-run number. I will order extra, although they will not be the specially numbered books that will be done for all campaign backers.

In April I will decide when to close the survey and pre-orders. I may hold it open until the gamebooks are printed and ready to ship, but not after that. The reason for this is that there are backers who only pledged for the printed gamebook (and possibly dice), and they shouldn't wait longer than they have to to receive their games. When the survey closes and all add-ons and pre-orders are locked, I will also send out the final draft market-release of the gamebook PDF.

For the sourcebooks and special edition, I have set a shipping date of no later than mid-June, and will do my absolute best to meet that goal. The PDFs of the sourcebooks (and special edition ebook) will of course be sent out as soon as they are finished, not waiting for June! Keep in mind that I am still learning this process (simply selling Print-On-Demand books is so much easier), and may run into unexpected delays. I will keep everyone in the loop on production progress.

For now, enjoy the gamebook PDF. And let me know what you think!

Marion G. Harmon