September Update
about 8 years ago – Sun, Sep 25, 2016 at 11:17:54 PM

Hello fellow Takers! I hope September finds your fences clear and your crews flush with bounty. Here's an update on progress over the last month.

Rewards

All of the backer games have been completed. One that I ran is already up at the Roleplaying Exchange, and I'm sure Ross recorded his games as well.  We had a blast running them. 

I've officially commissioned and contracted the four enclave pieces and three character pieces I've received from backers. If more are incoming, I'd suggest those backers get in touch soon. We have to have all the art for the book and supplements contracted out by the end of December; otherwise, the KS money can't be written off and will be susceptible to income tax. The sooner you get me your commission notes, the more certain we can be that the tax man isn't going to come and take your pledge money away. 

My game design notes were finished before the KS even launched, but now I've received the Taker notebooks from a couple of the RPPR crew. That will take care of two Social Stretch goals, but I've got to schedule a long day with an exacto knife and scanner in the next month. 

Sara has five dice tins left to finish up before we can start sending them out to backers. I've got all the dice cast and delivered to my house. Still trying to figure out a solution for packing them with the book that won't damage the cover. 

Laura, while still editing "Running The Market," is hard at work bashing together a con packet designed to introduce people to Red Markets. You can read about her process and more on her blog. That's even a reward we promised, but it's something that's going to help immensely. I can't wait to show it to everyone when it's ready.

Editing and Art Direction

Like I said, Laura's still editing the GM section of the book. Kyle and Kat, despite the minor distraction of getting married, are plowing through "Playing Red Markets." The first 1/3rd of the book is basically finished, with the exception of the inventory chapter. Gear boxes and art is always a InDesign nightmare, but things should be relatively easy job after that. 

Note to future Caleb: always establish a design template before launching the Kickstarter in the future. That was a very good idea.

I've also got two artists completely done with their assignments for the player section of the book, and another couple that are only a couple pieces away from finishing up. We should have the majority of the crew working on the Market section by the end of October, and we're on pace to have the whole book and all supplements contracted before year's end. 

 Printing and Distribution

Nothing's really changed on this front. I'm still working on it, and I'm still not ready to talk about it. What can I say? It's an update; not a revelation.

Anyway...more art!

Writing

I've been making steady progress in the writing. Let's look to my gods for answers: the progress bars

I've readjusted the word targets a little bit. "History of the Crash" is going to need more words if it's going to cover the economic and technological world before the Crash as well as the world afterwards. I debated keeping it tighter, but the fact that the world's political, racial, and economic divides didn't suddenly disappear when the undead rose up is one of the things that makes Red Markets "not your average zombie game." I'm also pretty sure we didn't need the 5K I shaved off "The Loss" and "Best Practices." Once the gist of how the game world's economy works is establishing, all the other setting material can be more evocative (read: plot hooks) and less expository.

Speaking of shaving, I've realized that I need to cut some responsibilities off my list. Running everything and writing and teaching is a lot to handle every week. We'll be waiting longer than necessary for the book to come out if I keep up this "do it yourself" attitude. So I'm contracting out "Best Practices" to Ross Payton. In addition to being an all-around great writer that's already familiar with the game and working in its universe, Ross and I have written sections like "Best Practices" for multiple other game lines. He knows what he's doing, and I can trust him to do it well while I devote my energies elsewhere. 

Finally, for all of you that suspect I'm just changing the numbers instead of writing, I'm posting first drafts of the core book text over on our Reddit page: you can read the first two here and here. Hopefully, that can curb any update appetites that arise in-between our monthly updates. 

Conclusion

That's another month of progress in the bag! Thanks for sticking with us for this long haul, crew. I'm eternally grateful.

If you have any questions, hit me up in the comments. Otherwise, have a good month!

--Caleb

August Update
about 8 years ago – Thu, Aug 25, 2016 at 11:10:35 PM

As we near the end of the month, it's time for another update! Like last time, I'll be peppering the text with new art from our talented freelancers.

Late Backers

I've been getting this question a lot, so I'm going to write an official response now. 

We are still a long way from printing the book, but when we get closer to the shipping date, I'll be collecting shipping and handling through BackerKit. BackerKit charges for shipping and handling using the same system that it implements to charge for add-ons. As such, anyone wishing to get a physical copy of the book can purchase it once the backer surveys go out. Those that have already purchased physical copies of the book may purchase additional hardcovers, but hardcovers will be the only add-on available. 

I'll be sure to announce when BackerKit surveys go out on Kickstarter, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, and every other community we have running. LifeLines will hopefully be up by then, and we'll shout the news from our own rooftops as well. So if you missed the Kickstarter, please follow Red Markets on your preferred social media platforms and we will be sure to let you know. 

Rewards

The backer game at GenCon was a blast. I retooled some of the very first playtest contracts from the earliest draft of the game, and the job the crew selected worked great. Well, not great for the characters, mind you; we had a good time though.

Those that signed up for online games should have received a link for scheduling their date and time already. Over the next month, Ross or I will be running online contracts for those generous backers. 

I've sent out instructions for backer commissions wanting to get their Taker or enclave in the book. As of now, I've only received three characters back and one enclave. I'm really happy with the work our artists have done already on these commissions, but keep in mind that it becomes harder and harder to place your art the longer it takes to get instructions from you. Please get me your enclaves and characters as soon as you are able.

Editing and Art Direction

The "Playing Red Markets" section has gone through a two complete editing passes. All of it's art has been contracted out to our freelancers and is currently in-progress. The whole 90K+ words have been sent along to Kyle and Kat for layout to begin.

The GM chapter, "Running Red Markets," has begun it's first editing pass. I've also gone through the entire manuscript and included art direction for an additional 36 pieces. Some of those contracts have gone out to freelancers already, and the rest are drafted, waiting for the first batch of illustrations to get finished up before starting the next round. 

Printing and Distribution

I'm still in the process of collecting the widest variety of print quotes possible. I'm comparing the cost of printing different numbers of books with the cost of shipping those books to a fulfillment house and/or distributor. To sum it up, the question is this: how many eggs does Hebanon Games put into how many baskets? Do we go with a house that can do printing, fulfillment, and distribution all in one? It saves costs on shipping a massive pallet of books, but any problems cascade and print costs go up. Or do we risk piecemeal-ing the work out to multiple companies, and thus incur higher shipping? And what about the dice? How do we package them with the book without damaging the book?

BTW, if any of you own...say...a plastics factory that creates those little dice tubes, PM me :-)

I'm talking with accountants and industry veterans every day to ensure I make the most informed decision possible. As such, I'm not yet ready to make any announcements on the printing/distribution front. I want make sure we've made the best choice for consumer value and the longevity of Red Markets before stating a public commitment. 

Writing

Though I'm proud of myself for making any headway at all, my own responsibilities writing the setting section, novella, and stretch goals has seen the least amount of progress. Between GenCon, project management duties, and the start of the school year (I teach high school, for those that don't know), this was always going to be the case. Thankfully, everyone else involved in RM already has plenty to do; no one is waiting around for me to finish my bits...yet. The mission for September is to normalize my grading and lesson planning schedule so I can sneak in some regular writing time in the off hours.

Conclusion

So that's it. We are burning right along, but making a triple-A quality RPG book takes a long time, especially when you have to do so on a garage band schedule. My hope for these updates (besides showing y'all the pretty pictures I'm so excited about) is that they make it clear why I selected delivery dates that were unusually pessimistic for an RPG Kickstarter. Doing it right when you can't afford to do it wrong requires care. 

But new edits and art continue arriving in my inbox every couple of days, and it's safe to say things are currently on track! 

Thank you again for backing and following Red Markets. Be sure to let me know if you have any questions.

Here's hoping y'all have a profitable month,

-Caleb

July Progress
over 8 years ago – Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 09:44:46 PM

Hello all!

Unless we have something to release, I'm going to keep updates down to one or so a month. I don't want to flood anyone's inbox, so we'll save all our behind-the-scenes and state-of-union stuff big posts like this one. 

I'm going to be out of town for the next week visiting relatives, so I thought now was the time to show everyone what we've been up to since the campaign ended about a month ago.

Writing

I've written about 10K words on the History of the Crash setting chapter. This is all new material detailing the state of the world before the Blight and establishing Gnat, our primary narrator. The abridged setting material included in the Backer Preview has yet to be revised and incorporated to this section, so we're really over halfway done with the first section despite what my stupid Scrivener bar says. 

Still, I had hoped to be further along at this point, but after the money cleared, the majority of my time went towards writing contracts to get our talented freelancers working. It's in this regard that I'm most proud of our progress thus far.

Editing

Laura, our enclave's lead editor, has been tearing through my crappy prose like a lawnmower. The "Playing Red Markets" section, which is nearly 100K long and the bulk of the book, has now gone through two editorial passes. I'll be entering changes and sending it along Kyle and Kat. I've already completed art direction for that whole section of manuscript, so they can install blank frames for illustrations that have yet to be completed. 

Hopefully, by splitting the book into segments like this, we can get the book out ASAP by ensuring everyone stays busy and keeps working simultaneously.

Art Direction

As I said, a lot of my writing time has been spent doing art direction for the manuscripts already completed and turning those art suggestions into freelancer contracts. Currently, we have over 100 pieces of art contracted for the book. This includes color illustrations every four pages in the Playing Red Markets section, pregen character portraits, inventory illustrations, chapter break murals, and all the aberrants. We haven't even starting on the GM section (though the d100 table probably won't have art for organization issues) or the setting chapters. That means we've only scheduled about half the total pieces to be included in the final book, but I figure that's plenty of work to keep everyone busy for months. We'll go through this process periodically over the next year as assignments get finished up until we have an enormous, gorgeous book ready for everyone. 

Community

Everyone is providing feedback on the Fallen Flag preview APs and organizing their own games in the various social media groups organized during the KS campaign. I love it! It's so great to read about people that are already playing and enjoying the game. The response to my monsterous Word doc has been better than I could have hoped. 

As such, there has been a big push to get the LifeLines community up and running NOW. I get it, and I understand it would be a smart move. Currently, I've got hosting secured and a website designed. I just need to start filling in the blanks. But I'm not going to yet, and here is why.

Every moment I spend working to increase our web presence takes away from time I could be producing content for the book or enabling others to do their jobs. When I said completion of the main product was my priority, I wasn't kidding. If it doesn't fulfill word counts or keep others progressing, I'm not spending time on it yet. Now, when I get to a point where everything is drafted and I need to move into a supervisory role, the first thing I will do is get LifeLines up and unify the various communities under one roof. But until that time, spending time on the website will just delay every other worker on the assembly line, so it's not my highest priority.

 Fulfillment

I haven't finalized contracts yet, but I think I'll be using a print house for the hardcover that also offers fulfillment services. The four-point corner protection packaging we'll be using also has room for the dice without damaging the book...if I tube role every package of ten and mail them to the fulfillment service for packaging. Sigh...guess I know what I'll be doing for the next...forever.

In other news, a lot of people had trouble with their cards when payments went through or missed the campaign entirely. They've been messaging about how to get onboard the Red Markets train now the that KS has left the station, and I've been looking for solutions. 

The first thing I did was pay the premium fee for a BackerKit account. The upgraded account means that BackerKit won't take an additional cut of add-on fees, which is what shipping fees for the hardcover book will be registered as in their system. Hopefully, that keeps shipping costs down as much as possible.

Freeing ourselves from a percentage fee on every sale also means we can also offer the hardcover as an add-on. When it comes time print, additional hardcover books will be available to all backers, and those that missed the KS may also log-on and buy copies before copies hit stores. Additionally, those gettting softcover books through DTRPG can buy a hardcover as well, if they so wish. 

Now, it's too early to tell about additional add-ons like extra dice and the like. I'll keep everyone informed. For now, just know that I'm already doing everything I can to make shipping as painless as possible for physical backers, even though we are still far from a shipping date.

Rewards

The Preview APs and backer preview were released during the last update. I hope y'all enjoy!

Everyone that commissioned art in the book has already received instructions on how to get that information to me. I'll translate their work into contracts for the freelancers and send them out during the next round of art direction. I'm currently working on figuring out my school schedule so I can purchase tickets to go visit Mr. JOLS.

We finally got the game scheduled with the Moths at GenCon. I'll also be doing a panel on "Playing Red Markets" with Ross and Laura from 9-10am on Friday. If you're in the area, come join us for a Q and A with the three most experience Red Markets players...well, in the world (for the time being, at least). Ross and I will also be talking about game design for the live episode of "RPPR Game Designer's Workshop" from 11-12 on Thursday. Finally, none of this would be possible without RPPR; if you're at GenCon, you should come to the official meet-up from 7-9pm on Friday.

After I return from GenCon and have my school schedule figured out, I'll coordinate with the other RPPR GMs to schedule online games with backers.

Sara is working hard on dice tins, and since we'll be shipping those separately and already manufactured the dice, I hope to have them in backer hands in the next few months.

And every other reward involves the book being finished! So the audiobook and a few other things will have to wait until we get some space in the schedule.

Conclusion

We are far from finished, but I'm very happy with the progress we've made thus far and proud of the team's hard work. As I said earlier, I'll be out of town visiting relatives for about a week-and-a-half, so please don't take it personally if I'm less responsive online than usual. Once I get back, I'll be getting my work schedule squared away and preparing for GenCon. Then comes the long slog of balancing Red Markets with a day job. 

Expect another update like this at the end of August. And, as always, thank you for supporting Red Markets!

Thank You
over 8 years ago – Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 12:05:10 AM

$72,248. 1,448 backers. 601% funded.

As much as I've worked on this project and planned for this day, I'm sitting here watching the clock tick down to zero, and I'm at a loss. I never imagined things would go this well. Even as it became apparent I needed to scale things up, as I called and emailed and made a hundred arrangements to meet demand, it felt like I was working inside a dream. But here, at the keyboard, trying to write this update, the life-changing implications of these numbers feel very real and I can hardly type because I'm trembling so hard.

Those that have ever had the misfortune of editing my work know that I'm never one to want for words, but I really don't know how to express this feeling. I'll try to be concise then, just this once...

Thank you.

What Now?

Once Kickstarter and the credit cards take their cut, I'll be sending every backer at $10 and above a link to a password protected website. On the site, you will find...

• The Fallen Flag AP Campaign (13 Episodes and over 42 hours long)
• The Complete "Playing Red Markets" Chapter (93K words)
• The Complete "Running the Market" Chapter (65K words)
• A Truncated Setting Description 
• Character Sheet
• Negotiation Sheet (board game/cheat sheet component for price fixing)
• Crew Sheet (a character sheet for your company of Takers)

I have to be out of town for a wedding starting Friday. If the funds clear over the weekend, the earliest I'll be able to post the draft is next Monday. That said, I'm at the whim of the banks here, but the next update you see should be the preview.

After That?

I don't want to announce dates until I can assure dates, but I can share some broad principles. I've gone into the specifics of RPG project management before, but I'll restate the basic premise: I'll be doing my best to keep the largest number of people  working on the book in the shortest span of time.

That means I've already sent out 100K words for a full editing pass and contracted all art for that section. So the editor and artists are all working. Rather than twiddle my thumbs, I'll work on getting ready to send the next piece of work down the pipe. So, by the time the editor needs more work, I have more pages to begin the process. By the time the artist finishes one contract, I've got art direction notes ready for the edited section. As the finished art and final copy get turned into layout, everyone is working to get the next chapter ready.

My hope is to have the whole of the book sent down the pipe by the end of the year. Then, and only then, will I start feeding stretch goals and other rewards through the process. The main book remains our singular priority, but we'll keep working steady until the process is done. No freelancing jobs, no other projects, no expansions -- my every spare moment is Red Markets from now until the T-minus Never.

I'll be sharing updates and sample art here, on the various social media sites you've all been so kind to join, on the RPPR podcasts,  and on redmarketsrpg.com (once I find the time to launch it). The goal also to have LifeLines up and running before the end of summer, so all you Takers have a dedicated space to share your own work with the preview draft.

But don't expect DTRPG codes or BackerKit surveys until books are printed, packaged, and ready to go. I know people move and have their situations change. I want to be sure that the information is as accurate as possible. Once we hit that phase, softcover backers will have to select color or B+W, pay the cost of printing, and pay shipping. Hardcover backers will be charged for shipping via BackerKit.

For Now?

I've got some work still left to do to get the preview draft ready. After I send that out, I think I'm going to go camping for a few days. I could use some time away from hitting F5 and staring at a screen. The first setting chapter is getting drafted longhand...

After that? I'm all yours. I'm grateful and proud and excited, but there is no victory lap here. I've taken from you, and that's a mandate to give back. So I'm going to sign off and continue trying to make Red Markets a game deserving of your generosity. 

If any of you need anything, you have a dozen different ways to get in touch. I'll do my best to get back to you promptly.

Again, thank you so much.

Caleb Stokes

Hebanon Games

Only Hours Left!
over 8 years ago – Sun, Jun 19, 2016 at 11:19:41 PM

500%. Damn, this is a wild ride....

As of the moment I type this, there are only 67 hours left in the Red Markets Kickstarter. We just hit the 60K stretch goal, meaning I'll be writing a full manual on hacking the Profit System into other settings. I'll also be including a short setting hack of my own as an example of the principles in action 

BTW, what setting do you want to see as an example? I could do something a lot of people have requested (cyberpunk, for instance), but that could step on the toes of some designers looking to do it themselves. Alternately, I can do something more obscure (I can do obscure, y'all), but I want the example to be, you know, useful as an example. If you have suggestions, let me know in the comments. 

80/20 Is Our Mr. JOLS

Real talk: I don't know if we're going to make it. For those of you that like the inside baseball part of Kickstarter, allow me to explain. Most campaigns tend to follow a U-curve, or, more realistically, a reverse J-curve. You'll never make more than you did on the first day, then there is a period of 2-3 weeks where new backers and increased pledges drop to next to nothing, and finally you hit a last minute burst of funding as people try to get in under the wire.

We've been atypical in, well, a lot of ways. First off, our worst day during the whole campaign was still damn good. Our fourth and fifth highest funding days were also exactly in the middle of the campaign, which is really bizarre and inexplicable (in an awesome way). Check out the stats for yourself on Kicktraq.

The upswing in the reverse J should have started by yesterday. It might have, but we lost nearly $1000 in decreased and canceled pledges at the same time (did I mention an Enclavist reward opened up?). This is common for the end of a KS; people have money issues crop up over the month or get cold feed. But it's eating into the expected upward swing we need to hit 64K. With a little over two days remaining, maintaining or failing to meet averages isn't going to cut it if Kyle's fantastic enclave is going to get the treatment it deserves. 

If anyone can get us there, I know it's this fantastic community. I'm certainly hopeful; Kyle's idea is so good I'm angry at not thinking of it myself!

But whether the numbers fall short, met, or surpass the final stretch goal, I'm calling it after this one. I asked the Kickstarter community how much Red Markets they wanted to see, and the answer seems to be "everything you've ever even remotely thought to include and more." In short, I already have my work cut out for me. We'll be prioritizing the book deadline above all else, but after that, you can expect PDF rewards trickling out of Hebanon Games as far away as 2-3 years from now. Our little freelancer fingers can only write and draw so fast. We've plenty of work to do, and I want to it to be quality. With 19 stretch goals unlocked, I'm willing it to call the to-do list sufficiently long and get cracking.

TL;DR: Let's get "80/20" into the world, but don't expect a 68K goal after that. 

Where's Caleb?

I'm going to do my best to answer questions and comments in these final days, but I'm going to be slower than usual because I'm working on this...

That's the word target page for my Scrivener document. Once the Kickstarter funds clear (1-2 weeks after the KS ends), everyone at $10 and above can expect a preview document containing the "Playing Red Markets" and "Running the Market" chapter, along with a setting summary and all the character sheets, player aides, and materials required to play. On the same site, we'll post the entirety of the "Fallen Flag" APs all at once, each one reflecting the rules as written in this current draft.

Everything is finished as of right now (the words that fall short of targets have been completed in Word due to formatting issues because Scrivener is a pain for stat-blocks). But it isn't ready to go yet.

Now, don't get me wrong; I'm not promising clean copy in the preview draft (Laura is already working on that, but at 160,000 words and growing, give the lady some time), but there's still a lot of work to do before the text is useful. I've got to fix the crappy formatting options Scrivener provides by combing through the whole document, make some kind of temporary table of contents, and proofread out the most glaring of errors. That stuff takes time, and there isn't much left.

So if I'm a bit slower to answer questions in the future, please understand that it's crunch time over here to get the game ready to preview. I'd appreciate if those of you familiar with the campaign could help direct newcomers to information they may have missed. I'll still be around, but I'm moving from management into execution. No more obsessively pressing F5 for me.

As always, I'm forever grateful for everyone's support. Thank you for helping me make the game of my dreams. If you have questions, hit me up and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.