Version 1 PDF Release
26 days ago
– Sat, Sep 21, 2024 at 02:24:14 PM
Hi all!
You can now get the PDF for the Far Roofs through backerkit!
This is the final version modulo those one or two errors that always creep in at the last minute.
DTRPG: The book will go up on DTRPG sometime next month when I'm confident I've found and caught those one or two errors, or that they failed to exist.
Print on Demand: I'm getting a slight cover art tweak this coming week, after which I'll order a hopefully-final print proof; when it gets to me, if it's all good, I'll distribute PoD coupons. I don't have a huge amount of control over how long it takes to get a print proof; I'll spring for fast shipping, but I can't speed up the printing. Anyway, it's usually a couple of weeks.
The ePub: ePub creation has started. There were a couple of pages where I knew the text might change for layout reasons (e.g., "hm, this page needs an extra line"), so I wasn't able to get the final text to Rand Brittain (my ePub designer) until today.
Limited edition printing: I've been talking to the printer throughout this process and they know I'm planning to print in October/November. Once I've reviewed the PoD, I'll let them know I have the final version ready, and I'll keep you posted from there!
Jenna
Early September Update
about 1 month ago
– Tue, Sep 03, 2024 at 05:32:06 PM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Last Sketch is In!
2 months ago
– Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 03:09:03 PM
Small milestone: all the art is now at least sketched, with 10 pieces left at the sketch phase. I believe all the artists are planning to get me the finals this month.
I've updated the general Books of Names style to something more like:
though this is pending final adjustments from layout.
Best wishes,
Jenna
End of July Update
3 months ago
– Wed, Jul 31, 2024 at 04:23:45 PM
Hi all!
Here's roughly where things stand, book-wise.
Lately I've been working on the Books of Names, trying to make them less like game text and more like stand-ins for the IC artifacts that are the rats' Books of Names; something like
(new icons by Jenn Manley Lee)
I think that there's room to criticize this shift, to be clear, because of how it compromises the word-level legibility.
... but I also think it's extremely important for comprehending and interpreting these bits that they parse to the reader as rat-written text, not game explanation; and so it goes.
As mentioned last month, I've also added a few pages here and there, e.g.,
and I've changed a few small things here and there, but ultimately, the backer draft is still like 95% accurate to the final text.
In terms of art, it's all assigned at this point, with an expectation of finishing up in August. There are two small pieces where I think the artist vanished on me, and ... three? artists who are all working on stuff that will finish soon who are suitable to take them on.
My working draft has, um ... 10 sketches waiting for finals, 8 assigned-but-not-yet-sketched pieces, and two places without planned art but which could still probably use a tiny piece (one of which I offered to an artist yesterday but have yet to confirm acceptance for).
I'm really looking forward to sharing the final with you!
Best wishes,
Jenna
End of June Status Update
4 months ago
– Sun, Jun 30, 2024 at 07:42:41 PM
Hi all!
This month I decided that the "Rats you Might Meet" section wasn't quite enough as it stood, and so I spent most of the month building example rats and a small appendix with quick NPC traits. It was notionally a few days of work but I had to refresh myself on everything, make sure I wasn't screwing anything up, and integrate it into the layout, so that took a bit.
I've gone over an early print proof looking for typos and places that needed clarification and other things I wanted to fix; I'll probably have to get a new print proof with the current changes and start over, though, since there are three or four places (including the new content above) that I really need to look at the changes in print form. I'm pretty sure that the example rats and appendix will be the last and only major text content change, though; the rest seems solid and complete.
Otherwise, things are moving along. Most of the art is finalized. A modest number are still in progress. There are also currently ten pieces that I haven't assigned to anyone yet, two finished pieces I might replace, and five that I worry I'll have to reassign for one reason or another.
(Those ten pieces, if you're curious:
- a really tiny piece, like 1" tall, for the Near Roofs section. It's been tricky because it feels weird approaching an unknown or someone I haven't worked with in a while and saying "hey ... can you do an inch of art for me?" but most of the artists I'm working with actively right now are super-busy, either on more important pieces or on non-Far-Roofs stuff. I expect I'll fail to assign it to anyone and wind up asking Jenn Manley Lee to do it after her current pieces are done.
- a small piece for the Rogue's quests, which is in basically the same state.
- a small piece of a roof in the rain, same.
- a scarab; one artist I want to give it to is taking a while with an early set of pieces, and the other artist I might want to give it to just started on the project (with a different piece) this week.
- a piece for the third page of Rats You Might Meet, which I have to concept all over again because the page space changed. Fortunately I didn't have the old one done yet!
- a small piece to close out Malambruno; I feel like the concept I have for it isn't quite there yet, and so I've been waffling on assigning it.
- a small piece that needs to wait until after one of the current large pieces is finished because they're both showing Unicorn.
- the piece for "Design your own Mysteries," because the artist who I'd offered it to declined and I haven't figured out what to do there yet.
- a new piece for Appendix A, not yet concepted.
- a title page graphic, which is being delayed because I like the one I made in Photoshop but I can't actually use it.)
The book's currently looking to be 258 pages or so long---the extra length being 2 pages of rats, 5 pages of quick NPC stats, a couple pages of credits (including dedicated friend/friend of the rats credits), and a bunch of bonus art. I am trying to resist my innate desire to wrestle it down to 256 "because it's a power of two" but we'll see where we land! So far it appears that I can get away with this without bumping print-on-demand shipping cost, which makes me feel a little silly about how hard I worked to get the number of pages down in the original layout.
For the limited edition, I'm currently planning on solid-color endpaper, a dustjacket, ribbon, maybe some sort of treatment (UV?) on some of the cover's golds, but I first have to get the opinion and quote from my printer and then see what the artist thinks, 80# paper, and a good binding? I kind of wanted marbled endpaper but I don't think it's going to be an option.
And that's where we stand going into July!
Best wishes,
Jenna
