Eddy was unable to meet this Monday as his best little buddy, Puck the Pug, passed away suddenly over the weekend. A moment of respect for the little guy, and an understanding of just how integral a pet can be for a creative person. Particularly in the tabletop RPG biz. Look at that face- he’s not going to judge you, opine on Twitter that the book you sweated over for a year creating is crap, or serial post about how every company out there does things more professionally than you. He won’t even care about Oxford commas. Unconditional love, or at least uncritical attention, is what your little friend gives regardless of your professional ups and downs- and that is pretty awesome and a balm that strengthens the creative impulse and our lives in general. “He made people feel better”- that’s a pretty fine epitaph for anyone, and I know for a fact that Puck was a master at making folks forget their woes with an onslaught of doggy silliness.

However, despite his loss, Eddy was able to give me the total thumbs up from CCP for our 2015 WW Schedule, so our merry gang of pranksters here are already locking that into a master schedule with due dates and assigned developers and all that good stuff. How much of those initial expectations will be still in place by the time we announce the Schedule during Gen Con in August is always a fascinating study in the shifts that occur along the life of a project.

This last week or so, I’ve been interviewing and getting quotes from shipping fulfillment companies in an effort to find a better shipping fit for the sorts of projects we’ve been Kickstartering. We have some ability now, that I certainly didn’t have when we started using KS, to really look at not only shipping numbers but costs, timing, communication, tracking numbers, etc. based on each individual project. A 120 page Deluxe book can be shipped differently than one of our mammoth 20th Anniversary Deluxes (or Exalted 3rd for that matter), and we’ve had excellent feedback on the previous four KS ship-outs from backers that gives us a much more complete view of what folks need from this part of a project. As I pointed out to the W20 and HH2 backers in Updates, shipping is not where my skill set lies, but a desire to get backers their rewards with the best results is driving me to delve much deeper into this area than I’d ever expected to go. What makes sense to me as a creator, or you as a fan, probably doesn’t mean the same thing to a shipper who has to look at the logistics and consider shipping rates that are to some extent out of his hands. This is a big issue for KS creators, and a lot of them have discovered that the costs of shipping, particularly international, have made what seemed to be a successful KS into a costly one. Which pretty much defeats the purpose of raising the funds to make the project if those”making” funds are needed for shipping instead. So we are learning some stuff, which pretty much is what I’ve always said would happen with KS. It’s the same as what we went through back in the day with WW, but now with the level of transparency we want to show everyone, backers and you folks get to see all the mis-steps and stumbles as we get these projects out the door.

Almost forgot, but Black Hatted Matt McFarland will be posting news about a writing all-call later this week. If you’ve ever wanted to try your hand at writing for the White Wolf game lines, whether you are seasoned or a newcomer, this is your chance. Details will come from Matt’s post.

And now, Updates on how we’re proceeding to get these projects to the door:

– Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle (VtR) Both the PoD and the PDF are available on sale on DTRPG! B&S Screen PDF is in for approval and the B&S Condition Cards are on sale at DTRPG, too.

– Mummy the Curse – Cursed Necropolis DC is in editing.

– Exalted 3rd Edition:  While John hunkers down to rewrite the Charms chapter he is also changing some of the ways he’s been doing these to enable more to get finished, the rest of the team is working on a couple of EX3 chapters that continue to be finalized for Editing. On the Charms: Linguistics is down, Investigation is the next set on the list. Before we hit Investigation later in the week, though, we’re doing some necessary revisions to Athletics– we had to change the way a few movement actions worked based on playtesting, necessitating that the Charms based on them be re-done, and judged it best to get the Athletics work done right away so the playtesters would have more time with it. We’re also preparing to send all the social Charms out to the playtesters.

Also this week, the “example of character creation” stuff for Chapter Three is going to be sent to editing, since there is finally enough of a body of completed Charms to do that section.

Zub’s EX3 Comic and both  EX3 novels are being worked on. Exploration of a theme continues for the EX3 Music Suites– so far we’ve heard sketches for Dragon Blooded, Exigent, and Infernal. Heard another pass at the DB, but with more of an Asian set of instruments.

– V20 Hunters Hunted 2:  Shipping services still continue to deliver these, although I have messages into both the US and European shippers trying to find out if we have gotten back  shipments yet. Of Predators and Prey: The HH2 Fiction Anthology PDF/electronic is on sale at DTRPG:  http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/124845/Of-Predators-and-Prey-The-Hunters-Hunted-II-Anthology PoD version waiting for approval.

– V20 Anarchs Unbound Kickstarter is live and funded! C’mon by and check it out- we’ve got the full text available, a vid of Justin going over the layout proof so you can see what it’s going to look like inside, and each week Justin answers backer questions on just about any topic. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/deluxe-anarchs-unbound

– Deluxe Werewolf 20th Anniversary Edition: As with HH2, shipping services still continue to deliver these, although I have messages into both the US and European shippers trying to find out if we have gotten back  shipments yet. The Heavy Metal Deluxe W20 is slowly being assembled after several bad starts with the ink density on the metal covers- bad density= flaking, scratching, peeling. Mike Lee has a new batch of chapters of the W20 “Houses of the Moon” novel for Bill to review. W20 Anthology PDF and PoD versions are on sale at DTRPG now. Jess Hartley has submitted the White Howlers Tribe Book is in red-lining, and the W20 Cookbook PDF and PoD versions are also on sale at DTRPG. W20 Wyld West patch writing is in editing and is being art directed.

– Deluxe Mage the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition has Phil on the very last sections of the book. Reviewing full pages in b&w first from Mike Kaluta. Five pieces of the Traditions two-page spread art have been approved by CCP. Starting to put together the KS page, Phil is going to be doing the voiceover for the KS video this week.

– W20 Changing Breeds  PDF and PoD versions are on sale at DTRPG! Deluxe files are with the printer- expecting proofs this week and will show them off to backers. The Changing Breeds Fiction Anthology is in progress with second drafts.

– W20 Rage Across the World: The PDF and PoD versions are now on sale at DTRPG.

– W20 Book of the Wyrm is in layout. A couple of additional art pieces still coming in including a Ron Spencer full page piece!

– V20 Rites of the Blood: is ready for layout, but layout is not yet ready for it, art finals rolling in.

– Under the Darkening Sky (classic Dark Ages): PDF is available on DTRPG. This was one of those books that was in progress right as the Dark Ages line ended, so show your support for that bygone and beloved setting and let us know you want more! Headed to PoD creation and updated PDF.

– Trinity Continuum: New System ideas continue being hammered out. Most of the Aeon setting material is in. Logo discussion has started.

– Scion: New Systems discussion continue. Both Scion and the TC above are now moving into active mode for 2014. Contracts and art notes out for the Scion: Origins cover.

– Demon: The Descent: We delivered the Demon PDF to KS backers before the end of December, and the backer PDF has been updated and we’re creating the PoD and traditional printing files. The Demon: Ready Made Characters set is in editing and the artist is working.

– Hunter: Mortal Remains: Art coming in and is in layout.

– Book of the Deceived (MtC): Second drafts being worked on.

– nWoD: Dark Eras: Writers are writing.

– V20 Dark Ages: Scribes are scribing. Some on 2nd Drafts. Check out the discussion on the WW Forums and these very blogs.

– DtD Players Guide: Flowers Of Hell?: In editing.

– V20: Ghouls: Writing continues.

– V20 Red List: In final draft stage.

– The Making of the Art of Children of the Revolution: Out to backers who pledged for it. Creating PoD files to go with PDF for sale on DTRPG.

Reason to Drink: Snoooooooooooow.