January Update
about 2 years ago – Tue, Jan 31, 2023 at 10:35:20 AM

Hail adventurers, I hope the new year is treating you well!

While I was a little taken off guard by the WotC OGL controversy, I've made a lot of progress on the project this month, and the end is in sight. I expect I'll be able to fulfil by the end of March or earlier (but no promises yet!).

With the number of tasks remaining quickly dwindling, I'll share both January progress and remaining activities in this update. 

One of the key takeaway messages is that I'll send out surveys some time during February. I'll send an update when I do, so stay tuned!

January progress

I've now finished duplicating the over 500 files for class inserts and interior files (both recommended and optional). Phew! The next time I work on expanding this project, or when I make a similar Journal for another system (Pathfinder 2E, I'm looking at you), I'll explore how I can automate some or all of the stages to cut the effort needed for this drastically. Less time duplicating will mean more time creating!

I've picked up working on covers again, and have now prepared all of the files (including files with custom A-Z covers) for 6 of the 12 classes.

Check some of the ones you haven't seen out below. 

Remaining activities

The main work left is summarized below:

• Covers - There are 6 class covers left to design/finalize, including custom A-Z letter styling and generating all of the printable files. There are also 9 Warlock subclass alternate covers to design and finalize, including generating printable files for them too. 
• Preparation and assembly videos - I want to put together videos showing how to prepare and assemble a Character Journal. These won't be needed by everyone, and the Journal includes guide documents you can follow, but I'm all about making things as easy as possible, so this is important to me. If you want to be one of the first to see the videos, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel.  
• Explore and document binding options - I want to test out some of the alternate binding options (e.g. spiral binding) myself so I can better provide instructions for using them. 
• Finishing touches - This includes finishing a few guide and overview documents, including the main Creating your Journal guide, organizing files in one place etc. 
• Surveys and fulfilment - I'll send out a survey some time during February so you can confirm your pledge (and upgrade it if you want to), and which classes you want files for (if you don't get all 12). I'll explore Backerkit's digital fulfilment mechanism, and hope I can use this for fulfilment. I'll keep you up to date with everything. 

Closing

We're almost there, and I should be ready to fulfil by the end of March or so! 

Thank you so much for supporting me, and congratulations if you made it to the end of this update! If you have any feedback or questions on anything related to the project, please get in touch, either here or on my Discord server.

I'll be posting a project finances update within the next few days. Until then, or until next time, happy adventuring!

Dan

December finances
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jan 01, 2023 at 07:00:21 PM

Hail adventurers!

Another month of development has passed (Update 24). The project's finances are shown below. 

I have now closed the window on expanding the project to reach stretch goals late, so the first version of the Journal will only have class icon variants for the Warlock class.  I hope to add other variants later, however. This may come through another Kickstarter project.

As always, thanks so much for your support and happy adventuring,

Dan

December Update
about 2 years ago – Sat, Dec 31, 2022 at 10:03:20 PM

Hail adventurers, and happy holidays!

I hope you all had an awesome holiday period. I've had extra time to dedicate to the project over the holidays, which has been great for my productivity, and I'm happy to say that I estimate I'll be able to fulfil a couple of months or so earlier than I expected. 

Updates from this month include:

• Class inserts and interior pages are now finalized (and some new pages to show) 
• Guides and Overviews are mostly complete
• Duplication has begun!

Class inserts and interior pages

I've now finalized all of the class inserts and interior pages, which means I can start duplicating and preparing all of the files (see Duplication).

In the process, I've added some new optional page types that you haven't seen for the Wizard (Spellbook pages) and Druid (Wild Shape form pages). 

There are two types of interior pages, recommended ones I expect to be in most Journals, and optional ones that you can add if you want. You can see most of the recommended interior pages in recent example Journal videos, e.g. Fíadh the Fighter's.  

Optional pages include (but are not limited to):

• Familiar and Companion pages
• Magic item pages
• Cheat sheet pages describing what to do on a long/short rest and level up
• Spell reference pages 
• Focused note-type pages (e.g. Connections, Encounter Log, Locations, NPCs, Quest Log) 
• Custom pages (with 1 or 2 text boxes per page and PDFs field to add your own title(s))

Guides and Overviews

I've now prepared most of the guide and overview documents for the Journal (26 out of, I expect, 29). Some people using the Journal may not need to use some of these documents, but it's important that they are there for those they can help. 

Guides help you choose pages, fill PDF fields, and give some tips on using particular pages, while overviews present the range of options available (e.g. the cover schemes available, and class and subclass graphics available for the Warlock class).  

As I mentioned in last month's update, I'll also be preparing videos to demonstrate the assembly process and how to use a Journal. Want to make sure you catch them? Make sure you're subscribed to my YouTube channel.

Duplication

To support different printers with different alignments for double-sided printing, the Journal must come with various versions of the same document with different alignment offsets. For class insert and interior files, I'll be preparing 11 versions of each file in the range -2 to +2 mm offset between front and back pages. Each file comes in A4 and Letter sizes, and most files have PDF fields that must be copied in and aligned in the right place. The result is a lot of files and a huge amount of duplication work that I've made a lot of progress on throughout the holidays.  

I put some work into organization and now have a content tracking spreadsheet (one day I hope to make a database), so I can give you some numbers:

• 176 interior pages files (all fully prepared)
• 462 class insert pages files (by 3rd January, I will have made every file, and I'll hopefully duplicate all of the PDF fields during January)

Closing

The holiday period has been great for my productivity, and I expect I'll be ready to fulfil the project a couple of months or so early! Most of the work left now is on covers and working through all of the duplication. 

Thank you so much for supporting me, and congratulations if you made it to the end of this update! If you have any feedback or questions on anything related to the project, please get in touch, either here or on my Discord server.

I'll be posting a project finances update within the next few days. Until then, or until next time, happy adventuring and happy new year!

Dan

Customization and multiclassing
about 2 years ago – Sun, Dec 11, 2022 at 05:56:56 PM

Hail adventurers, 

A quick one this time. I've prepared a new journal example for Julian Floros, an Yrus of Lugon.

This was a collaboration with Mark Evegaars from the Lugon project. Mark has been creating and running games in a custom setting that has custom races and a range of different systems including magic, healing, and alchemy systems. He's aiming to bring the Lugon setting to RPG enthusiasts everywhere through a Kickstarter project that runs until the end of December, check it out!

Julian's Journal highlights some strengths of the Journal and it's print-at-home nature nicely: 

• You can customize a Journal to best fit your character. While Julian is a Warlock and Bard, his Journal uses the Ranger scheme with custom A-Z letters. This fits his personality and background (he's an Ecologist) more than Warlock or Bard covers would. 
• Multiclassing is supported. Julian has levels in both Warlock and Bard, and his Journal remains detailed, including specific features and trackers for both of his classes. In this instance, I just added the first 2 Bard insert pages, as Julian doesn't have any abilities past those pages, but it would be easy to include the full set of pages, plus more pages for a third class etc! 
• The Journal can support homebrew content. Julian's Journal includes Warlock pages with a custom icon for his Patron Zahanna, and also includes some additional pages I made especially for the Lugon setting to cover it's alchemy and poultice systems. I'm really excited for the opportunity to collaborate with other awesome creators and provide Journal supplements to support new settings, systems, subclasses etc!

Julian's character art was by Garmonbozia_art, who is on Instagram and Twitter.

As always, thank you so much for supporting me! If you have any feedback or questions on anything related to the project, please get in touch, either here or on my Discord server.

Until next time, happy adventuring!

Dan

November finances
about 2 years ago – Thu, Dec 01, 2022 at 07:51:08 PM

Hail adventurers!

Another month of development has passed (Update 21). How are the project's finances looking for the month of November?

As a reminder, extra pending funding from pre-orders will be counted towards the project reaching its Kickstarter stretch goals until end December 2022. If you want to share the project with your friends and fellow adventurers, you can share the project's Kickstarter page, the Fíadh The Fighter example video,  Brunhilde The Barbarian example video or original Journal tour video, and the pre-order page.

That's it for November!

As always, thanks so much for your support and happy adventuring,

Dan