September Update
over 2 years ago – Wed, Sep 28, 2022 at 10:50:24 AM

Another month has passed, and I've made lots of progress! 

Here's what I've been up to during the month: 

• Class inserts
• Warlock subclass icons
• More playtesting
• Covers

Let's look at each in turn.

Class inserts

I finished my first draft of all 12 class inserts, ran a second pass to improve consistency and double-check things, and posted all 12 inserts for review from the playtest group. Here are a couple of insert pages for the Barbarian (this page is one of my favorites due to the infographic!) and Ranger. 

You can find a sample of pages for class inserts for all classes on my pre-order store.  

Warlock subclass icons

I've designed subclass icons for each of the official Warlock subclasses (Otherworldly Patrons). I really love the number of options available when making a character. The Warlock has 9 official subclasses: Archfey, Celestial, Fathomless, Fiend, Genie, Great Old One, Hexblade, Undead, and Undying. Here are the draft icons, which I've posted for review by playtesters.

I had October as the finish date for developing these, so I'm a month ahead on this one! 

A quick note on the Fiend icon - I'll be making a generic Warlock icon, but I've yet to do so. We've found through testing on a variety of printers that printing images that use a lot of black doesn't work well on some printers, so I'll be changing the generic Warlock cover from the black used in the promotional material. 

More playtesting

Playtesting is crucially important for making the Journal as good as it can be!

I've been playing in an online game "The Tower" which one of the Journal's playtesters is running. More players are welcome, check out my Discord server if you're interested! I have two characters, a Paladin and a Sorcerer, and the DM also has a Warlock in the game. We're both using Journals for our characters as well as using the excellent facilities provided by D&D Beyond. The games involve rapid character advancement, making it an excellent way to playtest the Journals at a range of character and class levels.  

I've also printed some Journals for players in campaigns I'm running. Initial feedback has been great and highlighted some additional usability improvements I can add! More from this next month. 

Covers

I had some days left after I finished everything else for the month, so I made a start on cover files, which is actually scheduled for November-December. Covers are an important and potentially time-consuming part of the project, and it has been great to make an early start. 

I've been wondering how I can make covers in interesting styles that generally differ between different classes (not just in terms of color). I've made a good start with this with Fighter and Paladin covers, where I've gone for a plate/chain theme.

Closing

I remain way ahead of my schedule. I've drafted Warlock subclass icons a month early, and even made a start on work on covers, which is scheduled to begin in November!

Thank you so much for supporting me, and congratulations if you made it to the end of this long 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

Introducing Backerkit: surveys, pre-orders available, stretch goals
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 01, 2022 at 01:15:42 PM

After exploring various options, I'll be using the Backerkit platform to run Kickstarter surveys, manage pledges, hopefully manage digital deliveries for fulfillment, and host a pre-order store for the Journal. 

What does this mean to you?  

Surveys

Before I can fulfill your pledge, I'll need to know how to fulfill it. This is done through surveys, which include simple questions that you'll be sent at some point during the campaign. Surveys are often used to capture shipping addresses. As no physical shipping is required for this project, the only thing I really need to know to fulfill your pledges is which class choices you want to select if you pledged any of the select X class(es) Print At Home Journal tiers. 

Regardless of your pledge, all backers will receive a survey confirming what you backed and what you will receive in fulfilment, and giving you the opportunity to switch to a higher pledge level and/or add additional separate sets of class files to your order if you want. Adding additional sets of class files through your survey will be a cheaper way of expanding the Journal files you have access to, as retail prices for the Journal will be slightly higher than both Kickstarter and Pre-order prices (see Pre-order store).

I'll be leaving surveys until as late as possible in the Journal's development period as possible. Why? Because the classes you want files for may change depending on which DnD 5E campaigns you're playing in or have planned at the time you make your choices. I want to leave surveys as late as possible so the files you select are the most appropriate to you! 

Pre-order store

Eagle-eyed backers may have noticed the PRE-ORDER link at the top of the project's Kickstarter page. This links to a pre-order store, where anyone (Kickstarter backer or not), can pre-order the Journal before the campaign finishes and it is made available for immediate purchase. For Kickstarter backers, this is an alternate way of expanding the set of Journal files you'll have available to you (but don't forget that you will be able to raise your pledge level during the Survey).

Pre-orders will be fulfilled at the same time as Kickstarter rewards are fulfilled, and Journal files will be made available for immediate purchase some time after fulfillment of both.   

Pre-orders work slightly differently than Kickstarter pledge levels. Rather than being listed as choices (e.g. choose any X classes), items are listed individually, or bundled into complete sets, for example:

• Internal files and guides
• Files and guides for a specific class (with or without custom covers)
• Bundles of internal files and guides for all 12 classes (at a big discount compared to buying everything individually)

This eliminates the need to purchase (and pay for) anything you already have access to. The minimum viable Journal requires access to Internal files and guides and Files and guides for a specific class. Individual sets of files are priced slightly higher than Kickstarter prices, and slightly lower than they'll be when the files are made available for immediate purchase. Bundles are priced the same as the "all classes" Kickstarter tiers.

What does this mean for Kickstarter backers? During your survey, you'll get the opportunity to add files and guides for a specific class to your order, so if you chose any 3 classes, but you'd really like to add a 4th class, for example, you can do so, and this will be fulfilled during fulfillment and be at a discount compared to waiting for the files to hit retail. 

Stretch goals

Customizability of the Journal is a key selling point and design principle, and I want to support it as much as possible. For this reason, I'm going to count extra pending* funding from pre-orders towards reaching the project's Kickstarter stretch goals (adding alternate class icons and covers for all official subclasses of various character class, the next up being the Cleric).

*Pre-orders won't be charged until after Kickstarter surveys are sent (so late in the Journal's development, see Surveys), but I'll count 100% of the additional pending funding towards meeting stretch goals nonetheless.  

So, if you want the project to have the best chance of reaching more stretch goals, you can do so by spreading the news about the Journal and a link to the pre-order store!

I'll need to put a cut-off time as to when I stop counting additional funding towards reaching stretch goals so that I can give myself the best chance of fulfilling the project by the expected fulfilment date. I've set this limit as the end of December. 

Closing

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know, I'm happy to help!

As always, thank you so much for your support, and happy adventuring,

Dan

August Finances
over 2 years ago – Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 09:11:20 AM

One month in, a healthy balance deposited in the project's bank account, and some expenses paid out. How are the project's finances looking for the month of August?

I'll likely backdate more previous expenses to the project in later months, but that's it for now!

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

Dan 

August Update - an excellent start!
over 2 years ago – Mon, Aug 29, 2022 at 10:49:57 AM

Today marks 3 weeks since the close of the Kickstarter funding period and we're getting towards the end of the month, so it's a great time for an update! 

I've made an excellent start on the project. The main things I wanted to achieve during August (per my project plan in Update 6) were:

• Assembling the playtest and review group
• Drafting class icons for all 12 classes (August), and opening them up for review by the Playtest and Review group (August/September)
• Drafting class inserts for all 12 classes (August/September)
• Opening up internal pages for review by the Playtest and Review group (both August/September)

Let's look at each in turn.

Playtest and Review group

Most backers that included the Join the Playtest and Review Group add-on in their pledge are now in the group, which is on Discord. A few playtesters have printed the version of the Warlock Journal that was included as a reward, and this gone really well! Playtesters have provided feedback on the Journal printing and assembly process, and I've added a host of todos for myself to the playtest group Discord for various parts of the project, which I'll work on when I move onto those specific areas. 

The group is incredibly valuable, and I'm very thankful for everyone involved!

In other playtesting news, I printed a Journal for a game I have been playing in for a Mushroom-loving Druid subclass/Green Dragon Sorcerer - making this the first Journal for a multiclass character. I decided that I needed to make some matching spell cards for my character, so that may one day become a product (as you can see, I'm a much better digital artist than a physical one). 

I've also printed a coverless but otherwise complete playtest Journal for my wife's character (a peace-loving Cleric subclass) in a game through which I'm teaching her to play, and incomplete Journals for players in a campaign I started running yesterday (College of Valor Bard, Way of Shadows Monk, Scholarly Wizard subclass, and Homebrew Warlock subclass).

Draft class icons 

I drafted class icons for each of the 12 classes. Meet the classes!

There are a few minor things that I may want to update before finalizing these (I may change the color on the Bard and Wizard icons, for example), but I'm generally really happy with them! 

A couple of things I've considered for class icons:

• The Warlock icon above is not very generic – it's a great fit for The Fiend subclass, but not for others. Fortunately, though, this doesn't matter as I'll be developing a whole host of alternate icons (starting next month per my project plan) for different Warlock subclasses as the project's first stretch goal was reached!
• The Cleric and Monk icons include flesh tones, which made me consider diversity – DnD characters can have many different flesh tones – as well as the range of flesh tones typical of real-world humans, this can include some additional colors (e.g. red and gray). I'd like to provide alternate versions of class inserts to cover this diversity. I can't promise that this will be in the versions of the Journal that launch on day one, but I hope to at least include versions for a range of human flesh tones.  

I've provided these icons to the Playtest and Review group, along with a feedback form with a list of questions (including on diversity).

Draft class inserts 

This has been where most of my time on the project has been this month, and I've made great progress. When the campaign funding period ended on August 8th, I had one draft available (for the Warlock). Now, I have 9 drafts (for all classes except the Barbarian, Ranger and Rogue), I've started work on 2 of the remaining 3, and I've made some major improvements along the way! 

Tracking and resetting abilities

One of my main goals with the Journal is making it easier to track your character's abilities. Very quickly into working on my second class insert, I was inspired to add a couple of features that really help with this – level requirement reminders on abilities (including spell slots), and reset graphics to show when each ability resets (e.g. on a long rest or either long or short rest).  

In my own playtesting, I've replicated this in other pages of my character's Journal too. My character has 1/long rest uses of the Shield and Magic Missile spells, and I've added these to the Defensive Abilities and Offensive Abilities sections of their Journal respectively, along with a little uses circle and reset on long rest graphic drawn in pencil for each spell!  

Who needs a source book anyway?

I've done my best to present as much information as possible within the class inserts in a way that makes it so most players won't need to refer to the Player's Handbook except when they level up (and potentially not even then!). The most striking example of this so far is probably for the monk, below:

I hope that the visual aids (e.g. staff - monk weapon, fist - unarmed strike) will make it easier to understand the Monk's abilities, and putting all of the Ki abilities together in the same section should really help players understand the options available to their Monk characters. 

But what if you do need to look at the source book? I've included references to relevant pages in the Player's Handbook on the first tracking (not intro) page of each class's insert, and beside abilities that are particularly complex (the Cleric's Divine Intervention, anyone?)  

Companions

Some characters have familiars or beast companions that follow them on their journeys. What would your character be without their stalwart companion? I've drafted Journal pages to track familiar appearance, habits and statistics for a familiar, and I'll do the same for beast companions. 

I'll include these as optional pages in the Journal. Location-wise, they probably fit best within the class-specific section of the Journal (perhaps with their own tab, but that could slow the project down, so I may leave that for later). Delivery-wise, it may make more sense to bundle them with interior files as every class technically has ways to get access to a familiar if they take certain (optional) feats. 

Internal page review

I put together a list of questions on the internal pages of the Journal, covering questions on responses to some design choices I made etc. This process highlighted a few potential improvements to internal pages to me, which I've added to my todo list, and I'll take any feedback that comes back to me! 

Closing 

Overall, I've achieved 100% of what I wanted to achieve during August, and made a good dent in what I wanted to achieve across August and September. I hope that I roll high on my initiative for the month of September and that the project remains well ahead of schedule!

Thank you so much for supporting me, and congratulations if you made it to the end of this long 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

Kickstarter funding period is now closed
over 2 years ago – Tue, Aug 09, 2022 at 12:49:50 AM

The Kickstarter funding period for this project is now closed. The project reached a little over 200% of its funding goal and unlocked the first of its stretch goals. I'm really pleased with that for my first project on Kickstarter!

If you didn't get the chance to fund the project, but you'd like to, you still can! As a small business owner, I don't yet have the web infrastructure to host transactions. If you want to pledge to the project, either email me at [email protected] or send me a message on my Discord server and I'll let you know how to pledge.

I'll add all future funding towards the project finances, for which I'll make a report at the end of each month, and put all funding until the end of November 2022 towards meeting stretch goals. For any stretch goals that would be hit due to extra funding after this date, I'll need to consider the potential effect on project timescale when deciding whether to implement the stretch goals or not as much of the work should already have been done by that time. 

Thanks so much for all of your support and happy adventuring. I can't wait to get started! (well technically, I already have...)

Dan