Latest from the Creator
PROJECT UPDATE
Grinning Rat Publications (Nate)
CREATOR
1 day ago
Project Update: Update 20: Brief Extension to PDF Fulfillment
Dungeoneers,
Hello! Due to a very busy past couple of weeks and some InDesign issues on my part, the Starlit Spire PDF will experience a brief delay and will instead be sent to backers on September 13 -- one week from today. That will give me enough time to make sure everything looks good from an editing standpoint, as well as tie up a few loose threads.
So, again, here's the timetable:
- The Starlit Spire PDF will be sent to backers on September
613. - Printing and arrival of Starlit Spire physical zines (to fulfillment) will be around October 18.
- Shipping and delivery of physical goods to backers will be no later than December 20.
Thanks for all the support and patience as we get this across the finish line. Here are a few spreads for you to take a look at to tide you over the next week.
- Nate
PROJECT UPDATE
Grinning Rat Publications (Nate)
CREATOR
17 days ago
Project Update: Update 19: Monthly Progress Report
Dungeoneers,
Hello! Another quick update for you, but excitedly this one has concrete dates:
- The Starlit Spire PDF will be sent to backers on September 6.
- Printing and arrival of Starlit Spire physical zines (to fulfillment) will be around October 18.
- Shipping and delivery of physical goods to backers will be no later than December 20.
Thanks for all the support and patience as we get this across the finish line. The next update you'll receive will be when the PDFs are available for you to download via the pledge manager.
Talk soon (and play some games!),
- Nate
PROJECT UPDATE
Grinning Rat Publications (Nate)
CREATOR
about 2 months ago
Project Update: Update 18: Biweekly Progress Report
Dungeoneers,
This is a very quick update as I don't have a ton to report beyond work on Starlit Spire continues! I've recently written an article over on my Substack talking about the rewrites, so if you're interested please go check it out.
Otherwise, as I said, work continues on the Starlit Spire. I'm still 100% on track for delivery of the PDF in September and physical fulfillment between October-December 2024. That seems like a ways away, but this year is going BLINDINGLY fast so it'll be here before we know it.
Thanks for your patience while I get this all wrapped up and get you your books. I genuinely appreciate your support!
Talk soon,
- Nate
PROJECT UPDATE
Grinning Rat Publications (Nate)
CREATOR
3 months ago
Project Update: Update 17: Biweekly Progress Report
Dungeoneers,
We accidentally missed a week due to family vacation brain, so we're back in the saddle this week with another campaign update! There's not a ton of newness, but there are a few things worth mentioning, so let's get into it!
Pledge Manager & Survey: 100% Complete
- A small handful (less than 7) of people still need to fill out the survey. I've sent reminders to do so this morning, so please check your email if you haven't gotten your files!
- The cutoff for filling out the survey will be Monday, July 1 - exactly four weeks from today. If you don't complete the survey by then, you'll unlikely be in the initial shipping wave. This may increase your shipping costs, so please try to complete the survey before then or contact me if you haven't already filled it out!
Dungeoneering: Catalysts Book Progress: 100% Complete
- The book is finished! The PDF has been uploaded to BackerKit and is included in your digital downloads if your tier allows for it. Your survey has also been filled out.
- The books are here! And they look great!
The Great Spellcheck Survey: 100% Complete
- The Great Spellcheck Survey for Dungeoneering: Catalysts is closed! Thankfully, no errors were reported!
The Starlit Spire: 10% Complete (read below)
From the last update, I returned to the drawing board after some helpful playtesting, which made me realize my adventure was kind of s***. From that update, here's the new timeline for the adventure:
- Starlit Spire PDF: September 2024
- Starlit Spire Print Production: October 2024
- Physical Fulfillment: October 2024-December 2024
That said, I've been playing around with some ideas, and so far, some stuff has stuck in a big way. Mostly, these things are a little too chaotic and in flux for me to share entirely, but I'm really happy with where its ended up. In the coming weeks I'll share more, including some screengrabs and the complete table of contents once that's patched in.
Thanks again for your patience with this! I know it can be frustrating waiting for the product you backed, but I'm confident this rewrite will result in a better adventure that's more fun at your table (and worth your money)!
Physical Fulfillment: 50% Complete (+10% from last update)
- Dungeoneering: Catalysts books are here (see pictures in the Catalysts section of the update)!
That's it for me. I'm looking forward to the next update towards the middle of July.
- Nate
PROJECT UPDATE
Grinning Rat Publications (Nate)
CREATOR
3 months ago
Project Update: Update 16: Biweekly Progress Update
Dungeoneers,
Since our last update, quite a number of big changes have happened! Some very exciting, some very annoying, all necessary. So, let's get into it!
Pledge Manager & Survey: 100% Complete
- There's a small handful (less than 10) people who still need to fill out the survey. I've sent reminders to do so this morning, so please check your email if you haven't gotten your files!
- The cutoff for filling out the survey will be Monday, July 1 - exactly four weeks from today. If you don't fill out the survey by then, it's unlikely you'll be in the initial shipping wave. This may increase your shipping costs, so please try to fill out the survey before then or reach out to me if you haven't already filled it out!
Dungeoneering: Catalysts Book Progress: 100% Complete
- The book is finished! PDF is uploaded to BackerKit and it is a part of your digital downloads, if included in your tier and your survey is filled out.
- The books are here! And they look great!
The Great Spellcheck Survey: 100% Complete
- The Great Spellcheck Survey for Dungeoneering: Catalysts is closed! Thankfully, no errors reported!
The Starlit Spire: ??% Complete (read below)
I had the opportunity to run two sessions of the Starlit Spire over the past week / weekend with two different groups. Players created characters using the Dungeoneering system (in one party was a Warrior, Troubadour, Alchemist, and Berserker - another party was a Magician, Knight, Necromancer, and Sorcerer) and we started in two different locations (the Surface and the Archives). Each session was about 3 hours long, both parties made significant progress through multiple levels, and by the end of both sessions I had the worst thought I could imagine: this isn't very fun.
I find it important that I'm completely transparent with you, dungeoneers, as you ultimately are paying for this product. It should be as good as it can be, for the price point its listed as. Right now, I don't feel like it's that. Let me explain:
I find it important that I'm completely transparent with you, dungeoneers, as you ultimately are paying for this product. It should be as good as it can be, for the price point its listed as. Right now, I don't feel like it's that. Let me explain:
- While I was running it I kept coming across situations I wanted to improve, or situations I didn't feel would punch hard enough.
- The reasoning for the factions to be where they were didn't seem strong enough in play and were overall confusing between the two human groups (the Aethern and the Starborn).
- We had a handful of Stone Memories found as well as a Corruption, which were cool but in a way that made everyone else at the table feel like they were waiting to find their own Stone Memories or Corruptions, rather than get involved in faction shenanigans.
- The rooms were interesting and I wrote exciting encounters for them, but everything felt very static - it didn't seem like the players overall had a big say as to what or how things were happening in the Starlit Spire at all.
- The big reason the Starlit Spire exists felt like it had little sway over the area, despite it being the origin of more than half the factions being here in the first place.
- The overall design of the book left a lot to be desired for me. I tried to mirror the style in Nine Tombs, but this is a very different adventure than that. The end result is a book that feels difficult to read and, more importantly, actually parse.
So, I sat with what I had for a few days trying to figure out what I should do: polish up a few egregious problems and send out a mediocre adventure or push the adventure deadline back a while to account for what I wanted to do: rewrite major portions of the adventure.
I opted for the latter. Like I said, your money paid for this - you should get your money's worth. That being said, the new proposed timeline is as follows for fulfillment and delivery of everything:
- Starlit Spire PDF: September 2024
- Starlit Spire Print Production: October 2024
- Physical Fulfillment: October 2024-December 2024
Thankfully, you'll notice that the physical fulfillment timeline is ultimately unchanged. Because of the vendor planning earlier in the campaign, I'm able to get the zines to me and GamesQuest a week or two after sending the files rather than several weeks or months later. If I'm able to get everything printed in October, that leaves two months for fulfillment which should be plenty of time in my experience.
Ultimately, I think this is the right choice for the adventure and for the project as a whole. Longtime backers will remember that I've released some sub-par product in the past (the original digital-only Nine Tombs of Athal-Kar from 2021, before its total rewrite in 2022) and I absolutely hated it being out in the public sphere. I'm not some kind of wunderkind when it comes to writing modules, but I know a bad one when I see one - I do not want to be in that pile.
Anyway, this is very long-winded and I appreciate your patience as I move out the deadline for getting the PDF for Starlit Spire. It's the last piece of this puzzle, so once its complete everything should move very quickly after that. I'll announce more news as it comes in over the next few weeks / months. Thank you for understanding!
Physical Fulfillment: 50% Complete (+10% from last update)
- Dungeoneering: Catalysts books are here (see pictures in the Catalysts section of the update)!
That's it for me - look for the next update towards the middle of June.
- Nate
