3PP Release (3rd Party Book Release) Paranormal Power: A Psionics Option for 5e and A5e, written by Steampunkette!

[Corinnguard]

Everyone I've talked about has talked about the "Kickstarter U". Lots of subs the first few days tapering off to practically nothing after 10 days, then shooting back up in the last 2-4 days.

I think I have a very shallow U is what it is. Day 1 was $1,600, then $1,000, then about $500 every day since. And days where we didn't get $500 we made up the difference the next day. At one point we had a $200 day and I was like "There's the lull!" and then the next day was $800 so I just...

I dunno! Whatever's happening, I like it. I hope it happens to all my future Kickstarters, too. I'm planning two more, already.

You mentioned Martial Artistry to me a couple weeks ago. I am assuming that this is one of the two Kickstarters you are planning on. What's the other one, inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Steampunkette]

You mentioned Martial Artistry to me a couple weeks ago. I am assuming that this is one of the two Kickstarters you are planning on. What's the other one, inquiring minds want to know.

"The Lands Beyond: A Regional Anthology"

With additional anthologies coming out later flavored toward specific campaign settings/themes.

So the first book will have to be pretty massive and cover tons of biomes and concepts and identities... and then smaller secondary releases like "The Kingdoms of Night" or "Faerie Courts and Castles" focusing on a specific cluster of ideas.

 

[Corinnguard]

"The Lands Beyond: A Regional Anthology"

With additional anthologies coming out later flavored toward specific campaign settings/themes.

So the first book will have to be pretty massive and cover tons of biomes and concepts and identities... and then smaller secondary releases like "The Kingdoms of Night" or "Faerie Courts and Castles" focusing on a specific cluster of ideas.

This kind of reminds me of the Character Region section in the 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign setting (pages 28-32).

From the book: A character in the Forgotten Realms campaign is more than just a class and race. Your homeland determines in part your personality, your outlook, and what sort of abilities you have. In game terms, character regions encourage you to take a class relevant to that region's culture, allow you to learn special feats appropriate to your region, and enable you to start out with extra equipment based on the way people in the region live. Every character has the opportunity to choose a region during the character creation process.

This is now Culture in Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, but in a pretty generic and world neutral way. Will your new book contain new cultures and backgrounds? curious

 

[Steampunkette]

This kind of reminds me of the Character Region section in the 3e Forgotten Realms Campaign setting (pages 28-32).

From the book: A character in the Forgotten Realms campaign is more than just a class and race. Your homeland determines in part your personality, your outlook, and what sort of abilities you have. In game terms, character regions encourage you to take a class relevant to that region's culture, allow you to learn special feats appropriate to your region, and enable you to start out with extra equipment based on the way people in the region live. Every character has the opportunity to choose a region during the character creation process.

This is now Culture in Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, but in a pretty generic and world neutral way. Will your new book contain new cultures and backgrounds? curious

The current plan is to create maps of a region with cultures, customs, histories, neighbors, etc... and then not do anything with the neighboring kingdoms. JUST the given region itself. And the next entry be a wholly unconnected additional region. And another. And another.

There's been talk of doing it as a group effort in the designer's discord, and on the forums here, and comments and suggestions about creating player-facing materials like archetypes and origins, yeah.

Basically the intent is to create a work that can be viewed as a "Complete Episodic Campaign Setting" in which adventurers go from area to area for differently themed adventures like Star Trek as a fantasy game.

Or... as a "Campaign Setting Seed". Where you can take entire societies and cultures and plop them into the fringes of your own settings as "Lands Beyond", or take one of these realms as the start of a campaign and expand outward from there, using it as a strong base on which to anchor your own setting.

 

[foxblade]

You have noble (imo) stretch goals. Maybe that's why?

 

[lichmaster]

You have noble (imo) stretch goals. Maybe that's why?

That, and probably also the fact that there's no "feature creep": some kickstarters have stretch goals that require more and more design, and that's a thing that can make a bit uncertain the delivery time.
These stretch goals, like the ones typical of ENP, shouldn't alter significantly the expected delivery time (at least they don't add uncertainty in terms of features implementation, testing etc): the product will already be 100% usable just after the campaign ends, and the extra art will improve the product but not change it functionally. Like a nice free "DLC"

 

[Steampunkette]

That does make a lot of sense, yeah...

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Question: I was assuming the PDF will be available shortly after the KS is complete. However, with the art stretch goals , what does that do to the delivery of PDF and physical rewards?

 

[Steampunkette]

Question: I was assuming the PDF will be available shortly after the KS is complete. However, with the art stretch goals , what does that do to the delivery of PDF and physical rewards?

If we do not hit $35,000 the pdfs and books will go out once the kickstarter ends. The Stretch Goal Art will be released as a PDF as soon as it is completed, digitally distributed through DriveThruRPG.

If we reach $35,000 and all of the art in the book has a replacement, the PDFs and book will release at the end of the kickstarter, as normal. But I will also go through the entire process of reproducing the PDF using the commissioned art once that art is completed, go through layout and premedia, order a proof, and re-issue the book and PDF through a separate DriveThruRPG.com listing which will be automatically unlocked for every person from the kickstarter. This second, special edition, will also include a PDF of all the AI Art as full page images.

At that point, you'll be able to order a hardcover copy of the special edition for only the costs of printing and shipping through DriveThruRPG.com.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

If we do not hit $35,000 the pdfs and books will go out once the kickstarter ends. The Stretch Goal Art will be released as a PDF as soon as it is completed, digitally distributed through DriveThruRPG.

If we reach $35,000 and all of the art in the book has a replacement, the PDFs and book will release at the end of the kickstarter, as normal. But I will also go through the entire process of reproducing the PDF using the commissioned art once that art is completed, go through layout and premedia, order a proof, and re-issue the book and PDF through a separate DriveThruRPG.com listing which will be automatically unlocked for every person from the kickstarter. This second, special edition, will also include a PDF of all the AI Art as full page images.

At that point, you'll be able to order a hardcover copy of the special edition for only the costs of printing and shipping through DriveThruRPG.com.

I’m a little confused. Assuming the 35k goal is not reached , the stretch goal art is only available as a separate PDF? I would much prefer to wait and have it incorporated into the book. Am I misunderstanding?

 

[Steampunkette]

I’m a little confused. Assuming the 35k goal is not reached , the stretch goal art is only available as a separate PDF? I would much prefer to wait and have it incorporated into the book. Am I misunderstanding?

I'm afraid so.

The process of getting all the art together will put the book past the OGL 1.0a 6 month window almost certainly, so I will be releasing the book as soon as the kickstarter ends. Because while I'd love to be part of a class-action suit against Wizards for trying to pull the OGL 1.0a I cannot afford to be their first target/victim.

However once the book has been released it's covered by OGL 1.0a indefinitely, and the art-swap special edition is technically the "Same Book", and would be covered by the grandfathering of OGL 1.0a published works.

Now it's certainly possible that there will be a Paizo-lead legal push against "De-Authorizing" the OGL which occurs within the 6 month "Grace Period" WotC wants to use. But considering how long court cases go, that would still leave me twisting in the wind and a potential target for WotC.

It sucks, truly. But this OGL debacle dropped in my lap 2 days after the kickstarter launched, and there's just no good way to deal with it. So I'm doing what I think is the best in a bad situation.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I'm afraid so.

The process of getting all the art together will put the book past the OGL 1.0a 6 month window almost certainly, so I will be releasing the book as soon as the kickstarter ends. Because while I'd love to be part of a class-action suit against Wizards for trying to pull the OGL 1.0a I cannot afford to be their first target/victim.

However once the book has been released it's covered by OGL 1.0a indefinitely, and the art-swap special edition is technically the "Same Book", and would be covered by the grandfathering of OGL 1.0a published works.

Now it's certainly possible that there will be a Paizo-lead legal push against "De-Authorizing" the OGL which occurs within the 6 month "Grace Period" WotC wants to use. But considering how long court cases go, that would still leave me twisting in the wind and a potential target for WotC.

It sucks, truly. But this OGL debacle dropped in my lap 2 days after the kickstarter launched, and there's just no good way to deal with it. So I'm doing what I think is the best in a bad situation.

Ok, I don’t have issue with releasing the book as is, if you plan on updating the PDF with the incorporated art later. Is that what you’re doing? I don’t get print books anymore so I really only want to understand how this works with the PDF.

PS - the OGL clock hasn’t started yet, so who knows on that front.

 

[Steampunkette]

Ok, I don’t have issue with releasing the book as is, if you plan on updating the PDF with the incorporated art later. Is that what you’re doing? I don’t get print books anymore so I really only want to understand how this works with the PDF.

PS - the OGL clock hasn’t started yet, so who knows on that front.

I could incorporate the art into the PDF and do a separate PDF release months later. It would just result in a weirdly mixed-media product.

But if that's what you want, I will do it for you, especially! <3

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I could incorporate the art into the PDF and do a separate PDF release months later. It would just result in a weirdly mixed-media product.

But if that's what you want, I will do it for you, especially! <3

Maybe ask the backers what they want in an update? I just assumed that was what we were getting, so I may not be the only one confused. Don’t do anything just for me, see what the majority of your supports want.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

Also, are you doing a print run or are these print-on-demand? If the are print-on-demand you can release the original PDF file and then just update it later and people can print whichever version the want.

Avoids all the OGL issues too.

 

[Steampunkette]

Maybe ask the backers what they want in an update? I just assumed that was what we were getting, so I may not be the only one confused. Don’t do anything just for me, see what the majority of your supports want.

I mean... the majority of backers won't complain if 6-8 months from now they get an alternate version of the PDF released with the Commissioned Art Pack. I say especially for you because you brought the desire to my attention. Not -only- for you.

Also, are you doing a print run or are these print-on-demand? If the are print-on-demand you can release the original PDF file and then just update it later and people can print whichever version the want.

Avoids all the OGL issues too.

At the end of the kickstarter I'll be doing prints for everyone who ordered the hardcover. And PoD will be available after that point.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

I mean... the majority of backers won't complain if 6-8 months from now they get an alternate version of the PDF released with the Commissioned Art Pack. I say especially for you because you brought the desire to my attention. Not -only- for you.

At the end of the kickstarter I'll be doing prints for everyone who ordered the hardcover. And PoD will be available after that point.

Ok, I just think the stretch goals are a bit confusing and you might want to clarify with your backers and supporters. It is last paragraph that seems to explain that we are not getting a book with commissioned art in it. Honestly I didn’t even read the paragraph at first. I just don’t want people to be surprised when they get the PDF / book and it doesn’t have the stretch goal art in it. I know that would have surprised me.

 

[Vincent55]

ok, backed this to get PDF.

 

[Arakhor]

You had me at the description of the Nedraz.

 

[Steampunkette]

We are trending toward $18,000 on Kicktraq!

Which is never accurate!

But the low end they have us at is $15,000 so I shall hope for that with all my heart in the last 11 days!