Shadowdark Shadowdark General Thread [+]

[orangefruitbat]

Never backed Dolmenwood. Did it take a long time to get pdf product?

Actually, the PDFs were delivered basically on time. Funding closed for the initial kickstarter on Sept 9, 2023 with a projected fulfilment date of Sept 2024. Looking on Backerkit, pre-release versions of all three core PDFs were available in Oct to Dec 2023 (text complete, but still missing some illustrations). Complete versions of all PDFs (the three core books, the adventures and extras) were all ready for original backers by Oct 02 2024.

So all of those tracked pretty well to what was intitally promised. Where they got into trouble was all the physical extras (minis, pins, cloth maps, etc.) that seem to get a lot of big kickstarters in trouble. So the books have been sitting in warehouses for some time while waiting for the extras to arrive so everything could be sent all at once. Plus all the tariff nonsense torpedoing business plans across the industry.

 

[numtini]

So which Virtual Table Tops work best for Shadowdark?

The Foundry implementation is insanely well done. There's also a lights out theme and a crawl helper that does encounter checks and initiative.

The package says it's the quickstart, but it's complete. Better than most commercial implementations.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Actually, the PDFs were delivered basically on time. Funding closed for the initial kickstarter on Sept 9, 2023 with a projected fulfilment date of Sept 2024. Looking on Backerkit, pre-release versions of all three core PDFs were available in Oct to Dec 2023 (text complete, but still missing some illustrations). Complete versions of all PDFs (the three core books, the adventures and extras) were all ready for original backers by Oct 02 2024.

So all of those tracked pretty well to what was intitally promised. Where they got into trouble was all the physical extras (minis, pins, cloth maps, etc.) that seem to get a lot of big kickstarters in trouble. So the books have been sitting in warehouses for some time while waiting for the extras to arrive so everything could be sent all at once. Plus all the tariff nonsense torpedoing business plans across the industry.

I'm not talking about what was promised though. I'm talking about how I'm used to Kickstarters like EN Publishing's, you get a pdf right after the drive ends, then wait for the physical materials. The Shadowdark drives I've backed often take much longer even for the pdf. That's fair, and nothing is being misrepresented, but it's still not what I'm used to from other publishers.

 

[Bill Zebub]

So which Virtual Table Tops work best for Shadowdark?

With Shadowdark I like Owlbear Rodeo. It's nice and simple.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I'm talking about how I'm used to Kickstarters like EN Publishing's, you get a pdf right after the drive ends, then wait for the physical materials.

Which is kind of ironic, right? It's not even pretending that you're funding the creative effort in the way that Kickstarter was originally intended to be used. At most you're just advancing money on printing costs.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Which is kind of ironic, right? It's not even pretending that you're funding the creative effort in the way that Kickstarter was originally intended to be used. At most you're just advancing money on printing costs.

I suppose. I still like it though.

 

[Fenris-77]

Which is kind of ironic, right? It's not even pretending that you're funding the creative effort in the way that Kickstarter was originally intended to be used. At most you're just advancing money on printing costs.

And that's a problem because? As a very small publisher I can tell you that the creative part I can do, but the costs of printing and other logistics I simply couldn't (can't) afford to front the money for. In many cases if people want nice physical books from small, publishers, especially newer ones, this is the only way that ball gets off the ground.