An epic campaign guide and adventure path in The Lost Lands for Pathfinder and Swords & Wizardry from the publishers of Sword of Air!
i will ship everything out in the next two weeks!
Thank you for being patient, sometimes things take a bit longer to cook than others. If anyone is missing anything after March 15, please email me at [email protected].
Bill
I have received confirmation from Chuck that all of the Northlands Saga soft covers have completed proofing and are at the printer. Bill tells me that with a total of 13 titles to print (6 adventures x 2 [1 for PF and S&W each] + 1 player's guide [for both versions]) followed by expedited shipping to him from the printer, he estimates that we should be shipping them to you in approximately 3 weeks. Nearly there! I'll keep you updated as I find out any additional information that might change that.
As for the Tales of the Lost Lands pdfs (Tales Pack 3 and Tales Pack 4), I intend to get those to Chuck this weekend for final layout, so hopefully we'll be able to start distributing those to backers some time next week.
Thank you again for your support and your patience.
Greg
A Quick Update:
I just received word from Chuck that he has submitted the 6 softcover modules and the player's guide to the printer and is awaiting the final post-production proofs so he can give them the green light to print. Should be any day now. As soon as those go through, I'll post the ETA on how long they'll be at the printer and try to give you some time frames.
All that will leave then are the two Tales of the Lost Lands packs (3 and 4). As soon as Chuck has greenlit the printing of the softcovers, I'll send him these two Tales Packs for final layout. Since they are pdf-only products: no printing/shipping time and can go to the backers as soon as they are through with layout. So that should be very shortly too.
We're so close!! :-)
Greg
Finally, after far too long, the final pieces of The Northlands Saga Complete Kickstarter are finishing up with layout and have a speed date with a printer.
In particular I'm talking about the soft cover modules and player's guide. As any backers of the project who purchased the main "big book" know, we released the pdf shortly after the KS ended and the book went to the printer.
However, we had a plethora of small modules (6 to be exact) plus the player's guide that included not only player materials from the big book but also the 6 new Tales of the Lost Lands stories set in the Northlands. We weren't sure exactly how many of these were going to fund or that would need to be made until about halfway through the KS, so we did not have those particular items made in advance, whereas the big book itself was about 90% complete at the time the KS began. The intent was to get those be completed while the big book was going through printing (the big hardcovers always take the longest to print) and then get them sent to the printer for a much quicker print job. As you are also all well aware, I'm sure, the 7 little books and 6 stories didn't go through the development, cartography, art production, editing, and game system conversion process as quickly as we had expected, leaving us about a month behind schedule. And for that we are profoundly sorry.
The hold up was entirely me as the completion of my OB/GYN rotation coincided with the final receipts of several of those manuscripts, and the first 3 weeks of my surgery rotation have overlapped with the final development and editing process. I don't tell you that to make excuses (I feared that they would definitely interfere, but underestimated by how much) but simply because you deserve to know what was going on and not think the Frogs were sitting idly on their hands and enjoying the holidays while the book we owed you waited in the wings. I assure you that many were the near panicked emails, texts, and calls from Bill to spur me on and obtain updates, which my work hours did not cooperate with well at all. And for that I offer my personal heartfelt apology. This delay wasn't on anyone with FGG but me, and as the developer and primary impetus behind the Northlands project since its infancy back in 2010, it wasn't something I could just pass off to have somebody else do for me. So again, Bill would've loved if I had been able to farm out the final work, but it was unfortunately the crucial part of the work that needed the continuity of the original guidance and couldn't be effectively delegated. So that is completely on me as well.
But enough of me being pathetic. You guys want to know what's going on now, not an empty recap of recent events. So here is where we stand as of last night. The manuscripts of NLS1-6 (the 6 softcover adventures) and the NS player's guide have all been completed, cartographed (word?), artisted (probably not a word?), developed, edited, converted, laid out, and proofed. The final proofs for NLS1-4 have been approved and are ready for print. The proof for NLS5 has been proofed and has a couple very minor tweaks and will receive its final proof for printing as soon as I see it (that'll take me about 5 minutes once its in my hands). The initial proof for NLS6 has been proofed and returned to Chuck for changes. Chuck should have that to me at any time to be proofed again. At that time I will either give it the final okay (likely) and send back to Chuck for printing or, if necessary, make any final tweaks (possible, but these take very little time to correct and approve) like I did on NLS5. Either way, the Northlands Series modules (NLS1-6) are basically done. The NS Player's Guide has also gone through its initial proofing and has been sent back for revisions. It's longer than the individual modules, so it'll take a bit more time but I'd guess I'd have it back from Chuck for final proofing by the weekend.
Once the modules and player's guide have completed the finalization process in the next few days, they will go to the printer. Because they are short, softcover books in lower quantities, they can be printed much faster. In addition, Bill and I discussed just yesterday that we would pay extra for express shipping (at no additional cost to you) to get them to Bill for distribution faster. Once Bill has them, they go out to the backers who ordered them.
Now, I've seen comments that some folks have already received their big book and others have wondered why. I don't know the specifics, but I would guess it is probably the people who ordered the big books without the softcover add-ons who are the current recipients. We had intended to hold all books until the softcovers were received so no one would receive what was perceived as preferential treatment. And we certainly don't want to discourage folks from buying the ancillary softcover products from FGG, because they definitely help us to gin up interest to assist with funding and they are really cool (I mean, how often will you get a viking adventure from Ed Greenwood?). However, some of our backers are actual book retailers, and by holding their books we are actually hurting their bottom line because they bought the books with the intention to resell to cover their own costs. And like 3PP game companies, a lot of brick-and-mortar game shops can't afford to take that kind to financial pressure for very long before it starts to have real consequences on their viability as a business. So at some point, the pressure has to be relieved, and they were being incredibly patient with us, which we certainly appreciate. It stinks for backers whose orders haven't been received yet because they have to wait longer, and I offer my apology for that as well. Just know that it wasn't through any intention to cheat you, or slight you, or ignore you. I haven't been on this page as often as I would like because I have literally spent every minute not at the hospital either sleeping or working on getting the last of the Northlands books finished up. (My poor email account is about to have a stroke from overflow, and I think my parents may think I'm dead...but they'll get over it I'm sure).
So we're now at the final hours for fulfillment here. Our intention had been to ship at the end of December, and instead we're looking at the end of January/beginning of February. So we're running 30+ days behind schedule. But we will deliver; we may be slow sometimes but the Frogs haven't dropped the ball on a KS yet, and we're not about to start now. As soon as the final approvals have been made for all the softcover books, I will get with Chuck to make the little tweaks necessary to finalize the two Tales of the Lost Lands pdfs so we can get those out to the people who had ordered as well (no printing or shipping times with those, so they should be basically instantaneous once we hit the button on them).
You guys have been incredibly supportive and patient through this process, and I can't thank you enough. And please don't hold it against the Frogs. This truly is on me. I know Bill feels the anxiety acutely as the CEO of FGG, but rest assured it has not been through his actions that it occurred and it has occupied my mind constantly in the meantime. Any new ulcers or gray hairs I've worked up stressing over it will just have to be badges of honor for the effort owed to you. this book has been painfully tardy, but it has never been forgotten. And I'm happy to announce that the finish line is not only in sight but is almost upon us.
I will keep you posted here on further progress, and when I get hard numbers for dates of printer completion, shipping, etc., I will let you know.
Again, on behalf of myself and all the Frogs, thank you so much for the fantastic support you have given on this and every other FGG project and for your extreme patience with us throughout this process. You guys truly are the best of fans.
Greg A. Vaughan, Pathfinder Creative Director
Frog God Games
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