Where Did the Time Go?!
about 3 years ago – Mon, Mar 27, 2023 at 07:57:17 AM

Hey Folks!

BackerKit

It's been a wild couple of weeks here at HHP. Two weeks ago, we were buried under 58" of snow! Our office shut down for three days. Last week, my kids had strep throat and I was only able to work a couple of days. All that is to say that the BackerKit did not go out as planned. The new goal is to get it out to you by the end of the week. I will be focused on finalizing it today and tomorrow. This will be my seventh time setting up BackerKit and so with that experience, each one becomes a little more streamlined.

New Artwork

We got some brand new original artwork for some of our pre-made NPCs! Take a look below!

I'm also excited to share that Bori, the dwarven cook extraordinaire shown above, will also be getting her own regular blog series featuring original fantasy recipes you can make for game night! Each recipe includes a D&D 5e magic items stat block. Incorporate it in your 5e game to give your party an extra little boost!You can check out Bori's first recipe here: https://www.headlesshydrapress.com/post/bori-s-spiced-camp-potatoes

NPC Creators

Thank you to the NPC Creators who have sent me your responses for your custom NPCs! I haven't had a chance yet to respond but I will by the end of the week. Thank you for getting me your thoughtful and interesting NPC ideas!

I will have another update shortly after the BackerKit goes live! Until then, have a great week!

Shane

Here's What Happens Next
about 3 years ago – Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 10:47:06 AM

Hey Folks!

I had a fun weekend celebrating the success of Villains & Villagers with Joe and some family friends who came to visit. Now, I'm excited to jump back into work! Today, I'm going to layout the path forward and what you can expect and when. We already have some good progress to share, but first, a super important message!

Credit Card Failures

There are a couple of dozen folks whose credit cards have failed to run. Not a big deal, as a super backer myself, it's happened to me several times. You have a couple more days to update the card or process it again. If you don't update it by Thursday, Kickstarter will cancel your pledge.

Villains & Villagers Status

I just met with Joe and I am pleased to share that of the 30 premade NPCs that will be in the book, 23 of them are written! Joe anticipates finishes rough drafts of the final two villains either today or tomorrow. I have reached out to our 5 NPC creator backers and sent them guidance on their NPCs. Right now, we are hoping to finish up to complete first draft and move onto layout and stage 1 of content editing by the end of the month! We also have a couple of additional illustrations that should be finished soon.

Once the book is formatted, I do all of the art layout, and we do the first stage of editing, I will then send the manuscript to Ash Monogue, our Content Editor, who will provide edits over the course of 2-4 weeks. After that, the book will go to Copy Editor Frank Ard who will polish up the language, grammar, and punctuation over another 2-4 weeks. 

This book will be printed in the US and so once it goes to the press, the turnaround time will be lightning fast. Like, 3-4 weeks instead of 3-4 months.

On the fulfillment side, the first step will be to send out the BackerKit Pledge Manager. For those who aren't familiar with BackerKit, this is a separate platform that lets us collect shipping information, shipping fees, and will allow you to upgrade your pledge level or add add-ons to your pledge. We are anticipating that the BackerKit should go out to all backers in about 2 weeks. Once the BackerKit goes out, we will wait 3-6 weeks before locking orders and charging for shipping.  

Timeline

So with all of that explained, here is what our anticipated timeline for the project looks like. Please do keep in mind that all of these dates are flexible and subject to change. 

• March 16 - Kickstarter Funds Arrive!
• March 21 - BackerKit Pledge Manager Goes out to All Backers
• March 24 - Villains & Villagers Rough Draft Completed
• April 7 - Villains & Villagers Formatted, Layout Complete, Artwork Finalized, and First Pass Editing Complete
• April 11 - BackerKit Orders Locked
• April 13 - Cards Charged for BackerKit Shipping and Add-Ons
• April 28 - Villains & Villagers Second Pass Editing Complete
• May 19 - Villains & Villagers Final Pass Editing Complete
• May 22 - ALL Villains & Villagers Digital Rewards delivered via BackerKit and Website Downloads
• May 23 - Villains & Villagers physical rewards (Softcover and Hardcover Books, NPC Cards, Maps, etc) send to printing press
• June 15 - Villains & Villagers physical rewards arrive at our studio 
• June 20 - All rewards shipped out!

That's all for now, folks! The next update will come in about two weeks to let you know when the BackerKit pledge manager will go live.

Thanks again!

Shane

Project Manager

Woohoo! We Made It!
about 3 years ago – Thu, Mar 02, 2023 at 03:42:54 PM

Hey Folks!

Wow, what an amazing ride! The campaign is over but now the real fun begins! Although we were close to meeting our final stretch goal that would have added new menus to the book, we didn't quite get there. HOWEVER, what I will do instead is offer two brand new menus as a free digital download. The menus will be associated with NPCs in the book and will be ready to print at home and use as a fun handout at game night!

I would say that Joe and I are going to celebrate tonight but I actually got called in last-minute to my second job so I'll be working until midnight my time. However, there will be time to celebrate tomorrow night!

So, what happens now? Keep an eye out for an update on Monday that will outline the fulfillment process and next steps of the project. However, I am excited to share that Joe is NEARLY done with the rough draft of ALL the NPCs for the book, even the ones added by stretch goals! I will be in touch soon with our NPC Creator backers to start working on those ones.

Thank you SO much to all of our backers here. You folks are our lifeblood and we literally could not make the gaming products that we do without your support. From the whole TTRPG creator community, thank you for supporting third party publishers and indie game studios.

That's all for now! I hope you all have a wonderful evening and a great rest of your week.

Shane

Stretch Goal #5 Unlocked!
about 3 years ago – Wed, Mar 01, 2023 at 09:06:19 AM

Hey Folks!

We've had a bunch of new folks join us the last 24 hours - thank you so much to EVERYONE who has pledged their support to this campaign. As a small, independent TTRPG studio, your support means EVERYTHING to us. Most of our funding comes through Kickstarter and so I can't tell you how much your support and excitement in this project means to me and Joe. 

Stretch Goal #5 Unlocked!

We have absolutely SMASHED through Stretch Goal #5! Holy cow! The rewards for Organic Towns have finally arrived and are flying out our doors to fulfill rewards so I was busy working on that yesterday but I am totally floored by how fast we sailed past that goal. We will now be adding 5 brand new maps as a digital download for backers. And these aren't just any NPC Lair Maps - these will be ones designed for our NPC Creator backer's original characters. We're so excited to work with our NPC Creators on these maps and they are going to be a really fun digital reward to give out.

Stretch Goal #6

And if that wasn't are already more than halfway to Stretch Goal #6! If we hit this goal, we will add FIVE MORE NPCs to the book, one of each archetype. Include NPC Creator NPCs, that will bring us up to a total of 30 premade, game-ready NPCs to help populate your world!

Alec Adams Art Time-Lapse

A few days ago, we shared a brand new original commission from Alec Adams for one of our NPCs - Dusk. He just made this really cool time-lapse video of making the illustration! Check out the video here. https://youtube.com/watch?v=1Y43kRPuLbY&feature=shares

Third Party Spotlight

Our friends over at Crit Academy have just launched their next Kickstarter (already over 200% funded) and if you like our project, this one might be right up your alley. It is a system neutral supplement that provides an original pantheon, hundreds of oddities, new races, and some premade NPCs. The really cool twist? It's made for maximum inclusivity and accessibility by someone who struggles with dyslexia. I think this is such a cool idea and if it sounds like something you'd be interested in, you can check out the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/critacademy/aelxs-bombastic-oddities?ref=erv2iq

Thanks folks! I seriously appreciate all of your support and I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday.

Shane

Hireling Contract Complete and a Surprise Stretch Goal!
about 3 years ago – Sat, Feb 25, 2023 at 11:34:37 PM

Hey Folks!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. With four and a half days to go, this project is already our fourth-biggest Kickstarter! With some luck and some crafty marketing, I think this could end up as our second biggest project to date - thank you so much for joining the project and helping us bring this book to life!

Surprise Stretch Goal!

I'm very excited to share that the Hireling Contract is now complete! Pawel did an awesome job. It will be made available as a download on BackerKit to all of our backers when the project ends. And speaking of cool downloads, we are ALSO commissioning a Wanted Poster! You will be able to print this at home and use with your own villains or one of our premade ones included in the book. This too will be available through BackerKit after the project - just to say thank you!

Third Party Spotlight

In 2019, I attended my first GenCon and had an amazing time! At the vendor hall, I met some really cool people at the Columbia Games table who make HarnWorld. This is a system agnostic campaign setting. Harn is one of the most detailed campaign settings I've ever encountered and is an absolute treasure trove of content for game masters. At GenCon, I got a map of Harn and several softcover books containing lore and details of the world. Their current kickstarter is to make these softcover books available in hardcover. If you're looking for a super-detailed medieval fantasy setting, do yourself a favor and check out the project! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/columbiagames/harnworld-medieval-fantasy-rpg-setting-hardback?ref=9gyeou

That's all for this morning! Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Shane