Hello to the Earthdawn community, wherever you may hail from! Karol here, writing this on a snowy day in the Midwest, the first time it’s really felt like winter out here. It’s a nice moment to reflect, and we’ve had quite a lot to reflect on these last few months.
Two weeks ago we released the Grand Bazaar pre-art layout to our Kickstarter backers, and this past week we did the same for Magic: Deeper Secrets. This is always an exciting time in the production process because for all the work involved in the writing process, things get even more chaotic once that part is done and we’re ready to incorporate all the other elements that go into a book. Double that with two books in the pipeline at roughly the same stage, and… well, it’s a real busy season for the Earthdawn team.
While backers are getting their sneak peek at the whole book (and get to provide us with feedback as they do), our art director, James, is finalizing contracts to fill that extra space in the manuscript. Those should be coming in over the next few weeks, letting us dial in the final layout. Once that is done we can release the final digital version of a book, and focus on physical fulfillment with the printer.
That sequence might seem a little odd to some, but a complete manuscript gives us a proper page count, clear inspiration for art, and a solid understanding of how we need to lay out chapters and pages. All those moving parts also make nailing down delivery dates a little difficult, and we definitely don’t want to overpromise.
Grand Bazaar and Magic: Deeper Secrets may seem like two radically different books, but they both give everyone at your table something we love to provide: a whole mess of new experiences that expand the world of Earthdawn. Whether it’s building adventures around the hustle and bustle of Throal’s greatest center of trade, or taking your longstanding Adepts on a journey exploring the frontiers of their disciplines; we can’t wait to get these books into your hands and enrich your table’s experience even further.
I also wanted to take the opportunity to touch on spell cards, since fans have eagerly been awaiting this player aid for their tables. The data for all spells (including those for Shamans from Mystic Paths, and the new spells in Magic: Deeper Secrets) is in, and now it’s a matter of tweaking things to make sure all of the amazing discipline-specific layouts show up exactly how we want them to. A difference of millimeters in the bleed (printing extending off the edges of an individual piece) can make a world of difference in the look of the end product, so we want to absolutely nail the parameters so that the first print run will be a success.
All of the above is taking place while we’re knee-deep in further installments of Legends of Barsaive, overseeing work on VTT modules, bringing old novels back into print, early work on more sourcebooks, some very cool physical products and working with backers to finish up the tower levels for that last Vasgothia stretch goal.
All that to say that 2024 will be a big year, and we’re excited to share what we’ve been cooking up with the entire community!