August 2014: View from the Pelgrane’s Nest

An amazing GenCon, new releases, awards and shipping issues. Out this month on pre-order is Mythos Expeditions  for Trail of Cthulhu and the Letters to Lovecraft fiction anthology from Stone Skin Press. Released is this month’s KWAS episiode Xeno-Archeology, and the DramaSystem Series Pitch of the Month Terminal X, by Hal Mangold. Dulce et Decorum Est and the Gaean Reach and the Gaean Reach Gazetteer are also out now.

Shipping Update

US and Canada

• All pre-orders up to August 1st and Kickstarter reward copies of 13 True Ways have now been shipped, but as I mentioned in this post, there have been some issues with damaged copies. I’m very sorry about this – if you have been impacted, please email support@dyingearth.com and we’ll send you out a replacement.
• All pre-orders for Dulce et Decorum Est, the Gaean Reach and the Gaean Reach Gazetteer have also been shipped.
• Pre-orders for the Book of Loot and Shadows of Eldolan will be shipped in the next week, if we can sneak get books out past the Burning Man guards.
• New pre-orders for Mythos Expeditions will be shipped in mid-September.
• We are still waiting on components for the Limited Edition 13th Age Bestiary; we hope to have these print-outs and be able to ship these out at the end of September.

Rest of World

• The physical copies of Dulce et Decorum Est, the Gaean Reach and the Gaean Reach Gazetteer have arrived in the UK, and all pre-orders for these titles will be shipped early next week.
• The physical copies of 13 True Ways are currently at sea, and due to dock in the UK on September 9th. We’ll have our UK shipper prepped and ready to pack them up when they get here , and so pre-orders and Kickstarter reward copies should be on their way in mid-September.
• Pre-orders for the Book of Loot, Shadows of Eldolan and Mythos Expeditions will be shipped out in the second week of September, as these books will also be arriving in the UK on September 9th.
• We are still waiting on components for the Limited Edition 13th Age Bestiary; we hope to have these print-outs and be able to ship these out at the end of September.

GenCon

Wow, what a GenCon! The entire Pelgrane team gathered in Indianapolis, in a throng of 56K attendees. The team ran seminars such as this one, games pitched new ideas and planned the year ahead. Cat Tobin was assisted in the assembly of the booth by a team of excellent 13th Age volunteers magicked up by Rob Heinsoo, who ran them a game as a reward. We sold out of most core books and new releases, even including Trail of Cthulhu.

There was a truly positive vibe from all the industry professionals I spoke to, and it’s clear that the quality of games has reached a new, high standard. This was reflected in the ENnie awards – we received two gold and two silver awards for Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, Eternal Lies (twice) and 13th Age.  The hosts were excellent and speeches were short and entertaining, and the competition included such industry giants as Paizo, Evil Hat and Monte Cook.

I had more conversations with other publishers about GUMSHOE cross-over products than ever before. I think the license has helped here. I exchanged shoes with Jeff Richard of Moon Design to seal the 13th Age in Glorantha deal (more below).

For the first time Pelgrane had two rooms full of GMs, who received swag, and we received quality feedback from participants, which we will use to improve next year’s experience. We are building a library of convention and OP adventures for all our games which will help us at future cons.

Indianapolis is stretched to the seams, and next year’s hotel booking is likely to be hell. The closure of the Canterbury hotel doesn’t bode well – I hope they magic up some extra capacity somehow.

One more thing. Indianopolis, gamers eat and gamers drink. You run out every year like it’s a big surprise, and Omni – don’t you want our money? (The irony of us selling out of many products is not lost on me).

13th Age

• Rob Heinsoo, Jonathn Tweet and ASH LAW are working on 13th Age Glorantha. You can read the draft outline here. As a gamer, the main takeaway for me initially will be the new character classes, and as a publisher an influx of new discerning 13th Age players. The Kickstarter has been delayed until September 4th to give the team time to recover from the post-Gen Con lurgy; you can sign up for more information about the Kickstarter here.
• Pre-orders for the Book of Loot and Shadows of Eldolan  will be shipping to customers in the US and Canada next week – the rest are on ship to the UK and will be with us 9th September.  Get them in the store now under the new dedicated 13th Age section of the webstore.
• Eyes of the Stone Thief is in layout. I’ve gone with my heart rather than my wallet, and it will be a 400-page full colour book rather than a monochrome one.
• Rob is working on the 13th Age monthly subscription product, similar to Ken Writes About Stuff. We want to build up a three-month lead before committing to a launch date.
•  Shards of the Broken Sky is in internal playtest. We are discussing an array of other potential 13th Age products, including Demons and an Icon Organisation book.

Trail of Cthulhu

Mythos Expeditions has been printed and is shipping out in the US and Canada; it will be in the UK 9th September for distribution to the rest of the world. Not only is each expedition perilous – the denoument is likely to feature not rest and study, but a horrible encounter with the Mythos.

Dulce et Decorum Est, Adam Gauntlett’s Great War collection has shipped to US & Canada and will ship to the UK in mid-September. Soldiers of Pen and Ink and The Seventh Circle (for both Fear Itself and Trail of Cthulhu) will be out next month.

Gaean Reach

Gaean Reach and the Gaean Reach Gazetteer are out now. It seems Quandos Vorn was doing everything to stop this book from being published and I apologise to our loyal customers for the delay. Now I can consider what else to do in Vance’s playground.

Ashen Stars

Accretion Disk is being illustrated, by the marvelous Jerome Hugeunin and Chris Huth.

Night’s Black Agents

We are gearing up for the Dracula Dossier and Dracula Unredacted Kickstarter in October. Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan is channeling Ken as he views the world through Ken’s red-tinted spectacles. There are vampires everywhere!

Satsumas

Unfortunately, the season is over for another year; the supermarkets in desperation filling their shelves with inferior small oranges. Mournfully, we remember the citrus unshiu that were.