(Forgot to Publish Draft Last Night) Stuff and Things that Happened and Will Happen
almost 7 years ago
– Sun, Jul 16, 2017 at 08:15:35 PM
Hey All;
Big news is that Backerkit is under review and should be live within 48 Hours. Expect an email requesting you fill out your survey soon (probably Monday). It’s extremely important you get your survey filled out ASAP (especially if you are below Marrow Miner pledge level and aren’t getting both rulesets for the various PDFs). If you don’t get your survey done, your rewards might get delayed (and PDFs should start rolling out this month).
To be more specific, here’s what will happen in the next few days:
1. You’ll see an Kickstarter update from me that surveys are on their way.
2. A survey email will be in your inbox.
3. Fill out that survey (or, if you don’t get the email about it, message me. However! Wait until you see the Kickstarter update as *nobody* has their survey request yet).
Anyway, here’s an update about a few things.
Things I Did:
- Finished Backerkit Setup and Submitted for Review
- Additional Art Orders
- Additional Writing Orders
- Accepted Draft of Meridian House by Binder-Lord
Things I’m Working on By Next Update:
- Backerkit Survey Email
- Corruption of the Tarrasque Mutation Supplement final layout (Pathfinder & 5e)
- Corruption of the Tarrasque Mutation Supplement Delivered (Pathfinder & 5e)
- Next Draft: Setting Guide
• Alchemy & Intrigue Adventure (5e) in Playtest Folder
How do you eat a Tarrasque?
almost 7 years ago
– Sat, Jul 01, 2017 at 10:46:02 PM
Hey All You Lovely Backers!
It’s good to be blasting words back at your faces after a month hiatus; it’s good to be working on Salt in Wounds. Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding; June was vitally important to me as I got my metaphoric and literal house in order. I had a very productive month but -perhaps more importantly- I’m in a good place on every level.
To recap (in case you missed or skipped my last update) the ‘plan’ for the publication of Salt in Wounds that I made during the Kickstarter Campaign didn’t work out, I’m several months past where I thought I’d be releasing various supplements. Because of this, I asked for time to return back to the proverbial drawing board, ignore my inboxes, and focus on the core of what I needed to do (write). I also offered that anyone who wanted to cancel their pledge could and some backers (5 in fact) opted to get refunds which I was happy to offer since I want *everyone* to leave this project happy. But, as for the rest of you; you’ve been universally positive and understanding and encouraging, still excited to back the project and continue along this journey with me. I couldn’t ask for a better group of fans. More to the point, things are more done than I gave them credit for, and I expect you’ll start seeing finished PDFs this month.
On a personal level, two things I changed was started practicing Krav Maga (which actually began in late May but whatevs) and got a referral to a therapist. Between the two (talking to someone about my life and getting my ass kicked several times a week) I feel like it’s been much easier for me to manage my various commitments: most importantly those to my family, my friends, my job, and my commitments to you & my creative life.
The new ‘plan’ is taking form (something I’m still hammering out the details of and checking in with my project manager) but I can offer a soft commitment to the following (important) things:
-Backerkit pledge manager will be live this week.
-Corruption of the Tarrasque Mutation Supplement will be published and distributed this month.
-Email and Message response time will go back to being no more than 48 hours.
Getting backerkit up and running (something I prepaid back in December but kept putting off) is especially important and something I expect to pay significant time/sanity dividends. A fair amount of correspondence I’ve been dealing with is people wanting to tweak their pledges, buy books outright, ask about missing rewards, or update their details and the like and while each conversation takes only a little time they all add up. With the pledge manager finally up and running (even just with stand in art) individuals will have a lot more capacity to self service requests like this. So expect a message/update about backerkit soon, and please fill out your surveys/update you info as soon as you can.
Anyway, here’s some stuff I did since the last update:
1. Wrote a Ton
2. Gmail Inbox 0
3. Kickstarter Inbox 0 (it’s moved back up to some number now, but it was 0 as of last week).
4. Uploaded the Rough, Rough Draft of the Salt in Wounds Campaign Setting Guide to the Playtest Folder. It still has some gaps (including some material I wrote long hand but haven’t transcribed) and biggest issue right now is getting all the contributions from the Binder-Lords… but yeah, it’s getting there and I want your thoughts, comments, and all else before I crank out a new draft.
5. Uploaded a pretty good (and in definite need of a lot of crunchy playtesting) Alchemy of Blood and Body Supplement (for Pathfinder).
6. Uploaded the Oath of Binding Paladin (5e) for Playtest and Comment
7. Built Skeleon of Pledge Levels and Items for Backerkit
There’s more, but that’s the big stuff and most important take away here is that ya’ll should check the playtest folder -assuming you’re Marrow Miner level and up- and tell me what you think.
Here’s some stuff that should be done by Next Update
1. Ryver Inbox 0 (Ryver is the team communication venue I use for coordinating contributors and artists, I’ve been way behind there).
2. Finalize deletion of the Salt in Wounds FB Page.
3. Backerkit Launched
4. Mockup Layout for Corruption Done Approved
5. All 10 monsters for Campaign Setting Done (5e Versions)
6. Release some teaser fiction and teaser art as exclusive backer updates
Anyway, that’s me and what I’m up to/will be up to.
My biggest ongoing challenge is figuring out how to balance managing my own creativity while managing the creativity of my team, but I’m looking forward to continue to grow and learn in this regard.
The best way I can describe how I feel right now is it’s like I just completed a hard disk defrag of myself, and now I’m ready to get some work done.
This project is Tarrasque sized... but do you know how you eat one? One day, one bite at a time. And thankfully, I’ve got some excellent help… and they all brought their appetites.
PS I’ll be going to Comic-Con – got my complimentary Professional Badge in the mail last week. If you’re going, to either Comic-Con or Gam3rCon (the parallel SD convention) message me; I’d love to potentially run you a game or grab a beer.
PPS If you haven’t already subscribed to my email newsletter you really should. While backer updates will still remain the best source for all things Salt in Wounds the email newsletter gets you some additional info about my (writing) life & work as well as a free ebook. In the next letter coming out Wednesday, there will also be a selfie I took after getting choked out underwater as part of my Krav Maga beach training last week… so there’s that. If you’re interested, there’s an easy signup link at www.saltinwoundssetting.com (you can message me if that doesn’t work/you have questions).
Delays, Changes, and NPC Submitter
almost 7 years ago
– Fri, Jun 02, 2017 at 01:17:26 AM
Well, I’m disappointed in myself. I have failed to meet some commitments I made with all of you.
Here’s what happened, here’s what I’m planning on doing about it:
The Problem
My proposed production pipeline hasn’t worked out. That is to say, ‘Design Notes’ ‘The Alchemist’ and ‘Adequate Commoner’ have all been finalized/distributed, but the Campaign Setting, Player Guides, and other ‘core’ supplements haven’t (and I’ve yet to propose fulfillment dates for the stretch goals). I had initially proposed May as a date for publication & fulfillment for all the non-stretch goal stuff and didn’t reach the goal. I had some things go wrong (biggest issue being my layout artist/art manager falling through in late March after months of not working) but the delay is ultimately my responsibility & no one elses. I sincerely apologize I failed to live up to the proposed timeline we set at funding, while I’m not running the first late Kickstarter this still represents me failing to live up to my standards, failing to live up to what you deserve. I believe the Campaign Setting guide and Players Guide will be delayed a couple months (although playtest versions will be available in a few weeks), but I’m not in a place where I can commit to new deadlines.
If you no longer wish to continue the Salt in Wounds journey with me and would like to withdraw your pledge, email me john [at] jmperkins.com with ‘Cancel Pledge’ in the subject line.
I should have done a better job adapting sooner and communicating new expectations, but I figured if I doubled down on what wasn’t working I could make it work; and instead I merely compounded the failure. Basically, when I boil things down production hasn’t run as I expected/wanted them to for a simple reason, something essential I didn’t understand about myself: I can’t write, edit, community manage, and project mange the thing I’m writing all at the same time. Trying to juggle all the balls means I’ve regularly fallen behind, regularly failed to meet the pace I need, and slowly begun to avoid my inboxes for fear of facing disappointment and all the ways I’d failed to live up to what I ‘should.’ I’ve been sporadically communicative, regularly letting conversation languish, doing art and design orders in a haphazard fashion… all while writing at an slow, agonizing pace.
I’ve been talking about shifting my focus to the essential business of writing/drafting for the last month and a half but I never truly turned off all inputs/tasks/expectations; I was still trying to ‘have it all’ and so ended up with less.
I was speaking to an external project manager, but since telepathy isn’t a thing (except in game) I would (necessarily) be having to communicate my needs regularly; I would need to outline tasks and review and give approval and on & on. The right (non-me) project manager could save me a lot of work, true; and I might need that in the future. But what I’ve realized is that this isn’t primarily about my work load. It’s more about the insulation of my creative process. In order to really write the way I need to, to write at my best I can’t be considering the expectations around my writing, how this will fit into that (as in, every part of the campaign setting guide pays off in the adventure path with nothing wasted), what art I need and who is working on this or that game design concept. Instead, in order to write at my best I need to be able to focus on the blank page in front of me and nothing else and I haven’t been able to do this consistently for the last few months.
For better or worse, Salt in Wounds is my creative project; I can’t replace myself from the equation. So I have to change my approach.
How I’m Adapting
Most essentially, I need to stop half assing (or, more realistically twelfth assing) dozens of things and just full ass one thing.
The thing I need to full ass is writing.
I need to (and the Salt in Wounds project generally needs me to) write. And write. And write some more. Not just the campaign setting guide and players guide, but all the supplements before I get them placed on the publication pipeline. There are lots more things/tasks to do to finish this project (coordinating with binder-lord backers submissions, managing backerkit, review freelancer assignments, working with a layout artist, continually developing and forwarding a buy plan for art, and on and on) and I’ve been trying to do them all at once. And I’ve been failing. Insofar as I try chase it all I catch nothing, I finish nothing.
So, for the next 30 days, in my creative life I am not an editor project manager or a _ - I’m a writer of Salt in Wounds, pure and simple.
I’ve negotiated with my job and my wife and for the next thirty days I have 4 hours a day carved out to write AND ONLY write. My goal in that time is to finish a full first draft of *every* Salt in Wounds supplement and book (except the adventure path), starting with core and moving my way through the stretch goals. Whatever I don’t write will be set aside for freelancer assignment. At the end of thirty days, I’ll post the work in progress draft of everything I’ve written in the playtest folder. I’ll assess where I am vs where we need to be and when I’ve taken the whole flock of my first drafts as far as they’ll go I’ll shift fully into project/community manager role and spend my time on just shepherding my words and outlines into finished products (without me trying to split my head into ‘writer’ and ‘everything else’ modes) with them available for playtest and comment every step of the way. There will be clear communication about where each project is, who is doing what and when things will be delivered. And prompt within 48 hour responses to every email/comment/message. But I can’t give that until the 1st drafts are done, I need to be alone and totally focused to make that happen.
I sincerely believe this is the path forward that will allow me to produce the highest quality work with the fastest turn around.
What I Need from You
First and foremost, I need a bit more of your understanding and patience with which you have already been so generous. I am going to skip the next update, circle back in front of all of you July 1st.
Feel free to email/message me, but I will be responding with an automated response (or not responding) with a real one in thirty days when I take a peak up from my writer hole.
If you’re interested, you can also assist me by filling out out the ‘Salt in Wounds NPC Submission Form’ – if you’re interested you can propose Salt in Wounds NPCs (based on yourself, a loved one, a neat concept, or a favored PC from one of your games). As I’m writing and I have NPC gaps, I will regularly pull from this list (by submitting to this list you give me payment free full permission to add your concept to my copywritten work and use it throughout my books & supplements though I will give you a contributor credit in the title page – full legalese will be on the form).
NPC submitter https://goo.gl/forms/0kEMdlknfK8Zj7M02
Thank you for bearing with me, now I’m going to get back to work. I will read and respond to each and every comment/message on the flip side.
Update
almost 7 years ago
– Mon, May 15, 2017 at 11:46:24 PM
What I’ve Been Working On:
-Writing and Editing ‘Salt in Wounds Campaign Setting Guide’
-Assigning and collecting various contributions from the team.
What I’ll Be Doing in the Next Two Weeks:
-Collecting Contributions from various collaborators and Binder-Lords about their Meridian Houses & Command Words, Etc
-Publishing Salt in Wounds Campaign Setting For Comment
-Final Edits, Art & Layout for Salt in Wounds Campaign Setting
-Publish Salt in Wounds Player’s Guide 5e for Review and Comment
Busy busy, and I want to get right back to it. When I get the campaign setting & players guide done, I'll want to get back into more expansive, clever updates and a more detailed release schedule and more ready communication + social media (but right now, I just want to spend all my writing time with my nose the the proverbial grindstone).
Update
almost 7 years ago
– Tue, May 02, 2017 at 11:25:31 PM
Excuse the quick and delayed update: working on a more in depth one but didn’t want to miss the mark too much.
What I Did:
- Wrote and Edited the Campaign Setting Guide
- Hired a new Layout Artist
- Hired an Art Director
- Hired a Project Manager
What I’ll Be Working on in the Immediate Future:
- Art orders
- Campaign Setting Guide
- Players Guide
Real talk time – I’m no longer sure if I can make the May Deadline for the Campaign Setting & Player Guides. Or, rather, I know I could publish *something* in that timeframe, but it wouldn’t have the amount of playtest, the backer feedback, and the general polish I want the books to have. I’ll have the draft ready to go soon, and I’ll be sure to make that available for comment, feedback, and playtest (even for the lower tier backers) so backers can start playing their games and we can maximize the quality for publication. Thanks for bearing with me as I create this world of the quality I want and that you deserve.
