Legends Design Update!




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We have been hunkering behind our enchanted shields after shooting out a poorly worded and inaccurate update about Legends. So, I thought I would bring you a VERY nitty-gritty detailed update on status, and an open conversation about status, complexity, and delivery. We share your pain with the delayed delivery, but with a SOLID dedication to delivering the best possible product, we must take the opportunity to bring the create a new pillar that will stand the test of time. After internal testing and review of our progress on Legends, it was unanimously agreed that we were chasing the wrong rabbit with the product, and it deserved so much better. We still stand by our commitment to be here week in and week out to discuss and share with you all news as we finish up this product. I (Ninja John) have stepped in for Ninja Deke on Kickstarter communications. As I have been coming online, you have noticed a drop off in engagement from our end. Please be assured, I will be up to snuff in no time, and I thank you for your patience.




Legends overview:


•Legends is a 3 book product, consisting of a robust Hero's Handbook, The Consul Grimoire, and the Explorer's Guide.
•The Explorers Guide is the background book, its FULL of rich background detailing the races, history, and regions of Crystalia and only needs a little more artwork before we can go to layout. I am personally working with Ninja Deke on the art guide to finalize that content and assign the additional illustration.
•The Hero's Handbook is the "Rules" and the players guide to Legends. The primary rules and engine have been rewritten and are done. It still needs a final pass on the ability lists and the leveling guide. These will get sorted out during play testing as the math used to balance the process needs to be planned carefully. We are still on track to start play testing this month, as Deke had informed you in previous communications. You will know as soon as we do!
•The Consul's Grimoire has 3 primary sections: 2x Campaigns, a HUGE Bestiary, and an Adventure Building Guide. Campaigns will be written along with play testing, because they are informed by how testing affects the adventures. Bestiary will get more fully filled out once we are happy with the balancing rubric on how they work and interact with each other and the players. Again, super informed by our internal and external testing (Beginning this month). And, Adventure Building is being written side-by-side with the playtest adventures as we speak, and then be polished through the test process.

It's hard to simplify all of that into a number or a percentage - but as testing gets underway, we will be soliciting you for feedback and involvement in the last steps. Here is a graphic we will be updating weekly to give you an at-a-glance overview of progress. We will likely discuss more minute issues in the updates, and try to leave this a clean visual on progress. Please ask anything below - we will answer what we have answers for.

As we proceed - there are a few core questions we keep seeing that we need to address. We will come back and mention them as often as needed to provide clarification, as they are essential to understanding the progress of this campaign, it's fulfillment, and to help cut through confusion and speculation by some of our more passionate backers.
•Q: In your previous update, you showed the Legends Kickstarter at 0%, why is that?
•A: Because Ninja John is doofy, and I totally glazed over a portion of our internal update that was described in a follow-on email, and is NOT REFLECTIVE of reality. We are actually significantly farther along in development.
•Q: Why do you have other Kickstarters nearing completion sooner than Legends?
•A: Our other campaigns are all projects with varying scope and resources. Some were completely developed before going to Kickstarter, some certainly did not require a reset/redesign of a core element in our exploration of the project, and not any of them, all together, are as complex or requiring as much design and creative contribution as Legends is to complete.
•Q: Does any of your other business activity, and Kickstarters slow down development of the project I backed?
•A: NOPE. We have developed channels of production, independent of one another, and managed by different teams, to deliver each program in their entirety. The work budgeted for each campaign, Legends included, has not drawn more resources from any other campaign, nor been impacted by the work done on other campaigns, as they are unique in their challenges, managed in their asset generation from shared art resources, and championed internally by different managers. Impacts to various projects have come from a variety of reasons, and mostly due to unseen variables in dealing with overseas manufacturing vendors, approval of quality materials and finished goods, reworking key design elements through intense internal scrutiny and testing, and in some cases, personal family, and health reasons that might have pulled one or more of us offline in very serious ways.
•Q: Will you stop work on other kickstarters until this one is complete?
•A: Nope. These are all planned independent of one another, and the completion of one, on scales of complexity and inputs was designed to generate and work themselves out in exclusivity.
•Q: I saw something about a 3rd Wave Release for Super Dungeon Legends, what is that?
•A: That was again, a mistake placement by me (Ninja John). As we have had internal discussion about a possible split of one of the waves to deliver more content to you quicker, because of the delay with the Legends rules. I don't have enough date together yet on the impact of this decision, but would welcome your feedback.
•Q: When can backers start to expect to be receiving the first Wave of content?
•A: All of Wave 1 is in pre-production right now. We need to approve final miniatures from test molds, and the digital and physical proofs on all submitted designs. I do not have a shipment date on these items today, but we are continuing to follow up on their status