Let's get the boring stuff out of the way: basically all cards have been charged at this point, minus like 15 stragglers - if you are one of those, please reach out to either me here ([email protected]) or BK directly. We are getting there.
NOOWWWWW, the cool, exciting stuff: production is happening. I have received prototypes from the factory in which i am producing the games (in the EU). Lo and behold. Of course now there's like 100 hours of work ahead to actually change, fix, correct, alter, amend all the stuff that needs to be changed, fixed, corrected, altered, amended. It is what it is. Production is a strenuous, slow and complicated process - did you hear the podcast? But we are getting there. There's some files that need to be reexported because i am an idiot, and there's some components that definitely need an upgrade in the paper quality. ALSO, look at how the Toolbox is shaping up to be. Finally a place to organise all those hexes.
OWLBEAR VTT IMPLEMENTATION!
Reminder that the Owlbear VTT implementation by Brauk is under playtesting. We are looking for people to try it out and give feedback. Join the Discord and look for the dedicated channel (it's called OWLBEAR-VTT so you can't miss it). In there, you will find instructions on how to install the whole thing and start playing. This is a passion project by Brauk - for which i am extremely grateful - and all feedback is appreciated. Please post any feedback on the Owlbear-VTT discord channel directly.
NEW PATREON DROP!
I made a bunch ofMAGIC RINGS. Actually a d66 table of them, so 36 total. "Finally Andre", i can hear you all behind my back. I have posted the file on the Patreon in the Extra Content for FLAIL collection. Highlights include:
Peer Pressure Ring: advantage on risky actions if two other allies encourage wearer to attempt it.
Ring of Schadenfreude: wearer recoups 1 hp whenever an ally fumbles.
Ring of the Scapegoat: mark usage to transfer one condition to another character or hireling.
The Show-Off: grants +1 TH if at least three allies are watching (possibly wasting their round).
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL THE SUPPORT! IF YOU NEED ANYTHING I'M HERE, ANDRE.
Cards have now been charged, and some people reached out asking for clarification on why shipping costs ended up being a bit higher than expected. To be frank, this was an honest mistake on my part, and I come here today asking for your understanding. I was told by Backerkit that all cards were going to be charged in dollars, and in the backend, all pledges were showing the $ symbol. Because of this, I input all shipping charges as if the currency was indeed dollars - it was soooo painful to double-check, triple-check that all conversion rates were accurate. All for nothing (facepalm). It turns out that, even though there was indeed a $ symbol displayed there, all cards were actually charged for the amounts I had input in euros. Because the exchange rate between dollars and euros means that the euro amount is roughly 15% higher, this is why everyone ended up being charged an additional 15% or so.
COMPENSATION
It is virtually impossible for me to now reverse-charge all cards and charge them again correctly. Backerkit doesn't even have a feature for this, and doing it manually would create a massive accounting nightmare while also costing me tons of money in additional payment processing fees to stripe, paypal, etc. It really cannot be done. HOWEVER - and even considering that for the majority of people this was no more than a few euros - I understand that some people might feel upset or cheated, so I am going to offer a couple of official FLAIL adventures for free as compensation. If purchased separately, these adventures would cost $6 total, so I'm offering them to you as a token of good faith and begging for your understanding.
Here are the adventures (click the image):
For those who already own these adventures and still feel upset about the situation, please reach out at [email protected] and I will try to find another way to offer compensation. This is a very complicated process, especially considering how this campaign kinda blew up and it's still me, alone, dealing with everything that happens with this project, so please bear with me. This is not an excuse, but I am really doing my best here.
WHERE IS THAT EXTRA 15% GOING?
Even considering all of this, I want to be transparent about where that money is going. With the way things are of late - increased logistics costs, rising oil prices, shipping prices going up again (I literally just received a notification that postal rates are increasing again!), new EU import regulations, etc. - I suspect that all of that money is going to end up being swallowed by the actual costs of fulfilment anyway. It is what it is.
I think I might have underestimated the price of shipping back in March/April compared to what it is now. Even so, my intention was always to find a way to absorb those costs myself rather than come back to you asking for more $$$. This mistake means that some of that difference has now ended up being charged to you instead. I know it's not ideal, and i'm sorry for it, but I hope you understand where I'm coming from here.
OWLBEAR RODEO TRY FLAIL ON VIRTUAL TABLETOP!
Just a heads-up that the Owlbear VTT implementation by Brauk is officially under playtesting. Join the Discord if you wanna try it out. I've just created a dedicated channel on the server for this. In that same channel, you may find instructions on how to install it and start playing. This is a passion project by Brauk - for which i am extremely hyper XXL grateful - and all feedback is appreciated. Please post any feedback on the Owlbear-VTT discord channel directly.
THANK YOU AGAIN FOR ALL THE SUPPORT! IF YOU NEED ANYTHING I'M HERE, ANDRE.
FLAIL rulebook is now finalised. The book has been edited and it is now available through this link. The resources folder has also been updated to match the current version. This is the version that is going to print. I wanna thank everyone again for their contributions, from typo hunting to alternative rules and text revisions! FLAIL community has grown incredibly over the past few months - come hang out on the Discord - and many many many of your suggestions have made into the book. I really couldn't have done without you all.
ALSO, ORDERS WILL BE LOCKED AND CARDS SHALL BE CHARGED!
Orders will be locked on Thursday. If you wish to update your cart/rewards, now's the time. Pre-order will also be closing in the same day, as we move towards production. Cards will be charged sometime next week - probably early next week.
Calendar:
This week: orders will be locked on thursday.
Next week: cards shall be charged.
August-September: the printer says it will take around two months for the project to be printed/produced. I shall keep you informed.
October-November: shipping boxsets to fulfilment warehouses.
December-January: fulfilment time.
ALSO, NEW FLAIL PROJECT!
I've shared on instagram that i started a new project for FLAIL: a mega-dungeon. Well, a FLAIL mega-dungeon, which means the whole book is probably going to be right around 20 pages. This for me is the longest i can think in terms of a location-based adventure. I really can't cope with those hyper-mega-colossal dungeons spanning 17 floors that take 2.5 years to complete. It's just not for me.
I was going through some old stuff, in particular Expedition Log published at Games Omnivorous an year or so ago, and i saw this glorious map by Paths Peculiar and my whole body twitched and turned as if i had been possessed by the gods of game design. I asked Niklas if i could write a dungeon for it and Niklas said yes. Thank you Niklas! You're the best.
Started it. Probably going to take quite a bit, but i'm writing it not only as some sort of official introductory module for FLAIL, but also as some sort of generic introduction to the OSR genre. When this is ready i will probably make a print run of it and sell it via Games Omnivorous. Let's see how this goes.
We going to close the pledge manager in about two or three weeks, so you can expect cards to be charged then. Pretty much everything has been reviewed and proofread, so i am currently finalising the files for print. Production has been paid for and is scheduled to start in the beginning of August. After i send everything for print, i will update the resources folder with all final files, including the final rulebook. I shall let you know when that happens.
ALSO, VTT OPTIONS!
After production begins and the digital files have all been updated to match the print edition, i shall begin the process of creating an official VTT implementation as per one of the Stretch Goals. HOWEVER, in the meantime, there are already a few options for you to play FLAIL online, thanks to very generous fans and creators who have spent their own time creating these resources:
Owlbear implementation by Brauk (still WIP - hop on the Discord to get notified)
I've decided to cast ANIMATE DEAD on my instagram account. Probably not the shrewdest of moves, but we shall see. The idea is to share weekly progress on my work, mostly notably on FLAIL, things that inspire me, books, movies, museums, etc etc. Every monday is RECORD MONDAY, where i take a record from my collection and explain why every game designer should own it. Every tuesday is GAME MECHANIC day, where i highlight some sort of mechanic that i particular like. Every wednesday is HISTORY QUIRK, where i post about a historical happening or object that has inspired the games i make. And so forth. If you're into that kind of thing, click any image below.
ALSO, NEW PATREON DROP!
Last week i released a new adventure for FLAIL called VOLCANO DEMON LAVA. It's about a cult that wants to summon Molthar, the Demon of Fire, from the heart of a volcano to usher in a glorious reign of flames and burn the world to ash. You know the type. The players have of course to stop it, and a brutal fight will probably ensue inside the volcano's crater. It's good fun. You can get this via Patreon.
ALSO, FLAIL IN PORTUGUESE!
FLAIL is coming out in PORTUGUESE via Brazilian publisher Caramelo Jogos, who also did Mausritter and many other games you certainly know such as OSE. For me, feels natural that the first localisation of the game is in portuguese seeing how that's my.... native language. At least i can actually see how well the game is translated :D Anyway, this is coming at some point, not sure when. A small quickstart is already out (a 40-page zine to get people excited) and then a full boxset will follow later on. Thank you Caramelo Jogos for this!
Pledge Manager went live a couple of weeks ago; i wanna thank everyone who reported a few miscalculations here and there (sorryyyyy!). Those have all been fixed, i hope, and everything's working properly now. There are still around 150 backers who haven't completed their surveys yet, so please do so when you can, otherwise you won't receive your rewards.
ALSO, PROGRESS!
The rulebook is officially being edited and proofread , which should take another week or so. I also wanna publicly thank everyone who took the time to submit suggestions for improvement, new ideas, typo hunting, etc. If you'd like to throw something in, you still have a few days. You can do by heading over to this document. Once that's done, we steer towards to production. FLAIL's boxset is pretty much locked in, everything's good there. For the Hexcrawl Toolbox, I'm still working with the printer to figure out the best size and inlay for storing the hexes. My goal is to have print-ready files and everything approved for production in July. I'll keep you all informed.
ALSO, NEW PATREON DROP!
I made a new adventure for my Patreon. Instead of a location-based module, i decided to go for a Quest Scenario this time. This format has been gaining a lot of popularity, since it's very easy to pick up and run while giving players whole regions to explore. Sooooooo, the premise is simple: a gnome hires the party to deliver a sealed chest across the realm. Players are told not to open it, paid not to open it, and will lose their reward if they open it. When they finally arrive, the recipient wants nothing to do with it. It's in this mess that your players are drawn into. Lemme know how they handle it.
ALSO, CONVERSION GUIDELINES!
I made a conversion guide between FLAIL and other systems, such as DCC, Into The Odd / Cairn, MORK BORG, OSE and Shadowdark. People had been asking for this for a while and I finally got around to it. It took an embarrassingly long timeeeeeeeeee to put together, so please don't tell me it's completely useless right away ;D You can check it out here.
This is very much WIP and i shall be updating it as needed in the resources folder, so if you have solid experience with any of these systems and spot that something looks off, please do tell. This is the best i could do, but things sometimes are a bit subjective, so who knows.
ALSO, I HAVE A PODCAST!
Johan Nohr (of MÖRK BORG) fame and I started a new podcast called MAKING GAMES. It's a laid-back show where we talk about making tabletop RPGs and everything that comes with it: inspiration, design, art, publishing, production, and the occasional catastrophe. In the first episode, we talk about where ideas come from, how they evolve into actual projects, and why the earliest stages of design are often the most exciting, all while trying to figure out what this podcast wants to become. Check it out.
