Hello everyone!

We're in the final stages of proofing layouts, trying to get all the text files for Dungeon Denizens 2 to the printer. In this update, we'll cover that, the pledge manager, Essen Spiel, and some good news on shipping timelines for international backers. 

Joseph Goodman is visiting Germany to attend Essen Spiel! He will be there Thursday and Friday, hanging out with our German translation partner System Matters (Hall1, booth 1D711). EU/UK backers, if you'd like to come by and get an autograph or just talk fantasy books, please do! We'll post some exact times to the Goodman Games blog as the dates get closer.

We are working on a process to significantly speed up shipping for international backers. In short, we'll be delivering product directly from China to destination markets, rather than stopping off at our warehouse in Indiana. This means the add-on choices at the pledge manager stage will be more limited for international backers, but for most markets you'll receive your items weeks (or maybe months) sooner. More details to come and it should be a very positive development.

We're in the final stages of proofreading layouts so we can get everything to the printer. With a project this large, and with so many titles involved, what we do first is finalize all the text files. Then, based on final page counts, we are able to determine spine widths and finalize the cover layouts. Then the printer proofing process begins.

The text layout is complete and approved on these titles: 2-Page Dungeon Delves #2, Monster Alphabet, Tome of Adventure #8: Dying Earth, DCC #112 Mother of Monsters, MCC #16 The Book of Monstrous Mutants, FEF #35 Frozen Lair of the White Wyvern, FEF #36: Revenge of the Rat King, DCC #68 People of the Pit.

Of course, the title we didn't mention in that list is Dungeon Denizens 2. We just finished the 9,000th proofread pass... or maybe it was the 10,000th? Hard to keep track anymore. There is always one more thing to fix, because we want to make it perfect. This time we caught a discrepancy in the table of contents - after a certain entry, all the page numbers were off by 1. That's the only error we found in this latest pass, so I think we are very, very close to having the layout complete. When we get the updated layout showing that correction, we'll do one final pass, and hopefully have it complete.

Then there are two other secondary titles that are also very close to completion: How to Write Even Better Adventures and The Flumph's Catalogue of Magical Curiosities. In both cases, all the text is formatted in layout and we're waiting on a couple illustrations to come in.

Once we get all the products off to the printer, we will start setting up the pledge manager. For most backers, the single biggest interaction they'll have with the pledge manager is their shipping charge. We really try to get that right! A large factor in that is the weight of the books. Once we have all files to the printer, the printer will send us "printer dummies" - basically these are plain white books that have the same paper specs and page counts as the finished books. These help us verify the weights. Once we have the printer dummies we'll have confidence in the weights and will be able to finalize the pledge manager. So it's still at least a month out but we're slowly getting closer.

Hope that provides clarity on the latest status. Let us know if you have any questions!