Been awhile since I rapped at 'cha, but things are proceeding.  I wanted to let you know that orders will lock, as in you can't change them, on Wednesday, October 2nd.  I am hoping to have all the spreads in and send to the printer by the end of October.  I'm not sure how the pre-order store works with the billing date, but I would get your requests in sooner rather than later if you want your stuff shipped at the same time as the bulk of the orders.

I asked Matthew for a couple small updates to the road combat grid and the character sheet, and these add-ons will likely go to the printer next week.  He's also cranking out spreads, like these important pages:

Speaking of Wasteland Degenerates artist Matthew Myslinski, his own game just opened on Friday the 13th on Kickstarter and I couldn't be happier about his blockbuster opening!  Quite frankly he killed it, much like the homicidal maniacs that populate his game.  The project already has an amazing list of guest writing and art contributors:

Tommy Sunzenauer (Obscure, SVMP, Grotten: 1-Bit Deeper, MÖRK DÖD)

John Baltisberger (Whispers of the Dead Saint, Overgrowth)

Paweł Kicman (CORP BORG, Kill Your Necromancer, Your Last Day on Earth)

John Tedrick (Magic: the Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, GODS)

Blake Davis (Pathfinder, Omenshard)

And I happen to know that these are just the start and there are some big names coming up in the stretch goals, so help Matthew unlock the badass-ness!  Who knows?  He might even be able to afford me, eventually.

In addition to trying to figure out required business stuff like bar codes and small business accounting, I'm working on the next campaign for the hardcover, which I expect to open in November.  I'll send out a message about that once I have the teaser page up.

Anyway, that's all for now!  See you on the Road Eternal!

I'm happy to say that 92% of backers have now filled out their surveys, but I'm going to hold off locking in orders for a bit longer because some of the remaining 8% are on the retail tier, and I want to give them enough time to get around to it, because I now know that running a business is complicated and time consuming!

I thought I fixed them all, but one digital Early Bird backer was still getting charged for shipping because of the reward poster, and I fixed that by making the poster digital.  Definitely reach out to me if you feel like you're getting charged shipping incorrectly.

One thing that has gotten some attention is the survey question about the upcoming hardcover campaign, and I wanted to pull back the curtain on the current results of that question:

My calculator says that almost 60% of you want the hardcover, which is an incredible show of confidence that I am incredibly grateful for.  As for the remainders, the 35% that would like to buy the remaining core rules have convinced me to add a new tier to the upcoming campaign: the Dead Battery Edition, a zine, similarly sized to the JCE, that has all of the GM-facing information, the remaining monsters, the cataclysms, factions, odds and ends, and  introductory adventure.  This will be a main option on the crowdfunding campaign that will be less than half the cost of the hardcover core book.  In fact, the JCE and the DBE together will still be less expensive than the hardcover... they just won't look as good on your shelf.

I'd also like to eventually release the intro adventure, Reaver's Rhapsody, separately for free on my Itch page. 

As for the 25 folks who don't want any more Wasteland Degenerates content after getting their zine... well, I look forward to earning their business again. :)

I've fielded some questions about why we're doing the hardcover core book as the next project, instead of letting the zine breathe and releasing some smaller supplements to expand the brand.  Well, the main answer is that my vision was always for the big ol' hardcover and I just want to get it out there into your sweaty wastelander hands.  But on top of that, the next supplement, Asphalt Dirge, is already almost half written and builds on stuff that's only in the core book.  If we can get the full product out to everyone by sometime in convention season 2025, we'll be cooking with guzzeline.

The pre-order store is still open, and we've had a number of orders so far.  Anyone who missed the campaign can still pick up copies until it is time to lock orders for delivery.

Anyway, Matthew is still hard at work cranking out pages weekly.  I'll leave you with a ubiquitous and important page from any Mork Borg-affiliated work, COMBAT.

Matthew says he'd like to work on the road combat pages next, and who am I to blow against the wind?

Catch you later like a military surplus grenade!

Scott

I got responses from 73% of the smoke test, and there was nothing too crazy going on, so I released all the surveys into the wild.  Please check out the survey questions... I am very interested to hear about people's opinion on the future of Wasteland Degenerates!

In addition, I've opened the pre-order store, so folks who missed the campaign can now buy the zine and add-ons individually.

Note to EU purchasers: The shipping rules for shipping from the US to the EU are hideously complex, so if you happen to notice a drastic discrepancy with your costs, let me know and we can look into it.

Right now we're looking at shipping for late October, since the campaign did so well and funded so many extra pages.  Even now, Matthew is working on new pages and fixing stuff I forgot to add in the first place.  For my part, I've taken into account playtest data (thanks, Flintwyrm!) and made some major overhauls to the highway combat system to make it flow better and be more true to Mörk Borg's essence.

I'm excited and a little terrified to be moving into this new phase of self-publishing.  I want to thank you all for your great support and kind words along the way.

Sincerely,

Scott

PS - if you haven't already, go click on the "Notify me on launch" button for CHAINSAW by Matthew Myslinski, the very artist for Wasteland Degenerates!  He's worked super hard on this project and it's going to be the definitive horror movie Mörk Borg, in my humble opinion!

Sorry it's been a while since I rapped at ya, but it's taken me a bit to wrap my head around the surveys, and it's given Matthew a chance to get rolling on the new pages.   After discussing layout and remaining pages, Matthew has advised me that we can likely go to print in late October.  I know this is later than we initially expected, but we also funded 16 pages of extra content.  While this was originally going to be a separate 16 page booklet, we decided that it didn't make sense to release a separate zine, so now it's going to be a 76 page zine instead of a 64 page zine, and you're also getting a handy-dandy quick reference rule card.

Anyway, I've sent the smoke test to a selection of backers and we'll work through any tricky issues or errors with the survey before it gets sent to the rest of you.  Already identified one weird interaction that I'm going to fix, tonight hopefully.

Speaking of new pages, here's part of the Job Board, just for fun:

 
In other news, I emailed copies of Blood on the Bleak Road to those that ordered the physical edition.  Look for an email from [email protected] and let me know if there's a problem with your files.  You'll also get the files after you complete your surveys.

That's all I have for now.  Thank you for your patience, and please know that we're working to get your goodies to you as soon as possible!

May I see you on the road eternal!