Hey hey my eco-punk friends, it's Laurie here and it's that time again for an update, and boy am I excited for this one!
I am absolutely thrilled to say that we have worked our butts off to get both books ready in time for our print deadline, so much so that...
Both Direct Action and Core Book PDFs are now available for preview download from Backerkit!
I'd wanted to get this out to you all on the 1st of September, a nice early gift to make up for the chaos over the last couple of months, but Rob, grand high illustrator and harbinger of exceptional layouts REFUSED to let me release it until his latest chapter cover was complete! As such, I shall go no further before it is presented to you!
A Community Alliance Crew plans their Mission!
As ever, it's a beauty! There's one final chapter that awaits a big spread image like this: Bastions, and even I haven't seen the plans for it yet, so we can be excited for that together!
Why We Fight Preview PDFs
We mentioned during the campaign that we intended to get a functional preview edition out before the final release so that Backers could give feedback and try the game out early, and finally that time is at last upon us! There's a few small caveats:
The art isn't all done, there's still some blank space where art will be in the future, and there's still some sketch and line art! The final edition will be completed and the PDFs updated for everyone down the line.
We are not yet releasing these via Itch or Drivethrurpg, but don't worry, the final versions will be accessible via both!
Backers must complete their pledge surveys to be able to access the download, but once you have, you can access it via the Digital Downloads section in your account, which you can find in the drop down menu at the top right of your screen (image at the end if you need help!)
However!
Other than those small mentions, it's the real thing, baby! From here we're going to be laser focused on getting the games ready for print, and provided everything goes smooth with the production, it's looking like fulfilment will be beginning around mid-November! We'll of course keep you informed via our monthly updates and hopefully keep that on track.
On top of that, we're beginning playtests on our Discord server using these preview PDFs to see if we can find any problems or mistakes before it's permanently emblazoned upon a real life page! Want to have a go? Our September playtests are already in progress, but we'll be releasing availability polls for October in a couple of weeks, so if you haven't joined yet,click here and and sign yourself upas a Playtester or Why We Fight Fan to get notified when they go live!
A Quick Note for US Backers
So, the tariff situation is still ongoing, and the surprise announcement and implementation of it happened about a week before we launched our campaign, so there was no way to reflect it in our shipping prices.
That said, we're having a lot of discussions with both other UK RPG companies and US fulfilment companies who are all dealing with it as best as they can, and we are trying to find as good a balance as we can to avoid charging you folks extra shipping fees if we can help it. It doesn't help that it's bloody complicated, and the guidelines are vague... but!
Fun fact: every campaign we've ever run has been hit by some kind of weird crisis! Pugs in Mugs? A beautiful combo-wombo of post-covid shipping and Brexit rules fiasco! Earth Rising? Just in time for the Suez canal to get blocked! My point is, this isn't our first rodeo, and both times we managed to find a way to avoid charging any of our backers extra shipping. So, trust me when I say we are doing all we can to prevent extra fees, and even if we do, we'll soak up as much as we can.
Alrighty, any questions or struggles, hit me up in the comments below or send me an email at [email protected], or for really quick responses, message me in the discord server!
Otherwise, we'll catch you in October for, I expect, some proper certainty on manufacturing and fulfilment dates! ~Laurie & the SDR Team
