We are about 6 months past the end of the funding campaign for StoryGuider, and, since the last update:
art for the Heroes and Friends sets are complete and the Dragons set is almost finished (and on track)
the first 18 books are laid out (18 to go)
the first 6 proofs are in!
I ordered the first 6 proofs early to make sure my formatting on the interior was correct (i.e. words were not getting eaten by the seam), and I did find an issue that I wasn't expecting! The printer requires a blank page at the end of the book for an internal barcode, and I'd left that page blank by putting a white page there, which I think they detected as being an object. This resulted in them adding extra pages at the end, which I don't want.
I know how to fix it for the next iteration, but this basically let me find the issue before I needed to submit the whole lot for printing and was able to work on laying out 12 other books while the proofs were being printed and shipped (hopefully saving time from a proof iteration later).
From a timeline standpoint: Digital print-and-play distribution is still on track to meet the Heroes and Friends target (April) but may be delayed a month (June –> July) for the Dragons and coloring book target due to some life things that I talk about in today's TTRPGkids Dev Log. I've also delayed surveys to March since I want to prioritize layout/ordering proofs, which are longer lead items. POD key distribution will be parallel to print-and-play distribution if all proofs come in perfect, but it will likely be 1-2 months behind each print-and-play distribution if I find errors in the proofs and need to run a second round to correct it. I'm expediting all POD proofs to speed up the iteration process, and I'll keep you updated as it goes.
And I am delaying my next project, Begamed Brochures to 2027 to help me have a little more time to close StoryGuider out by the promise dates and stay on track for Mystery Snacks (metioned later).
There's also a full timeline in my Dev Log post with lots more info, if you're interested in the details.
My current StoryGuider priorities are: #1 - Finish layouts for the Heroes/Friends sets #2 - Update Heroes/Friends based on proofs, and order next round of proofs #3 - Send out surveys to backers #4 - Prep print-and-play files, game pages, and keys for Heroes/Friends while survey is running + waiting for proofs to deliver
ALSO.... Mystery Snacks is in it's final days on Backerkit! This is an anthology of all-ages friendly mysteries + a rules-lite system that's designed for solving fun-sized capers.
You can expect the next project update in late March when I'll have status on surveys, art reveals for the Dragons series, and a more detailed timeline walk for digital and POD distribution.
We are about 3 months past the end of the funding campaign for StoryGuider, and, so far:
the 7 new stories have been written
art is about 80% complete
layout/book formatting is kicked off on stories with completed art
One of those new story sets is The Tome Traveller Trilogy, which features a library cat who works with magical, living books! This series is being illustrated by Juno, and I'm excited to share some of their sample sketches here as a sneak peek!
From a timeline standpoint, things are on track with a small amount of built in buffer being used to do a bit more review on some of the art submissions, but we should be good (I leave in some extra space for things like this). I have a detailed timeline in today's TTRPGkids Dev Log, which also showcases TWO upcoming projects! This is my official announcement for Begamed Brochures (launches May 2026), which will be my next project after Mystery Snacks (launches Feb 2026).
You can expect the next project update in February, at which time, I should have books going through prototype printing and surveys about ready to go for fulfillment prep!
It's been a bit over a month since the StoryGuider campaign ended, so I wanted to give a status update on fulfillment and let you know what to expect next!
As of right now, I've finished writing one of the new trilogies (Tome Traveller), all artists have been sent their contracts, and art is starting to trickle in! The first that I want to showcase is the new look for Sandy the Dragon, illustrated by Soren!
Sandy the Dragon was the first adventure that I ever wrote, and my original release had my personal drawings, and I didn't feel like I had the skills at the time to do Sandy total justice. It is really something wonderful to see Sandy reimagined in a way that captures the playfulness and curiosity I wanted them to have; many thanks to Soren for doing such a wonderful job re-illustrating Sandy!
From a timeline standpoint, things are on track with the projected release dates, and I have a detailed timeline in today's TTRPGkids Dev Log if you want to get into more specifics or see the behind-the-scenes steps that go into these types of publications.
You can expect the next project update on December 17 where I plan to share another peek at the incoming project art, and, until then, happy gaming!
I am happy to say that the StoryGuider campaign closed last night after hitting the $4k mark and unlocking our first stretch goal!
Now, work begins on art, layout, etc, and I'll have regular updates once enough progress has been made. You can check out the full campaign timeline here in today's TTRPGkids Dev Log, if you want all the details and next steps, but otherwise, I will be doing a 1/month update starting mid-November and going through to fulfillment.
As the campaign closed, so did one of our polls! And the winner was... filling in missing words! So, book 1 in the Tome Traveller trilogy will have some fun ad-lib style challenges to complete!
The next poll is live (and can be found at the bottom of this page), and is about what social-emotional learning skill we want to focus on in book 2.
In this campaign wrap, I want to give a special round of shoutouts to some fellow creators, organizations, and individuals who really helped spread the word on the campaign. These folks used their websites, newsletters, and social media channels to reach out, often times unprompted, just because they believed in the project or what TTRPGkids was doing.
Pictured here are: Grafbound Press, Shadomain, The Wanderer's Tome, Almost Bedtime Theater, The Kid's Table D&D, ALA's Games & Gaming Round Table, Cezar Capacle, Exuent Press/Skeleton Code Machine, and Jaclyn Lewis/Young Dragon Slayers
Lastly... with the closing of this project, I'm announcing my next one! Kicking off in February, I'll be running a campaign for an all-ages friendly rules-lite mystery solving TTRPG!
As always, thank you for supporting the project, and I'm now looking forward to getting some books on your screens and in your hands! Until the next update... Happy gaming (and Happy Halloween)!
Help me welcome Soren to the art team as we've unlocked a stretch goal here at the end! I am so glad to be able to bring them onto the team, and thank you all for the support!
I'll have another update tomorrow once final numbers are in with the plan for fulfillment/update cadance and next steps, and until then, HAPPY GAMING!
