Everything Takes Longer Than We Hope

But sometimes things are basically finished.

I think is UVG is finished enough now. I'd always planned to updated the free introduction to serve as a proper player guide for the UVG, something the cat (aka. the GM) can hand out to the other players to get them in the mood, to let them quickly imbibe some of the setting.

Some of the text is also significantly shortened from the UVG itself. So, all of you who have the full book, you're still totally definitively anti-canon. Could I also add the glossary? Yes, I suppose so—but I think I'll probably just make a digital glossary instead.

I'm going to upload this free guide to drivethrurpg and itch.io eventually (maybe tomorrow), but you all get to enjoy it today.The update includes:

• the updated rules from the printed UVG, but also a few tweaks from seacat. The differences should be minor, and the cat is always encouraged to put their paw down and make a ruling on the new-canon (or demand a plush toy mouse or some lasagna).
• some new art and some old art that didn't make it into the print UVG.
• the new minimalist SEACAT hero sheets and a streamlined caravan sheet.

Meanwhile, nearly all the kickstarter books have finally reached their destination, time for me to make that yoga video I guess and with the fall colours, it'll be beautiful.

I can't believe I made the original free intro back in May 2018 - over two years ago. I really thought all the work on the UVG would be done last September, but, wow, how things went, eh? Lessons, lessons, lessons.

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PHEW

So, what are the next steps?

• back on track with seacat
• finish layout on longwinter and upload that
• dark prologue (why is it so long? why do I want to make it really cool? will it work?)
• and then get back to some semblance of rhythm with red sky dead city

And some other stuff, like the OSE adventure and some art for SUDO and some art for a new Skerples book. Y'know, little things. But enough to keep me packed till Winter, I guess. I'm trying hard to not overload myself again because I've realized that with all that has happened in the last year my personal ability to operate under stess is a little bit compromised—no mad attempt to spend 8 hours a day learning Korean and another 8 hours a day finishing UVG!

By the way, to all the metaheroes: this is a good time to reach out to me if there's something from the seacat rules or things tomes you'd like to see illustrated!

There are also some background things in the works:

• Simplify the wizardthieffighter page to make it work better as a reference.
• Make a storefront for art things (everybody loves mugs, I'm told).
• Clean up the patreon support tiers.

Wait, patreon tiers?

Yep. Not trying to sneak anything in there—the simple fact is patreon has made some changes over the months and years, and I haven't fully kept up. Here's a quick rundown:

• I've implemented itch.io integration, so all metaheroes are going to get access to all the completed books that way. There'll be a tier-specific post on that soon, and I'll make an updated post whenever something new goes up.
• I'm going to bundle the neohero and hero tiers together (i.e. they will become exactly the same)—because patreon doesn't let me make paid updates specific to individual tiers anymore. Before I do that, I'm going to remind all the neohero to put in limits on their pledges. That way, if I post 2 paid posts a month, well, they won't pay twice.
• I'm going to try out an art comissar tier with maybe 1 or 2 slots. Just to see how that goes.
• I'm going to finally make a welcome video. Since the ennies video was so popular, I'm going to try and channel my inner C&C Brotherhood of Nod again for that as well. Maybe it'll be nice.
• Additionally, up till now I've been quietly extending discord invitations to everybody who joins. There's 400-or-so of us there and I might adjust that and keep it just at $4 or so in the future (at least to join—I don't think I've booted anyone because they couldn't afford to stay a patron). I'm not yet 100%, but there is an element of coziness to discord servers up to a certain size that starts to get hard to maintain beyond that point. I might be terribly wrong on this, so expect a poll.
• And, finally, patreon is rolling out currency support for euros and pounds. They advertise this as improving conversion rates in the EU and UK, but I think it's also fair enough for people living their to get to see what they pay in their own currency. I'm not sure how this'll work out in detail, but ... oh well. Live and learn.

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Ok, PHEW again!

That was a longer laundry list than I planned!

Culpa, culpa, mea maxima!

Now, without further ado, a frabjous 8th of September to all, and enjoy this freemium player guide. You've made it be possible, let it be shared with joy. 

Sincerely,

—Luka

EDIT: fixed two typos! Thank you, typohunters!