Early April Update!
about 7 years ago – Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 09:49:01 PM

If you want to stop receiving these updates (Which is likely for those of you who only ordered Seventy Maxims books):

  

• Login to your Kickstarter account. 
• Go to Settings-> Notifications. 
• Scroll down past the newsletter info. 
• Then you'll find a list of all the projects that you have backed. 
• Uncheck the box next to Planet Mercenary and click save. 
• You will no longer be notified by email when we post an update, but you'll still be able to check on the updates by going to the project page. 

If your order contains a Planet Mercenary core book, all of your items will ship together in July. If you want to check the contents of your order or if you need to update your shipping address, use this link to log in to Backerkit: https://planet-mercenary-rpg.backerkit.com/ 

The Beta PDF: We’ve had questions about the Beta PDF, which we’d hoped to get out on April 1. That is still coming, we just want to get all of the material onto the pages. The book has more pages than we expected and we’ve decided to spend the money and expand the page count rather than cutting material. It is the least we can do as a thank you to all of you who have been so patient.

There are about 20 pages left that need layout. Hopefully we’ll have that done by the end of the week and we’ll be ready to release the Beta early next week. 

Pretty pictures: We’ve put some page spreads, and other sneak peeks down below the stats. Scroll down so you don’t miss them. 

Component Status 

• Dice - Ordered and Arrived 
• Mayhem Deck - Ordered and Arrived 
• GM Screen – Art is complete and Design for back side is complete. Just waiting on one last copy edit pass. 

Planet Mercenary Book Status 

• Rules Text: 100% written. 
• Editing 100%. 
• Art: Art is 99% completed (+1%). We found one more spot that needed art. It is incoming this week.
• Setting Text: 100%. (+4%) Howard is done drafting. 
• Commentary text: 20% This goes in the sidebars and gives you jokes, we haven’t had a progress bar for this prior to today. It will be happening in the next three weeks parallel to indexing. 
• Pre-Gen Adventure: Done. In edited and waiting for layout. 
• Copy-editing: 60% (+10%). This is a big focus for this week and next. 
• Indexing: 33% Pages 1-200 were handed off for indexing on April 1st. It will take about 1 month to do all the pages. 

An alternate measure: the book has 20 sections 

• Sections 1-17 Layout complete. (321 pages completely laid out.) 
• Section 18 (Game Chief Reference) In layout 75% laid out
• Section 19 (The pre-built adventure) In layout. 
• Section 20 Indexes, Character sheet, etc. Character sheet is complete. Indexing began on April 1. 

By Pages:  

• Pages 200-300 in 2nd pass copy edit. 
• Pages 1-200 being indexed 
• Pages 300-336 in layout

Game Chief Secrets PDF: Pieces are in place, but our focus is on getting the core-book out to you, and then turning our attention to this fully. 

Thanks for your continued support! We are working diligently to get this in your hands. - Howard, Sandra, & Alan

 

  

 

 

End of March Update
about 7 years ago – Mon, Mar 27, 2017 at 09:03:58 PM

If you want to stop receiving these updates (Which is likely for those of you who only ordered Seventy Maxims books): 

• Login to your Kickstarter account. 
• Go to Settings-> Notifications. 
• Scroll down past the newsletter info. 
• Then you'll find a list of all the projects that you have backed. 
• Uncheck the box next to Planet Mercenary and click save.
• You will no longer be notified by email when we post an update, but you'll still be able to check on the updates by going to the project page.  

The only orders that have not shipped are those containing a Planet Mercenary Core book. This includes all Sergeant in Motion, Company Commander and Commodore level backers. Your Seventy Maxims book will ship in July with the remainder of your items. If you want to request and pay for separate shipping for your Seventy Maxims book(s), email [email protected]. 

 If you believe you should have received your Seventy Maxims book, but haven't, please check your Backerkit order. If your package contains the Planet Mercenary book, it hasn't shipped yet. If you've checked your Backerkit and still have questions, please email [email protected]. Sandra will help you. 

Component Status 

• Dice - Ordered and Arrived
• Mayhem Deck - Ordered and Arrived 
• GM Screen – Art is complete and Design for back side is complete. Just waiting on page numbers for two tables, then this will go to print. 

Planet Mercenary Book Status 

• Rules Text: 100% written. 
• Editing 100%. 
• Art: Art is 98% completed (+5%). All that is left is to pretty-up some maps and charts. 
• Setting Text: 96%. (+4%) Howard is working to finish Game Chief reference section by the end of the week. 
• Pre-Gen Adventure: Done. In edited and waiting for layout. 
• Copy-editing: 50% (+5%). 
• Indexing: Not yet begun. (Probably start on Friday)

An alternate measure: the book has 20 sections (We reorganized and combined a couple of sections because it made for a better reference book. 

• Sections 1-14 Layout complete. (228 pages completely laid out.) 
• Sections 15 (partial) In layout now (This is locations and has 11 locations in it) 
• Section - 16 100% written. Under consideration to be combined with another section. 
• Section - 17 The Game Chief Section Ready for layout. 
• Section 18 Game Chief Reference 70% done, Howard needs to fill gaps, Alan needs to add stats. 
• Section 19 (The pre-built adventure) Returned from editor. Waiting for Sandra to approve edits. 
• Section 20 Indexes, Character sheet, etc. Character sheet is complete. Indexing will start on Friday 

By pages: Pages 1-100 in 2nd pass copy edit. Will move to Indexing on Friday. 

Game Chief Secrets PDF: Pieces are in place, but our focus is on getting the core-book out to you, and then turning our attention to this fully.

Thanks for your continued support! We are working diligently to get this in your hands. - Howard, Sandra, & Alan 

Mid-March Update
about 7 years ago – Thu, Mar 16, 2017 at 12:43:34 AM

Sorry for the delay folks. That's on me. 

Almost all of the Seventy Maxims orders have gone out. Sandra has about fifty more packages to mail tomorrow after some additional supplies arrive. Once those are out, all the remaining packages contain either a Planet Mercenary core book or a Game Chief screen (or both.) 

If you have any concerns about your package, mail [email protected] but please be patient if Sandra takes a while to answer. She's still a bit swamped.

Schedule: See the update from two days ago for schedule details. As a reminder: the goal of this update is to provide clear levels of where we are on the various pieces of the project. We know we are behind, but we are making a massively concentrated effort to get this done ASAP. If you have concerns or need a question answered, simply post in the comments for this update and I (Alan) will do my best to answer. If I can't, I'll get Sandra on the horn and we'll get you an answer.  

Component Status  

• Dice - Ordered and Arrived 
•  Mayhem Deck - Ordered and Arrived 
• GM Screen – Art is complete and the material has been picked. On hold until after we get book off to print since this has a much shorter turn around time than the books. 

Planet Mercenary Book Status 

• Rules Text: 100% written. Editing 99% done (+14%). Final tweaks being made. 
• Art: Art is 93% completed (+3%). 
• Setting Text: 92%. (+2%) Howard has finished location and is turning his attention to the Game Chief reference section.
• Pre-Gen Adventure: Done. In edited and waiting for layout. 
• Copy-editing: 45% (+0%). 
• Indexing: Not yet begun. 

An alternate measure: the book has 20 sections (We reorganized and combined a couple of sections because it made for a better reference book.. 

• Sections 1-14 Layout complete. (189 pages completely laid out.) 
• Sections 15 (partial) In layout now (This is locations and has 11 locations in it) 
• Sections 15 (partial) Sandra is approving edits and attaching art for layout 
• Sections 15 (partial) is with our editor 
• Section - 16 100% written. Under consideration to be combined with another section. 
• Section - 17 The Game Chief Section Waiting for Sandra to approve edits and attach art. 
• Section 18 Game Chief Reference 60% done, Howard needs to fill gaps, Alan needs to add stats. 
• Section 19 (The pre-built adventure) Returned from editor. Waiting for Sandra to approve edits. 
• Section 20 Indexes, Character sheet, etc. 
• Game Chief Secrets PDF: Pieces are in place, but our focus is on getting the core-book out to you, and then turning our attention to this fully. 

Thanks for your continued support! We are working diligently to get this in your hands. - Howard, Sandra, & Alan

Update: Production Timeline and Seventy Maxims Shipping
about 7 years ago – Sat, Mar 11, 2017 at 09:51:03 PM

This update will cover:

1. An update to the production timeline for Planet Mercenary

2. Seventy Maxims book shipping

The regular progress update will post on Monday as scheduled.

Planet Mercenary Production Timeline:

TL;DR We still plan to deliver your book in July. We’re switching to a US based printer which will cost us more, but has a faster turn around time. There will be no lowering of quality in the book.

Longer version: In conference with our layout designer, we realized that indexing could not begin until layout was complete (or very nearly complete.) This means that instead of allowing these two processes to run in parallel, they have to be consecutive. We couldn’t do that and still hit the April 1st go-to-print date. So Sandra went into full research mode and found a US based printer who could give us a six week turn around on product rather than the 3 month turn around required by our printer in China. This US printer has done projects for people we respect and we're confident they can deliver the quality of printing we require. We decided that the increase in our printing expenses was worth being able to deliver the book to you on the schedule we announced.

The Beta version of the PDF will be slightly later than we’d hoped. It will probably become available by April 1st. The finalized pdf with full indexing will be released sometime in May.

Seventy Maxim shipping update:

TL;DR packages are still being processed and sent.

While the vast majority of the single book orders (with nothing else in the package) did go out by March 1st as we announced, there are still packages being sent. Sandra ran a sort in the Backerkit system that she thought would bring up a few odds and ends, instead there were 300 additional US packages to mail. There are also international orders to process. That meant ordering additional boxes and packing material, then processing the additional orders. Sandra has been working on getting those out. 150 went out today. Another 100-200 will go out on Monday. If any remain after that, Sandra will ship on Tuesday as well.

Many orders had additional items in them besides Seventy Maxims books. These more complicated orders require extra time to make sure the correct contents are in each package. Most of those orders were processed today. The remainder will go out on Monday.

For people who requested split shipping, your maxims books will go out on Monday.

Sandra wants to apologize for the inefficiency of the shipping process. The Backerkit system has some amazingly useful tools, but there is a learning curve to using them. Also she’s having to split her time between Planet Mercenary editing, researching new printer options, Seventy Maxim book shipping, regular Schlock Mercenary customer support, and family needs. This split attention has made her actual shipping times slower than she estimated.

If you have concerns about your Seventy Maxims book shipment, feel free to email [email protected] Just know that Sandra will be focusing on sending packages before she’ll focus on answering emails, so response times will be several days or more.

End of Month February Update
about 7 years ago – Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 12:10:00 AM

If you want to stop receiving these updates: Login to your Kickstarter account. Go to Settings-> Notifications. Scroll down past the newsletter info. Then you'll find a list of all the projects that you have backed. Uncheck the box next to Planet Mercenary and click save. You will no longer be notified by email when we post an update, but you'll still be able to check on the updates by going to the project page.

Defaced 70 Maxims books have arrived. All one book orders with last names starting A-J were in the mail as of last Saturday. Sandra had hoped to have all of the books out by February 28, but she got hit with a bad head cold last week and was laid up for several days. Now the intention is to have all Defaced packages in the mail by March 6.  If you have any concerns about your package, mail [email protected] but please be patient if Sandra takes a while to answer. She's still a bit swamped.

Schedule: Our hoped for go-to-print date is April 1st. Our Fall back go-to-print is April 15. Hitting the first one will definitely get you your book by July. The later date means later in July, but still hopefully before GenCon. Right now it looks like we'll squeak through on April 1.

As a reminder: the goal of this update is to provide clear levels of where we are on the various pieces of the project. We know we are behind, but we are making a massively concentrated effort to get this done ASAP. 

If you have concerns or need a question answered, simply post in the comments for this update and I (Alan) will do my best to answer. If I can't, I'll get Sandra on the horn and we'll get you an answer. 

Component Status 

• Dice - Ordered and Arrived 
• Mayhem Deck - Ordered and Arrived  
• GM Screen – Art is complete and the material has been picked. On hold until after we get book off to print since this has a much shorter turn around time than the books.

Planet Mercenary Book Status 

• Rules Text: 100% written. Editing 99% done (+14%). Final tweaks being made.
• Art: Art is 90% completed (+2%). 
• Setting Text: 90%. (+3%) Howard has finished location and is turning his attention to the Galactic Primer.
• Pre-Gen Adventure: Done. In edited and waiting for layout. 
• Copy-editing: 45% (+15%).  
• Indexing: Not yet begun.

An alternate measure: the book has 22 sections. 

• Sections 1-7 Layout complete. (114 pages completely laid out.)
• Sections 8-12 In layout now 
• Sections 13-15 Sandra is approving edits and attaching art for layout 
• Sections 15 is partly with our editor
• Section - 16 Galactic Primer 40% done -Howard needs to write this.
• Section - 17 -19  are getting reorganized and rolled into a single chapter then moved after the GC section.
• Section 20 (The Game Chief Section) returned from editor, waiting for Sandra To approve edits.
• Section 21 needs a wordsmithing pass from Howard, information here may be reorganized into other sections.
• Section 22 (The pre-built adventure) Returned from editor. Waiting for Sandra to approve edits.

Game Chief Secrets PDF: Pieces are in place, but our focus is on getting the core-book out to you, and then turning our attention to this fully. Thanks for your continued support! We are working diligently to get this in your hands. 

- Howard, Sandra, & Alan