Mini Update - Third Party Kon content preview
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Feb 16, 2023 at 10:26:01 AM

Hello all - 

If you were not aware, this weekend is Third Party Kon, a virtual event showcasing Third Party content creators for Pathfinder 2e. There will be streams of adventure paths, one-shots, and previews of new 3PP player options. For this event, we have put together a small preview of some player options from the Gardener's Guide, specifically the Arboreal Ancestry, the Rebloomed Versatile Heritage, and the Petal Dancer Archetype. You can download this preview free from DriveThru at this link. While just a preview, all three are semi-finalized, so this also works as a great time to play-test these options! You can check out the demo even if you are not participating in TPK, though if you can the Kon will offer some great additional content at free or greatly reduced prices as well. 

Enjoy the Kon!

- Matt

Another month down, and lots of progress made
almost 2 years ago – Sun, Jan 29, 2023 at 09:57:00 AM

Hi everyone - 

Hope you had a relaxing January! Things got a little hectic in the TTRPG space this month, but nothing we couldn't handle. In fact, this was a very productive month overall, so lets get to the updates!

ORCs vs Wizards

Getting this one out of the way to start, none of the OGL drama from this month will impact the Gardener's Guide or our release schedule (if you have no idea what I am talking about, the tl;dr is that everything is fine now so don't worry about it). Depending on the shape ORC is in when we near printing dates, we would like to publish under ORC instead of the OGL, but that is out of our hands at the moment. We will provide updates on that as more news comes out!

Book Progress

On to more fun topics, we finished several sections of the book, and made great progress on others. For a quick breakdown: 

• Ancestries - One out of two done!
• Versatile Heritages - Two out of three done!
• Familiars - Done!
• Carver Class - Playtest coming soon
• Archetypes - In progress
• Spells - In progress
• Items - In progress
• NPCs - Two done and fully illustrated, several more in progress
• Bestiary - Three creatures fully done and illustrated, several more in progress
• One-shot adventure - Expecting end of March completion

Overall, a ton of progress so far. We are well within our projected timeline and should be releasing on schedule!

Let's see some samples!

Rather than talk about progress, we can just take a look:

That is all for now. As a reminder, you can follow along for more frequent updates on our twitter or discord. If you have not yet completed your BackerKit survey (or let me know that there was an issue) please do so soon! And if a friend missed the campaign but still wants to get involved, they can do so on our BackerKit pre-order store. 

I'll be back with more updates in about a month, sooner if the Carver Playtest is ready! Take care!

- Matt

Post-holiday Update
about 2 years ago – Tue, Jan 03, 2023 at 12:09:18 AM

Hello everyone - 

Hope you had a wonderful holiday and New Year! We are back to work now and already making some great progress, so lets jump right in.

BackerKit Surveys and Results

At the moment, 92% of backers have completed their BackerKit surveys. If you are one of the 23 holdouts, please complete the survey as soon as possible! There will still be time to add more things later if you'd like, but it will help us get started on actual production.

Some interesting survey results so far:

• Pathfinder remains the more popular option, with 106 hardcover books ordered vs 44 for 5e.  There are also 181 PF2e PDFs vs 88 for 5e. 
• The Mossy Glen dice set was the most popular collection, with 15 sets ordered, followed by Harvest, Toadstool Meadow, and Autumn Sunset at 8 each.
• We sold 75 copies of Hijinks One-shot adventure! Really looking forward to playing this one soon!

The BackerKit Preorder store is also now live at the-gardeners-guide-to-gaming.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders. You can order additional add-ons or invite your friends to get in on the fun! We have already raised a bit extra here, all of which is going right back into our art budget so your books are going to look even better!

Writing Progress

It is hard to give an extra percent completion update, but the writing is going well! We will have playtest material available in a couple of weeks for the first ancestry and the Carver Class. Spells, Items, and Archetypes are coming shortly after. As always, you can follow along with our discord to see some works in progress and more frequent updates.

That is all for now. We will be back in touch in about a month to showcase our progress and get ready for the next steps! Talk to you all then!

- Matt

BackerKit Surveys releasing today
about 2 years ago – Fri, Dec 09, 2022 at 07:07:40 AM

Hi everyone - 

Our BackerKit smoke test is now complete, so the rest of the surveys will be going out today! For those unfamiliar with BackerKit, this is where you will select the version of the Guide that you would like, and can add on additional items if desired. We have previously used BackerKit to distribute PDFs of our books and playtest materials, so be sure to make an account! We have had some issue with BackerKit emails being lost in spam folders, so keep an eye out for the email and let me know if you don't receive anything within the next day or two. Also, if you have any issues with the survey or BackerKit please let me know and we will get them fixed right away. 

The BackerKit pre-order store is also now live, so if you have any friends that missed the campaign, now is their chance to get involved! You can find the store link here.

In addition to getting the store and survey set up, we have been making great progress in the book itself! Below is a sample page from the bestiary portion of the guide, showcasing the Inky Cap Mushroom Dragon (Illustrated by Kin Wald). 

That is all for now. Hope everyone has a great holiday, and looking forward to sharing more as we progress through the project!

- Matt

And that's a wrap!
about 2 years ago – Mon, Nov 14, 2022 at 12:34:21 PM

Thank you all so much!

I had a whole post ready to go as we closed out, and then a sudden flood of support has left me in shock. My brain is barely functioning so bear with me. Thanks to the incredibly generous support and faith of all 320 of you, we have reached our funding goal and then some, raising $17,000! We completely blew away our original target of $10,000 and demolished our stretch goals. We unlocked EVERYTHING, including the barely mentioned bonus Versatile Heritage. I am just in awe right now. 

What happens next?

For the next few days we wait as Kickstarter locks down the payments and sends them to us. In the meantime I will be setting up our BackerKit page, which will let everyone adjust their pledges if needed, and let those who missed the campaign jump in as well. We will send another update once the BackerKit page is up and running. We have already started working on the portions of the book that remain, and will be giving updates as often as possible through Kickstarter updates and in our Discord. Current timeline is to have playtest material available early in the new year, though this will be a rolling process as different parts get finished up. With the goal to have books in hand for GenCon we will submit for printing around June 2023, but will have a better idea of the timeline as we get closer and things get finalized.

Check out our socials

The Inky Cap Press website remains under construction, so for now you can follow along on our Discord or on Twitter. 

Thank you all again so much for the support. It is really hard to properly convey how impactful this campaign has been, and how much it means that we will now have the chance to keep making books for you. To the new backers, the returning backers, and everyone that has supported the campaign however they could, I hope we make you proud!

- Matt