The Shrouded Coast

Ending 2022 and Beginning 2023 Update
over 1 year ago – Wed, Jan 04, 2023 at 04:51:32 AM

Hello everyone!

I hope the holidays were full of love and light for all of you. I'm sorry that I didn't get any update out before the end of the year, but we've been working hard and I ended up taking some time off between Christmas and New Year's Day. It was much needed and I enjoyed time with my family.

As far as updates for the Shrouded Coast, I have a few!

1. Map-making is going well! This has opened more doors for writing and just continues to help this project come together. Below is an example of one of the maps:

2. We are continuing to make progress with the writing. All creatures and monsters have stats. Our playable race, Possumfolk, is completely done...that includes stats, creative writing, and even art. All writing for subclasses is done. We have an outline for the adventure as well. The biggest writing chunks I have to complete are still mostly descriptions and creative writing. Most of our game design writing is done.

3. We have hired a layout designer! We are working with our friend Daniel, who has done amazing work with some other big creators in the TTRPG space on their projects. He's also working on another successful Kickstarter. Knowing that we have such a talented person to help put this book together in the most attractive and functional way possible is such a relief and it only makes me more excited for the final product.

4. Speaking of the final product, we are tentatively...TENTATIVELY...hoping to have a rough draft of everything finished by the end of March. This includes all writings, all art, and all stretch goals. Once there, we'll do some aggressive editing to make sure it is as error-free as possible and as complete as possible. It will then go to our layout designer. Once he's done putting it together and we give the final design a thumbs up, we can send out digital rewards and start production for the physical book. Even with the slowdowns in printing and shipping that many of us have heard about since we are only physically printing the book, we believe that this process should be fairly quick and unpainful for all of us (knock on wood). We will continue to supply updates and keep you informed the whole way through. If any slowdowns or issues arise, we'll let you know ASAP.

But believe me, we're just as excited as you all are for this to be done and in your hands :)

5. Lastly, I sent out some emails today to those that backed us at the "Part of Our World" tier. If you've not answered or if we've not already talked about your character that will be featured in The Shrouded Coast, please respond :)

Alright, that's it, folks! We'll check in again in a few weeks! Thank you for your continued support!

November Update
over 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 30, 2022 at 05:56:32 AM

Hello wonderful backers,

I'm sorry that this update is coming so late in the month (we are literally a day away from December). I had planned on getting an update out last week and a bunch of work done on the Shrouded Coast, but then I got really sick. I am on the mend again and back at the keyboard/drawing tablet.

I am happy to report that we are making strides in both writing and art for the Shrouded Coast. Writing-wise, subclasses are all done, our playable lineage, Possumfolk, is almost done, and my partner hopes to have the rest of the monsters and creatures finished by the end of December.

I have completed multiple pieces of new art, and have a few sitting in limbo, but am currently working on town/region maps. I realized that I needed to switch over to those and get those done sooner than later because a lot of our additional writing, such as the adventure, will need established maps already in place. I also took some time to clean up some previous pieces of art that we had used in our sample PDF. If any of you have talked privately with me, you would know that my drive for quality and excellence is high. I realized that some of those prints could be better, so I made them better.

My hope is to have a really exciting update for you all at the end of December, with an update to our estimated time of completion for the Shrouded Coast. I'm sure all of the writing will be done before I am able to complete all of the illustrations, but we are making progress and I'm excited!

For those that celebrated Thanksgiving last week, I hope it was full of time spent with family and eating good food. I am thankful that I get to work on this project with my husband and I'm also incredibly thankful for all of you! 

We'll see you again next month!

October Update
over 1 year ago – Mon, Oct 31, 2022 at 04:53:21 AM

Hello, my creepy cryptids of the Shrouded Coast (a.k.a our backers)!

I'm just stopping by with our monthly update. I don't have any new visuals today because I've been in writing mode!

We are still working on writing and getting everything together for this zine. During the writing process, we've also found ourselves needing to flesh certain things out that we didn't necessarily think of beforehand. For instance, we realized that with the expanded bestiary, we were slotting in new creatures and monsters that needed more room to roam. So we've added some space to the Shrouded Coast through the foothills and scraggily bases of the Acadian Mountains (inspired by the real-life Appalachian Mountains).

While I don't think these little creative writing brain teasers will add to the timeline for completion or make the zine's page count longer, I think that they help everything feel more cohesive and real. Creatures and monsters should have their own lairs, environments, and specific place within the ecosystem. I think you guys will be pleased with what we're working on :)

Backerkit is still open and will stay open until we're ready to move to the next step. 88% of you have completed the survey. Those of you that haven't filled it out yet, might as well do it now before you forget again!

I will update again in a few weeks. I will post every month with an update until these are done and shipped out! Next update I will make sure to have some pretty new art pieces!

Appreciate you all! Happy Halloween!

BackerKit Surveys are Coming & Little Art Update
over 1 year ago – Wed, Sep 28, 2022 at 11:03:53 PM

Hey wonderful backers!

I've been working hard on The Shrouded Coast and I'm excited to share some new art in this update, but we have some important info to talk about first!

Soon, you’ll receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s important to respond to your survey as quickly as you can since we need this information to fulfill your rewards.  You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. 

When you receive the email with the survey, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email!  After you respond to your survey, you can go back later and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and get our final counts.  

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://theshroudedcoast.backerkit.com.  If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact support at https://theshroudedcoast.backerkit.com/faq.

Okay, to end this update, I'd like to showcase art for a new creature and what I think is the final art design for our magic item cards!

Say hello to the largest moose you'll ever see and the guardian of the forested areas of the coast:

 And my current, final design for our magic item cards:

Thanks, everybody!

Thank You & Next Steps
over 1 year ago – Wed, Sep 14, 2022 at 01:19:48 PM

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for helping make this project a reality! An idea that took root and persevered through a lot of heartache and uncertainty has grown into something wonderful and tangible. I can not wait to continue working on and finishing this book and all of our stretch goals for you guys.

A few things need to happen before we can kick off production and fulfillment.

Here's a quick rundown:

First, Kickstarter needs to transfer over the funds so we have the money to make the rewards (this can take up to two weeks).

Second, we’ll send out a BackerKit survey to collect additional purchase and shipping information.

We’ll give you a heads-up before we send the survey so that you can watch for it. You don’t need to create a BackerKit account to answer your survey. The invitation email contains a link to your personal survey. It is important to submit your responses as quickly as you can since we need this information to process your rewards.

If you need to change your survey responses, purchase add-on items, or update your shipping information, you can click the link in your survey email again or request your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page. (This page will only start working after we send the surveys out.)

BackerKit helps us save lots of time by streamlining the survey process, automating data organization, and providing us with pledge management software to make it easy to process your pledge reward shipments. In other words, it will help us get everything to you as fast as possible.

If you used your Facebook credentials to log in to your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey link is sent to the email address you use for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you prefer to use, please contact me.

Lastly, I will provide monthly updates and sneak peeks at how the project and timeline are progressing. If there are ever any questions, please reach out!

Again, thanks for all your support. We can’t wait to send you your copy of The Shrouded Coast!

Lenora's Tiny Hut