Unnatural Selections Volume 4

The printer and I are going through proofs right now, but it looks like this book will be done and shipped in the next 2 weeks. A little late, I know, but at 148 pages, I think there's a lot of value coming your way!

Make sure your address is good.

Also, there's still like 14 people who have not filled out their surveys!

This was a fun one to work on, and I super appreciate all the support and love you all have given it throughout the campaign. I think I have the PDFs ready to go, but want to sit on them one more night and just make sure they are how they should be.

All backers of the PDF and the Physical Product will be getting the PDFs (a normal and a printer-friendly version), the maps file, and any bonuses you qualified for. I am still behind on the PDF Booklet for those that also backed X-Crawl Rodeo. That item might not be ready for another few weeks...sorry.

Anyhow, here's to a ever-nearing end to this campaign!

Luau Lou Hoefer
Dandyline Games

We're moving right along... Depending on how things go with printer's proofs, I think this project will be delivering in the third week of March. Not as early as I had hoped when we started, but not far-off, given all the little struggles I encountered this time through. I'm really excited about this group of creatures - if this line ends with this volume, I can honestly say it "burned out bright" and didn't just putter into the grave.

If you have time and opportunity, this weekend (February 27th-March 1st) is Cincy Con, just outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. Its a fun and affordable con that offers a great mix of new and old gaming experiences and a good balance of RPGs, miniature war games, and board games. Over the last few years they have been trying to build a DCC RPG community, and this year they have created a community playing space toward that purpose. The Dandyline Games booth will be adjacent to that space. Come and see me and ask for the "Con Bonus Creature" and you will get the exclusive "Trash Compactor" monster shown below!  This monster will be available at various cons throughout this year.

Hope you all are doing well and gaming often. I appreciate all your support and thank you for your generosity in allowing me to make these projects come to life!

Luau Lou
Dandyline Games

­­It's come to my attention that your surveys may not reflect the items as listed in your original pledge. Let me assure you that you will get everything from your original pledge, and I’ll explain what’s going on. From my end, the basic pledge levels get packaged as a single bundle. That is, if you ordered a “deluxe” volume, all the parts (the cling stickers, dividers, cover panels, binders, interior pages, etc.) get assembled by me, then shrink wrapped, then shipped. Those bundles sit as a single item in my company’s inventory. When I set up the Backerkit, I listed everything in them separate so you could see what comes in the different versions. However, in the pledge manager portion of things, it wants to have each of those items have their own SKU, own shipping costs, and so-on. For simplicity sake, I just made a SKU for the bundle, not every item in it. But again, I can assure you that everything you signed up for (including accompanying PDFs, VTT maps, and the incentives for being an Early Bird and/or backing X-Crawl Rodeo) will get to you! I apologize about this strangeness, I have learned from it for the future.

 

On a side note, if you know of anyone that missed the campaign and would like to order any of the Unnatural Selections volumes “on sale” please let them know that the Pre-Order store is up and running (https://unnatural-selections-volume-4.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders). 

 

As far as the project as a whole goes… I’ve very happy with the amount of time/work that is being made up after the loss of my computer. The edits are back from the editor and being attended to, almost all the art is in (just a few revisions left), the cling stickers, binders, etc. have all been produced and delivered. And I got the second and third printings of Volumes 1 and 2 set for those that ordered those.

 

At this point, I’m confident we will be delivering in March, maybe mid-March. I will say, for backers who were awesome enough to sponsor extra monsters, if you could fill-out your surveys with your attribution lines, ASAP, that would be help me in getting this to print in a timely manner.

 

If you didn’t notice them on the add-ons, there is a 2-sticker sheet set that may be the perfect thing for those of you that are “monsters only” backers. These stickers give you waterproof, permanent-stick images and labels you could put on the outside of your own binders to decorate them in an “Unnatural Selections” fashion. I, myself, have all the monsters in a single, bigger binder I ordered online, and I have used a few of the stickers on it to show them off. There are also “tab cover” stickers for those that have the “deluxe” version of the product and need to write-over different partitions you made previously on those divider pages.

 

Finally, I have included an image of the Foo-Bear entry (sponsored by David McGuire), because it just makes me chuckle! Have a great Valentine’s Day weekend.

 

“Luau” Lou Hoefer

Dandyline Games

Let's start with the "downside." As I've mention in an earlier update, my main computer (with all my illustrating, publishing, and other software on it) had a major hardware failure. I thought I would get things fixed and be up and running pretty quick, but then life decided to show me who's in charge! Without going into every detail, 2 processors, a lost parcel claim, a purchase of a replacement computer from a scam company, the purchase of a computer that isn't quite what I wanted but what I could afford, and 5.5 weeks was all it took to get "back on my feet."

The good news is that the artist (Santi Iborra) is nearly done with everything (including the sponsored monsters). Here's a image of the Yarsalite (alien fly guy) from him:
The editor has almost gotten through the first 3/4 of the file and is waiting on me to get her the rest (some of the material was stuck on the hard drive of the dead computer and I am just now getting a chance to do my final pass before sending it to her).

Anyhow, the bottom line is that the timeline for this project will be off a bit, but I'm hoping it won't be that bad (maybe end of March?). In the mean time, the pre-order store is up for folks that missed the campaign, and surveys and fulfillment add-ons should be set to go maybe this next week (I'm working on some extra stuff for that...). I want to thank you for your patience with all this and for the help/advice many people have offered in getting my stuff reset on the new CPU.

In the meantime, my buddy and fellow Ink Slinger, Stefan Surratt is producing a 10th Level DCC module written by Julian Bernick check it out:

The 10th Doomstar is the first traditional 10th level adventure for Dungeon Crawl Classics! Written by Julian Bernick, the greatest heroes of the age must stop a comet from irradiating the entire world in chaos. If they fail, civilization shall fall!

That's all for now!

"Luau" Lou
Dandyline Games

I don't want to get too lengthy here, but I did want to share some developments and address some general questions.

First, I had a major computer crash (I'm writing this from my old laptop); not a real threat to this project, the issue is either mother board or processor related, and the hard drive with this project on it is in fine shape. Because of issues trying to get that computer up again (it has all my publishing and art programs on it) there have been some delays in the project, but I suspect that if the parts I ordered fix things, the setback will not be noticeable. All materials for the main project (other than encounter charts) are written-even the new monsters that folks sponsored (thanks again for doing that!). The interior artist is behind where he would like to be, but not to a concerning point yet. Editing has started.  In summary, there are some elements that have me grousing, but I think delivery will still happen February-March (looking more towards March). Unfortunately, these setbacks will make it so that I'll be "out of contact" for a few weeks - do not read anything into that lack of communication, please.

What did we achieve? Well, thanks to all the generosity of backers we got all 10 sponsored monsters, bringing the total normal count to 50 entries (with MANY having sub-entries of 3 to 6 monsters each). On top of that, C. Aaron Kreader made such a generous offer to write and draw a monster, that we will get his "guest entry" monster (The Fungtech) in print for all backers. Then, if you had backed in the first 48 hrs or added it on, you will also get the "Creeper Crop" monster. Also, the funding reached the first stretch goal, and all "Deluxe" backers will now be getting 2 sheets of differing cling stickers as part of the binder package. Last, a fellow creative, Matt De Micco, was running his Backerkit campaign for "Xcrawl Rodeo" and we decided to link our projects (sort of an experiment for us at the time). So, if you had backed both projects, you will get a PDF booklet with some of the "Xcrawl Rodeo" creatures written up in Unnatural Selection format. I will say that that PDF will probably be out in late March or April, just because my schedule is so cramped right now.

Well, that's about it. I should have the pledge manager stuff together this weekend or next, most my library of publications will be available on there for those that have been asking (you'll also have chances to add other Unnatural Selection Volumes if you wanted extras, or changed your mind or what have you).

Thanks again for your support. -I'll try to get another update out in a few weeks with art shares and more!

"Luau" Lou  
Dandyline Games