The Eye of the Cyclops from Forge of Ice

Smoke test sent!
almost 5 years ago – Tue, Jun 11, 2019 at 01:43:36 AM

It took a few emails back and forth, but I think the Backer Kit is finally ready!

Mere moments ago, I sent out the "smoke test", which sends the Backer Kit survey to 5% of the backers.

Assuming that they find no issues with the survey, I'll send the full thing out to everyone shortly.

I'll post again when I send it out!

-Alex

I got my Backer Kit review back & need to adjust the shipping.
almost 5 years ago – Tue, Jun 04, 2019 at 11:39:00 PM

Heya folks - 

Just a brief update to let you know that I heard back from Backer Kit and upon their review, I need to make some adjustments to the shipping setup.  I'm doing that tonight & I will re-submit the page for approval.

The changes are pretty minor, so hopefully the re-review will go quickly.

I'll post something again when I hear back from them.

-Alex

Backer Kit submitted for approval!
almost 5 years ago – Fri, May 31, 2019 at 04:34:00 PM

I think that you will be pleased to know that a few minutes ago, I submitted the completed Backer Kit for approval.

The review and approval process can take up to two business days, but once it's finished I plan to post another update and send the surveys out immediately.

I realize I've been quiet for too long, again, but I'm still alive and slowly chipping away at things.  

Some of you have been very patient, and I thank you for that.  Some others have expressed an understandable frustration.   I get it.  I've backed 80+ KS projects myself, and when the creator goes quiet for long periods of time it usually isn't a great sign.

I'm not really sure what to say at this point -  my communication needs to be better.  I've said that before, and I'm not sure that saying it again will be super reassuring.  I know I need to post updates more often, and I plan to.

Some folks have asked for an explanation for my long silence, and I doubt it'll be very satisfying, but I'll give it to you.  Earlier I mentioned that I've supported over 80 Kickstarters myself.  As a backer, I really don't like spam updates.  Those campaigns that post two or three times a week, or send out weekly "I don't have anything to say, I'm just updating just because" messages.  My personal preference as a backer is that I would prefer no updates to spam updates.  I'd rather have one update of substance per month than a twice weekly drizzle of junk mail.

And because I haven't had much of substance to report, I put off posting an update, then a few days turned into a week, then longer.  I wanted the next update to be the Backer Kit, and when I couldn't get that done it was easier to stay quiet than to post a non-update update.

I realize that there's a happy medium between spam and just going silent forever.  I'm way too far towards the latter, and I need to find that happy medium.

I'm mortified by how late this is.  I really thought that I'd be able to whip this whole campaign out quickly, and that has obviously not been the case.  

But I want to reassure you all that I am determined to provide a good finished product that you'll all be happy with.  The fact that you believed in my little project enough to support it with your money is something that I take very seriously.

I'll post again when the Backer Kit is approved, so you should expect to hear from me again no later than Tuesday.  If something happens and it isn't approved within those two business days, I'll post again anyways to let you all know what's going on.

-Alex

Back from Gary Con and a bit of intro fiction.
about 5 years ago – Thu, Mar 21, 2019 at 10:41:32 PM

Hello everyone!

I'm back home from Gary Con - I met a couple of you there, it was good to say hello and talk about games stuff.

I had a nasty bout of con crud as soon as I got home, but I'm over it and back at my computer.  Next up, I need to retake some photos, but I'm making progress with the Backer Kit.

I've had some people asking about previews of content from the book, so, here's the piece of fiction that the booklet opens up with.  It's pretty close to final, but it might get some edits before it goes to print.  If you see any glaring grammar or spelling errors, please feel free to point them out!

*****

Dar-Enkaion tipped his helmet back and wiped the sweat from his brow. It was always hot at the copper mines. The sun baked the rocks, and dusty grit made ones tongue gummy. He took a sip from his canteen and spit to clear his mouth.
 

Still, he mused, it was better to be sweating above ground than cramped in the dark shafts below. Better to be an overseer than a conscript.
 

A commotion at one of the tunnel entrances caught his attention.
 

A dirt-caked, nearly-naked man was arguing with a sentry, eyes wide with panic. The sentry was growing angry and appeared ready to strike the man, but Dar-Enkaion, curious, walked up and gestured to the man to speak.
 

“What’s this, then?” he said, mildly. “You know there are punishments for shirking.”
 

“Overseer, please!” The man fell to his knees, groveling. “We tunneled into a natural cave! We found Titan bones!”
 

Still on his knees, the man pushed a basket forward, half full of odd-shaped rocks.
 

Dar-Enkaion nodded his approval. “Good. Natural caves save on digging, and Titan bones are always a welcome find.”
 

Welcome, indeed. Alchemists and apothecaries would pay good coin for such things. Credulous simpletons would grind them down and mix them into tea, hoping to cure a host of ailments. He snorted derisively at the thought. As if drinking sand had ever cured anyone of anything. He grabbed a handful of stones from the basket, letting them fall through his fingers. Small, many broken or chipped, but definitely bones made from rock. Larger or more interesting pieces – claws, skulls and the like – might go to the temples for prices that could make a man wealthy. Still, these little pieces had some value.
 

The idiot young nobleman who had inherited these mines along with his title thought that the finer points of commerce were beneath him. As long as the monthly quotas of copper were delivered, he didn’t want to know any details of the work. Any windfalls landed squarely in Dar-Enkaion’s purse, and he was wise enough to spread the good fortune around. Even the guard was smiling – he knew he’d receive a share, too.

“What is your concern? You know I reward those who find such things.” The man’s terror seemed unreasonable – the Titans and their ilk must have been frightful monsters, but despite their bones of stone there was nothing to fear anymore. Their flesh had been like all other flesh, long since turned to dust by the passage of time.
 

“Overseer…” The man gasped, still out of breath. He shook his head and looked at his hands, as if searching for the right words. “… there is a skull.”
 

Avarice lit like fire in Dar-Enkaion’s chest, but he took care to master his face, displaying no emotion beyond mild interest.
 

“Go on.”
 

“My Lord, the skull is almost like unto a man’s, but as large as a man… and with only one socket in the center.” The miner swallowed again, his hands shaking with supernatural dread. He looked up, daring to make eye contact with his overseer. “As if for a single great eye, staring out of the darkness!!”
 

The fire turned cold in Dar-Enkaion’s liver. The sentry blanched and took half a step back.
 

“One great eye…”
 

Rumors from a few years ago stirred in his memory. A one-eyed child, born to a peasant couple in an outlying village, left exposed in the jungle to die. The parents, cursed, driven out of the village into the wilds, shunned by their former neighbors.
 

More vividly, he remembered a grand circus from his youth, his soldier days, and the finale in the arena that year. A monster, nearly twice the height of a man, screaming and babbling, wildly swinging a broken sword at anything that moved. It strangled a crocodile to death with its bare hands, then ripped the arm off a champion. It was finally brought down by four men with spears. A monster with one eye, its piteous wails eerily childlike as it bled out on the sand.
 

Perhaps this matter did merit the attention of someone outside the mines, after all.
 

He turned to the sentry.
 

“Send a runner to the Temple Sard. My cousin is a lesser priest there. Tell him to come here at once, urgently. Do NOT tell him why. Use my name… he will come.”
 

The sentry nodded and trotted off.
 

He looked back down at the shivering miner. Tongues would wag; men would have to be silenced. But first…
 

He nudged the man with the toe of his boot. “Get up. You have done well.” Reaching into the satchel at his side, he pulled out a Baton of Command and extended it. “Gather up a work party and enlarge that tunnel.” The astonished man took the Baton, too surprised at his commutation to speak. “Tell no-one what you have seen.”

***

Thank you!

-Alex in Alaska

Still plugging away.
about 5 years ago – Wed, Mar 06, 2019 at 10:31:30 PM

Hello everyone, 

I had hoped that I'd be able to break the long silence with news of the Backer Kit being launched, but I'm not going to be able to get that done tonight, and it's been so long that I figured that posting something is better than posting nothing.

I'm still alive, still plugging away, the project is still very much alive and kicking, although it is increasingly and mortifyingly late.

The next thing that needs to happen is getting the Backer Kit up - once I've got that up and running and I get exact numbers of the miniatures needed, the caster is ready to start casting immediately.  After that it's just a matter of packing and shipping the orders.

I finally bit the bullet and recruited a couple of people to help me with the fulfillment end of things, so, I expect that that will help the process, including a professional layout guy to finish the .PDF and booklet.

I've seen a few comments from people regarding my future projects - I do have some stuff planned for the future, but none of that is going to happen until the Cyclops KS is fulfilled.  I got the ball rolling on those months ago (and, with the Royal Court set, years ago), it's just that the Cyclops KS is running so far behind that they are starting to catch up.  

Specifically, if you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you may have seen the Dragon Turtle sculpt that John Dennett just finished.  I'm pretty excited to get it into production, but, I want to be very clear:  

Nothing else that I have in the works will be released until after the Cyclops Kickstarter is finished.

I will be attending Gary Con in Lake Geneva, WI, next weekend.  If you're going to be there, look me up, I'd be happy to have a conversation with you about what's going on.  Otherwise, comment or send me a message and I will reply.

I expect to launch the Backer Kit immediately after I get home (about a week from today), and I plan to leave it open for two (maybe three) weeks, however long it takes for me to get exact numbers from a most of the backers.  From there it's just casting and then shipping.  I'm thinking everyone should have their stuff by the end of April, assuming that there aren't any more delays.

I apologize for my long silence, I didn't intend to be quiet for so long, and now I've gone and done it twice.  I don't know what else to say other than that I'll work to be better in the future.

-Alex