Since my last update, I’ve received about a dozen additional refund e-mails and all of those refunds have now been processed. The only people who should be currently waiting for a refund are those who requested a refund by check. (I’m going to be processing all of those refunds in one big batch.)

This update is primarily just a third and final call: If you are a backer who has not received a refund, it’s because you either haven’t sent me an e-mail or I haven’t received it. If it’s the former, please contact me ASAP at legendsandlabyrinths@gmail.com. If it’s the latter, please leave a comment here and we’ll figure it out (since there seems to be something wrong with our e-mail connection).

Many of you may be thinking to yourself: “I don’t freakin’ care. I wasn’t a backer for Legends & Labyrinths.” Good news! Even if you weren’t a backer, you can download a copy of the Black Book Beta which contains a totally playable version of the rules along with a lot of cool new tools for simplifying your 3.5 or PF game.

As of right now, I have issued refunds to all of the backers who have sent me an e-mail confirming their Paypal address.

If you are a backer who has not received a refund, it’s because you either haven’t sent me an e-mail or I haven’t received it. If it’s the former, please contact me ASAP at legendsandlabyrinths@gmail.com. If it’s the latter, please leave a comment here and we’ll figure it out (since there seems to be something wrong with our e-mail connection).

(There are three refunds currently pending through Paypal, but everyone associated with those should have received an explanatory e-mail from me and know who they are.)

This has taken a little bit longer than I had hoped. I’m afraid my health issues have been prodigiously slowing down my productivity: I talked about the MRSA infection I had on my face a week and a half ago. Unfortunately, just as I was starting to feel better I ended up having a massive allergic reaction to the third set of antibiotics they put me on. I was briefly hospitalized when my doctor became concerned that all of the skin on my body might blister and fall off. (Holy shit!) That turned out to be not the case, but I did spend a good chunk of the last week having 90% of my body covered in a painful rash and looking as if I had Maori facial tattoos designed by Jackson Pollock.

All things considered, I don’t recommend it.

In any case, after three full weeks of being ill I seem to finally be on the mend. (But I am vigorously pounding divots into my wooden desk as I say that.) I’m afraid fresh content may be a little thinner on the ground here at the Alexandrian during the month of August than I had hoped, but we’ll see how it goes. At the very least, I’m hoping to put the finishing touches on both The Art of Pacing and the Film Banging series.

This is what my chin looks like at the moment:

That’s an MRSA staph infection, complete with swollen lymph nodes. “MRSA” means that it’s resistant to common antibiotics, so I’m on my third set of medications for it and it’s gradually getting better. 2013 has truly been a suck-filled year for me.

Although that’s been slowing me down quite a bit this week, the one thing I did manage to get done was processing a couple large chunks of L&L refunds. Looks like we’re about 50% of the way through that process now. At the moment, we’re waiting for another cycle of cash to clear Paypal and I’ll be able to push on with the next batch. If you’re a backer who has sent me an e-mail and has not yet received your refund, it’ll be on its way as soon as Paypal gets out of the way. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

The Struggle – Alex Drummond

As with last week’s piece, this art is drawn directly from the gaming table. In fact, the scene depicted here is taken from me Ptolus campaign. You can read the matching journal entry here:

In the Shadow of the Spire – Prelude 1B: The Lost Vaults

The depictions of Tee and Agnarr, however, are slightly anachronistic. (The scene takes place shortly after they met in the wilderness, but Agnarr wouldn’t have his flaming sword and Tee wouldn’t have her dragon pistol until after they returned to Ptolus.) This is because these characters were appearing in multiple illustrations and I decided to both (a) simplify the art order and (b) potentially create a greater continuity in the book’s interior art by supplying the artist with only a single description. (Plus, this piece is much cooler with the red flames and the cocked pistol.)

This particular piece would have replaced Thor and his hammer on pg. 71 of the Black Book Beta.

Quick update for backers: The first batch of refunds was supposed to go out this week. That didn’t happen. The problem is that PayPal is dawdling in confirming the transfer of funds from my checking account to my PayPal account. Until the money is actually in my Paypal account, I can’t send it to you.

What they’re doing here is holding onto the money for a few extra days so that they can earn a little more interest out of it. I’d forgotten how much of a pain-in-the-ass PayPal is. In any case, PayPal is telling me that the money should clear in the next 2-3 business days. So my expectation is that the first batch of refunds will actually clear some time next week.

And if you were an L&L backer and you have no idea what I’m talking about, go here and follow the instructions.

(Note: The first half dozen or so people who responded to my e-mail have received their refunds. I sent those out using the small balance I had standing in my account.)