As I mentioned previously, I wasn’t planning on initiating this sequence of posts until I had the last of the final art in my hands. But my post about running a forum-based adventure over on theRPGSite a couple days ago has inexplicably resulted in two people sending me scathing e-mails demanding how I can possibly justify running online adventures or developing prep notes for Eclipse Phase scenarios when Legends & Labyrinths still hasn’t been published.
Well, it’s largely because there’s nothing for me to do. As I’ve expressed previously, we’re waiting for art. And the reason we’re waiting for art is because paying for that art was the entire point of the funding initiative. It’s frustrating that we’ve had artists flake, but we’ve got some really great artists working on it now and it’s just a matter of time before we’ll be able to realize Legends & Labyrinths as it was intended to be.
So if you’re wondering why I have time to write updates here on the Alexandrian or run games for my friends, it’s because the choice isn’t between “working on L&L” and “doing this other thing”. It’s between “doing this other thing” and “doing nothing”. Because you really don’t want to see what the art for L&L would look like if I was trying to fill the gap in my spare time:
(aww yeah… pay me $40 for a full-glossy hardcover of that, baby)
Notably, none of the excoriating e-mails I have received have been from the people who have actually given me money for Legends & Labyrinth. I appreciate the patience all of them have shown in waiting for the book to come to fruition. And I hope that the art they’ve helped me pay for — and the beautiful book that art will make possible — will be worth the wait for them.
Meanwhile, here’s a concept sketch (not a finished piece!) to give you an idea of why we’re waiting for the professionals to do their thing:
Well, I supported the funding project, have the beta version, and look forward to the final book in its own good time. I am looking forward to seeing the final product when it is ready . . .
I submit the reason you are getting flak is because you aren’t providing updates on progress. If people were getting biweekly updates on L+L, they would be more tolerant of you posting on random other things.
It’s very good to see this update. Is there any schedule for final release? Should we expect 2013, 2014, 2015? When is the art due back? I again point to the professionalism of the autarch.co people, who are providing weekly updates on progress on Dwimmermount with pdfs. (To be fair, they are not providing much detail on the Player’s Companion, and that has blown through at least two deadlines already. It’s been a while since September. 🙂
Why can’t we see a pdf that includes all the missing material: spells, monsters, magic items, errata, etc. without the art? Has anything changed content-wise since the Black Book Beta, which made many good decisions and some bad ones, in my opinion?
I understand your position, Inaki. But while Autarch can report meaningful week-to-week progress (because they’re actually still writing the manuscript), all I could possibly say would be: “Still waiting for art.”
I’m not convinced that content-less updates are necessary when I’ve clearly communicated the current status and what we’re waiting for. And I understand that it may be easier for my funders to be patient because they’ve already gotten a fully-functional version of the rules, but they’re also ultimately the ones I feel most responsible to.
Fortunately, final art deadlines are coming up in the next few weeks. At that point things will actually move out of stasis and meaningful updates will be possible and the only potential hitch will be rescheduling with a printer.
Even the occasional “still waiting for art” update would be nice. When there’s no updates you’re left to assume one of two things, that there’s nothing to report from the last update, or that the project’s been abandoned. And statisically speaking, you’d probably be right to assume the second.
Hi! I didn’t contribute, but am eagerly awaiting the release — so updates are certainly welcome even if they are the same. Also, the expected deadlines of the incoming art might help the waiting folk.
All right, message received: If nothing else, I will at least post “holding pattern” updates until we start the final march to release.