Amethyst (5E) - Magic & Technology Collide (Collection)

RELEASE THE BOOK; PRINT THE BOOK!
10 months ago – Sun, Apr 14, 2024 at 10:05:49 AM

HEY EVERYONE!

Sorry for the delay. I wanted to have confirmation before writing this update.

The books are in print!

That’s right, books are being printed as you read this. As mentioned previously, we’re printing Amethyst and Ultramodern at the same time. This will save us money on shipping as the whole run will be taking up an entire container. I honestly don’t know how long this is going to take, as we’re printing four different books and two different GM screens. I'll have videos showing the production the moment Round Color sends them to me.

NOVELS

On a side topic, it became clear that printing the novels in China was becoming unfeasible because of the low numbers involved. So, we have canceled the novel printing from China and will instead run the novels from an American printer instead. I have a video here where I show off the proofs that will go to backers.

AMETHYST REVELATIONS

With the announcement that printing has begun, it would then make sense that Amethyst: Revelations, the latest installment in the RPG series, would be finished.

…and it is!

I got the final works from Nick Greenwood this week, so I can happily report that the digital PDF release of Amethyst Revelations will be on Thursday, April 18th.

I'll have a video up this week going through the book, page by page, discussing the content, the illustrations, and the processesfrom inspiration to realization.

ULTRAMODERN FOUNDRY EARLY ACCESS RETAIL

MEANWHILE, the early access retail release for the Ultramodern5 Foundry module goes live this Tuesday, April 16th. While we will keep the playtest files in the UM5 DriveThruRPG SKU, they will no longer be updated. The new SKU will be updated regularly from here on. Obviously, those who backed the new Ultramodern5 campaign will receive this module for free. Everyone else who purchased UM5 will be receiving a coupon. We’ll be moving on to Amethyst’s module shortly.

I’ll have another update in a few days! Thanks, everyone!

Chris

HALLOWED KINGDOMS RELEASED
12 months ago – Mon, Mar 04, 2024 at 01:37:56 PM

HEY EVERYONE!

Today marks the DTRPG and AMAZON releases of the third novel in the Amethyst Series, HALLOWED KINGDOMS 

Backers with this listed as a reward should have an email (check your spam folder if not) to download the digital novel. PHYSICAL novels are still on their way.  

If you have not received the email within 24 hours, message me, and I will get a coupon out to you.

As I might have mentioned, Hallowed Kingdoms marks a slight departure from the other two books. It more matches my current writing style, but it also stops trying to be a YA novel which the other two had attempted (and failed). 

Hallowed Kingdoms is the longest Amethyst novel by a considerable margin, given that it follows four different stories at one point. 

Thanks everyone, Revelations is getting released this month as well, so this will be a big month or this campaign. 

FEBRUARY PROGRESS
about 1 year ago – Tue, Feb 13, 2024 at 10:09:22 PM

HEY EVERYONE!!

HALLOWED KINGDOMS

I admit that I only started the third Amethyst Novel, Hallowed Kingdoms, at the end of September. I then took three weeks off in November to rebuild Ultramodern5 in InDesign to prepare for its more extensive print run. I made a promise to myself to finish the novel by the end of January with a planned word count of around 100,000 words. It turned out to be 141,000 words, which I am happy to say I finished on time. I spent the last two weeks editing it.

Before its digital release, I am sending out a feeler for beta readers. The only requirement would be, obviously, you’d have to have read the two previous novels.

PM me on various social media platforms if you are interested. I would need to have a report back by sometime in March.

AMETHYST REVELATIONS COVER!

We have a cover for Amethyst Revelations, which we can finale show off!!

Like Amethyst Factions, I asked for a movie poster style, which I think Nick delivered.

He promises to have all the artwork finished by the end of February for an early March release.

FANTASY GROUNDS

So, we came across a big issue regarding our previous plans to distribute Fantasy Grounds coupons. As mentioned, we cannot offer these for free, only at a reduced discount, because Smiteworks, not DiasExMachina, made the FG modules, and they require their cut.

They sent me a procedure to issue these coupons, but they believed I was selling these reduced modules myself, which I wasn’t going to do. So, alas, many of you redeemed your keys without needing to pay for them.

I wish I could just swallow this mistake, but it wasn’t yours, and it wasn’t ours. Once Fantasy Grounds realized the error, they immediately canceled the keys, clarified the mistake, and they’ll be issuing proper coupons, which some of you may have already received. 

Sorry about the error there, folks. Thankfully, Roll20 and Foundry modules are being produced internally.

ARTWORK

UNTIL NEXT TIME

Fantasy Grounds Keys
about 1 year ago – Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 01:11:57 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

JANUARY 2024
about 1 year ago – Sat, Jan 20, 2024 at 05:37:33 PM

HEY EVERYONE

The biggest drawback of one of the few positives regarding ADHD is that once you are laser-focused, it is damn near impossible to break away to do something else, even if that something is essential…like, you know, doing a crowdfunding update.

For the past three months, I have been deep in writing the third Amethyst novel, now called "Hallowed Kingdoms" (I added an 's'). 

I'm not going to lie; while I had about 10,000 words of notes, I did not officially start writing it until September of 2023. By January 20th, 2024, it has crossed 114,000 words. I planned on having it about the same length as the others, but that's in the past. Thankfully, right after my tasteful, PG-13 love scene (spoilers), I am nearing the end of this book, with the imagined ending likely hanging around 130,000 words. Thankfully, I'm not the only one who works.

CHINA

Obviously, production tends to slow down around Christmas, further dampened by the Chinese New Year, which occurs in February. But I am happy to say that five books are currently getting certified by Round Color, our printing partner. This includes Ultramodern5, Amethyst Quintessence, Amethyst Factions, and two of three novels. Because it will take time to print what will be about 4,000 books, the plan is that Amethyst Revelations and the last novel will be finished by the time the others have finished.

FOUNDRY VTT UPDATE

For those aware, we are finally making progress with the VTT module. We are currently creating the UM5 files, but until the Amethyst version is completed, I have decided to upload the UM5 files to all Quintessence DTRPG files. These two sets are virtually identical, with only a few rules and races differing. Late last year, the ALPHA version of these files, dubbed 1.0.0 was uploaded. Today, it will be 1.1.0, with the expected final release being 2.0.0 (according to its creator—I shall not question). While the 2.0.0 final release will be a separate purchase (not for those already due to receive these awards), until then, we will include the files with these core books.

FANTASY GROUNDS VTT

After a lot of back and forth with Fantasy Grounds, I hope that by next week, I can finally have coupons made for all backers for all appropriate modules. This is on me. I was so focused I forgot I hadn't made these coupons. 

ROLL20

I am also happy to report that the ROLL20 modules are ALSO back on track. We'll have another update on those soon.

COMING UP!

I imagine the next update will be for the novel's release, and to reveal the final cover of Amethyst Revelations.  Stay tuned!!

Chris