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The Practical Guide to Becoming a Great GM

Created by Guy Sclanders

250+ pages packed with all the tools you need to begin & master the GM journey!

Latest Updates from Our Project:

22.02.22 Major Update!
about 2 years ago – Tue, Feb 22, 2022 at 11:56:47 PM

Hello all,

I've been quiet recently as I had to fly to South Africa for a family tragedy. This knocked me back by three weeks. Luckily, the amazing team made sure that things continued to move forward and I am delighted to bring you this update!

Editing

For The Practical Guide - this is now complete. Our editor has been so kind an patient and has now sifted through the 200 000 words and turned them into things that make sense. 

For Epic Campaigns - the rewrite continues in earnest next week. The three week delay has been a bit of a blow but I'm confident I can swing it back on track by the end of March or there-abouts. 

Artwork

We have completed the artwork for Practical Guide, all 100 full color images and I cannot wait to see them used in the book. I hope you'll draw inspiration from them. 

The next step is to produce the 60 or so images for Epic Campaigns. We have learned a lot in the production of the images for Practical guide, and I feel confident that we'll hit that target in by the end of April. Ordinarily this would affect us as we want the book to be sitting with the printers by the end of April, but, because Epic Campaigns will share the same layout as Practical Guide (and all our books on GMing moving forward) we can already prep the layout for the book whilst the images are being generated - something we couldn't do with Practical Guide (since practical guide is forming the original template for us!) which will save us heaps of time. 

The NPC artwork will begin although, as this is purely a digital product, our timelines are less critical. For the books we need to get final page count (and thus layout) complete to the printers at least 3 months BEFORE printing can begin. This puts the books as mission critical if we are to hit our deadlines. The Cards are a digital product and as a result can be completed in May and June.  And yes, we will be making a physical deck available through DriveThruRPG.com but that will only be later in the year.

PDFs

Some folks have been asking: Where is the PDF? It is still coming. The next step - which is kicking off next week Monday - is for the layout designer to take the 200 pages of text, plus the 100 images, and put it all together into a working book. This is scheduled for the month of March. Once the book is laid out it goes back to the editor for a final check to make sure we didn't screw up anything in the layout process. Then it's ready as a PDF. This doesn't mean March, it means April folks. PDFs need to have bookmarks, links, and all kinds of other digital media things embedded into it, which need to be checked and so on. As it's a mammoth book, this just takes time. 

However, it does mean we're looking to get the PDF out soon! (This is for Practical Guide, Epic Campaigns will be a month or two later). 

Youtube

In case you missed it, I've started working through the book as an interactive video. What is important to keep in mind is that these are 20 minute videos and gloss over a lot of the finer details you'll be getting out of the book. They also don't feature any of the exercises that are included in the book, and the XP awarded in the videos has nothing to do with the books XP system. If you want to watch those videos, head on over the youtube channel How to be a Great GM

Notes

We are basically on track for everything as far as we can see from a timeline perspective. We are now in a new year, and as some of you have noticed with shipping prices, the world seems to have gone mad in terms of costs fluctuating all over the place. We're doing our best to keep those costs as low as possible, trust me. 


Until next month's update,

Happy gaming

Guy and the team

17.02.2022 - BackerKit Surveys have gone out!
about 2 years ago – Fri, Feb 18, 2022 at 08:23:15 PM

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

28.01.22 February Update
about 2 years ago – Sun, Jan 30, 2022 at 12:27:24 AM

Hello all!

EDIT IS DONE

The final draft of the book is with the editor who is checking spelling and basic grammar - the contents are now locked down. This should be finalized by the 10th of February which means the book goes to layout earlier than expect! Once in layout it will take a few weeks for us to finalize the layout of the book and then the PDF will be available - it's looking like March might be a date to get excited for!

IMAGES

We've got over 90 images now done and approved. This means that we have Practical Guide in the bag. The next 70 images will be begun soon. 

The 100 NPC images will be started as soon as we've received more response to the NPC Card emails. 

IF YOU ADDED THE NAME THE NPC ADD-ON PLEASE RESPOND TO YOUR EMAILS OR EMAIL US ASAP.


EPIC CAMPAIGNS

I am so excited for Epic Campaigns. Whilst the original book most certainly was a 'first time writer' book it contained so much information that to be able to update it and to bring the clear and focused writing style that I now use (ok, clearer and slightly more focused) is a real joy. I'm half-way through reworking the book and cannot wait for you all to get it. 

YOUTUBE

For those of you who don't know I've begin going through the book as a series of YouTube videos. 

I know a few folks have asked for the text so they can follow along, and as you've read, we're working hard to get it to you asap. Please know the following: 

The content is 'based on the book' and the book contains so much more on each topic. I am literally forced to take most chapters and turn them into 10 minute highlight videos. So whilst the videos are informative, the book contains so much more. 


SIDE ADVENTURE

Unfortunately I've suffered a major family incident which forces me to return to South Africa. Due to the nature of what has happened it is impossible for me to predict timelines and just how much I'll be able to accomplish whilst I am away. I ask for your understanding.

The rest of the team will still be available to answer questions and the like, so you shouldn't notice too much of a disruption. 

Until the next update in March (this counts as February update as I fly out tonight and won't be back till mid-Feb), I wish you and yours the happiest of gaming. 


Guy

10.22.22 Practical Guide Update
about 2 years ago – Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 12:34:41 AM

Hello everyone,

Happy New Year to those who celebrated it. I've just got back into the office today, and have been doing the usual catch-up. We have been working in the background and I'm happy to report on the following:

NPCS

We've had just under half of all the NPCs submitted for the NPC cards, and I have to say - they are wonderful! 

If you did not receive the NPC Submission email, but PURCHASED AN NPC CARD ADD-ON, please send me an email: [email protected] urgently. For whatever reason, the emails logged on Kickstarter do not seem to correlate. 

Artwork will begin this week on the NPCs and in the next update you may get a preview of that NPC art. 

EDITING

The Practical Guide came back from the editor with the final edits on the basic draft. However, the editor - our most excellent editor - made recommendations for chapter alignment and adjustments and some additional text to be added which I'll be doing this week and next week. 

Once those are done the final text goes to the editor again for a final once-over before the entire document is sent to layout. 

As soon as that happens, I'll continue reworking Epic Campaigns which will take me into February. 

ARTWORK

We're hoping to have the NPCs artwork finished by the end of February and at the same time the artwork for Epic Campaigns will begin towards the end of February (once the re-edit is complete). That is expected to finish by mid-April and then layout. 

TIMELINES

We remain on track for our timelines and delivery dates. The unknown at this point is the availability of paper for printing which remains under pressure and will remain an unknown until we can give the printers a final page count which only happens after layout. 

YOUTUBE

From the middle of January moving forward we're going to launch the Practical Guide to becoming a Great GM YouTube series. This will be working through the book step by step in the form of a series of videos. Find the channel at www.youtube.com/howtobeagreatgm 


Until next months update,

Happy gaming!


Regards

Guy and the team

14.12.21 Mini-update for NPC Claim Add-ons
over 2 years ago – Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 08:34:05 PM

Hey folks, 


Small update: 

Thanks to the generous time and efforts of a backer of this project, I have now sent out the NPC Claim submission forms to the correct people. You should check all your folders in your email system as the email contains links to files you'll need and a PDF attachment. 


Thanks for your patience and understanding, 

Guy