Update, Plans, and Valhalla Mini Campaign

Updates
1

Copy of the Kickstarter update: Kickstarter Update #58

Greetings Adventurers, Legends, and #OpenLegion,

As one of my goals was to communicate with the community, I am sending out this small update on the progress of things with Open Legend RPG and a look into the plans I have. I will endeavor to make an update at least once a month going forward.

Transfer of Open Legend RPG

This part is boring, but I want to be transparent. Things have been progressing with the transfer of the company, but the joys of bureaucratic red tape on top of the COVID-19 situation have slowed some things down. I have already been able to communicate with several of the community and help them with questions and issues that they may have, and it has been great hearing back from them.
Website and SRD

The Community License information as well as the official SRD are being worked on. I plan to have these done by the end of the year for sure, and sooner if possible. There has been a slight hiccup with updating the website that is more on the technical side of things, but that should be cleared up in a month or two.

Stretch Goals

I have been able to start going through many files, and am excited for the stretch goals as a fan of the system. My initial focus is the Valhalla Mini Campaign Setting. I plan to start doing some play testing for this in the coming weeks, for sure at the start of July. I will initially be organizing this via the official Discord (invite link: https://discord.gg/J27ZbYP ).

What I’m looking for in play testers are people that will provide feedback on suggestions, parts that they found difficult, parts they found unbalanced, as well as any editing that might have slipped through so far. Naturally I will need both GMs and Players for this, and there will be an NDA required to be signed until the product is officially released.

The other stretch goals will require more time for layout and design, but as they are prepared, I will be doing play testing for those as well. I want to ensure that the products which get into everyone’s hands have gone through the ringer at least a few times before release.

As the products are released and made available for download via backerkit, they will also be made available for sale on the official store, thus making more products available, and showing the continued livelihood of the company while bringing in revenue for future endeavors.

GM Screens

The PDF for the GM screens was released awhile ago by Brian. The process of printing and shipping out the physical product costs money, and as I have just recently purchased the company, there is not a lot of spare money to get this particular stretch goal done right away. I will be going back over the provided estimates for the printing and shipping, getting new ones, and proceed from there to get this out to backers as soon as is practically possible.

Advertising

One of the red tape hold-ups has to do with banking, but that will hopefully be shored up in the next 2 weeks. I will begin some advertising campaigns to draw more attention to the system, and bring new people on board. You can help with this too, but letting others know about the system, and inviting them to join the awesome communities over at the Discord and Forums!

May the Dice ever Explode in your Favor

Expect another update sometime in mid to late July, though possibly sooner depending on what there is to update everyone on.

Your Open Legend Caretaker,

Jonathan “Great Moustache” Potter

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5

July Update

Continuing my promise to give an update each month, we are now at the end of July. Just a few highlights on what is going on, and what I hope to be showing everyone in August.

Valhalla

Playtesting has been going on with a few volunteers. I plan to release a beta version mid to late August that will be available via backerkit to those who pledged with stretch goals. After the beta is release, I will wait at least 2 weeks for feedback and further playtesting before going forward with the full release of the mini campaign setting.

If you are wanting to be a part of the playtesting now, look to the bottom of this update for further information and expectations.

Teaser of edited PDF page:

Desktop Wallpapers

I realized recently that the desktop wallpapers were never sent out. This will be another stretch goal that I will be working towards fulfilling. The biggest hurdle for this is that most artwork done for Open Legend has been in the portrait orientation. This is relatively easy compared to editing and layout of the Mini Campaign and Intro Adventures, though it still requires some work, especially to make sure a decent resolution is achieved. This may be delivered in August as well, but I still have some more sorting to do before I can give a definite.

Playtesting Information

Being a playtester will allow you to playtest the Intro Adventures as they are worked on as well, in addition to the Valhalla Mini Campaign that is currently being playtested.

Expectations of a Play Tester

Ăľ What happens in Play Testing stays in Play Testing

þþ In order to become a play tester, you must fill out a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Basically, until the product has been released to the public, you have to keep it to other play testers.

þþþ If you/your group want to film the games, you can, but you can’t release those videos until after the product has gone public

Ăľ Feedback! The whole reason for the play testing is to get feedback about the product. What is good, what is bad, how you felt about it.

þþ This can come in 2 (or more) forms. Feedback to the GM of the game, who then provides that and their own feedback. Surveys that players and GMs can fill out after a game (with optional anonymous ones).

Ăľ Once you have signed an NDA it applies to all present and future Seventh Sphere LLC products, so you can continue to play test other material, but you are not obligated to. You will not receive access to the play testing channels until an NDA has been turned in.

Applying to be a Play Tester

For now, there is no stringent qualifications (this may change in the future). If you are truly interested, you simply need to send an e-mail to:

info+playtest@SeventhSphere.co

You will then be e-mailed a link to download the NDA form. You can fill this out and digitally sign it, or print it out, sign it, and then scan it and e-mail it back. Please try to reply only so all e-mails are in a single “thread” or “chain”.

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6

All Kickstarter and Backerkit backers that picked the All PDF stretch goals now have access to download the Beta version of Shores of Valhalla!

Just need to login to backerkit!

Full release should be in the next month, and will be available on the OL store.

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Things are continuing to progress for the stretch goals, so here’s my update on things as they are over the last month!

Shores of Valhalla

Those following on social media ( twitter: @OpenLegendRPG and/or #OpenLegion ) already have seen that the BETA PDF document for Shores of Valhalla is available to download via backerkit ( https://www.backerkit.com/backer_accounts/sign_in ).

Since releasing it in this format, I’ve already made improvements on the document for the interactive table of contents as well as the sidebar bookmarks that you can view in a PDF (you won’t see these improvements in the current PDF on backerkit). I will be waiting another few weeks for any feedback on editing and balance (via Signs of Favor) before pushing out the final PDF.

For those that didn’t grab the “All Stretch Goals” tier, I will be making Shores of Valhalla available on the official store ( https://store.openlegendrpg.com/ ).

Wallpapers

I have started work on some of the desktop wallpapers, and have found some good landscape ones. Since there are so many portrait oriented artwork, I have decided to make a few phone wallpapers available too. I am still working on these though, as I want to ensure a high quality resolution.

Shirts

There are a limited quantity of Open Legend Shirts that were hidden away that I will be making available on the official store soon ( https://store.openlegendrpg.com/ ). They feature the Open Legend Key Hole design on the limited edition core rules cover and are available in Purple and Black.

These should be available for purchase in a week, 2 weeks tops. I will make an announcement on Twitter, Facebook, and in the Discord when they are.

Other Stretch Goals

As Shores of Valhalla wraps up, I’ll be pushing forward with the Intro Adventures. I’ll be looking for those interested in playtesting as well as looking over for any errors. I will do a similar timeline where I make it available first to those who have asked to be playtesters (mostly on the Discord), and then release a BETA version on backerkit.

Information about this will be posted on social media.

Thank you

Thank you for your continued trust as the reins have been handed over to me, and I look forward to the future of Open Legend, and future projects after the Stretch Goals!

Your Open Legend Caretaker,

Jonathan aka Great Moustache

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