Hey everyone! Mid September update!

Pre-Order Store is Closing October 1st!

This is the FINAL two weeks before we close the preorder store. It's your last chance to grab a special edition of the Dark Carnival at a discounted price.

We've got all our production quotes in, and we are going to print this book with ribbons, purple edges, and make it all fancy. Once we enter retail, the cost will bump up slightly on the MSRP, but for all our backers, they keep the original. Remember, this book comes with a FULL Soundtrack (All finished!), the PDF, AND the hardcover book for $80.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY THE PDF SEPERATE!!!

If you haven't grabbed one yet. You can do so right here! https://festival-of-the-forgotten.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Pledge Surveys are coming Early October!

On your pledge survey, you'll be able to answer a few questions, order any add-ons, and settle up any shipping, handling and taxes.

It takes about 2-3 months to really sort through and shake out all the backers so we can get final production quantities for manufacturing. We run it here rather than later, so that in December when we release the PROTO PDF to backers, it's one last chance to catch any snafu's and make sure everything is working like it should.

Then we sit on our hands and wait for printing and manufacturing!

That's all we have for this update! Short and sweet! So, with that said, here's a Thespian Jack artwork by M.E. Morgan! This book is going to look so damn pretty!!!

*FLAILS!*

*Slides in with coffee*

*taps Mic.*

GAH! How the hell is it September already?! Like...summer? Time....is a soup?

Luckily, we've kept the ball rolling behind the scenes. I know this is seriously the most boring part of a crowdfunding campaign because it's like: "Yup, they are stillll cooking". Here is what we've got however!

It's after layout that things get interesting and more fun for all of you, because then we will drop the early release pdf to backers, and run the pledge manager to start locking in orders as we begin manufacturing.

Behind the scenes at the studio: STF is making a lot of good internal changes. We are spending a lot of the fall overhauling some of the back end systems for publishing, getting audio books and recordings started, and leveling up our project flow.

(If you haven't seen the updates to our website, go poke around! https://www.storytellersforge.com/)

Our next project: Black Ballad: Second Chances (A journey to Shadowdark) will be coming out next March though instead of October of this year. All those internal overhauls with ISBN's, listing books, and website redo's are the focus while Dark Carnival Cooks.

The cool thing is: When we do go live with Second Chances, that project will be completed. (This is a HUGE milestone btw).

OH! I forgot!

Last time an art piece was shared with the game guess the class?

It's Oath of the Mageguard: Paladin from the Dark Carnival! That's the answer!

For this update, I'm going to share a personal favorite of mine! What legally distinct name are we chucking for this subclass below? (Also Art absolutely crushed this art. This class, is one I am totally playing when given the chance)

*Taps mic* Never done this before...

Hello there! This is the Eldritch Editor, Courteney, speaking, and I hope this update finds you all well.

I come bearing news that is all good and hopefully makes you shuffle in place with glee. So much of The Dark Carnival is getting done behind the scenes, and I'm going to peel it back juuuust a bit. If you are ready, pull those socks up and hold on to your hat!

As of August 7, the rough soundtrack was dropped into our laps by the amazing "V is for Villains" team! It's coming along amazingly, and it's already sparking ideas amongst those who have listened to them. It has the vibes, the atmosphere, the beats. I've found myself bopping along to the music more times than not while it's been on, and I'm excited to see how it progresses!

I can only imagine how things will feel when the music starts playing during a game session. Will you tense up under the whimsical music, or will it help you relax and enjoy the carnival more? I guess time will tell... And I hope you'll share stories with us when that time comes!

We are so so close to having all the art polished up and completed. There's only a handful of things left, and it's all being brought to life beautifully—or, well, as beautifully as can be given how spooky some bits are. You get what I mean! 

Seeing the art we envisioned being brought to life with such care and skill has been such a trip. Every notification had me leaping to check it all out as soon as I could—zooming in and looking at each detail to see how each artist added their own flair. It gives me chills! I loved it!

The copy edits are officially complete and turned over to us! We're going to be spending the next while going through and making sure the final polish is as good as can be before letting it rest from all our poking and prodding. 

If you haven't already, make sure you join our Discord, https://discord.gg/5WBczsUryc, so that you can tell us your stories of the Carnival once the words are in your hands. We love hearing how your games are going!

And, if you made it this far in the update... Well, thank you! Here's a little reward!

Can you guess what subclass this is?

*slides in with fresh coffee*

*Cracks Knuckles*

*Blinks*

Greetings cryptids, androids, and lovers of shiny math rocks! Rick here with an update on July!

Overall Dark Carnival:

-Copy Edits due back end of July. Right now, a lot of production is Michael and I waiting for copy edits to return on the full manuscript so we can start working through them.

-Gamefound hath ended. Soundtrack Unlocked. Music creation is underway! V is for Villains has everything they need and they've begun the process of creating it! (Well, more than the first trailer song everyone heard that is!)

-Print Quote Sourcing Is EXCITING! Ah...the land of print quotes. Tariffs...paper quality...covers... I've been doing this in the background the whole time, but finally narrowing it down to the final two companies we are going to work with.

-THE DICE HATH BEEN AQUIRED! One of the biggest mysteries was the dice in regards to the Tariff situation. When everything was temporarily paused... we raced and got them done. Ergo! We have dice! In our hands!

That said...everyone really liked the idea of some small batch or rare dice from local artists we meet on our journey...so we actually are getting a few of those made as well.

Surveys:

Surveys will go out I'm assuming in late October / November. I know some crowdfunding campaigns send out surveys within 30 days, but we've been pushing them back further and further into the production cycle intentionally - payment to the shipping gods is best served when we are closest to production.

Plus, it prevents all the "I need to change my address" emails that happen when we do it early. I'm aiming to launch surveys for everyone on both Backerkit and Gamefound in October when we are close enough to start early backer PDF releases for the 1st draft.

PreOrders: Lootboxes and special stuff was all tied to the crowdfunding campaign, so those are all gone. However! You can grab the Dark Carnival itself and select accessories now!

Artwork:

The major pieces of artwork are coming in hot! I'm going to drop in ONE final art piece here for everyone, and then more art after the jump!

Monsters of Murka!



Jaron Johnson and the Action Fiction team are extremely close friends of ST Forge! Jaron is one of our writers on the Black Ballad and Red Opera, and ST Forge is working on Cthulhu Dreamnt! So when the greatest modern D&D campaign setting where you battle and dungeon crawl in the hall of Walmoria returns -> YOU DAMN WELL BET WE ARE SIGNING UP!

They have a launch party in 6 days that you can sign up for right here: CLICK THIS!

Frankly, I think everyone in the TTRPG community needs this box set on our shelf. It's perfectly timed as a campaign as well :3

Without Further Ado! Final Artwork! THE DARK CARNIVAL HELLHOUND TAMER RANGER CLASS!

More art by Emi Miller! (and more art for Backers Only after the jump!)

Hey everyone!

We have 24 hours left on our Gamefound boost!

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/storytellers-forge/the-dark-carnival

Obviously, the soundtrack has already been hit and as a studio, we've successfully established our Gamefound presence. We will still, of course, be here for most things, but Gamefound presents a few unique opportunities for upcoming projects, so getting established there on the board game side of things...has merit.

The last 24 hours here, is the last chance for those of you following the Dark Carnival (here, or there), who HAVE NOT backed yet -> To get the STL Files for free with backing. Plus, it's the last chance for loot boxes.

After that campaign is closed out, it will take about 30 days for everything to settle and I'll make sure the add-ons we want to move forward with are set up appropriately on both sides, and add the STL file to ANY backer on either side (as long as you jumped in during a crowdfunding window).

Then we will run pledge managers, get the final tallies in, and after that is all zipped and done: All that anyone will be able to purchase will be the Books!

Book Update! ....we don't really have much beyond art! Honestly, that's just the stage it's at. The manuscript is in copy editing and it's already written...so, for Backers of the project, I've got some art reveals after the jump!

Kai Tonet is doing several pieces for us, and I'll share the WIP artwork here for the Ringmaster Warlock subclass and then it's progression in the backer area!