Status Check

[Robert Leal]

Jeff--

I ws home with my family over Veterans' Day weekend, and my brother and I were chatting about science-fiction--he was selling me on Cowboy Bebop; we discussed Firefly; and lamented the loss of Farscape.

Then he complained that there was no good SF RPG to run those types of stories.  I figured that with all the creative minds on the Forge, there had to be something.  I checked around and found...Orbit.

I've seen your site.  It looks exactly like what we want.  When will it be ready?

My brother is finishing a cross-country road trip around Christmas time and is moving to the East Coast, only a few hours away, and we want to play.  It'd make a great Christmas present (a copy for him and a copy for me) if you had it done in time.

That's two sales.  How's that for incentive?

Rob

[JSDiamond]

Hi Robert,
Thanks for checking out the site.  Orbit will be ready by early first quarter of 2003.  I am finishing up the final bits of color artwork and preparing the text for layout.  

I am trying to do my very best as far as both writing and art are concerned, but regarding the artwork I have scrapped some finished pieces because they just didn't make the grade.  Hence the slight delay in printing while I re-draw those pics.  Though if I can somehow gain the [inspired] artistic momentum I may be able to go to press *in* December.  But that's an uncanny best case scenario.    

I'll be posting more updates on the site soon, along with the cover art which I finished two weeks ago.  

Great incentive for me too, -I can't wait to hold and play using an actual finished book!  

Jeff

[Spooky Fanboy]

So, how goes the Orbit production? There are those of us out here still eager for it.

[JSDiamond]

Orbit is [surprisingly] on schedule and is right now being laid out in InDesign.  My part while this is going on is to produce a few more pieces of art to coincide with things getting finished up.

Meanwhile again, I'll be shopping for a printer and raising the funds for the first print run (of 500 books) in any way that I can.  With any luck I can go to press in March as planned.

I can hardly wait, but I guess I'll have to anyway!

[Bailywolf]

Hey!  Great news.

One thing i have seen done if late is to accept pre-orders to help cover printing costs.  Arc Dream (the new GODLIKE publisher) is using this tactic for their TOG Intelligence Bulletin #2.

-Ben

[JSDiamond]

Hey thanks for the help!  I can cover the first half of the cost (the usual arrangement for printing) and pre-orders could [with luck] cover the second installment.

Thanks again.

[Robert Leal]

Point me to some pricing information and how to do it, and I'm up to pre-order (I did start this thread many moons ago, after all).

I've been watching old Farscapes and the late-Firefly and I'm read for some rock'n'roll space action.

Rob

[JSDiamond]

Absolutely Robert, I will start the pre-order thing once I have received my blue-lines back from the printer.

That way everything is well on its way to completion and the wait won't be too long between reserving a copy and actually receiving it.  One thing I don't want to do is have delays and pushing back a release date.

[Spooky Fanboy]

Can we assume an April release?

Right now, I'm running a Sorcerer game. One of my players likes the game, but it's mounting personal horror and dark-side fixation (my fault, perhaps, as much as the game itself---I'm playing a straight "demon-dealing" Sorcerer game) is causing him to not like his character and detatch himself from his character---which is detracting from the fun of the game.

Anyway, I bring this up because he's a sci-fi nut  and he likes the setting for octaNe, just not the system. I think Orbit would be a blast for him, and it sounds like all of us would enjoy it immensely, so I wanted to know when this would be out.

[JSDiamond]

Hey Spooky,
It's official.  I go to press in June.  Assuming the usual 3-week turnaround time, I should have books by mid-July.

And you can take that to the Alpha-Centauri Bank!