Sentinels of the Multiverse: Disparation Expansion

Good afternoon!

We've been deep in the final playtesting mines over here, and it's been going really well!



I don't have as much as I wanted to share, but I'm still feeling good, given how close everything is getting. Yes, this is taking longer than expected, but I'm solidly at the point where I'm happy to report: it was all worth it. This game rules. It's fun to play. The new content is awesome. I'm proud of it. It's been a helluva road with some VERY unexpected bumps and twists, but the ship is finally landing. WHEW.

More next month — I know, I know, I keep promising more, and I keep meaning it! It's been a tumultuous time. But we're getting there! I am really looking forward to you seeing how much this was all worth the wait.

Hey, folks!

Nothing major to share today, unfortunately. Too much going on over here, and I'm attempting to wrap up a bunch of editing and playtesting, so I want to focus on that. I'll have a lot more done in the next two weeks, so I anticipate having more juicy morsels to chew on for the June update.

It's good being back and being productive again, but man did some plates stop spinning while I was in bad spine shape. Totally my own fault — no one else dropped the ball here, so I'll keep picking up the pieces and getting things finished as soon as possible, but without sacrificing quality! Eye on the prize and all that, right?

I look forward to sharing a bigger update with you all in June!

-Christopher

Hello, everyone!

I considered doing something for April Fools, but with how ridiculous this year has already been, everything I could think of was either 1) too believable, or 2) not as outlandish as reality. That's either a good sign or a terrible one! Either way, I'm just gonna stick to the truth.

For the last two weeks, Chris Burton and I have been doing intensive in-house playtesting of EVERY little piece of Disparation content, and — excuse my language — HOT DAMN! This expansion is GOOD! We're very proud of it.

Honestly, I was expected to sit down to play everything for the first time since the first week of January (ugh) and have it feel only 80% done. Listen, it's been a year to feel pessimistic, even though I've managed to keep my spirits higher than I had any right to. Still, I feared that this content had really fallen apart in the last months. Just negative thinking, turns out, and not at all based on reality. Disparation content is easily 96% done, with the remaining 4% being the last few tough nuts to iron out (that's the expression, right?) but far from insurmountable. The last 10% is always the hardest 10%, but we're well into it and feeling good!

We're working hard on those last few elements Right Now to get them across the finish line, and everything is going to Rae for graphics and layout for print before the end of April, so the next few weeks are crunch time on a surprisingly manageable amount of stuff!

I took a photo of the whiteboard where we were tracking all of our playtesting over the last two weeks... but it's SO full of spoilers. I fear even posting it with it slightly blurred, as I've seen Sentinels fans decode blurred images before. AHEM. Very rude. Rude / impressive. OK, I'm definitely WAY more impressed than offended. You folks are awesome. STILL! This is the most I can show here without giving it all away.



Not much, I know, but that's just because of how dang sleulthy you all are! Also, marvel at my skills as a graphic designer! If you weren't already aware, now you know why Rae and Darrell do all the layout and graphic design. Not me! I do stuff that looks like THAT!

More updates in a month! Until then, keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher, the necro-cyborg-neck-haver

Hey, folks!

I've been getting some things done lately, against all odds, and it feels good to be productive, even if significantly less so. My January and February productivity were almost entirely shot, which makes sense, but it still sucks. However! Surgery on the ol' spine is happening next week, so I'm feeling good about the medium and long term, and the short term is almost over. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery!

Anyway! Darrell made a sweet spinner! I was talking to him about the fact that this set lets you potentially play with SIX Hero character cards at the table, since Darkstrife and Painstake both have their own character card, and he whipped up a sweet looking Hero HP spinner that looks distinct from the 5 in the core game and fits thematically for those edgy demon "twins", but can be used for anyone!



Cool, right? I like it a lot.

OK, now to managing expectations: unsurprisingly, the development of this project is behind. There's stuff I was going to finish up in January that I haven't even started. Go figure. But things are still moving along, and I have a plan for making March more productive than the last two months! (It involves me knocking out a bunch of work this week and the beginning of next so that I can do my surgery recovery without constant stressing about getting stuff done. I'm doing it for my health!) 

So, with that in mind, Disparation won't be shipping in early summer as originally intended. You'll definitely have it before the end of the year (barring any other major nonsense type stuff — please no more of that!) but I don't believe it'll be printed and shipped before Gen Con. I know that "sometime between Gen Con and December" is a wide margin, but that's as much as I can reasonably project from where I stand now, and I'll definitely keep you updated on where things are on a monthly basis with these updates. I am hoping that next month's update will be "surgery recovery was not too bad and I'm finally back in action!" But, even if it's not, know that that Sentinels stuff is my second highest priority right now, falling only slightly behind spine stuff. Gotta get all the Ss in order!

So, bear with us — I apologize for the delays and thank you for your patience. We're excited to wrap this up, and I'm doing my best to make it happen! Until next time, keep on saving the Multiverse!

-Christopher

Hey, folks!

Big thanks to Bailey last month for writing and posting an update for me. I was in NO SHAPE to do anything of the sort, but I was also under the impression that I'd be back in the saddle in a matter of days... a week or two at the absolute worst.

I was incredibly wrong.

Not to go into it long-form here, but today's episode of the Letters Page podcast is a 20ish minute discussion of my current health state. Spoilers: it's not great! But I have at least a path forward, and am still quite hopeful and optimistic. 

What does this mean for the schedule here? Honestly, I don't know yet. I had intended to get a ton done in January and February, as they are historically quite productive months for me, but obviously that's not the case. Standing at my desk for enough time to check my e-mail and write this update takes the wind out of me, and I can feel my mind turning more slowly under the influence of the frankly embarrassing amount of drugs it takes to bring me down to a mellow 5/10 pain... so, yeah, things are moving more slowly over here than intended, for sure. I'd love to tell you when things would be back to normal, because that would mean I'd know when this hellish torment would release its clutches on me. But, alas, all I know is that SOMETIME in the hopefully near future, I will have surgery on my spine, and that will help. I don't know when yet, but hopefully I'll learn more this week. And I don't know how long the recovery should be, but I don't imagine it'll be MORE terrible than my current state. So, I have hopes to be back in the productive zone SOON, but all I have is hopes. Well, and pain. I also have a lot of that. ANYWAY.

Meanwhile, the good news is that things are NOT at a standstill! Chris Burton has been doing a bunch of work with the playtesters, and Darrell has put together some new designs that we're going back and forth on (unsurprisingly, I am the hold up here) and I look forward to showing you in an upcoming update. So, while my current bad time is certainly messing things up, it's not ruining anything (other than my day-to-day life and sanity and all that). 

Fingers crossed for a way better update next month! Sorry that this is happening and causing problems. I promise I'm doing everything in my power to get back to things here. 

I look forward to writing a way more cheerful update next month!

-Christopher