Long Overdue Update
6 days ago
– Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 07:07:52 PM
Hello everyone!
Sorry for the lateness of the update. Those that follow me on social media or have backed either Angelology or the Shadowdark conversion of Creature Companion will know that, amongst other tragedies in late December, I was involved in a rollover accident. I ended up OK in the end. The car was another story. This happened at the holidays and was plagued with delays when determining that the vehicle was totaled. Due to the holidays and short staffing at both my insurance company and the assessor this dragged out long beyond the normal timeframe. Much of my time outside of my day job has been spent dealing with this and finding a new vehicle since the holidays. At this point I have a vehicle again.
The accident also ate up the vacation time I had taken at the holidays to complete layout on at least one of the books. That said I have been working when through layout when I can and I am VERY close to completion on the first book. Because I had lost as much time as I have, I have decided to cancel the time that I typically take off work in the summer for my family vacation and will be using that time in a few weeks to complete at least one book and possibly two. The reason for the vacation is to devote a normal working days worth of work to this each day to get it completed. That currently is 10-14 hours. The earliest vacation I could get from the day job third week of March, so by the fourth I will have AT LEAST 1 PDF to you, and I think, likely 2. At the same time the completed books will go off to final edit so we can get that done and get them printed as they are completed.
Next part of this update. Most of you are aware that we are launching a crowdfunding campagin for a reprint and Shadowdark conversion of Hidden Hand of the Horla. Some are mentioning this and some. seem to be surprised. "Reprint" and conversion campaigns requiring no work on my end we mentioned back in Update #40. This one in particular was intended to launch in early fall, but did not for the same health issues that held up this project at that time. Now that we are over that hump, conversions from OSE to Shadowdark are being given over to Taylor at this time so we can keep those moving forward while I focus on completing this entire campaign over the next couple months. Here is the snippet that referred to the crowdfunding of the reprint and conversion booklets, as a reminder:
Crowdfunding:
At this time we will not be doing any crowdfunding for works that require writing/game design until after the files for physical books on this Kickstarter are with the printer. That said, I wanted to be transparent in letting you all know that you will see 1 or 2 campaigns in that interim. The first is to reprint several of our adventure modules as stock is getting low. These were all already available to you as add ons in this campagin if you did not have them prior. If you backed this campaign and added on any of our previous titles you are already getting a better price per book than what will be available in the re-print campaign. The re-print campaign will not take me away from any work done to complete the GTA Trilogy campaign.
There will also be a campaign for Zine Vault Boxes. Again, this does not take me away from the GTA Trilogy, as these are just boxes meant to fit A5 and Digest sized books, modules and zines. That said, the books in this campaign should fit the boxes and I intend to have one box available that should be able to hold all three. This Zine Vault campaign may possibly not launch until after this one is fulfilled, but it could be before. Much of this is pending what comes in the form of U.S. tariffs in the near future. WHEN we do launch the Zine Vault campaign, I will be making pledge levels exclusively for backers of the GTA Trilogy to get boxes at a discount, for your patience on this campaign.
Again, this is to keep business moving forward in some capacity while I keep my focus on completing the Gateway To Adventure Trilogy.
As always, thank you for backing and thank you for your patience.
Ryan Thompson
Update - FAR OVERDUE
4 months ago
– Thu, Nov 13, 2025 at 10:48:37 AM
Hello,
Sorry for the prolonged time between updates. There were some medical issues that arose round mid-August. These have been diabetic related (recent diagnoses.) The one that had hamperred me here has been related diabetic retinopathy in my right eye. This has not been as bad as it could have been and I have been receiving treatments. I will be completing the process in a couple weeks.
To explain, i have had internal bleeding in my right eye. This has not affected my vision to the point that they have restricted driving. The main issue is that it has caused one blurred spot. This blurred spot is very prestent when reading under white/neon/led light AND on a backlit screen. Obviously that is an issue when it comes to doing layout work, tables etc, my vision is blurred while I attempt to get things looking good. This has hamperred my day job a bit, though much of what i have to write my admin has been able to help with there. I have been ablle to keep up with other things, such as social media and some writing by voice dictation, but that is not a possibility when doing layout (not to mention that layout is where I make things "look good"). All of this took an emotional and psychological toll during this time as well. I am a creative that works in a visual way and have not been able to do so, or enjoy the works of others in this time.
This said, treatments have helped (I am typing this out on a screen right now! I am back at layout and intned to have the PDF that was promised for August up on Backerkit around the end of this month-beginning of next.
My apologies for this dragging out even farther. As a humourous aside, Kickstarter's prompt for the subject of this update was "We've come so far in such little time..." which made me laugh, as I know I have taken a long time with this one.
As I am on the mend, not perfect but seeing well enough on the screen to be able to get this typed up, I will be back to work ASAP!
My sincerest apologies for this and the lack of updates. I was not in a great place, mentally, the past couple months while I wrestled with the reality of what was going on. That said, again, I am back and back at it. This being the only project I have at present to do any work on!
Ryan Thompson
Appendix N Entertainment
Previews and August PDF Fullfillment
7 months ago
– Mon, Jul 28, 2025 at 12:03:01 PM
Hey there folks!
First, I would like make you aware that I will be locking down orders this week. You will get a 48 hour notice by Wednesday via Backerkit regarding this. Please ensure that you have everything in want correct in your Backerkit "orders" before I lock down.
I must lock down orders before PDFs can be distributed. Once they are locked down you will have access to all PDFs for any pre-existing products that you have added on as well as the preview PDFs I had mentioned in the last update.
Now, onto fulfillment of the main books. Late June and July have hit hard at the day job. I have been working 10 and 12 hour days since late June. That coupled with a health issue that has cropped up that I have had to devote time via appointments) has meant less completion and layout than I had wanted, but I have still plugged away.
What you will get in August is AT LEAST one of the 3 books in PDF. At the very least you will see Character Compendium, in digital format. These is a good chance that you will also get one of the other two, but I cannot say which or that this is for certain. That said, the second book (and possibly third) will digitally arrive in September.
At this point I cannot say for certain when print copies of each will arrive. I intend to order all three at once, as they quality and stock should all match.
I will keep you posted. Be on the lookout for the 48 hour lockdown notice and please make sure that you have all that you want in your carts.
Thank you for your support and patience in this monster of an undertaking!
Ryan Thompson
Appendix N Entertainment
The Future of Fulfillment!
9 months ago
– Mon, Jun 02, 2025 at 12:40:11 PM
Alright folks, here it is. Firstly, I will address the timeframes that I am 99% confident you will be receiving books by. Second, I will be address the content of the books.
Fulfillment:
At present, I am 99% confident that you will be receiving PDFs by August. Several may be sooner, but I believe that all PDFs will be ready to roll out in August, likely early August. Physical copies of the books will be contingent upon what the supply chain looks like at that time for printing. Some books may be sooner than August. With the back and forth with tariffs in the U.S., I cannot predict exactly what the supply chain will look like when all of the PDFs are complete and ready to roll out.
Book content:
Regarding all three of the books, you are getting more contents than I had estimated at the beginning of the project. I had originally estimated all 3 books to clock in around 120 pages. Over time, with the rules and systems created, tested and reworked. This has led to an increase in the page count as I have started setting up for the final layout. In some cases this is amounting in a significant increase in page count, as you will see with each book:
Character Compendium:
This one is clocking in around 180 pages at present. There are some larger tables here that I am working out for layout currently that may make it a few pages more, but 180 is about what you can expect on this one.
With regards to this one, I will also tell you that the original author that was contributing the "Mirror Mage" class and spells was not able to complete there end and fell off some time ago. After following up to see where this stood so I could get the material to put into layout for this book (which will be the first completed and likely distributed earlier than the other two books) it seems like this one has fallen off entirely. In an effort to ensure that you still get the amount of content promised, I have made the effort to give you my take on the Gygaxian Mountebank class. The mountebank is a class that Gygax often talked about adding to AD&D and was planned for his version of AD&D 2nd Ed prior to his leaving TSR. The mountebank falls under the "rogue" category of classes being a trickster and charlatan of sorts. My take on the class mixes elements from the thief, merchant and illusionist classes. I will be sharing this soon. I hope the the mountebank sat
Contemplations & Combat Conspectus:
This one is admittedly the least complete in terms of layout. As of now I can confirm it will beat out the 120 page count, being at least 150 pages. It is very likely that it will clock in around 180 pages as well before the end.
Caster's Codex:
This also looks like it will be coming in right at the 180 page mark as it stands right now. Between spell lists, new spells, ritual magic, new magic systems (Charms and Runic Magic) and misc. magic (Ley lines, blood magic, blight magic)
Locking Down For Previews and Add On PDFs.
First, in order to distribute the preview PDFs via Backerkit, I need to lock down all current pledges. Please make certain that you have everything that you want in your pledge and add ons. I will give this about a week before I lock your orders down to distribute PDFs. This will be preview PDFs, as previously promised as well as PDFs of all the old titles that were available as add ons.
Crowdfunding:
At this time we will not be doing any crowdfunding for works that require writing/game design until after the files for physical books on this Kickstarter are with the printer. That said, I wanted to be transparent in letting you all know that you will see 1 or 2 campaigns in that interim. The first is to reprint several of our adventure modules as stock is getting low. These were all already available to you as add ons in this campagin if you did not have them prior. If you backed this campaign and added on any of our previous titles you are already getting a better price per book than what will be available in the re-print campaign. The re-print campaign will not take me away from any work done to complete the GTA Trilogy campaign.
There will also be a campaign for Zine Vault Boxes. Again, this does not take me away from the GTA Trilogy, as these are just boxes meant to fit A5 and Digest sized books, modules and zines. That said, the books in this campaign should fit the boxes and I intend to have one box available that should be able to hold all three. This Zine Vault campaign may possibly not launch until after this one is fulfilled, but it could be before. Much of this is pending what comes in the form of U.S. tariffs in the near future. WHEN we do launch the Zine Vault campaign, I will be making pledge levels exclusively for backers of the GTA Trilogy to get boxes at a discount, for your patience on this campaign.
Thank you for your support and patience. We are getting very close now.
Ryan Thompson
Appendix N Entertainment
May Update and Pre-"Big Announcement"
10 months ago
– Tue, May 13, 2025 at 05:42:20 PM
Hey folks. This is a pre-announcement to the bigger announcement coming later in the week. Later in the week (either Friday or this weekend) I will be giving the big announcements, as I believe we are close enough to lay out the due dates that you start seeing product. There is going to be a decently in depth run down of how everything has finally been shaping up and what you can expect out of each book. Page counts are quite a bit more than initially expected, for one. I want to make sure all of our ducks (anthropomorphic and otherwise) are in a row before I get the big one out.
As a tax I present you with the long awaited Rune Magic system and Rune Caster class preview! Additionally I intend to get a PDF of this material out to all of you via backerkit no later than this weekend as well! You will also get a PDF of the other material that I have shared in the form of spreads here of the past 8 or so months in another PDF. Make note that while these rules are fairly final now, the PDFs have not gone through final edit, so it is likely there will be typos here and there.
If you choose to play any of the material in the packets prior to release and have feedback and would like to be listed as a playtester you can email [email protected] use the subject GTA PLAYTEST.
Without further ado, I give you The Rune Magic system:
As always, thank you for your support and patience as we near the finish line.
Ryan Thompson
Appendix N Entertainment
