Gravedigger's Harvest

April Update
3 months ago – Thu, Apr 09, 2026 at 05:52:17 PM

Hey everyone,

It's been about a month, so it's time for another update.

Writing Progress

Writing is about 95% complete. There are some final edits to be made between Andie and myself, but the adventure design is basically settled and the text is essentially where it needs to be. Page count has increased a fair bit from our original target (48-64 pages, now looking like 80 pages), so we'll be raising the price post-release - you all got a nice discount!

Game Design Progress

There are three more Failed Experiment stat blocks left to make, and I'll probably add a few boons and charms based on these, but aside from that all the new custom creatures, NPCs, magic items, and intangible treasures are done! In total, there are 3 custom NPC stat blocks, 10 custom monster stat blocks, 12 magic items, and we'll probably end up with somewhere between 8-10 new boons, charms, and pacts.

Art Progress

Iris has been hard at work making more illustrations for our illustrious NPCs and the failed experiments, as well as the custom graves for backers and some splash art of Gilliksburgh itself.

The Mini

The mini of the adventure's final boss is complete!

Remaining Work

Once writing is really nailed down Iris can start dropping everything into layout so that we can get the adventure out to you all (and send the file off to the printer). My priority right now is making sure that happens as swiftly as possible, after which I also need to finish making the maps for the various locations of Gilliksburgh. I waited to start on those until the adventure was closer to set in stone to make sure I could fit as many locales as possible. With the adventure having as many branching paths and options as it does, there were some locations that might not have made the cut whether because they were more generic (a house) or because the likelihood of a fight breaking out there was very small. As it turns out, however, I think I'll actually be able to map out every single area! Some of the locations are pretty small, which works to our advantage in this.

That's all for this update! If all goes as planned, the next update should be with the finished adventure, or at least a known release date.

Thanks for your support!

- Josh

March Update
4 months ago – Thu, Mar 05, 2026 at 04:57:49 PM

Hey everyone!

Iris has finished some more artwork since the last update, and Andie has been hard at work wrapping up the adventure. The adventure has been a fun challenge to work on for reasons I'll get into in a moment (and I do mean both fun and challenging, not in a sarcastic way).

Locking Orders Soon

Before that though, I wanted to let you know I'll be locking orders and charging cards soon to make ready for the release of Tome of Intangible Treasures II and any other PDFs you've purchased as part of your surveys. 

You will get a 48-hour notice for each of these steps in case you have things you want to change or need to update your card info. Addresses won't lock until we're closer to shipping.

The Adventure

Andie came up with a fun mechanic to help track time during the adventure, which takes place over two days and two nights after the party arrives in town. Each day, the party can take two Party Actions, and up to four Downtime Actions, plus an optional Party Action each night that comes at the cost of a long rest (there's a special Downtime Action that lets a single party member rest on day 2).

The city of Gilliksburgh has so much to do in it, and there are so many places where clues can be found, that it's actually mathematically impossible to do everything in one play through of the adventure. And the different orders in which the party takes their actions can have critical impact on what happens later, including which actions are available to them. This makes the adventure one I'm excited to run at conventions as it has multiple possible endings and probably dozens of ways to play through it (though I'll have to do the math on that after we've finalized all the options).

The downside of this, of course, is that it's been a lot of work for Andie to weave that web in a way that is going to be narratively satisfying regardless of the path you take through it, and that properly convenes at the end of the adventure to bring the party to the location(s) where the story's final events take place.

All of which to say, writing is taking slightly longer than anticipated but I think it'll be well worth the wait!

That's all for this update, but keep an eye out for your orders to be locked and charged. PDFs for the other books should go out soon after via BackerKit's Digital Downloads.

Thanks for your support!

- Josh

January Update
6 months ago – Wed, Jan 21, 2026 at 01:31:24 PM

Hey everyone!

We've been busy, so I wanted to give you a bit of a progress update! Andie is now fully focused on writing the adventure, and Iris has been doing some work to get things ready for layout after writing is completed. You can see a "sketch" of a potential design for layout below:

The illustrated map we unlocked from Stained Karbon Maps is also just about done, and it's looking great! The map is 20x60 inches, and will span both printed maps. The center line of the long edge aligns pretty much exactly with the edge of the tower, so outside of the adventure you can also use these maps as just the tower area or just the lich's laboratory.

Timelines

Tome of Intangible Treasures II, which this adventure is a bit of a spiritual companion to, took a bit longer to edit than anticipated, which has pushed back progress on the adventure a little bit since both Iris and myself are involved in that project. I'm now anticipating more like the end of February for the release of the adventure's PDF (Tome of Intangible Treasures II, for those that pledged for a PDF copy of that book, is likely to release by early February).

Once the PDF of the adventure is ready, I'll lock orders in the pledge manager and then charge cards soon after to allow the PDF to be released. The release of PDFs and other digital rewards will happen via BackerKit's Digital Downloads firsts, and then a little later via DriveThruRPG.

Thanks for your support, and I look forward to sharing the adventure with you soon!

- Josh

Survey Smoke Test
7 months ago – Tue, Dec 09, 2025 at 12:24:25 PM

Hey everyone!

The smoke test for the BackerKit surveys is going out to about 5% of backers (randomly spread across all pledge tiers) right now. Once at least 90% of them have responded (or after about 48 hours, which ever comes sooner), and assuming there are no issues, I'll send out the remaining surveys to everyone else! So expect those to start going out sometime Thursday late afternoon or evening.

Surveys and What To Expect

Here's what you should know about BackerKit surveys (or a refresher and campaign-specific info for those already familiar):

• You'll get an email to the address you pledged with asking you to fill it out. I have had issues in the past with Apple ID emails, so if you don't get a survey and you use one, that might be why.
• The survey will ask you a few initial questions depending on your pledge tier (if you pledged for a tier that includes a VTT module, this is where you'll tell me which platform you want)
• If your pledge includes Custom Grave Art, there will be a link in one of your survey questions (or after the add-ons section, depending how you pledged for it) that will take you to a separate form to fill out for this reward. It's important that you fill that out before the deadline so your art can be included in the book!
• You'll be able to add on additional items to your pledge. Payment for these items will be collected later alongside shipping and taxes.
• PDFs and other digital files will be distributed via BackerKit's Digital Downloads. Files for Tome of Intangible Treasures II and Gravedigger's Harvest will be distributed when they are complete.

I've also chosen to include more of my previous products as add-ons in the pledge manager! If you're new to my work, you can grab copies of Tome of Intangible Treasures Vol. 1 or Injuries and Vile Deeds as part of your pledge. PDFs for these products will be distributed after they are charged for (sometime early in 2026).

Make sure you fill out your survey as soon as you can! The only times I've ever had backers not get their rewards is if they don't fill out their survey.

Timeline

Our goal is to have work on the PDF completed by early February at the very latest in order to make sure that there are no delays in production. It's my hope that we'll get it done before that though! Backers who pledged for Tome of Intangible Treasures II can expect to receive their PDF copies of that book before Gravedigger's Harvest.

Late Pledges Closing

With the surveys going out, I'm closing Late Pledges on Kickstarter and opening Pre-Orders on BackerKit.

Thanks for all your support!

- Josh

And that's a wrap!
8 months ago – Thu, Nov 20, 2025 at 04:21:43 PM

Thank you all for your awesome support this last month! Thanks to you, we unlocked a lot of stretch goals, and expanded both the adventure's contents and the systems we'll support with it.

Since we did still have a stretch goal or two we didn't manage to get to, we'll continue to consider Late Pledges as progress toward those goals! So, if we break 14k with late pledges, we'll unlock the next Lich's Failed Experiments (and if we make it to 15k, we'll unlock another illustrated map!) If we somehow manage to get to 400 backers, we'll also still commit to making the adventure in PDF format for Draw Steel!

This extension will last until sometime mid-December (about a month from now), at which point we'll have to lock things down to be able to finalize production on time for printing.

What's Next, and what do you need to know?

Obviously, we now have to make the adventure! But in terms of what you can expect, we'll likely be using BackerKit for surveys and we will send those out after about two weeks (once everyone's card has been charged).

Pledges and Surveys

Kickstarter will try for two weeks to charge your cards. If there is an issue with your card, Kickstarter will notify you and as long as you get your card updated swiftly your pledge should still go through. If your pledge does not go through, you will have the opportunity to get your card updated and pay for your pledge via the pledge manager (you'll still get a survey).

When you get your survey, you'll have the opportunity to upgrade your pledge, add any add-ons, and enter your shipping information.

Updates

I'll share an update about once a month or whenever there's important info to share (like a date for charging for shipping, or when surveys go out). This will typically be writing, art, and/or layout progress up until the printing order goes out, at which point the updates usually become timeline updates and the occasional preview pictures of rewards as they finish up manufacturing.

Alright, I think that about covers it! The next update will probably be in a couple weeks when surveys go out, or if we get through our next stretch goal.

Thanks again for your amazing support, and I look forward to getting this adventure written!

- Josh