June 7, 2012: Ogre Death March Continues

Important! If you were a Kickstarter supporter, and you have not filled out your "What I want for my support money" survey, go to Kickstarter right now and follow the "survey waiting" link you should see at the top of the page! If you do not return this survey, whatever the reason, you may not get everything you wanted.

Almost everyone in the office is working on some part or another of Ogre Sixth Edition. Most horizontal surfaces, and some vertical ones, are covered with pasteups, proofs, and prototypes. The regular projected schedule board has been replaced with an "Ogre Central" magnetic schedule. Long hours are being worked. We knew this would be a big job. We had NO idea how big. One of our mottoes here is "Let's make it harder!"  We did that, with a vengeance. Some of us are just a tiny bit tired, but oh, this will be something when it's done.

We will print at least 10,000 copies . . . more than three times as many as we originally planned. Yet orders through the distributor/retail chain are also significantly higher than the estimates we had gotten from distributors before Kickstarter happened.

I can't tell you what everybody did today, other than "Lots and lots!" But, to give you an idea, today I corresponded with sponsors about their counter sheets, reviewed designs for counters and overlay sheets, laid out another overlay sheet, turned in the counter list and rules document for Pocket Ogre, checked the Kickstarter comments page, read some Ogre forums and made some changes that the forumites had suggested on the record sheets, reviewed the first version of the rulebook and scenario book layout from Richard Meaden, admired some new art for buildings, worked with Phil to estimate the size of the plastic tray that will hold the counters, boggled when Phil said "This will have more than a thousand counters!", did a quick estimate and concluded that it will certainly have more than 950, wrote this Illuminator . . . And it's barely after 10pm.

So we're keeping busy. Even if you were not a Kickstarter supporter, you can visit the page and read back through our updates; they're not hidden. You may, at least, find some of the photos mildly amusing . . .

-- Steve Jackson

Ray Bradbury, 1920-2012

One of our gentle giants has left us.

It may seem strange to describe the author of Something Wicked This Way Comes as gentle, but Bradbury's writing has a humanity that distinguished him from so many of his contemporaries. Bradbury challenged us all to find the joy in our lives and pursue it, because why strive to accomplish something that doesn't bring you happiness?

This afternoon, I immersed myself in my own favorite Bradbury book, Dandelion Wine. I urge you all to do the same . . . and if you don't have a favorite Bradbury book because you've never indulged yourself in his prose, well, there's no better time.

-- Andrew Hackard