A High Level Summary Of Swords In 2024 (Patreon)

Hi adventurers,

I just want to take a moment to explain where I'm at and what my goals are for the next year. This is all subject to change!

The Webcomic
I'm planning one more update on The Beginning Of Time and then it will be back to jokes until I do something crazy at episode 800, as is my way.
I would like to return to Patreon polls deciding what characters to focus on. I think the 22 Heroes from Cut the Deck will each get a turn being fleshed out next year with their Archive entries rewritten... plus a secret character!

The Patron Swor'nament Part II
This might happen in December or January unless I'm needed urgently elsewhere. Only 5 of the original 8 have gotten back to me, and only 1 Royal Tier patron took up the offer to be substituted in, so I believe we're still 2 short.
I apologize to anyone affected by the angry behaviour of a few individuals who felt justified in trying to sabotage my Kickstarter earlier this year, while also refusing to take a refund. They can be short with me all they want, but when they lash out at other readers that's uncalled for.

Plushies
I have not begun planning any more plushies with Makeship, but I'd like to do something for Swords 6th Anniversary in March, I think.
I pulled out of doing a plushie for November because Rapier Tapir and the Quest Sprout vinyl didn't perform as well as I had hoped and I want to spend some time rethinking what the most valuable things to release are.

Shirts and Stuff
The Black Friday sale is on now. I have no big plans to revamp the shop at the moment.

Cut the Deck
We had to change manufacturer because our order was too big, and so I've been working on redesigning the box and a few other things. We ultimately had some space for extra cards, so I've been adding more Heroes too. The plan is to have everything with the manufacturer by the end of this month.
We've locked in 1500 God of Darkness Editions for production, so if you want one, you should really preorder it now as there are about 200 remaining. You would be doing me a big favour sharing this link around too, as delays cut into our team's budget.
I will be releasing Patreon exclusive adventure PDFs once we've actually shipped the game.

Let me take a second to say - I'm very grateful that you guys were okay with there being an unexpected delay. I'm trying to make it up to you with more content; but your support means a lot all the same.

The Video Game
The plan was to begin beta-testing this pretty soon, but we've been held up with other things. There was an option to release a version with some of the quality sacrificed, but it seems like a better idea to do it right the first time. Games are hard.

Another Kickstarter
We will probably do another Kickstarter in 2024. I have a good idea what I want to do but have nothing to confirm just yet.

Physical Books
No plans to release a physical book at the moment. I'm eternally stuck between releasing the old made-for-web-resolution comics as they are or remastering the good stuff into a chronological order.

A TV Show
There have been lots of people asking about a show since Strange Planet got one. I have some connections in LA and the writers strike is over now, but I'm not formally perusing anything yet. The animation industry is in a pretty unhealthy state overall, with projects being randomly cancelled as tax write-offs mid-production all the time.
The best thing you can do if you care about making this happen is to help the Webtoon and Patreon (free tier) grow, so that I can show potential investors that Swords isn't going anywhere.

Stars
I never planned for Stars to go on a hiatus, but I just haven't had time to prioritize it. Maybe when Cut the Deck is away with the printer.

Steel Tribe
Imgur are always asking when I'm going to finish Steel Tribe! I have no room in my world to work on Steel Tribe right now. I suggested a while back that if my Patreon was at least making the minimum New Zealand wage (I believe it's at 85% right now), I would have the freedom to queue it up somewhere, but apparently that's an unsatisfactory thing to promise. So I'm officially not working on it right now, as has been the case for a decade now.

Patreon Sticker Club
The next Sticker Club drop will be in February. I'll keep tweaking it to add more cool stuff.

Returning DnD Content to Patreon
As far as I know all the drama around homebrew DnD content is over now, so I'll start adding that stuff back in, as requested.

That's about it for the moment? Lots to do. Lots to think about. And lots of opportunities for growth and learning. As always, thank you for your support, your patience and your kindness.