Update #46: October Chapters Update
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Oct 31, 2024 at 09:26:08 PM
Hola, cabrones!
It’s almost Dia de los Muertos (starting tomorrow!) and that means it’s time for our October Chapters update. This month, we’ve made a ton of progress on art for the book, and we’re going to share some of the illustrations in progress so you can see how things come together!
Chapter Update: October 2024
First, here’s a quick summary of the various stages we usually go through as the book moves from outline to final layout:
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On hold areas are waiting for the rest of the book to be completed.
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Writing involves the writing team creating the chapter’s primary text.
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Developmental Editing is the process of an editor working on a written chapter, restructuring and finalizing the text.
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Copy Editing is when an editor goes through the text to ensure that all grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and style errors are corrected.
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Layout takes the text from the copy editor and puts it into the final form for print.
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Art/Proofing means the team is looking over the chapter in layout for any final changes while selecting/commissioning final art.
Amigos y Enemigos
- Introduction - On Hold
- Los Narcos - Finished!
- Los Americanos - Layout
- La Comunidad - Layout
- La Ley - Layout
- Backmatter - On Hold
The majority of the work this month has been on the art—each NPC in the book has an illustration, so that means working out all 30+ images at the same time to ensure they are balanced. Mexico is an incredibly diverse place, so we want to capture that diversity with these characters!
Sin Fronteras
- Introduction - On Hold
- Playbooks - Layout/Writing
- Berlin ’87 - Dev Editing
- Aztlan ’37 - Design Phase
- Back Matter - On Hold
The design and writing of Sin Fronteras is still on hold—Amigos y Enemigos is the priority—but we’re doing the art for both books at the same time, so we’ve made some significant progress on that front!
Art Update: October 2024
While the majority of the art in Amigos y Enemigos is in the character sections, we still get a chance to illustrate a few additional pieces within the book. In this piece, we have some cartel sicarios hijacking an innocent driver:
In order to make sure the splatters work with the image, we add them early in the process! This tight sketch is focused on working out the position of the figures and thinking through how the splatter will work “behind” them.
Sin Fronteras expands Cartel’s rules to Berlin, which gives us a chance to showcase a different kind of environment. Here’s an illustration of the mid-80s Berlin club scene:
Finally, we’re also working on new playbook images—for both Berlin and Aztlan—and we’ve got some exciting illustrations for the dystopian Hunted and Hunter.
As with the other images, we think about background and foreground at the same time, including the elements we’ll place behind the image as we finish the character designs. In this case, we're creating an aesthetic for Aztlan that captures elements of traditional Mexican culture and the innovative street fashion of cities like Los Angeles and Mexico City!
Thank you!
The road is long, but we’re making progress! Stay tuned next month for some finished art and more NPCs! Thank you!
September Chapters Update
over 1 year ago
– Mon, Sep 30, 2024 at 05:02:35 PM
Hola, cabrones!
It's the end of September, so I'm popping on to give you the monthly update on the remaining Cartel stretch goal books; it's a short update this month, but we're going to keep you all appraised monthly until these books are done.
Chapter Update: September 2024
First, here’s a quick summary of the various stages we usually go through as the book moves from outline to final layout:
-
On Hold areas are waiting for the rest of the book to be completed.
-
Writing involves the writing team creating the chapter’s primary text.
-
Developmental Editing is the process of an editor working on a written chapter, restructuring and finalizing the text.
-
Copy Editing is when an editor goes through the text to ensure that all grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and style errors are corrected.
-
Layout takes the text from the copy editor and puts it into the final form for print.
-
Art/Proofing means the team is looking over the chapter in layout for any final changes while selecting/commissioning final art.
Amigos y Enemigos
- Introduction - On Hold
- Los Narcos - Art/Proofing
- Los Americanos - Layout
- La Comunidad - Layout
- La Ley - Layout
- Backmatter - On Hold
Amigos y Enemigos continues to march toward completion, with virtually all of the NPCs moving into layout. Formatting each of them takes a bit of time, including refining and polishing the moves and hooks to make sure they fit the space provided, but we're getting there!
I'm also excited to relay that work on the art has begun! Amigos y Enemigos has quite a bit of art—one illustration per NPC!—so we're excited to get moving on that element of the book now.
Sin Fronteras
- Introduction - On Hold
- Playbooks - Layout/Writing
- Berlin ’87 - Dev Editing
- Aztlan ’37 - Design Phase
- Back Matter - On Hold
As before... this book is still on hold, but the plan remains the same: we’ll wrap up A&E, then get playtesting materials out for Aztlan ‘37before we finish up the other elements.
Thanks a lot for your patience this year, folks. Finishing these two books is a top priority for this Fall, and I'm excited to keep checking in monthly until they are both complete!
August Chapters Update
over 1 year ago
– Sat, Aug 31, 2024 at 05:14:59 PM
Hola, mis amigos!
It’s been a busy year, and I appreciate your patience as we’ve worked through the remaining Cartel stretch goals. We’re still in the process of finishing Amigos y Enemigos, but I have some good news today about the book’s progress!
Chapter Update: August 2024
First, here’s a quick summary of the various stages we usually go through as the book moves from outline to final layout:
-
On Hold areas are waiting for the rest of the book to be completed.
-
Writing involves the writing team creating the chapter’s primary text.
-
Developmental Editing is the process of an editor working on a written chapter, restructuring and finalizing the text.
-
Copy Editing is when an editor goes through the text to ensure that all grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and style errors are corrected.
-
Layout takes the text from the copy editor and puts it into the final form for print.
-
Art/Proofing means the team is looking over the chapter in layout for any final changes while selecting/commissioning final art.
Amigos y Enemigos
- Introduction - On Hold
- Los Narcos - Art/Proofing
- Los Americanos - Layout
- La Comunidad - Layout
- La Ley - Copy Editing
- Backmatter - On Hold
The writing and layout for Los Narcos are finished! You can view all the NPCs for that section of the book in the preview we uploaded today via Backerkit. Unfortunately, the other sections are taking a bit longer than planned—we’ve got two other sections that are in layout now, and one more that’s moved on to copy editing. I don’t yet have a final estimate for when they will be done, but it’s one of our top priorities as we move into Fall.
You can access the full preview of Los Narcos from Amigos y Enemigos ahora mismo:
https://cartel-rpg.backerkit.com/backer/digital_rewards
Reminder: you’ll only have access to this preview if you’re getting the stretch goal materials!
The good news is that we have gotten back onto our artist’s schedule for the many, many pieces of art that are included in Amigos y Enemigos. Every single NPC in the book is receiving an illustration, and we’re excited to have Mirco Paganessi, the original interior artist for the Cartel core book, back with us to do those images. Mirco’s work—which has also appeared in Zombie World, Wizard Kittens, and other Magpie Games’ projects—is absolutely incredible, and we’re excited to have him back.
I know this is still moving slower than we hoped. Unfortunately, we had some staff on unexpected medical leave this summer, and that kept us from doing as much in May and June as we hoped. We’ll keep you all updated monthly from this point forward so you can see how it’s coming together this fall!
Sin Fronteras
- Introduction - On Hold
- Playbooks - Layout/Writing
- Berlin ’87 - Dev Editing
- Aztlan ’37 - Design Phase
- Back Matter - On Hold
This book is still on hold, but the plan remains the same: we’ll wrap up A&E, then get playtesting materials out for Aztlan ‘37 before we finish up the other elements.
Next Steps!
We’re still focused on finishing the full PDF of Amigos y Enemigos, especially now that we’re getting in art and moving more sections to layout. I’m still hoping to see both of these books go to print this year, so we’ll have more updates throughout the next few months to keep you all appraised. Thanks for your patience!
April Chapters Update
almost 2 years ago
– Tue, Apr 30, 2024 at 04:17:38 PM
Hola, mis amigos!
First, some good news—the first part of 2024 has gone much more smoothly than 2023. Thanks to all of you who took the time to comment or send me notes of support; your kindness means the world to me, and it is a reminder that crowdfunding is still ultimately about a community coming together to support an artistic work. Mil gracias.
There’s still a great deal of work to do until this project is completely wrapped, so let’s jump into our chapter update and talk about what’s gotten done since we last updated you all!
Chapter Update: April 2024
First, here’s a quick summary of the various stages we usually go through as the book moves from outline to final layout:
-
On hold areas are waiting for the rest of the book to be completed.
-
Writing involves the writing team creating the chapter’s primary text.
-
Developmental Editing is the process of an editor working on a written chapter, restructuring and finalizing the text.
-
Copy Editing is when an editor goes through the text to ensure that all grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and style errors are corrected.
-
Layout takes the text from the copy editor and puts it into the final form for print.
-
Art/Proofing means the team is looking over the chapter in layout for any final changes while selecting/commissioning final art.
Amigos y Enemigos
- Introduction - On Hold
- Los Narcos - Layout
- Los Americanos - Copy Editing
- La Comunidad - Copy Editing
- La Ley - Dev Editing
- Backmatter - On Hold
Most of our work this past few months was in reviewing the existing text for Amigos y Enemigos so it could move from dev editing into copy editing and layout. We’re almost finished with one section—Los Narcos—and we’ve made good progress on the others! We’re still on track to have the full PDF by the end of Summer 2024.
As promised, we’ve prepared a new preview of Amigos y Enemigos—a selection of NPCs from Los Narcos! You can download the new NPCs ahora mismo:
https://cartel-rpg.backerkit.com/backer/digital_rewards
Reminder: you’ll only have access to this preview if you’re getting the stretch goal materials!
Sin Fronteras
- Introduction - On Hold
- Playbooks - Layout/Writing
- Berlin ’87 - Dev Editing
- Aztlan ’37 - Design Phase
- Back Matter - On Hold
Since our focus was on Amigos y Enemigos, we haven’t made much progress on Sin Fronteras. We expect to get back to this book in full in late Summer, once we finish the remainder of Amigos y Enemigos. We’ll get out the preview materials for Aztlan ’37—so folks can playtest it—then finish up the editing/writing for the new playbooks and Berlin ’87.
Next Steps!
Our next goal is to finish the full PDF of Amigos y Enemigos, including purchasing the art and finalizing the introduction and backmatter. We still expect to have that full PDF ready for you all by the end of summer, so look for our next update in July. Thank you again for your patience, and I hope that 2024 is looking up for you too!
Apologies y El Horario
about 2 years ago
– Wed, Jan 31, 2024 at 01:23:48 PM
Perdóneme, mis amigos—it has been far too long since I’ve updated you all on our progress with Cartel stretch goals. The last few years have been completely overwhelming, but I am deeply sorry that it has been so long. I’ll explain more in a moment, but please know that I do not take your support or interest in this work lightly; nothing brings me such joy as sharing this work with you all.
But to say that 2023 was a challenging year is to imply that I did anything other than survive from month to month. It was a year that opened with me contracting COVID (two times in three months) and ended with the suicide of a family friend. In between, I lost my elderly cat, my grandmother, a car—stolen, then totaled due to drug use, ironically—and months of my life to other assorted catastrophes that ranged from car crashes to Avatar RPG shipping crises. I am not a superstitious person, but there were moments last year in which I literally felt cursed, unable to catch a break long enough to pull my head above the water and make any progress on something that was not an urgent crisis.
And thus, too little work was done this past year on what remains undone in this project, and too little time was put into letting you all know how things were going when they were going poorly. I am truly sorry. One of the great joys of Cartel is that it’s the truest realization of what I hope games can be; one of the tragedies of Cartel is that it requires such attention to detail that the work is always slow and there is almost no one who can handle my portion of the workload.
I understand if you are angry and disappointed at how things have gone to this point. Believe me when I say that no one is more frustrated than me. Cartel is a labor of love, a project that originated in my desire to connect my Latinx cultural heritage to the roleplaying games I’ve loved since I was in middle school. It is torturous to struggle to finish a work of such personal importance, no matter the circumstances that brought on the delays; it is hellish to have to admit that I couldn’t make any progress that week or that month because I was drowning.
And yet… hope springs eternal, even in the narcofiction word mines. I have not given up. We are moving forward with the project, and we hope to deliver the remaining books this year. Things will move slowly, but they are moving again. Please read on to learn more about where we stand with the project, and what’s happening next.
That said, there are backers to whom we owe physical books. If you have decided that you cannot wait any longer and wish to get a refund, please email [email protected] and let us know; we’ll get you a refund for one or both of the delayed books right away. I understand that you have waited years, and I completely understand if you would prefer not to wait any longer. Everyone, including anyone who gets a refund at this point, will receive the PDF of the books when they are complete.
Thank you again for your support and your patience. This work is hard, but it is deeply worthwhile, and I will do my best to make the delay worth it.
Progress y Schedules
While this last year has been challenging, we have made progress on the remaining pieces, and we’re excited to finish these remaining stretch goals and deliver them to you this year! Before I go into the specifics, here’s a quick summary of the various stages we usually go through as the book moves from outline to final layout:
-
On Hold areas are waiting for the rest of the book to be completed.
-
Writing involves the writing team creating the chapter’s primary text.
-
Developmental Editing is the process of an editor working on a written chapter, restructuring and finalizing the text.
-
Copy Editing is when an editor goes through the text to ensure that all grammatical, spelling, punctuation, and style errors are corrected.
-
Layout takes the text from the copy editor and puts it into the final form for print.
-
Art/Proofing means the team is looking over the chapter in layout for any final changes while selecting/commissioning final art.
Here’s a full project update on the outstanding sections for both books:
Amigos y Enemigos
- Introduction - On Hold
- Los Narcos - Dev Editing
- Los Americanos - Dev Editing
- La Comunidad - Dev Editing
- La Ley - Dev Editing
- Backmatter - On Hold
Over the last year, we’ve gone through the full writing process for all of the NPCs in this book from all four arenas—the narcos, the gringos, the community members, and law enforcement. We’ve worked with a bunch of different writers for these pieces, drawing on a wealth of diverse experiences and perspectives, and now all those NPCs are in dev edits. Once we get them processed, they will move on next to copy editing and then layout!
Because we’ve made so much progress with Amigos y Enemigos, it’s going to be the focus for the start of this year. We expect to have preview materials for you all by April, and the full PDF by Summer 2024. Some of this will depend on how long the art takes, but I will keep you regularly updated.
Sin Fronteras
- Introduction - On Hold
- Playbooks - Layout/Writing
- Berlin ’87 - Dev Editing
- Aztlán 2033 - Design Phase
- Back Matter - On Hold
Sin Fronteras is a much more mechanics-driven book, and the process is a little bit less straightforward. The playbooks we have already released have been through a great deal of playtesting (and are already in layout), but they require me to now write the advice for both the players and the MC. Similarly, we’ve finished the design on the Berlin ’87 playset, but we need to finish writing and dev editing the explanatory text. Aztlán 2033 is in the design phase, but will largely be on hold until both those other sections make progress.
We’ll have an update on the timeline for Sin Fronteras when we start to release preview materials for Amigos y Enemigos; we’re going to focus on the first book first, and we’ll know more how long the second book will take as we move forward.
Final Thoughts
As we move forward, I’m going to prioritize doing a better job of keeping you all informed. Our next update will be in April, focusing on the previews of the Amigos y Enemigos material. If we finish things earlier, we’ll release them earlier and update the schedule then. I know it has been frustrating to go so long without updates, and I'm going to ensure it doesn't happen again.
Finally… thank you again for your support. I often say that Cartel is the “very best thing I will ever make in my life.” I don’t say that as hyperbole—I genuinely believe that this project is something special I am unlikely to ever match. You all are the people who made that possible, and it meant (and means) the world to me to have that support. Thank you, and I hope that this year I’m able to close this project out in a way that makes you all proud.
