Hey all,

In case you get confused by the presence of this thread, just a FYI that as of August 26th, 2003, Shadows of Europe is not yet released.

I haven't heard any word about it coming back from the printers yet; as it's a large book, it may just be taking longer than expected.

Just proving that Synner is enjoying tormenting us.

Hey! I haven't said a word in ages...

So what's the latest dirt on when SoE is supposed to be live?

--K

Disclaimer: this is only my personal opinion on the matter, and absolutely not an official statement from FanPro US.

No release date available yet.
The proof-reading of the edited texts has not begun yet, and I don't know if it will soon. (hopefully, it should start very soon)
As this phase is the last one before the final final edit and then print, if we imagine it starts tomorrow, the earliest release date shouldn't be before last week of september.
But Rob seems quite busy those late weeks, so my uneducated guess would place the book more around mid-october.

Hey! It's been out of my hands for a while now. No fair breaking down the door like that. Hey! Leave that... What?... No... I won't... No really. What do you think you're doing? Hands off! Hey, that's private! What's that bat for? Stay away from me!!!

Seriously though, Otaku Mike probably has it about right. Primary writing has been over for a while now, but this book was always going to require a lot of editing since most of the writers were not native English speakers (or writers in this case). Regardless, I'm sure there will be updates as soon as we know something specific. No use in giving people false expectations.

What, the mob started already? They promised to wait till I could get tickets for a last minute flight. Well, I've got a message for you for all to hear: You killed Synner! You bastards!"

I was made an undeclinable offer to fly to Portugal tomorrow and head towards the Lisbon plex to look for Synner's sorry hoop. You'll get the latest dirt as soon as I made friends with the locals and found his hidey-hole (Whaddaya say, just follow the smell of fire and the lynch mob screams?). Sounds like a cakewalk

To tide you all over a little while longer here are the countries in SoE as listed by Rob at RatCon and announced by FanPro D on their Forums:

• Allied German States
• Austria
• Czech Republic
• France
• Italian Confederation
• Poland
• Portugal
• Scandinavian Union
• Spain
• Switzerland
• Tir Nan Og
• United Kingdom
• United Netherlands

There will should also be material on the NEEC, History, Corps, Crime and Magic as mentioned in the official blurb.

For those not following the acronym, NEEC == New European Economic Community, I believe.

Interesting country list -- Czech Republic made it, Slovakia didn't. Poland and the Czech Republic are the two ex-Warsaw-Pact countries that have really lept wholeheartedly into Western European living (well, and East Germany, obviously). I guess the rest of the Slavic bloc is still living in confusion and muted civil war in 2060, eh?

--K

My Preesssccciousssss...

Sorry, just needed to get it of my chest.


Adhoc

In the words of Bob Dylan (more or less)...it's not out yet, but it's getting there.

The full-sized SoE cover was also available for people to check out at RatCon, and I was blown away by Klaus Scherwinski's artwork (not to mention the pencil sketch which I always prefer and which had some detailing that didn't make the colored print). Indeed, it is getting there.

We also got a "hands-on peek" at the Character Dossier which was fresh back from the printers, and should be in stores soon. Even the skeptics were drooling. Very nice work Adam.

It's not nice that Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) are not included.
Oh well, we are usually forgotten

Still wanna get this one book and check out.

Nah, everything between Russia and Poland was just wiped off the map during the EuroWars.

But seriously, as I've said above, they get a brief mention. There was an interest in developing other areas but the biggest problem is space. SoNA had 11 countries, SoE will have more and new pan-Euro info to boot. There's only so much you can incorporate in a limited space and still do it justice. A choice was made to focus on Western Europe based in part on recent developments in the region.

So now we'll need a Shadows of Eastern Europe sourcebook next.

Netbook, anyone?

--K

Any word yet?

sorry, not yet.
But I assure you that of all people here, we're the most impatient to see it completed
Last we heard from Rob, he said it was coming together nicely. I take that as a good omen

I hear if Rob's hair doesn't clog the shower it's a good omen.

The Balkans are missing from SoE too. Any idea when or if we will see some material for Eastern Europe and the Balkans?

Any dates set yet for the release?

We're considering some possibilities regarding the Balkans, I'll be posting when I know more.

It was a conscious decision to leave out most of Greece, Eastern Europe and Russia from SoE simply because there would not have been enough space to do the region justice. However there should be a section giving a (very brief) rundown of areas neighboring the new NEEC.

Not mentioning the map of Europe.
Even if some areas don't have a written part in the book, most of them will have canon borders and some "name droppings" on the main map.

Still no word yet Hot Wheels. Talk about tension huh? But we reckon that the wait will be worth it. But then I would say that 'cos I'm bias. The biggest pity was that due to wordcount limitations we couldn't squeeze everything we wanted into the book - like Greece for instance. But then there's plans for that in the future and it'll likely get a bigger and better place than we could have given it in SoE.

There goes my optimist chip again...

But don't just take my word for how great this book is - preorder your copy today and don't forget to tell Rob how great he is for getting it out there.

Psst Synner, that should help our next project proposal - you think they bought it?

Gentlemen, enough with the teasers. Let's try to withhold any further comments until SoE gets a final date.

I thought it had a final date- but it was some time last summer?

No. There was no final date, especially not last summer.

Actually, I do believe it was advertised in the cons that SoE would be released for GenCon 2003 (something like end of july, I'm sorry I don't remember the date).
But, I'm far from lots of things here in Asia, so I may be wrong.

As I remember, the intent had been to release SoE by GenCon this year. That's still not a final date, however. "Final dates," as I would understand them personally, would be an announcement that it's gone to print, and should be in stores by [general week of x month].

That would be the actual date, after the endless delays and foul-ups have made the original release date into a Dilbert strip about professionalism and efficiency.

I can't let that pass without reacting.
The final drafts have been delivered to Rob in august IIRC, but until the beginning of july, we were all working very hard on it, until everyone saw that we were not going to make it, and that it was better not rush things and have a good book.
After that, I have to remind everyone that FanPro US is a one-man-office. And the honest thing to say is that most texts we delivered were over wordcount allowances (an average of 15% more than planned) and, as no native writers, the editing work seems to be very tricky, a long process (which is not finished at the time I write this) involving lots of rewriting.
If you want to blame someone about the delays, blame me, not Rob.

Last thing I heard was end of November/early December...

you forgot - [/sarcasm]

We wait for quality, not rush. If SoE has to be delayed to get it straight, so be it. I only hope it won't delay the others sourcebooks, but ...

Believe me, this is clearly a case of it hurts me more than it does you...

Gosh, you guys sure can get cranky with me about the things you screw up.

The fact remains. DotSW was late by months. SOE is late by months. SONA was late by a month if I remember correctly. T:AW was late. Was SSG on time? I don't remember.

The fact remains that FanPro misses most of its release dates by a wide margin.

Go ahead and complain about the complexity of the operation. Go ahead and complain about the number of people working for you. Go ahead and complain about the pressure. Your dog is sick, you've got swimmer's ear.

But you're still late.

After the first two or three books missed their release dates, why didn't you say to yourselves, "Selves, it looks like a book takes longer to complete than we thought...so, next time, instead of giving ourselves six months, we'll give ourselves nine." You see, I'm not asking for a rush job, I'm just asking for the release date to match the day (the month!) the book arrives at my local shop.

A large number of writers each tackling a different section, should make it go faster through parallel effort. Smith writes chapter 1 while Jones writes chapter 2 while Doe writes chapter 3, and primary writing gets finished quicker. Then an editor or two goes over the book to make sure everything fits together, a few small revisions are made, and the book is done. How do *you* organize it?

If you're writers can't put together fifteen or twenty pages inside of two months, they're incompetent and should be replaced. If your printer takes three months to get their job done, they're incompetent and should be replaced.

I love the game! I buy the books! I'm standing here, money in my hand, eager to buy! Here's the demand! Make with the supply! Act like real company that wants to do real business!

Why can't you just accept it and shut the f**k up?

Edit: Re-worked expletive...

If you can't walk the walk, then don't talk the talk.