John Wick brings 7th Sea back in a 300-page, full-color, hardbound book. Revised rules, revised Nations, updated for the 21st Century.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Production Update: September 2016
over 9 years ago
– Wed, Sep 28, 2016 at 11:59:48 PM
Hey everyone!
Now that we’ve delivered the Core Rulebook and Pirate Editions to backers, it’s time to turn our eyes to the long road ahead of us: the Pirate’s Booty, ten sourcebooks, maps, and so much more. We’ve been hard at work this past few months, and today I’m going to go over where we are with the project, give you some new releases and previews, and chart a path forward for our crew!
7th Sea Production Schedule
Since we get so many questions about our upcoming releases, we thought we would set up a stable place for you to look for the latest news. We understand that it’s really tough to dig through all these Kickstarter updates just trying to find when a book is coming out!
From this point forward, you can access the latest updates about our production schedule on our website at this link:
Any time a project takes a step forward toward publication, we’ll update it here. We’ll also update this schedule if there are an changes to our production cycle, including books getting moved back or forward in the order.
In addition to our sourcebook schedule, we’ve also listed our accessories and novels. Please note that our next big shipment will be the Pirate’s Booty (dice, decks, Hero Points, etc) that will ship out in December. We’ll have more info on that as we get through October and November, but we’re planning on getting you all those materials by the end of the year!
Schedule Changes: Pirate Nations and Heroes & Villains
You may have noticed from the schedule that Pirate Nations is no longer going to be our first sourcebook released for 7th Sea Second Edition. We’re still super excited about Pirate Nations, but it became obvious to us as we worked through the developmental edits that the book needed a bit more work… and that Heroes & Villains was totally ready to go. So we’ve switched them!
Overall, this isn’t going to change much. We still plan to get the PDF for Pirate Nations out this year, and we’ll get both books shipped to you all just as soon as we get them back from the printer. (They might still be warm from the press.) Stay tuned for more information about the release of all our sourcebooks in the coming months!
On that note, please remember that we’ll be using a new system to ship out additional rewards, beginning with the JWP books (Wield, Houses of the Blooded, etc) starting next week. You won’t need to update your address with us; we’ll be giving you a coupon to grab the book off our webstore so that you can give us a fresh address each time we send you a book.
Hero and Villain Decks
On that note, we’ve finished the Hero and Villain Decks. Please keep your eyes on your Backerkit Digital Downloads page for digital copies of both decks later today!
The Hero Deck features NPC heroes from Heroes & Villains, complete with a description and a few ideas of goals they might want to achieve, plot hooks that can lead the players’ Heroes into grand adventures.
The Villain Deck is similar, but instead of plot hooks we’ve given you schemes that the Villain might use to oppose the Heroes and expand their villainous influence.
We still need to put together the tuckboxes for both decks based on a template from the printer, but these decks are pretty much ready for print. We can’t wait to get them to you (and the rest of the Pirate’s Booty box).
If you catch any errors on the cards, please fill out this form by Monday, October 3rd so that we can get them fixed before they go to print:
Thanks to Sheldon, the soundtrack for 7th Sea is getting close to completion. But for this update, I’m just going to turn it over to John. We’ve got a few more sea shanties to preview, and he’s got something to say:
In 1992, I joined the Sea Dogs, a historical performance group specializing in sea shanties. Since then, I’ve been collecting sailor working songs. I’ve acquired hundreds of recordings—on CD, tape cassette and even on LP. I’ve always wanted to do a collection of shanties and when we first started planning the 7th Sea Kickstarter, my “dream stretch goal” was a collection of sailor songs from all around Théah. Of course, when I say “dream stretch goal” that meant, “If we raise enough money that we run out of books.”
And then… well, you know what happened.
When it became clear a shanty collection was possible, I immediately contacted my friend Sheldon Morley. Sheldon and I were in a band together called “The Awful Lot,” but we’ve been friends much longer than that. Making music with Sheldon was one of the most emotionally powerful and rewarding experiences of my life. There was a chemistry between us that was not easily explained. I wanted Sheldon because of his “punk rock harmony” expertise. His favorite bands—like The Misfits and Bad Religion—bring strong harmonies to the punk sensibility.
Shanties are working songs. Simple melodies, easy to learn, easy to sing. And riotous. Loud, boisterous and wild. In other words, punk rock. So, when it came to think of someone to handle arranging and recording the shanties, Sheldon was my first and only choice.
And so far, he hasn’t disappointed. In fact, he’s surprised me.
I picked about a dozen shanties. I wanted songs most people hadn’t heard—no, we’re not doing “Blow the Man Down”—but were still tons of fun. Overlooked classics. Songs most people don’t know but should. I went over the list with Sheldon and we whittled the list down to ten. Then, Sheldon got started on the arrangements. He made demos and we got together with a crew of folks in here in Phoenix and recorded “gang vocals.” That’s people shouting and singing, clanking tankards together, slapping each other on the back and otherwise making noise. And yes, there was rum. A whole lot of rum. And during that recording session was when the songs really came to life.
And that’s what I wanted. Working songs. I wanted the collection to sound like it was recorded in a tavern. Some people off key and missing cues. Shouting between the lines. Call and response. Not a pristine choir in white robes doing seventeen part harmonies, but sailors singing shanties.
When Sheldon sent the first mixed recordings back—complete with gang vocals—I was shocked. In most creative endeavors, you have to settle for something a little short of your vision. Not this time. This isn’t what I wanted, this is better than what I wanted.
I’m so proud of this work. And I can’t wait for you to hear the whole thing.
What we’ve included here are three songs from the collection: “Roll the Old Chariot,” (a "heaving song" that Sheldon turned into a punk rock number), “Running Down to Numa,” (Ben Woerner suggested that one and provided most of the lyrics) and “Pay Me My Money Down" (my favorite of the bunch).
Roll the Old Chariot
Running Down to Numa
Pay Me My Money Down
Old melodies with a Théan spice. We’ll be doing a second gang vocal recording in October/November and sending you the entire collection soon. In the meantime, put these on your favorite playback device, get a few friends together, pour out the rum, and sing along. After all, that’s the whole point: stomp your feet, clap hands, drink some rum and SING!
Future Production Updates
Now that we’ve got our production cycle fully underway, look for a production update from me about once a month. We’ll have more previews and releases to share, news about our progress on the sourcebooks, and a whole lot of cool stuff to share with you over the next few months.
Our ultimate goal is to have everything in backers’ hands by the end of September 2017, but we may encounter a few bumps and delays along the way. Either way, we’re going to keep you informed and make sure that these books, novels, and accessories are every bit as awesome as we know they can be! Thanks!
Voyage of Fortune’s Star is Live!
over 9 years ago
– Wed, Sep 21, 2016 at 12:12:37 AM
Hey everyone!
I’m thrilled to announce that Nocturnal Media has launched the Kickstarter for Voyage of Fortune’s Star, the first ever 7th Sea video game! They’ve got some amazing plans for Anzolo, the captain of Fortune’s Star and the mysterious sarcophagus he discovers in the aftermath of a naval battle. And they’ve also got plans to add a second protagonist—the Fate Witch, Magdalena Salvaza—with her own adventures and dramatic twists.
It's been a long-term dream of mine to see one of the worlds I created on the screen—both the computer screen and the movie screen. We're already taking steps toward the movie dream happening with the 7th Sea trailer, but now, thanks to Stewart Wieck and the folks at Nocturnal Media and Fuel.Tech, 7th Sea may soon be sailing into the world of video games!
Anzolo Zorzi, Captain of Fortune's Star
But this project needs your help to make it happen. Video games are big, expensive endeavors, even for indie projects that are careful with their budgets and cautious about the scope of the project. We decided to work with Stewart on this project because we know he can deliver; let’s give him the chance to make a great game!
You can fine Voyage of Fortune's Star on Kickstarter here:
(And be sure to watch the Kickstarter video. It’s a hoot.)
Digital Wallpapers
Since we’re talking about 7th Sea on the computer, we’d also like to announce that we’ve put up the first round of digital wallpapers that you all unlocked through community achievements. You can find them on the John Wick Presents website here:
We’ll be updating and releasing more of these wallpapers for every sourcebook that we release. Check back often for new wallpapers (and other downloads) and let us know if there are any other images that you’d like to see us make available in this format!
1st Edition PDFs Link
Finally, despite our efforts to get everyone their 1st Edition PDFs, we’re still getting messages from folks who haven’t gotten their copies or lost the original link. In order to make sure that everyone has lots of access to the 1st Ed stuff, Mark has added a new link to the digital downloads page on Backerkit.
If you’ve already downloaded your 1st Edition PDFs, you’re good! But if you’re missing anything, please head over to the link below to get your 1st Ed link:
When we release other digital files like sourcebooks or the Sorté deck, we’ll be adding them to the Backerkit digital downloads page as well. Look for lots of new downloads over the next six months.
Production Update: September 2016
We’ve been crazy busy here working on the Pirate’s Booty, sourcebooks, and all the other rewards, stretch goals and community achievements you all unlocked. We’re getting to the end of some deadlines this week, so Mark is going to update you all early next week with a full list of where we are with everything.
In the meantime, go check out THE VERY FIRST EVER 7TH SEA VIDEO GAME!
Post-GenCon Shipping Update
over 9 years ago
– Wed, Aug 10, 2016 at 12:51:38 AM
Hey folks!
First, thanks to everyone who has posted comments, notes, and pictures about getting your books in the mail. It’s a joy to see people getting their books, and it’s really useful when we hear about problems early. Thanks!
Domestic Shipping Woes
Speaking of problems, it became apparent as we headed out to Gen Con that something had gone wrong with domestic shipping. We had contracted with Gamerati to handle all 5,000+ orders of domestic books, delivered the first shipment to their warehouse on July 21st, and yet… folks still didn’t have their orders. We contacted Gamerati the week before Gen Con, and they reassured us that things were running smoothly.
And yet… many backers still didn’t have their books by the time Gen Con closed. Even worse, Gamerati was unable to provide tracking numbers that we could upload to Backerkit until today (long after many of you received your books). After some discussion, Gamerati has agreed to explain the situation more directly. Here’s what they have to say:
My name is Ed Healy, the owner of Gamerati.
Among other things, we often ship product on behalf of publishers. When John Wick Presents asked us to handle fulfillment of the 7th Sea Kickstarter in the domestic United States, I was excited. I've known John for nearly 20 years, and so I jumped at the chance to be of service to him—and you.
But, our service was lacking.
My shipping manager ran into a conflict with the United States Postal Service which should not have delayed the shipping of your books. However, I did not step into the situation in a timely manner, which resulted in a significant delay in getting books in the mail.
This was not the fault of John Wick Presents.
We received books from JWP well before Gen Con started. Given that media mail normally takes 3-5 business days to deliver, I said that every backer should have their book by the time copies of 7th Sea showed up in Indianapolis.
This did not happen.
Roughly 25% of the packages we sent likely did not arrive at backer doors before the show started.
As the owner of Gamerati, I take full responsibility for failing you.
Please know that John Wick Presents did not.
All of us at John Wick Presents worked hard to get the book ready with enough time to ship copies before Gen Con, and we’re as frustrated as you are that we weren’t able to get some of you books in a timely manner. Please accept our apologies as well for letting you down here, and know that we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure we don’t have similar problems for future shipments (pirate’s booty, supplements, dice, etc).
Damaged/Missing Books
I got an updated list of tracking numbers from Gamerati today, which means that all domestic backers should have a good sense of where their books are in the mail system. (Check Backerkit if you didn’t get a direct email). International backers should also have received their books by this point, so we can start tracking down missing and/or damaged books and getting them replaced.
We are committed to making sure that each and every backer gets the book they ordered in great condition. If a book goes missing or shows up damaged, we will replace it. You all paid for big, beautiful books and we know it’s just not the same when they show up damaged (or don’t show up at all)!
If your book is damaged or misprinted, please fill out this form:
Thanks for your patience while we sort through these issues. It may take a week or so, but we’re going to make sure everyone who ordered a book gets exactly what they ordered!
Add-Ons, Supplements, and Future Shipments
Many of you have asked about the Sorte Decks, Hero Points, GM Screens, and more that were included with your orders. We’re still working on those, and we plan to have them out around October. We were very lucky to be able to put together the Core Rulebook early, but we’ve still got work to do on all these accessories. (The same goes for the sourcebooks, which are scheduled to start releasing in November…)
Now that we’ve mailed out the Core Rulebook, we’re looking into ways to make shipping the accessories and supplements go much more smoothly, including better packing materials, options for faster shipping, and more. We’ll have more information on this in September as we gear up for those shipments.
Thank You!
Thank you all for your support. You’ve made 7th Sea: Second Edition something unique and special, a project that blew the doors off what people thought was possible on Kickstarter and relaunched a brand that many people thought would never return. Shipping out nearly 10,000 books was a unique challenge with a few bumps, but we’re excited about this first step… and all the other supplements and accessories we’re going to deliver to you all over the next year and a half.
We’re just getting started. Thanks so much for coming with us on this adventure.
Shipping, Shipping, Shipping!
over 9 years ago
– Mon, Aug 01, 2016 at 11:12:08 PM
Hey folks!
First, we’re excited to see you all at Gen Con 2016! As a quick reminder, we’re going to be at Booth 3015:
We’d love to see any and all of you that want to drop by the booth and say hello. Nothing makes us happier than hearing from 7th Sea backers! Tell us about your characters and adventures!
If you're interested in following along at home, please follow us on Twitter. We'll be tweeting text, images and video throughout the convention.
Domestic Shipping
With over 5,000 domestic packages shipping out, our fulfillment house has been quite busy. The books arrived at the warehouse from the printer on July 21st, and they’ve been shipping out books as fast as they can. At this rate, we expect all the books to be in the mail shortly, but we can’t guarantee when they are going to arrive. Typically, domestic mail takes only a few days, so we’ll put up a form (post-Gen Con) to report missing books.
International Shipping
Our international shipping is split up among a few different fulfillment houses:
Canada - Almost all of our Canadian books have been shipped, after crossing the border last week. Today is a holiday, so there might be a few that leave the warehouse tomorrow.
European Union - Our London-based shipper—despite the impending Brexit!—has been processing packages for about a week. We expect them to all be out in the next day or two as well.
Everywhere Else: All the books destined for Mexico, Greenland, Norway, Asia, and everywhere else in the world have already shipped! You should see them sometime in the next week as well.
Woo! That’s a lot of books headed out over the Seven Seas…
Australia Shipping
Unfortunately, we’ve had to step back from our Australian Region shipper, which means folks in Australia and New Zealand won’t be receiving their packages for at least another week. Our apologies! We had hoped to make it work as things got difficult, but it looks like we’ll need to find a different local partner for future books.
Instead, we’re going to ship the books via the traditional FedEx International Mail Service that we used to send all other Non-EU/Non-Canada shipments. The books will be on their way this week, but (unlike all our other packages) we have no hope of them reaching Australia/New Zealand backers before Gen Con.
So… we’re doing a limited Gen Con pickup for Australian and New Zealand backers. If you want to grab your book from us at Gen Con (and you’re an AU/NZ backer), please fill out this form:
We need to know early if you’re picking up a book, so please fill out this form by Tuesday, August 2nd at 8:00 PM Eastern. We’re excited to get you a book, so we need to make sure we have enough on hand.
Post-Gen Con Updates
When we return from Gen Con (and get some rest!), we’ll have an update for you all on the progress with the decks of cards, maps, and additional supplements. We’ve got some great stuff cooking, and we can’t wait to share it with you all.
July 2016 Production Update
over 9 years ago
– Thu, Jul 07, 2016 at 09:37:08 PM
Hey folks!
We’ve got a bunch of 7th Sea updates for today, so let’s get to it!
Core Rulebook Update
After all the work you all put into proofing the Core Rulebook, things have gone smoothly with the printer. They expect to have the first books off the presses around the 20th of July, and then we’ll start moving toward shipment ASAP. We plan to get the Core Rulebook into your hands well before Gen Con, so we’ll be updating you with more info as books leave the warehouse.
At the same time, we’ve released the 7th Sea Core Rulebook on DriveThruRPG:
We’re already a Silver product on the site (top 10% of all time) and we’ve been solidly in the top ten hottest products since we launched the PDF. Thank you all for helping us make this book so awesome!
If you’d like to support the book even more, please go and leave us a review. Reviews make a huge difference to our sales down the road, and we’d love to see our Kickstarter backers leave a huge wave of reviews! (In order to leave a review you have to download the book, so use your Backerkit code to get the book from DTRPG first!)
JWP at Gen Con
As you may have heard… we might be releasing a new book at Gen Con 2016. :)
While you all are going to get your books first, anyone who wants to get the 7th Sea Core Rulebook before it hits stores (and our webstore) in August, can pick up a copy at our booth: 3015.
We’d love to see Kickstarter backers as well, so please drop by and say hello! Myself, Mark, Marissa and many of our writers and staff members will be staffing the booth throughout the weekend!
As for events, we have just a few spots left in our existing 7th Sea games:
We’ll be working with Gen Con this week to put up a few more events. We’ve reached out to a few of our volunteer GMs already, but please stay tuned if you haven’t gotten an email from Mark yet. We may still need you!
For folks that are still waiting on information about World Events (or Dread Pirate rewards), we'll be in touch this week. Our apologies for the delay; lots to do this past month to make Gen Con happen. Thank you for your patience!
Production Schedule Update
Now that the Core Rulebook is done, we can start to think about our future production schedule. Here’s a short update on where we are with our next few parts of the project:
Pirate Nations: We’re well into production on Pirate Nations! Our writing staff has been working on the book since April, and we’re well into editing and revisions. Marissa has been working with our artists to get more great art, and we should have some previews soon. We probably won’t be three months early with this book… but we might just have it out before November.
Oh, and here's some art from the book:
Pirate Nations Art Preview
Pretty cool, huh?
Heroes & Villains: Depending on how art shakes out, our second book in the series is likely to be Heroes & Villains. Liz C. (lead developer) is guiding her team through the eighty individual NPCs that make up the core of the book as we speak!
The New World: Mark and his team are heavy into New World writing, but a bit delayed because our archaeological consultant is... doing archaeology field work for another few weeks. It looks like we’re going to be featuring three new Nations, as well as new Sorceries, Dueling Styles and Backgrounds/Advantages that will be available to Théan and New World characters. I’m excited to see this book come together post-Gen Con!
Maps: We’ve got the first map squared away (Théah!), but it’s going to be a bit before we can finalize the entire set (and the World map). Stay tuned for updates about maps in September, once Mark Richardson has finished the Aztlan map and started work on Ifri.
Pirate’s Booty (cards, Sorte decks, dice, chips): We’re working with a number of factories in China to get these put together this Fall. We have a lot of work to do on these (like 200 pieces of art!), but we should know more after Gen Con 2016 about delivery estimates.
Soundtrack: Sheldon is already churning out some rough tracks of the songs, and we’re excited to see the whole soundtrack come together in the next few months. In fact, we’ve got a preview of the newest track ready for you now:
There’s obviously more going on (novels, board games and more!), so we’ll continue to update you as stuff makes it way through the pipeline.
Backerkit Housekeeping
Since we’re getting close to shipping the Core Rulebook, please let us know ASAP if your address has changed. We can still update our files to make sure your book gets to you on time, but the earlier we know about a new address the better.
In addition, some of you may have noticed that your charges for 7th Sea add-ons purchased through Backerkit listed “Magpie Games” in the charge instead of John Wick Presents. Backerkit accidentally listed Magpie Games as the charging company, but don’t be confused! Those charges are for 7th Sea, and we’ve gotten everything sorted out with Backerkit on the backend so that this won’t happen again. Our apologies for the confusion.
In Other News
Speaking of Magpie Games, I’d like to offer a big congratulations to two of our JWP staff members: Mark Diaz Truman and Marissa Kelly. Mark and Marissa work pretty much full-time for JWP, but they still do a bit of work for their own company, Magpie Games. This month...
...Mark was nominated for three (!) Ennies for his work on Urban Shadows: Best Rules, Best Game, and Best Product. I've said it elsewhere, and I'll say it here. Urban Shadows does to the World of Darkness what Dungeon World did to D&D. ;)
...Marissa released her first full roleplaying game this month on DTRPG: Epyllion. It’s a family-friendly game in which you play baby dragons who solve problems with friendship and magic, and I’m sure it’s going to get some attention at the Ennies next year as well. You should check it out. I liked it enough to write for it.
Please join me in congratulating them! Yay!
Thank you!
And, as always, thank you. We've got so much cool stuff planned for the next year, so many books and maps and novels and more than you all have made happen. This next twelve months is going to be a lot of fun. Thank you!
