Good afternoon, folks!

What an absolute whirlwind of emotions and events the past few days have been. It was only yesterday that I shared the unfortunate news regarding the appearance of my character sheets, and I really didn't expect to be back here so soon. I certainly didn't expect to be delivering the news I'm about to share. At all. Ever.

I'll stop beating around the bush and just say it: Need Games has given me the greenlight to move forward with the project's current aesthetic! We had been emailing some again last night, and I went to bed directionless, no Vision™️ in my head for where to go with this. Early this morning, I awoke to an email saying they've discussed things internally once more, and so long as the orange gemstone comes off of the pages, they'll be fine with the rest--diamonds, pixel art, and all! I wanted to shout and jump around, but my partner was asleep, so I couldn't just yet.

I've already removed the gemstone from the main sheets, and I realized earlier today that I had them on the card backs for Ace of Cards as well. These have been removed, and the design remains... relatively intact. It's not bad. The cards need a new thingamabob, but I'll work on whipping something up. I needed to make adjustments to the flavor "card effects" anyway; they weren't supposed to be clear enough to read or cause confusion, but alas, they are. I'll work on that, too.

So, what's next, then? Before/during this whole ordeal, I had gotten a couple of ideas to implement into the existing sheets. By the time I had finished up the Natural Fantasy and Bonus Classes, I think my design skills had grown a bit. I mean, look at Gourmet. Seriously. Plus, the Group Sheets have a newer, sleeker, lighter sort of appearance with the IP items and such, and I think I can take these sorts of elements and work them back into the main stat spread. More cohesion (not that I felt they stuck out too much), maybe a little easier on the eyes, that sort of thing. I just think I did good towards the end, is all. So yeah, the first thing on the list is a kind of "revised" appearance, probably just for the main spread. I'll likely keep the current ones around for those that prefer them, of course!

After that, I think I'm going to try to tackle.... form-fillable PDFs. I really need a better software for this part. And a good concept for how it works together. See, the design of these sheets are explicitly made for print and play, and specifically for use in a discbound journal. I'm sure they work a treat without disc binding, but the point is, they are meant for easy reorganization and customization. Something that I, at least, really struggle with when it comes to using PDFs on a computer. How do you easily add pages? Rearrange them? Remove them? All while keeping it interactive and form-fillable? Beats me. Open to suggestions. My starting point is going to be a kind of remix of the main stat spread, full-page letter sized horizontal with blank spaces somewhere to fill in your class details, akin to how the official sheets handle it. I had an old version of sheets like this that I used for pregen characters, so if nothing else, these should fit that role well! Beyond that, I'll need to experiment. I don't want to provide them in the same format as the existing sheets if I can't confidently say "you can use this free software to easily compile your character journal to your preferences" or something like that. But I think a page or two like this should be a good start!

I also had requests for translations, one of which I've received most of the text I need to plop in. I need to reach out to the appropriate publisher first, but I will say as much as yes, I am happy to provide translated versions so long as I have someone able to feed me the text!

There are a few other smaller concepts, like a biography page or Camp Activity cards, that I'll stick in here somewhere, but those are the big plans, the main ones, the things I hope to share with you sooner rather than later. I'm gonna ease my way back in, though, take it slow... allegedly. Either that or go full steam ahead. Only one way to find out!

I know this is probably whiplash for you as well, but to end this on a sentimental note: I really, really needed the kindness that I received yesterday. I felt like I had been drowning in it for two weeks, and sharing that openly with you and being met with... basically a giant group hug was genuinely healing. I feel like I always end with a giant thank-you, so at the risk of it getting stale... thank you.

See you around!

-Ember <3