project-image

Beam Saber

Created by Austin Ramsay

Beam Saber is a Forged In The Dark game about the pilots of powerful machines in a war that dominates every facet of life. They are trying to do their part, then get out physically and mentally intact. The organizations that perpetuate The War throughout all of known space are too incomprehensibly huge to take down. There is no “winning” The War, there is only surviving it. Hopefully you can help others get out too. If you want to purchase the PDF alone, go to https://austin-ramsay.itch.io/beamsaber

Latest Updates from Our Project:

SHIPPING UPDATE!
9 months ago – Wed, Aug 16, 2023 at 03:59:01 PM

The Offset Print copies of the book have begun getting shipped by IPR. Many people have already received their copies! Other people have only received their tracking numbers! Some people are still waiting for any info (myself included)!

Please have patience!

If you don't hear anything from Indie Press Revolution by the end of the month, send them an email about your missing book. When you receive your shipping notification double check that the address is correct, ESPECIALLY if you've moved since 2020. Despite my many warnings in these updates many people did not update their shipping addresses and now have their deliveries delayed because of it. A few people even didn't include any shipping address at all (I personally emailed those people)!

For the POD Backers

I'm still working with DTRPG to get the next POD sample straightened out. Despite my layout designer following the directions their support staff provided previously, they are now telling us to follow different directions because the cover template and interior are no good. The last cover I got was fine, it was the interior that was the problem, BUT these directions are coming directly from the printer as opposed to DTRPG customer support and they are also going to review the updated PDFs themselves. I did get a refund on the last sample due to the poetry mistake. Third time's the charm (I think I said that last update)! 

AUGUST 2023 UPDATE
9 months ago – Tue, Aug 08, 2023 at 06:48:04 PM

Here's how things are progressing with Beam Saber

Indie Press Revolution have started shipping the offset printing copies! Well, they've begun the process. Several hundred copies are already packed and they'll be printing off the shipping labels tomorrow! There's no ETA yet on when they may arrive, but I imagine it should be before the end of August for those in the US (and maybe Canada), and probably longer for those outside of North America.

As for the POD situation I didn't hear back about a refund and what happened with the last printing until today. DTRPG staff (which is now also Roll20 staff) have been busy leading up to GenCon. Hopefully I can get this sorted out by the end of the week and have the next attempt at a POD sample on its way to me. Third times the charm!

JULY 2023 UPDATE aka The Good, The Bad, And The Weird
9 months ago – Wed, Jul 26, 2023 at 05:23:13 PM

Here's how things are progressing with Beam Saber

Real mixed bag this month, folks.

THE GOOD

  • The offset printing books have arrived at Indie Press Revolution! According to the shipping company's tracking number it was delivered on Friday July 21st. Hopefully that means fulfillment of that reward will begun soon!
  • The POD cover is fixed!

THE BAD

  • Indie Press Revolution hasn't responded to any emails from me since the start of the month. I've sent 4 since then, 3 providing information they asked for in their last email and one on Monday asking them for an update. They are probably in the middle of preparing for GenCon right now and are a small operation, so that would likely be the reason they haven't gotten back to me, but it is still super frustrating. Once I hear that fulfillment has begun, I will post another update.
  • The POD Interiors are still messed up! The issue is still that transparencies are rendering as black instead of transparent. This should have been fixed with the recent upload of the interior PDF but something definitely went wrong (See The Weird section below) with this copy of the POD so it may have been that the printer used the wrong file or the wrong settings.

THE WEIRD

  • This copy of the POD starts with about 100 pages of very personal anniversary poetry. I did not write it. Here's the dedication page as proof.

PLEASE do NOT harass or contact the author of this or their spouse if you somehow manage to figure out who it is. I'm definitely going to be contacting DTRPG for a refund because this is an absurd mistake.

Though this does leave me wondering if they got a copy of Beam Saber in the back of their poetry book...

CREDIT CARD CHARGES: FRIDAY JULY 7TH
10 months ago – Wed, Jul 05, 2023 at 05:39:02 AM

The shipping costs will be charged via BackerKit on Friday July 7th around 7am EST (depends on when I get up for work that day), so make sure that there are no issues with the credit card on file at BackerKit. If your card gets declined, BackerKit will automatically send you an email letting you know there's an issue.

If you need to change your shipping address or credit card info, go to https://beamsaber.backerkit.com/ and it will email you your BackerKit survey link if you've lost it.

POD UPDATE

I've submitted the new PDFs for the cover and interior to DriveThruRPG and am now waiting for their printing staff to confirm that the files are correct (not sure what the process is there since the error in the test copy was that the files weren't the right format of PDF which, by admission from PR staff, should have been caught). Once I get that confirmation, I'll order another test copy which will likely take until the end of July to get to me. I'll then check it over for errors and if it's all good, start sending it out to POD backers. Once I send all those out, the PODs will be made available for purchase to the public.

URGENT UPDATE RE: SHIPPING ADDRESS
10 months ago – Sat, Jul 01, 2023 at 07:13:06 PM

Just one day after my prior update I received an email from the Offset Printer that the books are printed! Since then I've been in contact with Indie Press Revolution, who are handling distribution, so we need to confirm the shipping addresses of backers and then lock in their orders to charge them for any add-ons (or for pre-orders to those of you receiving this through BackerKit).

You have until 11:59pm EST Thursday July 6th to make sure your shipping address is correct!

On Friday I will be locking the addresses and charging for add-ons.

POD BACKERS

There's an update here for you as well. I'm 80% certain I've gotten the POD printing issues sorted out by working with DTRPG's PR staff and Sasha Reneau, Beam Saber's layout designer. The next step is to discuss my uncertainties with the PR staff to get that 80% up to a 95%, and then to once again ship myself a hard copy of the POD book. Last time I ordered the sample June 8th and it arrived June 29th, so I suspect that I'll receive the updated sample around the end of July.