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:

http://johnwickpresents.com/7th-sea-production-schedule/

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:

https://goo.gl/forms/IDfmaJ60l3QtyCTy2

We hope you enjoy the cards!

Sea Shanties Preview 

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!