Updates on the book and writers
almost 2 years ago
– Sun, Jun 19, 2022 at 08:32:21 PM
We have received many questions about what will happen with this project in light of recent changes at Apotheosis Studios. It is currently our intent to finish the book and fulfill the pledges that we received. We will be working over the next few weeks to assess our options and establish new timelines. We will update everyone as we have more information.
To address some of the concerns and claims about writers not being paid we would like to share with you a breakdown of what has happened. First and foremost ALL writers who have submitted their invoices as instructed to our accountant have been paid. Payments started in March, 2022 and as new invoices are received we process them promptly.
We had the following number of contractors working on this project:
- Writers - 22 writers. Paid 10cents per word
- Artists - 2. Paid monthly
- Graphic Designer - 1. Paid monthly
- Layout artist - Paid monthly, even when not working on a project
- Musicians - 2. Paid promptly per song
- Sculptor - 1. Paid promptly per sculpt
The Sirens writing Deadline was Oct 31. Approval passes started in November. Unfortunately the approval passes took longer than expected which pushed out approval for the contractors to bill by 3-4 months. Billing authorization was issued in March of 2022 and we promptly paid all invoices properly submitted to our accountant. We have recently learned that some writers had sent invoices to the wrong email address, this has been addressed and they have been paid. Additionally there were also some writers who, for reasons unknown, never invoiced us at all. Any writer who reaches out to us will be paid once we receive an invoice per the billing procedures sent to them at the time of approval.
For this project we provided templates for Adventure Chapters with a 8,450 words max budget.
9 of 22 chapters were over word count
- 4 over by 1000 words
- 1 over by 3700 words
- 2 over by 4750 words
- 1 over by 7000 words
Despite the fact that many chapters were over the word counts outlined the writers were paid for the overages after appropriate approval. Writers whose writing was not used were still authorized to bill us and were paid 10 cents per word. The majority of the book was written by: Rick Heinz, Pat Edwards, Rob Weiland, Megan Mackie, along with writing and editing by Satine Phoenix, and Jamison Stone.
We will continue to update you as we have more information on what the future of this project will look like. Thank you.
Jamison Stone has resigned as CEO of Apotheosis Studios
almost 2 years ago
– Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 05:45:35 AM
As a company, our goal is and always has been to create unique content and storylines for role playing and tabletop games that allow for a safe and respectful gaming environment. We will not, and cannot, allow such actions within our company, or with the contractors and consultants we work with.
Jamison Stone has resigned as CEO effective immediately. The executive team at Apotheosis Studios are discussing the matter internally and will update you with an official statement and decision of company matters as soon as we can.
NEW PLAYTEST MATERIALS! Explore all Ten Districts of Salvata and see our Layout Drafts!
almost 2 years ago
– Fri, May 13, 2022 at 03:05:10 PM
Greetings backers and bards!
This is the final 24-hour window for our Salvatan Bard Class and Subclasses, and we're excited to turn our focus on the magnificent Ten Districts that make up the largest magical item in all of the known realms: The City of Salvata!
Salvata is as colorful and unique as the artists and adventurers that call it home. Each tier has its own culture, flavor, and style, which our writing and art team has been hard at work refining, balancing, and perfecting our city sings in harmony!
Although we are still tweaking and editing these draft materials, we are profoundly excited not only to share our Ten Districts but also to share a glimpse into our layout and formatting, too! Much like our other playtest materials, you can access this in our Discord Server by clicking HERE and then going to #roll-management and clicking the blue music note to join as a "Siren's: Battle of the Bards playtester" (If you have any questions about this, just ask @CommunityManager and they will help you!
The text of this document (not the text in the images) has already been copyedited so if you see any grammar, spelling, or copy-editing errors, PLEASE TELL US! Again, this applies to the text in the document only, NOT the text in the sample draft layout images (we have included these double-page sample draft images to give you a taste of our book’s draft layout and district images!)
This playtest will end on May 25th and has only 1 PDFs associated with it, which can be downloaded on our Discord Server. Upon reading through these materials and playtesting, please provide your feedback, notes, edits, and suggestions via this link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe_73iJUXup4U5F9VUpkjOgjTCaEOVvQE_J-aaDgPheVpfqwA/viewform
It is through this survey and our online Discord Community that we can incorporate your feedback to make Sirens: Battle of the Bards the best playing experience possible! We will also be honoring our playtesters with official credit in the printed and PDF versions of Sirens: Battle of the Bards so make sure to fill out the survey!
THANK YOU AND ENJOY!
Who's Going to Origins Game Fair?
Our Sirens: Battle of the Bards subclass playtesting may be closed, but there will be even more opportunities to explore Salvata if you join Jamison and Satine at Origins Game Fair June 8-12! Both Satine and Jamison will be running games from The Red Opera and Sirens: Battle of the Bards, and you'll have to drop by and say hello at our booth (#835)! See you there!
NEW PLAYTEST MATERIALS! Plus, Here's Your Chance to Game at Satine & Jamison's House!
about 2 years ago
– Wed, Apr 20, 2022 at 01:52:45 AM
Hello backers, bards, and beloved gamers!
One of the things that makes our city of Salvata so special is the wonderfully unique artists that gather there, breathing life and energy into each of our ten diverse Districts. And, of course, we want you - the players, GMs, and readers - to feel just as much a part of this city from the moment you crack open Sirens: Battle of the Bards.
Because of this, we are very excited to share, after a long and meticulous bout of writing and editing, a new round of Playtesting for Siren: Battle of the Bards! This time our playtest is comprised of two PDFs:
- "The Salvatan Bard Class, Expressions, and Bardic Profession Subclasses Playtest V2"
- "Salvatan Character Backgrounds Playtest V2"
To download our Playtest documents, you will need to join our Discord Community Server (if you have not done so already!) by clicking here: https://www.discord.gg/apotheosisstudios
After accepting our Server's Rules (there will be a prompt), you will then want to go to #role-management and click the blue musical note, so you get the "Sirens Playtester" roll in our server.
This will enable you to access #sbb-bard-playtest-links where you can download our playtest materials! Yay!
You also will have access to #sbb-bard-playtest-chat where you can talk with Satine, Jamison, our other Apotheosis Studios Team Members, and your fellow playtests! The community we all have built at Apotheosis Studios and this project has been truly fantastic, and we love sharing our collective joy and passion for gaming together!
It was SUCH a wonderful time chatting with you all during our last playtest, and we are very excited for this one, too! We have made some large-scale balance changes to our Sirens: Battle of the Bards materials and added a lot of new features, abilities, and other cool stuff! Because of this, we are VERY excited for you all to try them out and let us know what you and your fellow GMs and Players think! Thank you!
IMPORTANT: This playtest will end on May 4th! So please submit your feedback via the Google Forms Survey before then so you can get credit in our book as an Official Playtester! If you have any questions, please let us know via Discord! Thank you!
We've spent a lot of time and care honing each of these skills, features, and exciting changes, and hope each one of you can see yourself in one (or many) of the subclasses we've created! Enjoy!
Here's Your Chance to Game with Satine & Jamison!
In other news, Satine and I (Jamison) wanted to let you all know about some new dates for our Satine's Quest Gaming Adventures in our home in Longmont, Colorado, located just 20 minutes outside of Boulder!
These events include a 2-day Dungeons and Dragons Epic, Game Mastered by Satine Phoenix & Jamison Stone. You'll enjoy fantastic catered meals, custom-tailored game-themed alchemist drinks, epic gaming merch, and much more! Our StonePhoenix Manor events also include a “gamified excursion day” on Boulder’s famous Downtown Pearl Street with Satine & Jamison to explore local restaurants & shops. For additional information, please visit https://www.satinesquest.com/ or ask us via email at <[email protected]>
Seats are filling up quickly for our newest branch of Satine's Quest: the StonePhoenix Manor events, and space is limited, so please don't wait! Below is a list of our currently available dates!
WARNING! Satine's Birthday Weekend in May is almost full, but we have room in our August and December events! We can't wait for you to come so we can all play Dungeons and Dragons together! And don't forget to check out satinesquest.com to view additional events for 2022 and 2023, too! Thank you, and hopefully see you all soon!
New Video Update with Satine Phoenix!
about 2 years ago
– Mon, Mar 28, 2022 at 01:40:15 PM
Hello backers! We've got an exclusive video update from Satine Phoenix herself.
Check out the latest news on Sirens: Battle of the Bards!
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What does representation mean? Why is it important? What does it accomplish? SKIN poses a question that cannot be answered alone. It is a question that can only be answered by uplifting every voice, or in the case of this book, every shape, color, gender, disability and age, wrought into a unified mosaic through the medium of black and white photography. Each of us is a language. Back SKIN today on Kickstarter!
