Ptolus Production Diary

In this yearlong feature we shared with you the continuing progress of Ptolus from the time of its announcement until it reached your hands. We updated it every week from September 2005 to August 2006 to let you know what was going on with the Big Book. Take a look and relive those long months of anticipation.... (Scroll down to the bottom for the earliest entries.) Thanks to all of you who took the journey with us!

08/19/06: Everyone who saw Ptolus at Gen Con Indy last week seemed to love it. Thanks to all our great customers for making the book's debut such a success!

08/09/06: Tomorrow Ptolus debuts in stores and at Gen Con Indy!

08/03/06: Ptolus is shipping out to distributors and to our preorder customers!

07/27/06: We're putting the finishing touches on our Gen Con schedule of Ptolus activities this week.

07/20/06: This week we're planning to be at the warehouse signing the preorder copies of Ptolus!

07/13/06: Gone fishin'.

07/05/06: This week we've been working on Ptolus sales materials.

06/29/06: At long last, Sue has finished producing the Ptolus series of PDFs!

06/22/06: We've sent out the "Welcome to Ptolus" convention adventure to our DMs. Meanwhile, Sue's still at work on the Ptolus series of PDFs.

06/15/06: This week we were excited to see an advance copy of Ptolus hot off the presses! It looks as great as we'd hoped it would. The rest of the print run is now on its way to White Wolf's warehouse.

06/08/06: Sue worked on more of the Ptolus series of PDFs this week.

06/01/06: Wrote some Ptolus updates for our distributors and worked on this summer's convention adventure.

05/25/06: Worked on the Ptolus series of PDFs this week; the new one comes out June 1.

05/18/06: Worked on the Ptolus PDF covers this week and approved the master of the Ptolus CD-Rom.

05/11/06: The Night of Dissolution adventure has gone to press!

05/04/06: This week our printer sent us a mockup of the hardcover, including bound-in (purple) ribbon bookmarks, envelope of extras in the back, and full cover emboss. Looks great!

04/26/06: The files of bonus material for the Ptolus CD-Rom are off to the printer!

04/20/06: Ptolus is on press!

04/13/06: The printer sent us the proofs of Ptolus this week, and it looks great! It should be on press very soon.

04/06/06: Sue and our proofreader are proofing The Night of Dissolution this week.

03/30/06: Sue is laying out The Night of Dissolution.

03/23/06: We have turned over all the files to the printer -- hooray!

03/17/06: Sue is finalizing the files for the printer (there are a LOT of files).

03/09/06: Sue is making final corrections, laying out the index, and preparing files for the printer.

03/02/06: I'm giving the book's proofs one last read, while Sue approves the last of the maps.

02/23/06: Sue is now checking the proofing corrections against the annotated manuscript, and I just finished writing issue 6 of the Ptolus comic book.

02/16/06: Now that all the proofreading is done, Sue is madly entering corrections into the manuscript. We also saw proofs for the Ptolus color brochure that retailers can order from White Wolf.

02/10/06: Proofreading is finally wrapping up, and we just saw the finals on the cool double-sided Ptolus poster that we're making available free to retailers this spring.

Previous Updates

02/02/06: Ptolus is still in proofreading. Meanwhile, interior maps from Ed Bourelle continue to roll in, as do pages for the first issue of the comic book.

01/26/06: Ptolus is still in proofreading. Meanwhile, we're working on materials for the GAMA trade show and the script for comic book issue 5.

01/19/06: Ptolus is in proofreading now: one person to proof the stats, another to proof everything that isn't stats, and Sue as another set of eyes to proof the entire thing. It's a lot of paper!

01/12/06: Can you believe it? I'm finally done writing both Ptolus AND Night of Dissolution! Sue's preparing the big book to go off to the proofreaders. I think I'll play some computer games.

01/05/06: This week I'm wrapping up the Night of Dissolution adventure while Sue grinds through the Ptolus glossary of people and places.

12/30/05: While typesetting of the Ptolus book continues, I have been working on Night of Dissolution and the fourth issue of the comic book. Sue has edited the first three chapters of Night of Dissolution and sent the Player's Guide to Ptolus off to the printer.

12/15/05: We've been poring over the poster map this week, naming the last streets and pinpointing the locations of the many shops, homes, and other places detailed in the book.

12/08/05: We are finalizing the poster map this week, and cartographer Ed Bourelle did a little dance of joy at his office in Shreveport when he'd completed the last building. The mammoth file takes him more than an hour to open or save, and he says he's put more of himself into this poster than any other map he's ever created. We're blown away by its utter coolness, and we know you will be too!

12/01/05: Ptolus is in typesetting now, where it will stay for the entire month. Sue and I have just wrapped up writing several hundred little sidebars to add color and context to the book.

11/24/05: We're still working madly to get all the files ready for the typesetter. This is a long book!

11/17/05: Sue finished editing the final chapters over the weekend, so now we're working madly to get all the files ready for the typesetter.

11/10/05: Sue has just finished editing Chapter 33: Adventures, and we're enjoying seeing the final wave of artwork come in.

11/03/05: Can you believe it? I finished writing Ptolus! I know I'll still have some work to do with Sue on the book while she is editing it but, as incredible as it seems, I'm basically done. I started writing this book back in March 2004 -- I think I need a vacation.

10/27/05: I'm really down to the wire on my Ptolus deadline. I've managed to complete the manuscript this week (whoo-HOO!), and now I'm finishing up the handouts and map sketches. Wish me luck -- I hope to be all done with it before next week's update.

10/20/05: I've been working on some of the "Living in Ptolus" chapters this week, including material on being a resident, being a delver, crime and the law, and more.

10/13/05: I've turned in the script for the first issue of the Ptolus comic book and have enjoyed looking at the cool concept art from DB Pro. More on this here!

10/06/05: Sue's just completed editing the book all the way up to Chapter 24: Goth Gulgamel. She's got me worried that she's going to catch up to me soon if I don't pick up the pace! Right now I'm wrapping up the Adventures chapter.

9/29/05: This week it's been all maps, all the time. Cartographer Ed Bourelle, who moved to Louisiana this summer, has been working through hurricanes and power outages on the great-looking Ptolus poster map. He's deep into Oldtown and the Temple District now, and has just finished cool map icons to use along with the text of each locale. Meanwhile, I'm drawing even more maps of specific places in and under the city.

9/22/05: I've just wrapped up the design of Chapter 28: Crime and the Law. Sue's now editing Chapter 16: The South Market. Meanwhile, artists have turned over sketches for the third round of artwork assigned for the book. They look great!

9/21/05: Great news! We've just gotten the green light to add even more pages to Ptolus! The book's total page count is now at 672, in addition to the 400 or so pages of bonus content available on the CD-Rom. And, in order to make the binding of this huge tome as durable as possible, we're using a using a process called cambric reinforcement on the first and last signatures. Cambric reinforcement is a process and material similar to medical gauze. Actual gauze is wrapped around the page signatures and is adhered to the case. Normally in casemaking, the binder only wraps craft paper partially around the signatures. This reinforcement is a basic requirement in the library industry, and our printer tells us it's part of the National School Textbook Association's parameters for textbook binding. It will make Ptolus' binding more durable and able to withstand more abuse (and those extra pages).