AND HE SHALL EAT THE SUN

Post-Campaign Update 1: Late Pledges, Vellum Hides, Going to Print!
2 months ago – Mon, Mar 30, 2026 at 08:30:34 AM

Hello, fans and friends!

I've got some good news to share, so I figured I'd drop this monthly update a little bit earlier. Kickstarter has paid out (with no dropped payments, which I hear is unprecedented) and AND HE SHALL EAT THE SUN will be sent to the print shop this week. We're moving quickly and will begin shipping these out as soon as we get them, so keep an eye on your email inbox for your reward survey! 

I spent the weekend at MankatoCon, where I tabled two sessions of Bloodbath Dungeon to everyone's great entertainment. On my way home, I swung by Pergemena Tannery and got a chance to walk through their metal-as-all-hell parchment loft:

And picked up the deer-hide vellum we'll be using to produce the limited edition versions of your new favorite dungeon:

Late Pledges Open!

We've opened up late pledging for anyone who missed the campaign. These will be open until we send out the Backerkit pledge manager reward survey, so don't delay! There might also be a few extra vellum and cave paper binding upgrades available through the pledge manager, but you'll never know if you aren't already a backer or late pledger! 

I'm not going to spend any more time on this update, because I've got things to do and a lot of those things are about getting this book to you as soon as possible. Thanks for reading it and get prepared to BRING ON THE BLOODBATH!

-Dale L. Houston, Duck and Crow Press

What a Campaign!
3 months ago – Mon, Mar 09, 2026 at 08:08:27 AM

Thanks to you, AND HE SHALL EAT THE SUN lives. 

Words cannot express how psyched I am to have been a part of this. This was my first crowdfunding campaign, and no amount of research, preparation, or liquid courage can fully eliminate the panic I felt when I hit that "go live" button back on February 5th. But your support allowed us to fund way beyond my expectations, and has brought AND HE SHALL EAT THE SUN, kicking and screaming, to bloody life. 

I took the weekend off to celebrate, but Monday morning has found me back at my desk, working furiously to get this book into your TPK-loving hands as soon as possible. Right now, the book is done with layout, and is in its second editing (proofreading) pass. There's two pieces of art that need to be slotted in, but the art is complete and we're looking to head to the printers by the end of the month. 

Right now, we're just waiting on Kickstarter funds to be charged and delivered. You've probably already gotten the alert that your payment method has been charged, but check to make sure there's no issues so you don't accidentally lose out on your pledge! As mentioned before, we will be using Backerkit pledge manager for fulfillment and reward surveys, but we can only send those out to people who have successfully pledged here on Kickstarter. 

Speaking of, we will be offering options to enhance your pledge and purchase add-ons through the Backerkit pledge manager, including some very limited chances to snag a few extra Cave Paper- or Vellum-bound copies of the book. These are a Kickstarter-exclusive and will not be reprinted or sold on our webstore, so this is truly your last chance!

But for now, just sit tight and let us work our (dark) magic here at D&C. We'll be in touch soon with PDFs, reward surveys, and shipping news.  May your dice roll crits and your players weep. BRING ON THE BLOODBATH!

-Dale L. Houston, Duck and Crow Press

72 Hours Remaining!
3 months ago – Tue, Mar 03, 2026 at 04:20:39 AM

With just over 4 days to go, we've hit $6,500 and another stretch goal!

And this one is really cool: every backer is going to get a unique postcard, with art from the book on the front and useful gaming information on the back. This will be printed on high-quality, sturdy paper like our other physical handouts -- suitable for framing or mailing! (Digital backers will get a PDF version of the postcard, of course.)

We're just about four days away from the end of the campaign, and with two more stretch goals to go we really want to rev up the hype machine and finish strong. 

Being a publisher means I always look forward to mail day, but the arrival of this shiny (and hefty!) foil-stamp die just about made me squeel with glee. This is going to be pressed right into the fancy cave paper cover of our limited-edition version of AND HE SHALL EAT THE SUN, providing a wonderful tactile reminder of just how much passion and craft we're putting into this.

I was also able to run some Bloodbath Dungeons at CincyCon over the weekend, adding a few more names to the ever-growing Blood Donor list. The "Queen City Quarrelers" fought valiantly, bickered in a way befitting their name, and died with honor. Which just leaves the question... 

Who's Next???
-Dale L. Houston, Duck and Crow Press

Book Proofs, Deer Vellum, and an Actual Play!
3 months ago – Wed, Feb 25, 2026 at 06:55:08 AM

We've got a really cool update for y'all today.

With just ten days to go, the team here at Duck and Crow are already working hard to make AND HE SHALL EAT THE SUN the best book we can possibly produce. Your patronage has brought us this far, so I wanted to take a moment to show y'all where your money is going. 

Physical Proofs!

I just received the physical print proofs from The Warlock, and they are every bit as awesome as I hoped. This is a really high-quality product, and there's no doubt in my mind that you folk are going to love it just as much as I do. If you want to see me do a full flip-through, check it out here on Bluesky or Instagram!

Actual Play!

One of my favorite local game stores, Mox Archives and Games, was eager to test their luck against the Bloodbath Dungeon, and I was more than happy to provide. If you missed their twitch.tv livestream, you can still catch all the action on Youtube here:

Deer Hide Vellum!

This is the big one. From the moment I first conceived of AND HE SHALL EAT THE SUN, I knew I wanted to do an actual, historical vellum binding. The problem is, vellum  is hard to come by, and the ones that still do charge appropriately for their work. 

Thanks to the success of the project, I knew we were going to be able to do real vellum. But just this week I was able to secure a provider of ethically-sourced deer hide vellum that is absolutely perfect to grace the cover of Veldtjarn's living labyrinth. If there's another TTRPG wrapped in actual deer, I don't know it!

 

Other Cool Projects!

Some TTRPG creators get so caught up in creating stuff that they forget to play it. Not me, though. I'm always checking out what's new and interesting in the scene, and after meeting the creator of Druskara: A Brutal Fantasy World Setting for Shadowdark at PAGE last week I was blown away by what she showed me. If you're into old-school, high-consequence, dark-fantasy roleplaying (and you better be, or you're on the wrong page!) you'd be doing yourself a disservice by not following this project. 

Already funded, but DAMN I love the idea of this game! It looks cool, I backed it, and it is about fighting things worth fighting against. Why would you not support this release from Bright Bard Games?  Check out Axolotl With A Gun 2nd Edition. 1 Day remains! Pew pew!

U are goblins in an army of goblins. U ride into battle on your greatest weapon... WAR PIGS. WAR PIGS is a chaotic, two-stat GMless TTRPG about goblins navigating through elvish enemy lines to get back to their own army base. THIS IS MY KIND OF CHAOS! On top of it all, Side Quest Books and Games is an awesome FLGS that is into indie creators and supporting !

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Remember, there's still 10 days left in the campaign and plenty of stretch goals to unlock, and they only get gnarlier from here. So keep sharing the project with your friends and fans on social media, because every bit helps! 

-Dale L. Houston, Duck and Crow Press

3 Stretch Goals Defeated!
4 months ago – Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 08:40:40 AM

A huge Thank You to all the backers and supporters so far!

As of this writing we are at 100 Backers, approaching Stretch Goal #4, and have just a little more than 2 weeks to go! You're helping this project succeed beyond my wildest expectations, so I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate it before jumping into the news.

Paper Upgrades!

I owe you an update on the paper upgrades; sorry for the delay! The Warlock has returned from his well-earned vacation (and boy howdy, did that man get a tan). He was clearly swamped catching up with work when I stopped by, but because he is awesome he made time for me and I managed to get a short interview. Check it out here to see a master of his craft talk shop: https://www.instagram.com/p/DU27onCD_Py/

After catching up, we reviewed our paper choices and decided that for the main book we'll be going with a nice, tactile 70lb stock for the interior pages, and a ridiculously cool 100lb linen-finish paper for the cover. And we figured since we are going nuts with the cover, we might as well upgrade the BLOOD DONOR list to the same 100lb linen as well. 

Suffice it to say, these are going to look and feel SICK!

Profit Sharing!

I'm pleased as punch to be able to have this goal achieved.

... that didn't sound very punk. Let me try again.

FUCK YEA! Every artists I work with gives their all to bring their strange interpretations of my twisted visions to life. Being able to offer them a cut of any profits after everything is said and done not only feels good, it is the right thing to do. Yes, this is what I'm doing for a living, but it isn't happening in a vaccuum -- community is real, and sharing success is only going to help everyone in the long run.

Post Cards (Next Stretch Goal)!

The final design hasn't been decided, but we've been making prototype post cards. As you can see from this pile of potentials, we aren't taking this "End of the World" thing too seriously. Lighten up and loot some treasure, ya mooks! We'll probably keep the final design a surprise.

Organic Cartography!

Old School Jelly has just finished all 4 levels of the grisly maps for our Savior and Living Dungeon Veldtjarn. Here is a peek at Level 1 laid out in the 17" x 22" format (which is 2 Stretch Goals away, but I'm the kind of guy who gets his hopes up as general practice).

Overall Progress

The art is nearly complete (4 pieces left to go and they are all in progress), the writing is done, and we'll do one last editing review once full layout is complete. When the Kickstarter closes, it should just be a matter of printing and shipping!

Note on the Fancy Bindings: Just to set expectations, these are going to take longer that the other books! Hand-producing 20 books doesn't happen overnight, but don't worry -- we'll keep you updated on the progress.

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That's all for today. There's still 18 days left in the campaign and plenty of stretch goals to unlock, and they only get gnarlier from here. So keep sharing the project with your friends and fans on social media, because every bit helps!

-Dale L. Houston, Duck and Crow Press