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While it is unlikely that we will get "caught up" (I don't think getting more than one conversion done, laid out, and with artwork and cartography completed in a single month is likely to happen--Paizo doesn't even do that for ther AP with a full staff).  However, we are striving like crazy to make sure that we don't get any farther behind.  And I assure you, the big book at the end will come out as promised.  Slumbering Tsar isn't going to disappear into vaporware. 

For the latest update, ST8 will probably be going to Chuck for layout this weekend.  I'm waiting on the last piece of art for it, but it is only the one last piece (instead of the many pieces we were waiting for with ST7 which really took awhile).  So an end-of-February release would keep us pretty much on our current "late" schedule without getting any later.

Okay, so I promised you guys transparency on this, and here it is.

Let me start by assuring that this final book of the Slumbering Tsar Saga (that comprises ST 9-14) is actually written (in 3.5), playtested, and complete just like the others were...and other people have seen it besides me, so I'm not just making that up. 

However, the conversion schedule is about to hit a snag.  First let me reassure that all of ST including the big book at the end will be coming out, it is done, it is NOT vaporware, but we may not be able to meet our one-a-month guesstimate that we made last summer.  I know I said we were still shooting for this a week ago, but the limited FGG resources are getting retasked for the moment...for a good thing, but admittedly not likely to make our loyal ST subscribers happy.  For this I apologize

The conversions for the TOH Complete monsters are in and now I get to dig in and edit and compile ~750 monsters.  As with everybody here at FGG, this is not my day job and it is going to take...some time.  I don't know exactly how much, but I can't help but anticipate that it will have a delaying effect to some extent on ST.  But I wanted to be up front with all of you to let you know what was going on.

TOH Complete is taking precedence because it is a flagship product (it just hit a much larger deomgraphic than Tsar) that will require a huge investment of FGG captial and simply MUST be available for sale by Gen Con (PaizoCon would be better, but I don't know if we can make that) for FGG to not take a bath on a hugely expensive product that will impact our financial health.  If FGG stays healthy, we can keep putting out cool stuff and continue to expand as we go, if not then Tsar is probably our last project.  We're just a little company with limited resources and manpower.  When we made our release predictions on Tsar last summer it was the only product we were looking at releasing and something like TOH Complete was not even a twinkle in Bill's eye yet.  However, thanks to the success and your support of The Slumbering Tsar Saga, FGG has been able to expand and offer the myriad of products that we are currently putting out and gave us opportunity to take on an agenda as bold as TOH Complete.  We're certainly not abandoning Tsar (it's MY baby after all and has consumed about 7 years of my life now, so that's not gonna happen), but I don't think I can realistically project that its release schedule will not be affected by the TOH work.  So I wanted to be completely up front with you and keep you in the loop as to what is going on.

As Bill has said on many occasions, you are the greatest fans in the biz and deserve all the best products that we can give you.  I'm not posting this to make excuses or dodge anything, but because you deserve to know, and I have told you that I'll keep you updated.

So thank you for your patience and loyalty to the product.  I assure you its not going anywhere and will not disappear.  We have an obligation to each and everyone of you to make good on your support which we take very seriously, I just want to make sure that as you see hiccups in the releases you'll know the reasons and not have to speculate that the product is losing support or anything like that.  Slumbering Tsar is what made FGG go, and you guys are what made Slumbering Tsar go, so everything we've got we owe to you and we appreciate it.

You may now commence throwing overripe tomatoes in my direction.  Rotten eggs go to Bill.

Thank again, everybody.