The Big November Update
5 months ago – Sun, Nov 12, 2023 at 09:02:12 PM

HEY EVERYONE

This is a broad email being sent out to all backers. So, if you receive multiple updates, they'll all include the same information. It was just easier this way. It's been a busy few weeks, but I wanted to disclose everything happening and going forward because I believe in complete transparency to backers concerning all projects.

Wow, that was an intense introduction.

AFFINITY

The only reward still outstanding regarding Affinity is the audiobook. I am happy to report that I have received all the audio files concerning this project from the engineer previously tasked to work on it. I am a little frustrated I am being forced to take it on, but I said previously that this could be an exciting project to explore my creative freedom. However, I won't be able to tackle this until my writing obligations have been fulfilled.

AMETHYST

All the writing for Amethyst Revelations has been completed, leaving just artwork. I was hoping to have all of that completed by the end of October, but it's looking like the end of November. As you know, we employ ONE artist, which can take a while. The novel, Hallowed Kingdom, has started, about six chapters in, with an expected finish by the end of the year.

ULTRAMODERN5

This is the big one. The fans and backers have spoken. As a massive offset print run is being completed for Ultramodern5, I asked the community if they would weather a delay so I can complete a page one rebuild of the file in InDesign. This allows me to update the errata, fix a few more issues, and make the PDF smaller and easier to navigate. The response was overwhelmingly in support of the rebuild. So, I thank you all for that confidence. This is not a 3rd edition; this is just a polish on the original Ultramodern5–REDUX. You won't have to purchase a new book. I will release this rebuild chapter by chapter on DTRPG to everyone who already owns Ultamodern6—REDUX. This is to make sure there are no issues before sending this version to printers. Most everyone who follows me owns Ultramodern5, so this should all be good news. These files are going to start going out this week. I thought the book would be identical to the original, but given the extra content is likely to push this new one by at least ten pages, some differences will be obvious.

ADVENTURES

Of the six adventures coming as a result of the crowdfunding in June, three are written. However, the artist I tasked to work on these projects suffered a loss in their family. I will not cut talent like this under circumstances like this, so I have opted to wait until they are ready to continue this project. I hope we will be back on track by the end of the month. I do apologize for the delay; I don't like putting pressure on people during moments like this. This is a company of five people, and we care for our own.

VTT

I am happy to report that the Foundry VTT module has finally been taken on by a real steely-eyed missile man who has made astounding progress in a very short time. Be sure to check out our discord for daily updates on their progress. Not going to lie; this is a HUGE weight off my chest.

https://discord.gg/EJj6sEX

THE INCIDENT

I also believe it's important to admit that something less than desirable occurred last week. Some aspect of my PC was hacked, which I thought originally compromised my Facebook. I finally got access to the company page on Wednesday, but the phishing had extended to my bank account. They somehow got access to my business account, resulting in my wife and I racing to the bank and me running full tilt and bursting through the doors to the nearest teller to get them to freeze my account before it's too late. While the bank is confident that they'll be able to recover my funds, these…well…fuckers…did manage to drain more than $10,000 from our business savings.

I'm not going to lie; this will hurt if we don't get this money back, but I give you my word that this will NOT affect the progress of any of our projects. We have ways to claw back some of this…for one, and I swear this is not a joke, so I decided to start making gluten-free crackers. Long story, but yeah

Anyway, this was one of my short windows in the middle of this chaos, so I wanted to let you know that things are okay on our end. I will continue to work to justify your confidence and ensure we deliver a worthwhile project you will all enjoy. Your support is always appreciated.

Chris

A BUNCH 'O STUFF
6 months ago – Fri, Oct 13, 2023 at 08:47:14 PM

HEY EVERYONE!

I know; I really need to poke my head out. When I do layout, I kind of ignore the rest of the world.

THIS UPDATE

The details of this update are being copied to the other campaigns we have running. It’s just easier as you’re all part of my support group…

REVELATIONS

Firstly, I am happy to report that by the end of this week, the layout of Amethyst REVELATIONS will be FINISHED.

Of course, we’re still waiting on artwork. As everyone I am sure no doubt knows, Amethyst employs ONE artist. It’s a daunting task, which is why I told him I respect whatever stance he took regarding machine learning if it accelerated his progress. We have never run out of money on a project, but we have run out of time. My hope is that next update, we’ll be able to show off the new cover, chapter starts and a bunch of other cool stuff.

MODULES

As for the upcoming Ultramodern5 modules, the plan is to publish the first one very soon and then keep a schedule over the next few months. The plan WAS to release the first this month, but life gets in the way, which is not uncommon. The only recent hurdle has been playtesting.

ULTRAMODERN5

We’re currently in the process of printing the new run Ultramodern5, which will include the new leather edition. Amethyst will be printed immediately after. ALL the books will be shipped simultaneously to Studio 2 Publishing. As we mentioned in our last update, we have severed our relationship with Bridge, but we are still waiting on the transfer of stock. We only got an inventory update this week, and as expected, we’re missing books.

AUDIOBOOK

As many know, there is an audiobook that accompanies Affinity. We have recorded the majority of the lines, but the timetable for editing has been pushed back. So, I have asked the producer if I can edit the audiobook myself. I have been mucking around with editing software for years, and I think giving this a shot will be a cool creative endeavor. I mean, writing two adventures, a campaign, and a novel—what’s ONE MORE?!

VTT

Oh, this was a frustrating one. The initial guy I had contracted for these conversions quit. I found a second guy. He quit as well. Then, the third flaked out. But I got A GOOD FEELING about these new guys. I have one working on Foundry and another working on Roll20.

Additionally, I am happy to report that the Shard Module is back on track. Ultramodern5 is pretty much done. The Affinity books have begun. The three separate magic systems raised concerns about how well they could model them, especially the one involving drawing cards.

So, finally, some good news on that front.

FROM LAST UPDATE

I wanted to thank everyone for their support, given the last update. I know the topic of machine learning (because, let’s be honest, this isn’t AI) is a hot button for many people. Few discussions in the world are black & white, and I don’t believe the subject of machine learning is one of them. We thought long and hard about it, and I was shocked at how civil and understanding everyone was. In total, across three campaigns and our official page, we had maybe three people take issue. The majority understood our view and knew that we have no intention of replacing artists then, now, or anytime soon.

That being said, I wanted to clarify a few points:

When we stated that we’d allow our artists to determine how to implement machine learning / generative systems (assuming they even wished to), I was really referring to two people, artists we have worked with for, in some cases, decades and with whom we have complete trust in. We do not intend to employ new artists who employ machine learning in their portfolios.

Second, while the majority of the Ultrmodern5 modules are being written and developed by a (fantastic, extremely underappreciated) third party, Dias Ex Machina is fronting the art budget. As such, we have decided to bring on board one of our artists, who has stated that they will not be employing machine learning in their output.

THINGS I LOVE

We don’t do a lot of cross-promotion, but I will admit this caught my attention…

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/erenchronicles/exordium-origins-of-mythos

They just launched, crossed their goal, and appear to be doing well.

Thanks again, everyone!

CHRIS

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS
8 months ago – Thu, Sep 07, 2023 at 12:55:59 PM

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING DISTRIBUTION

As what will come as a shock to LITERALLY NOBODY, Dias Ex Machina has made the difficult decision to sever our relationship with Bridge Distribution.

As many of you have heard and many have unfortunately encountered, there have been repeated issues we had to endure. The first was the delay in starting distribution. Then, we had incorrect rewards and interruptions in communication. We hate to say it, but we were also ghosted in some cases for weeks at a time.

We have opted to transfer our stock to Studio2Publishing. Now, Studio2Publishing is not new. We have been working with them for five years to distribute books to retailers. We plan to increase the quantity of stock and have them handle distribution for both Amethyst and Ultramodern5.

This will not interrupt any schedules; hopefully, the future will be without incident. I know this is the third distributor in three campaigns. I'm more frustrated than you can possibly be. For one, I still have to move existing stock from one warehouse to another and see how much stock is missing (because I know there is given their claimed inventory).

AI ART POLICY

This has been tossed around for months, and many publishers have enacted short-sighted but momentarily popular hardline stances regarding the use of generative AI.

As someone whose background resides in technology (going as far back as working at Radio Shack in the 1990s), I’m fully aware of the progress of technology and the resistance faced when an advancement becomes popular. I saw the rise of electronic music, digital distribution, and people's lives destroyed by corporations employing technology to remove humans from the equation. I ran a photo studio for seven years and was the last standing as the chemical developing market disintegrated over only a few years. I saw picketing projectionists lose their passions as they were rendered obsolete. And unfortunately, both these professions were destroyed before the onset of social media to generate outrage.

As such, I'm generally more cautious and thoughtful regarding new technologies. I have researched and tried out ChatGPT, and while I found its writing formulaic and altogether unoriginal, I find it a great resource when generating random names of things. I admit using Grammarly because I often have issues finishing a complete

For the past twenty years, I have used artwork to convey ideas—artwork I did not own. When Amethyst was a homebrew campaign, I asked permission to employ art from artists that were shocked that I bothered to ask (all but one said yes). This method of using art to convey ideas has continued to this day, and my primary artist, Nick Greenwood, and I have employed generative AI to convey these ideas to one another.

When it came to employing generative systems in the creation of artwork, I decided not to forbid its use by the established artists I contract. These artists have a proven quality; if they maintain that quality, I don't care how they get there.

It's important to note that this does not affect my art budget. I set a number regardless of the tools my artists use. If I can get more illustrations from an artist that employs a generative system, I won't complain. However, I will not use AI to circumvent these artists. I have also stated that if generative systems are employed, they must be transformative and adapted by the artist. This means that the artist must have contributed to the work significantly to create something new. The history of visual art is saturated with people deriving works from other works, and the idea of creating new work by transforming ideas from other works is as old as art itself. Music has been doing it for decades.

Currently, Nick and I have been experimenting with training a system on his MASSIVE library of illustrations and creating new ideas along those same lines. We've also insisted on employing more ethical systems such as Adobe Firely. And while those generate less detailed images, they have given Nick an interesting direction to jump off. It also forces him to invest more time in creating a final image, contributing to the amount of transformation.

Finally, when it comes to the outage, being in the industry like I have been for some time, I made a point to reach out to several professionals. This includes artists like Jim Burns, Andy Poon, and John Gallagher. These are individuals whose lives revolve around art. When I asked them directly, I expected a hardline rejection of the technology. But that didn't happen. Each one directly stated without distortion that they believed generative AI was a tool that could be exploited, but one creators could use themselves in their creative process.

A technology's ethics derives from what we make of it. I denounce the use of generative AI as a means to save money or circumvent artists, but I won't prohibit its use by artists I employ as a tool in their arsenal along with WACOM tablets and Photoshop…as long we both agree on ethical guidelines. For an excellent example of how this can be applied, I suggest looking at Corridor Crew and how they have been employing artificial intelligence to create visual effects.

I am open to conversing more about this. You can contact me on various platforms, but our Discord is probably one of the best places.

Back to work…

Ultramodern 5 Pre-Order Store Open.
9 months ago – Wed, Jul 26, 2023 at 01:11:16 PM

HEY EVERYONE! 

There are a bunch of people who missed the campaign and would like to jump into it as a late pledge. 

Late pledges are treated the same as regular pledges, so don't feel that you missed anything.  

https://ultramodern5-campaigns-adventures.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders  

Thanks, everyone!

Retail Pricing and Incentives to returning Retail Backers for Ultramodern5
10 months ago – Thu, Jun 15, 2023 at 03:42:11 PM

As you know, Dias Ex Machina launched our latest crowdfunding campaign…

https://www.backerkit.com/c/dias-ex-machina/ultramodern5-campaigns-adventures

If you have already backed this campaign, thank you!

We wanted to inform you of the wholesale pricing for retailers for all our products. We just updated the ADD-ONS page for Ultramodern5, allowing you to pre-purchase all our products at reduced pricing.

While you can of course wait for the campaign to fund, by adding to your pledge, you can help us reach stretch goals.

You can find retail add-ons at the bottom of the add-ons page.

Additionally, to ONLY returning retail backers, we are offering a free additional regular book cover if you order at least $200 of physical books.

Ultramodern5 Retail Pledge $110

4 x Ultramodern5 REDUX 385-page hardcovers (Regular or Alternate Cover)

Ultramodern5 REDUX - Print'N Play PDF

Ultramodern5 SRD Document

"Desert Power" Digital Supplement

"Game Feats" Digital Supplement

RETAIL ADD ONS

Amethyst LUXURY LEATHER 3-PACK (RETAIL ONLY)

(FOR RETAIL PLEDGES ONLY)

Receive 1 set of luxury leather books (Quintessence + Factions + Revelations)

Retail Price: $226

Your Price: $113

Amethyst STANDARD 3-PACK (RETAIL ONLY)

(FOR RETAIL PLEDGES ONLY)

Receive 1 set of standard books (Quintessence + Factions + Revelations)

Retail Price: $165

Your Price: $82

Ultramodern 5 – REDUX; 2 COPIES (RETAIL ONLY)

(FOR RETAIL PLEDGES ONLY)

Receive 2 copies of this book as part of a retail pledge

Retail Price: $112

Your Price: $56

Affinity [5E] – 3-Pack Hardcover Slipcase; 2 COPIES (RETAIL ONLY)

(FOR RETAIL PLEDGES ONLY)

Receive 2 copies of this slipcase (3 books) as part of a retail pledge.

Retail Price: $194

Your Price: $97

Ultramodern5-REDUX - DELUXE EDITION; 2 COPIES (RETAIL ONLY)

(FOR RETAIL PLEDGES ONLY)

Receive 2 copies of this deluxe slipcase as part of a retail pledge.

Retail Price: $165

Your Price: $83

Chris Dias

Dias Ex Machina