Wraeththu Watch - 2 month delay

I can't believe how obsessed I'm getting with this man's antics. He's like a really sad clown who's unwittingly killing your pet puppy or something. -Belphanior expresses the general RPG.net sentiment towards gabby2600 and his Wraeththu project

Last week I started a thread on RPG.net in order to get some insight from RPG industry veterans. I asked them if, given the situation as I understood it, could the folks at Immanion Press get the Wraeththu RPG out by the revised DragonCon release date. Everyone on the thread agreed that Gabby and crew didn't have a chance of finishing the game and producing a printed product in the few weeks remaining. Sure enough, just two days later Gabby posts an announcement on the official Wraeththu RPG forums:

Well due to massive writing spurts and organiseing XDragon Con, it has been delayed by about 2 months, however i think it will be over 300 pages in size, and retail around £19.99 ($39.99), however I'm sure most stores will offer a discount as we are offering generous direct rates from ourselves.

The Wraeththu RPG is the first time I have attempted to follow a game from announcement to publication, so I don't have a good first-hand experience with how often or how many times a particular project is likely to be delayed. More experienced folks on RPG.net go on and on about comapnies pushing back release dates. Some games are delayed by years. Some games never appear at all. Even companies with proven track records occasionally pull a massive boner on release date projections, because the three-tier distribution system rewards people who announce upcoming products before they really have a solid schedule.

In the case of the Wraeththu project the outdated mechanisms of the hobby's distribution network aren't to blame. Heck, I see no evidence that Gabby and friends have any knowledge of the existence of that distribution system. Instead, I think we have a plain old fashioned case of biting off more than one can chew. DragonCon was picked as the revised release date because it features a lot of Storm Constantine fans getting together in a sub-con. Immanion Press is heavily involved in these events, forcing Gabby into the position of trying to write a game at the same time he is planning for a con. Either one of those projects ought to consume the entirety of his free time and then some. Something had to give. Maybe after DragonCon he can bear down and finish the game in time for the new first week of November release. We shall see.