Dark Forest: Redwall Meets 1E in a Shadowdark World

Printing Complete! Packing and Freight in progress
10 days ago – Tue, Aug 04, 2026 at 04:59:33 PM

Greetings, abbeydwellers!

That's right, the printing of all products is complete. I received the final print samples, and everything has turned out beautiful! 

Currently, the factory is packing all the product into cartons and onto pallets for our fulfillment partners to pick up and take to the container ships at the port. I say "ships," plural, because there will be a ship heading to the US (for the US and Canada) and another heading to the UK (for worldwide).

There were some additional delays on the printer side of things with the GM screen that put us behind a couple of weeks, and GenCon is also slowing things a bit, as our printer reps are all attending and a bit out of touch. But despite the delays, we're still hoping we'll begin fulfillment shipping in late September. Say a prayer to Trillion for smooth sailing and smooth customs on arrival.

You still have a few weeks to change your address on BackerKit if need be, and if you know anyone who would love Dark Forest on their shelf, the BackerKit preorder store is still open for just a bit longer.

In other news! 

Dark Forest made an appearance at GenCon!! Thanks to Vincent Flynn, one of our most amazing backers. Vincent ran Dark Forest one-shot adventures and represented the game for us this year. I wish I could have been there, but this was the next best thing. Thank you, Vincent!

And that is all the news from Castle Clark and the Dark Forest team (except maybe that I've already begun work on the next Dark Forest book!). 

Thank you all for your patience and enthusiasm! Dark Forest will be in your hands soon.

Cheers!

John & Nicole

Nearing Print Completion!
about 1 month ago – Sun, Jul 05, 2026 at 08:34:06 AM

Greetings, abbeydwellers!

That's right, we're only 6 days away from print completion! That means we're working with our fulfillment partners to get sea freight arranged and ready to pick up the pallets as soon as they're done. We're so excited and really hope freight goes faster than they're warning us it might. Cargo freight shipping is just not a pretty picture right now. That said, we're working with super-experienced fulfillment houses and are in the best hands possible.

On a fun note, we had a booth at Dice Tower East this weekend. We had some print-on-demand versions of the book and the samples of the real thing to show! I also ran Dark Forest one-shots Friday and Saturday night, which went great! We did a lot of playtesting of some upcoming card/board games and had a fantastic show! Thanks to everyone who stopped by our booth!

Addresses: As soon as the pallets are on the ships, we're going to lock down your addresses on BackerKit. So if you need to make a change to your shipping address, now is the time to do it.

Surveys: There are still 55 folks who have not filled out surveys. If you haven't and you backed a physical reward, and you don't complete your survey before we begin fulfillment, then you won't receive your physical reward. I've sent out reminders many times, so please look for your emails from Backerkit, and I just sent a reminder again today to make it easy. 

Pre-Orders: The BackerKit preorder page is still open if you know anyone who still would like to get a copy of the books.Here's the link.
Backers don't need this link for anything; it's just to share. But soon we're going to send out one last pre-order reminder to folks on our email list who didn't back the campaign that they can pre-order still. As backers, you can disregard this email if you see it.

Thank you, everyone, for your patience and support; we can't wait to get Dark Forest onto your gaming tables! It's happening!

Cheers

John & Nicole

Samples approved, print production has begun!
2 months ago – Wed, Jun 10, 2026 at 09:30:26 AM

Well met Dark Foresters!

It is time for our June update, and this time I made a little video. But to summarize, the title says it all; the physical samples arrived from our printer, and other than a few tweaks to how the GM screen was glued, we approved them all and have started full print production!

That means we're only about 40 days away from print completion when we can begin the freight shipping process, where all the product is put on pallets, then on ships to take it all to our two fulfillment companies. 

Below is a link to the video if you want to see all the goodies. We were so excited when it arrived and so relieved and grateful to see how amazing it all turned out. Click the Youtube link to check it out.

In other news for US backers, we're getting warnings from our shipping company that US customs is causing big delays on shipments, even after the cargo has landed. Inspections are running super long, up to two extra weeks before they will release shipments for pickup. If that happens to us, we'll let you know, but we're hoping things clear up before our shipment arrives at Longbeach.

Thank you all for your support and patience! We can't wait to get these books into your paws!

Cheers!

John & Nicole

Dark Forest, May Update!
3 months ago – Wed, May 20, 2026 at 12:46:41 PM

Greetings abbeydwellers!

It's time for a May update. We hope to find you with flowers blooming and spring in full flourish. 

Dark Forest is moving ahead splendidly. Our production samples should be arriving Friday from the printer, so we're getting super excited. It will be the first time holding the semi-finished book in our hands, as well as all the other books and items. With the samples approved, we'll begin the print run, which will take about 6 weeks. Then all that's left is freight shipping to our fulfillment centers; then they ship to you. Here's a sneak peak that the printer just sent to me today.

Speaking of freight (and not-so-great news), our printer has informed us that sea freight shipping times have jumped to two months on average with all the international turmoil. What this means is that we're looking at September before the books reach your doors. 

This delay is just jaw-dropping, and we can't apologize enough. I know some folks were really hoping to get them before the end of summer. 

There is another option if you really need a physical book and cannot wait, and that is a print-on-demand copy from DriveThruRPG. I have setup print-on-demand versions of the 3 main books: the Dark Forest campaign setting, the Fallen Tower of Drakuur adventure, and the Founders Digest Vol. 1. 

I set these up because we're going to be at Dice Tower East in July with a booth and need to have some samples to demo with. DriveThruRPG print quality is good; I have lots of printed books from them. But the final books from the real printer will be MUCH nicer (especially the campaign setting book, with the faux-leather, silver ink, lay-flat biding, book ribbon and printed end pages). 

If you're interested in a PoD copy DM me, and I'll have them send you a code to order. Then you will only pay the cost of printing (the same as I would pay as the publisher) and shipping. If you're not interested in that idea, that's fine; your books are still coming! Just delayed. 

Thank you, everyone, for all your patience. I know it's a long wait, but it will be worth it! And thank you to folks who have been telling me about your new Dark Forest campaigns using the PDFs! It's incredibly fun to have a peek into your awesome games. And if you want to listen in on a GREAT session, here's Always Split the Party with session zero of the Fallen Tower of Drakuur campaign! So well done!! 

Thank you again, wonderful backers!

John & Nicole

Another PDF update!
4 months ago – Wed, Apr 22, 2026 at 04:31:30 PM

Greetings, folk of the forest!

Great news! Our digital proofs are approved, and we're waiting on samples from our printer. The books are as near perfect as we can get them, and we're so ready to get the real things in our hands!

In the meantime, you'll be getting emails from BackerKit to download v02 of the Campaign Setting, Founders Digest, and Adventure books. They are zip files like before, with the same contents but with version 02 of the books. 

Additionally, I've added a "player's map" to the Adventure zip file. It's the main map for the hex crawl, but without the locations, so your players will have an easier time choosing their paths during Part 3 - The Long Crawl. Way more fun that way.

Also, for those of you who prefer DriveThruRPG for your PDFs, you will soon be seeing emails from DriveThruRPG with your discount link to add the PDFs to your library and download. There will be separate emails for the Campaign Setting, Founders Digest and Adventure. So look out for that!

And here's a DriveThruRPG tip, even if you miss the email you will see a notification when you go to your account page on their website. In your DriveThru inbox you'll have a copy of the code to use.

That's the news for now. I'm heading back to Greenheath Grove for a nap! Cheers!

John