Note 2018-06-05: Eldritch Realms has been renamed to Magonomia
When I posted the 2016 year-end update on Eldritch Realms, I mentioned we were working on the magic rules and they were "firming up." Frankly, I thought writing the magic rules would be a two or three-month job. It's hasn't been. If one thing has been consistent, it that's the design of the magic system has been one step backward followed by two steps forward. That's the "toil."
The "trouble" has been Real Life affecting the development team. I chose to find a new job and that took quite a lot of my time and energy in the springtime. Two developers had real-life concerns pressing enough that they've had to leave the project entirely. (We're still on excellent terms and we hope they'll have the time to contribute as playtesters.) There have been other personal emergencies of lesser magnitude.
Where that leaves us is at least four months behind the schedule I had planned for 2017. We'll be working on the rough draft of the rules through the end of the calendar year. I'll take about a month to collate and lightly edit that rough draft, and then the first round of external playtesting will begin in February 2018. Beyond that, I am reluctant to speculate, but I will say we will be ready for a broader playtest in the summer and I'll be running some playtest sessions at GenCon 2018.
As to the Kickstarter, that will go live when the rules are finished, tested, and I am confident of their quality. I'm managing the project in such a way that the biggest risks of delays is before the Kickstarter goes live. Before I ask backers to contribute money to publishing this game, we at Shewstone Publishing have to convince ourselves that it will be the best game we can make.
Nothing worthwhile comes without difficulty. Thanks for following us through our early ups and downs.