Hot of the heels of yesterday’s news — that Shroud of the Avatar has been wholly and completely acquired by Chris Spears’ own studio, Catnip Games, in case you haven’t heard — comes another announcement from Starr Long, this one concerning the The Sword of Midras (the expanded version of Blade of the Avatar, the Tracy Hickman-penned novel that provided some backstory for Shroud of the Avatar). Signed copies of the book were promised as a reward for higher-level Kickstarter backers…but it would appear that Catnip Games is not going to be able to honour that commitment:

There is only one physical reward from the Kickstarter that is still outstanding to deliver. That is a physical copy of the novel written by Tracy Hickman and Richard Garriott entitled the Sword of Midras (originally entitled Blade of the Avatar). Digital copies were delivered as promised but unfortunately we could never reach an agreement with the publisher on distribution of a physical copy to our backers. Please accept our apologies for our failure to deliver the reward and the extreme delay in an outcome.

However, in lieu of a physical book, Catnip Games is offering an alternative, in-game reward:

We have come up with unique book themed replacement rewards!

Kickstarter backers at the Patron level were eligible for a physical copy of the book. They will receive instead a unique in-game reward of a Challenge Dungeon Remote Dungeon Entrance! This entrance allows direct access to the Challenge Dungeon from the property it is placed on. The entrance itself is disguised as a magical book with the Blade of the Avatar symbol on the cover!

Kickstarter backers at the Citizen level (and higher) were eligible for a physical copy of the book signed by Richard and Tracy. They will instead receive two unique in-game rewards. The Sword of Midras Library is a huge unique dungeon room filled floor to ceiling with books, similar to the Lyceum in Artifice. It can be placed in any Player Made Dungeon. The Sword of Midras Magical Printing Press allows you to create 12 book copies per week without needing any blank books and each of these copies automatically comes in a book bound with a Blade of the Avatar symbol book cover!

We hope to have these items complete and delivered on later than the end of this year.

The forum thread is mostly full of positive replies, but some backers are not particularly pleased at this outcome:

This is a disappointing bit of news, to be sure. The in-game items do seem neat, as far as such things go, but it is a stretch to think that they are actually a worthy substitute for a physical, hold-it-in-your-hand book…and then an autographed book. To say nothing of the fact that there’s no firm delivery date for the replacement rewards given, only the vague hope of finishing them before the end of the year.

The First Age of Update: Seems that Umbrae, quoted above, has been banned from the official Shroud forums:

Note that he didn’t actually threaten legal action in his forum posts; he suggested using the extant reporting procedures Kickstarter has in place for non-delivery of pledge rewards.