Wave 3 orders are in the process of being rolled out. Orders with DICE in them are delayed a couple more weeks by the dice manufacturer.
about 1 year ago – Fri, Dec 08, 2023 at 11:20:14 AM

Hey everyone!

Some of you have started to receive emails from your regional warehouse with address verifications, which is great! Those are, to the best of my knowledge, backers in the EU and UK without any dice in their orders. Similar US and CA orders are due to initiate shortly, too. I'm waiting to hear back about those orders in AU.

Orders going to the UK and EU (without dice) are due to start shipping next week, as soon as Monday. 

If you haven't received an email from your warehouse, you should soon! I promise that your order is in a spreadsheet: it may be delayed by 2 weeks due to the dice manufacturer, however.

The Dice Manufacturer is the Holdup

My dice manufacturer, Cerberus, is lousy with communication and estimating deadlines. They've been a consistent irritation throughout this project. Their work looks great, but their administration and communication leaves a lot to be desired. I'll be working with a new partner for future projects so this won't happen again.

Unfortunately, Cerberus's inaction ends up affecting your delivery's timeline, assuming you're getting dice in your order (either the geleton dice or the Bulette Takes the Liar set). They originally told me that the dice would be shipped out by November 18th—that's obviously come and gone, despite my very frequent emails and follow-ups. Their current timeline is to have everything finished shipping to warehouses by Christmas, if not a little before.

Warehouses should be receiving dice in this order to accommodate their timeline needs: AU (Aetherworks), UK & EU & RoW (GamesQuest), CA (Pick and Pack) and then US (Whalebacker). This will allow regions to complete their fulfillment as quickly as possible. I'm hoping that Aetherworks will get theirs within a week, followed a few days apart for each subsequent warehouse.

The good news is that warehouses know to expect these dice coming in, and should be able to ship out those orders basically immediately once the dice are received. Australia takes a few weeks off for Christmas, so I'm really trying to get them their dice first so backers get their goodies before the new year.

I'm doing everything within my power to get your orders to you before January—there are lots of emails flying around to try and make that happen. This wouldn't be a problem if not for Cerberus, so I really, really appreciate your patience and understanding as I try to corral them into action.

If your card was processed after I generated the warehouses' spreadsheets (Nov. 22), your order will go out as soon as the original Wave 3 orders are shipped. Warehouses need to go through a process each time I submit order forms, so adding them on part-way through would throw a sizable wrench in their protocols. Thanks for your patience with that: I really can't wait to get you your rewards!

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to drop me a message here on Kickstarter. I check messages (and comments) most mornings.

Talk more soon! Keep on adventuring!

-g

Cards have been charged for shipping and any post-Kickstarter add-ons! Please make sure to correct any card errors so your order can be fulfilled!
about 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 15, 2023 at 02:44:09 PM

Hey everyone!

In case you missed the last update, I just charged cards on file via Backerkit for shipping! This includes anything outstanding on your account, including add-ons you chose after the Kickstarter finished.

A little under a thousand cards have returned an error, although I'm seeing them being corrected and charged over time—if you've done that, thank you! If your card wasn't charged, or if you received an email from Backerkit asking for you to correct your card on file, please make sure to do so so I can get your orders sent out in the coming weeks!

If you have issues with your order, please feel free to send me a message here on Kickstarter or via email at [email protected] so I can give you a hand. :)

For details on when you should begin to expect your order, please make sure to check out the previous update for in-depth details as to where your items are!

As always, thank you so much for the support! We're almost at the finish line!

Keep on adventuring!

-g

The final wave of shipping begins soon! Charging cards for shipping on Wednesday! Read this to know what to expect!
about 1 year ago – Mon, Nov 13, 2023 at 09:28:19 AM

Hey everyone!

So, as the title says, the final wave of orders will start shipping as soon as the end of this month, although it's more likely that yours will ship in December. This comes down to where you live:

•  USA: early/mid next month
•  Australia: end of this month
•  Canada: end of this month, start of next *
•  UK, EU, Rest of World (RoW): end of this month, start of next *

* Depending on expediency of GamesQuest bookkeeping. I'm anticipating start of December.

These are my best estimates based on the information I have right now and what I've been told by warehouses. I think they're good estimates, but please allow some flexibility with your delivery's ultimate delivery date as we head toward the more frantic holiday shipping season. I'll keep you posted as orders begin going out region by region.

There are four remaining shipments ongoing right now, which contain the last products I (and you) are waiting on:

•  Saddlebag backpacks—ocean freight.
•  Panda games products (1/2): Book Two cards (standard), journals, GM screen, key loop, animated pin, banners, bookmarks (faction + limited edition), dice bag, washi tape—ocean freight.
•  Panda games products (2/2): special edition Book Two cards (wooden boxes, gilded)—air freight.
•  Geleton and Bulette Takes the Liar dice—parcels by post (dice are very small!).

These shipments each go to four different locations: USA, Australia, Canada, and the UK.

•  USA's ocean shipments are due to arrive in the first week of December.
•  Australia's ocean shipments are already arrived/arriving this week.
•  Canada's ocean shipments are due to arrive sometime next week.
•  UK's ocean shipments are due to arrive sometime next week.

The air freight and parcels are TBD, but are quick to transport. They aren't a concern of mine quite yet. I'm finalizing plans and costs for those right now in another email chain as we speak.

These four shipments contain the very last items arriving at warehouses, and are the final hurdle for getting your packages mailed out! Well, that and the resulting paperwork.

I'm charging for shipping Wednesday, before everything has arrived at the warehouses, so that I can give everyone the most opportunity to fix any card errors that come up before I export the warehouse fulfillment spreadsheets sometime next week. Especially with GamesQuest-handled orders, they need time to go through their extensive due process, so I'm trying to give them plenty of advanced notice. Some of the warehouses (UK, EU, AU, and RoW) will also send you a preliminary email allowing you to verify your shipping address before they send it out, so you can keep on the lookout for that.

I'm doing everything I can to grease the wheels to make the final stages of shipping as quick as possible. Thank you for your patience!

If you haven't gotten your order yet, it's 99% because you have at least one item from the list above included in your order. If you don't think so, or you're unsure, check your order on Backerkit! If you see something wrong on Backerkit, shoot me a message here on Kickstarter and we'll get it sorted out together. :)

Thank you for the support and patience, heroes! I can't wait to get you your rewards—they're so close!

Keep on adventuring!

-g

[CANADA] Were you sent the wrong things? Email me with details! I'm hounding the warehouse to have them fix it.
over 1 year ago – Sat, Oct 14, 2023 at 04:43:23 PM

Hey folks!

Pick and Pack, the Canadian warehouse, has made a series of inexcusable errors, and hasn't responded to my emails. If you were sent cards, instead of books (or something else nonsensical), please send an email to me at [email protected] with details. 

Please note that this only applies to orders that included items that were shipped to Canadians in Wave 2. If you haven't been sent anything, it's because your order includes something I don't have in stock yet. Your order will be shipped as part of Wave 3 as soon as the end of next month.

I have been trying to get a hold of the warehouse, and will continue to do so until I get answers and a resolution. Your orders will be properly fulfilled correctly, I'll make sure of it.

Let me apologize on behalf of the warehouse, since they won't say it to you. I'll get you your correct orders as soon as possible.

Hang tight!

-g

Shipping out Wave 2, finals from the Panda factories, freighting hurdles, and a Chinese holiday
over 1 year ago – Fri, Sep 29, 2023 at 11:12:53 AM

Hey everyone!

I wanted to send out another update last week, but between mile-long email chains about trans-pacific pallet freighting and stymied inventory back-and-forths, there wasn't as much to fill you in on as I wanted there to be.

Enough has been addressed now where I can give you a meaningful update, though. I'll bullet-point 'em:

•  Freighting from Chinese manufacturers has been arduous. Between language and time differences, it's been challenging to organize this final leg of these products' journeys. This includes everything from Panda and the bags/beanies from Fandomoid. However, these have virtually all been done now, and will be shipped after...
•  China has a weeklong holiday next week. I was trying (so, so hard) to get everything out and done before this holiday came up. Some factories only take a half week break, whereas others take the full week. In any case, once they return, it should be relatively quick to send things off. However...
•  This series of communication challenges and holiday pushes some deliveries to the end of November, if not early December. The good news here is that we're still beating the crazy rush of holiday stuff, but only barely. Australia is the least impacted by this, probably, since their freight time is only two or so weeks, rather than the 5-6 of the other warehouses. I'll have a better guess on final delivery times once they're on the water. I'll have all warehouses on high alert for these and be ready for them to start shipping out product as quickly as they can after receipt.

Here's a video of all the Panda products. These have come off their factory lines, so what you see here is what you're gonna get!

Currently, I'm trying to get a bead on when I can expect the dice to be shipped. Thankfully, those take up much less space and can be shipped as parcels, so their delivery times aren't worrisome. I do have some in-progress photos of the Bulette Takes the Liar dice, though:

The manufacture has run into an issue with the d12 molds of the geleton dice, but seem to think that they'll be alright with the new ones they're making. That mold should be done by the end of next week. Frustratingly, these folks are terrible at communication, so I'm continuing to press them for more regular updates and details. More on that soon, I'm sure.

Inventory confusion with Aetherworks has been resolved. Because of some stock overlap between me and Hit Point Press, they were confused about a couple items. It's been resolved, although it took far too long to get emails back from them.

I've initiated fulfillment from all warehouses of Wave 2, including Wave 1 for Australia and New Zealand. Thank you all in the AU region for your patience with those orders. Everything else to come comes from Chinese manufactures and will get to you first, by comparison.

I know that every warehouse has their fulfillment orders, but haven't received confirmed start times from Gamesquest (UK/EU/RoW), Aetherworks (AU), or Pick and Pack (CA). Whalebacker in the US has said they'll be starting Wave 2 US orders next week. I'm continuing to press the three quiet warehouses for details and confirmations.

In general, there are so, so many emails happening to get this final leg complete. Thank you all for continuing to be exceptionally cool and kind while I handle this less-fun part of Kickstarter fulfillment :)

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—

...And that's it from me for now! I'll be back here with more details as I have more to share. Until then, keep on adventuring! Talk more soon!

-g