The anticipated sequel with over 500 game-ready magic items, player options, settings, and more for 5e. Give out better treasure!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Interim update: waiting on a final okay from Australia warehouse before wave 2 shipping, plus a small (resolved) complication.
over 1 year ago
– Fri, Sep 15, 2023 at 03:23:47 PM
Hey everyone! First...
...Wave 2 of orders are shipping very soon!
If your order includes only these things, yours should go out this month! If it includes anything not included in this list, it will go out in November. Here's the product list going out imminently:
Book 2 (standard or deluxe)
Book 1 (standard or deluxe)
Book 1 cards
Standard enamel pin
Tote bag
Criir miniature
Magic coins
Please make sure your Backerkit addresses and on-file cards are correct! You can do that through the old survey link sent to you, or by logging into Backerkit.com using your Kickstarter email. If you're struggling with it, send me a message and I can get you a fresh survey link to log in with. I check my messages each morning and will check them this weekend! :)
Relevant orders will be locked, and cards charged for shipping and lateadd-ons as soon as next week when I export the pack lists for the warehouses. I'll be sure to post another update when that's starting!
I've put off posting this lead-up update because I've been trying to get a very simple answer from my Australian warehouse regarding my inventory there. The Australian shipment arrived, and the warehouse has it. I'm just ensuring that everything I thought was there is, in fact, there. We don't want any surprises once I send them your orders to be shipped, you know? I'm chasing down answers and elevating the priority of it wherever I can. I've tried to get an answer from them since Monday and haven't been able to get it. So, thanks for your patience while I handle some annoying admin work and email chains.
So, in general, we're all green on this end. I'm just counting my chickens after verifying they're hatched, if you'll forgive the butchering of an idiom.
-
I like to post video updates here, but I'll hold off on those so I can send them next week when I should have a final shipment of MPCs (the final, what-you-get copies directly from the manufacturer). Hang tight! It'll probably be a few videos, since there's a lot of stuff!
-
The li'l hiccup
There was a small issue with the production from Panda. It was a clerical error, and they've acknowledged it was on their end. Chances are good that your order's not affected.
The gilding on the Legendary tier backers' cards were never done, and it's a separate process from the normal cards. They have to be done separately, which will take 3.5 weeks. Now, this is on Panda's dime (which is very cool and responsible of them). This will not delay the delivery of the rest of the products. All in all, there are ~300 orders that this affects, so while I want to make absolutely sure that those 300 people are taken care of, this doesn't impact the overall health or schedule for the campaign.
Now, the following thought is not a guaranteed plan, so please don't take it as "Griff you said so" material!
Because Panda is covering that cost, I'm hoping that it will make air freighting them a feasible option. In that event, it's possible that those remade cards will arrive before the rest of the shipment, which would be a little funny. This is the best logistical transparency I can offer, given my level of familiarity with the costs involved, but my actual logistics team may yell at me and tell me I'm a bozo. I should have more information regarding this next week. Again, in any case, the number of orders affected by this is small, so please don't worry about it. :)
-
Okay, that's it from me, heroes! I'll talk more next week with news regarding getting this second wave of orders shipped out and, hopefully, locked! Again, please make sure that your information on Backerkit is correct ahead of that!
Talk more soon, and keep on adventuring!
-g
August Update: everything is in production or nearing shipment!
over 1 year ago
– Thu, Aug 10, 2023 at 01:37:52 PM
Hey folks!
Bottom line up top: Right now, only orders with books and the magic coins have gone out. Criir minis are going to be shipped to warehouses any day now, bags and beanies will begin their overseas freight within the month, dice are similarly approaching completion. Panda Games products are the last to ship since they're all being freighted together. They have to wait until everything is finished before that happens, which means we're waiting on the cards and boxes to be finished. Those are in production and should be done around the end of next month, meaning the final wave of orders should go out in November (ocean freight takes forever). Thank you for your patience!
The next shipment wave will be early-to-mid September. I'm in the process of moving existing stock from my previous US warehouse to my new one (which aligns with my partners at Hit Point Press). It's bit of a headache, but once it's over things should be easier to keep tabs on. Once that moves over to the new warehouse, orders with Criir minis, books, coins, and anyBook One merch (BookOne cards, totes, non-animated pins) will go out.
As a reminder, your order will ship out as soon as I have everything relevant for it! You'll be charged for shipping at that time; until then, you can change your address via Backerkit. Please make sure to do that if you need to!
I've included a video below to show the final journals and beanies. These were the last things that needed approval / to be seen! The beanies were already in production, this was just the first one they made on the production line. Anyway, here's that:
Eldritch Foundry is shipping out the Criir minis to the warehouse any day now. Hooray!
Fandomoid is finishing up the beanies now. Bags are done and will ship alongside the beanies.
Cerberus is wrapping up the dice within the next 4 weeks. Those may get air freighted, but that's up in the air at this point.
PandaGames are getting things wrapped up. However, they were held up by the changes to the box size updates. Those changes were necessary, and will result in a better product with a longer lifespan. Those will be the last things they finish, probably by the end of next month, at which point they'll be put on an ocean freighter alongside the rest of the products they've made. It's a lot! That freight will take 5 to 6 weeks, putting us at the start of November for earliest possible shipping in the states, Europe, and the rest of the world. Thank you for your patience! Australia has the shortest wait, and will start to get theirs only 2-3 weeks after leaving port. Nice!
Thanks for the support and patience! I can't wait to get you your rewards: they're coming!
That's it from me for now! As always, I'm just a message away! Keep on adventuring!
-g
Production updates,
over 1 year ago
– Wed, Jul 12, 2023 at 10:03:48 AM
Hey folks! Time for another update on production and fulfillment.
Shipping & Fulfillment
About a third of you have received your book-and-coin orders so far: whoohoo! That's a big win. If you have issues with your order, send me an email at [email protected] or a direct message here on Kickstarter.
If you're not in North America or Australia, your order is coming: my Europe and ROW (rest of world) warehouse has a lot of paperwork and red tape that had to happen before things get shipped—a lesson I've learned since my last update. Your order should go out literally any day: I made the final payment to them for their shipping fees yesterday morning. Thank you all so much for your patience while I bug them about this to push it forward. You've all been rockstars, truly. Australian orders will go out early August: in this case, the enemy is simply freight times.
If you ordered the book and coins in the US and haven't gotten your order yet, hold tight. The coins just got into the states over the weekend and should be shipped or shipping this week.
As a reminder, your order will ship out as soon as I have everything relevant for it! You'll be charged for shipping at that time; until then, you can change your address via Backerkit. Please make sure to do that if you need to!
Production
If you'll remember from the last update, here are the manufacturers I'm working with to get you everything from this Kickstarter:
Eldritch Foundry is printing the Criir minis now: those will be done within a month or so, at which point they'll be sent wherever they're needed. The good news, like the coins, is that they should make it to their destinations pretty quick via typical parcel (since they're small). That means no sluggish freight times.
Fandomoid's in the QA and late production stage for the backpacks. They're also working on the beanies now, which should be simple enough. Below are a couple photos: a shot of the bags on a rack, and one of the leatherette beanie label:
Bags on the rack for inspection and a leatherette burn-on label sample for the beanies
Cerberus is mid-production on the dice. I'm looking for more accurate timelines on those now. Like the Criir minis, these will probably be simple enough to ship out because of their size. I know a lot of folks are eager for these.
Panda production is ongoing, which makes sense seeing as how many things they're producing. In the past month I've helped finalize some lingering details on the journals and card boxes: typically regarding product dimensions. The manufacturing team was having a hard time following some measurements I made for the journal (such as where the dimensions for the cover starts vs. where they start for the spine), so that held them up a little bit. After some more back and forth, it should be okay now. Similarly, after adjusting the materials used in the cards (to make them a bit more rigid), it impacted their combined dimensions a little bit. It ultimately just meant increasing the box size by another 3mm to accommodate them. In addition, the original box design included a glued-in separator. This has/had the potential to break in shipment or with use. We're using a cardboard insert now, which will be more durable and, optionally, allow you to customize how you want to use the box once you get it.
I took a short video about the journal, cards and the box to go over this. I also touched on the beanie a little:
If you want evenmore magic items, be sure to check out my very good friend Dungeon Scribe's own tome of 500+ magic items!
Unlock stories that will forge lasting moments with Dungeon Scribe’s Tome of Magical Oddities, a 5e Supplement.
Dazzled your tables with over 500 uniquely illustrated magic items, directly tied to cards and handouts for ease of table play.
Enjoy massive cards crafted specifically for ease of reading and featuring quick reference icons.
Dungeon Scribe (Hos) and I both make magic items: his have the added benefit of being read using colloquial terms or quickly referenced using visual icons to tell you how to use the item. He is a phenomenal friend and a creator I respect— be sure to consider supporting this Kickstarter!
That's all for now! Until then, keep on adventuring!
-g
Cards for Book+Coin orders are being charged Friday! PLUS: a deep dive into freighting and inventory—how everything gets shipped!
over 1 year ago
– Tue, Jun 13, 2023 at 09:17:17 AM
Hey folks!
Bottom line up top: if your order is just the books and/or coin set, your order could be shipping as soon as next week. I'll be charging those cards for any remaining balances THIS FRIDAY. Please make sure your shipping addresses and cards are correct in Backerkit! The next orders to ship will be those that have these products, plus only older ones like Book One cards, totes, and non-animated pins. That's a smaller chunk of backers, but still something to be aware of if it affects you! If there are any delays with getting the warehouses to start shipping these orders, I'll post another update saying as such!
Over the last month I've had to learn a lot about international freighting. Much more than I had to with my first Kickstarter. Luckily, I have an incredible logistics team that's making this as smooth as possible.
The current challenge that I'm finishing is making sure that every region's warehouse has enough of my existing stock. That means that I need to get Book Ones, Book One cards, tote bags, and pins to new warehouses in Canada, the UK, and Australia. All other new content is shipped directly from manufacturers to these places. The main hurdle there has been juggling stock between my normal warehouse...-s. Hit Point Press, where I've historically housed my physical goods, has been shuffling its stock to another warehouse. Part of my stuff was already moved, but not all of it. That means that I've had to juggle this existing inventory across these regional warehouses from two separate ones, that also happen to be in different countries. It's been a lot of coordinating emails, freights, and parcels. Smaller shipments, like getting pins and totes from A to B, can be faster because it travels with normal (albeit large) postal orders. In either case, it's a lot of paperwork.
Whew! Okay, so my existing inventory and the last of the new books are arriving in Canada in about a week. There's also a second wave of books coming to the US from the printer at about the same time. The UK's already got theirs, and that warehouse is also serving EU orders. Once those land in the warehouses, we're going to start sending out your book/coin orders!
...except for Australia's. Australia's orders are about 5 weeks behind, because it makes way more logistical sense to ship things to the US, and then to Australia. So once those books get to the US in that second wave, a pallet of them will be slingshot right back out to Australia (including the needed older stock). Even if the books had gone directly from the printer to Australia, it only would have arrived marginally sooner, and I'd still need to send that older stock.
In case it wasn't clear before, international freight and inventory management is complicated.
The other brief hangup is that the coins are getting a very quick update made to them before arriving in the States. I needed these to have UPC stickers added on for the warehouse here, which has delayed their arrival by a bit. However, once that's finished, they're being put on an airplane and brought to the US. In this instance, air freight was only a little more expensive than typical ocean freight (rarely the case), and much faster. I wanted to make sure these coins went out ASAP since they're done. The coins are already everywhere else, though, and ready to go!
This segment of orders is about a third of the total, which is huge! It'll feel good to have them in peoples' hands soon.
That means that I'll be charging cards on Friday via Backerkit for affected backers in this segment. This charge collects any remaining balances, including shipping costs. Please make sure your addresses and cards are correct! if you need me to update your address (because it's locked), please send me a message ASAP either through Kickstarter or email [email protected]. Thank you!
Everythingelse is in production and moving along. The GM screen had a couple adjustments made to it in the last stage (material adjustments to get the right in-hand feeling) that need to be approved first, but otherwise everything else is moving along. I have an email out to my various partners to get some updated ETAs for them. They all know that I'm eager to get things shipping out to you folks, so we're all working together to make it happen. :)
The time to get things shipped will come in waves, based on who made those relevant products. The coins were made by my well-known friends at Campaign Coins, and because that's the only product they made, those are all shipping/shipped out together.
However, other items are made by different manufactures. If one manufacture makes several products, shipping any one of those products will probably wait until all of those products are ready to ship. It's way more expensive/complicated to ship multiple small shipments than it is to ship one large one.
These are the remaining items made per manufacturer, from least to most:
Using this list, I'll be able to communicate how production is going on a per-manufacturer level, which should hopefully offer some more transparency and clarity for when and why things ship. It may make sense to have the cards (and maybe the journals) ship out ahead of the rest, though, depending on what production times are. I'll continue to keep you aware of progress and timelines, and what that means for your orders.
Thank you as always for your support and patience! I hope that this update has shed some light regarding timelines and shipping—I'm doing everything in my power to get you your rewards as quickly as possible! :)
Until next time, keep on adventuring!
-g
Shipping book-only orders SOON, PLUS the last of the prototypes (ready to rock!)
over 1 year ago
– Mon, May 15, 2023 at 11:25:21 AM
Hey everyone! Happy Monday!
Shipping!
As the title says, I'm happy to say that I'll be shipping out orders that only have the books in them very soon! Those will be going out as soon as they're ready (within the next few weeks), so please make sure that your address and card information is correct on Backerkit! Cards will be charged and addresses locked when your segment of backer (backers of the same order contents + region) is ready.
The last of the books are currently on the water being freighted to the USA and Canada. From there, several hundred more books will continue the journey across the Pacific to Australia, which will take a few more weeks. However, once we get those books accounted for in the American and UK/European warehouses, those will be shipping out. The UK warehouse already has half of theirs and is waiting on one more shipping container to arrive.
This ship-as-available method will continue as other products arrive in warehouses. If your order includes just a book and cards, for example, your order will go out as soon as your regional warehouse also has the books and cards available. Expect updates here to reflect what's coming to warehouses next!
This approach is more complicated for me, but makes sure that you get your rewards sooner and reduces warehousing costs. About a third of all backers got just the book, so this will satisfy a huge number of you in one fell swoop! Nice!
Other Final Prototypes
Everything is virtually perfect! The final adjustments are being made as part of the final production tests and don't need to be sent to me, so you can see the last of these products in the video below!
That's it from me for now, so be sure to make sure that your Backerkit address and payment methods are good to go! You'll be getting your orders as soon as they're available from your regional warehouses!
