Physical and Digital Fulfilment Update
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 01:48:16 AM

Hi everyone,

I hope you're doing well and are having a nice week so far. We have been working hard on the upcoming delivery of the project, so I wanted to update you on where we are with both physical and digital fulfilment.

Physical Reward Fulfilment

Printing of The Fantasy Character Kit was completed last week, however our printer's wire-binding machine broke down on Monday before they could bind our books. This is unfortunate, but to keep things moving they have couriered our printed flat sheets to another company who are binding the books as we speak.

This has added a delay to our schedule, so instead of beginning to ship on the 25th October, we will have to push this date back by a week to the first week of November. Sorry about the last-minute delay this has caused, but thank you for your understanding as we continue to navigate this unforeseen situation. We will of course keep you updated if this needs to be pushed back any further.

The faulty Player's Notebooks mentioned in our previous update are currently being reprinted, and are also due to arrive at our warehouse in the first week of November.

All other physical rewards including the Quick Character Cards, Bookmarks and Art Prints are packed and ready to ship around the world!

Digital Reward Fulfilment

I am happy to confirm that digital fulfilment will go ahead on the 25th October as planned – I will be in touch with a more thorough update and instructions about how to claim your digital rewards on Monday. I hope you enjoy flicking through your PDFs of The Fantasy Character Kit and your other digital rewards.

If you have any questions, please send us a Kickstarter message or email [email protected], and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

All the very best,

Sam.

// Follow the development of the project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter //

The Books Have Been Sent To Print!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Oct 01, 2021 at 03:20:45 AM

Hi everyone,

Can you believe it's almost the end of September already? That means shipping and digital fulfilment for this Kickstarter campaign is less than a month away – we are still on track to begin on the 25th October! Here is an update on each of the rewards:

The Fantasy Character Kit

Both the standard and limited edition books have been proofread, edited, finalised and sent to print – hooray! We recently approved some final samples and put a series of quality control steps in place with our printer to ensure you get the best product possible. The books will be printed over the next few weeks, and delivered to our logistic partner's warehouse when they're complete. I'm so excited!

Art Print Bundles

We have been working on the magic items that come with the art prints for a little while to make sure that each one is well-balanced and fun to use in your D&D 5E games, we finished them early this week and they have been sent to print today. We are on track to have these packed and in the warehouse by mid-October.

The Quick Character Cards / Bookmarks

All of these rewards have been printed and collated, and they are being neatly packed into envelopes by hand as we speak. We are all set to pick up these rewards from our packing teams in London (UK) next week for delivery to our warehouse shortly after. We are really happy with the final result, and I know you're going to love using these rewards.

The Player's Notebook

These books arrived in our warehouse a few weeks ago. However, the printer who was dealing with these notebooks printed them a few shades lighter than the samples we had received previously. We are working hard to get the faulty notebooks reprinted and ready to go.

Character Commissions

Our illustrator has completed the character drawings commissioned by our MONARCH level backers. They all look fantastic, and I know you are going to be blown away when you see them, I can't wait to share them with you! MONARCH backers will each receive 3x physical prints of the commissions with their pledge rewards, as well as a digital file of their commission during digital fulfilment.

Digital Fulfilment

When shipping of the physical rewards begins, coupon codes for digital rewards will be sent to all backers via BackerKit (look out for their email!) This is currently on track to begin on the week commencing 25th October. I will send you all more information about how to claim your digital rewards in October during the run-up to digital fulfilment.

I think that just about covers all the rewards! If you have any questions, please leave a comment on this Kickstarter update, send us a Kickstarter message, or drop us an email at [email protected] and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Thanks, have a great week,

Sam.

// Follow the development of the project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter //

Oh, and one more thing... did you know that we are currently giving away a limited edition copy of the new D&D adventure The Wild Beyond The Witchlight along with some awesome dice on our Instagram page? Entering is easy, but the competition closes on October 11th, so you haven't got long! For the full details, click here.

Locking Addresses / EU Shipping Notice
over 4 years ago – Wed, Sep 08, 2021 at 04:41:58 PM

Hi everyone,

I hope you've had a great start to the week. Today I wanted to share some important updates about shipping:

Addresses Locking on Thursday

On the 9th September at 10:00BST, the shipping address in your BackerKit pledge manager will be locked. This is the address that we will use when it is time to ship your physical rewards. If you expect your address may change over the next couple of months, we strongly recommend you update the address in your pledge manager to one that you know you will be able to collect your rewards from (such as a workplace, relative or friend). Please make any necessary changes before the addresses are locked on Thursday. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to amend your address after this date.

You can access your pledge manager by using the link that was sent to you by BackerKit at the beginning of May – or log on to BackerKit's website using the email address you used to back this project.

Digital Rewards

Digital rewards will be fulfilled at the same time as physical rewards as planned; you will be able to download all of your digital items from our website. More information will follow about digital fulfilment in advance of the fulfilment date.

EU Shipping Notice

Due to changes in customs and tax laws that were introduced after our campaign ended, we will now need to ship EU pledges from a fulfilment centre in London (UK) where we are based, rather than a German fulfilment centre as we had originally planned.

Please be aware that as the UK is no longer part of the European Union, it is possible that countries in the EU may charge a customs fee before releasing your package. Unfortunately, we are unable to confirm exactly how much these fees may be, so we recommend contacting your local customs office for more information.

Deliveries within the UK, and EU backers who pledged for digital rewards only, will not be affected.

We are very sorry for any inconvenience that this may cause our valued EU backer community, we are grateful for your backing and continued support. Please do send us a Kickstarter message or an email at [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks, all the best,

Sam.

// Follow the development of the project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter //

First Draft Flick Through!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Sep 03, 2021 at 10:30:05 PM

Hi everyone,

I hope you're doing well. I wanted to give you all an update on where the project is, as we begin the countdown to shipping!

Progress on the Book

The first draft of The Fantasy Character Kit was completed last month, since then we have been testing it extensively to make sure it works well when creating a character and flows naturally through the creation process. The book is continuing to come together at a good pace!

Our printer was delayed in sending samples of the quick character cards, art prints and bookmarks to us – so we are unfortunately behind schedule on the process of individually packaging these rewards. We are also still waiting for a replacement sample of The Fantasy Character Kit complete first draft, as the binding in the current sample (shown in the video below) was incorrect. This delay has set us back slightly, but we are keeping an eye on the schedule and trying to make up time when possible. We will of course update you if we need to push things back by a few weeks – we don't foresee any significant delays.

That to one side, here's a flick through of a bound first draft – it looks really good, and we are all super excited about it! This is a digitally printed sample, so the final book will look even better when it is printed lithographically on thicker paper with spot varnish on the front cover. Spoiler alert, don't watch if you want to wait until you have your copy of the book before you look through it...

Testing and proofreading has led us to make some enhancements to the book, to make it even more user-friendly. One of these improvements is the addition of a 'Backstory Inspiration' page at the start of every chapter (see below). These example backstories have been made using content directly taken from tables within the book, and show you how you can bring the results of your rolls together into an awesome character. The examples could inspire your own backstory, or you can use the characters as they are in your games straight off the page. Of course, you could disregard them entirely and forge your own amazing characters from the ground up using the random tables in this book!

Bookmarks, Cards and Prints

Despite the slight delay, the samples we received look brilliant! The quick character cards and art prints each have a nice thickness and are laminated with a matte finish, so everything is sure to be durable. The bookmarks are double-sided and the colours all really pop, you're going to love them!

Quick Character Cards

You might have noticed Filo Silversmile the merchant and Gizzard Cragfist the mercenary in the photo of the samples above. They will be joined by Lazarus Belgrave the villager, Vinandi de Mimour the noble, and Jacqueline Pesce the sailor to complete the set of the five quick character cards. On the back of every card is a set of tables to help you easily generate merchant, mercenary, villager, noble or sailor NPCs. The categories were suggested by the project's producers, and the five featured were the most popular! They were a lot of fun to write and design, and I hope the characters are just as much fun to play on the tabletop.

Project Timeline

The current project timeline is below. As mentioned above, we are keeping our eyes on the schedule, and will inform you as soon as possible if we need to slightly alter the book's shipping date.

Addresses Locked – Thursday 9th September 2021

Shipping Begins – Monday 25th October 2021

To change your address between now and the 9th September, head over to your pledge manager using the same link as before. If you are moving house soon, and aren't sure of your new address, I would recommend changing your address to a friend/family member who can take in your package for you.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or send us a Kickstarter message and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

I hope you have a lovely week! See you next time,

Sam

// Follow the development of the project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter //

Project Proofreading Begins!
over 4 years ago – Sat, Jul 31, 2021 at 05:12:48 AM

Hi everyone,

I am powering on through The Fantasy Character Kit with my co-author Beth, and it's really taking shape! Here are a couple of exciting milestones that we hit recently:

Progress on the Book

The Fantasy Character Kit is right on schedule, and the first draft of the book was completed this week, which was a great achievement for us. So, what happens now?

Well, we need to give the whole 180-page book a thorough proofread in-house as well as sending it out to an external proofreader before we're ready to print. This is often an intense stage of a project as it involves looking at the book as a whole, re-working content to make sure it is consistent throughout, and checking for important things like system compatibility.

The printing process is scheduled to begin in September, and the books are on track to begin shipping out from our warehouse in October. So, we still have a little way to go before we'll all be able to hold our copies,  but the big launch day is getting closer and closer!

Notebooks Sent to Print

The Player's Notebooks were sent to the printer yesterday! They are being printed as we speak, and should start to arrive at our warehouse in August – I can't wait to have a flick through. As someone who takes a lot of notes during my games, I'm looking forward to the boost in organisation when I'm playing!

Double-Sided Bookmarks

I wanted to show off the double-sided bookmarks today, as we haven't revealed their full design just yet. With The Fantasy Character Kit being almost twice the size of The Game Master's Fantasy Toolkit, these will really come in handy – especially if you're a GM using the book to add flavour to your NPCs on the fly, or if you're a player who wants to keep track of the most used tables for your character.

Project Timeline

The current project timeline is as follows:

Addresses Locked – Thursday 9th September 2021

Shipping Begins – Monday 25th October 2021

The project is coming together nicely, and we couldn't be more excited by it! I can already see how useful The Fantasy Character Kit will be when designing new characters and NPCs. I can't wait to see what amazing characters all of you will come up with when you're using it. Looking forward to revealing some more details soon!

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or send us a Kickstarter message and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Have a great weekend everyone,

Sam

// Follow the development of the project on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter //