Surveys 70% complete; Australia?
almost 3 years ago
– Mon, Jun 21, 2021 at 01:10:20 PM
Survey Progress
We're at 70% completion on the surveys. That's excellent. Please take the time this weekend to go through and complete yours.
If you're all-digital and want to stay that way, it's likely a two-click process unless you feel the need for further shopping (and by all means, shop further). Say "yeah, got it" or whatever on the mandatory question, click "pay" or "complete" with the $0 you owe for all-digital, and that's that.
For physical stuff, I obviously can't send you your things if I don't have your address. After I mail out all the stuff, if I still don't have your address, I refund your money and cancel your pledge, to prevent things from dragging on and on an on. I got this protocol from SJGames and Phil Reed, and I decided I like it. I once got a survey 18 months after the kickstarter was complete...and that was very challenging to fulfill.
Shipping to Australia
I got chatting with a backer who was all-digital, but wanted the Omnibus. Turns out he's in Australia. Also turns out Mixam has a local printer there. Which means it may very well be the case that printing 5 or 10 books locally, shipping to a partner in Oz, and then reshipping by Australian post is a really good way to knock money off of the monstrous shipping and tax burden that we entertain shipping from the US or UK to Australia. I'm going to look into this heavily, and report back.
Mixam also prints in Canada and the UK...so there might be possibilities there too.
One of the things getting your survey done helps me with is where are you? Knowing that, I know whether (say) the 5-10 copies of any given book I'd need to locally print make it worthwhile to do this route make sense because I have buyers.
But if this is of interest...if you're a UK, Canadian, or Australian resident, currently staring at shipping and saying "hells, no" but really DO want physical product...we might be able to handle that if there are enough of you willing to commit to the purchase. Not just for the omnibus, either.
Ballistic's Report for week ending June 18
almost 3 years ago
– Fri, Jun 18, 2021 at 05:08:33 PM
On time this week! The past seven days was really about Delvers to Grow, specifically art and Backerkit.
- The Character Collections international orders . . . well, I haven’t heard of any problems
- Delvers to Grow’s core book is finished except for detailing the artist credits; that won’t take long. Crypt of Krysuvik gets better looking day by day. The cover art for Strong Delvers is in.
- I have the character designs for Strong Delvers and it’s on my to-do list this weekend to get that laid out so that we know where we stand for extra material.
- Backerkit surveys went out Thursday night! If you were in the campaign, please complete your survey promptly. If you missed it, the preorder store is open!
To help with ongoing funding of art and speed eventual time to delivery, Gaming Ballistic started a Patreon in January 2021. Here's the weekly update on Patreon status.
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Membership status: 48 patrons and $328 per month.
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Special Content: Drafts and progress on Crypt and Delvers. This verges on “previews of completed books” at this time.
Currently Manufacturing/Fulfilling/Shipping
Project where hardcopies and PDFs are going out or scheduled to do so.
- Character Collections boxes really ought to be on their way by now; have requested updates and tracking numbers.
Crowdfunding
TFT Character Collection (Launched Friday Feb 19; Closed on Tuesday, March 9 at 9pm Central)
No further news
Delvers to Grow (Launched Friday May 7 at 10am Central Time, Ended May 25 at 9pm Central)
- Backerkit surveys went out.
- Delvers “build-a-Bjorn” book is basically done. Crypt of Krysuvik is fully written and now being populated with art. The Strong Delvers cover came in and is ready to go, though it still needs a full resolution image rather than the draft/WIP JPG.
Product Announcements
On DriveThruRPG:
In Development
Writing and content creation for announced projects. Some of this may be cryptic.
- I’m building a retail product catalog this week
- I’ve started looking at “what’s next,” including another TFT adventure, some systemless village settings, and more character work, maybe systemless as well.
Friction
Bits of news and items that put a monkey in the wrench.
- I am still waiting on the formal CE Mark certificate of conformity from STC. Overall, I have not been awesomely pleased with my interactions with them.
- I still had to go through like ten iterations on Backerkit shipping, but...
Fair Winds
Information about things that move GB forward.
- The art for Krusyvik is simply eye-candy. The team, including two new members, is knocking it out of the park.
- Despite Backerkit being a giant PITA, I have finally realized where the “magic thing” is that makes some of my issues go away. There’s a “flat charge” for pre-orders tucked in a totally non-intuitive spot (hint: it’s not on the shipping page) where the “first item fee” can be levied. This means from now on, I can get what I need to done the right way. I’m still lobbying for per-order weight-based shipping with sensible adds, but this find lets me walk through setting shipping in a not-stupid way.
Surveys Released! Shipping Signals.
almost 3 years ago
– Fri, Jun 18, 2021 at 05:06:49 PM
Surveys Released
The smoke test went smoothly (say it with me: "TOO smoothly...")
So I pushed the rest of the surveys. Please get them filled out as quickly as possible!
Shipping Signals
There are a few things that have shipping prices that are eyebrow-raising.
The Nordlond Area Map only exists in its 16x20" cardstock format here at my house. So it MUST go by the mailers I have for it, and it's a big, flimsy package (even stuffed with cardboard for protection). About 15 ounces or 450grams.
Even in the US it's as expensive to ship as it is to buy. OUT of the USA, I just assumed it would be too much. But someone wanted one, I looked into it...and yeah. It's SPENDY. $50-65 depending on country.
But if you still want it, I've adjusted the shipping prices from $250 (which is my "this is going to be ridiculous to ship in every possible way" signal to you, since I can't say "don't allow it" in Backerkit) to the real values. These parcels must go out by themselves due to form factor and packing needs. If you want several, don't add several - EMAIL ME.
Timing
So I'll be letting the Backerkit run until at least June 25, which is when I expect to get my last art in. From there, I'll start charging cards and sending out initial proof copies VIA BACKERKIT because the infrastructure to get these out to folks as they fill out the surveys is robust. The FINAL distribution will, as promised, be by DriveThruRPG.
Once I get feedback to see if my proofing and playtesting team caught all the mistakes, I'll close it all out and place print orders. Mixam printing tends to arrive in 5-10 business days, and then it's pick, pack, and ship.
So I'm really hoping to place the print orders in early July and have books in hand for US folks by the end of July. We shall see.
Smoke Test underway
almost 3 years ago
– Thu, Jun 17, 2021 at 06:57:33 PM
33 backers have been emailed their surveys. Once I see things are progressing more or less to plan, I'll release all the surveys and we'll get things moving.
Backerkit Setup Review Initiated
almost 3 years ago
– Wed, Jun 16, 2021 at 05:30:01 PM
I figured it out. So I THINK I have it such that pre-orders and add-ons to pledges work properly now. At least well enough to be going on with. Shipping is always a nightmare, but I think we're ready. Might take as much as 48 hours to complete the review, but once that happens, I'll go smoke test and then we'll see.
