if you want to hear the artist and the authors of the project talk about Pumpkin Spice, we got you covered! Here are the livechats we did in the last few days. Thanks to those that were live chatting with us, and thank you as well to all of you left comments after.
We're happy to announce that USA + Canada markets are 97%+ shipped as of today. The last wave of shipments just went out, so check your mailbox soon if you haven't already received your package!
Important information for international backers: Please complete your survey by this Friday, March 6!
If you completed your survey by the first-wave deadline, your pledge will be fulfilled in the "late March into April" time frame we mentioned previously. (Based on the latest vessel schedules we've seen, it looks like EU/UK will be on the early side of that window, and AUS/NZ will be on the later side.)
This Friday March 6 is the final survey deadline for international backers. We'll ship a second wave of pledge items to our local-market partners to fulfill based on surveys as of Friday. Any surveys filled out after that will be shipped from the US, which typically means higher shipping costs. So, please complete those surveys!
Meanwhile, in other news...
Dragon Rider's Primer is live! This crunchy 5E sourcebook elevates your adventure to new heights with flying mounts for all characters and their adversaries. Check out the project for more info.
And yes, in case you're wondering, that IS the same cover artist who designed all the limited edition D&D books in the glory days of 5E! See additional graphic below..
Take your campaign to the skies now!
We're very excited to include cover art by D&D legend Hydro74!
Everything you need for an aerial campaign is here: book with rules, play mat, pawns and pogs!
Now that we've flipped the calendar, it's time for a big pivot in our campaign. Over the last two weeks of February, we shared the ENTIRE draft manusript for The World Below: Delver's Guide. But that's just one of the books that we're funding with this crowdfunding campaign. We're about to double the awesomeness because it's time to start sharing the Secrets of Kalm and Kaos!
Draft Manuscript Previews
Over the course of this campaign, backers will receive the entire current draft manuscript for The World Below: Delver's Guide and The World Below: Secrets of Kalm and Kaos, but it's not going to come to you all in one go. The previews will come out in mangeable sections throughout the campaign. This helps me seem interesting over these 30 days, but it's more about guiding the conversation and helping steer feedback for the developers.
Because they want your feedback! These manuscript previews are of the current draft manuscript – the document in its latest, approved form. This may not be the final form after editing and any additional development, but you can consider it about 95% finished, so keep that in mind.
In fact, you can help guide the team through the next stages of development by providing feedback on these manuscript previews! The Onyx Path team has set up a special Feedback Form just for campaign backers for this very purpose: <TWB Buried Treasures Feedback Form>
You can use this Feedback Form to shrea your thoughts directly with the World Below developers and help guide them through the next rounds of development and editing.
Digital and Print-on-Demand Rewards
We know times are hard these days, particularly with rising costs and economic uncertainty, so we’ve designed this crowdfunder to be as painless as possible. We offer a wide variety of digital options for backing, as well as leveraging print-on-demand technology to have physical products printed as close to you as possible to cut down shipping and reduce tariff concerns - and avoid some of the manufacturing delays that have delayed other campaigns.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY
Remember, thanks to BackerKit sorcery, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Reply to this Update" or "Learn More" button on the bottom and I'll see you below this title treatment.
At the bottom of this post (under the title Backer-Exclusive Content) you can download your PDF of the Gate Pass Gazette Annual 2025. This will only be visible to backers, so you'll need to be logged in to your Backerkit account to see it.
If you prefer not to use DriveThruRPG, send us an email so we can send you an alternative link. Other bundle or add-on PDFs will be shared via the pledge manager in March.
Fulfilment Plans
We're so excited to get the book into your hands!
Below is the complete fulfilment plan for the project. Please note these dates are subject to change, but this is our plan to get you your rewards.
March 2026: Pledge manager will open mid March - choose any extra add-ons and let us know your address! The pledge manager will close late March to allow for quick delivery. Add-on PDFs will be made available once the pledge manager has closed.
April 2026: The magazines will be printed and sent. Printing and shipping via DriveThruRPG is estimated to take 2-4 weeks depending on your location.
Some Add-On books have already been printed and are waiting at our warehouses. These will be sent from our warehouses in the US and the UK, so you will receive multiple packages for your rewards. Please do not panic if the first parcel you receive does not contain all of your rewards!
Customer Service
We will always try to get back to you as quickly as possible, and are online Monday to Friday during UK office hours. We will keep you updated here on the Backerkit page with updates and comments. You can also email us directly to admin [at] enpublishingrpg.co.uk.
For backers who will receive physical books, we're debating on whether it is best to print those books in 2024 or in 2014. Whichever one doesn't go to print will still receive a PDF (e.g., if we print books in 2024, the 2014 PDF version will still be free for all backers), since that was what we always promised during the campaign. Please see the latest update for more details!
It was AWESOME seeing this hit the goal right at the end, and I am geeked to get to work with Cezar on this!
This also means that the final game will have 8 total mysteries!
Thank you all for your support during the campaign. Because of you backing the project, we are not only able to update the base game into physical format but also more than double the number of pre-made mysteries included AND hire 5 amazing writers to add their XP to the project.
To keep you updated on how we plan to get this game out to you, I have our planned timeline below, and I'll be giving updates between now and fulfillment to highlight what work has been done so far and if there's any expected changes.
Current priorities are in bold and the rest of the schedule is shown for transparency. This may change (for example, if proof copies aren't looking great, we may need to order another round OR if the first proof is good, we may be able to fulfill early), but if it does, I will let you know ASAP and explain any adjustments.
Feb – fund project
Mar – kick off guest writers (send guidelines, formatting + style guide)
Mar– set up pre-order store
Apr – guest writer check in
May – guest writer 1st drafts due
May – review 1st drafts
June – kick off guest writer 2nd drafts
June – guest writer 2nd draft due
June – kick off layout artist
July – final layout due
July – order proof (round 1)
Aug – proof arrives, check, review update (round 1)
You can expect a check in update here in late March where I'll let you know how the bold items above are going and how we're shifting into the next month.
Again, THANK YOU for backing the project and helping us to not only fund but expand on the original game. I appreciate your support, and I am excited to get Mystery Snacks into your hands soon!
We hit our funding goal recently (and are dangerously close to achieving the "stickers for everyone" goal, too!) Thanks so much for the support.
This week I'm trying to jam out a short mechanics demo framed as a separate storyline centered on a separate (non-Captain) character. This way we can limit the scope (for example: managing a single lead character with a single companion, instead of an entire crew,) while showcasing the gameplay loop, and dipping your toes into the world without spoiling any of the guidebook. Should be pretty dope.
The Final Livestream
Our very last livestream will take place this Friday at 10am PST/1pm EST. You'll be able to watch it directly from the BackerKit page, or from my YouTube channel. I'll post another update once we're a bit closer to the day.
This campaign is a success -- and it's all thanks to all of you!! I want to thank each and every one of the 91 backers who decided to contribute to my quirky little project. I'm very very grateful to you all!
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What's next?
Now that the campaign is over, Backerkit has a 2-3 week period of processing all the funds and data from this campaign (and all the rest of the Zinetopia projects). Once the funds for the campaign are released to me, I'll try to set up the pledge manager as quickly as I can so that I can already send all of you the digital files for Raspberry Juice!
It should take about a week or two for me to set-up the pledge manager on Backerkit, which is a post-campaign platform that allows for processing of shipping fees and the fulfillment of all of your rewards. Once it's set-up, you will get notified and gain access to it. On the pledge manager you'll be able to modify your pledge to add additional goodies from the campaign, add a shipping address for fulfillment of physical goods, and pay shipping fees. If you're at the $1 Follower tier which bears no reward (other than my gratitude!), you'd also be able to change your pledge level to a higher one so that you can get a reward.
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Cheaper printing and shipping
I'm currently in discussions with my collaboration partner from Dieku Games to print and ship our projects together. This should help lower production costs and fulfillment costs for us as project creators, which would also translate to cheaper shipping prices for you as backers!
Raccoon is attempting to slash printing prices for everyone!
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The next update
If everything goes according to plan, you should expect the next update with details on how to use the pledge manager to be sent out in early April.
------------ Until then -- you have my biggest of gratitude -- Thank you all so so much!! ~Omer (tchinaboy)
