Friends, thank you so much for your outpouring of support for this chill game of adventurers settling down to run a cozy tavern. We had an incredible stream of backers show up on the final day! Over 500 people kept the Backer Train running and we not only stayed open past the 6pm deadline but we tipped past the $200,000 mark which means all our authors and artists are getting an 80% pay bump!
The next couple weeks will largely be quiet in terms of updates. BackerKit needs to collect and distribute your funds to us, we are hard at work commissioning art and revising the layout, and then we'll fire off the order for the print books. We'll also be working with Campaign Coins and Wood Tactics to get the dice and coins produced.
We'll keep you apprised as we hit milestones, but for the near future we're going to keep our heads down to push this material into production.
Along those lines, note that the stretch goals you all unlocked will be created on a separate timeline. Most of them will not be part of the book itself and will be delivered when they are completed. (We don't make a habit of commissioning stretch goals until we know the goal has actually funded.)
On behalf of the whole team, once again: thank you again for being part of this project. You blew past our humble expectations and we're excited to bring Stewpot to market. It's going to be a bigger, prettier, and better game because of you.
Would it be possible to include another d% in the set? A major mechanic of Call of Cthulhu is rolling a d10 and 2d% for advantage or disadvantage, and it would be really cool to have a matching or contrasting die to use for those rolls.
This update announces a revision to the delivery estimate of The Vault of Mini Things from late summer/early fall to fall/winter. It goes into the reasons behind the revision and in particular gives a look into the iterative engineering that’s gone into the vertical terrain elements of the Vault. No action is required.
Delivery ETA
When we launched this project we anticipated delivery in late summer/early fall of 2024. This estimate was based on our extensive experience making terrain and Marshall’s deep, existing catalog of minis. Today, we’re announcing that the delivery estimate is changing to late fall/winter 2024. To put an exact deadline on it: we’re targeting orders to be in the mail and on the way to customers by December 6–the first day of PAX Unplugged 2024.
Three factors contributed to us not being able to hit the original delivery estimate:
Art
Dieline complexity & feature creep
Vertical element engineering
Testing out some of the graveyard map tiles.
Art
Even with hundreds of minis art already “in the can” thanks to the Printable Heroes catalog, the Vault demanded the creation of hundreds more original works of art. Marshall has been making minis art for years and is quite fast considering each mini actually requires two pieces of art at minimum: the front, and the back. And Marshall being the creative illustrator that he is, his pen will often lead him into making variants of a mini. Say, different weapons, hair or armor styles, or a variety of fantasy races. Looking at what we already had and what we needed, we felt that we could hit the original estimate if Marshall’s output was augmented by an already-lined-up contractor artist. Unfortunately that contractor went through a major life event and was unable to contribute. It took several months to find and onboard a new artist. Fortunately this new artist, Jordan Kotzebue, is up and running and we are moving much faster now. Moving the delivery estimate gives us the time we need to complete the art lift.
Dieline complexity & feature creep
The minis in the Vault (and Pouches of Mini Things) are packaged on sheets of die-cut cardstock. At first glance this seems simple enough: just print all the minis onto a sheet, make a die to cut (or rather, score-for-punching) that sheet, and off we go. However: each mini in the Vault has a unique silhouette / shape. And some minis will come in multiple quantities–enough so that you can field a raid of orcs, or a rattle of skeletons. Figuring out how to efficiently arrange as many minis as possible onto a sheet, and taking into consideration multiple quantities, for a product containing a thousand minis… that’s a task for a computer. Fortunately, the Tinkerhouse team includes a member who writes software tools for a living. Unfortunately, writing such a tool takes significant time, and can’t be fully tested until all art and design is finalized.
Test output with colored tabs and numbering system.
Some of that art is the miniature art mentioned above. But some is art and design elements we’re developing to improve quality-of-life and user experience for you, the backer. For example, colored and numbered tabs to make both initial setup and daily play quicker and easier. Some of these quality of life elements were discovered as we iterated on production and amounted to time-consuming feature creep. But we strongly believe that they’ll result in a more positive user experience.
Vertical element engineering
Tinkerhouse has been making full-color chipboard wargaming terrain for many years, and we anticipated that the seemingly-simpler terrain for the Vault would be fairly quick & easy. This was not the case. The terrain in the Vault is meant to compliment the inherently 2-d nature of the Vault’s standee minis. This is conceptually and practically very different from the 3-d terrain we’d been building. Whereas Tinkerturf Terrain can feature robust, thick columns and supports Vault terrain must attempt to represent the maps found within RPG adventure modules–and those maps often don’t account for wall thickness or buttressing. We also had a product design goal/constraint of quick-and-easy setup, with no glue or “hobbying” required, while still being sturdy and strong.
So we went through several rounds of engineering iteration, covered in the Terrain Engineering Overview section below.
The mess of engineering iterations and ideas.
Terrain Engineering Overview
Printable Heroes method
The method Printable Heroes had been recommending for print-and-play walls, with thin printed walls permanently taped onto elongated hexagon bases, just wouldn’t work for the thicker cardstock we’re using in the Vault.
Printable Heroes method
They’re too tippy, and the thickness of the bases would unpleasantly tilt any mini placed alongside a wall. We tried many different shapes and thicknesses for supporting walls from a flat base, and each had a flaw that negatively impacted setup and gameplay. So while small elements such as torches and treasure chests will be supported from the bottom, using the same base that the minis use, we had to come up with a different solution for larger elements like walls and big obstacles.
Cross-support pieces
The traditional method for standing up a simple vertical terrain element is to use one or two notched cross-pieces. This is simple, intuitive, and quick to set up and take down. It’s what we settled on for supporting outdoor vertical terrain elements like rocks, trees, and fences–elements that will be placed with plenty of space between them, and lots of room for minis to maneuver around.
Nobody puts mini in the corner.
But cross-pieces don’t work in tight interior spaces, such as a dungeon environment. If a cross-piece extends even just one inch from a wall, this effectively creates a barrier all the way across a 10-foot wide (two 1-inch squares) corridor–and completely prevents setting up a narrow 5-foot wide (one 1 inch square) corridor. That limitation just isn’t feasible.
Side support pieces
In the end we selected the same system of support used in home construction: we support a wall by attaching it to another wall. Two perpendicular linear elements joined together forms a sturdy structure. Since the actual use-case of our collection of walls and door frames is forming rooms and corridors, we figure we can safely assume that any wall or door frame will be joined to at least one other vertical element. Once we settled on that concept it took weeks to design, engineer, test, and select our solution for the method of connection: plastic compression-fit columns in a brick texture suitable for both dungeon and tudor village environments. They’re quick & easy to set up and take down, store compactly, don’t meaningfully protrude into the playspace, and look good.
A simple dungeon form showing the function of the side support pieces.
Closer view ot the side support piece.
Showing off two Vault minis for scale.
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While a delivery delay is not what any backer wants to hear, we hope that the quality (and quality of life) improvements will make the Vault much more enjoyable and user-friendly when it reaches your table. Thank you for your continued support of The Vault of Mini Things.
We'll conclude this update with two short gifs from Marshall showing a turnaround of a complete Vault mini with front-and-back art, insertable terrain pog, and custom base.
Complete Vault Mini: double sided standee, terrain POG, and 3D printed base.
Summer is just around the corner, and do we have news for you. A few weeks ago, all files were sent to the printer! That's right, everything. This includes:
Grimtooth's Old School Traps in 5E
Grimtooth's Old School Traps in DCC
Against the Thieves Guild in 5E
Against the Thieves Guild in DCC
Trials of the Trapmaster's Tomb (DCC funnel)
Plus, the next book in the Original Adventures Reincarnated line is coming to crowdfunding very soon. OAR #9 Caverns of Thracia!Check out the landing page here.
Is it possible to get an add-on for a PDF-only version of the 246 Corbitt Street add-on that was just created? I really don't want a physical copy but would love to have the PDF by itself.
The NPC cards are becoming a great and helpful deck. Thank to your amazing support, now they will be even of greater quality, printed in PRO LINEN 320 g/m2 paper! Remember, only the Dark Goddess pledge level gets this physical hand out.
Over the past few months, our efforts to summon the Black Cube have progressed nicely. It’s a ritual of momentous proportions, taking many months, but its triumphant conclusion is coming into view. We expect to have our first-off-the-line production copy of the Invisible Sun reprint in just a few weeks!
That’s not the only project in the works, of course. The Vislae Kit is on the same schedule, with long-lead components of Book M and The Nightside to follow a few weeks after.
In the meantime, Monte has been hard at work on The Wellspring and has a snippet from that title to share with you. (While the bulk of The Wellspring is written, it’s just now heading into the editing phase. The snippet we are sharing with you is unedited, pre-production text.)
Before we get to that, though, a reminder: If you backed for the supplements, and were part of the Phase 1 fulfillment, and you haven’t yet redeemed your rewards—they’re waiting for you! Just log into the MCG Shop, navigate to My Account, and click on the Coupons tab. From there you can add your coupons to your cart and check out, and we’ll ship your rewards to you!
Now back to Montes’ excerpt—a brief peek into what the Wellspring is in a physical (or metaphysical) sense, and how a vislae might navigate to its heart once they find it.
Understanding the Wellspring
How does magic work? Where does it come from? Ask ten vislae and you’ll get ten very different answers. And so it’s difficult and perhaps fruitless to explain the Wellspring. We can, however, describe it.
Magic itself is very often described with words that suggest water or at least liquid. Currents. Ebbs and flows. Even sometimes tides. The Wellspring, then, is a different source of magic—a different flow—that in the past has bubbled forth mystic energies, and in the past it has also stopped. There are those that say that sometimes the Wellspring just runs dry. Others contend that something—or someone—caps the Wellspring and keeps it from flowing that energy into the Actuality. (Into the Actuality from where, you might ask, but again—there are many answers to questions like that.)
If one is comfortable with the water metaphor, then it isn’t hard to understand that at the point where the Wellspring flows—the source, if you will—the magic pools. In fact, it creates a sort of oasis around that pool, where the magical power gives existence to a shore around it and even “plants” that grow at the pool’s edge. The Oasis—and that’s what most historians and theorists call it, “the Oasis”—can’t be located on a map. It can’t be attributed to any one sun. It’s a location all its own, created and sustained by the mystical energies of the Wellspring.
The Oasis around the Wellspring, then, is a sort of (meta)physical place that one could travel to. Doing so would be the most direct way of drawing upon the power there, although only a vislae would do it.
The Oasis appears to be a pool about 800 feet across, with the “land” around it being another 200 feet extended beyond the pool’s edge in all directions. The “terrain” is barren but weirdly twisted into surreal and normally impossible shapes.
The first time the PCs travel to the Wellspring, the oasis seems frozen. One can see only a mass of cold, solidified magical energy—which looks like glistening ice—with a small, bubbling font in the middle of it. The “ice” has frozen in uneven waves, with peaks and valleys. This is because the members of the Third Hand, who discovered that the Wellspring is ripe for opening, haven’t yet performed the rituals needed to push it over the edge.
There’s still power there when it’s frozen, but it is sluggish and harder to access.
If they travel there again, however, the mystic ice has melted and the entire pool is a swirling vortex of liquid magic. The Wellspring is fully open.
Getting Across the Oasis
The “land” around the Wellspring is easily navigable, but the pool itself presents some challenges. In many cases, travelers to the Oasis are going to want to get to the Wellspring itself, often to sever or redirect its connection with a particular place.
But the Oasis itself is a dangerous location and difficult to navigate, both when it is frozen over, and when it is not..
Frozen: The ice is supernaturally slick. Crossing it on foot is literally impossible. However, visitors can use the slippery surface to their advantage in conjunction with the uneven ice slopes, crests, and valleys. A good thrust carries a vislae along on their backside or their stomach, moving incredibly fast, moving toward the wellspring in a spiral motion, following the patterns in the ice. Navigating their toboggan-like ride safely requires three Movement-based actions with a challenge of 5. Any time the character fails one of these actions, they suffer one damage and the challenge of the next action in the series (if any are left) is 2 higher. Worse, a failure also means that the frozen magic has scraped away some of the vislae’s personal power, so that they lose 3 Sorcery.
Should a character fail all three actions, they not only suffer the effects described, but they careen across the ice entirely out of control. They end up out of the Oasis entirely, and lose their next action. If they want to get to the Wellspring, they will have to try all over again.
This activity is not overly dangerous on its own, but in some circumstances (see each individual story in this book) enemies may attack the PCs while all of this is going on.
Unfrozen: There’s no ice to slide upon, but this circumstance is perhaps even more difficult because the water in the Oasis churns around the Wellspring like a violent whirlpool. Swimming is impossible, but characters could attempt to use the churning motion to their advantage and ride the current (or even body surf) to the middle. Similar to dealing with the frozen Oasis, letting the whirlpool-like current carry a character requires three Movement-based actions with a challenge of 5. Any time the character fails one of these actions, they suffer 2 damage (from nearly drowning) and the challenge of the next action in the series (if any are left) is 2 higher.
Should a character fail all three actions, they not only suffer the effects described, but they begin to truly drown in the magic of the pool. They must attempt a Physicality-based action to keep from drowning, and the challenge is 3, with the challenge increasing each action by 1. The character must keep attempting these actions until a friend manages to help them out of the churning pool. A character alone in this situation is likely doomed.
At the Center of the Wellspring
Paradoxically, should one reach the Wellspring itself, they can stand as if on solid ground. Vislae who do so can cast spells or utilize other magical praxis at no Sorcery cost. Incantations and ephemera objects operate normally, but objects of power never ever deplete in that spot.
Vislae standing at the center can also make minor alterations to the flow of the Wellspring’s power as it flows into the Actuality. This requires specific knowledge of where the magic is specifically going (through an established link—as detailed in the various stories in this book). Preventing or redirecting this specific flow requires a few minutes of time and a Sorcery-based action with a challenge of 8. Multiple vislae can work together on this action, each devoting points of Sorcery to add to the venture.
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And that’s what Monte has to share with us today. We’ll have another production update in about a month, as, if everything remains on plan, production comes to an end and the Black Cube begins its journey to our warehouses.
Thank you so much for your support! —The Monte Cook Games team
We have received our FINAL PROOF of the book, and we have approved it! HOORAY!
We apologize for our false alarm the other day. We got the order of operations backwards. It turns out, we DON'T need to lock in orders! Everything is proceeding as planned -- we have placed the manufacturing order!
As a matter of fact, it behooves us to wait until the books are ready to ship to you before locking your addresses. What if someone moves during manufacturing? So it's a better practice to wait until the books will imminently ship to reduce delivery problems to zero. We just didn't realize this. As you know, this is our first publication of this size, so we're learning on the fly. We were just excited because we got our final proof and we're ready to cook the books!
We're being told that manufacturing this large order is going to take two months, and then 1-2 months for it to ship to the U.S. (Remember the Shadow Barge? I suppose we'll have the Unnatural Barge to wait for. :)
Thanks for your patience and understanding. Once we make it through this entire process, we'll know it for the next time!
