This message is being shared by BackerKit’s Trust & Safety team following an extensive review of the Grimwild project by Oddity Press.
After multiple months of review, repeated outreach, and exhaustion of all available communication channels, BackerKit Trust & Safety is formally designating this project as abandoned. Situations like this are extremely rare on BackerKit. The vast majority of projects on the platform either deliver successfully or remain in active communication with backers, even when delays occur. In the uncommon cases where a creator becomes entirely unreachable despite sustained outreach and review, the outcome is deeply unfortunate for everyone involved.
What this means
The creator of this project, Oddity Press / J.D. Maxwell, has not been reachable by BackerKit, backers, freelancers, moderators, or known collaborators for an extended period of time.
We have made repeated attempts to contact the creator across all known channels to request clarification, updates, and fulfillment timelines. These attempts have not received a response.
Based on the information available to us, we were not able to verify the creator’s current status, nor the status of fulfillment activities related to this project.
In situations where a creator may be experiencing a personal emergency or other sensitive circumstances, BackerKit handles reviews with care and discretion while still upholding our platform rules and responsibilities to backers.
Creator standing on BackerKit
As a result of this designation, the creator has lost good standing on the BackerKit platform.
Under BackerKit’s Crowdfunding Rules, creators are required to demonstrate that they have:
Delivered rewards, or
Made substantial, verifiable progress toward completing the project.
At BackerKit’s discretion, creators who have not fulfilled past projects or who have violated platform guidelines may be prohibited from launching or using BackerKit services in the future. At this time, the creator behind Oddity Press is not eligible to use BackerKit services unless they return, re-establish communication, and meaningfully resume fulfillment of this project.
Pledges and refunds
BackerKit does not directly handle or hold crowdfunding funds, and we are therefore unable to compel refunds or issue them on a creator’s behalf. As outlined in our Terms of Service and Refund Policy, responsibility for fulfillment and refunds rests solely with the creator.
We understand how frustrating this outcome is, especially given the time that has passed. Our Support and Trust & Safety teams always work diligently and enact policies and review standards to avoid outcomes like this. We will continue to respond to backer questions and provide clarity wherever possible.
Statement from collaborators with Oddity Press
Hi everyone, we are the freelancers who worked with Max on Grimwild and related projects, as well as members of the community moderation team. We appreciate that there has been a long period without updates. None of us own or control these BackerKit projects, and we are not part of Oddity Press. We have not received communication from Max for over several months and have exhausted all known methods of contact. We do not have access to project funds or the ability to move fulfillment forward. BackerKit has been kept informed throughout this process, and we have shared all information available to us. If we learn anything new, we will pass it along through BackerKit.
BackerKit will keep this project page available should the creator ever reappear and resume fulfillment, but until then our role remains limited to monitoring, transparency, and support. You can reach our team directly at [email protected] with any questions.
I tried unlocking all orders yesterday, but the system didn't correctly process the request.
However, now I've managed to get the orders unlocked. Anyone that backed the original campaign can now change their orders (to upgrade to physical editions) and addresses. Let me know if you have any problems with it!
For late backers that want to grab the physical editions or edit addresses, the orders can't be unlocked. It's a separate system - if you'd like to make changes, please drop me a message at [email protected]
Due to some printing delays (more on that below), we had the chance to fix a few lingering typos and—more importantly—streamline the damage system in the game. Huge thanks to everyone on the Discord who helped hammer it out. I’m really happy with where it landed. You can check the changelog and grab the updated files from your DTRPG download link.
This will be the final update Grimwild receives for the forseeable future.
Print Schedule
Here’s a quick update on where things stand. All files are finalized and with the manufacturer. Printing begins in May, books arrive at our US fulfillment center in June, and shipping starts shortly after. You should have your books in hand by the end of July. That’s a few months behind our original schedule—here’s why:
We received test prints of the supplements and parts of the hardcover (printed in sections due to its complexity). The cards and zines looked great, but the dice had issues: the Pantone red I picked was too dark. It took a few rounds of adjustments to get it right—Pantone can be tricky.
We also ran into some back-and-forth over the hardcover design, especially the foiled and debossed cloth spine. Each change meant waiting a week for a new test print, then repeating the process. It added up.
There are some photos at the bottom of this post to check out. I had more photos of this process, but unfortunately the Dropbox folder got deleted. So no hardcover pics yet. I’ll post those when the physical test prints arrive at my place.
As for tariffs: yes, we’re affected. It’s impossible to say what the US–China import tariffs will be in June. They’re currently 145%, though there are rumors they might drop. My guess is 30–50% by the time our shipment arrives. In any case, I’ll be covering the cost myself—whatever it ends up being.
Expanding the Print Run
As April neared from the delay, I realized that many others were interested in the hardcover as well, people new to the game. I had originally planned to do this first small print run (of 500 copies), then another larger one in about a year. But since the printing was delayed a bit, it actually opened up two opportunities.
First, we got to update the final printing to the *very* well checked v1.4!
Second, we get the chance to allow anyone that wants a copy of the book to order it.
So we’re launching an expanded print run via Backerkit early next week. If you know someone who wants a copy, please send them the link:
I’ve unlocked all orders. If you want to add the hardcover or any of the physical supplements to your pledge, you can do that now. I also reopened address changes in case you'll be at a different location come July 2025. Please get them updated.
I originally locked things down a bit earlier than necessary before. Sorry about the false start there.
If you run into any issues, feel free to reach out!
Pictures
Here are a few photos from the test print process. Most of what I had vanished with that deleted Dropbox folder, but I managed to salvage some from Discord. They’re rough snaps from the production process, but I’ll take proper photos when the final test prints arrive.
Hey everyone, I am very happy to say that I just released updates to to Grimwild, Grimwild: Exploration Deck, Gaelenvale, and Nevermore to bring them all up to their finished forms. If you haven't, go download them now!
Go to my surveys
Grimwild
Get your digital downloads
Click on the links to download via DTRPG.
If you didn't back at the tiers to get them, you can now pick them all up easily in a bundle (which discounts the parts of it you already have on DTRPG)!
It's been a pleasure working on this. Now that Grimwild is out, I am very much looking forward to community content via our CC-BY license. Our discord has been getting quite active with multiple games running a week and people crafting away at supplements. I can't wait to see more of it.
People have also been busy building some tools for the game. Let me link to a few digital tools here!
Join our Discord to find a game or use our Mox bot made by community member @theia!
We also have some great news about a Moxie SRD website incoming (working on it now), as well as Foundry support, and more that I can't quite spill the beans on yet!
Print News
With the digital stuff all brought up to its final form, I'm now prepping it for print and translations (incoming Spanish and German, and likely French as well soon). We got white samples (basic mockups) already of all of the products and everything looks good, so manufacturing is read on their end. They'll get the files and start the process, which should be finishing around the end of February.
After that, it ships to our fulfillment center, and from there to your houses. This is not a promise, but I said "Q1 - Q2 2025: Game arrives at your house." on the Backerkit page and the books should be arriving right in the middle of that. We'll see how quickly everything goes - fingers crossed and knocking on wood.
From this point, it's pretty hands-off for me in regards to Grimwild. The manufacturing and fulfillment are all very straightforward. We've chosen an award-winning manufacturer in Eastar, and our fulfillment center is very reliable in Fulfillrite. Fulfillrite connects directly to Backerkit, so everything should go very smoothly.
In about a month, I will lock addresses (you'll get notified) and then charge for shipping, so expect to see those updates coming through. You can go ahead and update your shipping information now though if you need to!
How to Help
Now that the game is finished, there's a few ways you can help it grow!
Run games for your friends, duh!
Send out the free version to anyone who might like it!
Sign up to get notified of our next project. Whether we live or die as a tiny indie publisher is up to your support. These Backerkits are everything for us and every little bit helps, whether it's actually pledging, telling a friend, or just signing up for notifications to help create buzz.
Hey everyone, I'll make this quick. You can download Grimwild: Free Edition, Chapters 1-6, right now from DTRPG. The game is free and openly licensed CC-BY, available to everyone! Backers and buyers of the full game on release (January 7th!) will get an entire extra chapter. For what's in that chapter, you can take a look at the preview at the end of the Grimwild PDF.
