TLDR: We funded! No action needed at this time from backers; if you haven't backed yet, you can still make a late pledge.

Thanks to 865 backers, Downcrawl 2E successfully funded last Friday, at approximately quadruple (!) the original goal. I can't thank you all enough for believing in this project, whether you were a fan of the first edition or are new to the Deep, Deep Down. It's such a burst of adrenalin and revitalization to finish up this game knowing how many folks are out there waiting for it. Thanks again for making it happen! 🙏

A couple things to update you on:

The campaign is officially closed, but I'll still be accepting "late pledges" for the next little while while I'm getting things sorted out for final production runs. If you haven't backed yet or have friends who still want in, you can make a late pledge here.

(Note that BackerKit's interface for this is sort of weird: rather than showing all the great images and hype text I spent so much time sweating over, it's literally just a dropdown where you select a pledge level... a bit uninspired. For that reason I would suggest if you're sharing the link, use the original project page, which has a button "Make a Late Pledge" that takes you to the pre-order page.)

For now, late pledges are identical to normal pledges: the same tiers etc. are available as during the campaign. This will change at some point as I move different items forward into production and need to cap quantities, so do pledge now if you were still on the fence, especially if you want access to some of the cooler exclusive bonus items!

Specifically, while the Downcrawl rulebook and cards will continue to be available for sale post-launch, the following items are one-off production runs and will not be available after the campaign closes (or once stock runs out). If you wanted any of these and they aren't included as part of your pledge level, you'll be able to add them as add-ons to your order once I sent out backer surveys next month.

(More details about all of these are available on the main project page.)

While this project is simpler in some ways than others I've done, there's still quite a bit of logistics juggling in store. I have four main suppliers (for the core books, the cards, the supplemental printed material, and the bonus items) who each have different turnaround times for proofs and orders, and are on different continents so are affected by different holidays etc.

I made the decision early on to not try to bring all the game materials together in one place and put them into a box or something (as nice as that might have been) because this slows down delivery significantly and adds more shipping expenses. This means, depending on your pledge level, you'll likely receive your rewards in two different shipments:

I do realize it would kind of suck to get your cards three months before the game that lets you play with them, so I'm trying to time things such that you'll receive the two shipments as close together as possible. However, this means a decent amount of coordination to ensure all the various production and shipping schedules sync up. I used a wall in my house to plan out week by week when things need to be ready for different stages of proofing, ordering, and shipping:

(The conveniently placed light fixture helpfully denotes the period around Christmas/New Year's, and the other orange card is Chinese New Year which affects shipping of the Tack coins; both cause production and shipping slowdowns I need to plan for.)

So I have a good rough idea of what's to come (of course things are always subject to unforeseen changes and delays). But here is my current plan for project fulfillment:

As far as my schedule for updates: I plan to post a backer update at least once a month, probably a bit more often near important deadlines, and will try my best to give folks plenty of heads-up about actions you need to take. In particular, I'll put any action needed from you in the first TLDR paragraph of each update.

You might have noticed the "Book Text Locked" milestone above, coming up in about three weeks. This is so early because I need time to order final proofs of the book, verify everything looks okay and have time to make changes before final printing begins. What this means is that these are the last few weeks for playtest feedback!

In case you missed this, backers already have access to the current draft of the rules. In that download are some notes on how to submit playtest feedback. If you're curious to check out the current state of the game, I'd love your eyes on the book, or (even better) you or your group's feedback on actually playing! But the deadline is definitely rapidly approaching, so do this sooner rather than later if you're curious (and thank you in advance for any feedback).

Getting the core book finished is the most urgent matter right now due to the aforementioned deadlines. I've been working with an "ashcan" version that doesn't have art in place, but this week I'm starting to insert art and reflow pages to get to the final layout. I'm also working on the initial layout for the 30 bonus pages in the hardcover edition, which includes (among other content) some cool pre-made settings originally created for the Downcrawl 1E supplement 10 Down:

I'm also finalizing the three card decks, including making title and instruction cards for each. Very happy with how these are shaping up!

I also recently did the final revisions on Downcrawl Worlds, the bonus game you can play with the Downcrawl Deck cards. Really excited to get some of these ancillary materials finished up so I can turn back to finalizing everything for the core Downcrawl game!

That's it for this update! Thanks again for being part of the project, and until next time,

--Aaron