Price Johnson
Repeat Backer of Cephalofair
Previously backed this creator's crowdfunding project
Previously backed this creator's crowdfunding project
Gold Tier
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CREATOR
12 days ago
Project Update: Fulfillment Progress, RPG, & Introducing Gloomhaven Mercenary Packs!
Hello Grand Festival Backers!
We’ve got some continued Gloomhaven fulfillment updates today, more on the RPG front, and an exciting new product line announcement to share at the end!
Let's get into it...
-GLOOMHAVEN FREIGHT & FULFILLMENT-
-United States
We were informed last week that Stord (previously Ware2Go) performed a backend system update JUST before commencing on our fulfillment wave. Unfortunately, this caused an issue with the backer data uploaded prior to this. While it took a little time, the error was fixed, but to ensure full fulfillment confidence, we scrubbed and re-uploaded our data before letting them commence fulfillment. While we’re glad we caught this before fulfillment actually began, we apologize for the delay and have given Stord direction to begin fulfilling orders. So please look for those tracking notifications!
On the ocean fulfillment side, 5 of the 6 containers have now arrived. ONE SWAN is the only remaining container needed to complete fulfillment and is still scheduled to arrive at port on Aug. 1st.
Note for U.S. Backers: If you have not yet paid the tariff fee or otherwise have a remaining balance, your order has not been uploaded. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
-Asia & South Pacific
Shipping to local hubs has commenced! Please be aware that it can take a couple weeks from arrival at the hub for individual orders to arrive. You can always get the most up-to-date information at VFI’s hub page under the “Gloomhaven” section.
China: Delivered to hub on Friday, preparing for local fulfillment!
Japan: Estimated Hub Arrival: 2025-08-10
Indonesia: Estimated Hub Arrival: 2025-08-30
Malaysia: Estimated Hub Arrival: 2025-08-15
Philippines: Estimated Hub Arrival: 2025-08-20
Singapore: Estimated Hub Arrival: 2025-08-08
South Korea: Estimated Hub Arrival: 2025-08-08
Taiwan: Estimated Hub Arrival: 2025-07-31
India, Israel, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Thailand: In Consolidation to be shipped out.
-Europe, Mexico, & “Rest of the World”
With our customs holdup issue resolved, our containers took a few more days to get moved from the ship yard and begin their journey to Fulfillment Europe where our containers were received, unloaded, and staged last week for fulfillment to finally commence this week. Thank you all for your patience as we navigated these unusual red tape port delays!
-Canada
All pledges and backerkit preorders that did not have FoldedSpace(FS) items have fully shipped! FoldedSpace items have also hit land! These pallets are currently on the way to our CA fulfillment partner, once they arrive all remaining orders will be shipping out.
-Australia/New Zealand
Fulfillment complete! Please note that some items may still be in transit. If you have not received any type of tracking information at this time, please contact [email protected].
-United Kingdom
Fulfillment complete! Please note that some items may still be in transit. If you have not received any type of tracking information at this time, please contact [email protected].
-GLOOMHAVEN RPG UPDATE-
-GLOOMHAVEN RPG UPDATE-
Please join me in welcoming back Danielle with this week’s RPG update where we will look more at standard playing card integration, character sheets, and backgrounds:
Hello mercenaries!
I see my last update left some confusion, and that’s on me for not being as explicit as I could have been. So, here’s a full breakdown of how we plan to implement the playing card solution and other modifier deck considerations.
- The playing card system is being presented as the “main system” in the RPG book to be as player experience level agnostic as possible. While some people might have purchased the deluxe version or have all the cards, use apps, modify their board game cards, print something out, or write modifiers out on blank cards, we can’t expect people who have never encountered Gloomhaven before to be able to find and access any of those resources. We want them to see that this uses a standard playing card deck, and feel secure that all they need at that moment is that and the book.
- When I say “poker cards” I mean a standard 52-card playing card deck (French suited for those in Europe) with 2 jokers.
- When you create the modifier deck, you pull the specific cards from the standard playing card deck to create a 20-card modifier deck. The cards that aren’t used are reserved for Bless, Curse, and Perk cards. We’ve mapped face cards to Bless and Curse, making all 6 black suit face cards (Club and Spade J, Q, K) the Blesses and all 6 red suit face cards (Heart and Diamond, J, Q, K) the Curses. The remaining cards are mapped to individual Perks.
- The deluxe edition box and the “All Cards” addon will have traditional Euro-sized modifier cards made specifically for the RPG. These cards will include the playing card iconography on them, so that if you’re using those, you won’t encounter confusion from seeing the playing card icons in the game book. They will be integrated together.
- Every class has a perk list explaining which cards to add or remove to make up the Perk. We’ve already accounted for the additional cognitive load that Perks will present (for example, a 7 of clubs is different for every class), and have created class specific character sheets that include both the base modifier deck mapping and the Perk mapping. As seen below:
To account for the fact that having to reference the book for the Talents and Perks will probably be cumbersome also without cards, and writing every available power down might be rough, these class specific character sheets will also have all the Talents and Perks pre-printed on them. They will have check boxes to mark if your character has learned them, chosen them for the day, or used them.
As you can see here:
-MINIATURES OF GLOOMHAVEN-
Not much to report here this week, but that's not to say work isn't being done. We're working on some larger organizational overhauls with our production partner in hope of achieving some better efficiency and have been actively revising and approving models so they can meet our quality standards. We'll be showcasing a lot of the in-progress miniatures at GenCon this week so keep an eye out for them on display across our social media feeds! We'll also be meeting with our partner here at GenCon too so hope to have an updated project tracker and better idea of timeline for you in the near future. Thank you all for your excitement and enthusiasm!
Not much to report here this week, but that's not to say work isn't being done. We're working on some larger organizational overhauls with our production partner in hope of achieving some better efficiency and have been actively revising and approving models so they can meet our quality standards. We'll be showcasing a lot of the in-progress miniatures at GenCon this week so keep an eye out for them on display across our social media feeds! We'll also be meeting with our partner here at GenCon too so hope to have an updated project tracker and better idea of timeline for you in the near future. Thank you all for your excitement and enthusiasm!
-INTRODUCING: GLOOMHAVEN MERCENARY PACKS-
Finally…we interrupt your normal Backerkit update to share some exciting news in the world of Gloomhaven: introducing GLOOMHAVEN MERCENARY PACKS!
Gloomhaven: Mercenary Packs are not only available for preorder, but are printed and on their way to regional fulfillment centers with fulfillment planned for September 2025. Learn more about them here!
Cephalofair has avoided taking on major new projects while crowdfunding obligations are still pending. We want you, our backers, to have full confidence that your investment is secure and that we will be fulfilling your pledges. When logistically sound, however, we must also look for opportunities to self-fund additional efforts with the support of our community of collaborators.
This strategy has risen to a new level of importance with the uncertain trade landscape created by U.S. tariff volatility. Tariff escalation brings shipping and manufacturing to a halt and the industries that share these resources are forced to pivot. While we are beyond confident that your investment here in the Gloomhaven: Grand Festival campaign is secure, and we’re excited to deliver Gloomhaven RPG and Miniatures of Gloomhaven to you, we also know that we have an obligation to continue putting ourselves in the best business position to maintain stability and continue delivering new products and support for legacy products into the future.
Inspired by our community members, these individual Mercenary Packs were originally conceptualized by the Cephalofair team in 2023 as a modular way to expand upon and enhance the investments that our community has already made in us and our games. Our core game design team began work on this project with the help of some additional collaborators once their obligations and contributions to Gloomhaven Second Edition were complete. We took this summer’s 90-day tariff pause as an opportunity to line up the remaining internal production and external manufacturing necessary to bring the project to life with the understanding that the road ahead remains volatile in this regard.
A tremendous thanks to our game designers (Alisandra Livingston, Drew Penn, Dennis Vögele, and Marcel Dragomir), playtesters, and our graphic design team (Layne Huber and Arch Anderson) for their hard work helping us create and complete this effort.
It has been absolutely wild to see the production of this project manifest over the last few months, and I’m so proud of how this has come together and to share that these new Gloomhaven Mercenary Packs are already manufactured and shipping to regional fulfillment centers NOW! (Fulfillment eta: Sept 2025) Our creative team is also really excited for what you might see come out of this sub-product line in the future too, so be on the lookout!
Pre-order Discount
In celebration of GLOOMHAVEN’S latest re-release, we are offering $5 OFF on the GLOOMHAVEN: MERCENARY 4-PACK BUNDLE through August 31st, 2025 when pre-ordered through our website: Mercenary Pack Bundle Page.
Hail has written, how do you respond?
OPTION 1: You answer Hail's letter and unlock: "The Baron's Blockade"!
OPTION 2: You turn down Hail's offer. She seems no more indifferent than usual. Continue to "End of Update"
-END OF UPDATE-
And that's it for this week! Our team is split between the office (Fulfillment Support & RPG) and GenCon this week and as mentioned above will be showcasing a little bit of everything we've been hard at work on and meeting with production & retail partners. We'll be back in office next week, and back with your next update August 12th!
Have a great week!
And that's it for this week! Our team is split between the office (Fulfillment Support & RPG) and GenCon this week and as mentioned above will be showcasing a little bit of everything we've been hard at work on and meeting with production & retail partners. We'll be back in office next week, and back with your next update August 12th!
Have a great week!
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