Hi, everyone.
Surveys have been sent out and most have completed them. There are about 25% of Backers however that have not completed their surveys. Please take a moment to ...
2
0
0
RANNE
21 days ago
📌 Mini-update - Smoke Tests
Hello, all.
Quick update - the Pledge Manager Surveys are ready so I will be sending out the "Smoke Test" here today. That is, 5% of backers will receive a Survey to make s...
2
0
2
RANNE
29 days ago
🃏 #3 - Campaign Close, Dice Update, Etc
Hello, everyone!
First of all, thank you guys! The campaign closed last week and it was a great success - blowing away all of my expectations. So, again, a thousand thanks t...
2
0
2
RANNE
about 2 months ago
🃏 #2 - Happy Thanksgiving: Map & Dice Previews and Black Friday Deals!
Hello, everyone. Happy Thanksgiving!
Hope everyone has has a good couple of weeks now - wanting to shoot out a quick update before the weekend is here!
So, let's begi...
5
0
2
RANNE
2 months ago
Re: International Shipping....Important to those considering upgrading!
Hello!
In my last update I said I would not do these but every two weeks and here we are two days later. However, this is a sort of sudden and important update so do forgiv...
4
0
2
RANNE
2 months ago
🃏 #1 - Post-48hrs...
Hi, everyone!
I'm reaching out with an official update now that we have passed the first 48 hour mark (w...
Surveys have been sent out and most have completed them. There are about 25% of Backers however that have not completed their surveys. Please take a moment to fill it out. I'm adding one extra week before I lock orders to finalize counts so if you're keen on picking up any add-ons or adjusting your Pledge, you'll need to fill the survey out before the 17th (you can still update your information after this date).
Not much to say otherwise at this time. I'll send out a real update when I have something interesting to share!
Quick update - the Pledge Manager Surveys are ready so I will be sending out the "Smoke Test" here today. That is, 5% of backers will receive a Survey to make sure everything is accurate/correct. Once that is complete, and assuming no major fixes are required, the remaining Surveys will be sent out.
Surveys, if you don't know, are a chance for you to make any last minute changes to your Pledge and to put in your shipping (if required) information. You won't be charged shipping at this time, though - that's later. For those that qualified for the Early Bird Incentive, you might not see that on your Survey either, but don't worry because I will add those manually once Surveys are complete (this includes people that backed Digitally at first and chose to upgrade - you will receive the free map, too). If anyone notices any major issues, please let me know.
OH! Also, anyone that bought the patch/map/dice or High-Roller tier before I offered a sale on them: I WILL credit you as I noted on those original posts. You will see that credit when I charge for shipping later down the road ($2 off Patches/Map, $5 off Dice, and $3 off High Roller Tier).
Otherwise, hard-ish (now that the holidays are closing :D) at work on the module and hope to get everything out ASAP! PDFs will be sent via Backerkit later down the road when they are ready and then hopefully shortly thereafter I can begin shipping out the physical Pledges (once they've been printed and delivered to me).
Hope everyone enjoyed the holidays! Thanks. -RANNE
First of all, thank you guys! The campaign closed last week and it was a great success - blowing away all of my expectations. So, again, a thousand thanks to you all. With that said, let's get into the update:
This update is a little late (campaign closed last week) as I was hoping to have the dice in hand for some nice photos to share with it. However, we had some Holiday slowdowns and a bit of trial and error with the sample set, so unfortunately I don't have any nice pictures to share at the moment but we will get into it anyway.
The Dice
Got word this morning that the color is where we want it. The manufacturer is going to polish and clean them up and get them sent out to me. So, I'll get pictures taken ASAP. Here are some photos of the process (including some fails) thus far:
1. Master molds being created
The master dice are set in the cup and silicone (I think) is poured over them. When these set and cure, you get a little silicone mold that you can then fill with the resin that will go on to cure into the actual dice...
2. ...but sometimes it doesn't turn out too good!
As you can tell, the color did not turn out too good (not in comparison to the design anyway). There were also some huge air bubbles that did not make it out of the mold and ruined this initial set.
3. So they tried again
Much better! Note that these are not cleaned/polished so they look a bit rough but the color is much closer and no giant air bubbles. The manufacturer is going to clean them up and get them sent out and I'll take some legit photos. The swirls from the initial render won't be present until we go to bulk production but we should get a good idea of how they look once they're in hand!
If you still want a pair and didn't pledge for one, unfortunately your only option will be to upgrade your pledge later to the High Roller edition once the surveys are sent out. I did not want to leave this item open for add-ons forever as constant fluctuations in the quantity wouldn't be ideal since this isn't exactly an item that is relatively quick/cheap to produce. Again, I won't be producing these (not this specific set at least) or selling them in the future so I won't have a bunch extra lying around.
TLDR:
Samples on the way. Pictures soon
Upgrade to High Roller edition if you still want these dice.
Excited!
Module Update
So, during the month of the campaign... I did basically nothing on the creative end of things. The campaign took a lot of mental real estate (even when literally nothing was going on). Couple that with Thanksgiving holidays here in the US and the fact that someone in my house has been sick every week or so now (when you have four kids this is what happens), things were a bit slow going. I was also finishing up my classes for the semester and now have Christmas coming up! So, all that to say that I've been pretty slow going for the past month (and hopefully I am semi-justifying that). However, now with the campaign over, things are moving along again.
I've been working on the ship spread upgrade to the book - turning it from a 12 page book to a 16 page book - and writing the bounty cards for the cross-collab bonus with Burning Light Press' Syndicate Wastels. Hopefully we have some examples to show in the next update!
Other than that, the actual funds should come through for me soon so I can pay a bunch of people I owe for their work and initiate some new work like the ship, more/upgraded illustrations, and an additional map for the bank....
This can be your Players' crew - iykyk
TLDR:
I did practically nothing last month
I'm doing stuff now
-----------------------------
That's all for now! Short and sweet. Keep an eye out for the Pledge Manager surveys - they will be sent out in about a week, I think. There are still some people (like 20-ish) that have not corrected their payment info from the initial campaign so double-check that's not you! You have 14 days from the close of the campaign to fix it. You can also correct it during the survey, I believe. The pre-order store is open, too. So, if you didn't get in on the campaign at all you can still order the book. If anyone DMs/contacts me (figure it out), I'll credit you to match the cost of the zine during the campaign as its at MSRP in the pre-order store.
Next update I hope I'll have some Thanks, everyone! -RANNE
Hope everyone has has a good couple of weeks now - wanting to shoot out a quick update before the weekend is here!
So, let's begin...
Campaign Progress
We are now halfway through the campaign and I remain absolutely floored by how successful it has been from my perspective. Thank you all again and thank you to any future Backers. I have unfortunately not been able to do ANY creative work on the product since we launched: The initial week of the campaign was so distracting I literally couldn't focus on anything other than the campaign and this week is Thanksgiving week (so all my kids are home) which also happens to be the week of my wife and I's anniversary so needless to say it has been quite busy. This shouldn't worry anyone regarding fulfillment as I am still on schedule but I'm just choosing to be transparent about the process. For anyone thinking about going into their first crowdfunding attempt, know that you will not be as productive as you thought you would be 😅 - It's quite hard not to constantly stare at all the data all day long.
Some good news though! The initial idea was to do a pin to celebrate the success of Mothership Month and as a reward for all the projects funding. This felt lazy on my end, costly (without appropriate value), and also like all the people that are supporting me digitally will completely miss out (as they can't get any Physical rewards) - so I've opted instead to expand the book by 1-2 spreads (that's 2-4 pages). I'll have more details on this later but it's going to be concerning Midnight's luxury jumpliner, Good Fortune, the cruise ship that ferries visitors to and from the colony. That will likely be detailed once funds from the campaign are received (so I can commission the artwork) so be on the lookout! Also, since we hit all the targets, expect some extra-licious art on all fronts. I'll be sharing some examples in future updates!
TLDR:
Past 2 weeks have been busy!
Expanded content coming (extra pages in the module). Details later!
Extra art coming due to Stretch Goals/Achievements. More Ross Hayes' illustrations, another map from Guy Pradel, improved NPC portraits from Rob Lieder.
Map of Midnight
The map, illustrated by Guy Pradel, is ready to be shared! If you're not familiar with Guy, his credits (to name a few) include Prison Station Echo, Abilities Considered Unnatural, and other Mothership Month projects including Interloper. So, yeah, the dude is stupidly talented and I'm honored to have his work in my module.
So, without further ado, here is Midnight:
I went with this abstracted design for two reasons. One, I love it. Two, it reminds me more of the type of thing a tourist would receive which seems very on brand for the book. I hope you love it as much as I do. In any case, the map will be provided in the Digital Assets Pack in both a keyed and keyless form and the poster will feature the keyless version.
Also!!!! Tomorrow is Black Friday which means rampant consumerism here in the United States.. to celebrate, I'll be offering $2 off the purchase of the posters (I will extend this to all current purchasers). Anyone that picks up the map as an add-on between now and December 2nd will have that credit applied to their purchase. I will likely have to manually apply these but you should see it once surveys go out after the campaign finishes. Remember the poster is ONLY being produced for this campaign so pick it up as an add-on if you want this at your table as it won't ever be available again.
Check out Guy Pradel and his other workhere. Really nice guy, and super pleasant/professional to work with. Go show him some love and consider him for your own projects if you have anything in mind! Highly recommend.
TLDR:
Map by Guy Pradel. He is awesome
Black Friday sale for the poster - $2 off until December 2nd. Will apply to all current purchases
Midnight Dice
Anyone that has been waiting for some more info on the dice hopefully will be content with a digital mockup of the design - the dice maker, BadWolf Forge, is in the 3D modeling stage at the moment and was kind enough to put together a 3D render of the current design for me to share with all the Backers:
Mockup Render of Finished Dice
Dice in the 3D Slicer w/o color
Simple/Legible Font for Lettering and Midnight Logo on 0/00
For those that don't know, the process for the dice looks like this:
3D Design
3D Print/Cure/Clean the master dice (between 10-20 masters will be made)
Each side of each master die will be polished with 6 layers of polish
The masters will be used to create the molds
Molds are filled with high quality resin
Filled molds are cured under pressure (the pressure removes any noticeable air bubbles)
Cured dice are cleaned and polished to remove mold lines and for any imperfections that may be found
The dice are painted (the numbers and Midnight logo)
Final polish
All the above for 100+ dice!
So, yeah! A lot of work but also you can tell that these will be really high quality dice which was extremely important me!
I will also extend a Black Friday deal to anyone that gets the dice as an add-on. Until December 2nd, if you add the dice as an add-on I will extend a $5 credit. And anyone that gets the High-Roller tier I will offer a $3 credit (I will extend this offer to everyone that already Pledged at this tier) Again, I will likely have to input this credit manually and you will likely see this on your pledge manager.
TLDR:
Dice by BadWolfForge. They are awesome.
Dice are awesome and take a lot of work
Actual photos coming as soon as samples become ready. Enjoy the render for now!
Black Friday deal on dice - until Dec. 2nd, get a $5 credit for purchasing a pair of dice and a $3 credit for High Roller pledges (will apply retroactively to all current purchasers/Pledges).
Black Friday Summary:
Until December 2nd 11:59p.m CST & if at least 20 people take advantage of the sale:
$2 off purchases of the Poster and/or Patch add-on
If you Backed in the first 48 hours, you are already getting the Poster for FREE and do not need to purchase unless you want an extra one!
Applies retroactively - if you already added a Poster or Patch as part of your Pledge, you will get the $2 credit. No additional action required on your end.
$5 off purchases of the Dice add-on
Applies retroactively. If you already added the Dice as part of your Pledge, you will get the $5 credit. No action required on your end.
$3 offHigh-Roller Pledges.
Applies retroactively - if you already Pledged at the High Roller tier, you will get the $3 credit.
Credits will be applied manually before Surveys are sent out so you will see it in your cart as part of Pledge at that time.
-----------------------------
That's all for now. I hope everyone that celebrates has a Happy Thanksgiving and, even if you don't, may you find something to be thankful for regardless of your circumstances.
Thank you all and have a great rest of your week! Let me know what you think of everything in the comments!
In my last update I said I would not do these but every two weeks and here we are two days later. However, this is a sort of sudden and important update so do forgive me :
I've decided to open up shipping to the following countries:
Canada
Mexico
EU Member States
United Kingdom
Australia
New Zealand
That being said, it is very important to understand that shipping to these places will be MORE expensive than the current price estimates I have listed (I will update the Shipping price estimates when and if I accurately can) which are for the US only at the moment. Additionally, many times (probably in every case) shipping will cost more than the price of the Core tier. ON TOP OF THAT, I'm not going to be collecting VAT/duties/GST/etc. on my end, so international Backers that opt for the Core or higher Pledges are going to be required to pay those and any associated fees prior to receiving their purchase. This will be prohibitively expensive in possibly all cases. Some countries will require payment before releasing from customs, and some will collect payment at the time of delivery. These are facts I'm sure many of you are aware of but really new to me so forgive my ignorance. That being said, I will be able to fill out the required customs documentation to the above countries no problem.
Please consider the above factors before upgrading your Pledge and I thank each and every one of you regardless of whether you chose to do so. Seriously...your money is important! Consider it wisely before making a decision.
