We had high hopes for this campaign but did not expect that 6,667 fans would help us raise nearly $508,000. Blades '68 is officially the highest funded TTRPG campaign we've ever run in our 20 years of business.
We deeply appreciate all our long-term fans who showed up and a hearty welcome to all the new fans. Together you unlocked a mind-blowing 49 stretch goals.
And because of the strength of that financial backing, we're going to share the success: All of our contributors and stretch goal creators will be getting a 50% pay bump.
Another round of thanks goes to everyone who spread the word, shared a link online, or mentioned Blades '68 on reddit. Word of mouth is invaluable and we're so, so grateful for your enthusiasm.
If you have friends who missed the campaign, we do plan to open the BackerKit pre-order page very soon. Some of the limited rewards will have their quantities capped and could sell out, but if you have a friend who missed the crowdfund, point them to the BackerKit page.
The next couple weeks will be fairly quiet in terms of updates. BackerKit needs to collect and distribute your funds to us. Tim needs to work on the final art for the game and do another pass on the text. (We try not to print books with "See page XX" in it.) And after that wraps up, Tim will be working on getting the limited exclusives like the City Map, Player Gazette, Faction deck, etc. into the proper format for our vendors.
Again, just a reminder: The digital stretch goals are on an entirely separate production schedule.Sean Nittner, our Director of Projects will be wrangling that, and the Palace Dossier will get released when it's done. We're not going to let the content in the stretch goals delay our plan to deliver Blades '68 in August of this year.
We'll keep you apprised as we hit milestones, but for the near future we'll be busy working behind the scenes. We take pride in delivering our crowdfunding rewards on (or ahead of) schedule and we're going to make every effort to do that here.
Finally, if you have an issue with your pledge, your payment, or anything else you need our customer service team to tackle, please email us at [email protected]. We do our best to monitor the comments here, but emailing us directly is the most efficient way to get eyes on your issue.
On behalf of Tim and the whole team at Evil Hat, once again: Thank you again for making this game a reality!
Over the past three years we've watched the excitement for Blades '68 build but we truly had no idea it would bloom into such a roaring success. We're deeply grateful for your investment and enthusiasm. And we look forward to hearing about all the hectic, unruly escapes your crews get into.
We're barreling into the final 24 hours for Blades '68. Over 6000 fans have unlocked 44 stretch goals and we're still rolling! With all the extra goodies in the Palace Dossier, the PDF & POD tier is shaping up to be a terrific bargain.
But time is running out to back the campaign. Reserve your items now. This is not an open-ended pre-order, these items may not be available once the crowdfunding effort closes.
A reminder, if you are in the EU, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, we've made a similar arrangement with local shops in those areas. Full details here.
Thanks again! Whether you're new to the city of Doskvol or a season veteran of Blades in the Dark. we're grateful to have you with us on the buzzing bullet train that is Blades '68.
Just a few days left in the campaign, time for an update!
Your support has unlocked 36 stretch goals for the Palace Dossier! That's new Factions, additional Cold Opens, more artwork, fiction, sites, trends and trouble for the technicolor world of Doskvol 968.
And we have a very special goal we just put on the docket.
A lot of people on social media said "Blades '68? Sounds great. But what about... Blades '69?"
Well, we're not cowards.
If this project hits $420,000 in funding, we'll commission April Kit Walsh (designer of Thirsty Sword Lesbians) to develop Blades '69: The Sexual Revolution.
This addition to the Palace Dossier is more than just a one-off joke. It's pitched as both a world-building exercise and safety tool which will help you bring themes of countercultural liberation into your Blades '68 game. You can read more about it here.
Remember:We keep the development of these stretch goals on their own production schedule, they will not delay the delivery of the book in any way.
Since the last time we checked in, we've also added another retailer to support our fans in Canada.Ratti Incantati in Oshawa, Ontario has joined the line-up alongside Rain City Games in Vancouver.
So while ongoing (and, sadly, more recent) world events prevent us from shipping directly overseas, several local game shops have stepped up to take special pre-orders for fans in the EU, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. This gives you access to the limited rewards that won't be otherwise available outside the US.
Tim's really laid his design ethos and inspirations bare. Find out how Blades '68 plays the Deathloop counterpart to Blades in the Dark's riff on Dishonored.
This are the final few days of the campaign! We're so grateful and humbled by your support. Thanks to you, Blades '68 is on track to be one of our most successful TTRPG crowdfunding campaigns ever.
Please keep spreading the word in this last leg, we have even more goodies for the Palace Dossier on deck as we head into the last 72 hours of the campaign!
Hey friends, we're checking in on day 11 with some exciting news: We've partnered with local game shops to make the limited rewards from Blades '68 available in the EU, Australia, and New Zealand.
These retailers use freight forwarding to import orders from the US so we can ship them rewards that won't otherwise go into international distribution. That means you can order campaign exclusives like the Doskvol 968 City Map, Faction Deck, and more.
Note that you are not directly backing the campaign. You reserve the items you want through a pre-order page, and then that specific retailer will pledge for the items and fulfill your order through their store. They charge you for shipping, import fees, etc.
So far almost 4500 backers have unlocked 30 stretch goals!!
Enhance your Blades '68 game with new factions, artwork, more Cold Opens, essays on life in the Swingin' 60s, and more! It's all going into a bundle of digital extras we call The Palace Dossier and all you have to do to get access is back at the PDF level or higher.
Note: We produce stretch goals on their own separate timeline. They will not slow down our ability to turn the book over to the printer and they will not extend our delivery date in any way.
PLUS you get a code for the Roll20 Quickstart module AND creator Tim Denee has recently created a beautiful set of desktop and phone wallpapers for all our backers. Download them now from your Instant Rewards and ensure your Wireless Communications Device is fully compatible with Bluetime.
They will then include those items in their BackerKit retailer order, have them shipped to their store in Germany, and ship the items to you.
If you are in the EU, this is the best way to get copies of the Limited Edition rewards. Several of these items (like the Doskvol 68 City Map, Score Pad, and Faction Deck) will not go into international distribution. Sphaerenmeister can only get them because they use a freight forwarding service.
Note that if you choose this option, we won't be able to send you the digital stretch goals unlocked by the campaign. Those are on their own development timeline and the logistics simply don't work. We do expect to put them up for sale as a separate PDF some day in the future.
So if you're keen to get the 25 digital stretch goals we're putting in The Palace Dossier, we suggest backing at the $25 PDF level.
Sphaerenmeisters Spiele has long been a champion of our games and makes an extra effort to get exclusives that other stores overseas can't order through traditional distribution.
We're very happy to work with them to support our EU fans and hope to have other retailers jump on board. Stay tuned.
