IMPORTANT UPDATE: We are about to fire the Backerkit process to collect and lock shipping addresses. You will have 48 hours to update your address. Look for an automated email from BackerKit that will be coming shortly.
If, for whatever reason, you miss this window you will be able to email us at [email protected] to have your info manually updated but obviously it's ideal to just get it right the first time.
In terms of fulfillment, here's what we are expecting: This week - Printed books get shipped to our warehouse Next week - The warehouse spools up the most efficient way to ship rewards Mid-July - Fulfillment begins
Due to the large number of packages we're sending out (4,000+ orders) we are projecting fulfillment will take up to two months. That means it's possible your individual order may not arrive until September. So please be patient.
Keep in mind, the best way to make sure your rewards arrive safely and on time is to have the correct shipping address entered in BackerKit.
That's the buzz. For a little bonus treat today, we recently received all the copies of the Player's Gazette. Here's a photo:
The print job for Blades '68 is finishing up and many of the campaign extras have already been delivered to our warehouse. So we're prepping systems on the back end here so we can start spinning up the fulfillment process later in July. Couple of things to bring to your attention:
1) We will be locking orders on Monday. THIS WEEKEND is your final chance to adjust your order and pick up any add-ons.
So if you want the Doskvol 98 City Map, the Faction & Trouble Decks, or just an extra copy of the game, please update your survey ASAP.
We'll send out an email giving you 48 hours' notice before we fire off the payment process.
You'll still have some time in the coming weeks to update your shipping address but if you're not moving in the next two months, do a little double check to make sure your address is correct.
We're approaching the home stretch.
Be forewarned that we'll have something like 5,000 packages to ship so the fulfillment process is expected to take place over July AND August. We'll have more info for you as we get closer and our warehouse dials in their shipping plans.
Finally, here's a little bonus for you: A photo of Blades '68 chunneling its way through our printer's machinery.
Our printer assures us that superlative Electroplasmic Insta-Puur Filtering technology prevents any sort of spectral corruption from being infused in the books. Any paranormal manifestations that occur after you take delivery are purely coincidental and - more importantly - not legally actionable.
We're getting close to placing our print orders which means it's time to "right-size" the quantities we'll need from the various vendors.
What this means for you:
Later this week we'll be sending out backer surveys. A small percentage of you will be in our "smoke test" group and will receive your survey today.
Your backer survey will enable you to enter your address, update and confirm your pledge, and add-on any items you didn't include in your initial pledge.
Some of the premium add-on items will have limited quantities. Once we reach that limit, we won't be bumping it up. So take a look at any add-ons you might want and reserve them.
We are not close to fulfillment. (We're still finishing the text for the printer)
We will not be locking orders for a couple months. So if you're moving soon, do not sweat it.
We are not ready to charge you for shipping. That will happen down the road when the printer has the finished producing the books. We'll give you a heads-up.
In terms of production, we're still cruising along with our project plan. The book is almost ready for the printer and we've already had some early drafts of the stretch goals pop into our inbox so production is on track.
This milestone is mostly a moment for you to review the rewards you chose and add on any extras you'd like. That way, when we order the print runs we dial in the right quantities.
Thanks for your support! We'll check back in when we have another milestone to share.
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.
