Myself and some special helpers spent the weekend packing zines and I dropped everything off at the Chit Chats fulfillment center today. Packages are already underway, I've uploaded your tracking numbers into Backerkit. You should receive an email with your tracking information shortly if you haven't already.

U.S. backers: if your tracking number doesn’t immediately work on USPS, try clicking the tracking link in the email or removing the apostrophe (') before the number. Also, about 5% of backers still haven’t completed their shipping surveys. Those orders will go out in a very small second wave next weekend, so please take a moment to finish that if you haven’t already.

Based on current shipping estimates, and assuming weather and road conditions cooperate, it looks like most Canadian and U.S. packages should arrive a few days before Christmas. We did it! I’m genuinely excited for you all to get these zines. I love how they turned out, and I hope you find they make perfect cozy holiday treats.

Packing these by hand this weekend and seeing names from over 15 countries around the world was a special, and humbling experience. Our corner of the TTRPG scene may be small, but it’s a great community, and I’m very glad to be part of it with you all.

All the best, and here’s to the next issue.

Yours truly,

Dave

PS: If you’d like updates on future issues and other design-forward OSR hijinks, remember to sign up for Golden Achiever’s brand new, free Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheInternationalPlayersReview 

PPS: If anything goes wrong with your package (missing, delayed, or damaged), please contact BackerKit support. They’ll forward the issue to me and we’ll get it sorted as quickly as possible.

The campaign has officially wrapped, and I want to humbly thank everyone for backing and supporting the International Player’s Review.

PDFs will be delivered to all backers through the pledge manager as soon as it opens and you complete your surveys. Everything is set up and under review now with processing time expected to take two days. So look for your surveys and downloads later this week. 

I’ve also launched a Patreon for the magazine and my other RPG projects. Membership is completely free. It’s a place for musings, development updates, and free game stuff. If you’d like to follow along, you can find it here: https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheInternationalPlayersReview

Lastly, our intern Joseph (who works in the mail room) wanted to created this drawing and asked us to share it as a token of our appreciation:

Expect to hear from us soon with your surveys. Once we've collected shipping and the payments are processed we'll be sending out the zines! 

Thanks again for being part of this project. Everyone here at head office truly appreciates it! 

Golden Achiever and the IPR Team

PS. Thanks as well from Dave and Magnum Galaxy Games. It has been an honour and a lot of fun to work with Golden on this and I'm stoked to get copies of these zines out to you all. 

Hello Gamers,

Thank you so much for backing the International Player’s Review and for following the campaign. We’re down to the final 48 hours, and I wanted to share a some more previews from the magazine while we head to the finish line.

For those of you who have yet to take the plunge, I hope these previews give you a taste of the fun packed into these zines. And for those already onboard, I hope it wets your appetites even further for the delicious packages you are on the cusp of receiving. 

First up, here are a two spreads from Issue 3, featuring the well received caveman RPG Year 100 Million B.C. It includes everything you need to play: a keyed overland map, a cave adventure, and the simple to learn rules. Play as cave people in a wildly inaccurate yester-yester-yester-year. Battle great beasts, ride dinosaurs, and learn the power of fire!

For the sci-fi lovers among you, issue 4 comes with a space location generator, written entirely in BASIC (a nod to old-school computer magazines). You can try it right here in your computers browser: https://tinyurl.com/iprspacegenerator - just be sure to give it a minute to load into its charmingly retro user screen ;-).

And, with this campaign as impetus, I've decided to open up the IPR community to everyone here. More details to come soon but I am excited for what is to come for this magazine and hope you are too. 

Thanks again and as always for your support. It's been a great ride and I am excited for you all to get the very first IPR annual collections soon. 

All the best, 

Golden Achiever 

Hello everyone, 

Golden here, in this update I want to share a little about the holiday market, highlight some cool projects that are crowdfunding now alongside ours, and give all of those not already familiar with The International Player's Review a preview of what can be found inside.

Just like the classic TTRPG mags that inspired it, each issue comes with a Letters section. Yup, readers can write in, but I am starting to suspect Mr. Bohannon may have fudged a few himself.

Another highlight is the well received caveman game Year 100 Million B.C. Highly historically inaccurate and the premier game for prehistoric hi-jinx. Includes everything you need to play, including a key overland map and a cave exploration.

On each back cover you'll find advertisements for entries in the long-promised Axzalathor adventure series. We keep featuring them, so surely those adventures are releasing any day now, right?

It's been a lot of fun to be part of Backerkit's first ever Holiday Market and I hope you've all had a chance to shop some of the hidden gems on offer. There's lots to choose from Mausritter adventures, to classic OSR content, and small Indie games and Dave and I are stoked that you've decided to join us for the ride. Along with our campaign I wanted to take a moment to share some of the other campaigns that Mr. Bohanon and the gang at head office have been following that might tickle your fancy.

A new rules-lite OSR game. It's Waterworld meets Windwaker, from the creators of the highly rated Eco Mofos. Hop from beautiful, apocalyptic island to island,  hand-drawn by graphic novelist Daniel Locke.

Diogo Barros is one of those annoying people who can write, do graphic design and illustrate all on very high level. His new Mausritter adventure, Soul Food is a darkly humorous exploration of a sprawling countryside kitchen where brave mice confront its myriad vermin denizens to fight for a piece of the literal pie.

A new folk horror game from the mastermind behind Forbidden Psalm (so you already know it’ll be good).  Run From the Dark is set far into the future, where technology has fallen away and small settlements eke out an existence amongst the relics of our lost age. Inspired by Wales and its folklore, the real-world-with-a-twist map is fantastic and makes me want to jump in immediately.

That's all.
See you at the table, Golden Achiever

Hello VIPs of the International Player’s Review,

Thank you to everyone who backed on Day 1. It’s been a great start, and I’m grateful to have you here. Golden Achiever's zines are a joy to read, and I’m looking forward to getting them into your hands soon. Here are a few quick notes:

There are still 24 hours left to join the early backer group and get the VIP card. If you’ve already backed and want to help grow the club a little, feel free to share the link with a friend. And if you checked out yesterday but were still deciding, you’ve got one more day to pick up the bonus. I’m not entirely sure what Eric has tucked onto that card, but it looks like a sneaky little dungeon on the back.

The digital-only pledge level is now live. You can grab all four issues in PDF for $15 USD or $20 CAD. Right now, this is the only place to get all the International Player’s Review issues in digital form.

PDFs will be available to download as soon as the campaign ends. Physical copies will ship within a day or two once funds transfer. We’re aiming to get them out in time for the holidays, conditions permitting. We can’t guarantee delivery dates, but we’ll do our best.

If you’d like a deeper look into this project, and Golden Achiever's design process and inspirations, we did an interview for the Magnum Galaxy Gazette. We talk about what inspired the zines, the games he loves, and the odd corners of the hobby that shape this series. Plus there are lots of fun links, recommendations, and sneak peaks at some of his most jealously guarded design secrets.

Read it here: https://magnumgalaxygames.substack.com/p/starting-your-own-osr-zine?r=4aiyl&triedRedirect=true

That’s it for today. Thanks again for the warm launch. We’ve got two weeks ahead, and I’m hopeful we’ll continue to welcome new members into our small but mighty International Player’s Review club.

Talk soon,
Dave