Our timeline for delivering physical rewards is: Campaign backers: between November-December 2024 Preorder customers: between January-February 2025 Our timeline for delivering digital rewards is: Story Engine and Deck of Worlds PDFs: October 2023 BETA Lore Master's Deck: February 8, 2024 BETA Namesakes Expansion: February 15, 2024 BETA Emblems Expansion: February 22, 2024 BETA Bridges Expansions: February 29, 2024 BETA Deities Expansion: March 7, 2024 Final Print & Play PDFs: March 14, 2024 Note that there may also be situations outside of our control that may impact our timelines, especially with recent challenges with global freight. This is our 8th crowdfunding campaign. Over the past decade of designing and delivering successful crowdfunding projects, we've learned many lessons about how to deliver a project despite any obstacle that might come up—and how to keep backers in the loop every step of the way. We always communicate with backers throughout the fulfillment process and we always make sure every backer gets what they pay for. We encourage you to check out the unprompted backer comments on previous Kickstarters as proof of the level of communication, transparency, and backer satisfaction we aim for in all of our work.

For crowdfunding campaign backers, initial pledges were charged in July 2023. Pledges were locked on March 9, 2024, and post-campaign charges for shipping, tax, and late add-ons were processed March 13, 2024. For new preorder customers, we charge cards 1-2 times every week. For failed pledges, we will periodically review for completed reward surveys who have provided updated payment information and lock those pledges so we can process payment and confirm the pledge.

The Lore Master's Deck will have up to 300 double-sided cards if all Community Achievements (Stretch Goals) are unlocked. Expansions have 60 cards each. To calculate the size of your collection, use this calculator tool: https://calculator.storyenginedeck.com/

Additional storage options include: Leviathan Storage Boxes (2 designs holding 1440 cards each) Folding Storage Boxes (6 designs holding 540 cards each) Tray Storage Box (1 design holding 576 cards) Expansion Collector's Storage Boxes (2 designs holding 180 cards each) You can calculate how many cards each main deck box and additional storage box can hold using our handy storage calculator: https://calculator.storyenginedeck.com/storage.html

We've updated our campaign page to include a reward checklist of our most popular bundles: https://www.backerkit.com/c/peter-chiykowski/lore-masters-deck?ref=homepage-callout#story_section_2280 The most common question we get: does the "All Lore" tier include the Story & World Bridge Expansion? The answer is no, the "All Lore" pledge level only includes cards from the Lore Master's Deck series, and no lore cards appear in the Story & World Expansion. However, the Story & World Bridge Expansion can be added on to complement the Story & Lore Bridge Expansion and World & Lore Bridge Expansion that DO come with that tier.

PDFs can be found under Digital Downloads under your pledge survey: https://help.backerkit.com/article/662-where-can-i-find-my-digital-downloads PDFs are automatically distributed to backers and preorder customers as soon as their pledge/preorder is locked and their card successfully charged. We lock orders and charge cards 1-2 times per week, so it may take a few days for your PDFs to arrive. Please note that all pledge levels include corresponding PDFs, but not all add-ons include PDFs. See "Are PDFs included?" on our FAQ for further clarification.

If you pledge during the campaign, PDFs are included for every deck, expansion, or booster in your pledge level. If you added-on during the campaign, PDFs are included for all add-ons except single expansions. If you add-on or preorder after the campaign, please see individual add-on descriptions to see if PDFs are included.

Any backer who pledges in the first 72 hours and whose final reward tier is a physical pledge level will receive the Promo Card Pack of 16 cards for free. We will manually add the Promo Card Pack to your pledge in the pledge manager after pledges are locked on March 9, 2024. If you back the CONJURE or DEVOUR pledge levels, a Promo Card Pack will be included in your rewards. Digital reward backers will receive a PDF copy of the early bird cards. The early bird cards can also be added on for $5 for a physical pack or $1 for the PDFs.

If you have backed one of our previous campaigns, you are eligible to receive a free Story Engine Mini-Pin with any physical pledge level. To receive this item, you don't need to do anything other than make your pledge using the same email address you used for reward surveys on our previous Kickstarter campaigns. We used BackerKit for the reward surveys on both our previous Story Engine/Deck of Worlds Kickstarters, so the BackerKit system should automatically check for your email address when you make your pledge (as long as you use the same email). We will allocate returning backer incentives after we lock pledges on March 9, 2024. We'll be available to troubleshoot if your incentive does not appear.

The Story Engine is primarily a tool for generating story prompts based on characters and their motivations. Lore Master's Deck does three things that are significantly different from The Story Engine: 1) It introduces a much wider range of card types to reflect worldbuilding elements that can shape a story: not just characters, but factions, events, locations, objects, materials, creatures/species, and gods. 2) It really explores the threads that connect worldbuilding elements. What is character A's relationship to faction B, and what is faction B's relationship to event C, which took place in location D, which is the lair of creature E? You end up with a web of worldbuilding connections that serves as a vibrant ecosystem for developing story and setting. 3) The cues get a lot more specific than we were able to be in The Story Endine Deck, where cues had to be universal enough to work with multiple card types. With Lore Master's Deck, we could get as granular as character-specific speech patterns, faction-specific entry rituals, event-specific catalysts, object-specific powers, material-specific properties, and creature-specific morphology. The deck still contains characters and motivations, but they're configured to create a rich spread of worldbuilding elements for your story rather than a singular character focus.

As of right now, it is best to assume the Focus Sleeves cannot hold an already-sleeved card. We would like the cards to be double-sleevable, but the margins of error for sleeve manufacturing are very precise and we can't currently guarantee we'll be able to make this happen.

We feel that in recent years, crowdfunders have been looking for new leadership that listens to creators and backers and is willing to adapt tools to meet their needs. The crowdfunding space innovates so quickly and creatively, and a lot of the existing platforms have either failed to keep up or started laying down roads we believe may be leading in the wrong direction. BackerKit approached us before launching their new platform to share their vision of what community-driven crowdfunding could look like, and we decided we wanted to be part of their launch team and help debut a new platform driven around collaboration and engagement rather than just funding dollars. We're excited to be working with BackerKit on this project to see how this platform and the larger crowdfunding community continue to adapt and grow.

See the "Reshipment policy" section of our shop's shipping page for the most up-to-date information: https://storyenginedeck.com/policies/shipping-policy

See our shop's Refund Policy page for details concerning crowdfunding returns: https://storyenginedeck.com/policies/refund-policy

Open beta files are distributed to all backers whose pre-orders include those respective PDFs. For example, if your pledge or pre-order includes the Lore Master's Deck PDF, you will automatically receive the Lore Master's Deck open beta. The same is true for the Namesakes Expansion, the Emblems Expansion, the Deities Expansion, and all three Bridge Expansions.