TL;DR: We’re finally done with the Tarot Deck, we have dice samples to show and a bunch of updates on printing.
The Tarot Deck
This took longer than we expected (see reasons below), but it’s finally ready. If you added the Valraven Tarot Deck to your pledge — physical or digital — today you’ll receive the print-and-play version of the cards plus a 36-page guide on how to use the deck to make your sessions driven by fate. We have included both hi and low res files in both A4 and Letter format, so it's a bigger download.
You’ll get an email from BackerKit with the download links, and the files are also available on the Digital Download tab of your survey.
Production Updates
In short: everything is approved, in print, or actively in production.
The dice partner sent photos of the sample and I expect to have a physical one in hand within a few days. Overall it looks very good, but we are still deciding on the exact shade of yellow for the Advantage Dice. Photos can be misleading because lighting and background change how a colour reads, so I will make the final call once I can hold the sample. I may warm the tone slightly. The official schedule says we should receive the full shipment a few days before Christmas, which tracks with our plan to begin fulfillment in January.
On the paper side we have finally completed approvals. This is, unfortunately, a lot more involved than simply reusing the digital files. We also had to produce a number of secondary assets, such as download codes, product sheets, slipcase artwork, and art prints. The approval process turned into a lot of back-and-forth (I'm counting about 80 emails in the thread). To use a brief metaphor: we felt like tailors showing samples to a very picky client who keeps asking for “green,” but never specifies which green, whether the fit is right, or even if this is the kind of dress they were looking for. What should have taken one week stretched into four because each round generated new, sometimes exceedingly vague requests. The good news is that everything is now exactly as the printer requires.
One important production detail is the gold gilding on the page edges. That requires a multi-step workflow. The books must be printed in one location, sent to another country for gilding, returned to the original site for final finishing, and then shipped to us. Each transfer introduces potential delay, so fingers crossed. Given that, receiving the books in late November and beginning the shipping process in January remains our safest assumption.
Reviews
If you had a chance to read and test the final books, leaving a short review on DriveThruRPG would be incredibly helpful.
You can always access your Pledge Manager survey from HERE. Orders are locked but get in touch if you need changes. We’ll confirm your address closer to shipping.
