It's been 2 weeks! What's going on?!?
over 5 years ago – Sat, Aug 01, 2020 at 03:39:18 PM

The project closed out 2 weeks ago which means things are about to start moving. KS has approved the funds to be transferred to my account and that should show up in the next couple business days. I've actually already purchased the lumber; or at least what I'm estimating the needs of the project to be, so it is in racks just waiting for me to get to work. I've also made (but not quite finished) most of the cards for the Early Bird backers.

On Backerkit, I've completed the survey and it is now under review. I was hoping that it would be approved today so I could send out the "smoke test" today. The smoke test is basically a test run where a small percentage of surveys are sent out randomly and you guys get to tell me if everything is clear. I don't foresee any problems with this (I've done more than a few projects in BK), so as soon as I get approval, I'll be sending out the surveys to everyone.

In the survey, you will get to choose each card class and wood type for your reward. You will also be given the opportunity to give me special instructions. This section *should* only pertain to a few people who have emailed me questions and I requested that they remind me in the survey about that question. If you did not email me a question in advance, please do not fill out this section with special requests. This will slow the process down and likely end up costing you extra. On the other hand, if you want to spend a little extra money to make your card unique, please email me at [email protected] with your request.

After the survey question, you will enter the add-on section. Here you will be able to add on a lot of my normal store items. While not everything is available as an add-on, the most popular items are there, you can add on and get everything together at one time.

UPDATE: I just got word from Backerkit that I am cleared for the smoke test. I will send that out as soon as I'm done with this. If you receive a smoke test, please fill it out as soon as you can.

I will lock down surveys in batches and will make a post before I do so. Anytime prior to the lockdown, you can go back in and change your add-on orders. Some companies leave the lockdown period open for a long time, but I want to get everything shipped out in September, if I can, so please fill out your survey and add on whatever else you might want. The sooner the surveys are in, the sooner I can start production.

Do you have a friend that missed out on this project? Send them this link: https://dnd-5e-character-cards.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders  They'll be able to get into the project this way. If they have questions, please feel free to give them my email at [email protected]

I think that is all for now. As always, if you have any questions, feel free to send me a message. And thank you all, very, very much for your support.

John

New game that I'm contributing to
over 5 years ago – Mon, Jul 20, 2020 at 05:32:21 PM

So, this isn't an update on the Character Card project other than to say that I've received most of the requests for the Early Bird level and have started work on those. I won't be able to ship until after the surveys are in, but It lets me get a bit of a head start. So there's that. 

What this update is about is a project from a professional acquaintance of mine.  OK...maybe a little closer than that; I was the DM for his little sister in a game I ran for about 5 years. But he is a Ph.D. candidate in the GRID game lab at Ohio University, and has designed a action based card game and he asked me to provide a hardwood box for those who want a high-end experience. You can see the prototype box in the project page; I'm going to make an improved one for him this week, so you can see that soon.

In any case, take a look at his project page. It looks to be a pretty cool game, I know the artist who he is employing for the game and she is providing a beautiful take on traditional cards.

Here's the link to the project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/505226565/cartomancy-relaunch

We did it! Next steps
over 5 years ago – Thu, Jul 16, 2020 at 10:35:45 PM

OK, so we ended in a good position. Nearly 12,500 raised from about 170 backers. I was hoping for 200 backers, but 170 ain't bad at all. So here is what to expect:

Kickstarter is going to start charging your cards. If you get a message from them that there is a problem, please take care of it as soon as possible. In about 2 weeks, they will cancel backers who haven't had their payments clear and nobody wants that.

I'm in the process of building the Backerkit survey. It will be here that you will go to answer specific questions about your pledge and add on anything else you might want. I will have that sent out as soon as Kickstarter gives me the all-clear.

There is one exception to this. If you backed at the early-bird level, I am going to be in contact with you over the weekend. I will be handling your early-bird orders separately so I can get a good start on them. I may have to make some adjustments in Backerkit for the survey; it turns out that I didn't set that tier up quite right, so I think if I just reach out to those backers privately, I can sort things out pretty easily. You will still have the opportunity to add more things on if you want, but by doing it this way, I can get to work on this tier early.

I may also be in touch with international backers for a similar reason...I just didn't set things up quite right for backerkit to work seamlessly. But there is a chance I can get that one to work; I'll know more over the weekend.

Again, thanks to everyone who backed this. I'll be in touch soon with more information.

John

Picture of Hit Point card
over 5 years ago – Wed, Jul 15, 2020 at 03:12:03 PM

I wanted to get a picture up of the Hit Point counter. Please note, however, that this was done on a scrap piece of cherry, and it does not have a finish or black fill in the lettering. In short, the finished version of this will look much better than this.

Final Days, New Cards, New Deal
over 5 years ago – Tue, Jul 14, 2020 at 11:41:18 PM

Final Days! This is it!

This is the final week; the final 4 days, actually. The project ends on Thursday and I'd like to see it really take off. I've put in two ad buys on facebook and have one going on RPGGeek. I have daily posts going up on FB and Instagram, and will be looking for specific pages to post the project on as well. I've had projects double in size in the last week of a KS in the past and would love to see that happen again. But regardless of how much money I spend or how many posts I make, nothing substitutes for backers helping to spread the word. So I'm here to ask that everyone chip in just a little bit. Post it on a FB page you follow, Tweet about it, Pin it, or put it on whatever social media sites you frequent. Every little bit helps. Please take a second to help spread the word.

New Cards

I spent the morning tweeking and making a few more cards. Here are pics of the Cleric, Bard, Beastmaster, Artificer, all the Bloodhunters and a new Hit Point Tracker. The Cleric and Bard have been back-filled, but the rest haven't (yet), so the finished product will have a black backfill in the text and image areas. But I wanted to get these pictures out because I think they look good; especially the Bloodhunter classes which are all done in Bloodwood.

Note: I just noticed on the HP Tracker that I'm going to need to center that top row. This will be fixed.

New Deal

The Hit Point Tracker (above) is something that will be offered to everyone who backs this project at the $15 pledge level and higher at a reduced cost. If you pledge at least $15, you can add on a HP Tracker for only $10 for the Domestic woods and $17 for the exotic woods. Keep one Class tracker down at the table for your specific class and the HP tracker to track your HPs and any non-covered class ability.

Note: You MUST pledge at the $15 or higher to receive the discounted price on this.

Thanks again

Thank you for backing this project. I plan on a fast turn-around, so as soon as people start turning in their surveys, I will start making and fulfilling the project. Speaking of the survey, I will be using Backerkit as my survey tool and you will be able to add on many of the other Hrothgar's Hoard products including dice towers, dice trays, dice cases and miniature cases. Adding on items should not effect the delivery date of your Character Cards.

Now, please go share this project with all your friends.