Coins arriving at fulfillment
over 9 years ago – Sun, Jul 03, 2016 at 11:45:42 PM

Hi everyone -

It's July, and we are getting ready to send out your coins!

Since the last update, we approved the samples. What I did not realise at the time was that the coins were not actually packaged yet (our clever producer was waiting on the approval, in case the quantities in each pack were not correct) so it took us another week to get them ready for shipping.

The shipments have now all left, and will arrive at our fulfillment houses as follows:

• Kixto UK (EU) will have their shipment on Tuesday 5 July
• Our shipment for Australia (including NZ and Asia) will arrive on Tuesday 5 July
• Ship Naked USA (USA, Canada & South America) receive theirs on Thursday 7 July

Those dates all assume that everything goes smoothly with customs and imports.

Q-Workshop have shipped the dice, and they should arrive at around the same time.

So: when do you get your coins?

That's now up to our fulfillment partners. They need to go through all the backer information we have provided, and send us the bill in advance (we will of course pay this as soon as we receive it). They also have to unpack and count the coins to make sure they have everything they need. Then, they need to co-ordinate the shipment with other jobs in their shipping queue.

In summary, we'll let you know in the next update. On our last Kickstarter, the prep was about 2 weeks between delivery and the first parcels going out.

Collector Pack pledge shipment delay

Spreadsheets ruled my life in the last few weeks (how many do we need of each? where do they go?) and unfortunately I made a mistake along the way:

The Great Gold Wyrm tokens intended for the collector packs were sent to the US rather than to Australia. That was totally my fault, they wandered in to the wrong column.

So, I'll need to get them back here before I can fulfill the Collector Pack orders, so your coins will be closer to August.

Production photos

Here are some photos of the final production samples. We're really happy with them!

Our next Kickstarter will be evil...

Now that this Kickstarter is manufactured and up to the shipping phase, we are planning our next campaign! We will be shooting the video next weekend, and hope to launch this one at GenCon:

We are Kickstarting new Electrum coins for our Classic Fantasy range. In fantasy RPG lore, Electrum is often described as coins from a previous empire, so we've made ours a fallen demon-haunted empire. Some say the coins are cursed, and in handling them the evil may rise again... others say they are worthy treasure, worth half their weight in platinum.

Actual electrum is somewhere between gold and silver, but that would look very similar to our existing range, so we are making these in black metal. Our regular fantasy coin artist Lee Smith has packed them with evil detail. We'll be honest, they creep us out a little bit.

We'll let you know when the campaign launches, but for now, here's an exclusive first look at the Electrum 5-coin. Um, nobody here is arachnophobic, right? You might want to look away now.

Thanks everyone. We'll update you with expected shipping dates for your 13th Age coins and tokens as soon as we know.

Best,

Mark, Andre & Penny

Production is complete!
almost 10 years ago – Mon, Jun 20, 2016 at 09:33:56 PM

Hi everyone -

We're done! We're ready! Let's ship!

The factory has completed the entire order of Dwarven Tower coins, Icon Tokens and Shining Gold coins. Here are some photos to show you the antique finish.

Today I received final packaged samples of all of the items in this campaign: the complete coin sets, the icon sets, and the three-coin packs in both antique and shining gold. The quality on all of them is up to our usual standard. I'll take some photos of all those in the next few days.

And, in perfect synchronicity, our great friends at Q-Workshop have let us know that the Icon D12s are ready for you, too. And, the velvet bags are already in house, so we are good to go.

We have closed BackerKit and charged your cards, and we have sent out a 48-hour reminder to check your mailing address. That's a formality, as you probably haven't moved in the last 2 weeks, but we thought we'd follow protocol while I am busy doing the spreadsheets for how many items we need to send to each fulfilment centre.

All things being well, those shipments will be going out this Saturday, or before.

Thanks everyone, your solid and early support gave us the confidence to order the production early, and now we're ahead. We'll keep working on getting these to you, and keep you informed.

Oh, and a thank you for your generous gift to our amazing artist Drew: you chipped in and bought him 22 beers! We'll round that up to a slab (that's Aussie for a case of beer). Cheers!

Kickstarter shout out: Heroes of Red Hook

We'd like to share news of a fiction anthology that Penny has a story in (and, in related news, Penny has started writing stories about our three Campaign Coins heroes Dhum, Avariss & Hazzard, coming soon as a free download from our website).

Heroes of Red Hook from our great friend Oscar Rios from Golden Goblin Press is a splendid idea for a horror anthology. Here's Oscar in his own words:

"Heroes of Red Hook is a collection of cosmic horror tales taking place during the Jazz Era with a very important focus. The protagonists of this anthology are members of the various under represented demographic in Lovecraftian fiction. Our heroes and heroines are the outsiders who are most often blamed (wrongly so) for the actions of various alien horrors of the mythos. Our stories put the spotlight on ethnic and religious minorities, immigrants, independent free thinking women, those with special needs, and members of the LGBT community. This collection features people struggling to overcome not only the horrors beyond mankind’s understanding, but an oppressive society seeking to deny them basic human rights."

You can learn more about the project on the Kickstarter page. I've read Penny's story about Italian immigrants in Seattle encountering horrors human and beyond, and it's a cracker. I'm looking forwards to reading the rest of the stories in the book.

And, even more, I'm looking forwards to sending you your coins!

Best,

Mark, Andre &  Penny

 

Last chance: BackerKit is closing 15 June
almost 10 years ago – Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 11:33:31 PM

Hi everyone -

BackerKit will close on 15 June.

We need to close now so that we can keep the project moving, and get you your coins.

So, if you have not completed your surveys, you need to do that now. If we don't have your address, we can't send you your coins, it's that simple.

If you are still thinking of adjusting your order to change your Add-Ons, now is the time.

Also, please let your bank know that you have a charge coming up in Australian Dollars, as banks will sometimes refuse an unexpected charge.

That's all!

Really, that's the update. Please finish up your BackerKit.

But that seems so abrupt, so here's some game talk...

Meanwhile in my 13th Age campaign

In the last session of my Spaghetti Tolkien campaign I finally revealed the traitor Icon.

Having told the players that one of the Icons was a reptoid, I rolled an icon d12 in a sealed box, with a piece of paper they had all decorated to stop me faking the photo.

As you can see, it was the Priestess. Shocking!

I then filed the photo, asked them to destroy the paper, and waited my time...

It didn't take long. Three sessions later the poor adventurers played right into the icon's scaly hands, delivering the Blood Ruby of 9,999 Souls right to her, along with the 10,000th sacrifice needed to power it up: Reverend Grogan, one of the PCs who had discovered the ruby.  

Just before she plunged her hand through the Reverend's back and squeezed his living heart out over the gem (I may have been watching too much Game of Thrones lately) I sent a sneaky text message from behind the GM screen: I texted the photo to everyone at the table, wanting an "Oh god no!" moment just before the fatal squeeze.

Dammit, my players are so well behaved, they all had their phones away and on silent, so nobody saw it!

Anyway, great session end, especially when the other adventurers who had been lured out of Salt Lake City on a ruse looked back to see the serpent-shaped blood-tinted mushroom cloud blast skywards.

My notes for this week's game are as follows:

"Shit gets worse."

I hope the icon tokens and dice inspire you to have as much fun as I am!

Best,

Mark

PS - Don't forget to go looking for the free 13th Age module on Free RPG Day next Saturday, and be sure to be nice to your FLGS and buy something too.

PPS - BackerKit !!!

Escalation +5: The Shining Ziggurat!
almost 10 years ago – Tue, Jun 07, 2016 at 09:10:34 PM

Hi everyone -

Thanks so much to you all for your quick response to the BackerKit surveys!

In less than a week nearly 90% of you have told us all your details, and also raised an additional AUD $3,149, taking our total to AUD $40,673 which means we've gone full ziggurat:

BackerKit is open until 15 June

If you have not completed your BackerKit survey yet, please do so today. The sooner we have everyone's details, the sooner everyone gets their coins.

For more details about how to complete your surveys, please look back on Update #13.

Newcomers can still pre order and get full stretch goals:

https://13th-age-coins-and-icon-tokens.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

We also still have one Emperor pledge left, and one seat in our GenCon Adventure. We've changed these from pledge levels to Add-Ons, so if you are interested you can now easily add them to your existing order.

Here's a photo of some of the swag in the Emperor pledge. (Only half of the Shining Gold coins are seen here, and the dice ring is not shown).

7 Icon Campaign PDF unlocked

Thanks to our new pre-order friends in BackerKit, we have also unlocked the second of our 13th Age Monthly PDFs, with thanks to Pelgrane Press,

All backers who qualify for stretch goals will now receive the 7 Icon Campaign PDF, in addition to the Children of the Icons PDF which was unlocked at Escalation +1.

We will be delivering codes for the Pelgrane Bookshelf direct to the email address that you used to back the campaign. If you want your PDFs sent to a different email address, please let us know in your survey comments or via a direct message.

13th Age on Free RPG Day

Free RPG Day is coming on Saturday 18 June. Once again Pelgrane are offering a free book containing a 13th Age scenario plus a Night's Black Agents adventure. Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan has written both, and the 13th Age one is Swords Against The Dead, which has my two favourite things: swords and zombies. Start choppin'.

Ask your local FLGS if they're hosting Free RPG Day. If they are, awesome, but don't just turn up for free swag. Be sure to buy something as well to support the store that supports you, and maybe offer to run some 13th Age. You'll make new friends, some of them shambling and dead.

I'll be running Swords Against the Dead at GateKeeper Games here in Melbourne, Australia, so if you're local, see you in the graveyard! Contact the store for details on how to sign up.

Kickstarter shout out: Fantasy Coins LLC

Our friends at Fantasy Coins LLC have launched a new Kickstarter for Fantasy Coin: Dragons, Orcs and Dwarves. There are some sweet coins in the new range, check them out!

The Moon Elf coin set is a clever idea: elven coins which form a larger shape when combined. We hoped to make 13th Age Elven Trines for this Kickstarter, but the rulebook describes those coins as gold, silver and platinum, and three-toned plating is super expensive to manufacture (more than double the cost). If we had thought to make separate gold, platinum and silver Elven coins which interlink horizontally in the way that our Dwarven Tower coins link vertically, we would have gone for it.

That's the joy of being in a creative industry: being inspired by others. It makes us all better.

That's all

Thanks everyone. We'll be locking BackerKit in one week, so please make any final adjustments, your coins are on the way!

Best,

Mark, Andre & Penny

Backerkit is live, please respond!
almost 10 years ago – Thu, Jun 02, 2016 at 11:05:59 PM

Hi everyone -

Thanks again for the amazing finish to our campaign. We're making the coins right now.

BackerKit surveys are going out today. You will receive a link via email. Please respond as soon as you can. We want to send you coins in July.

BackerKit will close on 15 June. On that day your credit card will be charged for any additional Add-Ons, postage or Pledge Level upgrades.

In this Lucky 13th update we have some important info:

• How to use BackerKit
• New backers are welcome
• How to change your Pledge Level
• How to get the best deal for Coin Set and Icon Token set combos

How to use BackerKit

You will receive an email with a link. If you do not have it in 24 hours, let us know.

You do not need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey, just click on the survey link, fill it out, and you’re all good to go! You will be able to answer questions about your rewards preferences, provide shipping information, and pledge for more Add-Ons if you'd like.

If you decide later that you want to edit your survey response, you can go back to your survey and change it any time before we lock down the surveys for processing.

If you need to review your information or pledge status, you will be able to recover your survey here: 13th-age-coins-and-icon-tokens.backerkit.com

If you use your Facebook login for your Kickstarter account, the BackerKit survey will be sent to the email you used for your Facebook account. If you have another email address that you would prefer to use, please contact support at 13th-age-coins-and-icon-tokens.backerkit.com/faq and we'll get you sorted out! 

New backers are welcome!

It's not too late to join the campaign. Anyone can pledge now and enjoy full stretch goals:

13th-age-coins-and-icon-tokens.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

All extra funds raised in BackerKit will count towards our Escalation to unlock the last two Shining Gold coins, the General coin and the elusive Golden D20 coin.

You can still change your pledge level

We unlocked new Pledge Levels during the campaign, plus we have created some new combo levels in BackerKit to give you the best possible deals (see below).

In particular, backers at the 13TH AGE ICON TOKENS pledge might want to consider changing to ICON TOKENS DELUXE if you plan to get all three $6 Add Ons (velvet bag, icon d12 and Dwarven coin ziggurat), as the Deluxe pledge also includes the Shining Gold coin stretch goals.

And, we still have 1 pledge left for the GENCON ADVENTURE, and 2 pledges left for THE EMPEROR with exclusive limited edition items.

To change your pledge, select Want to switch your pledge level? on the first page.

You can also change your pledge level at any point once you have started answering Questions or selecting Add-Ons. Select the dollar value of your reward on the top bar.

This opens a pop up window. Select Switch Pledge Levels? to change your pledge.

The best deals on Coin & Icon set combos

There are many combos of Coin Sets and Icon Token sets. We want you to get the best deal possible. First, tell us what you'd like...

I want a few Icon Token sets with a single Coin Set, or vice versa:

If you have an Icon Token pledge (e.g. DOUBLE TOKENS) and want to add just one Coin Set, then your pledge is fine, just select the single Coin Set in the Add-On menu.

And, if you have a Coin Set pledge (e.g. THREE DWARVEN COIN SETS) and want to add just one Icon Token set, then select the single Icon Token set as an Add-On.

I want a matched number of Icon Token sets and Coin Sets (e.g. 2 of each):

The campaign has pledge levels for the following:

• 1 of each (ICON TOKENS AND DWARVEN COIN SET),
• 2 of each (DOUBLE COINS & DOUBLE TOKENS),
• 3 of each (TRIPLE COINS & TRIPLE TOKENS), and
• 4 of each (QUADRUPLE COINS & QUAD TOKENS).

I want 2-4 of one type and 2-4 of the other:

To guarantee the right discount for you, we have created six new pledge levels to account for every possible combo of Coin Set or Icon Token set. Change your pledge to one of these, it is much better than using Add Ons for these items:

• 2 Coin sets + 3 Icon sets: DOUBLE COINS & TRIPLE TOKENS $195
• 2 Coin sets + 4 Icon sets: DOUBLE COINS & QUAD TOKENS $214
• 3 Coin sets + 2 Icon sets: TRIPLE COINS & DOUBLE TOKENS $218
• 3 Coin sets + 4 Icon sets: TRIPLE COINS & QUAD TOKENS $258
• 4 Coin sets + 2 Icon sets: QUADRUPLE COINS & DOUBLE TOKENS $256
• 4 Coin sets + 3 Icon sets: QUADRUPLE COINS & TRIPLE TOKENS $277

I want 5 or more of one type:

Select a pledge level listed above which offers 4 of the type you want more of. That unlocks a special Add-On which gives you access to discounted sets:

• $45 per Coin Set after 4 sets (normally $60)
• $25 per Icon Set after 4 sets (normally $30)

I think I need some help:

Sure thing. Send us a message and tell us what you want, and we'll sort it out for you.

That's all

Thanks for reading, and do let us know if we can help.

Enough text! Here's a photo: our bag manufacturers have finished the velvet bags. The one on the left is the approved sample, the ones on the right are from the production. Looks good to us!

Best,

Mark, Andre & Penny