397 Heroes!
almost 10 years ago – Fri, May 27, 2016 at 11:48:29 PM

Hi everyone,

What an amazing finish! It all happened in the last three days, with stretch goals aplenty.

After a good nap I will start working on the Backerkit page. It's Memorial Day Weekend in the US, so our Backerkit friends are out of the office, but we hope to be approved and live before mid-week, with a close date of 15 June. In Backerkit you can confirm your Add Ons, and change your pledge level if you choose.

Some people have reported some issues with Kickstarter approval for your credit cards. This is because we charge from Australia, and your bank is being a little bit overzealous (on the other hand, some of us were deported from the UK as convicts, so it pays to be careful). Please work with Kickstarter and your bank to smooth it over; there's nothing we can do to assist, sorry.

Huge thanks to you all!

We are also indebted to Rob, Jay, Lee, Jonathan & Wade for all their assistance on the 13th Age side. They've made such a great game, it inspired us to make these coins and tokens, and they're also wonderful folks to work with: quick to respond and generous with their advice.

Simon and Cat at Pelgrane have been equally supportive, and their kind nature and common sense has given me a lot of new industry smarts.

James Semple and Chris J. Nairn were a huge help on the music, and do check out the 13th Age Soundtrack, I'm listening to it as I write this. Great music to play by, great music full stop.

Big up to everyone who helped on our video, particularly my good gaming buddy Christian Were who shot and edited, and Kris Wilson who does such awesome sound for us. The talents of these guys helps us bat far above our weight, and the video ending still makes me laugh.

Finally, biggest thanks to Drew Morrow, who designed exactly $37,524 worth of coins and tokens. The Dwarven Tower coins are entirely his design, and at the very same moment this campaign was ending our brand new Pathfinder Society Faction pins were making their debut at PaizoCon, so this weekend it's all Drew all the time.

In the spirit of the "Buy Rob an energy drink" Add On in the 13 True Ways campaign, we'll be adding a "Buy Drew a beer" Add On in Backerkit, he's a legend. And, he's a cheap legend, none of your fancy craft beers required, he likes a nice Boags from Tasmania.

Which, I confess, sounds pretty good right now. Thanks again, all!

Best,

Mark, Andre & Penny

Escalation +4: Last 30 mins, new pledge level
almost 10 years ago – Fri, May 27, 2016 at 08:40:05 PM

Hi everyone -

It's morning in Australia, and our month-long quest is nearly at an end!

Our campaign ends in 30 minutes. Overnight you unlocked Escalation +4 (the Captain coin in Shining Gold) and it is highly likely that we will unlock Escalation +5 (General coin) and the 400 Backer reward (7 Icons Campaign PDF) from Backerkit funds.

Thank you!

New pledge level: Deluxe Icon Tokens

Now that we have such shiny stretch goals, we got thinking that while we can't afford to offer stretch goals to our single Icon Token set backers (sorry), those backers who get a full set of Add Ons should qualify, because they have helped us that bit extra.

So, we have just added a new pledge level, the ICON TOKENS DELUXE.

This new pledge includes one set of 13 Icon Tokens, plus all the Add Ons: the Dwarven Ziggurat (3 coins), the Icon d12, and the 13th Age bag. The cost of the pledge is AUD $48, exactly the cost of the $30 Token Set plus the $18 in Add Ons. (Postage will be a fraction more in the UK and EU.)  

The good news is, this pledge level will receive Stretch Goals, so you'll get the new Shining Gold coins and the PDFs too.

If you would like to take advantage of this, please log on and click Manage Your Pledge. And, if this update reaches you too late (sorry for our last minute inspiration), you can upgrade your pledge in Backerkit later, and still take advantage of this offer.

Thanks everyone, we're ready to level up now!

Best,

Mark, Andre & Penny

Escalation +3: The Prince reveals a secret
almost 10 years ago – Fri, May 27, 2016 at 12:58:33 PM

Hi everyone -

15 hours to go! The Prince of Shadows works in darkness, and for our EU friends, that's when this campaign will be ending, sorry about not planning the time zones a little better:

• Melbourne : Saturday 11am
• London : Saturday 2am
• New York : Friday 6pm
• Seattle : Friday 3pm

It's been a great day for stretch goals, the Shining Gold Soldier coin has been unlocked!

All backers who qualify for stretch goals will receive one 20mm Soldier Coin in highly reflective shining gold as a unique souvenir.

Will the Soldier be joined by his superiors, the Captain ($36,666) and the General ($40,000)?

We'll find out in the next 12 hours. Watch this space, and please spread the word!

Final stretch goals

At last, the Prince reveals the final secrets: here are our final stretch goals. We will also count funds and new backers raised in Backerkit towards these totals:

400 BACKERS

With thanks to Pelgrane Press, if we reach 400 backers then all backers who qualify for Stretch Goals will receive a free PDF download of the 7 Icon Campaign, a fantastic issue of 13th Age Monthly by Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet. This variant campaign combines the 13 icons down to 7 icons by combining 6 of them.

We recommend you use the following tokens for this variant:

• The Dwarf King = Crusader token
• The Golden One = Great Gold Wyrm token
• The Hierophant = Archmage token
• The Queen of Hell = Diabolist token
• The Three = Prince of Shadows token
• The Wild Queen = High Druid token
• The Orc Lord = himself

It's funny that the Orc Lord is unchanged in the 7 Icon Campaign, because it is one of the ones that changed in production! We didn't like the way that the axes had a raised lip, we wanted them to be flat to the surface of the token. Here's the prototype you see in the video, and the final one we will ship to you.

ESCALATION +6

So, the Prince heard that you like Shining Gold...

If we reach AUD $42,500 (it escalates, remember?), then we'll hit our ultimate stretch goal at Escalation +6: all backers from the 10 COINS pledge level and up will receive a special Shining Gold 20 Crits or Fails coin, designed by Lynda Mills.

We have never made this coin before in this finish, and we never will again. This is perfect as a golden reroll token, and as a unique keepsake for this campaign. (If you like the coin, it's also available in Antique Copper, Silver and Gold from our website.)

That's all, folks! Let's see how far we can take this!

Thanks,

Mark, Andre & Penny

Escalation +2: Brand new Add Ons
almost 10 years ago – Fri, May 27, 2016 at 09:03:43 AM

You did it !!!

We just clocked AUD $30,000, which means we have hit Escalation +2 :

All Dwarven Tower coin sets will now ship in a 13th Age brown velvet bag. You will also receive one free bag for every 2 icon sets you order:

• Two Icon token sets = 1 bag
• Three Icon token sets = 1 bag
• Four Icon token sets = 2 bags

In addition, 13th Age velvet bags are now available as an Add On for $6. The bags measure 11cm x 17cm with a brown cord tie, and are great for coins or dice.

Dwarven Ziggurat Add On

A lot of you have asked to add the Collector Pack. It has not been available until now because I have been trying to keep fulfillment simple, but I do realise that one each of the Dwarven coins is a nice addition for you Icon Token Set backers who just want one of everything we make in this campaign.

So, the Dwarven Ziggurat is now available as an Add On for AUD $6 (~USD $4.50). This contains the three coins: one Soldier, one Captain, and one General.

Thanks for asking for this. Let there will be drinking in the Forge tonight! (That's in Forge, the Dwarven stronghold, not in an actual forge. Don't drink and smelt, people, that's dangerous and you know it.)

Escalation plinths

The things that occur to you in the fading hours of a Kickstarter:

The Dwarven Captain or General coins would make a great plinth for the Escalation Die.

At Escalation 0, put down a coin, and put the die on top at Escalation +1. Each round, add one more coin, and increment the die. I can't wait to use this in our game next Wednesday!

Photo below, or you can hypnotise yourself with this animated GIF.

Shine on

Thanks everyone! A little over 24 hours to go! Onwards to Escalation +3 and beyond.

Best,

Mark, Andre & Penny

New pledge level: The Emperor
almost 10 years ago – Fri, May 27, 2016 at 08:35:11 AM

Hi everyone -

Look at that, we have 300 backers! Welcome to the party, new adventurers!

There are less than 72 hours to go. Can we unlock the 13th Age velvet bags at AUD $30,000? And even push on to Escalation +3 and unlock a Shining Gold coin for you all?

We hope so, and we've got a new limited pledge level that might help get us there.

The Emperor pledge level

With help from Jay at Fire Opal Media and also from Sungil at Dayspring Games (the Korean 13th Age publisher), we have a curated an awesome collection, limited to 5 backers:

THE EMPEROR - AUD $300 [~USD $225 / EUR €204 / GBP £159] 

You will receive a limited edition 75-coin Dwarven Tower Coin set finished in Shining Gold, as well as a 13th Age dice tray, a 13th Age dice ring, a set of 13 Icon Postcards, a 13th Age Icon Token set and a d12 icon die.

SHINING GOLD DWARVEN TOWER COIN SET (75 coins)

You will receive 25 of each denomination, in a 13th Age velvet bag if unlocked. Here is a photo of 10 of each. We will only ever make them in bulk for the limited pledge levels in this campaign, although we still hope to unlock single coins for all backers.

These really look breathtaking, but for full disclosure we will say this: the bling obscures the detail (it is so shiny!) and while they stack, they don't stack quite as high as the regular Dwarven Towers. The surface is electroplated but not polished, so it has less grip.

13TH AGE DICE TRAY

We are delighted that Sungil was happy to share some of the 13th Age Dice Trays that he made for the Korean 13th Age crowdfunding campaign. As Sungil explains, in Korea people often play in cafés, so it is really handy to have a portable dice tray.

These black non-leather dice trays are branded with the 13th Age logo, and have press studs in the corners. The trays fold flat (they are pretty much the same size as the 13th Age rulebook), but when your press the studs in, it folds up into a nifty tray.

13TH AGE DICE RING

The 13th Age dice ring is a beautiful metal spinner with the 13th Age icons. It is manufactured by Crit Success, and was originally offered for the 13 True Ways limited edition. We're so pleased that Jay was able to share some with us.

The dice ring was originally made in a few colours; the ones we have are gold. It was manufactured in one standard size, Size 10.

13TH AGE POSTCARD SET

I got a set of 13th Age icon portrait postcards with the 13 True Ways Kickstarter, and they are so handy for flipping up the image of each icon. These cards are reprinted from time to time by Fire Opal for conventions and so on; this is a complete set of all 13.

13TH AGE D12 & 13TH AGE ICON SET

You will also receive one 13th Age icon token set with all 13 metal icon tokens, plus the Icon d12 which is now available as a regular Add On.

FREE SHIPPING FOR THE EMPEROR

This pledge level will be shipped separately from your other rewards, as we have to send it from Australia in August after we get back from GenCon (although, GenCon pickup is available).

We will cover the shipping costs for the items in this pledge. That will save you $30 to $50, depending on where you are.

ADD ONS

You can include additional Add Ons with this pledge, and those Add Ons will be charged shipping at the normal rate, and sent via our regular fulfilment. So, you'll get two shipments, your regular items in late July, and your limited items in late August.

Pledge unlocked tomorrow

The Emperor pledge level will go live tomorrow, here are your local times: 

Thu 8am AEST - Melbourne
Wed 11pm - London
Wed 6pm - New York
Wed 3pm - Seattle

Sorry for the early start Australia and the late finish London, but that's about the best time zone that is fair to all.

Thanks everyone!

Less than 3 days to go, already? Time flies in the Dragon Empire.

Anything you can do to spread the word in forums or other communities that you might inhabit is greatly appreciated. In particular, folks might enjoy seeing the Dwarven Tower coins, even if they don't play 13th Age.

The Dwarven Towers are now my new favourite gaming coins. Last night I came full circle and played Three Dragon Ante at our regular board game meetup here in Melbourne, using the card mix that Rob recommended on his blog. All the other players were new to the game, and they loved it. Dragonluck was with me on the second Gambit, so I built quite the Dwarven skyscraper.

We can't wait to get these coins to you so that you can do the same!

Best,

Mark. Andre & Penny