Mass Production Near Finished! Time to finalize Backerkit! Luke Gearing joins TKG!
8 months ago – Thu, Nov 30, 2023 at 06:52:21 PM

Hey gang,

Thanks for your patience on this update! Let’s dive in. 

Mass production will be finished in the next couple of weeks. Approving the files took a little longer than anticipated with our back and forth about the deluxe box and some issues with the files, but it was definitely worth it. Copies are rolling off the line and they look absolutely beautiful. 

Quartermaster Logistics, our fulfillment company, is working with our team right now to get final shipping prices together so that we can add shipping into Backerkit. We’ve timed this to be done just before manufacturing finishes to ensure a smooth transition from production to shipping and fulfillment. 

Once we get those final shipping prices together we’ll add them into Backerkit for backers to pay shipping. We’ll send out an update about this when we do so that you don’t miss it. Once the product is ready to leave our printer we’ll be locking orders, so if tou want to add items to your pledge or change anything, now is the time. If you need help you can always email Tyler at [email protected] and he’ll help you out. 

We built a little buffer time into our last production update, but ate up some of that with our back and forth with the printer. February is still looking to start fulfillment. If customs or freight changes, we’ll let you know. 

On the Orphans front, things are going well and we hope to have that book wrapped in December and released in January! 

And that's all for now! We should see the next update in a couple of weeks, but until then if you have any questions, please reach out to Tyler at [email protected] (however, responses may be slow this particular weekend as he's at PAXU).

Oh! And one quick bit of exciting news, we've officially hired Luke Gearing (Gradient Descent, Wolves Upon the Coast, Fever Swamp) full time as our Lead Writer at TKG. He'll be working on Mothership as well as a few other exciting RPGs we have coming down the pipeline (Father Fog, null.hack, and some others we can't wait to share). This is huge for us as Luke is in our minds one of the absolute best writers working in RPGs today and we can't wait to do amazing work with him. 

Until next time!

Happy Halloween! Deluxe Box Previ
9 months ago – Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 02:17:04 PM

Hey gang,

Happy Halloween! Here's what's going on in the Motherverse:

Mass production is still ongoing. We've had some back and forth with the printers getting the Deluxe Box right, so that one is taking a little longer than expected. That being said I've got a preview copy to show you all and it looks incredible, let's go through it.

The box itself is super high quality with sturdy construction. It has luxurious foil stamp coating on the inside and the outside. It also has a nice UV gloss coating on all the white lettering. This box really stands out on the shelf. The foil has a nice raised texture to it as well.

Inside the box are three wells. The center well houses all eight books that come in the set (The Players Survival Guide, Warden's Operations Manual, Shipbreaker's Toolkit, Unconfirmed Contact Reports, Another Bug Hunt, Dead Planet, A Pound of Flesh, and Gradient Descent) with room for maybe one or two more depending on how much you like to squash your books. There's about a finger's width of space between the books top edge and the box, so you can easily take them out without damaging them.

On the left side is the large compartment (Containment A) with a magnetic enclosure and black pull ribbon. This compartment is large enough to store your pamphlet modules. I haven't tested, but I'm guessing it could hold a dozen at least. It can also hold the larger pawns, or pens and pencils.

On the right side we have Containment B (also with a magnetic enclosure and black pull ribbon) which houses two smaller compartments. One is just big enough to hold your dice. And the other fits the smaller pawns nicely, as well as your other tokens, extra dice, or a pocket pen.

The Warden's Screen and map fold up and sit on top of everything and the whole thing just feels super solid and like it'll last a long time. It's essentially my dream version of the game and I can't wait to get it into ya'll's hands.

Orphans
We've been hard at work on the extra PDF adventure we promised -- Orphans -- written by Luke Gearing. David Wilkie is working on the layout right now and here are a couple of preview spreads for you all. Right now we're getting some mini-maps done, similar to the ones in Another Bug Hunt. We don't have a release date for this yet, but we'll announce as soon as we do.

Also, you may have seen in our last update that we're working on a new social deduction hidden role game -- Werewolf in the Dark! Our link was busted last time, so if you missed out, here's a link to the print-and-play files and where you can sign up to be notified when it launches. This game is the ultimate mash-up between hide-and-seek and werewolf. So if you're a fan if large group games, this is the one for you.

https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/7482f9fb-d1f1-4892-815f-967fa627ec9f/landing

Other than that, we're working on our Stretch Goals, and I'll be putting together a digital asset pack next. Dai Shugars is currently at work on making all our PDFs accessible and interactive, so we'll be excited to release those to you as soon as he's done.

Other than that, if you have any issues, don't hesitate to reach out to Tyler at [email protected] and stay safe out there all you trick-or-treaters! 

Happy Halloween!

Pamphlets are out! Core Set / Storage Box Preview!
10 months ago – Thu, Sep 28, 2023 at 01:43:11 PM

Hey gang,

Manufacturing and mass production have started. We just recently received a fully printed proof of the Core Set and Storage Box and we're expecting a Deluxe Set later today or tomorrow.

We're very, very happy with the Core Set and the Storage Box! There were a few minor errors that needed correction (the Warden's Screen was die-cut to be a Z-Fold rather than a Tri-Fold and UCR's cover had a different coating than the other books), but we've sent those notes in and they'll be corrected in the larger print run. 

But otherwise the books look gorgeous, and so do all the other components. I'm very, very happy with the quality of everything and I'm so happy it's all coming out great.

We started digital distribution on the pamphlets last night, so if you backed at the Megabundle level you should have received a PDF for:

• The Conversion Kit
• Cryonambulism
• Chromatic Transference
• The Hacker's Handbook
• Hideo's World
• The Haunting of Ypsilon 14
• Piece by Piece
• Terminal Delay's at Anarene's Folly

Everyone else should've gotten an updated Conversion Kit, and of course if you added any of these pamphlets on to your pledge you'll have received them as well. If you haven't received your pamphlets e-mail Tyler at [email protected] and he'll get you squared away.

We also have the Module Conversion Kit, which is getting a quick proofreading pass, but below you can see the screenshots of what it is. Essentially this is a listing of all the updated stat blocks in Dead Planet, A Pound of Flesh, and Gradient Descent on one easy pamphlet, so if you have the old 0e modules you can use this pamphlet as your guide. It's also super helpful even if you have the 1e modules since you can just use this pamphlet basically as a reference guide. Once we get that final proofreading done, we'll send the pamphlet out.

What's next?

Well while our printer mass produces the game, we're working with our fulfillment company, Quartermaster Logistics, to get them all the information they need. They'll write us a detailed quote for shipping and handling which we'll then add to backerkit. Once we do that, we'll send out an update requesting payment for shipping, and once that's done we'll lock the pledges in for the final leg of fulfillment. We don't have an exact date on when we're locking pledges, but we'll let you know as soon as we do.

Werewolf in the Dark

If you're a fan of social deduction or hidden role games, then we'll be launching a crowdfunding campaign for our latest game, Werewolf in the Dark, soon. It's essentially Werewolf meets Hide and Go Seek and it's a ton of fun for big groups. Shut Up & Sit Down recently played and had great things to say about it. If you want to follow along and be notified when the campaign goes live, follow this link.  There's a print-and-play copy of the game available at the link so you can start playing right now if you want.

Otherwise, stay tuned for updates on the Module Conversion Kit and how the Deluxe Set is looking. We'll also be releasing a digital asset pack next with printable character sheets, ship sheets, warden's screens, and more! So stay tuned!

Thanks for all your support!

PDFs released!
12 months ago – Wed, Aug 09, 2023 at 11:44:39 AM

Hey gang,

Short update today -- we've released the final PDFs for:

• Player's Survival Guide (PSG)
• Warden's Operations Manual (WOM)
• Shipbreaker's Toolkit (SBT)
• Unconfirmed Contact Reports (UCR)
• Dead Planet (DP)
• A Pound of Flesh (APOF)
• Gradient Descent (GD)
• Another Bug Hunt (ABH)

You should receive an e-mail from backerkit shortly confirming this. Depending on your pledge level you'll receive different PDFs:

• Digital/Core: will receive the PSG, WOM, SBT, UCR, and Another Bug Hunt
• Deluxe/Megabundle: will receive all of them.

If you added any specific book on as an add-on in backerkit, you'll receive that too.

Pamphlets are not going out yet, we need another week or two to get those together, but they'll be coming out soon.

What's next?
We're currently going back and forth with our printer making minor changes to the files to prepare for print and we're getting our final tweaks on the Deluxe Box finalized as well. Here's a mock-up (the box bottom isn't finalized in this render).

But as you can see we've got compartments for pamphlets storage as well as dice/pawn storage as well. The books fit into the center compartment. This will have gold foil stamping and then a UV gloss coat on all the white parts.

We have cleaned up the downloads on backerkit so now you should not receive duplicate copies of any PDFs, and we've removed all the old WIP files as well. If you have any issues, as always, e-mail Tyler at [email protected] and he'll get you all squared away.

Otherwise, we look forward to talking to you all in August with an update on how production is going!

Thanks so much for all your support!

Files sent to print! PDFs coming next week! Updated production timeline!
12 months ago – Mon, Jul 31, 2023 at 12:52:38 PM

Hey gang,

Big news this week as we have finally started uploading files to our printer! We've got information about PDFs and the rest of the production schedule, so let's dive in!

Once our files are uploaded there will be a few days of back and forth between us and the printer as we correct our files for their production process. Usually this is pretty simple, stuff like "can we get the die line for the punchboard as a separate file," or "the bleed is incorrect on APOF, can you update?" that kind of thing. We don't anticipate any major issues there.

This means: we will be sending the final PDFs to backers next week. This includes:

• The Player's Survival Guide
• Warden's Operations Manual
• Shipbreaker's Toolkit
• Unconfirmed Contact Reports
• Another Bug Hunt
• Dead Planet
• A Pound of Flesh
• Gradient Descent
• PDF versions of the Core/Deluxe warden's screens

The pamphlets are being printed with a different manufacturer, so we anticipate sending those out a week or two later once those files are approved.

What's the timeline after that?
Our printer has provided these dates for us:

• Print samples will be made, sent, and confirmed during August.
• We'll be in queue to start printing by the end of August.
• They estimate we'll complete mass production by the end of October (about 6-8 weeks after printing begins).
• Once that happens they'll ship out within a couple of weeks, and are then expected to arrive at our warehouse mid December.
• Because that will be smack dab in the middle of the holiday, we've talked with our fulfillment company and they anticipate beginning fulfillment in mid January to early February 2024.

Phew! So, barring any unforeseen problems, we're about six months away from games being in your hands. We know it's been a long road and we really appreciate your patience as we worked to get everything together. Seriously. We know how agonizing it can be when a kickstarter is running behind, so again: thank you so, so much for supporting us. This project was bigger than anything we'd ever tackled before and we've learned so much from this process. We couldn't have done it without you. 

Here's the last previews we've got before the PDFs  get sent out!

Here's the second punchboard of cardstock pawns! Now with two huge carcinids from Another Bug Hunt and four "anonymous" character in vaccsuits. We're also providing some numbered tokens for keeping track of other NPCs/horrors/points of interest, etc.

We've gone with a super minimal look for our storage box, which is the same dimensions as the core set. One cool thing though is that we're including a sheet of labels that you can slap anywhere to customize how your organize your zines.

So for example: you could have one of our thinner labels on the side, or one of our larger ones to wrap around. We even have a lined label to slap on the back (or front) so you can list what's inside. We're pretty stoked about this one honestly, its exactly the kind of box we'd be using right now to store all our third party Mothership products.

And we've teased some of this before but we've worked the deluxe set to have its own compartment just for storing pamphlets (you can see it on the left side here). 

This means we've got room for the books in the center, pamphlets on the left, and the a compartment for dice and the tokens on the right. The poster map and warden's screen will sit flush on the very top.

Okay that's all for now! Keep an eye out in a week for those final PDFs to be distributed through Backerkit! Thanks again and as always, reach out to [email protected] if you have any questions! We'll have another update later this week when the PDFs go out!