Up Your Game with Custom Dice!

Update #19: Moving Forward!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 11:43:08 PM

Hi, all. 

Thanks again for your wonderful support of this campaign!! Because of you, good things are in motion!

I hope that you and your families have been staying safe and are weathering the pandemic storm. We will get past it, but I know there have been, and likely will be some more ripples, both personal and business-wise - some bigger than others - but yes, we'll get past it. I know all of us have been impacted, even if we don't know anyone personally who has been directly affected. My heart goes out to those who have had a rough time.

As promised, I'm not going to inundate you with emails about our progress. When there is something to tell, I'll post a Comment in the main Comment section. When I've done that a few times, or if it's something more pressing or big, I'll create an Update. Lots going on, so this is a big update.

Dice Designs: I've finished prepping all of the dice designs that have been unlocked thus far and they are now at Q Workshop. They have passed along the artwork to their team for review (The Overkill, Sky Ark and Stargate dice are ready for production as I have already made prototypes of them, of course.) I'm waiting to hear back on the new designs. That will take some time. There's usually a tweak here or there that they want me to make to ensure they can get paint into every nook and cranny. 

Factory Status: My contact there has assured me that Q Workshop is faring well and are ready to, ahem, roll. With the pandemic going on, there may be some hiccups, and I'm waiting for them to confirm turn around times and such. So far, so good!

BackerKit: I'm still setting up shop there. It's super time-consuming, especially for a campaign as flexible as this one, with so many options at every reward tier (and more coming, due to BackerKit's own flexibility.) And I'm new to it, as well, so it will take some time to get everything set up. They seem to handle Add-Ons really well, with the ability to select how many dice you want in that Add-on. Oddly, they aren't set up that well - yet - for selecting number of unique dice in the actual Reward Tiers (they say it's coming at some point, but I wouldn't hold your breath just yet.) So, since some of you have more than a handful of dice to pick, I've been struggling over a way to make it easier for you. For those at the lower tiers, you will get 1 question per die asking you exactly what you want. But if you want 2 red Overkills, for example, that would be 2 questions. My other option is a Free form question, which is basically me asking you what you want and then I'll put it together manually, so I'll do that for the higher reward tiers. 

Shipping Conundrum: As some of you may recall if you read my info on shipping or other comments, mid-campaign - we had to make some changes, and may need to make more regarding how the dice are shipped. We stand by Friendly shipping, of course. None of this is something to worry about, but there are some things that need sorting out. I had originally stated that we hoped to use a particular shipper and I had a deal with them to move forward. Halfway through our campaign, they dumped a brand new, and very expensive fee on us that was meant to discourage us from moving forward, as they said they wanted to focus on only mega campaigns. So, I scrambled and settled on another well-respected shipper - Fulfillrite. 

They've been great thus far, but some of their charges are much higher in a way that is significant to the kind of campaign we ran (allowing lots of options.) Namely, while their other prices and policies were better than the former shipper, their pick cost was much, much higher than the other's. A pick cost is how much they charge you every time they dip their hand into a bag to take out a die to pack it. Not dice, a single die. If you want 3 red Overkills, they charge you 3 times, even if they pull out 3 at once. That's just the way it is. They also require barcodes on everything. So, I planned to ship all of the dice to me, separate them into different quantity bags, some ones, some sets of red and black Overkills, maybe some bags that have all of the dice in them, etc. then barcode and reship them to Fulfillrite to pick n pack (fewer picks) and ship to you. None of that is cheap, but now I'm wondering if I'll be able to do that in-between step of bagging the dice into various combinations based on everyone's orders?? 

See, as it turns out, BackerKit has their way of doing things and Fulfillrite has their way, even though they said they are compatible. They aren't matching up quite as neatly as I had thought. Having such a flexible campaign is a challenge for them. If I rebag the dice into combinations that reduce number of picks to save you a chunk of money (and me, too, as I was going to eat some of that), it means that when I go to put the barcodes on the bags, they will not match up with the skus BackerKit uses for each die, and I'm not sure there's a work around for that. Fulfillrite agreed during our brainstorming that I should rebag and do the barcodes to save you from having to pay more, but we might not have considered all of the variables, and there are a lot more unlocked dice now, which means more potential picks, and a high percentage of International backers, too, and I'm thinking the way Fulfillrite and I discussed may not work well. I'm going to be contacting them today to see if they have any suggestions on how to handle it. 

I'll also be researching how to reduce my costs for doing all of the freight and shipping myself, including Friendly shipping, because if I did that, I would lose their shipping discounts and their management overseeing all of the freight, customs/VAT, etc. - stuff they are experts on. That's a ton more work for me, and more research (I'll have time as the dice are being reviewed and made, but it's going to be a lot harder on me than I had researched and planned due to being forced to switch shippers, and since the campaign grew 1000+% percent in size.) If Fulfillrite and I can't figure out a better solution to ensure this all works with me rebagging to keep the costs down, I'll end up shipping directly to you from home (hiring customs broker and freight forwarder, etc.)

I'm going to hold off on finalizing BackerKit until I know for sure, because if I do ship myself, I'll have to seek out online shipping methods to reduce cost, (still spending more on shipping I imagine), but save a bunch on picks, so it will change the numbers and layout of the store somewhat. Again, nothing to fret over, and maybe between Fulfillrite and I we can figure it out, but if you have suggestions, I'm all ears! 

Stripe: Kickstarter/Stripe informs me that there are 15 outstanding credit cards that need attention to finish processing the campaign. Well, 15 isn't bad considering these are crazy times and we have over 500 backers. Kickstarter has a deadline for updating cards, so please double check that your card cleared, or whether it needs the expiration date updated. Please feel free to contact me, as always, with any questions or concerns. Even after all of the cards are processed, Kickstarter/Stripe takes a bit of time wrapping up the account before handing the money over for me to turn around and do the same with Q Workshop.

Soon, you will be able to provide your final dice selections, and enter your shipping address in BackerKit. (Kickstarter didn't provide address, since shipping is charged post-campaign.) I will send you an invitation when that is all set up. Hopefully in the next week or so.  

 New Stretch Goals: As you can see from the pic above, we still have several dice that are locked. The good news is BackerKit allows me to create Stretch Goals, which I've done. Instead of being based on funding directly, they are set up according to minimum dice needed to place an order with Q Workshop. If you pledge for them, you will only be charged if we reach the quantity goal before the deadline (we have to use a deadline in order to make the dice in time to ship with the rest of your dice. Otherwise it will cost you more to ship two separate orders to you, which none of us want. So, yes, a deadline will be in place. 

I will look into what is possible after the deadline ends for dice that aren't unlocked in our New Stretch Goals (so I can place our order in time with Q Workshop.) If you do want any of the locked dice, I would be sure to pledge for them. My guess is that BackerKit will cancel any new pledges for Stretch Goals if they don't get unlocked in time. I'm not trying to push the Stretch Goals. I'd love to see those dice made, but you either want them or you don't. Whatever you want to do.

It might be possible to run new Stretch Goals after everything is locked down, especially if I end up getting a long-term store (still not sure about that, due to expenses.) I'm not sure how they handle pledges post cut off. I'll have to do research. Otherwise we'll have to wait a year or so for a future Kickstarter. Ideally any dice you want that are still locked will get unlocked in time. Now, if you return later to the pre-order store to place an order for Stretch dice or other dice, that's another story, but at least the shipments being separate and with a chunk of time between them would make it easier for that second shipment charge if you go that route. 

Add-Ons: Those of you who wanted or now want to get more dice than the base tier you selected can do so by adding additional reward tier(s) as Add-Ons using your special discount pricing shown in the Kickstarter. I will also include individual dice as Add-Ons for those of you who want just one more. They will not be at your discount price, however, but some of them will be cheaper than your discount (I'm looking at you d6s and d4.) Worst case scenario, if you wanted only d6s (the d4 is currently locked), you could swap out your reward tier for store credit and pick up more d6s, if that is desireable. If you didn't add additional funds during the campaign, that's okay. You can take care of that in BackerKit.  

Good stuff ahead. Hang in there, all, and stay safe!
      Bob
      P.s. As ever, the Comment section is open, And my doors are always open, too. If you have a question, concern, ideas, whatever - I'll be more than happy to chat with you! 

Update #18: We Did It! Final Vote of the Campaign!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 09:11:38 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Update #17: Big News and Bigger News -- Very Time Sensitive!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 06:42:50 PM

This is a quick Update, but a big one and as it says, very time-sensitive. I blew the doors off of the Harbinger and now I'm doing it to the campaign!

The campaign ends in less than 2 hours. We are very close to smashing the 7th Stretch Goal. I'm fairly confident we'll make it as we are getting several backers per hour, and we've got bunch of exotic, very cool dice. But I'd like to kick things up a notch. (I save money not unlocking dice, just so you know - at least I do if you don't buy huge sums of dice like on some other dice Kickstarters. Large numbers of backers and fewer dice = a chance for profit. Each new die increases the odds that I will have to dig deeper into my pocket than I already have been. But here goes . . .

Big News: If you unlock Stretch Goal #7, I'll include the Apocalypse Rising series in the vote. We're still only unlocking 1 die, but now all locked dice in the entire campaign are available for voting, which we would do after the campaign ends!

Bigger News: With all the chaos happening in the world right now, I figure we could all use some good news. Granted, compared to peace and good health, dice don't mean much, but I'm just trying to bring a little sunshine here. 

Several of you and some off Kickstarter have asked for both the Overkill D6, Underkill D6 and the Apocalypse Rising series. I'm not sure just how many of you want them, but I think they all deserve to be made. They are in a word, awesome! Now, I can't afford to make them all. Maybe later, but not at the moment. I'm sure not every one of you wants every one of them, but if you guys push us past the $8,000 mark AND to 500+ backers, I'll do something else special for you:

I'll unlock 2 dice myself: Overkill D6 in Black and Underkill D6 in Black!

Sound good? Not much time left, but there's enough. Be sure to tell your friends so we hit 500. I'm taking a risk here investing in dice without a commitment from you as to how many you want, and quantity directly affects my personal price (not yours), but I just want to say thank you for being so awesome during this campaign! I've met a lot of neat folks and many of you have been asking for these since the beginning, so let's do this!

'Nuff said. Cheers! --Bob

Update #16: A Quick One and Time-Sensitive
over 4 years ago – Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 11:27:50 PM

Hi, gang. Someone in the comments mentioned that there are so many dice that it seems we would have a hard time unlocking both the Overkill D6 and Underkill D6, not to mention all the other dice. We have many unlocked, but I'm seeing a lot of interest in those two dice in particular (from a few different locations, including here on Kickstarter, PMs and Facebook.) 

I have offered a Social Stretch Goal before. We ended with 20 shares out of 80 needed to unlock a die, but only a handful of you responded, and we have quite a few more backers now. Here's what I posted in the Comments this morning:

"If you guys wanted to start a new one right now - well, we've got 469 backers so far and growing - I'm  game, but you would have to act on it right away, and we'd need to end it tomorrow morning at 10 am PST so folks would have some time to react.  It's tight, but 80 shares among 469 backers on Facebook, Twitter,  Reddit, Instagram, wherever - that's very doable! It's just a matter of you guys wanting to. I think we'll unlock Stretch Goal #7 before the end, and together with a Social Stretch Goal, that would enable us to  unlock 2 dice - maybe an Overkill d6 and an Underkill d6, if that's what you all want. It's up to you! The offer stands. Spread the word!"

If you decide to participate, now's the time! It only takes a few seconds to post a campaign link (and hopefully a picture of some of the dice to maximize impact. Here's a handy post with pics, but there's plenty of art floating around to share if you want it.

https://www.facebook.com/QTGames/photos/a.477802412254885/2780709495297487/?type=3&av=148945685140561&eav=AfbQBp50R7z1O1JeokAu_rpo4Gvq3vINne3BAlo_YHe26TdgttSCn33Bg-Eh5bukUMc&theater

A post with a pic and a link pointing directly to the campaign would be even better.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/qtgames/overkill-dice

Just post in the Comments where you posted so that I can count them (I will also be looking online, but better safe than sorry.) Again, this is here if you want a fast, and easy way to unlock another die (and it will help unlock yet another die. We'll hold voting after the campaign ends, if needed, so everyone can vote.

Cheers! --- Bob

Update #15: Good news!
over 4 years ago – Mon, Mar 16, 2020 at 11:21:07 PM

QT Games just blew the roof off of the Harbinger - wow! I was brainstorming and came up with some small, but powerful improvements to the die!!! It's still the same wonderful Harbinger many of you fell in love with. It's still the official gaming die of QT Games, but now it has more potential than ever before! 

Originally, 3 faces displayed the same skull —now each of those faces displays a skull with a different number of slashes (with a tip of the hat to the Apocalypse Rising die, which is still amazingly cool in its own way.) And the 3 faces with identical triskeles now display 3 subtle variations. What this means is now there's way more options on how you can use the Harbinger in games. It was already an extremely useful die, and now it has even more possibilities in a wide variety of tabletop games! Check it out! 

More Dice? There are about 44 hours to go before the end of the campaign. You guys have all been wonderful and I'm blown away! We had well over 600 folks who asked Kickstarter to remind them about the campaign in the last 48 hours and many of them have come to back. That's encouraging! I'm sure more will back in the next 44 hours. I continue to reach out as well. If you would like to see more dice unlocked, I encourage you to share the campaign link (and if you include a picture from the page, I'm sure that will help very much—it's a win-win for all of us!)

I'm sure we can smash the current Stretch Goal. We're well on our way! If we all share a little, I bet we could unlock two custom dice before the doors close. There are still some really amazing dice waiting to be unlocked!

After the Campaign: QT Games is a small publishing company that is still an unknown, so our budget is very small (hence coming to Kickstarter), so what we don't unlock during this campaign will likely stay locked for quite some time. I'm not even sure how long we'll sell the dice following the Kickstarter, except perhaps the Harbingers, since we'll be using those in many of our games. We don't have an online store—yet—but we will use BackerKit's storefront for a time.

Because we have many creative irons in the fire, including numerous novels and a pile of dice, board and roleplaying game designs waiting their turn in the spotlight, I'm not sure yet when we'll run another Kickstarter. Almost certainly not this year. Hopefully next year! We still have a few designs we haven't revealed yet, and we want to unlock whatever wasn't unlocked during this campaign, next year, if you guys still want to.

That said, . . .  if this campaign ends really, really well and/or our Pre-Order store does very well after the Kickstarter ends, we might be able to sneak out 1 more die. I'll have to crunch the numbers after I see the dice totals for each type, which greatly affect how much I'll pay for manufacturing each of the dice. I really cut prices to the bone to help fund this, but there might be a little wiggle room if the dice quantities go high enough to get better discounts from the factory. Time will tell.

NEW DICE GAME!  I finished the Alpha version of Triply, a Dice Game of Epic Combos! I've played it several times using mockups. I know you can't play it yet because you don't have the Harbingers, but it should give you a fun taste of what you can do with these cool dice in a tabletop game, and if you snag some Harbingers in the campaign, you'll be able to play it when you get the dice! While the pdf is only the Alpha version, I'll keep polishing it and it should be solid by the time the Harbingers are in your hands! 

As I mentioned awhile back in the Comments, I'm also working on another board game, and before the dice get into your hands, I may have yet another Print And Play board game for you. It's a very cool design, but if it proves too difficult or expensive to put together using your home printer and craft supplies, I'll probably release a different Print And Play game, instead, that is easier for you to assemble. 

I've been designing games for decades and plan to take the best of those, plus some new ones and publish them at some point. I'll make Print And Play versions and put them up for free whenever I can. As long as your email address is up to date on Kickstarter, you'll be able to get my Print And Play updates—all Free!!

New PDF:  If you haven't checked out the Overkill pdf (which also works well with the Overkill) a link to that doc is on the main page of the Kickstarter and has plenty of fun ways you can use the dice. I've just finished a similar pdf for the Harbinger! It includes a mini gambling game and magic item! 

You can find all of the pdf links on the main page (I moved them to just below the Stretch Goals (which I know are long. Just look for the Cosmoverse Ogre.)

That's all for today. Thanks!!! Let's smash another Stretch Goal!             :) Bob