Character Collections for TFT - on Kickstarter Feb 19 to Mar 9

[DouglasCole]

The Character Collection volumes provide ready-to-play, rules-compliant TFT characters for use as hirelings, rivals, extras, or even pre-generated characters. They're definitely useful for when an adventure or encounter calls for opposition you haven't prepared in advance...or when the GM needs a little creative inspiration.

The campaign launches Friday, Feb 19 at 10am with three volumes:

• Character Collections 1: Experienced Adventurers provides 20 ready-to-use adventurers of various point values.
• Character Collections 2: Rookies contains 40 starting characters ranging from 30-33 points.
• Character Collections 3: Bandits and Outlaws ambushes you with 72 unsavory individuals . . . or perhaps they’re just misunderstood?

The campaign launches with these three volumes, but there are three more planned as stretch goals. These volumes (Wizards, Merchants and Caravans, and Pirates and Sailors) unlock as the number of backers that join the campaign at the $10 or more reward level hit certain levels. The PDFs of these books are added to your pledge rewards as the campaign succeeds!

Please join Gaming Ballistic in making the Character Collections project successful!

[DouglasCole]

FUNDED on the First Day!!

[larsdangly]

Congratulations!

[DouglasCole]

A comment from The Fantasy Trip Discord Channel was too good to not repost. So here, with permission from the poster, is a bit of love for "Character Collections for TFT"

Originally Posted by Moonglum

"It is so great that we are going to see these materials somehow, by hook or by crook. I'm sure the markers will be a cool addition, but the character volumes and cards will make a huge difference at the table. When it comes to these sorts of materials, the key idea is the old Stalin quotation: "quantity has a quality all its own". 10 character cards is a novelty. 100 character cards is a resource. Hundreds of character cards is a functionally infinite support for nearly any kind of TFT game experience you can imagine. And the volumes let you use those cards as either a simple stat block for a 'drop in' friend or foe in an encounter, or as the starting point for a fully fleshed out NPC or PC with a lasting role in a campaign. Again, having 10 such things is sort of interesting, but having hundreds opens up limitless possibilities. I'd say this KS has the potential to impact people's play at least as much as DoD did."

Just to emphasize some of this, here are the potential card counts if we hit all the goals:
* CC1: 20 cards
* CC2: 40 cards
* CC3: 72 cards
*5PJ 63 cards
* MPJ: 204 cards in three decks
* CC4: 40 cards
* CC5: 64 cards
* CC6: 72 cards

[DouglasCole]

Status and Progress

Character Collections for TFT funded in nine hours, and we are currently

• 27 backers from the first stretch goal of making character cards for CC1
• 177 backers from unlocking CC4: Wizards
• 377 backers from unlocking CC5: Merchants and Caravans
• 677 backers from unlocking CC6: Pirates, Raiders, and Sailors

Over the last two days, we've averaged 20 backers per day; that strongly suggests that we can hope the first stretch goal should fall today or tomorrow.

The last two look far away...but if we continue on the pace of roughly 20/day through the end, with no pickup, we'll hit 600 people. That means only 100 of the 268 who are following but not yet pledged would need to come over...and that's on pace for the current conversion rate of the project.

BiggerCake seems to think we'll surpass 700 handily.

Finally, expect to see a few podcasts and some larger marketing reach in the next week or so.

Make the Most of the Post

Increasing the reach of the project is key. The more see it and hear things about Gaming Ballistic and the products that - thanks to projects like this one - we have created the more we can lean on the stretch goals.

Yesterday I either made or replied to posts in three different large RPG forums. There are also facebook posts and twitter tweets that can be seen and reshared or commented on. Every time that happens, the network grows and the number of backers grows also - creators get the stats and can see it happen!

• A Post on RPG.NET started by woefulhc
• Woefulhc throws down again on the r/rpg reddit
• A post on ENWORLD
• Responding to a comment by Moonglum on RPGPUB
• A Facebook post on the Gaming Ballistic page
• A tweet by me
• The video stream by Nerdarchy

More Perilous Journeys: Arriving

Mostly on Facebook, but I've seen other places as well: More Perilous Journeys is very nearly finished fulfillment, with 32 packages still "in transit" within the USPS, 2 out for delivery. I'm still waiting to hear about the Royal Mail DDP program, which covers 17 packages bound for the EU.

[DouglasCole]

Unlocked! First stretch goal at 350 backers

I'm callin' it. We've unlocked the goal!

That means that the 20 characters from CC1 will get their own card deck. 20 cards, in Decks of Destiny format.

If we unlock CC5 at 700 backers, which has 64 counters in it, I'll fill up the second sheet with the counters from CC1: Experienced Adventurers. Waste not, want not!

[DouglasCole]

The Character Collections for The Fantasy Trip campaign has about a week to go. There’s enough information to make some adjustments to the campaign structure to make things a bit more convenient.

This is taking the form of new pledge levels which combine physical and PDF rewards into packages. There are now Print + PDF “one-click” reward levels for those who want physical books along with your digital rewards that are paired up with the existing four PDF-only pledge levels.

I’ve added a retail tier that is five copies each of physical books only, no cards or counters.

Finally, there are two tiers for those who are looking to go big. The All the New Things level assumes you have the books from both previous Perilous Journeys campaigns, and the original counter and card sets from Five Perilous Journeys…but want to catch up with everything that’s new since then. EVERYTHING OLD AND NEW is for those who want everything GB has done for TFT in one click.

What about the CC4 through CC6 stretch goals? As they fall, these products will be added to the appropriate reward levels at no change in reward price.

The New to TFT! pledge reward also benefits: As CC4 through CC6 are unlocked, you get those as well in Print and PDF!

The campaign can’t anticipate all possible combinations, but this should cover the big ones. If you’ve already pledged to a digital level, but the campaign ends before you can come back to adjust…don’t worry: You can switch freely in the Backerkit phase!

[DouglasCole]

Character Collections: Final Hours


After funding in only nine hours, the Character Collections project is entering it's final two days. We passed the first stretch goal very quickly, and are rapidly closing in on the second at 500 backers.

The first three books are frighteningly close to done already. I've made the inside covers the repository for "print-your own" counter sheets, so that no one has to buy something separately to have the ability to print counters. I have to go and put some labels on them, to make them easier to use on the battle-mat, and a few can use a bit of line-work to make sure they're clear at 25mm x 25mm scale.

We're closing in on 500 backers, at which point we add Character Collections 4: Wizards to the roster of books. So if you're in at the PDF only levels, you get four books instead of three.

And if you're in at the new Print+PDF levels...you ALSO get the Wizards book along with your pledge for no extra charge. That was a late-breaking addition.

Pledge Levels Added

In case you missed them, I went back and added some Print + PDF pledge levels, as well as an All the New Things and an Everything Old and New pledge.

Note that All the New Things includes counters...and as of this moment, the CE-Mark requirement for import means I can't offer them. I'm going to work like crazy to fix that in the coming week. I have some names and companies that are going to be hearing from me tomorrow.

All of these new pledge levels "grow" as the stretch goals are unlocked. If we pull a Minnesota Miracle and unlock the last two books, then both print and PDFs are added to those pledges, and the decks and counters are added to the All the New Things and Everything Old and New.

Please Spread the Word

As the campaign closes, it's still not too late to impact the outcome. Sharing the link for the campaign, or this update, on Twitter, Facebook, RPG.net, Reddit, or any other platform of which you're a part can make a big difference. As my swimming coach used to say: "You pull even harder at the end!"

And then we'll take a breather, and I'll get the Backerkit surveys ready. That's when you can choose any a la carte items you want, upgrade your pledge level if you like, and shipping (and VAT for customers outside the USA) charges are assessed. In a real way, that's where the real decisions are made, so look for that survey and fill it out quickly!

Finally, the PDF portion of this campaign is going to happen very quickly. So you won't be waiting long.

[DouglasCole]

Character Collection PDFs have been Distributed

As was foretold in the days of yore, 2,880 long minutes ago, orders for those with completed surveys have been locked, and cards charged.

I also sent out PDFs for everything ordered to date.

If you're one of the fewer than three dozen people who have yet to complete your survey, you'll get your PDFs more or less as soon as you do (I might have to manually send them, but I'll be checking regularly so there won't be much of a delay there).

Errata

Now that the files have gone out, there are something like 550 more pairs of eyes (give or take) on the books. This gives all sorts of possibilities for finding errors I and the preview team missed.

Find one? Great. Submit them here. ONLY submit them here. If you do not submit them here, they will not get the attention they deserve. PLEASE.

However, not everything qualifies as an error.

What does?

• Clarity or Wording: This is really for things that are truly baffling. "Could be better" or "I prefer it another way" are not errata. "I have no idea what this means" is. Grammar mistakes that are not related to deliberate style choices go here too.
• Formatting Error: A lead-in title is not bolded. A spell or talent name that's not in a list of such things is not bolded. A title is not formatted as a title. Movement not giving Base (Adjusted) MA (such as MA 8 instead of MA 10 (8) for someone with Leather Armor).
• Rules Mistake: Misapplication of the enchantment rules. Giving someone a steel sword when they're a wizard who expects to cast spells. The wrong
• Trait, Ability, or Stat error: Things like "this Talent requires IQ 13 or DX 12 and the character doesn't have that" is an out-and-out mistake. "More Talents than IQ allows" is NOT a mistake, as you can do such things with experience. PLEASE make sure you double-check your own work before you jump on these, remembering some IQ/Talent combinations give free languages, etc. Also not a mistake is "I don't like this talent combination" or "this is not an optimized combat monster." That wasn't the point of the books!
• Typographical Error: Spellng. Lettre transposition in teh middle of a sentence. Double periods qualify..
• Other: Catch-all.

PLEASE note that "I would have done this differently" is not errata.

Timing

Now that order quantities have been more or less settled, it's time for me to begin the manufacturing process.

• Counter manufacturing will begin right away. I'm going to start preparing these sheets today.
• Book finalization: I'm going to allow 7-10 days for errata checking. Then I'll finalize the books, update the tag date, distribute final copies. At that point, I'll also start listing PDFs for sale and begin printing orders in the USA and the UK.
• Card Printing: Once the books are done, I transfer that information to cards, ensuring that the fidelity from book to card is perfect.
• Once the cards and counters start to roll off the production line, samples will be diverted for EN71 testing in various places. I expect that to take a few weeks. Hopefully no problems, but if there are, I'll let you know. It only impacts not-the-USA distribution.

As I understand precise fulfillment dates, I'll let you know!

Pre-Orders Still Open/Saying Nice Things

I'm only viable if my customer base believes in me. If you like the books, I would take it as a kindness if you say nice things about them in places people will see. Facebook. Twitter. Various RPG sites and forums. It all helps.

Thanks! We're not done yet...but this is (as a guy in an Alliance-Friendly bar on U-Day once said) "an aspicious day."

[DouglasCole]

Progress

Update on moving from PDF stage to physical stage.

Backerkit
We're down to 17 people who have yet to fill out surveys; a partial handful of those are "No Reward" or "Follow the Campaign" backers who will never do so, as well. So we're about 97 practical completion here. PDF rewards have gone out, and I've received about a dozen errata reports that I'll be looking into in a few days.

Counters
I've also been working on templates for the counters. I was really worried that this would be a problem...but Affinity Publisher to the rescue. I think I'll be finishing the CC4 sheet today, just having to put more labels on the counters, and ensure that I understand how things get printed so that they work. Even so, I feel I have a solid way of organizing these for relatively easy output...and the labels that I need should be able to be printed right on the cardboard.

Today I expect to hear from my testing lab about what additional labels are required.

But basically, today will be a "replication day." Go through CC2 and CC3, then the five sheets of counters for each of 5PJ and MPJ.

Once labeling and layout are done, I'll kick off manufacturing. I think I'll be ordering 125 sets of these things each.

Books
The first thing is a right-away thing: How many copies of old volumes do I need, and do I have them on hand? If I've got them, that's that. If not, I can bring them in from storage, and I'll kick that off now. The only one I might NOT have seems to be Vampire Hunter Belladonna...but I only need 40-42 of the highest volume older books. I know I've got most of that. I also need a new on-hand report from my UK fulfillment company. As long as I have 2 books of the older stuff...I'm safe.

Once the counters are done, I'll process errata on the books. Then output new versions for both PDF and output finals for print, and get the three new books printing (I've got more than sufficient stock on hand for CC1).

Cards
The last step is cards. Taking the information from the More Perilous Journeys books and turning them into decks will be the longest part of that. The books I planned ahead. But I can kick off what I need there, and grouping things properly simplifies the process.

Testing
Somewhere in all this I pull out samples for testing. I should find out more about that soon.

Schedule
A good question. I hope to have the counters into manufacturing by the end of the week, the books ordered by the beginning of next week, and the cards finalized and ordered by the end of the following week. Hopefully that means - even with delays - all manufacturing will be underway by mid-April, and everything will be in-hand and staged for fulfillment by mid-May. Then pack and ship. So mid-June is the target "all done" date at this point. That's rather better than October (original "PDF in hand" date was June).