Return to Dark Tower

Fulfillment Update and Throw a Coin To Your Scion
over 2 years ago – Thu, Oct 14, 2021 at 10:26:16 PM

As is usual these days, I'm mostly here to update on the status of fulfillment. But I also figured I'd show you the coin, since I haven't shown that off yet. I do have the Alliances expansion on its way to me. So I'll work on getting that in the next update.

As far as production goes, things are now moving steadily on the base game with no major hiccups. Panda has also confirmed that all of their skus are ready to get on boats.

Meanwhile, our logistics partner, ARC Global, are working hard to get all the stuff into containers and on some boats. The EVER FRANK, containing the first ~9000 games continues to wend its way toward the US. If you're following along on marinetraffic.com, it is showing an ETA at port of November 1st. It's still in Chinese waters, but it can often seem that nothing is moving for awhile, and then all of a sudden it gets going. Again, as long as things hold and there aren't any bumps in the road, this should get the games to Quartermaster in time to start shipping out to US and Canada backers to receive them by the end of November. Waves 4 and 5 are also tentatively assigned to boats also headed to the US, but we do not have containers yet for them. As soon as those get on the water, we will confirm the ships so you can follow their progress. Because the backer counts for Europe and Australia are lower, it's more important that we try to time those with the other skus from Panda. So I have directed ARC to start hunting for bookings for those shipments to go out next. Again, very tentative, but those could theoretically start heading for their respective hubs in early November. We will look to get all items to VFI for Asia fulfillment after those are scheduled (or if we hit a gap where we are unable to find any space on boats).

I know this part of the process seems interminable. It does for me. That said, I'm more convinced than ever that we have the best logistics partners in the business as the process is merely annoying and not catastrophic like some stories we've been hearing. As always, we appreciate your patience as we continue to -- pardon the pun -- navigate these tumultuous waters.

Finally, it's a little thing, but I thought I'd show you how swanky the coin came out. It's got a great burnished look and good heft.

How To Update Your Address in BackerKit
over 2 years ago – Thu, Sep 30, 2021 at 05:03:24 AM

The question I'm most often asked these days is how do I check or change my address in BackerKit. This update is to walk folks through that process. I'll return to showing off more of the goodies and keeping you up to date on fulfillment when I return from Origins next week. Pardon my messy scrawling, and here we go.

1) Go to the BackerKit website:  backerkit.com 

2) On the landing page, you can log in by clicking on the link on the top right of that page. After you log in, it will take you to your backed projects, where you can select Return to Dark Tower. I'm assuming, though, that you're unsure of your log-in information. In that case, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page, and click on "Find a survey" under the "For backers" section.

2) On the "Find your Backer Survey" page, enter "return to dark tower" in the search bar and click the "Find project" button.

3) This will take you to the Return to Dark Tower survey page. Enter the email address you used in Kickstarter and click the "Get My Survey" button. If you can't figure out the email address you used, you'll need to get in touch with BackerKit customer service to help you recover your survey.

4) This will take you to your order page. Click on the "Edit Your Address" button in the top right in the page.

5) On the Order Confirmation page, click on the Edit Shipping Info button in the top left.

6) On the next page, you can update your shipping address. Then, click the "NEXT" button.

7) Finally, on the next page, click the big green "Place My Order" button.

And you're done! I know it's a bit of a convoluted process, but you should be okay if you follow the steps above. If you have any trouble along the way, please contact BackerKit customer service for help.

You can use this method to update your address any time up until we lock the addresses down. We won't do that until the games get to the fulfillment hubs and shipping is ready to begin. And if you see anyone asking about how to update their address, feel free to just link them to this update. As always, thanks for your patience.

Estimated Sail Dates and a Look at the Art Prints
over 2 years ago – Sat, Sep 25, 2021 at 04:44:17 AM

Just back from Gen Con and heading out to Origins next week, so things are super busy over here. Gen Con was a lot of fun. We ran demos of RTDT from open to close in the exhibit hall and didn't have an empty seat for four straight days. I'm not going to lie: When you put this much time and effort into a project, there is a lot of anxiety about whether folks are going to like it. You sort of lose the forest for the trees. But the response was overwhelmingly positive, and that was deeply satisfying. I even got to play a few games myself after hours, and I'm happy to say I still find it a ton of fun. So that's a good sign. If you want to see another play through, I did a stream on the Gen Con TV twitch channel with Ruel Gaviola and Noir Enigma. They were a lot of fun to play with, so it should be an entertaining watch. Spoiler: They won. For those who are worrying if the game is too easy, I'll mention that they played the scenario we recommend for a first game (Zaida + Ashstrider), and I made sure to give them some key pointers along the way to drive the game to a fun conclusion for the viewers. (They also got crazy lucky on a couple of battles, but that's the way things go some time.)

In the world of logistics, things are moving along. We have not seen any issues pop up in production and have had 6000 more base games through inspection since my last update.  Meanwhile, the first three containers with 9000 base games, are booked on a boat. The EVER FRANK, with an estimated date of departure of October 9 and an estimated date of arrival in port of November 1. If those dates hold, and no other hiccups pop up on the import side, some folks in the US will indeed start getting their games in November. So cross all your fingers.

We are also looking to book containers and passage to our other hubs. As soon as we get dates for those, I will let you all know. This is not a situation where we are doing all of the US first and the other hubs later. We will try to find slots wherever we can to maximize efficiency in completing fulfillment of all backers. As I've mentioned before, this is a complicated game to manufacture and a big box. This necessarily means that the fulfillment window is going to be a lot longer than a typical board game. So, as always, patience.

To update you on the other items, the playmats, sleeves, Coffers, and coins are ready to ship. We are in the process of looking for containers for those as well, likely in a combined shipment of some sort. If we cannot find something quickly, we might end up airshipping the coins, as a lot of folks just got the base game and a coin, and we don't want the coin to hold up any shipments. The Dark Horde and Alliances production is almost done. Apparently Panda had some slow downs that pushed those out. But they should be done in the next couple of weeks. Again, this is not a situation where we will hold up one set of skus to prioritize a particular set of backers. As soon as we can get containers for those, they will go out. So backers who got Azkol's Fortune likely won't be the first to get their games, but they also won't be the last.

One final note before I get onto shinier things: I should be getting the production copy of Alliances after I return from Origins. Once I do, I will do a big update with all the stuff and will try to set up a stream to show off the game play.

And now, onto the art prints. The foil looks amazing and really shows off Qistina's gorgeous art. Enjoy!

Fulfillment Update and a Look at the Card Sleeves
over 2 years ago – Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 11:53:29 PM

We've still got some of the goodies to show you, and today I'll be giving you a look at the card sleeves. But, from here on out, our top priority will be keeping you up to date on how logistics are progressing. So let's start there.

Good news to report: We have 3 containers scheduled to set sail on the EVERGREEN on October 8, headed to the US hub, delivering approximately 10,000 games. As you might expect, given the state of things, this information is subject to change. (This week's article of doom comes courtesy of Ravensburger.) That said, it's a good sign that we've made progress and the dates haven't been pushed too far out. If the schedule holds, that puts the games getting to the US hub in mid-November and shipping to backers in early December. Once the ship sets sail, I'll provide information to track it. And I'll continue to update as we schedule more sailings.

On the homefront, I spent the past weekend at the Dice Tower Retreat, a local mini-convention. I normally get to spend a lot of time playing games and relaxing, but everyone was super excited to play RTDT. I ran 8 games! For those of you worried that the game was too easy, the groups went 1-7, and that win was a pretty epic nail-biter. On the other hand, these folks faced the full wrath of the Tower.

Win or lose, they all had a great time. For my part, it was fun getting to see folks choose different adversaries and main companions and how much it changes the game play. I continue to be wowed by the replayability of this game, and I think you all are going to dig it.

I'll be heading up to Gen Con tomorrow. We aren't planning on actively demoing RTDT at the booth, as we're a bit short-staffed and we'll be showing off Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Vol. 2 and our upcoming KS game, Thunder Road: Vendetta. It's certainly going to be an interesting convention, and we'll just have to play things by ear. In any case, we will have it on hand. If you're coming, please stop by (Booth 929), say hi, and feel free to take a look at it if you like.

Finally, I wanted to show another one of the add-ons you haven't seen yet, so let's have a look at the card sleeves. The quality came out great. They feel really strong. The backs are matte finish and the fronts are glossy, which gives us the best of both worlds for visibility and usability.

A Dark Horde Approaches!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Sep 14, 2021 at 05:45:22 AM

Nothing major to report on the logistics side of things. Our logistics partner is in the process of securing containers but no official sail dates yet. As soon as we get something specific in that regard, I will post an update. The factory did report that it took them longer to ramp up to the full 3,000 units per week, but they should be at that production level by next week. As a technical matter, that probably pushes the whole production schedule back one week. As a practical matter, it doesn't really have an impact since the primary limiter is container availability.

On to some more fun stuff. Our Production Superhero, Lindsay, generally gets all of the production materials first so she can use her powers to identify all the little changes and tweaks that need to be made. So, up until now, she's been "hoarding" the horde. Dark Horde that is. I was thrilled to get a chance to see Lindsay (and Rob) this past week, and she handed it off to me so I could take some photos and show you all how amazing these miniatures came out.

Gird your loins, heroes! Here comes the Horde!