Our next tabletop project is launching on Tuesday -- KLAW: WERE-WARS!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Sep 17, 2022 at 11:07:14 AM

Hi, everyone!

Hope you are all doing well and getting ready for a relaxing weekend. We've been hard at work behind the curtains for several months now on what would be our follow-up to CARBON GREY, and while it isn't another RPG (yet), it is based on a fantastic graphic novel series -- KLAW!

If you aren't familiar with KLAW, it is an internationally popular action series by prolific writer Antoine Ozanam and fan-favorite artist Joel Jurion following the adventures of Angel Thomassini as he navigates a secret war between ancient animal spirits and their human were-hosts. It has been described as "Animorphs meets X-Men", but really it is an awesome, exciting, and unique new universe full of so much adventure... 

We've collected the first 12 volumes of the original French series into 3 hardcover volumes in English, with the newest 4th volume debuting as part of this new Kickstarter campaign. But the real meat of the campaign is admittedly the brand new, original card and dice game, WERE-WARS!

KLAW: WERE-WARS is a game of conquest and combat set amidst the secret, ancient struggle between the supernormal animal spirit Totems and their human "Dizhi" hosts. You deploy your chosen Dizhi champion, fortify them with powerful Totems and Items, and pit them against 2-3 other players to see who can become the most powerful Dizhi, eliminating all contenders.

There are millions of possible Champion combinations with dozens of Hosts, Totems, Items, and Instant Action cards. The game has been designed to be easy to learn, but filled with unpredictable variables that can turn the tables in an instant!

The core WERE-WARS game set will include up to 190 cards, 12 custom dice, 30 status marker tokens, and 4 custom “battle fans” designed to hold all of a champion’s cards in an organized hand. 

An Expansion set will introduce the Forgotten Zodiac, offering 12 new animal Totems, 23 new Hosts, 20 new Items and Actions, and 3 new Condition States that add a wealth of new strategic variety to the core gameplay. 

A Deluxe tier will include both sets plus a custom game mat and collapsible faux-leather dice tower!

We will also be offering an array of limited, campaign-exclusive items, such as a series of 75mm resin statuettes of key Were-Warriors that each come with an exclusive new Action Card unique to that animal (but usable by any player in the game). Other campaign bonuses include an array of stretch goals to unlock along the way.

Interested fans are encouraged to pre-register their support to receive an exclusive linen cardstock print added to their pledge for free by visiting https://www.magnetic-press.com/early-access-klaw-were-wars/.

Everything is slated to ship in November/December of THIS YEAR! This isn't one of those game campaigns that take 12-18 months of development and manufacturing... we're ready to go! 😎

So please check it out and make a plan to join us Tuesday for the launch! We're really excited for this one! For those of you waiting for more news about our next RPG projects, stay tuned! There are still many other exciting projects in the works, but if you can help us out by supporting this one, we think you'll be glad you did! 😁

See you Tuesday!

INT'L shipping updates
over 2 years ago – Sun, Jul 31, 2022 at 04:12:21 AM

Hi everyone!

I must first start by personally apologizing for the long delay in updates -- due to little news from the hubs (until just recently; see below), a lot of heavy production deadlines (our next game campaign coming soon), the huge distraction of San Diego Comic-Con last week, and then (failed saving throw): I got COVID. 😓 I'm still holed up in quarantine as I write this, but at least I come bearing news of progress...!

AU/NZ orders have been sent! 

It seems that might be old news and many of you probably already received yours...? We got word last week that Aetherworks turned them around without emailed notifications, so hopefully you all received yours okay. If not, please message us and we can ask them about tracking. If you did receive a notification it would be from [email protected].

Spiral Galaxy EU/UK Address Verification Emails are going out today!

Hopefully, they should start getting them out the door sometime next week! Please watch your inbox or spam folders for an email from [email protected].  

Asia orders from VFI may have also gone out...

We're waiting for some tracking info and verification, but since they are often forwarded through local game stores, some notifications and communication will come from those carriers directly.

As we receive more concrete information, we'll post it here.

So much has been happening behind the curtain here lately, and we realize we've allowed ourselves to fall a bit silent with the updates. We certainly don't want you to think that is any indication that we're moving past CARBON GREY and onto other things... far from it! We've been discussing a number of ideas with the team and the original comic creators, Hoang Nguyen and Paul Gardner, including finishing the original campaign module stretch goal from the original Kickstarter campaign and further developing a serialized series of mini-adventures to start rolling out in 2023. (And yes, the Air Combat expansion is still on the drawing boards, too, albeit with no set dates yet...) Hoang and his team are about halfway done with a new comic mini-series too, which will seed the ground for additional gameplay adventures. I don't know what their timetable is with that, but we will keep you posted. 

CARBON GREY is growing... 😎

On top of that, we have three more games in development using our D6MV system (two of which are based on some cool properties you might very well recognize), so our dedication to the system is growing as well. We hope to announce those later this fall. Our goal is to have 5 different D6MV titles on shelves in the next two years, with supplemental expansions and new titles in development behind them. We know it is a lot to ask of players to adopt a new (or "renewed") system, so we want to be sure that the foundation makes playing any D6 or D6MV game an easy onboarding process. 😊

We're also getting ready to pull back the curtain on a new combat card game based on a cool property with lots of exciting hooks -- it isn't an RPG per see, but we think it is a lot of fun! Look for more news on that in the next few weeks.

Thanks for your support and patience everyone. Lots to come!

Unboxing videos!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Jun 08, 2022 at 10:58:31 AM

Hi everyone!

Hope you all had a great weekend! We heard from many of you that it was particularly great because YOU GOT YOUR PLEDGES IN THE MAIL!  WOOOOOOOT! 

In fact, we got our package in the mail, too! We added ourselves to the order list provided to Quartermaster so that we can experience the process along with you the community, and it was just as exciting for us to unbox, too! In fact, we even took a couple of unboxing videos (hosted by my wife, Liz, with a cameo from our cat, Lando):

Opening the shipment:

Opening the Deluxe Game Box:

Your package contents will, of course, differ depending on your order. I requested a few extra copies of some things (ie. Foes & Factions and Badge of Blood) that I admittedly haven't seen in person (since they were shipped straight to Quartermaster from their respective printer/manufacturer).

Needless to say, we are THRILLED by how everything turned out. And the fact that these are finally arriving in the world and in the wild to be played by excited and passionate gamers like you is a humbling milestone for us. It has been a HUGE education, but we think we did okay for our freshman effort. 😊 With four more games in development right now (two of which will be revealed very soon/later this Summer), we are confident that the process and quality will only get better: manufacturing turnaround, shipping speed, fulfillment routing, etc.

And now, a word about dings and dents...

Now that items are finally on their way and arriving, we must address a topic that will undoubtedly come up: damages. While Quartermaster is an exceptionally professional outfit with a long track record of fulfilling hundreds of Kickstarter campaigns, a good majority of them being large-box games such as this, their expertise and TLC can't account for what might happen to a package once it has left their docks. Each box will be handled by countless individuals between their warehouse and your doorstep, some of them rougher than others, and minor dings and dents may occur along the way.  

QML has done a fantastic job padding each order with gobs of bubblewrap (as you can see in the video above), so the chances of major or "gross" damages should be fairly insignificant and not very likely. "Gross Damages" are defined as: "torn or exposed boards, broken or missing pieces, water damage, pierced or cracked casings, manufacturing defects, or any other disfigurement that prevents the normal usage or function of the item." If anything arrives with "gross damages," those will absolutely be replaced! All you need to do is send photos of the damaged item(s), and ideally also photos of the packaging the order arrived in, to Quartermaster through their website form: https://www.qmlogistics.com/contactUs.html . 

That will generate a unique ticket in their system that you can then use to track your report and resolution. Their customer service is excellent, and while their response time might be faster or slower depending on their project load on a particular date, they will absolutely get back to you to address your situation.

Photo evidence is crucial. Pictures of damaged packaging will help them identify ways to improve packing in the future. Pictures of the damaged items will help them determine if an item qualifies for "gross damage" replacement.

These would be considered Gross Damages:

These would not:

Please also note that the policy primarily applies to purchased items -- freebies and bonuses such as stretch goal prints may not be replaceable unless the damage can be defined as gross. 

If you aren't sure if something qualifies for replacement, by all means -- please report it! We want everyone to be satisfied with their experience! But we ask that you might first please take into consideration the incredible expense and effort shipping demands. Does the blemish truly affect your ability to play the game, read the book, or appreciate the content at the heart of the project? Every order we have to re-ship at our own expense takes money out of the authors' and designers' pockets, not to mention out of our development coffer for future products.  And frankly, there's no way to guarantee that a replacement won't arrive similarly blemished.  This is why there is a threshold to the replacement policy.

As we are a tiny indie team, we want everyone to be happy, but we certainly don't want to go bankrupt in pursuit of an impossible "pristine delivery" promise. 😊 You may or may not have noticed in the videos above that even our box had a minor dent in one corner. (I'm betting most of you didn't notice because frankly, it has absolutely no effect on the experience or quality of the presentation...)

Okay, now that the delicate topic has been addressed, let's all get excited to enter the world of CARBON GREY!!!

Thanks, again, for your patience and wonderful support! We can't wait to hear from all of you! 

Address Verification now closed! Packing has begun!
over 2 years ago – Tue, May 24, 2022 at 01:40:23 AM

Hi everyone!

Quartermaster has finalized all shipping data, with any replies to the AVS (Address Verification) email sent on Friday now being updated in their system. (The messages stated a 72hour window, which from being sent on Friday meant a deadline of today.) If you still need to make changes, let us know but any changes may require putting your order on hold until the rest are out the door first.

(Note: this only applies to domestic/US/Canada/Central+South America -- each international hub will send out their own Address Verification closer to their own final shipping date.)

I am told this morning that they are now assembling the stretch goal bundles, and will immediately start packing orders after that (starting towards the end of the week). Packages will likely go out the door at the beginning of June, but we'll keep you all updated as they offer more concrete estimates.

International hub freight will also (hopefully) depart the states around that same time, which, given transit time plus assembly at the respective hubs, will likely put those orders out those doors in July. We will keep you posted as we receive updates.

Thanks, everyone! It's gonna be a cool summer! 😎

IMPORTANT! Domestic Address Verification Emails going out! Please check your email and respond!
over 2 years ago – Mon, May 23, 2022 at 07:34:46 AM

Hi everyone! Exciting news from Quartermaster this morning:

They are about to send out the AVS (address verification) emails for the US, Canada, and "Rest of World" orders this weekend! (Possibly even TODAY!)

These are your last chance to confirm and/or change delivery address for your CARBON GREY order!

PleasepleasePLEASE watch for an email from [email protected], and be sure to whitelist it so that it doesn't go into your spam folder. (If you're not sure how to do that with your email program, just keep an eye on the spam folder as well...)

If they don't hear back from you, your order will be going to the one currently showing in your Backerkit account. YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR RESHIPPING ANY MIS-ROUTED ORDERS IF YOU DO NOT RESPOND.

Just to further clarify, these are specifically for North American orders (US and Canada) and what they refer to as "Rest of World" -- those are orders that are not serviced by one of the three international hubs in Australia, UK/EU, and Asia. So primarily this would include Mexico and Central/South America as well.

AU/NZ/UK/EU/Asia backers -- your order inventory will be departing for those respective hubs shortly, as soon as QML can book freight. They say it might be next week or the week after, but they are in the process of scouting available options and prices. We'll keep you posted when we have more details on those date estimates.

Woohoo! They're getting so close you can almost smell 'em! 🤩