Shipping Update, Survey Deadline, and Pocket Box Games
over 5 years ago – Wed, Jan 23, 2019 at 11:59:14 PM

We have the ship scheduled, the three containers loaded, and we now have an estimated delivery date for when the Legacy Edition will land at our Michigan fulfillment partner's warehouse: March 9th! At that time, packing and shipping of orders will start, with the international rewards packed and palletized first, then distribution orders packed and sent to our primary warehouse in Atlanta, and all U.S. rewards to follow.

If all goes as planned, that puts the rough backer delivery dates at:

• Last two weeks of March for U.S. backers.
• Late April in-store.
• International backers . . . we're still not 100% certain. April delivery should be possible, but it all comes down to how the complexities of international shipping smash into our plans.

As we're finding again and again, delivery international rewards in a way in which backers are not forced to pay customs fees is a complicated process that involves many companies. It is for this reason that we've started to state in recent Kickstarter projects that international rewards are estimated to deliver two months after U.S. rewards. We continue to look for faster and reliable solutions to the international problem; if we find the perfect fix, we'll change our processes.

66 Incomplete BackerKit Surveys

Most of you have completed your surveys. Thank you! The 66 of you who have not completed your surveys, please handle that before January 30. Next week, on the 30, we will issue refunds to those of you who have not completed your surveys and you will receive no rewards and you will be removed from this project.

If you're unsure of whether or not you have completed your survey, you can check your email for BackerKit verification. As stated, most of you have completed your surveys already. It is only a very small percentage of you who have yet to complete your project survey.

Pocket Box Games

In one week, we're bringing the classics to Kickstarter. This new campaign starts with seven games and three Car Wars expansions and, as stretch goals are unlocked, adds even more fun to the campaign. Learn more at the official pocketbox.games website and be ready on January 30; this one's gonna be awesome!

- Phil Reed

Adventures Closes Today!
over 5 years ago – Mon, Jan 14, 2019 at 06:45:17 PM

What a perfect way to start the week! With The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition in the final days of assembly -- the game ships from the factory this week! -- it's great to see so many of you joining in the new Adventures campaign to make that first printed supplement as big as it can be. So far, Kickstarter support has unlocked all but one stretch goal, and we're now less than $3,000 from unlocking the final stretch goal and upgrading the new book to hardcover.

If you're not yet supporting The Fantasy Trip Adventures, this is your last day to join in and help make this collection of five adventures happen. 

And if you are already a supporter of the new Adventures campaign, thank you! You've unlocked a total of eleven new game cards and added two new 9-inch by 12-inch pocket folders to the Adventures package. And, best of all, you've shown us that there is a demand for more TFT support. As you saw in Steve's recent update, more is on the way . . . and all because of you! Thank you.

- Phil Reed

TFT Progress Report From Steve
over 5 years ago – Sat, Jan 12, 2019 at 12:09:54 AM

Time for a general TFT progress report.

tl;dr Things are great!

Oh, okay. More detail.

The Legacy Edition goes on the water next week. Phil’s already posted about his trip to China to keep an eye on things. We’re on schedule, and all of the material looks just like it’s supposed to.

The TFT Companion is all laid out and going through final checking. We’re now wondering if we can find enough vintage material to create a second volume. Old fanzines from the period are getting hard to track down . . .

The Kickstarter for the first TFT Adventures book is going great guns. The $36K stretch goal has fallen and $40K is in range. There are only a few days left on this one, so if you supported the Legacy Edition and haven’t noticed the Adventures project yet . . . here’s a link! Go notice it! Not only does it have five adventures, but it has megahexes and counters for the special terrain and foes.

The next TFT project has not been announced yet, because several possibilities are in development:

• I’ve been spending a lot of time working on a book of monsters.

• We definitely want to do another book of adventures in the same format as the first one. Longer adventures are also a possibility, but they would be different projects.

• I have mostly finished translating the GURPS introductory solo, All In A Night’s Work, to TFT. But I am not certain what we might do with it. 

• There’s also a project under way that will bring you cards. Many, many cards. Some character cards like those in the Legacy Edition (except this time I did orcs), and several other kinds . . . for reference, for randomizing, for other things.

I very much appreciate your continued support as the TFT team charges off in all directions at once in search of adventure!

– Steve Jackson

P.S. For those of you who have not yet watched it, here's an unboxing video that was shared on Facebook yesterday. It's almost an hour because there's a lot inside that Legacy Edition box! -PR

Factory Pics - I Want It All Solutions
over 5 years ago – Mon, Jan 07, 2019 at 02:02:15 AM

When we were at the factory a few days ago (pics posted here), we also reviewed the assembly of the I Want It All shipping carton . . . and had a couple of concerns. The hardcover book and playmats weren't as well protected as we would have liked, so we worked with the factory's team to come up with improvements to the way in which items would be packed inside the final shipping carton.

Today, while returning from the dice factory, David and I got a look at new photos from the factory. The crew at the assembly and packing factory took our feedback, and the detailed discussions we had when we were visiting them on Saturday, and we're now happy with the way in which items will be packed inside the shipping carton. 

A few new e-flute packing materials are being added to the box, and we're moving the Pocket Box game: When you receive your I Want It All shipping carton, the Pocket Box will be inside the storage box that we add back in September (first mentioned here). This better protects everything and illustrates exactly why this trip was important: Being able to point and talk allowed us to solve the issue much faster than if we were trading emails, texts, and chat messages from the other side of the world.

Dice Factory?

Yep, and it is every bit as awesome as it sounds. Watching dice being tooled, molded, tumbled, polished, and inked all in one factory is an incredible experience and every single time we are here, we learn some new trick. All of the dice for The Fantasy Trip are already completed and in assembly, but we did get a chance to see a few different Steve Jackson Games projects in the works, including:

•  Cthulhu D6 Dice Set - These are in the inking stage. That's when the completed dice are inked -- by machine and by hand -- and color added to the debossed areas of the dice. These dice will be shipped to stores later this year, or you can add them to your rewards as part of the current TFT Adventures project that is funding on Kickstarter.
•  Car Wars Sixth Edition Dice - The custom dice for the new edition of Car Wars are almost completed and ready to go. We're making a few small tweaks to the tooling, but the dice will be 100% finished when the factory opens after Chinese New Year.
•  Halloween Dice - We've not yet officially announced a release date for these new six-sided dice. These are the first test shots of the new tool; we'll study these closely when I'm back in Austin and then, once we approve the designs, finalize the release date for later this year.

Any Questions?

As we wait for assembly to complete, and for The Fantasy Trip Adventures project to come to a close, please be sure to let us know if you have any questions about the game. We may not be able to answer every question, but we'll happily provide answers when we have them. Feel free to post here, on our forums, or over on our Facebook page. Thanks!

- Phil Reed

Factory Photos!
over 5 years ago – Sun, Jan 06, 2019 at 01:39:02 AM

Yesterday, David and I spent 15 hours on the road visiting factories and going over current and upcoming projects with the teams in China. The factory tours are always an exhausting process, involving hours of driving, hours of intense oversight and planning discussions, mixed with moments of joy. We had several big projects to address at each stop, but none bigger than getting a look at The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition in the final stages of assembly.

I'm starting the day exhausted from travel, so I'll let the photos talk for us today and close with: Everything is still on schedule . . . and please don't forget to join in on The Fantasy Trip Adventures project today. We're closer to unlocking another stretch goal and adding more character cards to the Adventures book!

- Phil Reed