As many of you are already backers of Whisper & Venom you will be pleased to know that I will start shipping rewards tomorrow, I am very confident all of you will be satisfied with the end product. Through little fault of my own I missed the ship date for the primary reward by a week :/. Sorry about that, I have an explanation that will please you immensely if you keep reading…
As you can see from the previous post once the backer rewards are shipped I am going to start selling a limited number of boxed-sets which comprise a ‘retail' version.. I made this thread because I wanted offer some details about a special edition I felt I should offer here first before I blitz ads on my social networks.
A very limited number of the high-level Kickstarter reward tiers (minus a few KS exclusives) are going to be offered up to followers of my facebook page/G+ Circles by this weekend or the beginning of next week. As the Acaeum is where I got (by far) the most support I wanted to post an offer here for anyone interested. Especially if you took a pass the back in June. Kickstarter being what it is I understand any hesitancy on anyone's part to put money into a first time creator's project. Well, if it makes any difference, its finished now and I have a very small number of ‘limited edition' boxes that closely match one of my highest pledge reward levels and I am pricing at my cost to any of you that are interested.
In 3 days (when I have better counts of my first print books with set-aside copies for mail mishap and what-not) I will be offering a basic boxed-set bundle designed for retailers. These are still limited by how many boxes remain but will be fundamentally different from what I am offering to you guys vis a vis the quality of the printed books and the very low possibility of most of the extras being reprinted. In order to get them to retailers, even considering my humble count of FLGSs that will be carrying it, means holding the costs to a level that frowns on small print runs. These copies will be nice but the ones I am offering up now are significantly better.
Here is an example of what I mean…
Last week I was forced to choose between shipping 30 days late and remaining on budget or shipping this week at significant expense. Between being loathe to ship late and being in love with printed copies of games, I decided to focus on what mattered when I started this project- making the product I wanted to buy. Something deluxe that included everything an old-school adventure could have including unique figurines for the encounters. I did not see something like this being produced by anyone- at least not by anyone sane. Although I suspected it before, I know now, unequivocally, why they aren't being made…
It is really hard and really expensive
. Especially mass market quality prints of the books.
On top of boxes, awesome art, maps, figurines, posters and as much nostalgic
RPG paraphernalia as I could fit in a box, backers (though they don't know it yet) are now also getting the highest quality books I could get printed in the Southwest. Even if I write another huge project I won't be reprinting books of this quality. Unless some huge nerd trust fund decides to become Lesser Gnome's patron or it sets the wider
RPG market on fire- chances of either of these happening approach zero
Most Kickstarter Projects like mine (100+ pages with at least 2 books) get printed by huge
POD shops (like Lightning Source) that provide books for a fraction of the price of other, higher quality, options. My original plan was to print Whisper & Venom through them (which would have been about $7 dollars give or take a nickel) until they basically blew me off as an "economy level customer" and explained that I would have to wait until New Years. Even after weeks of dealing with them.
Fed up, I looked for other alternatives. I found a commercial print shop and bindery a couple hours from me. This option was a huge increase in price. Thankfully at that price the quality of the final project is vastly improved in both look and feel of the text.
Both of Whisper & Venoms books (the 48 pp 6x9 Setting Guide and the 90 pp 8.5x11 Adventure) are printed on 70lb gloss paper with 100lb glossy cover stock (the main book has a color interior as well). The quality of the proof surprised me and sealed the deal. Whisper & Venom was going to have a true first print. After I fulfill the rewards for this portion of the KS, I will have a few of these books left. Not sure how many it will be (I am offering the backers who chose the Pathfinder option a chance to switch as I will not be able to print it like this twice), but it enough to match them with the remaining non-exclusive rewards I have in my ‘warehouse'.
All through the process, when a cost or decision needed to be made between quality and prudence, I chose to go with quality and I think it shows. When I exclude sunk costs and expenses not directly related to manufacturing (not to mention the time spent, at the end, by three of us nearly full-time) the price per unit with everything listed below hit slightly above the price point for backers at the $175 level. I hope to make some of this up at conventions and in the stores that will be carrying a softcover
POD version. Whisper & Venom is my baby and I want these limited editions to go to a good home.
Here is almost all of what you get (the setting guide, monster cards, 11 x17 poster are not pictures. These and a couple of the figurines arrive tomorrow morning via
UPS)…
The Boxed Game:
2 Books-
The Adventure Book (Color, 90 pp perfect bound on 70 lb paper)
The Setting Guide (6x9 48 pp B&W on 70lb paper)
Signature Chessex Dice (The most expensive ones they sell in a wholesale pack)
A BW Map Booklet (similar to
T1-4 etc)
An army of figurines custom sculpted for Whisper & Venom, including some larger ones. All shipped in retail packaging (as opposed to plastic baggies) and labeled.
A deck of encounter cards (like the old TSR Monster Cards but printed on quality cardstock with UV coating etc.). It was supposed to be six cards total according to the KS stretch goals, but Lloyd Metcalf's Art was so good, that I had trouble choosing. I went ahead and increased the deck to 12 cards without telling anyone.
An 11 x 17 Dual-Sided Color Poster Map. It is the big regional map on one side and the second piece of Alyssa Faden's color cartography on the other.
Plus-
The near Greyhawk-sized (42" x 32") Poster Map shipped separately in a tube. Many of you received one of these last month and except for
USPS woes I have not heard anything but absolute praise for them. These were commission from Alyssa Faden, who is an amazing talent. I am confident other members will back me up on the quality of the print.
A handsome T-Shirt of the highest quality.
A Stitched Lesser Gnome Hat (This may come separate if I run out).
Various SWAG I used during conventions.
And finally…
An original pen & ink from Whisper and Venom by Lloyd Metcalf (if you are already a $175+ backer
PM me, I have one for you as well)
I probably won't be doing my next project in the life-consuming, all-encompassing manner of Whisper & Venom- unless the demand for high-end small press products is larger than I expect. I am immensely proud of the whole thing, especially the writing that John Hammerle and I produced for the text itself. I will be happy to share a PDF of the proofs to anyone who is interested.
As I said Whisper & Venom will be for sale in a number of forms between now and NTRPG Con, but what is left of these copies of the old-school first prints are truly nice enough to justify all of the words above.
If you have any questions
PM me and I will happily answer them.
Zach
