BackerKit Survey Update - Important Fulfillment Information
over 4 years ago – Sat, Oct 19, 2019 at 03:47:22 AM

Hello everyone!

As discussed in our last update, the BackerKit invitations are beginning to go out.  Today, a small sample will be sent - approximately 5% of backers, determined randomly, will receive survey invitations.  This way we can verify that everything is working correctly and make any adjustments that need to be made prior to the full roll out, which will happen on Monday.

The survey will be open for about a month - we'll be locking down orders on November 22nd.

We'll follow up on Monday, once all invitations have been sent, with further details, but for now, if you're one of the backers that receives the survey today, please fill it out at your earliest convenience so we can make sure everything is working properly.

Thank you all for your support, and have a great weekend!

~ Wyrmwood

BackerKit Survey Open on FRIDAY! New Project LIVE NOW! Read for Important Fulfillment Details
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 17, 2019 at 12:43:21 AM

Hello Everyone!

Apologies for the lack of updates since the close of the campaign - we've been hard at work getting the groundwork in place for the survey to make sure fulfillment and production go smoothly, and it's nearly time to open it up and collect your information!  How will this work?  Read on below!

And what's more, we have some news concerning stretch goals, and our latest project - which is live right now!  For more on that, check out the end of the update.

BackerKit

BackerKit is a pledge management system.  This allows us to collect great data on all of your pledges, centralizes all of that and organizes it in a way we can use.  In short, it makes things easier for both of us - you get a streamlined way to tell us what you'd like, and we get vital data for use in both fulfillment and production planning.  In addition, if you left anything out of your pledge or miscalculated it, you can address that in BackerKit, as well. :)

To begin the process, you'll get an email inviting you to complete your survey.  When you click the link to begin, you'll confirm your pledge tier and shipping location.  This actually an important area of potential confusion.  Because of the way BackerKit works, for the vast majority of you, your pledge tier will most likely be listed as costing $0.  Don't worry!  You haven't lost your pledge!  This is just a way of tracking your funds correctly.  Your pledge is converted to credit, which you'll apply in the "add-ons" section of the survey, right after you answer any applicable survey questions.

With the questions out of the way, you'll begin the add-on selection.  This is the most important part of the survey.  In this step, you add items to your order just as you would on our website, except that you'll be shopping using the credit you pledged in the campaign.  Shipping will be automatically calculated, too, so once you're done adding the items you pledged for, you'll simply click "next" and confirm your order.  You may be asked additional questions if, for example, you added an engraving to your order.  After that, you'll submit your order and you're done!

But, what if you miscalculated, or just decided you wanted a little more than you thought, or an extra Hero Vault as a gift?  No problem!  BackerKit makes it easy to add funds, as well - you can just add the items, and enter card information right inside BackerKit to pay for the difference.  These cards will be charged later on (similar to how Kickstarter processes pledges), after we lock down the surveys.  See the above timeline for that date.

So, to summarize:

• Follow the link in the BackerKit invitation email you'll receive on Friday.
• Confirm or change your reward tier.
• Answer all applicable survey questions.
• Select ALL desired items in the "add-ons" section.
• Verify total and payment details, add funds if necessary, and confirm.
• Done!

Stretch Goals

There was some confusion regarding locked stretch goals, the presence or absence of locked woods in RTD, etc, that we wanted to clear up.

1) Locked woods are unavailable for order, and will not be present in the RTD pool.  A message to the contrary may have been sent at one point, for which we apologize - this was a miscommunication.

While we'd love to have had these woods become available, there are layers of complication added to sourcing and production for each material we add, which is why they're placed as stretch goals.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding any of the above, feel free to send us a message and we'll be happy to discuss it further.

2) We're happy to announce that we WILL, however, be issuing Hero Forge vouchers!  Every order will include a $5 voucher, for use towards a custom, physical mini from Hero Forge.  We were very close to this stretch goal, and unlike adding woods, it does not add the layers of complication to production and fulfillment that new woods do.  Big thanks to Hero Forge for coming through with these for our backers!

New Project for Halloween - The Corrupted Collection

Finally, big news to share - launching today, we have the Corrupted Collection.  This short-term campaign will run until midnight on Halloween night, and features a variety of Master Vaults, special Coffin Vaults, and the return of the Maker of Monsters series from Crystal Sully!

Check it out now to claim your spot in the earliest reward tiers!

Fulfillment, in keeping with our rolling production model, is slated to coincide with the end of Hero Vault fulfillment - meaning production and fulfillment of this new campaign will in no way interfere with the fulfillment of our existing campaigns, including the Hero Vault 2.0.

That about does it - stay tuned for a follow-up on Friday to let you know the surveys are out!

~ Wyrmwood

The Final 24 Hours! Can we unlock Hero Forge Gift Cards?
over 4 years ago – Wed, Oct 02, 2019 at 11:57:58 PM

Hey everyone!

Thank you for all of your support for the Hero Vault 2.0!  We're excited about the new design, and it's been great to see that so many of you are, too.

Here's a quick recap of what you've done for the campaign:

• Fully Funded the campaign in just minutes
• Unlocked NINE stretch goal woods: Ash, Ziricote, Bubinga, Aromatic Cedar, Goncalo Alves, Bird's Eye Maple, Mahogany, Red Zebrawood & Canarywood 
• Improved the Roll The Dice tier, adding FIVE Gaia Edition Hero Vaults to the RTD pool

The next stretch goal?  A Hero Forge Gift Card for each and every backer in the campaign!  Can we get there?  There's still some time - up your pledge, share the project, get the word out and we can do it!

Thank you all for your support so far, and we can't wait to get the Hero Vault 2.0 out into the world!

Thanks to all of you, it's on its way.  The next steps start in less than 24 hours!

~ Wyrmwood

New Stretch Goal Unlocks, Roll The Dice, and Answers to Questions!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Sep 27, 2019 at 06:58:37 AM

Hey everyone!

After a week, we've blasted through three stretch goals and are closing in on a fourth!

We wanted to take a moment to address some questions and requests we've been seeing, beginning with the latest unlocked stretch goal... adding Gaia Edition Hero Vaults to RTD!

Roll The Dice & Gaia

The $150,000 stretch goal adds five Gaia Hero Vaults into the running for backers pledging for an RTD Hero Vault.  What does this mean?  How does this work?  It's actually pretty simple.

At the conclusion of the campaign, once all orders have been placed and are locked down, 5 RTD Vaults will be designated as Gaia Editions.  These will be randomly selected from the pool of purchased Vaults, maximum of one Gaia per backer (in the event of a backer being randomly selected twice, we will select again).

Here's the cool part: the winners will not be announced publicly, nor will they be contacted directly concerning the Vault - the flowers used for these five (or more, should we hit the later stretch goal!) Hero Vaults will be left to the discretion of marquetry specialist Cesia Zamora. The winners will find out they won the moment they open their package and see their new Gaia Edition Hero Vault.

The same is true for all Roll The Dice pledges - the exact woods you receive will be a surprise until receipt of your order.

Engraving Questions

By request, here's a photo of a longer form text engraving.  In addition, many people were asking whether the Monsters & Maps items were compatible with text engravings.  Absolutely they are!  You can have a text engraving applied to the reverse of your Maker of Monsters or Mistress of Maps Hero Vault, while the featured image will be applied to the face.

Size Comparison

The above image is being included, again by request, to illustrate the difference in depth between the two designs.

Dice Capacity

Finally, some backers were curious about the size of the dice our Hero Vault could accommodate.  All of the dice pictured in photography for the Hero Vault are standard, 16mm sets.  A set of 10, or 11 (one extra d20) can fit in the compartments with no problem.  We don't have any alternative sized d20 to test in the center compartment at this time, as some have asked about, but hopefully the provided measurements on the campaign page will be helpful if you have a non-standard set - the width measures 1.02", or approximately 26mm. :)

That does it for now - thank you so much for your support, and please keep sharing the project!  We're thrilled so many of you are on board and we can't wait to see where this campaign goes.

~ Wyrmwood

THANK YOU! Suede Liner now available! Stretch Goals Unlocked!
over 4 years ago – Tue, Sep 24, 2019 at 06:49:08 PM

Wow, thank you everyone for an amazing start to the campaign!  A mere 48 hours in, you've already fully funded the campaign, and blown past two major stretch goals, unlocking SIX new woods.  In addition, suede liners are now available for BOTH Hero Vault designs!

The new woods include some all-time favorites: Ash, Ziricote, Bubinga, Aromatic Cedar, Goncalo Alves, and Bird's Eye Maple are all unlocked and available!

BackerKit: Post-Campaign Survey

We still have 28 days to go, but it's never too early to start thinking about what happens next: BackerKit!

For those of you who have backed our projects before, the post-campaign process will be very familiar.  But for those that haven't, we wanted to give a rundown on what BackerKit is, and how to use it.

BackerKit is a pledge management system that helps us keep track of all the important information, making sure we get what we need, so that we can make sure YOU get what you pledge for.  Sound good?  We thought so.

So, how's it work?  Well, approximately 2 weeks after the end of the campaign, you'll get an email from BackerKit inviting you to complete your survey.  Clicking through, you'll find your pledge information has already been imported into BackerKit.  There will be a few quick questions to answer, and then, you'll enter a section called "add-ons" that allows you to specify the items you pledged for, since Kickstarter does not have any way to collect this information directly.  This is the most important part of the survey.

But we'll talk about that more once we get nearer to the end of the campaign.  For now, just know that we'll be using BackerKit after the campaign to manage your pledge and collect all the necessary information.

Maps & Monsters

A quick apology for the confusion concerning the Mistress of Maps and Maker of Monsters items.  Initially, these were imagined as distinct tier options one would select, but for the sake of simplicity, that was removed.  You'll be able to select them like any other item in the pledge manager, after the campaign.  The same goes for Roll The Dice.  So, you need only choose a delivery tier, use the pledge calculator to figure out your total (including estimated shipping), and pledge!

Introducing Gael

If you've been checking out the comments, you've likely noticed user Gael Danger chiming in; moving forward, he'll be recognized as a collaborator, meaning he's a trusted source on the campaign, and his answers can be relied upon as if they were our own.  He and the rest of our social media team, the Rangers, are a big help, and we're happy to have him on board!

That's it for now.  Thanks again for making the project such a success so far, and we can't wait to see where it goes!

~ Wyrmwood