April Update!
almost 4 years ago – Sat, Apr 23, 2022 at 04:21:16 PM

Hey everyone! A lot has been happening that I'm excited to share! 

BackerKit and Preorder Store

I've been finishing up everything I need for the pledge manager and I'm ready to hit go. So in the next day or two BackerKit will send out the survey to a small sample of backers. Assuming that goes well, it will then send it out to everyone. So be on the lookout for that! That's where you will provide your shipping address, pay for shipping, and add additional copies to your order. I've calculated shipping based on weight ranges, so you may find that adding a copy or two to your order might not increase your shipping. (Note for international backers: BackerKit is not handling international taxes, such as VAT.)

At the same, the preorder store is going live. So if you know anyone who missed out on the campaign, point them here! 

Game Progress

The writing is coming along nicely and I'm preparing to run my first round of playtests. It's always interesting to see how things play out at the table, so I'm sure there will be plenty of things to add/modify based on how that goes. But I'm super excited!

Perhaps the most exciting news (to me, at least): all of the art is finished! Johanna has been working hard and got everything finished more than a month ahead of schedule! And I've got to say, I could not be more pleased with the results. There are a couple of pieces I'm thinking of keeping a secret (for now), but I do want to share some of the character art that will accompany each of the playbooks. 

I love them so much! 

Otherwise, I'm going to keep working and I'll send out updates to keep you informed. Let me know if you have any questions!

Short Update
about 4 years ago – Fri, Mar 18, 2022 at 09:59:33 AM

Hello and Happy Friday, everyone! I just wanted to give a super short update before the week was out.

First, regarding the Pledge Manager, I have been working on getting everything set up for you, as well as the preorder store for anyone who missed out on the original campaign. I have pretty much everything set except the shipping, which is of course the biggest unknown. So I'm going to do some more research before putting it in stone. I will let you know when that is complete. 

Second, if you missed the previous update I highlighted an itch.io bundle to support trans rights in Texas. I still have copies of the bundle to give away, so message me if you're interested!

Thanks so much!

Update, Pledge Manager, and Free Games!
about 4 years ago – Thu, Mar 10, 2022 at 10:11:58 AM

So, this update ended up being longer than I originally anticipated, but it's full of great information! Plus, if you make it to the end, I'm giving away games to benefit charity! So read on!

Hi everyone! Well, in the last update I said I was going to take a couple weeks  off to recover from the excitement of the campaign. That...only kind of happened. I've largely taken a break from Twitter (which I'll be jumping back into shortly), but I've just had too many ideas floating around to put YNAW down! 

Johanna and I are both busy working on the game. Johanna has already sent me some initial art for all of the playbooks and I really want to share them because they're looking fantastic! But I won't. I'll wait until things are finalized. Maybe then I'll drop a couple of pieces for you to get excited about!

On my end, the game is coming along nicely. I'm hoping to have a version finished enough to begin playtesting within the month. If you'd be interested in playtesting keep an eye out for future updates!

The Pledge Manager

Since the campaign ended (and I knew exactly how many pledges I was looking at) I've done a lot of research as to the best way to fulfill the game, collect shipping, and open things up for you to add on additional copies. At first I was looking at setting up my own website as a storefront. I'll probably still do that down the road (hopefully later this year), but that wasn't the best option for what I needed right now. 

Ultimately, I decided to use BackerKit as my pledge manager. For those of you who haven't used it before, BackerKit will allow me to send out surveys to collect things like your mailing address, preferred email for your pdfs, and anything else that comes up. You'll also pay for shipping through them and have a chance to add any additional copies (print and/or digital) to your order. Finally, I will be able to open things up for preorders, so if you know anyone who missed the campaign you can point them to the BackerKit site and they can get in on the fun!

I'm hoping to have the BackerKit up within the next week and surveys will go out as soon as it's ready. Let me know if you have any questions in the meantime!

More Games?!?

Those of your who have used itch.io to buy or sell games are probably already familiar with the incredible bundles that come out periodically for a variety of causes. The Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality raised more than $8 million for the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Community Bail Fund in June of 2020. In June of 2021 the Indie bundle for Palestinian Aid raised about $900K. 

These bundles are put together by the creators who donate their games to support these causes. They are truly spectacular efforts and really highlight one of the brightest sides of the TTRPG community.

There are currently two more bundles for charity going on that I wanted to highlight. The first is the Bundle for Ukraine, which is offering nearly 1000 items for a minimum donation of $10 to support Ukrainian relief in the midst of Russia's invasion and war. I truly can't express how incredible the selection of games on this list is. Seriously, whatever you're looking for in a game, it has a multitude of options for you. A bunch of these are games I own and enthusiastically recommend. A lot of them are games that have been on my wishlist. And many, many more are new to me and I can't wait to explore! And they've managed to raise $2 million in the first day and are still climbing!

The second bundle is TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Texas, which is raising money to support transgendered youth in Texas in light of Texas's truly abhorrent recent legislation. They are offering nearly 500 items for a minimum donation of $5. And again, these are incredible games! Between the two bundles I'm hesitant to highlight specific games, because I know that in doing so I would miss so many! But I really can't resist:

-Princess with a Cursed Sword - a fantastic solo journaling rpg that's about exactly what it sounds like

-Into the Wyrd and Wild - an absolutely incredible, system-neutral setting for running games in a horror wilderness

-Agon - an absolutely beautiful (seriously, it made Dicebreaker's list of most beautiful rpgs) game inspired by Greek mythology where you play the heroes of legend. 

-Wanderhome - Okay, this game changed the way I think of RPGs. It's beautiful and thoughtful and if you haven't checked it out before you really should! 

I could keep going, but this update is long enough already...

Games Giveaway!

I definitely encourage all of you to check out both of the bundles above and support them! They are for great causes and you're building up your game collection with a ton of fantastic RPGs. 

That said, before I launched the campaign for You're Not A Wizard I knew I wanted to put some of the proceeds towards supporting trans rights. The problem is, Kickstarter won't let you raise money just to donate to charities, so building it into the campaign page got a little complicated. So now I would love to give away copies of the TTRPGs for Trans Rights in Texas bundle. If you'd like a copy, just send me a message and I'll send you one for as long as I'm able. I'll give away at least 10 bundles, but may just keep sending them out as long as there's interest!

WE DID IT!!!
about 4 years ago – Fri, Feb 18, 2022 at 02:48:50 AM

Oh wow, thank you all so much for the support and excitement! It means so much to me that you have believed in this game and I'm working hard to make sure it's something truly special to bring to your table! 

What Comes Next?

I'm glad you asked! Kickstarter typically takes around two weeks to release the funds to creators. As soon as they do I will be able to pay Johanna for the rest of the art for the game and she will get to work on that while I finish writing the main text of the game! In the meantime I'm going to take a little bit of time to recover from all of the excitement and to recharge. I'll still be around to answer any questions, but you might not see me posting a ton on Twitter. 

I've had a couple people ask about post-campaign orders. I'm definitely going to have it available, so if you want to add extra copies to your order or if you know someone who didn't get to pledge in time there will be options! But I'm still sorting out what platform I'm going to use for that. So I'll keep you posted. 

Other Projects

If you aren't aware, this month has seen a ton of TTRPG projects, both on Kickstarter and on their own platforms. I encourage you to check out what's going on at zinemonth.com! But in particular, I want to highlight a couple of the projects I'm especially excited about!

The Unquiet Dark is a campaign for Brindlewood Bay set in the jazz age by Alicia Furness (Paranormal, Inc.) and Chris Bisette (The Wretched). Both of them are absolutely incredible game designers and Brindlewood Bay is an amazing system all about cozy mysteries with a touch of cosmic weirdness/horror. Do yourself a favor and check it out!

Crush Depth Apparition is by Amanda Lee Franck (Vampire Cruise) and it's about a haunted submarine. Seriously, why would I need to say more? But I will. To use Amanda's words, "Crush Depth Apparition is an eerie survival horror stand alone adventure zine. It includes rules for running and repairing a state of the art (of 120 years ago) experimental submarine, a map of the ocean, an unnatural labyrinth,  ghostly encounters,  hundreds of things that can go wrong, and a crew that depends on you." Do yourself a favor and jump on this!

Funded!
about 4 years ago – Thu, Feb 17, 2022 at 12:35:51 PM

We're Funded!!!

As of last night, we are officially funded! I cannot express how grateful I am to every one of you! "You're (Not) A Wizard" is officially going to become a reality! 

Thank you so much! Let's keep this going! In the meantime, there are so many amazing projects going on this month! Check out all the games going on for Zine Month and see if anything else catches your interest!