It's time for another production update! There's a lot to share today, so make sure you read the full update. Here a look at what's inside:
Dice Tray samples reviewed and approved
All production samples are complete
Meteorite and Chain Mail D20s on track
Production quality issue discovered in some dinosaur dice
Let's start with a quick note on that last point. In short, we've run into a manufacturing issue that is affecting some of the dice. We have already implemented a solution, but this has altered our shipping timeline. There are lots more details on the issue and how we're solving it below.
Dice Tray Samples Approved
In good news, we now have samples of the three (3) folding dice trays from the factory. They look great, and we've signed off on the run.
The dice trays were the final sample we were waiting on, so this completes all the accessories for the campaign. This is always an exciting moment in manufacturing, and one we're happy to share today.
Dice Manufacturing Update
On the dice side of production, Meteorite and Chain Mail D20s are on track and look great. However, as noted above, we've run into a quality issue with a small portion of Dinosaur Dice sets.
This problem is fragmentation, little flakes of fossils coming off during the embedment process. This is not unusual when embedding fossils, but some dice are exhibiting a higher-than-average fragmentation rate that exceeds our quality guidelines.
Triceratops D6s with a bit more fragmentation than we like to see...
Given the number of successful test sets we produced without issue, this was a little bit of a surprise. In any event, we've already compensated by quick shipping additional specimens to the factory to make sure we have enough material to complete the production run (plus a little bit more).
Naturally, we'll be taking more time to inspect each set as they are removed from their molds, as well as casting replacements. This means there will be an impact to the shipping timeline.
Right now, our factory estimates the dice will not be ready for shipment to our warehouse in the USA until late October. This is slower than expected—we were planning on them being in our warehouse and ready to fulfill at that point.
Rest assured, we're looking at all options to accelerate the delivery of components and additional production without sacrificing quality. We're also committed to keeping the cost the same.
To be 100% clear: Nothing in this production issue will come at any additional cost to you. We're going to absorb these costs directly.
Next Steps
If you look at the BackerKit timeline, we're supposed to charge cards this week for shipping and add-ons. We'll be hitting the pause button on that until the shipping timeline is solidified. We'll update again as soon as we have a firm ship window for items and then set a new charge date based on that.
If you've made it all the way down here, we'd like to thank you for your patience. Issues like these are never fun, but they are a fact of life in manufacturing. Every project is a totally new experience with its own quirks and hurdles. Crowdfunding gives you an inside look behind the scenes as creators grapple with a myriad of issues. All of us here appreciate your support, and we want to assure you we are all working hard to get these awesome dice out to all of you.
All books have shipped, with the EU books the last to be sent out on Friday 18th. If you have not received your physical book, and have no relevant shipping updates, please let me know ASAP and I'll do my best to resolve it.
Stretch Goal Adventure
Will be sent out as a Backerkit reward tomorrow. Wormbait takes a group of adventurers on a small quest to kill some rats in a tavern basement. Lured in with the promise of free food and drinks on the house, what seems like a simple task quickly turns into a dimensional jaunt under the power of an abyssal godling and its bumbling warlock lackey.
The adventure is a single-session one-shot I've run myself, and comes with battlemaps in both colour, and print-suitable black-and-white. While I've written it to be setting-neutral, it actually features a tavern named in Vralkast in the docks of Sowshore, and the abyssal godling matches the setting's 'Harbour Gods'. As such, it fits into Vralkast with no changes needed.
With thanks to the wonderful Matthew Ayers, the one-shot has two versions - one for D&D 5e, and one for Cairn, in order to accommodate a wider range of dungeon-crawlers. That said, the only real mechanics are the stat blocks, and it would work just as well in other systems.
Lessons Learnt
I once again thank you all for taking a punt on my book. As my first crowdfunder, this has been a great and terrifying experience, and I've been somewhat riding by the seat of my pants to get this done with the timing and quality I expect of myself. I can only hope the book is worth it! If you use Vralkast in the future - or have any feedback whatsoever to help me improve for next time - please feel free to leave a comment here, or message me on Bluesky at @geckopirate.
I have every intention of returning again next year for Zinetopia, and hope you'll join me there; as such, I wanted to lay out some of the things I've learnt and intend to improve on, now that I've seen this process from start to finish. This might also be a fun insight into the 'behind-the-scenes' of running a crowdfunder like this.
Lessons:
Printing a book turns the cover significantly darker and muted; I'll be keeping this in mind next time to make the cover pop in physical.
Shipping is even more damaging than I thought. I need twice the packaging (though even that might not stop USPS and their boxcutters).
My local print shops do not have the capacity to print my books at the quality I need. Learning that lesson cost me a few weeks.
Even when I'm at my busiest, I need to keep providing updates. No radio silence! I owe backers that, even if there's no significant progress to report.
The more art I can get in advance, the better. Having all the character art from one artist is something I want to do again, but it does naturally increase the timeline. The more I can get in advance of the crowdfunder, the less delay there'll be next time.
The Pledge Manager isn't as scary as it seems. Navigating my way around it caused me a fair bit of stress and delay, and I did accidentally charge shipping earlier than you're supposed to while also sending the pledge survey later than you're supposed to. Whoops.
I should not offer an Early Bird bonus that's also an Add-On. This led to people accidentally getting it for free, but also buying it as an Add-On, which I had to work to refund and sort out to avoid feeling like a scam.
I should probably have used this to establish a mailing list. Ah well.
See you again when the tides turn, Jamie Bernstein
Chris Lindsay here once again. Can you believe its already September? Time flies when you're having fun... and hopefully, soon your mounts will too...
It won't be much longer that we'll be planning to something for all y'all to check out. In the meantime however, how about a few more previews... NINE in fact, for the 9th month of the year!
... AND... while you're waiting on all that Dragon Riding goodness to wing its way into your game, let's not forget that we're celebrating Goodman Games's 25th Anniversary this year with yet another fantastic offering...
COMING SOON to Backerkit! Just click on the image below to go to the pre-launch page where you can OPT-IN for notification when this beauty goes LIVE!
Mr. Ringtail's Menagerie is not only funded but all of the stretch goals have been hit... AGAIN!
You all are amazing and I will thank you by bringing to you the best product I can. You have now unlocked... The Back Entrance.
This section of the adventure did not have any further details, but now I will be expanding on it allowing for even more options from your players! A whole new way to enter the dungeon which provides and entirely different pathway and new enemies!
I seriously cannot thank you enough. I want to go ahead and share with you some social links so we can all stay connected! Discord: https://discord.gg/UEhPEHKsqy Join the discord and come hang out! We are still growing!
Technically yes! I have some more stretch goals in mind but I am going to save those for the end of the campaign. Keep your eye on the updates! Thank you again for being so awesome!
TL;DR: Sign OFF. Details below for how to contact RRD, join the community or follow up on post-campaign pledges/issues.
"It's over, it's done"
Hey gang, I’m happy to announce that we’ve reached ‘fulfilment complete’ status on Ways and Means! It’s taken longer than expected, especially with the logistical woes that Alex has wrestled with these last few months, but we’ve finally beat the beast of international shipping into submission and forced it to do our bidding. Thanks again to everyone who was on the receiving end of these issues, for your patience and communication. I hope that the books in your hands are well worth the wait!
Most importantly: everyone who has filled in their BackerKit surveys and paid for their shipping should have their packages now. If you haven’t received your delivery please contact us and we can work out why, and get you your books ([email protected])
With that said, I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for supporting the project. We love making these books. Your continued support for Heart lets us keep the lights on at Rowan Rook and Decard, and tells us that you want MORE HEART! So long as that’s true, we’ll be happy to provide it.
Alex has kindly provided some final housekeeping notes below, around feedback, digital files, stragglers and the likes (can we get three cheers for Alex in the comments?! He’s poured his blood sweat and tears into getting you your books!) But other than that, all that’s left for me to say is:
Thanks enormously for all your support, folks
xoxo
– Elaine, Alex, and everyone at RR&D
Feedback & Community
If you’ve already had a chance to check out your delivery (perhaps even read through and share them with your tables) why not head over to our website pre-orders page and leave a product review that might encourage more people to try the game? Or join our Discord server and chat to other backers about it?
If you social your media, you can always tag us on Instagram, Bluesky or Facebook to let us know what you’re doing with your games, we’re @rowanrookanddecard most places. Or you can still comment here on the project - we always monitor our old projects.
Consolidating Digital Files
All the digital rewards for this project have been shared in your BackerKit account - check your Digital Downloads button to find them. We already have details of your RRD webstore accounts, and have also added these files there today, using our automated system. We have already fired the PDF Cannon (as we call it in the RRD swamp), so you don’t need to do anything. If you log in to your RRD webstore account you should see your PDFs there as well. If you don’t see them, then it’s likely you didn’t give us your account email when we sent out the Backerkit survey
Stragglers sift
Our fulfilment project has now ended. In a few days we will go through and collect anyone in the BackerKit who have finalised their surveys, have orders and addresses locked or had Card payments declined since we processed our main fulfilment in each region. We call this our stragglers sift, and it’s our opportunity to pick up any things that may have slipped through the cracks, as well as giving the small number of backers that we haven’t heard from since the campaign ended one last gentle poke [*poke*]
Anyone picked up in this process will be fulfilled before the 30th September 2026.
Closing the Campaign
From 30th September 2026, the BackerKit project will be closed. This means that you are no longer able to fill out surveys or amend orders without contacting RRD directly.
If you find yourself in this situation please email us ([email protected]) and let us know your Backer email or number.
Once the campaign has closed we cannot guarantee the availability of all the items that may have been attached to your original Pledge. Some items are made uniquely for the crowdfunder, and are often in limited supply to begin with. Post-campaign stocks are time-limited and we’re unable to hold stores of items ‘just in case’; from a core book to a unique pin, it will go out of stock in time. We will always try to fulfil as much of your original pledge as possible.
We’re getting very close to the finish line with the book.
Toon Morgue is now nearly fully designed, with only one illustration left to be completed. The layouts are also going through their final checks to make sure everything meets the printer’s requirements, including bleed, margins, sizing, and the other technical details needed before the files can be sent off.
As soon as the final PDF is ready, it will be sent out to backers.
Just as I’ve been doing with the other physical items throughout production, I’ll continue sharing updates and proof as things move forward, including when the books are sent to print, when the printed copies arrive, and when shipping begins.
At the moment, the estimated timeframe for printing and shipping is around the end of October. I really don’t want to push delivery much further than that, but I also want to make sure the final book is properly prepared before committing it to print.
The graphic designers are putting in as much effort as they can to get everything finished within that timeframe, and we’re now down to the final pieces and checks.
Thank you all for your patience and for following the production process with me this far, these upcoming weeks will come with more regular updates to keep you on par with the whole proces. I’m very excited to finally be this close to having the finished book in our hands.
As production is in full swing I can now share a closer look at the final map designs for our two new essentials map packs.
These large maps are all laminated so dry erase safe, feature a 1" grid throughout and are fold out. As you can see below we have designed them so that they can be used together to create larger map areas.
Essential RPG Battle Maps - Pirate Coast
Our six pirate maps, printed on 3 double sided sheets
Essential RPG Battle Maps - Gothic Castles
Our six gothic castle maps, printed on 3 double sided sheets
These maps are fully compatible with our existing maps, drawn in the same scale and style.
We are now expecting to have everything printed, wrapped and packed up to ship out of factory to our warehouses in October.
We will be working on our shipping arrangements in the coming weeks, and we expect to lock orders and charge cards at the end of September. We will send an update out before we do this.
Thanks for all your support and feedback!
Matt & Tam Loke Battle Mats
And one final thing...
Now we have cleared all design work and the production process is well underway, we are delighted to announce our new project.
Deck of Fateship - Untold Revelations is a deck of 100 conversations prompts for in-character conversations.
Designed to support players to develop emotionally intelligent RPG characters, and evolve multi dimensional character motivations, backstories and even story arcs, these prompts will spark roleplay and conversation.
Perfect for story led adventures, GMs who want to support player led storytelling with in-character roleplay and players who want to develop their RPG Character, Untold Revelations is a handy and player friendly tool.
WOW! We are so close to the next stretch goal! I am already blown away by the amount of support! Over the weekend I had an idea for a cool new thing for everyone!
The Official Mr. Ringtail's Menagerie Soundtrack! I have an amazingly talented artist that some of you should know (and should learn more about if you don't!) named Lady Blackstone! I am currently working with her on another project and learned she also makes Dungeon-Synth!
In collaboration with her, we are working on making six new tracks for key areas in Mr. Ringtail! How cool is that?! I want to add it on to the campaign as both a digital release but also a REAL. PHYSICAL. CASSETTE TAPE.
YEP. Now we are cooking with gas.
I do not yet have a sample of what is being made, but here is examples of her past work to give you an idea of what we are going for! https://girlsatcomputers.bandcamp.com/
So what do you think? Is this something you would add to your pledge? Please vote down below!
UPDATE 2: Huzzah! As of just a few minutes ago all of the errored codes and missing add-ons should be fixed! Check your digital downloads and try your codes again and if you're still having trouble and you've tried all the troubleshooting in our FAQ post from yesterday then fill out the form at the bottom of the post.
Original post: Hello Crawlers! Making this a community post so that folks don't get a fourth email from me in 2 days and so I can pin it. As of this morning I have emails/comments/DM inbox of errored codes that I've got to assist one by one so forgive me if it's a little slow-going!
We're working with Backerkit to figure out where exactly these errors came from and hopefully once we nail down the problem we can smush a few gerbils and get back in the AI's good graces.
I'm going to attempt to go through all the comments from when I logged off last night to this morning but if you've had a code error or some other kind of redemption problem and see this please comment it here as well!
Until then, this fish will be sending out lots of messages and answering DMs.
Thanks for your patience, crawlers!
-Rina/Zev 🐟
UPDATE: We've made a form to hopefully get through these a little faster! Please submit any errors HERE
