I'm very pleased to let you know that you can now access the digital zine PDF of The Deepest Dark and audiobook via Backerkit. This includes solo mode! You should have an email directing you to the digital download. If you have any issues, as always, please let me know.
We've also revised our test prints of the physical zines and cassettes and put in the main orders, which means we'll be starting to post them over the next 2-3 weeks. A few notes on that. First of all - once shipping fees have been collected, your order will be locked and you won't be able to change it.
We've been waiting to have the final versions of zines and cassettes so we can calculate shipping as accurately as possible. EU-based folks, there might be an additional charge of 3-6 Euros due to some new regulations coming in which affect UK to EU shipping, but you'll be notified of the exact amount as soon as we know.
That's all for now - I'll send the next update once we're ready to start shipping, and hopefully everyone will receive their rewards no later than the end of August.
Thank you again for all your support. I'll leave you with this beautiful additional illustration Georgia did for us!
That means there will be four extra pins to choose from once the campaign ends and everyone who has backed at the master ranger will be receiving these four extra pins with their pledge as a free gift. Remember, you're always able to upgrade your pledge if you want to grab additional pins.
Poll Complete - New Stretch Goals Set
Our next stretch goal will be the giant crab at $12,000, but after that we've taken the poll into account for the next four stretch goals! There's still plenty more to unlock.
More Surprises to Come
We'll continue to update you as we unlock more stretch goals and we definitely have more surprises planned for the rest of the campaign.
What to Expect: Additional pages for the coloring book (Maybe even a coloring contest), another free digital reward for sticking with us, polls, and more.
Today we wished to share a small update regarding the continued progress of Jason and the Argonauts.
Though the crowdfunding campaign has ended, much work still continues behind the scenes as we prepare the game for production.
At this very moment, we are hard at work preparing files for the manufacturer, working on the rulebook, organizing production materials, coordinating new stretch goal artwork, and continuing work across many different aspects of the game.
There are still many moving pieces upon the seas, so we do not yet have firm timeline dates to share, but rest assured, those details will be revealed as everything begins coming together more clearly.
And speaking of progress…
Below you can find a few example images of stretch goal artwork that has already begun taking shape for the game!
Journey Card: Fogbound
Journey Card: Fogbound
Argonaut Card: Iphtus
Argonaut Card: Iphtus
Destination Card: Aretias
Destination Card: Aretias
We know everyone LOVES the Stymphalian Birds from Hercules and the 12 Labors, so of course they had to find their way into Jason and the Argonauts....
Journey Card: Medea's Anger
We are incredibly excited to see these new pieces of the voyage slowly coming to life, and we cannot wait to share even more with you all in the future.
Jason and the Argonauts at Gen Con
We are also excited to share another piece of news with the crew!
The official Gen Con Preview List has now been released, and Jason and the Argonauts is on it.
Not only that, but we will also be bringing a demo copy of the game to the convention itself for Adventurers to see firsthand. If you are excited for Jason and the Argonauts, we would greatly appreciate your support by giving the game a thumbs up on the Gen Con Preview List. CLICK HERE
Every bit of support helps bring more eyes to the voyage and introduces new Adventurers to the growing legend of the Argo.
That is all for now, Adventurers.
We shall continue working diligently behind the scenes to bring this voyage to life in the best way possible. As things progress, we will continue providing updates roughly each month so the crew may follow along with the journey.
And as always, should you have any questions, please feel free to leave them within the comments below.
We hope you're all doing well. It’s hard to believe, but we’ve now spent the last 7-8 months deep in tooling and engineering development for The One Dice. While things may seem quiet from the outside at times, a huge amount of work has been happening behind the scenes every single week. Today, we’re excited to share one of our biggest milestones yet:
🎉 Tier 1 Tooling Has Been Signed Off
After months of iteration, testing, refinement, and validation, we’ve now officially signed off on Tier 1 tooling.
This is a major step forward.
For those unfamiliar with manufacturing, tooling is one of the longest and most complex stages of bringing a product like this to life. It isn’t simply a case of creating a design and pressing "manufacture."
Every single component has to be engineered, tested, and refined to ensure it works reliably at scale:
The outer shell geometry
Internal fit and tolerances
Material composition
Surface finishes and textures
Strength and durability
Mould flow and injection behaviour
Assembly consistency
Long-term wear resistance
Electronics integration
Even seemingly small details such as the texture of the casing or how two parts fit together can require multiple rounds of adjustment and testing.
Our goal from the beginning has been simple: make something that not only looks magical, but is built to last.
After many months of development, we’re now confident that the major mechanical components fit together correctly and perform as intended.
This milestone moves us from the heavy engineering phase into the next exciting chapter.
🛠 Why Tooling Takes So Long
One of the most common questions we receive is:
"Why does tooling take so long?"
The answer is that tooling is the foundation of the entire product.
Unlike software, where updates can be pushed digitally, physical products require extensive validation before production begins. Once steel tooling is finalized, changes become significantly more difficult and expensive.
That means we must ensure:
Parts assemble correctly
Materials meet our quality standards
The finish looks premium
The product can withstand real-world use
Manufacturing remains consistent across thousands of units
In many ways, tooling is the stage where an idea truly becomes a real product. And we’re incredibly excited to have reached this point.
🎲 Roll Testing
One of the areas we've spent an incredible amount of time on, far more than many people might expect, is the roll itself. After all, The One Dice is still a die at heart, and how it rolls and feels in your hand is one of the most important parts of the experience.
At the end of the day, The One Dice still has to feel like a great die.
We can add screens, LEDs, animations, app features, and all sorts of exciting functionality but none of it matters if the rolling experience isn't right. From the very start of this project, our number one priority has been simple:
How does it feel in your hand? And how does it roll? Because like many of you, we love dice too.
Over the past months, we've spent countless hours rolling, testing, adjusting, and refining every aspect of the experience, including:
Weight distribution
Balance and feel
Rolling behaviour
Landing consistency
Overall handling
We've rolled prototypes hundreds if not thousands of times throughout development.
And we're genuinely thrilled with where the rolling experience is today.
One of the most satisfying moments during this journey has been watching The One Dice roll across the table and naturally settle onto its screen face. It's one of those things that's difficult to fully describe until you see it happen in person.
Because while The One Dice brings something new to the table, at its heart it still respects the ritual that makes rolling dice so much fun in the first place. That has always been our goal from day one.
Before diving in, it's important to mention that the videos and images shared in this update represent very early internal development testing. What you're seeing is not final hardware, software, or UI, and many of the systems shown are running on development components and test platforms used purely for engineering and validation purposes.
In other words, unlike the physical tooling, electronics development is often an even longer journey.
The One Dice isn't simply a physical product it's a combination of hardware, firmware, software, wireless connectivity, and app development, all working together in a very small form factor.
Over the past several months, we've been continuously testing and refining:
Roll detection systems
Fast Roll mode
Multi-roll functionality
Screen performance
LED effects and animations
Battery performance
Charging behaviour
Bluetooth connectivity
Firmware stability
Companion app features
Internal software systems
Testing these systems isn't a one-time event. Every feature requires extensive validation across different scenarios, edge cases, and long-term usage to ensure it performs reliably and consistently. This means there isn't just one thing to test there are hundreds of interactions happening behind the scenes that all need to work seamlessly together.
As physical tooling reaches maturity, our focus increasingly shifts toward electronics, firmware, and software refinement a process that will continue throughout the coming stages of development.
Our philosophy remains the same as it has from day one:
Test extensively. Refine carefully. Ship only when we're confident in the experience.
A common question we often receive is:
"If the feature works, why keep testing it?"
The answer is simple: in hardware development, a feature working once isn't enough; it needs to work thousands of times reliably, under many different conditions, and across many different devices.
As development progresses, we continue refining these systems to ensure they are stable, responsive, and ready for real-world use.This stage of development is where many of the "invisible" hours happen. While it may not always be as visually exciting as seeing physical parts, it's the work that transforms a prototype into a polished product. There's still plenty of testing ahead, but seeing these systems communicate and come to life is incredibly exciting and we're looking forward to sharing more as development continues.
🚀 What Comes Next?
With Tier 1 tooling now signed off, we’re entering the next major phase of development.
Our focus now shifts toward:
Main production preparation
Continued electronics validation
Firmware development and optimization
Companion app development
System integration testing
Pre-production builds
Manufacturing readiness
While the physical product has reached a major milestone, development continues across the electronics and software side of the project. Creating a product like The One Dice means bringing together precision manufacturing, custom electronics, firmware, wireless connectivity, displays, LEDs, sensors, and software into a single device. Each system must be tested not only individually, but also as part of the complete experience.
There is still work ahead but each milestone brings us closer to full production.
Your support, patience, feedback, and enthusiasm have helped make that possible. We truly believe that what we're creating is something special, and we're incredibly excited to continue bringing The One Dice to life. While there is still work ahead, every milestone brings us one step closer to putting this experience into your hands. Thank you for being part of the journey. We can't wait for you to roll it for yourselves.
As some of you have noticed, games began shipping to backers last week—ahead of schedule, and while I (Rue, your friendly local update-maker) was out of town for a trade show. I apologize for not making an update when shipping began, but I'm excited to do so now!
The time dragon roars over a river of magma.
Shipments have started in the United States, Canada, Australia, Asia, and Europe! For our handful of folks outside of these regions, your shipments are also underway—they will ship from our warehouse here in Seattle.
We hope to complete Wave 1 fulfillment by the end of next week (June 12th) for all backers! Once our warehouse and our international shipping partners have completed shipping, we'll be back with another update!
Also—for our backers who purchased PDF add ons during the campaign, such as the Core Rulebook bundle or Crown of the Kobold King, those will be distributed via BackerKit this week! Stay tuned for an update on how to redeem your codes.
We are also doing final checks on the Foreteller Narrative App and will have an update coming this week on how to access the app!
If your game arrives, please tell us about it! We can't wait to hear how your table fares in Pathfinder Quest!
You did it! Your collective efforts have permanently unlocked both stretch goals. This means Mike Apollo, The Prophet has been added to ALL copies of The Big Squeeze going forward. Congratulations!
If you'd like to join playtesting for The Prophet, join our Discord where we will soon begin hosting games of The Big Squeeze on Tabletopia after the campaign.
Thank you for your support in getting us here! Now, we can finally share who you've unlocked...
Character Highlight: Mike Apollo
Mike has dealt with his fair share of lemons in life. Last year, he launched a new segment on his radio station where he played 'suspicious waveforms' on-air to predict the future. For some reason, his listener count has plummeted since then. But even worse, each waveform predicted the same thing: an apocalypse, a huge... crushing of society... was coming soon. Mike had to save anyone who would listen.
Mike became a radio host as an excuse for owning so much audio gear.
Unfortunately, his radio station no longer had enough listeners to spread the word, so Mike had to take to the streets for the first time in years. Taking notes from his previous radio sponsors, he decided on just one simple phrase that he'd use to warn Rinddale. He put his slogan on posters, handed it out in flyers, and shouted it from crates in town square.
Mike was surprised at the positive reception: the townsfolk were thankful to be reminded, and soon it was spreading all over town. It wasn't until the Mayor approached, asking Mike if he'd participate in the festival himself, that Mike realized his slogan about "preparing for the giant crushing of society" had been misinterpreted.
"SAVE UP FOR THE BIG SQUEEZE!"
Whoops. So, seeing one last chance to warn the town, Mike indeed entered The Big Squeeze (festival) as a contestant. And if he's correct about this apocalypse, it'd be a good opportunity for him to save up for The Big Squeeze (apocalypse) himself.
Mike can predict the future. Play as him to borrow abilities from lemonades you haven't even made yet! In exchange, you'll want to fulfill your own prophecies to unlock new ones. You'll know things are going well when you start taking actions off the board to "visit yourself" instead...
While The Big Squeeze is all about making lemonade from whatever life gives you, Mike is designed for players who like having a specific mini-quest to aim for, and especially if they like trying characters that feel weirder than normal.
Stretch Goals Complete!
With that stretch goal, The Big Squeeze officially has all content fully unlocked. Thank you for being a part of this community, and welcome! We're glad to have you all here just in time for the final hours of this campaign.
What’s next for Lairs of Etharis: Transformed? Get these dates in your calendars!
💀Hey everyone!
Now that the dust has settled on the campaign, we’re back with the full breakdown of what happens between now and the moment your new lairs land on your doorstep. Below you’ll find the post-campaign schedule, an explanation of each stage, and a few things we’d love for you to do to make sure your pledge is set up correctly.
⌛Late Pledges & Stretch Goals
First up, a note about late pledges and stretch goals. As you may have assumed, as the campaign has now closed no additional stretch goals can be unlocked. We need to lock down the scope of the content so we can keep production on track and deliver everything we’ve promised on time.
Late pledges will remain open through our BackerKit page for a limited time, so if you’ve got friends who missed out, point them our way before that window shuts. We’ll share the late pledge closing date in an upcoming update, as we get closer to printing.
📅Post-Campaign Schedule
Below is the schedule of key dates we’d love every backer to have on their radar between now and fulfilment. We’ll remind you about each milestone as we get closer, but it’s worth dropping these in your calendar so nothing sneaks up on you.
All Current Pledge Manager Surveys: Sent out by Monday 8th June, 26 🟡
Lock orders (continuous): Begins 17th July, 26 🔴
Charge cards (continuous): Begins 10th Aug, 26 🔴
Lock addresses: February, 2027 🔴
Fulfilment begins: Shipping to start March, 2027 🔴
❗Check Your Pledge: NOW!
This one is the easiest thing on your plate, and the most important. Please log in to your BackerKit account and confirm your pledge has gone through successfully. Only successful pledges can be fulfilled.
If something has gone sideways on the payment side, that’s usually between you and your bank, and unfortunately it’s not something we can resolve directly. If you think we might be able to help, drop us a line at [email protected] and our team will take a look.
This is one of the most important dates on the schedule. From Friday of this week, we’ll send out pledge manager surveys through BackerKit - starting with a smoke test to a subsection of backers to make sure everything works. All current pledges should receive their survey by Monday of next week. This is where you’ll:
• Confirm your pledge level and items
• Add any add-ons you’d like to your order
• Enter your shipping address
• Pay your shipping costs
Shipping is not charged during the campaign itself, so the survey is where shipping is calculated and paid based on your region and items. Any extra money you pledged on the campaign above your tier will appear as credit inside BackerKit and can be put toward add-ons.
As mentioned, we’ll send a smoke test to a small group of backers first so we can iron out any issues before everyone gets their survey. If you’re one of those early backers, your feedback helps us make the process smoother for the rest of the community.
❓New to BackerKit?
If this is your first BackerKit campaign, no worries. Here’s how it works:
When surveys go out, you’ll receive an email from [email protected] with the subject line “Response Needed: Get your reward from Lairs of Etharis: Transformed.” The link inside takes you to your survey. From there, you’ll workthrough the items in your pledge, add any extras you’d like, then continue to the shipping payment section.
If you don’t yet have a BackerKit account, you can create one ahead of time. Just make sure you use the same email address you used to back the campaign so your pledge links up correctly.
🔒Lock Addresses: February, 2027
A few months before fulfilment we’ll lock shipping addresses. After this point, address changes are difficult and may incur additional shipping costs if a parcel needs to be redirected, so make sure your details are accurate well before the lock date.
A quick note on P.O. Boxes and Parcel Lockers: Our couriers cannot deliver to P.O. Boxes or parcel lockers. If your address is one of these, your pledge will not be able to be delivered. Please enter a street address in BackerKit so your books actually arrive at your door.
🚚Fulfilment: Shipping Begins March, 2027
The bit everyone is waiting for. We’ll do everything in our power to hit this date, but we want to be upfront that production and shipping sometimes throw unanticipated curveballs at us, and that can push timelines. If anything changes, we’ll communicate it as early as we can through Kickstarter and BackerKit updates rather than going quiet on you.
When fulfilment starts, we’ll break the schedule down by region (US, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, NZ and Rest of World) so you know roughly when to expect your wave.
💬Join Us on Discord
If you want to chat about all things Etharis with fellow backers and the team, our Ghostfire Gaming Discord is the place. We share early previews, behind-the-scenes peeks, and it’s where the backer beta discussion will live too.
Join us here: https://discord.com/invite/DfxJfVHQZ3
🧟That’s the Plan
That’s everything for now. The only thing you need to do today is double-check your pledge has gone through cleanly. Beyond that, sit tight, keep an eye on your inbox, and we’ll be back with the next update when pledge manager surveys are about to land.
Thank you again for backing Lairs of Etharis: Transformed and for helping us grow the world of Etharis. We cannot wait to put these new lairs in your hands.
To all those who once stood beside us during the trials of Hercules and the 12 Labors… we come one final time to extend an invitation to join us on the Jason and the Argonaut voyage before it ends.
The Jason and the Argonauts campaign now enters its final days upon the seas.
First and foremost, thank you. Without your support during Hercules and the 12 Labors, none of this would have been possible. Your belief in these mythological adventures helped pave the way for everything Jason and the Argonauts has become.
And truly… this campaign has surpassed even our wildest expectations.
Funded in just 10 minutes, Over 2,600 Adventurers aboard the Argo. More than $190,000 raised, Countless stretch goals conquered, Exclusive upgrades, bonus content, and rewards unlocked throughout the campaign.
DO NOT MISS OUT on the massive amount of FREE bonus content unlocked throughout this legendary voyage. We are talking about 14+ bonus cards, component upgrades, exclusive stickers, and more, all added to Jason and the Argonauts absolutely FREE for eligible backers who join before the campaign comes to an end.
Every eligible Adventurer aboard the Argo will receive an enormous collection of bonus content unlocked throughout the campaign, and we dont want you to miss out on it.
If you loved Hercules and the 12 Labors, we truly believe you will feel right at home within Jason and the Argonauts. Built upon the same core system, yet expanded with new mechanics, legacy systems, journey cards, discoveries, lore, and strategic decisions, this is the next great mythological adventure forged from everything we learned creating Hercules and the 12 Labors.
This is your final chance to board the Argo before the voyage ends.
Your support has helped turn these mythological worlds into reality, and we cannot wait for you to experience the next chapter of the legend beside us.
Decide if there should be another stretch goal and, if so, give input on what it might be. What actually happens will be decided by considering both the wishes of backers and the feasibility of the possible stretch goal.
Today we'll peek at new Constellation art, highlight your chosen character, and vote on the FINAL Lemonade Stand-Off. Let's get started!
Freshly Squeezed Constellation Art
Cam has already begun finishing art for the Constellations you've chosen, and it looks sweet. Take a look:
Stay tuned next week for more pictures, and a written interview with Cam about his art style and illustrations for The Big Squeeze!
Character Highlight: Billy
Billy won the last Lemonade Stand-Off with a super-narrow 51% of votes, which really shows how much each vote matters. Congratulations to all who voted for Billy!
Billy has already dealt with his share of lemons in life. When he took on the legendary lemon tree of his father, grandfather, great-grandmother and beyond, its signature flavour in Tiger Style lemonade helped his stand start strong... until his lemon tree began showing strange signs of illness, producing fewer and fewer lemons. Billy didn't want to let down his family, so when Zephyr Beverages approached his stand and offered a cure, Billy happily let them take a cutting from his lemon tree for testing. His tree recovered shortly after...
Why is it called Tiger Style? "Because it's awesome!"
It wasn't long until Zephyr released a 'new' drink line, Leopard Lemonade, with a very familiar flavour, and announced their entry into The Big Squeeze to show the world their latest Original Lemonade. Worried he accidentally gave away his family's legacy, Billy signed up for the contest as well. He'd have to win in order to prove that Tiger Lemonade is the true original, and that lemonade is about more than just a special strain of lemon.
Can the youngest contestant truly outpace Zephyr and prove that Tiger Lemonade can go the distance? We're all excited to find out!
At least Billy (now 'Renegade Bill') got some payback by building his running blade from Zephyr drone parts.
Billy's primary strengths are adaptation and snowball potential. The ability to move upgrades is weaker than a guaranteed upgrade in one particular area, but this lets him shift focus as the game continues so Billy can always adapt to the current stage of the game.
While Billy starts slow, his post-apocalypse powers are great for keeping momentum while scoring bounties. He has to avoid rushing in too soon, and build up his menu first! But once Billy is ready, he's the best in the game at catching up to almost any opponent. This makes him ideal for players who love big setups with game-ending payoffs!
Lemonade Stand-Off #3: Jack vs. Carol vs. Midas
Our final Stand-Off is a three-way poll, featuring Jack along with returning contestants Carol and Midas. This will determine which character gets the final spotlight before the campaign wraps up.
Midas is the infamous infomercial salesman of "Ice-10", which he claims are self-propagating ice crystals. Carol is a pilot and farmer known for inventing a form of Aerial Application for lemon trees. She's suspected to be the "Santa of Rinddale". Jack is the CEO of Zephyr Beverages, a top competitor in the food & beverage industry.
Whose story needs to be exposed? Cast your vote now, and whoever wins will be featured in the next character introduction! Voting closes Saturday at 8:00pm ET.
