Good day! I hope you are all doing well. We are in for a bit of a shorter update this month, as expected, with both our RPG and Miniature factories just now returning from the Lunar New Year break,  We have re-engaged with both factories this week and will briefly summarize below the current and next steps!

We’ve just heard back from our Miniature factory that they have returned to office and are eager to pick up where we left off! Price and our production team are actually currently in Kentucky attending GAMA (Game Manufacturer’s Association) and met with our factory team to align on next steps and set expectations that mold production is kicking off to high gear ASAP. Good conversations were had and clear goals set for packaging, production, and our intended involvement in quality assurance. We really look forward to providing you insights, photos, and video of the mass production process once it’s formally underway.

Our internal production team has been spending the entirety of this Lunar New Year window making sure all final efforts on the RPG book are accounted for and underway for a quick kick-off with our factory. As mentioned above, Price (& Arch, & Layne) flew out early to Kentucky for a full week of in-person co-working and collaboration on the project to make sure that continued conversations with our manufacturers will be productive and effective.

Tomorrow, they have a scheduled meeting with our factory to make sure all formalities are out of the way, contracts are signed, deposits are made, and pre-press is ready to begin.

Barring any emergencies, we anticipate this is the month we will finally begin pre-press and begin reviewing/approving digital proofs!

One of the fun last steps of the project this window has allowed us time to finalize direction for our own deck of Gloomhaven playing cards! These will not only serve as a fully functional set of playing cards, but include beautiful artwork from Alexander Eilichev & Dat Phan, as well as optional graphical elements that will support Gloomhaven: RPG gameplay should you choose to use them instead of the Deluxe Card Set. (Although, ANY standard deck of 52 cards + Jokers will work!)

This deck of Gloomhaven: Playing cards will be available both with the RPG pledge manager and later on www.cephalofair.com.

This month I am giving a huge shout-out to Youtuber UcGXanathos21, who posts videos of him playing Frosthaven and Gloomhaven digital at very hard difficulty. Most impressive to me is his recent video with the world record speedrun for completing Gloomhaven Digital on +2 difficulty. You know how it took you and your group over a year to play through Gloomhaven? This guy did it in an hour and 21 minutes, and, just to reiterate, he did it on +2 difficulty.

I know how much time and dedication goes into perfecting a speed run—way, way, way more than what you see in the actual video—so stuff like this completely blows me away. If nothing else, at least watch the first two scenarios (or the Slave Pens at 1:07:15, which is just wild) and marvel at the expertise.

And that is the update for you. Like I said, we’ll have much more for you next  month once we get into molding on the miniatures and proofing on the RPG. Catch you then!