Hello Grand Festival Backers!

Price here. Today we’ve got….RPG & MINIATURE PROTOTYPES AND WHITE BOX SAMPLES!

Let’s jump in.

 

Arriving this week from Panda is a white box sample and prototype of the Gloomhaven: RPG Deluxe Box set. Please note: This is not the final design. Changes are still being made, physical testing is still underway, and final design must first meet our strict quality and usability requirements before we approve and put into mass production.

-It’s really real! Panda did a great job bringing our rendered-only vision to physical life, and this is one of the most important steps before we make final design decisions.

-Card Tomes: We didn’t know how feasible this concept would be, and Panda tackled it head-on. Our original pitch was something like “Clamshell card insert, reminiscent of Disney VHS cases.” The tome feels both thematic and sturdy. 

-Elemental Bookmarks: These look and feel great! They’ve got good weight and size, and we can’t wait to see them in their full-color majesty.

-Storage Vault: We successfully ran tests storing a myriad of Gloomhaven board game components, map tiles, and accessories we can see GM’s using for their RPG sessions. 

-The Core Book: This is our first time seeing/holding the book in person…and MAN…is this thing thick! The final book will of course not only have full color, but embossed title treatment, foiled cover detailing, and two ribbons (red and gold). 

-Kallax Compatible: So far, we’re still Kallax (shelf) compatible! 

-Card Sleeve Compatible: Every tuckbox has been designed to fit sleeved cards and decks! The only exception is the “Ancestry Deck” which only holds non-used cards until you are ready to build them into your character’s “Ability Deck” tuckbox. That tuckbox does have room.

The Meh:
-Missing Shelf: The factory unfortunately overlooked one of our requirements in this first prototype attempt: a dedicated drawer for accessories such as the GM screen, character sheet pad, and mercenary company sheet pad. We’ve already informed them of this oversight and are correcting it in our next iteration. 

-Open Back: The factory included a lid that folds all the way off the reverse side, revealing a back with holes for which they intended the card tomes and books to be pushed out of the shelves. This was counter to our requirements and original design request. We’d hoped to explore other options first and will be continuing to work with them to perfect the best way to remove components from the shelves without difficulty; including finger cutouts, ribbons, and/or inset shelves to support removal from the box’s front side. We’ll report back!

-Card Tome Lids: The factory took a stab at designing an innovative plastic lid that could service both sides of the card tome sides at once. While a neat design, it gives us concern. Our original intent was to have one lid per side. Since the tuckboxes rest in wells, and cover the smaller perk deck wells underneath, this approach means you run a higher risk of multiple components falling out upon opening. We’d very much like to avoid that. They’ve taken our feedback and are going to return to our original request on the next iteration. 

-Book Size: The sample we got of the Core Rulebook was slightly larger (taller & wider) than our specifications for the designed/layed out the book, so we’ll be correcting this on the next sample.

We’ve finally received white box samples for Forgotten Circles and Jaws of the Lion Miniature Sets, including production miniature samples, trays, lids, and base rings.

Let’s take a look:
(featuring my corgi, Max, drinking water in the background)

 

Miniatures Next Steps:

With these first two miniature boxes approved, we are confidently continuing work on packaging design and layout for FORGOTTEN CIRCLES & JAWS OF THE LION. Design and layout choices here will directly flow into the other remaining box sets. According to our factory partner tray samples for GLOOMHAVEN SUMMONS and FROSTHAVEN SUMMONS should be wrapping up this week so we're expecting those to be the next two sets ready to share with you. 

We're also continuing to check in multiple times per week to make sure mold completion is progressing without delay and are asking for their assistance dialing in ETA's for mass production. Below is our updated Progress Tracker. Once we have all molds confirmed as approved all products in the "Mass Production" phase will be able to move forward together.

With the release of the third and final major content update for Frosthaven Digital before it leaves early access later this year, I thought it appropriate to give a shout-out to Youtuber High_on_Hopeium, who has been posting videos of his playthrough of Frosthaven Digital since it entered early access last year. He just posted his 50th video this week, which is some serious dedication. We wish him the best of luck as he works towards finishing the entire campaign.

And that will do it for this month. A big thank you to our whole Cephalofair team for their collaborative eyes and hands on these samples helping ensure all requirements are met and findings are found.

And thank YOU for reading and sharing your thoughts! We look forward to sharing with you more progress and updates next month.