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Some lucky US-based backers may have even received their copies already! If not, don't fret: there are literally thousands of pledges and ...well, nowhere near 1,000 Chaos Lords at the Goodman Games warehouse. (That's a good thing, actually. Trust us.) And, for those checking tracking numbers online with bated breath: please allow time for the tracking systems to update.
For those outside the US: We understand from our partners in Australia that the goods have arrived and are now in the queue. (How's that for a change of pace?) The UK/EU and Canadian markets are slated to start shipping in the next couple of weeks. If you're in these areas, watch your inboxes for address confirmation emails from our partners!
We'll update again soon! In the meantime, remember to click the Digital Distribution tab at the top of your BackerKit page for this project and download your awesome PDFs!
Some exciting news for backers both physical and digital.
PDF distribution is happening "right now." You should see your digital files appearing in your BackerKit account soon, and depending on your email settings you may also get an email notification. The notifications are queued and there are a lot of notifications going out, so if you don't see it yet, give it an hour or two!
Based on notifications we have received, physical book delivery will start soon in several markets. It looks like USA and AUS will likely be the first two markets to fulfill. More details coming soon!
Exciting update for you all today: the books are on boats! Shipments from China are headed to various markets as we type this.
It is highly likely that Australia will be the first market to fulfill. For AUS backers who completed their surveys prior to the posted deadline, we shipped the US-origination add-ons some time ago (i.e., T-shirts, backlist items from our warehouse, etc.). Those items are already in Australia, waiting to "marry up" with the inbound delivery from China. We anticipate this happening soon and fulfillment is likely to begin by mid-June.
The US will likely be the next market to fulfill, probably in mid to late June, with Canada and UK not far behind. Customs clearance is always a curveball but this is what we expect at the moment.
We will provide additional details as shipments land!
Dungeon Con 2 Was Awesome
It was great seeing so many familiar faces - and backers of this project - at our convention a few weekends ago! For those who couldn't make it, here is a photo of the "previews section" of our booth. The advance copies of the books from this project were on display. They looked great! And your copies will look great too.
MCC Foil Edition
The MCC foil edition is one of the final items to be approved. Here is a photo of an advance sample we've received. The bronze foil is holographic and sparkles with the embedded polygons. It's hard to capture in a photo so we have included a couple angles below, which show how the changing angle changes the sparkle. This book turned out really good and we think you'll be happy with it!
DCC Leatherbound Edition
Here are photos of the final leatherbound printing. Those of you who ordered this will be very happy, I think.
There are several "layers" to this print job so we have captioned the photos below accordingly.
The book is packaged in a printed corrugated protective case.
Open the case and you see the slipcase that encloses the book.
A view of the book spine inside the slipcase.
The book removed from the slipcase, which features the "fire wizard" art on its other side.
The leatherbound book with its holographic reflective silver foil.
The signature page.
The bonus pages at back, exclusive to the leatherbound edition.
That's all for now, everyone. I expect our next update will concern fulfillment beginning. Looking forward to that!
We'll keep this short and sweet. Three important things to know!
Advance copies are in hand! Books will be loaded on boats soon!
Our warehouse sale and Dungeon Con 2 are this weekend! Fort Wayne, Indiana. Come see the advance copies in person!
Castle Whiterock ends this Friday! Get the Book of Bonus Adventures while you still can!
Now the details!
Advance Copies In Hand
They look soooooo good. Here are some photos. We're still waiting on a few more to trickle in but overall they're looking great!
Warehouse Sale + Dungeon Con 2 Is This Weekend!
Once a year, we open our warehouse to the public for a fun sale - plus an auction! This Friday and Saturday, visit us in Fort Wayne, Indiana for the annual warehouse sale.
Then Saturday and Sunday, visit the Grand Wayne convention center in downtown Fort Wayne for Dungeon Con 2! Games, seminars, vendors, and more!
We'll have the advance copies of Dungeon Denizens 2 items displayed at the Goodman Games booth at Dungeon Con! Come see them in person!
This post is going to have a ton of photos. We are at the very end of the proofing process, where we are receiving physical samples of covers. So get ready for a whole bunch of those!
We also have one bit of bad-news-that-we-fixed-so-it's-fine-now. Long story short, the MCC neon cover will use foil instead of fluorescent inks to achieve the desired look. Full details on that below.
Now, let's start with proof photos... so many proof photos...
BTW, these are called F&G's, which stands for "Folded & Gathered." These are printed on the true and final paper stock. They're folded, and gathered together (hence the name), but no binding is applied. That is why in some cases you see the "guts" of the book sitting outside the cover. The guts are printed "as you'll get them", just not bound in yet, so we're showing you what the inside will look like, too.
In some cases you'll see "firm" covers. Those have already been adhered to the board. In other cases they look "floppy." That's the PLC (Printed Laminated Case), which is "exactly what it will be printed on," just not yet glued to a board to make it a hardcover. In those cases, you actually see the bleed, which is an extra 1/2" or so on every edge. If you examine one of your hardcovers at home carefully, you'll see the bleed is wrapped around the board edge, then the endsheets are glued over it, covering off that final 1/2". In these photos you can see the edge bleed that will be obscured by the endsheets when bound. In case anyone is wondering why the cover edges look weird on some of those "floppy hardcover images", that is why!
Now, on to some photos.
Dungeon Denizens 2 5E monster-hide cover, printed on the actual stock with the actual foils with the final deboss.
Dungeon Denizens 2 DCC monster-hide cover, printed on the actual stock with the actual foils with the final deboss.
In case you were wondering - yes, this is the leatherbound!
These are the stretch goal booklets that you'll receive.
This is one of the "floppy" hardcovers, not yet adhered to a board, as explained above. Same for the next couple covers.
Inside the Flumph Book
A couple updates ago, a backer asked to see interior shots of the Flumph book. Here are a few photos for you!
Inside the Dungeon Denizens 2 Books
And while we're at it, here are some photos of the interior of Dungeon Denizens 2. First, the 5E version...
...and now some photos inside the DCC edition.
MCC Core Book, Neon Edition
Now, the tale of this title. MCC has a natural "radioactive" theme, and we want to do a cover that captures that. We were originally inspired by the option of fluorescent inks. This is the printer chip that beguiled us:
Don't those fluorescent inks look awesome? That was the menu of choices. So we designed a cover that would utilize fluorescent inks.
A while back, the printer told us they were having trouble executing the cover. They sent the photo below. This was their first proof for the MCC neon cover. They rejected it internally and told us they were going to re-do it, and not even send it to us. Sometimes inks don't execute properly, for a variety of reasons. Believe it or not, humidity can screw up the printing process. The surface underneath the ink can sometimes affect things, too, and fluorescent inks are persnickety like that.
The "scratchy stuff" around the edges is glow ink. Our vision was a neon green cover, which turned into a glow cover when the lights went out.
Glow ink is very cool, and we've used it before. It leaves behind a residue. When we've used it previously, the residue blended into the cover look. However, when applied to a black case, as you can see above, the residue is way too obvious.
Plus the green wasn't vibrant enough!
After spending some more time reworking it, the printer then sent us this proof, which we just received:
As you can see, this still doesn't work. The green isn't vibrant enough and doesn't fulfill the promise of that original chip of fluorescent inks. And the glow ink is wayyyy too distracting - that white scratchy texture is too obvious. The glow ink was supposed to enhance the cover when in dark environments, but instead it became a distracting application of its own.
It's rare that we reject a proof, especially with the amazing printer we have, but in this case we have done just that.
The printer is now acquiring foil to achieve the same effect using vibrant foils instead of fluorescent inks. We will probably abandon the glow-in-the-dark idea, too, since it's just not executing right. Here is our mockup using our foil choices:
Once the foil inks are acquired, we can confirm the exact final shades, then we'll share a proof photo.
All this is to say... this MCC cover will still look cool. We're achieving the same effect, with a different path.
Warehouse sale + game convention! May 1-3 in Fort Wayne, Indiana!
Dungeon Con 2 Is Coming
If you live near Fort Wayne, Indiana, come visit us! We are opening our warehouse to the general public! Our famous warehouse sale happens Friday May 1 and Saturday May 2.
In addition, Dungeon Con 2 will be held in downtown Fort Wayne, IN on Saturday May 2 and Sunday May 3. Hundreds of games, seminars, and more! Plus your chance to meet the Goodman Gang and pick our warehouse clean!
