Welcome back, Agents!

What a wild last day. Between the 35C/95F heat and that 8 hour backer train taking us into overtime, today has been one heck of a ride. As this campaign closes, I wanted to send a huge thank you from myself and the whole team. We've really appreciated your enthusiasm, curiosity and kindness during this campaign. It's been a wonderful one to be a part of. 

I've named this update Campaign Epilogue, but really it's a prologue to the stories yet to come. Your journey into Section 9 is just beginning. More on that below!

Whether you're new to crowdfunding or not, now is a great time to go through the next steps so you know what to expect and can ask any questions you need to in the comments below.

A common question during the campaign is when and how can you get the Rulebook PDF. This ties directly into the Pledge Manager process that everyone needs to take, so let's go through those steps below.

The above is great for knowing when to expect the Pledge Manager, Rulebook PDF and missions, but let's zoom out a little further to view the fulfilment of all other items. Here is our estimated timeline at this stage.

2026
AUG: Crowdfunding ends. Late Pledges become available.
AUG: Physical refunds can be issued at 90% (due to platform fees). Digital PDF is non-refundable once downloaded.
AUG: Pledge Manager opens.
OCT: Pledge Manager closes.
DEC: Order confirmed with the factory. No refunds are available beyond this point.

2027
JAN: Pre-production Feedback
FEB: Manufacturing begins.
APR: Shipping addresses are now locked in the Pledge Manager.
APR: Pledges are shipped to regional hubs.
MAY: Fulfilment of pledges from hubs to backers.

If anything changes with these timelines, we'll be sure to keep you up to date. 

Thanks to everyone who has voted so far on which VTT platform you want to see The Ghost in the Shell TTRPG on. Over 300 of you have voted, so I've extended the poll by a few days to give all the new backers a chance to participate. Please have your say below.

Your support of this campaign and participation in this vote have made us think that VTT for this game IS POSSIBLE.  While we're not quite ready to guarantee this will happen (yet), we've been speaking with all the relevant people to understand the landscape, platforms, and costs involved. Just to set expectations for development, it takes around 12 weeks, so if we did proceed, this wouldn't happen overnight.

We'll be making decisions on this very soon and will, of course, keep you all updated.

Expect monthly updates big and small, as we continue to work on the project. Our next update will focus on the Pledge Manager (and perhaps more news on VTT), but whatever the news we'll stay in touch until your pledges are finalized.

Until next time, thank you for joining us on this great adventure.

- Ross and Team Mantic