Hello Lightbringers,
Welcome to our first regular monthly update.Â
As a reminder, I'll send these updates out every month to let you know where we sit. We're still in the e...
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James Bell
about 2 months ago
Add On Reward Distribution - xisting PDF Rewards Going Out to Backers!
Hello Lightbringers,
It's been about a week since we started sending out our Pledge Manager invitations. If you haven't yet filled out your backer survey, please do so as so...
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James Bell
about 2 months ago
Pledge Manager Surveys Coming This Week!
Hello Lightbringers,
We finished up the Crowdfunding portion of our campaign just about four weeks ago with a successful run, adding many backers and a few fun stretch goals...
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James Bell
3 months ago
We have unearthed the Buried Treasures!
Hello Lightbringers,
As the Kaos Storm subsides and we prepare for our next Kalm Season, it's time to take stock of our recent endeavor and see what we've found.
That is to...
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James Bell
3 months ago
FINAL HOURS: CHECKLIST & WHAT COMES NEXT
Hello Lightbringers,
Welcome to the final hours of this campaign! We've had a fun run - funding the books, reading the manuscripts for The Delver's Guide and Secrets of Kalm...
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James Bell
3 months ago
Final Day Review - Stretch Goals
Hello Lightbringers,
We're closing in on the final 24 hours of the campaign as I prepare this post. Within this final day, I wanted to review some important topics, most es...
Tomorrow, we kick off our final week countdown. This campaign finishes up next Thursday, March 19th at 2:00 PM EDT. We'll have one final manuscript preview section out for backers next Tuesday, the chapter with our adventure scenario for Secrets of Kalm and Kaos. But we're gonna jump to the end of the book today and I'll share the three Appendicies from the book.
As mentioned when we had our Appendix section from the World Below Delver's Guide, these aren't just mere lists but contain a ton of ideas, plot seeds, challenges, and jumping off points for your stories in the World Below. There's great stuff here, so dig in!
Draft Manuscript Previews
Over the course of this campaign, backers will receive the entire current draft manuscript for The World Below: Delver's Guide and The World Below: Secrets of Kalm and Kaos, but it's not going to come to you all in one go. The previews will come out in mangeable sections throughout the campaign. This helps me seem interesting over these 30 days, but it's more about guiding the conversation and helping steer feedback for the developers.
Because they want your feedback! These manuscript previews are of the current draft manuscript – the document in its latest, approved form. This may not be the final form after editing and any additional development, but you can consider it about 95% finished, so keep that in mind.
In fact, you can help guide the team through the next stages of development by providing feedback on these manuscript previews! The Onyx Path team has set up a special Feedback Form just for campaign backers for this very purpose: <TWB Buried Treasures Feedback Form>
You can use this Feedback Form to shrea your thoughts directly with the World Below developers and help guide them through the next rounds of development and editing.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY
Remember, thanks to BackerKit sorcery, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Reply to this Update" or "Learn More" button on the bottom and I'll see you below this title treatment.
Ready to get into our second chapter from the Secrets of Kalm and Kaos today? Some treasures get unearthed today!
THE WORLD BELOW REDDIT AMA COMING ON FRIDAY
I'll mention this again in our next manuscript preview drop (which comes on Firday, coincidentally), but if you've got Questions, the crew have some answers and will be running an Ask Me Anything session this Friday starting at NOON Eastern Time in the Onyx Path subreddit.
If you've got questions and won't be around to throw them into Reddit, feel free to leave them below and I'll pass them along!
Draft Manuscript Previews
Over the course of this campaign, backers will receive the entire current draft manuscript for The World Below: Delver's Guide and The World Below: Secrets of Kalm and Kaos, but it's not going to come to you all in one go. The previews will come out in mangeable sections throughout the campaign. This helps me seem interesting over these 30 days, but it's more about guiding the conversation and helping steer feedback for the developers.
Because they want your feedback! These manuscript previews are of the current draft manuscript – the document in its latest, approved form. This may not be the final form after editing and any additional development, but you can consider it about 95% finished, so keep that in mind.
In fact, you can help guide the team through the next stages of development by providing feedback on these manuscript previews! The Onyx Path team has set up a special Feedback Form just for campaign backers for this very purpose: <TWB Buried Treasures Feedback Form>
You can use this Feedback Form to shrea your thoughts directly with the World Below developers and help guide them through the next rounds of development and editing.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY
Remember, thanks to BackerKit sorcery, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Reply to this Update" or "Learn More" button on the bottom and I'll see you below this title treatment.
A brief reprieve between storms in my area means it's time to dig deeper into the World Below with the next section from the Delver's Guide draft manuscript. We're going to get more options for our characters, as well as some new tools to add to help our chances for survival in the great test that is The World Below.
First up, though, let's celebrate!
STRETCH GOAL UNLOCKED
ACHIEVED! - At $10,000 in Funding - THE ADVENT OF THE SILT
THE ADVENT OF THE SILT - The team will create a West Marches-style adventure for The World Below, focused on exploration and cave delving. A PDF version of The Advent of Silt will be added as a bonus reward to all backers receiving either the Delver's Guide PDF or the Secrets of Kalm and Kaos PDF as part of their pledge rewards.
We'll get back to the Advent of the Silt adventure and hopefully expand it before the end, but let's set up our next two Stretch Goals. These may be pretty familiar to frequent Onyx Path supporters. A couple of milestone markers to help us keep our pace and celebrate as we move forward with the project.
At $13,000 in Funding - WORLD BELOW SHIRT ON REDBUBBLE
WORLD BELOW SHIRT DESIGN - A new World Below shirt design will be made available on Onyx Path's Redbubble sore for a limited time only. Backers will be notified when this design becomes available.
At $14,000 in Funding - WORLD BELOW DIGITAL WALLPAPER
WORLD BELOW DIGITAL WALLPAPER - All backers supporting this project will receive a digital wallpaper for their computer desktop featuring artwork from the Delver's Guide or Secrets of Kalm and Kaos books.
Draft Manuscript Previews
Over the course of this campaign, backers will receive the entire current draft manuscript for The World Below: Delver's Guide and The World Below: Secrets of Kalm and Kaos, but it's not going to come to you all in one go. The previews will come out in mangeable sections throughout the campaign. This helps me seem interesting over these 30 days, but it's more about guiding the conversation and helping steer feedback for the developers.
Because they want your feedback! These manuscript previews are of the current draft manuscript – the document in its latest, approved form. This may not be the final form after editing and any additional development, but you can consider it about 95% finished, so keep that in mind.
In fact, you can help guide the team through the next stages of development by providing feedback on these manuscript previews! The Onyx Path team has set up a special Feedback Form just for campaign backers for this very purpose: <TWB Buried Treasures Feedback Form>
You can use this Feedback Form to shrea your thoughts directly with the World Below developers and help guide them through the next rounds of development and editing.
Digital and Print-on-Demand Rewards
We know times are hard these days, particularly with rising costs and economic uncertainty, so we’ve designed this crowdfunder to be as painless as possible. We offer a wide variety of digital options for backing, as well as leveraging print-on-demand technology to have physical products printed as close to you as possible to cut down shipping and reduce tariff concerns - and avoid some of the manufacturing delays that have delayed other campaigns.
DRAFT MANUSCRIPT PREVIEWS - BACKERS ONLY
Remember, thanks to BackerKit sorcery, these download links are visible to Backers only - you must be logged in and reading this on the website to have access to the manuscript preview links. So, if you're reading this via e-mail, click that "Reply to this Update" or "Learn More" button on the bottom and I'll see you below this title treatment.
As a reminder, I'll send these updates out every month to let you know where we sit. We're still in the earliest stages of this post-campaign, where projects make incremental movements along the progress path. A lot of months will be pretty similar, just a quick note to let you know that the Onyx Path team is still working on it. Any time we have a new reward or something of interest to share, I'll include that as well.
At the end of each month, I'll include a summary of our rewards and their current status (they'll either be delivered or marked as still pending, possibly with additional details if I know more). I'll also list any relevant Update posts, in case you want to go back and check into something.
Each month, I'll list our "Pending" rewards and our "Distributed" rewards. We'll track the project status of our pending rewards by filling in the stage dots, and I'll note which update (and include a link) with each delivered reward, in case you want to go back and re-read the relevant update for more information. If any of these rewards were on your pledge list, you can access download codes in your BackerKit Digital Rewards page. And once they've been added to your DriveThruRPG library, you can access them through your DTRPG digital library at any time.
Let's dive in!
Pending Projects
Here's our project's "character sheet" - I'll fill in the dots as things move through the progress track and stages are completed. The editing and development teams used your feedback on the draft manuscripts during the campaign to get the "almost final" draft set up so that the team can begin working with the Art Director to figure out the art needs for the project. We're still a bit away from artists getting assigned specific pieces, but this is where they figure out how many and where the illustrations will go, and then the developer figures out what the subjects should be. After that, they'll start looking at artists availability and schedules.
While that work is happening on our main books, our Stretch Goal adventure, the Advent of Silt, has moved into Redlines. Writers have turned in their first drafts, and now the developer is sending feedback and they'll hammer it back and forth until the manuscript is in final draft form and goes to live in the hands of the developer.
We'll note the progress each month in an updated chart.
Rewards Distributed to Backers
The World Below corebook PDF
At the Gates Draft Manuscript
Monster Kingdoms Draft Manuscript
Curesborne corebook PDF
Storypath Ultra Core Manual PDF
They Came From the RPG Anthology! PDF
As detailed in our last update, the existing Add On rewards have gone out to backers. If you added any of these on to your Rewards List and haven't yet claimed them, you can find redemption codes in your Digital Rewards page on your Pledge Manager.
Pledge Manager
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://buried-treasures.backerkit.com/
A great place to learn more about pending and future Earthbane Cycle projects is Onyx Path's annual Virtual Gaming Convention! In one week, Onyx Path will be running their online convention - FRIDAY JUNE 5 to SUNDAY JUNE 7.
I will continue to post regular updates every month until the final reward has gone out.
Remember: You can use the links at the bottom of this e-mail to unsubscribe from updates or Manage your notification settings. These status updates are available on the campaign page for you to review at any time.
Onyx Path Discussion Channels
If you've got questions about the rules or setting, or just want to discuss this game with other fans (as well as the Onyx Path writers and developers!), you can check out these Onyx Path discussion zones:
It's been about a week since we started sending out our Pledge Manager invitations. If you haven't yet filled out your backer survey, please do so as soon as possible - you can change it or update it right up until the books are prepping for distribution and we start locking down orders, so quite a long time away. We use the Pledge Manager for all reward fulfillment, so having your backer page set up ensures you'll be getting your rewards in a timely manner.
If you need to review your information or pledge status, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://buried-treasures.backerkit.com/
Many of the rewards for our Crowdfunding projects take a lot of time and effort to complete. Usually, the campaign is a means of moving the project from an idea (even when it's a mostly-fully-written idea) into the actual channel that turns it into a project/product. It'll be a while before we're ready to talk about delivery of The World Below: Delver's Guide and Secrets of Kalm and Kaos and the Stretch Goal projects.
That said, there are many rewards that are available now, as they were mostly add-ons for existing products. And now we can work on getting those out to you over the next few days.
The following Add On Rewards WillBe Distributed This Weekend:
The World Below corebook PDF
At the Gates Draft Manuscript
Mosnter Kingdoms Draft Manuscript
Curesborne corebook PDF
Storypath Ultra Core Manual PDF
They Came From the RPG Anthology! PDF
It's basically this section from our Add On menu during the campaign.
The redemption codes will come over the next few days. You'll receive an e-mail if you have any of these rewards on your rewards list, sending you to the Digital Rewards page on your Pledge Manager. The Digital Rewards page will have redemption links to add the PDF files to your DriveThru cart at $0 cost.
You may need to click the links two or three times to get them to add to the cart properly. In my experience, the first click ends up getting me to login to my DTRPG cart and I have to click the redemption link a second time while my cart is open to properly add it (in a new tab, usually). Just keep trying, you'll get there!
REWARD DISTRIBUTION
Your link to claim these digital rewards will be sent out by our BackerKit pledge manager over the next day, as noted above. Since we are using our partners at DriveThruRPG as the hosts for these, you will need to set up a DriveThru account if you don't have one already. If you encounter any problems with downloading your rewards, please contact DTRPG's customer service to resolve the matter, they've always been top-rated for customer service. http://www.drivethrurpg.com/contact_us.ph
DRAFT MANUSCRIPTS
In addition to redemption links for these digital rewards, all backers have received a link to the compiled draft manuscripts. These links can be found in your BackerKit digital rewards page, and you likely received an e-mail linking to that with the Backer Survey invitations. Again, these aren't new manuscripts, it's the same as the one I shared at the bottom of our previous update. From this point forward, your Digital Rewards page in your Pledge Manager will be the place to access the manuscripts.
MONTHLY UPDATES
With the Pledge Manager up and running, in May I'll have our first "regular" update for our project. I'll send these updates out every month to let you know where we sit. We're still in the earliest stages of this post-campaign, where projects make incremental movements along the progress path. A lot of months will be pretty similar, just a quick note to let you know that the Onyx Path team is still working on it. Any time we have a new reward or something of interest to share, I'll include that as well.
At the end of each month, I'll include a summary of our rewards and their current status (they'll either be delivered or marked as still pending, possibly with additional details if I know more). I'll also list any relevant Update posts, in case you want to go back and check into something.
Each month, I'll list our "Pending" rewards and our "Delivered" rewards. We'll track the project status of our pending rewards by filling in the stage dots, and I'll note which update (and include a link) with each delivered reward, in case you want to go back and re-read the relevant update for more information. If any of these rewards were on your pledge list, you can access download codes in your BackerKit Digital Rewards page. And once they've been added to your DriveThruRPG library, you can access them through your DTRPG digital library at any time.
That's for the end of next month, though. For now, enjoy your Add On rewards!
To Contact James
Via E-Mail: Onyx.Kickstarter [at] gmail.com
Via BackerKit: Click "Need Help?" from your page, and then fill in the Contact Us form. BackerKit will pass your message along to me.
LAUNCHING TODAY
The lightning-fast crowdfunder for physical versions of the Curseborne Jumpstart starts tomorrow! It’s bigger than our usual jumpstarts, giving you everything you need to play a slice of Curseborne with The Wolf You Feed, an introductory adventure which follows an investigation into the disappearance of Rosa Rivers (which can also be used for Curseborne if you have the full rulebook). Also, if you loved the five iconic characters from the Curseborne Ashcan, the jumpstart will have updated and expanded versions of those characters in beautiful spreads with all the information players need.
