The Publishing Goblin's Oracle Dice Now Available!
Publishing Goblin's Oracle Dice Collection – Alleyman Tarot
Over on the www.AlleymanTarot.com site, where we're offering the remaining Alleyman's Tarot sets, we are now of...
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Publishing Goblin
12 months ago
Deadline Passed | The Future of the Oracle Dice | Hello!
Hello dice goblins!
A week ago today, we hit the deadline for people to get their final information in, fix payment, etc for their orders.
As of today, 16 people never did thei...
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Publishing Goblin
12 months ago
Deadline Tonight/Tomorrow | Second Batch Orders | Alleyway Oracles
First off, I want to let everyone know that the deadline for the 17 people who haven't done their surveys, and the 41 people with declined cards/failed to charge shipping is ton...
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Publishing Goblin
12 months ago
Deadline Approaching | Shipping Updates | The PDF Guidebook!
Hello everyone!
First off, some people have been asking after the PDF of the guidebook. Let me square that away right now.
THE PDF GUIDEBOOK
Click there, and you can downloa...
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Publishing Goblin
about 1 year ago
US and Canada Orders About to Send! | International Orders Sent! | The Final Deadline
Hello dice goblins!
As of today, the vessel with the US and Canadian orders has landed in the states. We don't have our shipping container just yet, but likely should this week...
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Publishing Goblin
about 1 year ago
Shipping & The Final Deadline
Hello Dice Backers!
American and Canadian dice sets are on the way to the US still, and international orders are already traveling out into the world!
Now, there are roughl...
Over on the www.AlleymanTarot.com site, where we're offering the remaining Alleyman's Tarot sets, we are now offering the Publishing Goblin's Oracle Dice in their 2nd edition! You can get the dice set, the cloth, the guide, the wooden box, the stone dice (while they last), the oracle decks, and the art prints!
It's been a while, but I'm glad to finally be able to offer the set to everyone. I'm very proud of the set, the guide, and the divination system as a whole. I hope it will become a new favorite for all of you as well.
A week ago today, we hit the deadline for people to get their final information in, fix payment, etc for their orders. As of today, 16 people never did their surveys, and 30 people never paid for their shipping. All of them were reached out to multiple times, and I did my best to get them squared away. 12 people who did get those things taken care of had their orders handed over to New Titan, and those should be going into the mail in the next couple weeks.
Prior to this though, 3,318 backers had their orders shipped and received since we launched, and that's a much more pleasant number!
I do want to note that you can still reach out to me at [email protected] and New Titan (our manufacturer/fulfillment partner) at [email protected]if your order arrives and is damaged or missing items. The new deadline here is 45 days from today to let us know if your package went missing or if items are missing/damaged from your order.
I do want to be clear, the best way to reach us (and get a reply) is by email. Commenting on backerkit doesn't alert me in any way so I generally just don't end up seeing comments here. (On Kickstarter I get an email for every single message/comment, which is why Im so much more responsive there!) So please email!
July 7th is the deadline to let us know if your package is missing/damaged, or if items are missing or damaged from your order. After that time, this project will be considered fully put to bed.
The Future of the Oracle Dice
We will be shipping out the extra items from the www.alleymantarot.com website for sales in June I believe, as well as selling some on the Alleyway Oracles project, which is just going into its second week now. (There are 3 new dice on the project in the Tulsa add-on bag on the Alleyway Oracles, which are game-themed but will be designed by the Oracle Dice's symbol designer, and will come with a card of meanings to be read with the set!) We may manufacture some extra items as we go, or we may just sell out the remaining stock-- hard to say! But this time next year if all the items are gone, perhaps we'll look at a remanufacturing to stock back up.
I've noted (and seen others say) that the Metamorphosis die is a bit hard to read, largely because the details are much more delicate and some of it didn't get fully inked. I think that would be up first for a revision. Are there other dice, colors, or color combos that you might want to see different? Let me know as you begin working with your sets! I wouldn't be looking to do a full 3rd edition update necessarily, just some fixes and corrections here and there, and happy to hear what you all think!
The first edition had a lot to work from and fix, but this edition feels so much better. Maybe I'll change my mind after a year working with them, but this might be just about their final form. That's a nice feeling, to think the tool is fully there. I'm sure I'll want to update the guidebook in another year, but the dice are right where I want them.
Hello!
This year, I'm trying more than ever to be present at all the things I can be present at. Last year, I was invited to be a headlining guest at the Phoenix Autumn Meet pagan festival in Florida, and I'll be returning this year as a non-headlining guest. Then closer to Samhain, I will be at the Florida Pagan Gathering as a headlining guest!
In August I'll be at GenCon, running games of ZOETROPE, my timetraveling card-based RPG, as well as my Five Nights at Freddy's unofficial TTRPG system, then I'll be at Pax Unplugged to do much the same and Big Bad Con also!
If you're working at a pagan or tabletop event and can invite guests, I'm happy to go most anywhere and would love the chance to meet many of you! So where are you all going, and do you think you might see me at one of your events? Let me know! : )
First off, I want to let everyone know that the deadline for the 17 people who haven't done their surveys, and the 41 people with declined cards/failed to charge shipping is tonight. I will accept any emails or connections tonight or tomorrow, but on the 18th I will be exporting the last batch of orders for New Titan to fulfill.
On the 18th, anyone who has not reached out who still has a survey or order outstanding with shipping fees, etc, will have their order forfeit.
Second Batch Orders
I've had a few emails from people who were asking after orders that came in late-- either they did the survey after the first batch was sent or paid shipping late-- whatever the case may be. As I understand it, this 'second batch' has been going out but has been a bit slow. Notably, US and Canadian orders are still coming overseas, but I just heard that a ship was arriving so that should be taken care of soon.
If you're uncertain about the state of your order, an item is missing, or your package gets lost in the mail, please email [email protected]. I'm sorry about last update where I originally typed the email incorrectly. I updated it and fixed it, but the email that went out with the update still had the wrong email. My apologies!
If you want to connect with me for any reason, you can drop me an email at [email protected]. Please be a little patient with me as I'm now inundated with emails from the new project, spam people claiming they can promote me, etc. But I will get to you! :>
The Alleyway Oracles has been live for just 8 hours and it's already made 200,000+. The biggest day for the Alleyman's Tarot was $107k or so. So this might be another massive one. But we have lots of stretch goals and items to unlock and have revealed, so please if you are so inclined, go take a look!
If you're still waiting on your dice in the first or second batch of orders, there are no hard feelings if you'd rather sit this new project out until your items arrive. I understand and appreciate having had your support on the dice!
Thanks everyone, excited to put this project to bed in a couple days-- and ALL the more excited to have you all get the dice sets in hand already and into the coming weeks. These dice really have been so special for me. I enjoy the tarot decks, but the dice were entirely my own thing, my design, my concept, my guidance. I hope it serves you well for many years to come, and you can rest knowing that this set will stand for years yet. If I remanufacture, I will just fix typos in the book. The set is just as it should be.
First off, some people have been asking after the PDF of the guidebook. Let me square that away right now. THE PDF GUIDEBOOK Click there, and you can download the book!
Secondly, I know some people (66) had their orders split into two packages because there were slightly too many items. For those, as I understand, the books (Dice Guide, Alleyman's Guide) were removed and sent separately in Media Mail packages. Apologies, if I had known ahead of time I would have warned you.
Finally, if you have any issues with your packages-- if an item is missing, or your dice set is incomplete (three people have had a single die missing or a duplicate of one die which replaced another, so please check your sets), PLEASE reach out to [email protected]. We will get you taken care of, no worries! And we will take care of issues with orders for a fair bit longer than the below deadline-- that's just for people to get their things in to receive their package at all. I will announce when we're reaching the deadline to inform us of any missing or damaged items though, so try to reach out sooner than later.
Extra items will be made available on the www.alleymantarot.com website store late this month for sale, if you're curious!
THE DEADLINE
A reminder for everyone that surveys (21 people) and fixing not-charging cards (39 people) must be done by the 16th this month to be fulfilled. After that date, officially I won't be fulfilling any late people. I sent emails to all these 60 people, and many have already fixed the issues. I can be flexible if people contact me before the cutoff on the 16th, but I need to be talked to before that time.
At that time, remaining orders will be considered forfeit, and no refunds will be given. The warning has been given!
SHIPPING UPDATES
Everything has been sent, with very few exceptions. I was told that this week the remaining Alleyman Tarot-only orders are going out, and by the point I post this, either all of them should be out or 3/4ths of them. In either case, the others will go out tomorrow. If you haven't received your package or a tracking number, check in with your email, or email New Titan at the email shared at the top of the update. But this project is, with the exception of some late survey-finishers or card-fixers, fulfilled!
I have received so many excited images on social media, emails, DMs, and elsewhere, and Im so happy to see the dice in the world. This is a truly fantastic project with a gorgeous product. It took 11 months with a few hiccups with manufacturing, but it was well worth it and the set is truly amazing. Please continue to share them online and tag me in your pictures! @PublishingGoblin on Instagram, @PublishGoblin or @DaneAsmund on Twitter, and @PublishingGoblin on Tumblr. Y'all are amazing!
WHAT IS "IN SHADOW"?
A few people have reached out to ask me what it means in the guidebook for a die to be 'in shadow'. I apologize, I wasn't meaning to be obtuse! For me, tarot cards, oracle cards, and the dice, have "At their best, they mean __. At their worst, or inverse, they mean ___." They have a range of meanings. The Queen of Swords to me is at her best in her power and the final judge of things brought before her. At her worst though, she can be too quick to make decisions, and her cuts with her blade cannot be undone once made, meaning her haste can make it impossible to fix the issue. I don't always look for her to be in reverse to read this 'inverse' meaning, sometimes the rest of the reading lets me know it is her haste and mistakes that are being looked at here.
The dice are the same to me. At its best, it might mean ___. At its worst, it might mean ___. Shadow is that second piece, the understanding of the other side of the coin to its message, so to speak. Shadow can be read in many situations, but for me it's always intuitively. If two dice are at odds with one another, their Shadow aspects might be speaking to one another more than their more traditional meaning. A seasonal die in the wrong season might be speaking to its Shadow. Sometimes, a die on its own simply due to the rest of the reading feels more in Shadow.
I'd consider it very similar to Tarot, where some readers simply ignore reverse cards and always read them right side up. If you feel the Shadow intentions of the dice are too vague or hard to draw a line on when they enter a reading, you can eschew that piece of the die's meaning. The dice should serve your uses, after all, and if they don't-- throw away what doesn't work!
And as you might have expected, I have to mention that the Alleyway Oracles, the sequel to the Alleyman's Tarot, is launching in just a week! May 16th! Things are coming together now for the last-minute push. If you love your dice, if you adored your Alleyman's, please consider pledging at least a $1 even if you don't need another deck (or three!) Every backer counts massively, and I appreciate all of your support. You can click through here to sign up to be notified for launch!
And that's all for now my friends! I'm so glad we've got this project finished and in people's hands. For those of you whose packages are still on the way, I hope it's a joyous day when it arrives. I only finally got my own package recently as well haha, but it's all as lovely as I wished the first edition could have been. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
As of today, the vessel with the US and Canadian orders has landed in the states. We don't have our shipping container just yet, but likely should this week, next week at the latest if there are customs issues with the ship. That means you should be receiving shipping notices this week into next week for those orders.
International orders were all already sent out, shipping notices are going to people in ongoing batches as things reach their checkpoints. This would be all the orders that were completed in time for me sending things over to the fulfillment center.
Late Surveys and Shipping Payments
I know many people were worried about if they were one of the people who didn't pay shipping or who didn't do their surveys. But they didn't know how to get there!
From backer MariexLupin on the previous update:
This was a pain for me to find too. At the top of the site, if you click your profile pic, it will open a menu. Click "Your Pledges and Surveys". It will take you to the "Your Pledges on Backerkit" page. You have to click the "Your Surveys" option near the top of the page, and that will let you click through to your order review page.
This should get you clear access to your pledge to see if your stuff is all up to date. Thanks Marie!
Just now, I went in and added shipping costs to 38 people who got their surveys in late. Or rather-- I sent it to my Backerkit representative who is now putting it onto those 38 people. I can't do it myself, it's all on their backend. Once those are through, I will charge those people.
On Friday the 28th this month, I will be putting the 100~ or so people who have their things in late (surveys or shipping charges) into a sheet to give to the fulfillment center to send packages out.
As of today, we have 23 people who haven't filled out their surveys (I just emailed all of them), 25 people whose cards have failed to charge that need to clear things with their banks or update the card on file to be charged, and 66 people who are set to go that will be sent in the batch of late orders on Friday.
The Final Deadline
A reminder of last update's Final Deadline.
For the 100 people still fixing shipping costs and surveys, you have until May 16th to get it done, or to reach out to Backerkit support/me for any assistance you need to get things set in place. Up to and about a week after that time, I will put orders through with New Titan to fulfill them.
After that time (May 16th, 2023), any unclaimed rewards will be forfeit. I have a difficult time the larger these projects get maintaining late surveys and shipping orders. There are still 200 people on the Alleyman's Tarot who never filled out their surveys. Here and now, and into the future, I'm putting some limits on all future projects for how long after we fulfill I'll accept and handle late orders.
If you talk to me now I can always be flexible for things I am made aware of! But there does need to be a final deadline in place, or else sometimes I find people expect me to fulfill 1, 2, even 4 years later, when I no longer have the product! (That just happened!)
After May 16th, any pledges left unclaimed, either because surveys were left undone, or shipping left unpaid, will consider the pledge rewards forfeit. I will not be doing refunds on those, with the funds paid-in considered support for the project.
American and Canadian dice sets are on the way to the US still, and international orders are already traveling out into the world! Now, there are roughly 70 people who never finished their surveys, and of the rest who did, about 100 of the 3400 people have had their shipping charges or pledge charges fail to go through still today.
This means there are 170 of you who need to 1) get your survey done if you haven't so we can get you setup with shipping charges and so we have your address, and 2) get your shipping paid.
The Final Deadline
3311 of you already have your items coming to you, one way or another! US and Canadian backers have their items coming overseas still, and should have those enter the USPS rapidly at the end of the month here. I've been informed it should be arriving in the US this weekend, but I will update when I know more. International backers have your items coming to you already in the mail! You will receive notices with tracking this weekend into next week. The Community Copies were also all sent out in these batches, and I'm very pleased to have gotten so many (over 50!) free sets to people!
For the 170 people still fixing shipping costs and surveys, you have until May 16th to get it done, or to reach out to Backerkit support/me for any assistance you need to get things set in place. Up to and about a week after that time, I will put orders through with New Titan to fulfill them.
After that time (May 16th, 2023), any unclaimed rewards will be forfeit. I have a difficult time the larger these projects get maintaining late surveys and shipping orders. There are still 200 people on the Alleyman's Tarot who never filled out their surveys. Here and now, and into the future, I'm putting some limits on all future projects for how long after we fulfill I'll accept and handle late orders.
If you talk to me now I can always be flexible for things I am made aware of! But there does need to be a final deadline in place, or else sometimes I find people expect me to fulfill 1, 2, even 4 years later, when I no longer have the product! (That just happened!)
After May 16th, any pledges left unclaimed, either because surveys were left undone, or shipping left unpaid, will consider the pledge rewards forfeit. I will not be doing refunds on those, with the funds paid-in considered support for the project.
Need Help?
Reach out to backerkit support for assistance! If they can't fix it they will forward you to me, so be sure to use that channel! It will get to whoever can help, one way or another.
The Oracles!
I truly appreciate all of your support. I literally cannot make ends meet without your support financially, or keep chugging along on the creation engine without your emotional support. It takes so much to make all this work, to manage all the parts I manage, and I now support many people beyond myself in many different capacities. To keep this forward momentum, I want to remind everyone about the Alleyway Oracles, which is launching on May 16th!
The Alleyway Oracles!
The Alleyway Oracles by Publishing Goblin — Kickstarter
Thanks for staying in communication with me as issues come up. I've been happy to help anyone who reaches out, and will continue to do so. As of today, 2500 shipping charges went through without issue, and 390 failed for a variety of reasons. Some people's cards have changed, some banks flagged it as fraudulent, and I'm sure any of a dozen other reasons.
We will be retrying cards that failed on Monday, April 3rd. If your card failed, log in to your account and update your card. Reach out to backerkit support if you're having trouble with it. As explained to me, if you update your card, you should be recharged either right away, or on the Monday I noted.
I can confirm that the US and Canada orders were handed off in the container 3 days ago! We're waiting to hear from our boat people to make sure the boat left yesterday, but looks like things are on the way! We're sending enough stuff over to the US that late surveys or mischarged cards will still be able to be taken care of.
International orders should be heading out now and into the next week or so. I will ping when I know for sure the state of those, if they're going out, finished, or any info like that.
EDIT: I see the issue where people who had no items in their order (they pledged $1 and nothing more) have been assigned a shipping charge. If you pledged $1 on day 1 and had a 22-Lord Oracle added to your cart for free, you will be charged shipping for that. If you'd like to forgo the deck and shipping cost, reach out to Backerkit Support-- I can't remove items/charges from your account. For people who had no items in their cart at all, we're fixing that now, no worries! We should be charging the shipping fees on Monday.
EDIT #2: Hey all-- I know international shipping is always a bit painful nowadays. First, a reminder that VAT and fees like it that are set by your governments are things we don't have any power over. Very sorry for it though, I know it's making shipping anywhere extremely painful lately. I promise I'm joining you in rolling my eyes at those costs. Second, I know most of the international packages have gone up in price, generally speaking though my understanding is that basic pledges ended up a little heavier than originally thought, so the most pledges are starting at the 2 set charge level. What we are charging here is based on the weight of your order and what it costs to send to you, using the same systems we used to set the original estimated costs, but now we have the actual final items in hand and are basing it exactly on the weight of your order. Shipping prices have gone up, and most orders have gone up in weight as well. I apologize our estimations were off, but that's exactly why they were estimations and I noted then and there from day 1 that they could be subject to change. I will continue to offer estimations on future projects but maybe I'll inflate them a little to account for how the prices may change in time? I'm not sure the best way to handle it. No one likes it when things cost more than they expected, but unfortunately these are the prices. No matter what project, people end up comparing their orders from other projects for shipping or manufacturing, etc-- that's impossible to do. Other companies may be undercharging international shipping costs for their backers and eating some of that cost. I did that on the Alleyman's Tarot, and undercharged most/all international orders, eating the cost with part of the profit. I cannot do it on this project, as this project ultimately made very little profit, so I am putting the full shipping cost forward to backers. I think I mispoke in a comment below on the weights so I'll just share the direct facts instead of my bad memory here: These are the weights for all the items, so you can see how heavy packages are in the end.
Schedule!
Today is when the shipping boat we were going to take was going out, and there were some stragglers with survey completion and fixing mischarged cards so we're adding those orders to the stack and sending US/Canada packages out on a boat the 28th. That still should get to the US around April 18th-20th, so we shouldn't have an issue being in most backer's hands by the end of April.
Community Copies and Funds!
I've also sent over to New Titan our Community Copies! We are packing those up to go with this batch as well. Being able to send out Community Copies is such a cool thing to be able to do, and I'll work it into future projects! I know I haven't been sharing where the community funds have been going, but anyone who follows our account on Kickstarter has seen this happening ever since this project funded, as I back lots of indie projects that need the support (generally without a physical reward-- this wasn't funds to get me cool things, it was to support small creators!) I've also invited lots of those people to be in the Alleyway Oracles, which gets them more money and some free exposure I hope. (I promise I'll never pay anyone in exposure, but exposure is helpful alongside pay!)
Shipping Charges!
I have finalized shipping costs with New Titan and Backerkit, as well as VAT and all the other taxes, and we are sending out charging notices today. I believe you'll be warned of the impending charge, and if you need to update your card or anything, be sure to do so! You cannot update your address at this point unless you are one of the 70 people who haven't filled out your survey!
The pricing for shipping is pretty close to what we said on the spreadsheet on the campaign page when we launched. A lot of them are spot on or off by a dollar, but a couple are higher, such as shipping to Mexico. There was one order in particular that will cost more in shipping than it cost for the order. I re-checked to ensure we were charging correctly, but it was right. Apologies for that, but that's just what it costs to ship there right now.
And the obligatory reminder that we have been planning to charge shipping at a later date from day 1 on the project. I know there will always be some people who didn't notice or who forgot who are dismayed to be charged more money to receive their items. I know that's not fun, but I can promise it was that way from day 1, and noted in a number of spots! Thanks for your patience and support as we got all the items right.
Once US and Canadian orders are in the shipping container and leaving China on the 28th, all international orders will be fulfilled by New Titan from China.
Thanks all, you are amazing and I am so beyond ready to have the dice in hand! Will update again when international orders are all in the mail, and then again when the ship arrives in the US.
As I'm sure some of you noticed, I didn't charge shipping last week like I said I was going to. It turns out charging shipping after doing surveys already is more complicated than I thought. Today, I sent out a 48 hour notice that I am locking orders and addresses.
We are shipping as per last update's schedule: International packages (other than Unites States or Canada) will be heading into the mail at the end of this month, and traveling to people in April. US and Canadian Packages will be heading to a shipping container to head overseas around the 20th-25th this month. It'll take 20-25 days to get to the US, and then they'll go into the mail mid-late April.
Please update your addresses accordingly as necessary. If you are moving and will be somewhere else in mid to late April, update the address to the new one. If you aren't sure where you'll be, update it to a friend's address, or a coworkers, or work, or family. Sometimes USPS address forwarding works with packages, sometimes it doesn't. I've heard it work both ways plenty on the Alleyman's, so be sure to update to an address with us that works best! : )
To update your address, you MUST go into your survey for this project and adjust the address there. Updating your address on file with your Backerkit profile doesn't (as far as I know) affect this project's specific address on file. So go into your supported projects and adjust the address on this project specifically. IF you need assistance, you can ask Backerkit support for help, or you can reach out to me at [email protected]. These are due Wednesday at noon MST. No changes can be made after that.
On Wednesday at this time, when they are locked in, I am handing them to New Titan to lock in final order packing, and get per-person shipping totals. I will then hand that over to Backerkit, who are telling me they have a fun new thing that let's them use a spreadsheet to put backer specific shipping totals in! So each of you will get a shipping total specific to your order, not just set on a weight-based scale by country. Shouldn't be a huge difference, but it means some fringe cases will be more specific/cheaper.
Will put up another update the day I am going to charge shipping costs just to let you know it's coming.
Last time I updated, I said by the end of Feb the acrylic dice would be done, then within a few days the stone dice should be done-- and that should be it!
The Wood Boxes
And it almost is. Everything, all the dice, are done and good to go as I noted last time. The only thing not done are the wood boxes.
The Dice Sets - Photo from New Titan Print LLC
They are installing the foam inserts into the dice holes by hand, and with 22 small holes in that thing it takes some time. The manufacturer noted that each worker is only able to get 4-5 boxes done an hour. This is taking longer than the box manufacturer expected because of it, but the bigger issue is that when China dropped all their limitations on things due to COVID, it made it all more chaotic. Things no longer get stuck at port because a region is in Lockdown, which is nice, but now things get slowed down because there are worker shortages all over as COVID infections rise. So not only are the boxes taking longer by hand than expected, but they're also short staffed.
Shipping Schedule
The dice box inspection (final step) is occurring on the 13th (a week from today). This means dice boxes should be going to New Titan to get packed away in sets soon.
Based on this schedule, we anticipate to ship out around March 20th. The vessel [to the US] should arrive around April 10th-15th. That being said, we are looking for April 20th-April 25th to ship out individual packages to US and Canadian backers.
For International backers, we can ship out individual packages around March 20.
--email to me from Shawn at New Titan.
This is the only thing that's holding us up. Because I got New Titan a preliminary break down of the orders weeks ago, they have already been able to begin assembling backer sets. So we are confident as soon as the boxes get in our hands, we can get things moving. US and Canada orders will finish getting packed and loaded to the vessel to go out on the 20th this month. It'll take 20-25 days to arrive, then the packages that are already labeled and packed just go into the mail. Easy as that.
This does mean US packages will be arriving between April 22nd-May 2nd-ish. It's very rare for packages with USPS to take more than a week to travel from any point in the US to any other, but even if they take 2 weeks in this case, everything should be in hand across the US by May 9th at some of the latest.
Canadian packages may be arriving into mid-May, but international packages outside the US and Canada will be going out in the end of this month into next month if necessary and arriving in April-May, likely mid to later May for the largest outliers (packages that take a long time/take winding trips to get to their destination. There are always a few.)
Shipping Costs and Payment Collection
I've been told I will have the shipping numbers tomorrow, so I can set up shipping costs by region and package contents in the next two days. When I do, I will let you all know with a new update and move to charge that by the end of the week, or on the weekend. I'll advise in the next update when the charges will occur.
When I do this, everything will be locked in forever, no orders will be able to be changed or adjusted for anything. The spreadsheet with all the info will be downloaded and shared over to New Titan to ensure packages match a prelim list I gave them, and things will begin traveling from there.
For the Moment, hope you enjoy the shots of the deck boxes! This is the first time for us all to see them, and they look great. This is a truly gorgeous project, and I'm overjoyed to share with y'all!
The Whole Kit and Kaboodle! Photo from New Titan Print, LLC
The Alleyway Oracles?
So, what about the Alleyway Oracles? I am going to do everything I can to honor what I said last time. The next project HAS to see all previous projects at least in the mail on the way to people before it can launch, and at its most ideal most packages should be in people's hands. As long as we're on track with what I noted above (as soon as we get the boxes in hand!), then we'll be good.
Even a majority of international packages should be in people's hands before the Alleyway Oracles launches! And with the luck of the Postal Gods, every single package might even be in people's hands before May 16th when the Oracles launch. We can cross our fingers and believe.
Thanks for your ongoing patience, excited to nab those final shipping addresses and shipping payments here this week.
If you backed all three of my currently in process projects, don't be alarmed. The updates are all named the same thing because apparently at three different manufacturers, the projects are in manufacturing.
Last week I was told that everything but the dice is complete. By the end of this month, the resin dice will all be finished, and the stone dice wrapping up within a week of those. I will be updating soon as well with info on the shipping, as we should be putting in shipping prices and charging for that in the next week or so. I will make an update before that happens, so hang tight on that.
Shipping will begin not long after that when we have finalized packing lists and addresses for everyone. Non-North American packages will go directly out from the manufacturer like we did with the Alleyman's Tarot, and US packages will ship to the US first as a large grouping, then go out into the USPS system. I will be reaching out to the community copy recipients today to gather addresses. I think we're close enough now I can do that and not fear addresses changing! All things going as they should, we should be packages in hand for the vast majority of people by the end of April.
With that in mind...
I want to take the second here to let you all know that I have prepared my big project for the year:
You can click through on it now and get signed up to be notified on launch day, which right now is tentatively May 16th. I'm fairly certain that on all three currently fulfilling projects that all packages will be in the mail or already in people's hands by that time, but if anything changes I may yet move it back.
This time around we're looking at 3 different decks-- The Alleyway Tarot, the Oracle of Secrets, and the Oracle of Play. This project will coincide with the release of the first episode(s) of the second season of the podcast, and a lot of the lore between the project and podcast will be shared, so it should be an even deeper dive into the Alleyman myth. There will be bundle bags of add-ons, a new booster pack, and more!
I have been going a bit loopy gathering all the artists for it in 3 months, rather than a year like I did the first time, but with the template of the first project in hand I have had an easier time getting exactly all the info I need the first time around. As much as I would love to run a series of 12 projects next year, I think the better option is 1 divination project, 1 game project, and 1 project of some other variety a year (like the alleyman podcast cd set!). That way even if things overlap the audiences tend to be different enough, and I feel more confident things won't drag on. So aside from this project, I only have one currently planned project for October for a roleplaying game.
I thank you for all your patience. The dice especially were supposed to be in hand by now, and it's nice knowing it will be soon, but it really should have been months ago. For this reason, the Alleyway Oracles will be expected to fulfill in 2024, and I just won't put out another big divination project until it's done.
Last week I put out an update but without any real information, simply because I didn't have new info yet. I hate doing that but it had been too long since you'd all heard from me and I wanted to at least say hello.
New Dice Manufacturer
Today I got an email from New Titan, who has been kindly sourcing all the elements of this project with local factories in China. We had a really hard time on the Alleyman's Tarot due to the state of the world, but I honestly can't imagine how impossible it would have been without their help. I trust them.
Everything but the dice are going smoothly. Boxes, cloth, books, cards, prints, etc. Unfortunately with the dice, the manufacturer we were working with started being really sketchy. They refused to follow the designs we'd sent them exactly, which is why the symbols on the dice were smaller than the original edition. They wouldn't sign a contract without including a large tolerance for sizes of the dice and symbols-- basically they didn't want to suffer our Quality Assurance with the dice, and if their dice were too big or too small from what they were supposed to be, or if the dice had tiny symbols, we wouldn't be able to hold them accountable for it. They also just generally wouldn't sign a reasonable contract, they would only go forward if there was no ability for us to ask for changes, etc.
New Titan already lined up a new manufacturer and a set of the dice done by them is already on the way to me as of yesterday. The dice are simply better quality with this new manufacturer.
Old Manufacturer vs the New Manufacturer
Old manufacturer's first run of dice is on the left, new manufacturer is on the right. First thing to note is that all the colors are actually right this time, which is a pleasant change. The top left die in both sets is the Actions die-- they failed to use the right colors and as a result I couldn't read it. Now this was something they said they could change, but I hadn't seen fixed dice yet. The new manufacturer got it right the first time, which definitely makes me feel a bit better. Same on the bottom right die, which was supposed to be a deep blue with pink ink, and the first manufacturer delivered a muddy water brown die.
The other obvious thing is the symbol sizes. The first manufacturer refused to keep the symbols the same size they were the first time, shrinking everything. Smaller things I'm excited about is the fact that on the Goblin Die, the old manufacturer said that symbol that's showing, with the Goblin head under the moon with big round eyes-- they wanted to change that symbol to have eyes that were dots, rather than circles. There were a lot of small things they wanted to simplify. In some cases it was minor, in some it was major. The new manufacturer is working with the designs as we sent them, and it's just going to be a better product.
I'm also being told that the stone dice will be better quality, though I'm a little unclear on how or why, so I won't say that for sure. I'd imagine if we're using the same stones we will have the same quality-- the symbol size will be bigger again so that's nice, but otherwise nothing has changed with stone dice.
Stone cubes, some engraved, some not.
Generally it's the same with the stone dice, so no biggie there.
Deck box packaging
Oracle Cards
Oracle Cards
What Does This Mean for the Timeline?
As of today, this is the situation with each item: Reading cloths: Finished, received in their warehouse. Coins: Finished, received in their warehouse. Wood Box: COVID hit the wood box manufacturer we used in the past hard, but they should still have those all finished by Feb 15th, potentially sooner. Cards: Could have been done already but since they were waiting on other pieces they set aside to complete by Feb 10th. You can see lots of the cards above, so they're already in production. Assuming art prints are tied into this category, but I'll ask. Guidebook and Journal: Also by Feb 10th, though their binding department has had a labor shortage after the reopening, with 50% of their workers getting COVID and going back home right away. Resin and Stone Dice: The manufacturer has pledged to sort the dice into sets for New Titan and get it out to them by Feb 25th.
For shipping, this means: By the 2nd week of March, US orders will be pick+packed and on a ship heading over to the US. This will arrive late March, meaning shipping US orders would start in the first week of April. This is the tightest turn around, and while generally speaking the world is a bit better at getting things places now than it was a year ago today, I think it's fair to think we could have another COVID-related delay as China has been opening back up fully in spite of COVID that could place US shipments reaching people in mid April, or at the worst, late April.
By the 2nd week of March, Rest of World shipping would already be starting, as those would all come directly from China. All international packages will be in the mail by late March, but with travel times won't likely arrive until April, unless you live nearby.
Charging Shipping
So! We have put off setting and charging shipping for a while now due to the general delays. But since we'll want to lock orders in by mid February, I will likely be setting up shipping costs (and charging for it) in early February. We will be doing this so I can give everyone on the project time enough to get their stuff settled and paid before I send a list of stuff to pack to New Titan-- since they will be pre-packing US orders like they did on the Alleyman's Tarot BEFORE it leaves China, that way boxes arrive ready to drop into the mail.
I will put out an update when shipping is put up and let everyone know a couple days before I charge it, then let people know after it's done.
Community Copies
At the time when I go to charge shipping, I will be contacting the community copy recipients to get addresses from them for their free sets of dice, books, and reading cloths. Apologies for not reaching out on this sooner, just didn't seem necessary yet as we were still a bit from shipping. With it looming on the March/April horizon, I'll gather these in February.
No Other Projects Until Dice are in Hand!
I was lining up to launch the Alleyway Oracles in April, then as things seemed a little uncertain, I was thinking instead May. I'd like to do May, really I would, but something tells me with the state of the world it might be even smarter to do June and lock that in. I was comfortable having the current 3 projects overlap because they all used different fulfilment teams and manufacturers. However I will be using New Titan for the Alleyway Oracles, and I'd like them to have a month to ensure everything is out the door, and for them to get my print prototypes of the decks for that new project, before we launch. So Alleyway Oracles will wait until this is in people's hands.
We're coming to the end, and things will be moving through the air before we know it! Thanks for all of your patience, excited to have the final sets in hand myself shortly,
I know it's been quiet, but it's really just been sitting around on my hands time. New Titan is putting things together, but it's Chinese New Year holiday, and we're just going to be waiting around a bit for that to wrap up. Knowing how long things will take, we should still be on for shipping in March, but thinking about how long things took to get from place to place on the Alleyman's, I wouldn't be surprised if it bled into April.
Unfortunately, I can't even get responses to emails at the moment because of the holiday, so I don't have a latest update on where things are, if things are moving-- I just don't know yet.
I had an overall pleasant holiday, though my partner and I split up (amicably) at the start of December. Been trying to figure out some personal life things around that, and that coupled with no immediate or clear changes in the schedule on this project had made me hesitant to post an update. I hate to have no news. But I suppose no news is sometimes better than news.
So tl;dr, we're on track for March, though we may be pushed into late March/early April. I can't say with certainty just yet, but will update when I have that info to share! Hope you're all well and healthy, and had lovely holidays.
Okay, I just threw a little fit honestly. I wrote this massive long update, all these pictures. It was an hour of writing. I scrolled down to hit Save, and it took me to a login screen. I knew immediately it just deleted everything. I don't know why the save button took me to login, or what logged me out. I'm just so so so frustrated, and re-writing this whole thing. It will probably be missing some of the thoughtful details I thought about, blah. So now at the end of my work day I'm re-writing everything I can think of. Agh. Bleh. Screm.
The Dice are In
Okay, so I have the dice in hand. The long and short is this: They look amazing. They're not all correct though. Of the 22 dice, only 7 got my total okay, both in their plastic and stone form. The remaining 15 have various issues, mostly color of die or color of ink, but one had a symbol flipped/mirrored for reasons I don't know.
I don't have the new wooden boxes in hand, but I do have pictures from the manufacturer I'll share for now! If you are excited about anything you see here, and realize you didn't get it-- or you want to adjust your pledge in any way, such as adding, removing, or choosing new options for the wooden box (new engraving for the top), you MUST reach out to backerkit support on your survey to have them adjust it. I wish I could adjust or help you with this, but I can't!
I'm locking current unlocked orders and charging those (mostly pre-orders, some people who did surveys late) next week. So get your stuff in now! Addresses will remain unlocked until we are close enough to charge shipping costs.
Please bear in mind that the pictures don't capture everything completely the way they look in real life, and anything that was actually hard to read in real life I am adjusting with the manufacturer! : )
Additionally, only two dice, the red Obstacles Die and the 12-sided Chaos Die were made with finalized molds. The rest were all lazer etched. As we move from lazer etching to the final molds, a dozen or so dice are having small changes made to their symbols to simplify things. In almost every case, these changes were so small they're irrelevant. I almost couldn't tell on some what the changes even were. However, for the Mariner's Die and the Metamorphosis Die, some very big simplifications are being done. Simply put, I like the original designs better. However, those two were always way more detailed than everything else, so these changes might be for the best in making them match the rest of the set. (You can't see the simplification here, these dice were all lazer etched.) They also will make them actually legible on the stone dice, which right now are hard to parse with the detailed design on the textured stone surface. We are talking about potentially engraving these two dice for the whole run, I'll let you know how that shakes out.
The two engraving options (other than blank!) for the wood box
The dice set in the new box! See how the d12 fits!
The Stone set in the (old) box.
The Plastic set in the (old) box.
The Die Face Oracle!
The Lords Oracle, with bonus 23rd High Priestess card!
Stone Dice on the new reading grid!
Plastic Dice on the updated old reading grid!
A Closer Look at What's Right, and What's Wrong
Made it to the bottom? Awesome, and welcome. Let's have a better look at the dice as a whole. This picture below features the dice set in its entirety. The original dice, the new plastic version, then the stone version. The changes I sent to New Titan to give to the dice manufacturer is below the photo, so you can see all the changes that are happening. Please remember this is a photo and in photos not everything comes out right, colors are different, some things are hard to read that aren't in real life. So trust me on the changes! : ) I think it's true that some dice are losing saturation. Some of that I'm changing, some of that I like. Also this is a different manufacturer with different clearances, so yes, all the symbols are generally shrinking in from the edges a little. In comparison directly with the first edition it is a little blah, but on their own I don't even notice. If I do a third edition sometime down the line, I'd consider going back with the original edition's manufacturer and raising the price on the set to make that work out. But I promise, the set on its own doesn't read poorly or look less-than in person. It looks so fantastic, the mistakes aside.
The Old, the New, and the Stone!
And here are all the notes I'm sending back (They cover the plastic die, then the stone die, then suggested changes from laser etching to molds). I figure that even if I say to trust me on what's changing, some people will still worry about specific things above:
Spring Die looks good in all three forms. The stone is good. The changes they suggest on this die are okay with me.
Autumn Die looks a little desaturated in plastic compared to the original one, makes it hard to differentiate between it and the yellow dice. I'd like it more saturated orange. Stone fits in box easily. I can't even tell what they changed in their design, so I'm okay with it.
Winter Die looks great, I like the desaturation on it. Stone die barely fits in the box, and if I turn it certain ways it doesn't fit at all. I like their changes.
Summer Die is super desaturated/dark, both the die and the ink used on it. I'd like it brighter yellow and the ink brighter red/orange. Stone is good. Changes look good to me.
Elements Die looks fantastic! Stone is a little hard to read, I'd like to change to white ink for readability. Stone is otherwise good. They had no changes.
Fate Die looks great. Stone is good. Their changes to the roulette face are okay with me.
Majors Die has a big problem, the ink is way too dark and you can't read it at all. It needs to be a bright, bright red. The stone die looks great, and the red ink used on it is much lighter and better. Their change is okay.
Alchemist's Die looks good. The only change I'd like to ask is if they can slightly thicken the lines, they are a bit thin. Otherwise all of it is good.
Mariner's Die overall looks good. The stone die is really hard to read. It doesn't help that the design is shrunk, but the teal is also hard to read on sides of the die that have gold flecks in it. I think the only fix is to accept their changes, so that the lines can be thicker and more clear. All the little details are impossible to read on the stone die.
Relations Die looks good, but I would like the die to be lighter grey than it is. Right now it's too similar to the Suits Die. Stone die looks great. They have no changes.
Metamorphosis Die looks a little off, not quite the right purple. A little more like the original purple would be good. Otherwise the die looks good. The stone die is hard to read, which like the Mariner's Die I think would be best fixed by using their changes, so the lines can be thicker and more clear. However I don't like their changes for the normal die, but I think their changes make the die look more like the other dice, which is okay. So let's accept their changes.
Actions Die the ink is totally the wrong color, which makes it impossible to read. Ink should be bright pink, not this dark red. The Stone Die looks fantastic. They have no changes.
Suits Die I would like the die grey to be darker. Right now it looks exactly like the Relations die, even though they're slightly different. So darker grey. The stone die looks amazing. Their change looks okay to me.
Obstacles Die looks so amazing, both the plastic and the stone. I don't like that the design on the stone die is so much smaller. You can see a huge difference on the face in my picture with the bars. However it looks great. They have no changes.
Longings Die looks good. Stone too. They have no changes suggested.
Influences Die is totally the wrong color. It's supposed to be a nice deep blue, this is some kind of tan or beige. Kind of caramel colored. The pink ink looks like the color I wanted on the Actions die (please let them know this pink should be used on the Actions Die), but this pink is way too neon, it's supposed to be soft baby pink. The stone looks good. They have no changes suggested.
Attentions Die is totally good. No changes suggested either.
Goblin Die the yellow looks good, but the black ink they used was supposed to be dark green. On the Stone Die, let's use gold ink on the it instead of black, it's too hard to read. The changes are okay with me.
Chaos Die it's almost perfect, but there's a big issue. The main face on it, the triangle with the 's' in it-- they flipped it. I know you said this is one they made a mold for, but they did it wrong. This is the correct symbol below, and you can see in the image I sent that the S is backwards. I checked all the other symbols on all the dice, nothing else has been flipped. Everything else, the colors, the stone die, it all looks good. I don't see any other suggested changes.
The Kindness Die is the wrong colors. It should be a bright, almost neon baby blue, not this deep almost purple blue. The ink looks okay. The stone die looks amazing. It doesn't look readable in photos, but in real life it looks great. They have no suggested changes, so we're good.
The Wounds Die is good. The ink is a little darker than I thought it would be, but it works. The stone is good. They had no changes.
The Alley Die is good. The stone die is too hard to read. I don't know what color would work well, I'm open to suggestions from them, if they want to try a different color and send a picture. They had no suggested changes.
And a note on the stone dice... The plastic dice are molded, they are exact. Perfect. The stone dice are carved, they are not exact. Some of the stone dice were snug in the wooden box holes. Some of them had issues where they didn't fit in the holes at all unless I turned it to a different face, because the stone isn't perfectly square. None of them were WAY big or anything, they were just slightly too large when turned certain ways. The only issue this brings is that if you get the symbol engraved top for your wooden box, and then it turns out that stone die can't fit in the right way to get that face upright... I'm asking if we can ensure the dice will be as close to size as possible, but it may just be a trait of the stone dice. Bear that in mind, their more organic form just isn't absolutely exact, and can lead to snug fits.
And that's everything! Fulfillment...
We're about 2 weeks behind on our planned schedule, so I wouldn't be surprised if we end up shipping into and through March, rather than February, but I think I basically said Feb/March last time. New Titan thinks we'll be good for February but I know better than to trust the state of the world right now. I'll of course let you all know as things change, if they change, etc.
Right now I'm exhausted. All the final fixes and details for all three projects have gotten bigger than they were, and while I should have everything finished up shortly, I'm tired. There's a fourth overlapping project in the background I wasn't supposed to have a hand in, but something got messed up horribly back in June or July and I've been working on that simultaneously ever since. As a result, I'm taking a break once my work on these three overlapping projects is done by the end of next week, and just focusing on making sure the Alleyway Oracles are ready to go in mid April, when all 3 of the current projects are finished and in people's hands. And after that, I'm likely not doing any other projects in 2023. Okay, maybe one in October.
Year of the Goblin will get prepped in full for 2024. No 'small detail that becomes a big detail' will be left to be done for later. The only projects that will go live will be projects fully ready to go, every print file finished and okay'd with printers/manufacturers, etc. If 12 projects aren't ready for that, then only the ones ready will run. Period. The little details I have to chase down at the end of each project are never as little as they seem!
I'll continue to pass on news as I get it. Thank you,
It's been a little bit, but I've been finishing up clearing the storage unit of Alleyman things and finally being done with my part on that project. What a long process that has been, but rewarding and full of lessons. However, most of what I've been doing with the dice is the same as you all, waiting for news!
A note that Preorders are still open for people who missed the project, so PLEASE share this link with people if they see this over your shoulder and want it for themselves! https://oracle-dice-2.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders
So, today I can share pictures I've been sent by the manufacturers. I don't have the test manufacturing prints of anything yet, but I should in the next two weeks. And based on these pictures, I'll be saying YES to it all very quickly.
Box Top Options
The Symbols Box Top
First up we have the box tops! The first image is three options for the wood, the dice box I have my hands on already is the middle one with the goblin face, just engraved with no filled in portions. Looks like they were testing (and offering) options on this, blacked in, just engraved, or gold! This is also your first view of the Symbols top option, with the dice symbols in their places over the holes that are inside the box. You don't have to arrange them this way, but I imagine many of you will be unable to help yourselves!
Keep in mind there are also blank box top options for people who get the wooden box, so you don't need an engraving at all. If you want to change your engraving choice, or add a box, feel free to reach out to Backerkit support for help adding to your order!
Reading Grid A
Reading Grid B
The dice cloth is amazing! It's double sided and features these two grids on the front and back. This is the original reading grid on the left, and the new reading grid with past, present, future, and fated on the right. It's 18"x18", and because it's double sided it will make a better bandana if you're so inclined. I found with the Alleyman's Tarot cloth being white on the back, it always looked a little odd if the underside showed while wearing it. This was part of the basic set, so if you got a basic pledge with the set and book, it also had a cloth! Ironically it was the most expensive thing in the set almost, because double sided fabric printing in full color is pricey.
The Oracle Dice!
Or 20 of them at least
So pretty!
But of course, you're here for the dice! These aren't quite the final versions. Only a few had molds made for them just yet, the rest are resin molds with our designs on them. This is to make sure it all looks good before we go all the way and buy to have the metal molds made for the large scale manufacturing, as the molds are expensive and making 22 of them only to find out they are no good would be an issue. I of course can note we don't see the D12 here just yet. By my count this is 20 dice, so 2 are missing. Looks like Obstacles and Chaos.
A few colors are off from what I sent them, so I'll adjust on that, but the symbols look great!
I'm waiting on the dice to show up to me so I can include photos in the guidebook, so no guidebook or journal has been printed yet. We'll get to those last, as books are FAST to print compared to how slow it is to get the dice, box, etc made. But what's that? Oh yeah, what about the stone dice?
Here's a BUNCH of the stone dice in someone's hand at the manufacturer. They look fantastic, but a few will need different inks to be legible. That's alright, we'll adjust.
But they're real, and they should be heading my way very soon!
Update again when I have things in hand and I've made my final revisions to everything!
