Post-Project Update #17 - Alchemy Module + PM Fixes
about 3 years ago
– Tue, Aug 08, 2023 at 11:23:28 AM
Hey starfaring travelers!
The Pledge Manager has been open for a few days now and we have been monitoring it very closely, fixing anything that comes up as well as answering all your questions as soon as we possibly can.
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Important Tax Fix
First and foremost; we fixed an issue with the added tax on the pledge manager.
When we first launched the Pledge Manager, we made a mistake and did not include the tax rules as we should have. The proper tax rules have been implemented on the Pledge Manager and you should all now be seeing this as it should be (with the extra applicable tax wherever there has to be any).
This happened due to miscommunication with both BackerKit and our fulfillment partner, GamesQuest, but thanks to some quick correspondence with GamesQuest, we were able to figure things out and handle it promptly and properly without any further issues. The fact that we have not locked orders or charged cards yet helps with the fact that this was no biggie but we can assure you that we are monitoring everything as closely as we can so that we do not have any other hiccups. We are asking questions to all our partners every step of the way so that we do not miss anything else and so that we are fully informed on the process.
Keep in mind that we are first time project creators and because of exactly that reason, we make sure we are getting as much guidance as we can, wherever and whenever we can.
We will continue to inform you of everything that is going on as well. Thank you so much for your patience so far and please do not hesitate to contact us (via PM on Kickstarter or directly on Discord) should you have any questions for us.
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Alchemy Module Add-on
We have communicated with the folks over at Alchemy about how we should best approach this and their suggestion was that we add the module as an extra add-on during the pledge manager.
We did a bit of research in order to find out what the best price for the module would be and we have to be honest with you; we are finding it difficult to match the prices that we saw on Alchemy's marketplace.
We found other content that has much about the same amount as ours and yet it is priced extremely high, way above what we thought we would be putting the Starlight Arcana module at. We do not want to price Starlight Arcana like that and we will most definitely not be doing that.
(We will not comment on the quality of other publications nor will we make comparisons because that would be extremely unprofessional. We only looked at the amount of content and the amount of work it would take to create the module. For the rest; to each their own.)
For that reason, we have decided to price the Starlight Arcana Alchemy module at 40$. It will later be sold at a slightly higher price on Alchemy's marketplace. It is in our opinion the best price we can put the module up for on the Pledge Manager right now.
If you would like to add the Alchemy module to your order, make sure you modify your order before we lock-in orders in a month from now.
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Pledge Manager Closing Date
We have a strict closing date for the Pledge Manager which is on the 10th of September.
This is "strict" because we want to immediately start production and get things rolling for fulfillment by November (if possible).
As soon as the Pledge Manager closes, we will be sending out the digital rewards via BackerKit and we will finally be able to relax (not really) and start talking about our next project.
We have said it multiple times and it bears repeating; we really care about finalizing things on our side for this project before we move forward with anything else. Being able to deliver the digital PDF to all backers and start production & fulfillment is the final stage in which we have any kind of control so the best we can do beyond that is keep you informed on the progress of production and delivery.
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I would like to say a huge thank you once again on behalf of the whole Kelfecil's Tales team for your patience and your support. The discord server has been an absolutely fantastic place for us to bounce ideas in and we also had the chance to find tons of backers that were interested in testing the book with us. We really appreciate all of you and your involvement in this project and we cannot wait to show you what else we have planned for the future!
Till next time...
May Starlight guide your way my friends!
~Kelf
Quick Update: FVTT ISSUE RESOLVED!
about 3 years ago
– Thu, Aug 03, 2023 at 11:20:55 AM
UPDATE: The issue has been resolved now. Huge thanks to all of you for your patience and understanding. It is our first time making a Pledge Manager so there's bound to be some hiccups here and there.
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Hey everyone!
The Pledge Manager invitations have all gone out now and we were hoping everything would be perfectly fine, but it seems like there is an issue with the FVTT module.
I have read your comments about the Foundry VTT module being incorrectly added at the wrong price to your pledges and we are looking into fixing that. Please do not finalize your order if you have purchased the FoundryVTT addon as we would like to fix that first.
Also, do not worry if you did already finalize your order with the FVTT module since cards have not been charged yet.
If you are still experiencing the issue, then please give it 24 hours or so as we have sent an e-mail to BackerKit to help us resolve this issue for any backers that are still seeing it as a persisting issue.
All in all, no worries, we will fix it in the next 24 hours. :)
~Kelf
Post-Project Update #16 - Pledge Manager Smoke Test is LIVE!
about 3 years ago
– Tue, Aug 01, 2023 at 03:13:23 PM
Hey everyone!
I have fantastic news to share with all of you! The Pledge Manager Smoke Test is now out so please check your e-mails!
The "Smoke Test" is basically a way for BackerKit to help creators check if everything was set up correctly with the Pledge Manager. It sends an invitation to only 5% of all the backers so that we can get some quick feedback and make any changes necessary before we invite all of the backers to buy add-ons, put in address information, and finalize their orders.
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Awesome Changes to 2 things!
Here are some more awesome news:
- We decided that we wanted to share the love and instead of having the x2 art prints be part of the early bird backers only, they will be part of every backer's pledge that contains at least the physical book!
- Every backer that is at the Starlight Pledge level (that has the custom tarot-style portrait commission) will also receive an original token-style artwork based on the portrait that will be made for them. This is courtesy of the awesome Dusky Cat!
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The delays are in the past!
We had a lot of hiccups while working with BackerKit's Pledge Manager interface but we thankfully had a lot of support from the BackerKit team who helped us navigate their still under-development platform. That along with some other things that we had to figure out together with our fulfillment partner caused a few delays that made us open the Pledge Manager two weeks later, but we are glad it took a bit longer just so that we can be sure that everything was done right.
All that being said, we are finally past all those things and I just wanted to say a huge thank you once again for your patience and your understanding. An even bigger thank you to the people over on the discord server who keep me sane and engage in various conversations with me about the troubles I am going through trying to figure out the mess that is Kickstarter projects.
You are all wonderful and irreplaceable, thank you.
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So with all that in mind, expect another update in a day or two when we fix whatever things are left to fix and then send out the Pledge Manager invitations to everyone!
Thank you as always and...
May Starlight guide your way my friends!
~Kelf
Post-Project Update #14 - Quick Update on Opening of PM
about 3 years ago
– Sun, Jul 23, 2023 at 07:06:25 AM
Hey everyone!
Just wanted to give you a super quick update on the opening of the pledge manager.
The last 2 weeks we spent a lot of time e-mailing back and forth and having meetings with our fulfillment and printing partners. We are in the most delightful position to say that everything has been finalized in terms of details and information needed on both sides and we are now waiting patiently for our fulfillment partner to send us the charts with all the shipping costs for each destination (based on the weight of each item).
So in other words; as soon as our fulfillment partner sends us the charts (which should be sometime this upcoming week) we will immediately have the Pledge Manager open the next day.
The next update will be all about the opening of the Pledge Manager and also about instructions on how to add things to your pledge and also finalize it.
Thank you for your patience and we are so looking forward to entering the final stages of the project!
Till next time, may Starlight guide your way my friends!
~Kelf
Post-Project Update #14 - Pledge Manager Time!
over 3 years ago
– Sun, Jul 09, 2023 at 06:14:02 AM
Hey star wanderers!
I have a plethora of news to share with you today!
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Testing Phase Done!
The testing phase went absolutely fantastic and some of the testers gave amazing feedback on the book. We are still implementing a few feedback points that were brought up but other than that, the only thing remaining now before we can finalize the PDF and send it to all the backers are basically a huge grammar and syntax pass of the entire book (will take at least a week for sure) and then some prettying up with various graphic design elements.
A huge thank you to everyone that tested Starlight Arcana and gave feedback so that we can improve it! You are the best and you are awesome.
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General Progress ~95%
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Starlight Arcana Book (90% done) (final touches)
Testing Completed 🠞 Final syntax and Grammar check 🠞 Graphic Design Touch-ups (dividers and other things to make it prettier) 🠞 Prep of Print-File
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Quickstart Booklet (90% done) (written and in final steps)
Currently in PDF Prep 🠞 Final syntax and Grammar check 🠞 Prep of Print-File
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Tarot Deck (95% done) (fonts are being put on cards)
Final font for card titles to be chosen 🠞 Prep of Print-File
Prep of Print-File
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SA-styled Character Sheet (99%)
Prep of Print-File
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Premade Character Sheets (99%) (finished)
Prep of Print-File
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Pledge Manager opening soon!
My number one priority starting tomorrow is to prep the pledge manager and have it ready to open by the end of the week.
There have been far too many delays with everything and most of them were not even things that we could have prepared any better for (and mind you, just as a reminder, this is our first KS project ever). We understand that those things are frustrating and trust me when I say that it is equally frustrating for us too.
My focus for the last few months has been to expedite the release of the final PDF because I really want it to be in the hands of backers before we even start advertising and promoting our next Kickstarter Project (Grand Tales - Soulfrost Reliquary). I would not feel comfortable launching a new project when the previous one is not fully on its way to being completed.
So the plan now is:
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17th of July - Open the Pledge Manager
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End of July - Send Final PDF to all backers
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20th of August - Close the Pledge Manager (lock orders)
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End of August - Send in all final printing files
- Wait however long is needed for printing to be done and then start fulfillment immediately (printer said it could take up to 2 months, so we have to be patient with that).
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More Starlight Chronicles? Some Clarifications.
A few weeks ago, we had someone ask a very good question on Discord and everyone said I should put it in a future KS update as well so that everyone has access to it.
"Is SA meant to be kind of the “intro” to Starlight Chronicles, or is there another previous publication/module that you’d recommend we read beforehand to get us introduced to the world and lore?
Here's the long answer to the above question!
Starlight Arcana is meant to be the starting point and the core of Starlight Chronicles. It serves as the point of reference for everything that came before it as well as everything that will come after it.
The main things that we wanted to build it with and would serve as the core of the setting were:
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The core lore of the deities of the world (the three Astral Siblings) and how the biggest and most important event in the setting (the Astral Conflict) changed the world.
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The void, what it can do and how it works.
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Certain subclasses such as the Fate Weaver and the Astromancer that explain a lot about the special kind of magic (Starlight magic) that exists in the setting.
- Various other worlds (other planets) that exist in the Sea of Stars (all released adventure content so far was on Latakar).
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How do we expand the Starlight Chronicles setting and the stories within it from here onwards?
- Through the Grand✦Tales that will focus on different places (could be a whole region, could be something smaller) in each one, with more expanded lore and information for it.
- Through the website Lorebook that will constantly be updated with new subclasses, ancestries, regional maps and detailed information on them, extra lore information, new stories, and so much more.
- Through individual one-shot adventures released through the Patreon.
- Through a surprise secret project that we have planned for next year (if all goes well).
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How do you recommend we get started with the Starlight Chronicles setting?
- Starlight Arcana is the best place to do that. It sets the tone for how the setting works and the dangers that exist within it.
- Continue with individual adventures or run smaller campaigns through the Grand✦Tales (remember they are going to each be at least 20-sessions worth).
- Expand even more with the Lorebook. If you really want to dig deeper into the setting, then the detailed maps and all the extra information found in the lorebook is something you want to have access to for sure.
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What is gated behind a paywall and why?
This is the easiest way to make a big 500 pages book available to everyone while still making sure we are actually making something out of it even after its KS campaign.
We really want to make it something special and although a lot of people will be annoyed for missing the campaign (because they were indecisive or because they saw it a bit too late for example), we will give everyone the chance to get the content they missed at a later Grand✦Tales campaign.
Patreon is how I started this whole thing and I find it extremely important to maintain this front as it is the best platform I have for direct communication with the people that really want to support me and/or love the content I create. I value my patrons a lot and I will continue to release content for them (be it big adventures or smaller things like side quests) for as long as I possibly can. The Lorebook is more like a love letter to everyone that has enjoyed the setting I have created. I basically wanted people to be able to explore it even more and get the most out of it in an easily accessible and interactive manner (through the website).
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That's all for today. I hope you are all having a fantastic summer and I hope you are just as thrilled as we are to finally get your hands on Starlight Arcana. Every little task we complete in order to get it all finished, printed, and sent to you is making us more and more excited!
Until next time, may Starlight guide your way my friends!
~Kelf
