PDFs Being Sent Out!
almost 2 years ago – Sun, Jun 05, 2022 at 08:01:45 PM

Hey everyone,

We've got some exciting news about PDF fulfillment today!

PDFs 1st Wave Being Sent!

We've started sending out the first wave of PDF rewards today! Everyone who's completed their BackerKit survey and had their payment complete will receive emails from DriveThruRPG with download codes over the next few days. Here's what's included in the first wave:

• The books in the Classic Game Set and Advanced Expansion Set.
•  Carcass Crawler issue #2 to early-bird backers (and others who selected it as an add-on in BackerKit).
• A near-finished, pre-release version of Carcass Crawler issue #3 to all backers. We're awaiting the final few illustrations for this, so the PDF will be updated once finalised.
• Adventures (The Hole in the Oak, The Incandescent Grottoes, Halls of the Blood King, The Isle of the Plangent Mage, Holy Mountain Shaker, Winter's Daughter) to Ultimate Dungeon Bundle backers (and others who selected them as add-ons in BackerKit).
• Other add-ons as selected in BackerKit.

Can't Find Your PDFs?

If you've not received the PDF download emails from DriveThruRPG, here are some tips on what to do:

•  Remember: In order to receive the PDFs your BackerKit survey needs to be complete, locked, and charged. If your payment failed please contact your credit card provider. Payments will be retried periodically.
•  Wait until June 4th: Not all PDFs will be sent at once. It will take a few days for all PDFs in the 1st wave to be sent. If you haven't receive your DriveThruRPG PDF links by June 4th, please reach out to us at [email protected].
•  Correct email address?: Make sure you're checking the right email address. (The one associated with your Kickstarter account.)
•  Check spam folder: Please make sure to check your spam folders. The emails sometimes end up there.
•  Check your DTRPG account: If you still do not get the email, and you have a DriveThruRPG account (under the email address associated with your Kickstarter account), then check your DriveThruRPG downloads inbox: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/account_notification_inbox.php. The download links should be in there.
• Still need help?: If after June 4th you have not received your PDFs and have a complete, locked, and successfully charged order then please reach out to us at [email protected].  If you have reached out to us and have yet to receive a reply, know that we will get back to you as soon as we can! 

Mini-Adventure PDFs Still To Come

PDFs of the stretch goal mini-adventures will be sent out in the future, once they're finished. The adventures are in development right now, but we'll keep you posted when they're getting closer to being ready.

All For Now

Necrotic Gnome / Exalted Funeral

Backerkit Closing and PDF Delivery Starting Next Week
almost 2 years ago – Mon, May 30, 2022 at 04:28:13 AM

Hello Everyone!

Backerkit Closing

Today is the day we send out lock order and charge card notifications! You will have 48 hours to make any updates you need to your cards or orders.  

If you need to make any changes to your order after it is locked, please reach out to us at [email protected] and we can help you adjust your order. 

Addresses will not be locked until closer to fulfillment, so you can still make any necessary address changes until that time.

The pre-order store will remain open until closer to the fulfillment date. 

PDF Delivery

PDF delivery will start early next week. It will take several days to get through all of the backers, so expect this to take several days. 

If you haven't receive your Drive Thru RPG PDF links by June 4th, please reach out to us at [email protected]. 

Remember in order to receive the PDFs your survey needs to be complete, locked, and charged. 

Thank you!!

-EF and Necrotic Gnome

Box photos! Carcass Crawler 3 Previews!
almost 2 years ago – Tue, May 17, 2022 at 12:08:41 AM

Hey everyone,

We've got some super exciting updates to share today, including some more manufacturing photos!

Advanced Expansion Set Photos

First up, here are some photos from the manufacturer of the Advanced Expansion Set in all its gold-foiled glory! The books themselves are still being printed (more on that below) so these are just photos of an empty box for now...

First Page Blocks

We've also received the first page blocks from the manufacturer. Page blocks are the complete interior pages of a book, without the cover or binding. The manufacturer sends the page blocks to us to check that everything's correct before they proceed with binding.

So far, we've received the page blocks for two of the books in the Classic Game Set (Magic and Adventures) and one of the books in the Advanced Expansion Set (Magic). More will be coming soon.

Carcass Crawler Issue #3 Update

Work on Carcass Crawler issue #3 (free to all backers) is also progressing very well. The writing and layout are complete, and illustration is under way.

We'll be sending out a pre-release PDF of this issue to backers in the first wave of PDFs (following closure of the pledge manager on May 28th — see below), so you'll get to see the near finished version before it goes to print.

Here's a couple of screenshots showing some of the laid out pages.

Reminder: Pledge Manager Closes May 28th

As explained in the previous update, the pledge manager (BackerKit) will close on May 28th, meaning that all orders will then be locked and all cards charged. You will still be able to update your address until close to fulfillment when we will lock addresses (you will receive a notice 48 hours before this happens if you need to make a change).

Currently 88% of backers have completed their survey (great job!). Some notes for the remaining 12%:

• If you've not received your survey link: Please check your spam folders and make sure that you're checking the email address associated with your Kickstarter account. If you can't track it down, try the survey recovery link (https://old-school-essentials-fantasy-rpg-box-sets.backerkit.com).
• If you used Apple Pay to pay for your pledge on Kickstarter: ...And your settings are set to generate a secure unique email,  you will need to update your email address in order to receive the Backerkit survey email.
• Pre-order store: A pre-order store is also open now, enabling people who missed the Kickstarter to pre-order a copy of the game at the normal MSRP. Kickstarter backers should not use the pre-order store! Please use the survey link you've received by email, as this gives you access to the special backer discounts on everything.
• Need help? Please reach out to us at [email protected] if you need any assistance. (Please include your name, backer number, and email address used for Kickstarter.)

All For Now

We'll keep you updated as we have more news on developments.

Exalted Funeral / Necrotic Gnome

Pledge Manager Surveys Sent Out! First Manufacturing Photos!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Apr 30, 2022 at 02:25:24 AM

Hey everyone,

We've got some updates on a few different topics today...

Pledge Manager Surveys Sent Out

As most of you have probably noticed, the pledge manager survey links have been sent out to your email addresses! Just to quickly recap, here's what you can do in the pledge manager:

• Enter your shipping address, so we know where to send your rewards. (You'll be able to edit this later on, in case you're moving between now and when fulfilment happens.)
• Optionally switch pledge tier, for example if you want to upgrade to the Ultimate Dungeon Bundle (both box sets, 6 critically acclaimed adventures, and a deluxe referee's screen) from a lower tier. A note for early bird backers: if you want to upgrade without losing your early bird benefits, just send us an email and we'll sort you out: [email protected].
•  Select and pay for extra add-ons, for example the Erol Otus Demon Arena T-shirt, the fantastic black light art print, other Old-School Essentials books, etc.
• Pay the associated shipping costs for your rewards and any add-ons selected.

A few notes on the pledge manager:

•  If you've not received your survey link: Please check your spam folders and make sure that you're checking the email address associated with your Kickstarter account.
•  If you used Apple Pay to pay for your pledge on Kickstarter: ...And your settings are set to generate a secure unique email,  you will need to update your email address in order to receive the Backerkit survey email.
•  Pre-order store: A pre-order store is also open now, enabling people who missed the Kickstarter to pre-order a copy of the game at the normal MSRP. Kickstarter backers should not use the pre-order store! Please use the survey link you've received by email, as this gives you access to the special backer discounts on everything.
•  Need help? Please reach out to us at [email protected] if you need any assistance. (Please include your name, backer number, and email address used for Kickstarter.)

Next Steps: BackerKit Closes May 28th

BackerKit will close May 28th, meaning all orders will then be locked and all cards charged. You will still be able to update your address until close to fulfillment when we will lock addresses (you will receive a notice 48 hours before this happens if you need to make a change). 

Next Steps: PDF Fulfilment

Once everyone's orders are locked down in BackerKit, we'll start sending out the first wave of PDF rewards. These will be sent as emails with download links at DriveThruRPG. (If you don't already have an account there, you'll be prompted to create one.) Here's what will be included in the first wave:

•  Box set book PDFs: PDFs of the books in the Classic Game Set and Advanced Expansion Set.
•  Carcass Crawler issue 2 PDF: For early bird backers and anyone who selected it as an add-on in the pledge manager.
•  Adventure PDFs: Winter's Daughter, The Hole in the Oak, The Incandescent Grottoes, Halls of the Blood King, The Isle of the Plangent Mage, Holy Mountain Shaker. For Ultimate Dungeon Bundle backers and anyone who selected adventures as an add-on in the pledge manager.

Future PDF waves: Carcass Crawler issue 3 and the mini-adventures unlocked as stretch goals (free to all backers) are in development. PDFs will be sent out at a later date.

Manufacturing Photos

We have a few photos sent to us by the manufacturer, giving a glimpse into the ongoing printing of the box sets!

•  Box set covers: These are the sheets of paper that will be glued around the boxes. On the left of each sheet you can see the bottom half of the box and on the right the top side. (The gold foiling will be applied at later stage of manufacturing, so design elements that will be printed in gold are currently missing.)
•  OSE product catalogs: We decided to include a little extra in each box set: a handy catalog describing all Old-School Essentials products!

All For Now

Exalted Funeral + Necrotic Gnome

Manufacturing Underway! Pledge Manager Opening Soon!
about 2 years ago – Sat, Apr 16, 2022 at 07:14:51 PM

Hey everyone,

It's been a busy few weeks for us, getting everything lined up to start manufacturing these gorgeous box sets and to send out the backer surveys to you all. We have some exciting updates to share today!

Manufacturing Has Begun!

We're delighted to announce that the print files for the box sets and the books have been sent to the printer and approved and that manufacturing has begun! We don't have yet any photos to share of things rolling off production lines, but we're hoping the manufacturer will send us some soon that we can share with you all.

We should be receiving proof copies of the book page blocks (that means the loose-leaf pages, without the covers) around mid-May, for final approval before binding proceeds.

Pledge Manager Smoke Test Soon

The other big thing we've been working on is getting everything set up in the pledge manager (BackerKit). Once everything's ready, all backers will receive a survey link (by email*), which will allow you to:

• Enter your shipping address, so we know where to send your rewards. (You'll be able to edit this later on, in case you're moving between now and when fulfilment happens.)
• Optionally switch pledge tier, for example if you want to upgrade to the Ultimate Dungeon Bundle (both box sets, 6 critically acclaimed adventures, and a deluxe referee's screen) from a lower tier. A note for early bird backers: if you want to upgrade without losing your early bird benefits, just send us an email and we'll sort you out: [email protected].
•  Select and pay for extra add-ons, for example the Erol Otus T-shirt, the fantastic black light art print, other Old-School Essentials books, etc. (This update shows previews of some of the add-ons that will be available.)
• Pay the associated shipping costs for your rewards and any add-ons selected.

We should be sending out a first wave of surveys (known as a "smoke test") to a test group of backers later this week / early next week. The purpose of the smoke test is to check that everything in the pledge manager is working as intended before we send out 6,000+ surveys.  Once the smoke test is complete, we'll send out surveys to all remaining backers. We'll let you know when that's going to happen in a future update.

*Note, if you used Apple Pay to pay for your pledge on Kickstarter and your settings are set to generate a secure unique email,  you will need to update your email address in order to receive the Backerkit survey email. Please reach out to us at [email protected] if you need any assistance. 

PDF Fulfilment

Once we have the finalised list of which backers will be receiving which rewards and add-ons, we'll begin sending out PDFs via DriveThruRPG. We estimate that this will happen around the end of May, once the pledge manager closes.

(Apologies for our error in the previous update saying that PDF fulfilment would happen in "a few weeks". We need to wait a little longer to allow people to select add-ons and possibly switch pledges in BackerKit, before we send out the PDFs.)

Dice Update: No Dice

We didn't reach the $800K stretch goal for the Old-School Essentials dice sets for all backers, but as mentioned in the previous update we've been in communication with Q-Workshop about the possibility of making dice available as an add-on for those who'd like to order a set. As our original manufacturing slot (for 6,000+ dice sets—if we'd hit the $800K stretch goal) has now passed, Q-Workshop has given us a new timeline for manufacturing a smaller batch of dice. The manufacturing timeline now stands at around 6 months. 6 months for manufacturing would put us at October. An extra 2-3 months for the dice to arrive in our warehouses for fulfilment would put as at around December.

All things considered, we've decided not to go ahead with manufacturing this small batch of dice. It would simply add too much risk and delay, which we're obviously trying to minimise. Our apologies to everyone who was interested in buying a set of the dice as an add-on!

All For Now

Exalted Funeral & Necrotic Gnome