Update 22 - the Good, the Bad & the Ugly
over 2 years ago – Mon, Dec 20, 2021 at 07:37:09 PM

Well, it's been quite the rollercoaster over here the last few weeks. We dropped the PDF of the core rules, I attended a honest to goodness real convention (PAX Unplugged), we launched our Discord, dropped a new video, released our rules light PDF and the recipes and opened our webstore. But there's larger news going on behind the scenes and I wanted to wait to drop it all to you until we had some kind of next steps and resolution. Let's start with:

The Bad

When we began this journey, our goal was to print our book in North America and after some recommendations, we settled in on a relationship with Bang, a subdivision of Sheridan/CJK Group. Throughout the build up to the Kickstarter and our unexpected success, we continually worked on revising our estimates with them and keeping our communication flowing. Of course, these estimates went up as page counts went up, paper costs went up, and employee availability fell. A few months ago we had to adjust the planned retail costs of the book from $50 to $60. You all received the PDF of the game on 12/2. But prior to that on 11/23, we delivered final printing files to Bang. At that point they'd given us a 12-13 week production estimate overall but I suspected that not much would get done during the year end/holiday period. That put us in the March/April time period for delivering physical books to all you backers.

Sadly, on the day we delivered you all your PDFs, I was contacted by my rep at Bang and given unexpected and awful news. They chose this point in the process to tell me that the 12-13 week timeline wasn't accurate. Instead it was going to be at least 8 months. That would potentially mean that it might be the end of next year for physical delivery to backers. Maybe longer.

Needless to say I was...angry. Beyond that, I no longer had any faith in Bang, and I certainly didn't feel safe giving a massive portion of our funding capital to them. This has meant that over the last few weeks, much of my enjoyment of the release of the PDF has been tainted by this ugly turn of events and a scramble to find a new printer.

The Ugly

Without getting into ridiculously long (and frankly boring) details, or worse, providing you with spreadsheets, this also has had a domino effect on upcoming future Coyote & Crow projects. Our original plan had been to get you all an estimated ship date on physical books, followed by an announcement of our next Kickstarter, which would have launched in January with hopeful fulfillment of that Kickstarter shortly after the physical core rulebook delivered.  For now, those plans are cancelled.

___

But that brings me around to a larger announcement. Recently, Kickstarter made a pretty big statement: https://www.kickstarter.com/articles/the-future-of-crowdfunding-creative-projects and since then, there's been a lot of discussion on the potential environmental and fiscal impacts and around blockchain in general. You can read some of the initial reactions here: https://www.dicebreaker.com/companies/kickstarter/news/kickstarter-blockchain-crypto-reaction-designers-publishers 

We're a fledgling publisher, working with many marginalized creators in an industry that is already pretty niche to begin with. Kickstarter is, by default, is going to give our projects the most exposure. However a critical part of our mission statement is to not only pursue environmentally friendly practices when we can, but to lead the way whenever possible. While there is room for discussion about whether blockchain technology is something that can evolve into something both fiscally secure and safe for the environment, we are not at that stage. Nothing Kickstarter has said publicly has clarified the specifics of how they are going to proceed, but based on the information they've provided, we've decided to take specific action. Coyote & Crow LLC will no longer use Kickstarter for future crowdfunding projects. Where we go next will be decided over the upcoming months. 

___

Moving on,  we're now facing a massive cost hike from our new printer.  One so huge, that we're going to have to raise the retail price of the book yet again, just to help offset these costs. In fact, this printing cost increase (just over a 30% total cost increase) is so massive that, if we'd not had the generous funding we originally had from all of you, it might have crippled the whole project.  Instead, we're now looking at a $70 retail cost of the core rulebook. This does not affect backers or their pledges or pre-orders in any way. We are not asking (nor accepting) further pledge money. This only affects the game at a retail level. But let's all bring this around to the Good.

The Good

We've got quite a bit of good news to go around. So let's jump into it. Obviously, the first bit of good news is, we have a new printer! The folks at Taylor/Balfour were great at stepping up on short notice and working with me to get things moving. They've been communicative and transparent and addressed my concerns to the best of their ability. Their prices, while higher, are at least partially reflective of the current paper scarcity that everyone is dealing with. But the other thing to highlight is that they are estimating they can ship books from their facility by March 11th!  While this is only an estimate and does not include shipping time to our warehouse in Atlanta, nor receiving and organizational time afterward, nor subsequent shipping to you from our warehouse, it does mean that you're likely to get your books before this summer, maybe even as soon as April! I'll fill you all in as things morph, but to me, this was the only real ray of sunshine in the current situation.

This change has also given us pause to rethink our next crowdfunding project. We'll have more official announcements soon, but we're radically reorganizing our goals and plans for that. Beyond our next crowdfunding project we have a number of other things we can confirm we're working on to various degrees:

• Custom dice set for the RPG
• Story Guide Screen for the RPG
• Two tabletop games set in the Coyote & Crow universe
• A novel set in the Coyote & Crow universe
• A number of one-shot Stories for the RPG to help new Story Guides acclimate to our setting
• Lots of other things that we can't confirm quite yet

Also, this delay in production and getting files to our new partner is allowing us to integrate and correct the typos, errors or inconsistencies in the initial digital release of the core rulebook that so many of you have thoughtfully pointed out. Once we have those completed and we have files off to the printer, we'll look at sending backers a 1.01 version of the PDF with those updated changes. 

We've received a couple of early reviews! Check out some of these kind words on our work:

A Tribe Called Geek: https://atribecalledgeek.com/coyote-and-crow-atcg-game-review/

Dicebreaker:  https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/coyote-and-crow/feature/coyote-and-crow-rpg-preview-impressions

If you want to support us further, please point people to our webstore: https://shop.coyoteandcrow.net/

And if you are or know a graphic designer looking for work, we're hiring! Please check our blog post for more: https://coyoteandcrow.net/2021/05/09/coyote-crow-creative-opportunities/

Lastly, don't forget our Discord and YouTube channels:

https://discord.gg/CGGbwNBRDD

https://www.youtube.com/c/CoyoteCrowLLC

That's all for now. Thanks for taking this journey with us. We'll see you in the new year!

Be safe, be kind, mask up, get that booster.

Wado,

Connor

Update 20 and 1/2 - Cleaning House and PDFs (Ignore if you've received your PDF)
over 2 years ago – Mon, Dec 06, 2021 at 03:01:38 AM

If you've received your PDF - great! Enjoy. You can completely ignore this email and carry on.

If you have not received your PDF, please read through this carefully!

Folks, there are two primary reasons you haven't received your PDFs and I'm going to cover both situations here. 

You backed during the campaign on Kickstarter: If you backed during the campaign and pledged at a tier that was higher than $5 (except the retailer level) but have not received your PDF, it's likely you have not yet filled out your BackerKit survey. Currently there are 572 people who have not filled out their survey. BackerKit has sent out more than 10 emails to each of you during this time.  Please do not email me personally about this. While I'm happy to help, I'm spending increasing numbers of hours of my day trying to trouble shoot your emails with BackerKit. Please use BackerKit support and make sure you are receiving emails. Then, fill out your surveys. Then, go back into your pledge on BackerKit and you should see your digital downloads available to you.

You backed as a late-pledge/pre-order through BackerKit: If you backed after the campaign and have not received your PDF, this is likely not your fault. When we created the late pledge options there was an error and the PDFs did not get loaded to the pledges that included physical books. They have since been added to all appropriate levels. However, since the emails went out before we made that adjustment, many of you were not notified. You should be able to go back into your BackerKit pledge and find it. If you're having trouble finding that email or getting into your BackerKit pledge, you can either email BackerKit support or email me through our website ( coyoteandcrow.net ) and we can resend your pledge email to you.

Other Issues: There may be other outstanding issues that do not fit either of these categories. Please use BackerKit support as your first option. I'm happy to help, but it's highly likely that they can fix any issues faster than I can.

One final note: Please keep in mind that we cannot deliver any rewards to you if you have not filled out your BackerKit survey. You might want to check on Kickstarter and figure out what email you used. That's where BackerKit sends their surveys. Once physical books are ready to ship, we'll lock addresses. We'll also give plenty of notice before we do that.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend. Stay safe, be kind, get vaccinated(and boosted) and mask up.

Till next time my fellow coyotes and crows.

Connor

Update #20 - PDFs Are Here!
over 2 years ago – Sun, Dec 05, 2021 at 12:25:50 AM

It's Time!

Every backer who pledged at $20 or higher should be receiving their PDF of the book today. This PDF is identical to the full color physical copy of the book. If you don't see it in your inbox for the email you used to pledge by the end of the day, follow these easy steps:

• Don't Panic
• Check Your Spam Folder
• Don't immediately email me here or through the website. Wait at least a day before reporting an issue as there may be problems at any number of levels. I'll be working with BackerKit to make sure every PDF is delivered.

In addition, a couple of other things are being announced:

• Early backers should also be getting their recipe cards in their email
• All backers at $20 or higher should also be receiving the Rules Light Introductory Adventure in their email. Depending on how long it takes to get out recipes and PDFs, this may take a couple of days in total.
• Our official Discord server is launching! You can find it at: https://discord.gg/7gfbub4x
• A new video is up on our website on how the basic d12 System works! Here's the link:  https://youtu.be/rwfqoSlO7pw

If you have delivery issues or if you have comments or concerns about the game:  Please be aware that we'll have people watching the Coyote & Crow website forums and the Discord Server. However, you may experience long delays in receiving replies through Kickstarter, Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Our suggestion is that you leave congratulations, compliments and constructive feedback on our website forums or on our Discord (or Twitter, Facebook or Instagram if you don't need a rapid reply)

Lastly, we'll be suspending late pledges for physical copies. From here out, if you wish to get a physical copy of the book, you'll need to get it through your local hobby store or other retail options. 

As far as other updates:

• Physical Copies: March is still possible, but April is starting to look more likely.
• Roll20: No hard timeline yet. Might be before the end of the year but more likely January or Q1 of next year.
• Rebecca Roanhorse Adventure: No hard timeline yet. We're still working on finding time in her schedule.
• Other stuff: We're going to have announcements soon about other exciting Coyote & Crow RPG products as well as other tabletop games and media from Coyote & Crow LLC!

On a more personal note, I'm really proud of what we're delivering you. While much of this work is mine, it absolutely would not exist without the hard work and vision of more than 40 other people - not even counting our amazing play testers! This work isn't flawless. But that's where you come in. We know that the best way to really grow an RPG is to let people play it. We want you to mold it, reshape it, break it, put it back together again. If the Creator shines on us, we'll have a second edition down the line and be able to incorporate all of the best of those ideas. This book isn't the end. It's just the start.

Stay safe, be kind, mask up, get vaccinated - and get a booster if you can.

Thanks/Wado,

Connor Alexander

Update #19 - Good news!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Nov 24, 2021 at 01:41:13 AM

Hey folks,

I usually post at the start of each month, but things are heating up so I'm going to give you all the news that's fit to print. 

PDF's Are Coming!

Let's go over what that means:

• PDFs of the full color, completed book will be delivered to backers on 12/2
• Files are being sent to our printer.  As soon as we have an update from them on timing, we can update you all on when physical books will be shipped.  With that said, while I was hoping for March, it's quite possible we'll be looking at April. Between the holiday, our increased page count (480!), paper shortages, worker shortages, and shipping delays, I just can't make any promises.
• Folks who backed at $20 and higher will also be receiving the rules light introduction story (PDF) - so you can slowly lure your auntie into playing RPGs.
• Folks who backed in the first 48 hours will also be receiving recipes from Chef Nico Albert!
• Roll20 will also be getting started officially on their conversion. I'm hesitant to guess on when that will be completed. We'll announce a timeline for that as soon as we've heard back from them.  

We're very proud of the book we're putting out. It's been months for most of us and years for many of us. It started small and it grew into something enormous. And this is just the beginning. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. 

Wado/Thank you

Connor Alexander

*Be kind, be safe, mask up, get vaccinated*

Update #18
over 2 years ago – Thu, Nov 04, 2021 at 12:05:50 AM

I hope you all had a lovely Halloween and/or are having a lovely Samhain!

We're so close to the next big hurdle that I can almost taste it. Final files are so close to being ready. The last of the layouts are being worked on and then they'll be with me for final approvals. My goal is still to get you the full PDF of the game before the end of the month. However, as close as we are, we still have a few more stops on the route. 

First, I don't want to rush my final approvals. This is the time where we'll have our last chance to catch little errors, internal inconsistencies, or other things that will haunt me until 2nd Edition. So, I want to make sure we get it as close to 100 as possible. 

Second, before we send them out to all of you, we have to get them to a few other folks first. Most importantly, our printer. But also, our internal and social media teams,  reviewers and media, and a few other folks.

Once all of those have gone out, we can drop the PDFs to you. I do think we can still make it before the end of the month, but it's going to be close.

Along with that, we'll be dropping the Rules Light document and the Early Backer Recipes. Both of which are approaching their final iterations. 

Then we're all going to have to wait on the printer for the physical copies. It's going to seem like a lifetime,  but we'll have some things to announce and release during that period that should help keep us all upbeat and excited.

One final thing - we're working with GenCon to have a live play through on their Twitch channel on December 3rd. We're going to be to raising money with them for https://www.irsss.ca/ - The Indian Residential School Survivor's Society. I have two asks:

• If you can, check out the stream and donate on 12/3: https://www.gencon.com/tv
• If you're a celebrity (especially an Indigenous one), and would be interested in playing in the livestream to raise our profile even further, please contact me. We have three great players and a Story Guide already, but we've got one seat left.

That's all the news that's fit to print for now.  It's likely that the next time you hear from me here, it will be with a PDF of the full game in hand.

Stiyu, take care, be safe, be kind, mask up, get vaccinated,

Connor