Make wilderness journeys just as exciting as the destination with this worldbuilding book for GMs - For any fantasy roleplaying game.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Backerkit Pledges Locked & Credit Cards Charged
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Dec 21, 2021 at 10:33:00 PM
Hello Loresmyths,
Hope you are doing great and having fantastic games! Here's a new update for you regarding the Wondrous Expeditions Forests Kickstarter fulfillment.
Backerkit Pledges Locked & Cards Charged.
As explained earlier, we have locked the Bacerkit pledge manager orders and started charging credit cards for any outstanding costs, typically add-ons and shipping charges. Most cards charge successfully on the first try, but there are always cards that are declined. Please keep an eye out for emails from Backerkit to see how your order has been processed.
The last step is to lock your shipping addresses. We will do this once the products have arrived in our international shipping hubs, so you still have a little time to update your address if needed. You will get an email notification once addresses are about to get locked.
Contact Our Support
If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to mail [email protected] Our team will get back to you as soon as we can. 👊
Wishing you all happy holidays, and talk again soon!!
If you have not done so already, consider joining our Discord server.
Chris van der Linden
Wondrous Printing & Fulfilment Update
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Dec 16, 2021 at 06:28:07 PM
Hello dear Loresmyths!
We took a little longer to write this update to give you real new info instead of "maybes", so we had to be patient to get tangible new information. In the past months, I've been incredibly busy sorting out the various manufacturing issues and preparing for the international transportation and fulfillment for our pending campaigns.
Wondrous Book Printing Status
The good news is that all the books are currently being printed (again). This means the Wondrous Expeditions Forest book is now getting completed, in addition to Remarkable Cults and new stock of our existing products. In the coming weeks, all 25.000 books will get finished and made ready for transportation. The original misprinted Wondrous books have been destructed and will get recycled for other projects.
We estimate the new stock to arrive in our USA and EU shipping hubs around March next year. We will keep you informed as we have new information. Scenarios kept changing dramatically on a weekly basis, so we have to see what will actually happen. It is almost impossible to predict these days.
While we didn't get images of the Wondrous book, in particular, they are part of the same print run. Here are some images and a video for a great behind-the-scenes look. It's a fantastic insight into how things are being made.
A color print for reference for the operator
Stacks of pages, ready to get cut into their final size
With the global supply chain problems, manufacturing books was already much more difficult than it was pre-covid, but with the misprint and several paper shortages, it turned into a genuine nightmare. I deliberately did not want to cause a panic, so opted to not fill you in on every single detail. In the past months, I've worked with various international book printers to see if we could get our 25.000 books manufactured to great quality and in a timely manner. This was a big ordeal, as we had to get paper samples, compare dozens of price quotes, line up potential transporters, and so forth. We looked into finding a potential new manufacturer in the USA or Canada as it's closer to where the majority of our customers are, but in the end, the book printing was 2 to 3 times more expensive in those countries.
Special print-check to avoid repeating the missing "d" error
After many intense weeks of exploring options under big time and financial pressure, I gave the order back to our existing partner. The current order is for all titles at once: Wondrous Expeditions Forests, Remarkable Cults, and Remarkable Shops & Inns re-stock. All in all, with the rising transportation cost, paper cost, and various other setbacks, the total printing cost ended up being whopping 30.000 euros more than what was initially budgeted in our two Kickstarter campaigns. The financial setbacks, together with the delay in fulfillment, have resulted in a very stressful period that took quite a toll. Keeping backers waiting for a long time, and missing out on sales revenue of not having certain new titles in stock has been weighing heavy on the mind.
With that said, we are trying to keep a positive outlook, and the Remarkable Guilds Kickstarter that is on the horizon certainly helps uplift our moods. I want to thank everyone one more time for your kind, heartfelt messages. You helped me pull through one of the hardest times I've had.
Backerkit Locking Orders & Charging Cards
On to more practical matters. We delayed locking orders and charging cards to allow for some late-backers to join. Now we finally have the books printed and a reasonable ETA of arrival, we are moving ahead with locking backerkit orders and charging the cards.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact [email protected] and our team will follow up with you. Robin is ready to help you with any questions.
Shipping Rates Updated in Backerkit
Some less fun news. Because of the pandemic, shipping rates and book printing costs have gone up quite dramatically over the past 12 months. Initially, we kept the rates unchanged and planned to "eat the costs" as a company. However, this has amounted to such a big figure (about $20.000) we could no longer entirely shield our customers from the economic changes. We have updated the shipping rates in backerkit to match today's rates, as the "old" rates were set nearly a year ago no longer correct. In some cases, rates stayed the same or changed only a little, in some cases, they have increased quite a bit.
We kept the pledge prices the same and only updated shipping rates. For future Kickstarters, books and card deck items may cost a little more to adjust for the changed economics.
Keep in mind these rates also include a handling fee that we owe our shipping partners for storing, picking & packing our orders. We work hard to bring everyone the most economic rates, but unfortunately, there's no way of denying the rising costs that have come with the pandemic.
New EU partner: ShipQuest
Some more great news: As part of our ongoing growth and professionalizing of our services, we have partnered with ShipQuest for all European order shipping. This is a big milestone as it means the DIY garage shipping days are over. It really signifies just how much Loresmyth has grown and it definitely means a lot to us. In specific, we have chosen to use Shipquests' location in Germany, and may potentially branch out into their UK hub in the future. This sets Loresmyth up for a bright future going into 2022.
Until now, for everything that was not the USA I've shipped orders and pledges DIY from my private home in the Netherlands, and things just got WAY to big to handle myself :) My wife sure is happy to get some space back and not have me haul packages and shipping pallets through the garden weekly.
This means that effectively starting the new year, all e-commerce and Kickstarter packages are shipped from Shipquest (EU + OTHER) or Nord Games (USA, CA, AU). There will be a couple of weeks/months period where we are in limbo, and some EU orders are pending shipping as our inventory is in transit to our hubs.
Some fantastic memories of starting Loresmyth
Last of the DIY shipping era...
There we go! This was a big update, I tried to cover all subjects. I am very glad that (hopefully for real now) all of the big setbacks are really behind us. I am SO ready for a new chapter where we can return to our normal routine a bit. We are slowly gearing up for the Remarkable Guilds campaign, and my gawd, the book previews look stunning. You will be surprised!
Meet us on Discord!
If you have any questions after this update, please consider joining the Loresmyth Discord channel, or contact our support team.
Best wishes and talk soon!
Chris van der Linden
Accepting Late Backers Until November 20th
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Nov 09, 2021 at 02:24:09 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Wondrous Expeditions Book Reprint Update
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Oct 20, 2021 at 04:18:46 AM
Dear Loresmyths,
This is a packed update with a lot of tidbits, but the most important thing first:
I'm happy to let you know we've agreed on a solution with our long-time book printed partner. While legally we would be fully liable for the mistake and thus the costs of a reprint, both parties felt it wasn't so black and white so we looked for a softer solution. Our good relationship meant we were able to come up with a solution where everyone carries a little of the pain.
Selling Misprints At A Discount? No.
Some of you suggested selling the misprint versions at a discount to alleviate some of the financial burdens. It is really a heartwarming thought and I can even somehow see the "collectors" value in misprints floating around the world. However, given that transportation costs are now up 200% to 500%, ultimately we do not want to invest in a faulted product, that cannot be sold in our web stores. Backers would have more understanding of getting a misprint, but 2/3 of our print run is intended for future sales as well, which is where 50% or more of our yearly revenues come from.
Reprint in December, Transport January?
The current plan is that the Wondrous books will be reprinted in December, and are then ready for transportation to the USA and our UK shipping depots in the month of January. Transportation takes anywhere from a month to several months, so we are still looking at the earliest pledge shipping date of March 2022. With the currently impacted supply chains even this timeline may not pan out, so please manage your expectations, we really have no control over how long things take at this point.
The good news is that the new Remarkable Cults book will be printed at the same time and go on the same combined ocean freight transport. This saves us some significant costs. Initially, we decided to print and transport each project by itself, essentially paying transportation twice, but now that they align so closely, it makes more sense to combine the print run and transportation.
Remarkable Guilds - Next Year
I want to thank everyone again for the super kind and heartwarming messages on the last Kickstarter update. It really helped me lift the mood, and I feel much better now. You are truly the best fanbase a company can ever have.
The general consensus seems to be that everyone is fine with us launching a new Kickstarter, knowing that the current pledges will not be delivered at that point yet. This is going the be Remarkable Guilds, and you can follow now to get notified of the launch.
I believe there will be a period towards the end of 2022 where the supply chains return to normal, but until that time we kinda have to live with the current overlapping timelines. You can trust us to post regular updates and with our expanded development team and experience, we feel we are setup to do a great job in keeping you satisfied and turn over fantastic inspiring products.
Discord is Blowing Up!
Just kidding :) But many people are joining and we are nearing 1600 roleplaying fans on the Loresmyth Discord community server. If you are not on there yet, come inside, its cosy! You get to chat with me and others of our team and like-minded roleplaying fans. Currently, we are discussing what vintage classic D&D book I (Chris) should get for the Loresmyth office, as laid out in our latest youtube video.
Heroic Challenges Bundle Sale (ending)
Lastly, we have a limited-time Heroic Challenges bundle sale going on www.loresmyth.com so if you don't have this product from last year's Kickstarter yet, have a look and don't miss out on this sweet deal.
Book Printing Delayed - Important Update
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Oct 15, 2021 at 08:55:15 PM
Hello dear Loresmyths!
I know it has been a while, but things have been incredibly challenging, as you likely are aware supply chain disruptions are affecting companies worldwide, and we are no exception. I took a moment to record a big video update with some really important news, so please take a moment to watch it if you can. We like to thank you again for your trust and patience, I know it has not been the most fun time to be a backer.
Supply Chain Problems
The pandemic has caused major material shortages such as steel, wood and now paper. On top of that, costs have been rising dramatically and international transportation has been seriously impacted. Right now printing books and card decks take up to 6 or 8 months in some cases, and then it's not even sure you can get a remotely affordable cargo container to ship your goods to the destination. Things are beyond challenging, and it's really hard to deal with for smaller companies like us. It is expected that we will experience these effects for at least a year longer before things get a little more normal.
Get the entire in-depth updates in this video:
Wondrous Books Printrun Error
Some very sad news everyone. We submitted the final files to our book manufacturer back in July, but only in recent weeks have they finally been printed. Covid really has caused many delays. I received one of the books as a sample last week and I must say they look gorgeous and of great quality, as we come to expect from our trusted partner. However, due to a yet-unknown technical issue, the entire print-run is faulted (see video below) and it is so severe that we have no choice but to reprint all thousands of books. We simply can not accept delivering a book to you and future customers, that has a mistake on every other page. As of now, we firmly believe our files were correct when submitting and believe the mistake happened during the conversion at the manufacturer. These things are sometimes a little difficult to trace, and we are in talks with our printing partner about how to solve it. What is sure though, is that everything needs to get reprinted, whoever's fault it is.
I will admit personally I have felt incredibly gutted and down for an entire week because of it. I am heartbroken that this means things take yet longer, while you have already been so patient. It's not even about the money this will likely be going to cost us, it is just painful to know the books are not arriving this year and can ship to you.
Our Next Kickstarter?
As you know, we discussed in depth with you our choice to not do another Kickstarter this year. Normally, Loresmyth does 2 campaigns and our business is built upon this financial forecast. However, we wanted to create a scenario where we could finish Wondrous Expeditions and Remarkable Cults, have all pledges shipped out before launching the next Kickstarter. Now with the global supply chain problems and the print error, even our tentative March 2022 launch date for Remarkable Guilds is in jeopardy. Printing and transportation of the books is 100% beyond our control, we can only wait patiently for the goods to arrive in the USA & UK for fulfilment.
Now we are getting to a point where we are impacted so much financially, and with chances decreasing of us being able to fulfil pledges before a new campaign, we need to consider what to do. We don't want to upset backers of launching a new campaign while they are still waiting for their pledges, but at the same time we can not delay forever and put our company and staff's livelihood in jeopardy. It is a damned dilemma and one of the hardest situations we have ever been in.
I can confess I have been really dreading having to post this update. Things have been so taxing the past year, I had really hoped we would finally put some things behind us, but we are not in the clear yet. It is frustrating to know that we have built a beautiful team and company, but that we are held back by a virus pandemic. I am positive about the future of Loresmyth and we will make it, but right now I can't deny sometimes it's difficult mentally to keep a bright outlook.
Hope to be back next time with more cheerful news, thank you again for your understanding!
