The Red Dragon Inn 8 - Pub Crawl!

Pledge Manager Opening!
about 3 years ago – Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 02:42:04 PM

Hi again, backers, and thanks for your patience while we got the last details in order. We'd like to apologize again for the delay in getting the pledge manager and the add-on store open, and we'd like to reiterate that the delay in hitting this milestone has NOT impacted development on the actual game. In fact, the art is done, playtesting is done, and the print files are currently being proofread by multiple pairs of eyeballs.

So, why the delay in the pledge manager? Well, we were making sure that we got the metal Coins of the World right before presenting them to you. Our friends at Campaign Coins created several different prototypes for the two-tone elf coins. Although the technology allowed several different options for making them two-tone, none of those options did justice to the fine detail of the design itself. As a result, we decided to make those elf coins a single color of metal with shading.

Despite the lack of a two-color effect, these coins are still absolutely gorgeous. And as an added bonus, keeping them a single color helps keep the cost down as well! So, the add-on store will offer a full set of these metal Coins of the World for $60. That price will get you 10 of each of the five coin designs in a velvet bag.

BackerKit Information

So, with the last hurdle out of the way, it's time to open the pledge manager! Here's a reminder of how the process works: you will receive an email from BackerKit over the next few days telling you how to finish making your pledge. When you go to BackerKit, you will be able to do things like change your pledge level, pay for shipping, and add optional add-ons to your order. It will also ask you to provide your address and answer a few survey questions.

We'd like to point out that you will not all get your instruction email from BackerKit at the same time. BackerKit has a very useful feature called the Smoke Test. This allows us to send emails out to 5% of backers as a test. This allows us to keep an eye on things to make sure that we didn't mess anything up in our BackerKit setup. Sending email to a smaller group is useful to ensure that if there are any issues, they can be fixed before they become massive problems. Once we're confident that things are working, we will open the pledge manager up to everyone. Our goal is to open to everyone within a few days, possibly less. The point, though, is that if you don't get a BackerKit email right away, there's no need to panic.

One last topic on BackerKit: it looks like some backers of this Kickstarter campaign may have gone into the "late backer" preorder system (also on BackerKit) for this project. Please be aware that if you have done this, you could potentially end up with two separate orders on BackerKit, and your credit card could be double-charged! Since this is likely not what you want, you may wish to cancel your preorder and wait for your pledge manager email to arrive.

As usual, if you have any questions or concerns, you can ask here or via email at [email protected]. Thanks again for your patience, and thanks for backing!

Metal components and a small delay
about 3 years ago – Thu, Apr 01, 2021 at 04:07:33 PM

Hi, backers! We have some exciting stuff to show you from Campaign Coins today!

We're super stoked about these coins and we hope you are too!

You will note that one coin - the fancy elf coin - isn't pictured yet. Our friends at Campaign Coins are still hard at work on that one, and it's expected in the next couple of weeks. We've decided to hold off on opening surveys and the add-on store until we have better visibility on that last coin design. Why? Because we want to present a complete add-on store to everyone when we open it, and we can't be 100% sure about cost and quality for the coins until we have a prototype image and information about all of the problems associated with creating those coins. Basically, we don't want any surprises.

To be clear on one point: this delay is simply for the opening date for surveys and the add-on store. Development on RDI 8 itself is independent of this delay and is proceeding according to plan. Final playtesting is underway, art is coming along nicely, and manufacturing files are being created. The coin delays are simply pushing back the date when we will ask you for address information, not the date when we think we will be able to ship you products.

Thanks for your patience, and we'll keep you posted!

Thank You All!
about 3 years ago – Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 01:29:23 AM

Astonishing. Simply astonishing. That's genuinely our reaction to this one.

This is our most successful campaign ever in terms of both money raised and backer count - by a lot. In fact, the number of backers on this campaign is nearly double our previous record of 2649 backers (RDI 7). Over five thousand backers? Are you kidding??? We were expecting a little more reach on this one due to Achievement Hunter and Twisted Taverns helping us get the word out, but that's kinda bonkers.

Our task now is to put the finishing touches on the game and get manufacturing underway. We expect print file creation to take another month or two, then we will send those files off to manufacturing. We expect manufacturing to take two to three months, then games will be put on various boats to various places. As we've stated before, ocean freight has been an absolute mess recently, so unfortunately we're not going to even to PRETEND to have any precise timelines beyond that point. We will keep you posted. We believe that our January ship date is solid and sufficiently well-padded to deal with the snafus along the way.

Speaking of timelines, over the next two weeks, Kickstarter will be attempting to charge everyone's credit cards and will contact anyone whose card rejected the transaction. After that process is complete, we will open the pledge manager and add-on store in BackerKit. We don't know exactly how long that will stay open - it will depend on the manufacturing and freight timeline. However, we will give everyone fair warning before it closes.

Hopefully that's enough information about what happens next. As usual, if you have any questions, just ask in the comments.

And of course, thank you all so much for your support. The Red Dragon Inn has clearly "made it" as a game franchise, and we look forward to many more years of making fun games in this fun world with fun characters.

Just One Day Left!
about 3 years ago – Thu, Mar 18, 2021 at 05:53:33 PM

With just over 24 hours left, it's time for the final countdown!  [Cue epic 80's music]

Today's update has one last reveal - the new stuff in the RDI Drink Deck. First, however, some random pieces of news and information.

Stream: Just a reminder, we'll be streaming THE FINAL COUNTDOWN (the Kickstarter countdown, not the song) on our Twitch stream tomorrow starting at 4 PM Pacific. Join us in counting down our most successful Kickstarter campaign ever!

Tabletopia: If you don't have Tabletop Simulator, you can now try RDI 8 on Tabletopia! Tabletopia is a free browser-based boardgaming platform with many different games on it. Check it out!

BackerKit: We realized after re-reading yesterday's update that we're still making an assumption that we make far too often - namely, we sometimes incorrectly assume that all Kickstarter backers know what BackerKit is. BackerKit is a separate website that makes the management of a Kickstarter campaign easier and more convenient for both backers and creators. Here's how it works: after the campaign ends, Kickstarter will finalize the funding and charge everyone's credit cards. (This process takes about two weeks, since there are inevitably some snafus with some credit cards.) After that, backer information gets transferred from Kickstarter to BackerKit. You will receive an email from BackerKit allowing you to answer survey questions, manage your pledge, pay for shipping, add some add-ons if you like, etc. Note that you do not need to create an account on BackerKit to use it, but you may do so if you wish. You may change your survey answers or your add-ons at any time until we close surveys. (We don't have an exact date for this yet - it will happen around when manufacturing of the game gets underway.) Once we lock surveys in BackerKit, your credit card will be charged (this time by BackerKit) for your shipping and whatever else you may have added to your order. Hopefully this clarifies the process for those of you who haven't used BackerKit before!

Reveals: OK, that's all the news. Here are the drinks in the RDI Drink Deck, with the new ones at the top. Enjoy!

And now, all the high-res reveals are on our reveals page!

We'll see you tomorrow for THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!

...and please enjoy having that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day...  :-)

EU/UK VAT Clarification
about 3 years ago – Thu, Mar 18, 2021 at 08:27:52 AM

Hi, folks. We'll have a general update later today. This one is more information about VAT for backers in Europe. If you're not in Europe, you can safely ignore this update!

It seems that there still may be some confusion over yesterday's update about add-ons and VAT, so we wanted to clarify. There are really just two policies in play here:

1) Your pledge-level-linked copy of RDI 8 will not be charged VAT, since our announced Shipping fee will cover it, and

2) Everything else you add to your order WILL be charged VAT, regardless of whether you decide to pay for it in advance here in Kickstarter or after the campaign in BackerKit.

These two rules should cover all the cases, but in order to prevent confusion, here are some examples:

Example 1: A backer in Denmark backs the Eco-Kickstarter Edition, paying $35 here in Kickstarter. When she logs in to BackerKit, she pays the $17 shipping charge. She adds no add-ons, so she pays no extra fees.

Example 2: A backer in the UK backs at the $1 level, intending to add a copy of RDI 8 later in BackerKit. He decides to add the Collector's Edition. He will be charged the cost of the Collector's Edition, plus $17 shipping, plus VAT on the Collector's Edition. (Unfortunately, BackerKit does not have a way for us to avoid charging VAT in this situation, which is why we are encouraging all European backers to choose a pledge level rather than staying at the $1 level.)

Example 3: A backer in France backs the Kickstarter Edition, paying $40 in Kickstarter. Later, in BackerKit, he decides to add a 5-player coin set. He pays $17 shipping for the whole order, plus VAT on the coin set.

Example 4: A backer in Germany backs the Eco-Collector's Edition. She also wants a copy of the Character Vault, so she adds $30 to her pledge in Kickstarter, bringing her total to $105. Later, in BackerKit, she selects her Character Vault add-on and pays $17 for shipping, plus VAT on the Character Vault. Note that prepaying for the Character Vault in Kickstarter does not avoid VAT on the Character Vault.

We hope that this clarifies things for everyone. If not, please keep asking questions. Thanks!