About 300 packages were picked up Saturday morning.
The rest were picked up earlier today.
Emails with tracking links will go out for USPS shipments later this evening.
How to Fail at Business and Still Make a Really Great Game
over 6 years ago
– Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 09:54:08 PM
If you’re a retail backer, read this and then go check out the retail-focused update HERE.
Well, it’s been a wild, sometimes harrowing, and always illuminating ride, and we’re very nearly at our destination now. This past Saturday, we closed the pledge manager and locked down all pledge rewards that will go out in the first wave of shipping. There are still 175 errors in the system but for now we can’t address them because it’s time to fulfill the campaign. Mostly.
Allow us to explain. Those of you who follow us on social media or pay attention to the Comments section may recall seeing this video…
This was and still is a joyous moment for us. It’s the realization of a dream we’ve had since we first acquired the Mistborn license several years ago. You can see the excitement in Alex’s body language. He’s genuinely stoked for this, as we all are. Unfortunately, not quite everything has gone according to plan.
Once we cracked the game open to admire Liya’s incredible handiwork, we realized there are two issues…
The shrink wrap is extremely thin and flimsy. We don’t think it will hold up to casual handling in a retail store, and we knew from the moment we saw it that we had to do something before the game went out to distribution.
The bigger issue, however, is that two of the game’s three punchboards are misprinted. The score tokens have the Favor & Disgrace numbers printed on both sides, meaning scores aren’t quite so secret anymore. The game is perfectly playable by hiding the tokens under something, like one of the unused House sheets you can flip over for the turn reference.
Now, we could let this slide. In fact, many people we mentioned it to yesterday said that we should let it slide, including some people we trust in the gaming industry. Given the huge expense of fixing this problem, it makes good business sense to release the game as is and address individual customer service issues as they come up.
Crafty Games is not that company. We aren’t comfortable releasing something we consider less than perfect, and so we won’t. We’re going to fix both of these issues for everyone, at absolutely no cost to any of you.
United States Backers
We agonized over how to get everyone the replacement punchboards. Business wisdom dictates that rather than take on the massive expense of shipping the boards separately, we should hold everyone’s orders back until we have the boards in hand. That’s a very difficult call to make when your game is already four months late to your loyal supporters, however, and in this case there’s an additional wrinkle: Gen Con.
We explain more about our plans for Gen Con below, but the upshot is that since we will have a very, very small quantity of the game at the show, we simply cannot delay fulfillment to U.S. backers (two-thirds of the support for this campaign).
As a result, and because the game is perfectly playable as is, we are sticking to our fulfillment plan for the United States. All pledge rewards due to non-retail U.S. backers will begin shipping this week. We expect that most if not all of these rewards will be in the mail by this weekend.
When we receive the replacement punchboards — which are currently expected sometime in the first half of September — we will send them in a second shipment to each U.S. backer. This second shipment will be sent at no cost to you.
Retail Backers
In case you missed the link at the top of this update, please go HERE for more information about retail pledges.
All Other Backers
The factory is expecting to have the replacement punchboards ready by the end of August, and we’re expecting to receive them in the first half of September. If this schedule holds, we may not see any delay at all with international shipments. We weren’t going to be ready to ship to international backers for another 4 to 6 weeks anyway because all the freight has to be redirected to new warehouses.
We will keep everyone posted on this process, and post an update if it looks like we’re going to have to push international fulfillment back at all. At worst, we might have to delay a week or two, but we’ll have to see.
So That Happened. What Else Ya Got?
Beyond suddenly spending an insane amount of money to fix a problem we all missed (literally everyone missed the file problem that caused this misprint — the developer, the graphic designer, a horde of proofreaders, everyone at Dragonsteel, our editor… sigh), and losing time because of another problem (the shrink isn’t our fault, and we’re attending to that), there’s plenty of good news this week!
Pledge Manger Closed; First Wave Shipping Locked
As promised, we closed the pledge manager this past Saturday. This was a necessary step in finalizing all the data for U.S. deliveries so our warehouse could start processing those rewards. Boxes are now being packed and labels are now being printed, and soon all U.S. backers will be jockeying for the Lord Ruler’s limited Favor.
What does this mean for you?
There is now no way to adjust your pledge page on BackerKit.
Any U.S. backer whose pledge page does not read “Ready to Ship” will not receive their rewards in the first wave of U.S. shipping. The second wave should begin within 2 to 3 weeks after the first is completed, but it depends on a variety of factors we can’t quite predict yet.
We apologize for this, but it’s necessary to ensure a smooth process for everyone who already completed their surveys and paid for shipping.
If you missed the deadline, you can still include your pledge rewards in a future shipping wave. Anyone living outside the U.S. and wanting to update their shipping address can still do so. In both cases, and for any other pledge-related inquiries, please email us at [email protected].
Please Note: Alex & Patrick are out of town for the next week at Gen Con 50. Because of this, any questions requiring their attention will have to wait until they return. Speaking of Gen Con…
Mistborn: House War at Gen Con
We didn’t honestly expect it to be possible to bring Mistborn: House War to the 50th anniversary of the Best Four Days in Gaming. We hoped we could, of course, but it always seemed unlikely — and we were always more concerned with getting the game out to all of you.
As the games were being loaded onto a boat in China, we ran some numbers and determined that the high cost of air-shipping a small quantity to Indianapolis was justified by the momentous anniversary and the promotional benefit of getting the game in the hands of so many reviewers, bloggers, and alpha gamers. Of course, we would have rethought this if we knew about the punchboard and shrink wrap issues, but in that case we wouldn’t have loaded the games onto a boat in the first place, and you know what they say about hindsight.
The number of copies we have for the show is extremely limited, and we sadly cannot arrange for backers to pick up their pledge rewards in Indianapolis. There’s no practical way to track convention pickups, and we’re dedicating every penny we make this year at Gen Con (and more) to address the issues above and bring you the very best version of Mistborn: House War we possibly can. That said, if you’re at the show we do hope you’ll stop by and say hello. We’d love to meet as many of our lovely backers as we can.
Alloy of Law: Masks of the Past
This new book for the Mistborn Adventure Game released last Tuesday. It covers the second and third novels in the expanding Alloy of Law era, and brings new game options to your table in this exciting period.
By now everyone due a digital edition of Masks should have one, provided your pledge page reads “Ready to Ship.” If you’re in this group and don’t have your copy, please email us at [email protected].
Physical books are printed and a large number of them are making their way to the U.S. warehouse this week. Pledge rewards for All-In backers and those who added Masks as an add-on will be sent out as soon as these books arrive.
What’s Next?
Toward the end of this month or the beginning of September, we’ll send out an after-action update about U.S. fulfillment. Hopefully this update will be short, indicating that things went well.
Alex also has a miniature care & maintenance video planned, which will show some of our backers new to PVC figure ownership how to spruce up their beautiful Kelsier and Inquisitor models.
We will continue to keep you posted on the punchboard reprint as we have news, and we’ll report on fulfillment in Canada, Europe, the Antipodes, and elsewhere as we near those shipment waves. Eventually we’ll release info about the Siege of Luthadel expansion, though we still have months of development ahead of us before that.
Thank you again, so much, for all your support, advice, and collaboration over this past year. It’s been an amazing experience for us, and none of it would have been possible without you.
Cheers,
Alex, Ed & Pat
PLEASE READ: 325 pledges have errors. Deadline to resolve these issues is FRIDAY.
over 6 years ago
– Wed, Aug 09, 2017 at 12:27:02 AM
Greetings backers!
Yesterday we began the process of closing the Mistborn: House War pledge manager. This process is proving difficult and tedious for a variety of reasons, and will wind up taking most of this week. Most important for you, 325 of your pledges are showing errors right now.
162 of you have either never answered your BackerKit survey, did not complete your BackerKit survey, or have submitted incomplete or inaccurate information.
163 of your credit cards have declined the shipping charge. We figure many of these are expired cards because the pledge manager was open for an extended period.
In all cases, these errors will prevent us from fulfilling your order.
As we work through the process of closing the pledge manager, BackerKit automatically generates email to the addresses used on Kickstarter. These emails try to identify the issue, and we are seeing some traction from this. However, the large number of outstanding errors indicates to us that many of these emails may not be reaching the affected backers, or that something else is going wrong.
To hopefully solve the majority of these issues, Ed & Pat will be sending out a single email to each affected backer. To make sure you see these emails, please add the following to your email address books and whitelists.
*@crafty-games.com *@gamerati.com
Everyone should do this, just in case, as it will also help us during fulfillment to solve any shipping issues.
These emails from Ed & Pat will be going out in batches through Friday. After that we're going to have to let remaining issues sit while we commence fulfillment.
Please keep an eye on your spam folders in this time, just in case our email winds up there. If you're at all unsure whether you have submitted all necessary information and paid for shipping, it would be a very good idea to double-check your pledge page now. You can do that HERE or HERE.
Important Notes
Any backers whose information is not 100% complete and up to date by Friday will be held off for the second or a later wave of fulfillment.
It is now too late to request refunds.
If you run into any trouble accessing the pledge manager, or have any other questions, please email [email protected].
This is the ONLY email address you should use to contact us about your pledge! Alex & Pat are prepping to travel to Gen Con in Indianapolis next week, and any email sent to other email addresses may be missed in the chaos leading up to the show. Specifically, email to [email protected] will largely be ignored all of next week because Ed does not receive email from that address.
Thank you for working with us to make this as smooth a fulfillment period as possible.
-- Alex, Ed, & Pat Crafty Games
Reminder: Pledge Manager Closes This Monday!
over 6 years ago
– Sat, Aug 05, 2017 at 12:59:45 AM
Greetings, backers!
This is a very brief update to remind all of you that the pledge manager closes this Monday, August 7, at noon PDT.
If you have not already locked in all of the following, please do so this weekend or we will not be able to ship your rewards in the first wave of fulfillment.
Your full name and current mailing address
All items you want to receive
A valid credit card for payment of shipping fees
If you still need to submit this information, please go HERE.
If you want to double-check what you have previously submitted, please go HERE.
Everyone will be charged when the pledge manager closes. Submitting & confirming your information does NOT immediately charge your credit card.
What Happens if I Have Left-Over Credit?
This only applies to a very small number of you. If you choose to remove items from your pledge rewards that take the full cost of your pledge below what you paid on Kickstarter — only possible if you remove items you pledged for before we launched the pledge manager — then you will see a positive balance in BackerKit instead of a pending charge.
For those of you with a positive balance when the pledge manager closes, we will be happy to refund you that amount. We do need you to email us about it, however. Among the many, many things BackerKit doesn’t do is let a project creator see only backers who have a positive balance, and there’s no practical way for us to track who is due such a refund. In fact, BackerKit’s reply to our inquiry about this was to suggest that money was simply forfeit.
We do not agree, and so we ask those of you who do wind up with a positive balance on BackerKit to email us after the pledge manager closes at [email protected]. We’ll get you sorted as soon as we can.
That’s all for now. Thank you all for your support and continued collaboration on this wonderful project.
Cheers,
Alex, Ed, & Pat
PLEASE READ: Final Shipping Rates Posted; PennyGems Back on Sale; BackerKit Closes 07-Aug
over 6 years ago
– Tue, Aug 01, 2017 at 12:53:29 AM
Hello again, Mistborn fans!
We’re happy to announce that, after a week and a half of diligent revisions and furious deal-making, the final shipping rates for your Mistborn: House War pledges have been updated and are now locked in!
We believe those of you in Europe, the UK, and the rest of the world will find these much more satisfactory, and close to what you may have paid to ship other Kickstarter rewards in the past.
Alex has whipped up a comparison of new and old shipping rates by pledge, so you can get a sense of the savings this change represents.
After talking to a half-dozen different vendors, these are the best possible prices we can find. They’re also vastly more reasonable than we were getting from our former fulfillment partner in Europe. As such, these rates are final and will not change further.
Please Note: These shipping rates are inclusive of VAT / GST for customers in the EU, UK, CA, AUS, and NZ. We are unable to collect or pay taxes or duties for backers outside these regions, so please understand that if you live elsewhere you may be charged applicable fees when your parcel arrives.
Questions & Answers
Q. I have already locked in my pledge. Have I been charged yet? If not, do I need to change anything to receive this new shipping rate?
A. No in both cases. Finalizing your choices in the pledge manager does NOT automatically charge you. It sets your charge so that BackerKit can process payment once the pledge manager closes. You will only be charged once, and your final charge will be what you see in BackerKit now that shipping rates have been updated.
Q. When does the pledge manager close again?
A. We will close the pledge manager on Monday, 07-August. At that point BackerKit will begin the process of charging each of you the balance.shown in your account
Q. I would like one or more add-ons. How do I add them?
A. This depends on whether you have already filled out your BackerKit survey...
If you have NOT yet filled out your BackerKit survey, you can do so HERE. Please enter the same email address you use on Kickstarter.
If you HAVE already filled out your BackerKit survey, please visit your pledge review page HERE. Click “Edit Add-Ons” in the bottom right corner of the page, as shown in the image below. This will take you back to Step 2 of the confirmation process, where you can add any items you wish. Finish up by confirming your details again and BackerKit will update your balance accordingly.
How to Edit Your Add-Ons
Q. How about Siege of Luthadel? Has the shipping changed for the expansion as well?
A. Yes! The Siege of Luthadel expansion benefits from this change just as everything else does. The expansion must still be a separate shipment, but that shipment is now cheaper for everyone in the affected territories, just like the first shipment.
The actual savings are based on where you live. Here are some examples:
AUS/NZ costs: Reduced to $24.00 from $37.00; 34% / $13.00 average savings
EU and UK costs: Reduced to $16.89 from $30.56; 43% / $13.67 average savings
Rest of World costs: Reduced to $21.00 from $36.06; 42% / $15.06 average savings
Once again, Siege of Luthadel is still in development, and must be sent as a second shipment in mid-2018. We cannot combine shipping of the expansion with the core game. This is why the shipping for this add-on is higher than the rest.
Also, BackerKit does not let us charge backers twice, so there is no way to charge shipping for the expansion later. The good news is that no matter what you include in your pledge now, you will never again be charged for anything you receive as part of this campaign. We’re charging for all shipping, for all items, all at once.
Q. I'm still not satisfied and I want a refund.
A. Again, we assure you these are the very best shipping rates we can manage. If you still feel they're too high, then please drop us a line at [email protected] and we will arrange a refund.
Q. I have previously canceled my pledge. Can I re-pledge?
A. While we cannot restore canceled pledges, which are by necessity deleted from the system, you can simply order again as a late backer.
Late backers are offered the same prices and stretch goals as campaign backers, except that they cannot pledge for All-In or book levels. Nor do they receive the free Mistborn Adventure Game PDF we offered during the Kickstarter campaign.
PennyGems Back on Sale
Another piece of good news… After a brief hiatus while we confirmed how much stock we would have in hand, we have added PennyGems back to the pledge manager!
This add-on has proven so popular that Improbable Objects had to arrange a second print run to meet demand. This is set to come off press in the second week of August, which means that all PennyGems orders should be included in the first wave of backer shipments.
Thank you (again) for your patience while we worked this out.
Pledge Manager Closes Monday, August 7
We promised to extend the pledge manager’s close date, but we can only extend it a little bit and stick to our current fulfillment schedule. As such, you have until Monday, 07-August at noon PDT (GMT-7) to complete your survey, confirm your address, and add your credit card information.
At that point, all balances will be charged and you will no longer be able to make changes to your pledge rewards.
IMPORTANT! We cannot ship you any rewards without this information! If your survey isn’t complete by noon PDT on 07-Aug, your shipment will be delayed as we try to contact you separately to confirm everything.
Our cargo vessel is scheduled to arrive in Tacoma in the first week of August. It should take a week or so for the container to clear customs and make its way to the warehouse, during which time we’ll be prepping to send packages across the USA and Canada. Shipping for both these regions should occur quickly from there.
Core games and Prestige Editions are already on their way to Hamburg, Germany. From there they will be transferred to Happyshops, to join a second shipment of fulfillment items coming from the United States. Meanwhile, another shipment will be heading from the United States to Australia so AetherWorks can tackle Antipode shipping.
As you can probably surmise from this, North American backers can expect to receive their product a good ways ahead of everyone else. Sadly, this is unavoidable. There is simply too much freight that still has to happen before the product reaches the overseas fulfillment channels.
Still, everyone should receive their items well ahead of the game releasing through distribution (currently slated for October worldwide).
We will of course keep you posted as fulfillment commences.
That should about do it for this update. As always, please email us with any questions you may have ([email protected]). We love engaging with everyone here, but it’s much, much easier to track specific questions through email.
Thanks again for all your support, and for your patience and understanding.
