The Wanderer's Guide - A Fantasy Atlas For Your RPG Campaign

Pledge Manager is Opening!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Oct 13, 2021 at 11:26:22 PM

FINALLY!!!!

I'm so incredibly sorry about the delay in getting this opened! We had all the pics and everything ready just waiting on the shipping prices which were delivered to me Tuesday night and I was at a gaming convention for work Wednesday - Sunday. It was truly just bad timing.

Anyway as soon as I was home Sunday and you can watch everything in real time in the comment section I started updating you. I was relived and slightly annoyed at how many extra step there were, but Backer Kit did a very thorough job making sure everything was successful.

Shipping Prices -

So we shopped around a bit, but were ultimately happy with the service we will use for fulfillment. They are a very reputable company and will service everything worldwide. The global shipping situation has gotten really bad and the shipping prices were a lot higher than when we launched the KS sadly, but we crunched the numbers and here's what we came up with.

1. I (Joe Wiggins) the creator will be footing the entire bill for the freight shipping of product to the US and EU. Containers are going for about 30k right now and we simply do NOT have the budget and printing in the US is not an option for the scope of this project. I have the means to be able to do this and offset the price for the backers, but the more preorders we sell and add ons we sell and upgraded pledges we have in the pledge manager will offset this massive expenditure.

2. Profit wise the team has been paid in full, except myself and I expect to take no money personally from this project, but will be able to make this and future Wanderer's Guide products which I am glad of.

3. All additional profit post KS is going to offset fulfillment packing fees so backers are ONLY paying a single cost of shipping their rewards no additional fees whatsoever.

Even though these prices are a bit higher than the KS page estimates they are fairly reasonable given the current circumstances and we are trying to be as generous as we can to our amazing patient backers.

Personally I back 100+ KS projects a year and have seen $20 shipping estimates charge over $100 this year for my pledges and while sometimes it's not easy I can understand creators in very difficult positions. I'm glad our shipping prices will be no where near this inflated due to the above measures.

If you have any inquiries the Backerkit cannot assist with please email [email protected] with the subject line "The Wanderer's Guide Backer | 'Issue or Question to help resolve'"

It will help me see and head off things quickly. KS messages are not very effective in terms of solving issues.

The Smoke Test (PM sent to 5% of backers) is starting now - 3pm EST

If all goes well we will open it fully including our PM store at 5pm EST.

MORE ART!

Here is the final book cover missing minor layout things like barcodes and written info. This is the plain art version.

Here is the deluxe box set. We made it so that no matter how it sits on your shelf there is an interesting view to display it. 

QUICK ONE!!!
over 4 years ago – Sun, Sep 12, 2021 at 12:49:20 AM

So sorry it's been over a month.

Our team has had a lot of things going on.  One member went through a big career change and switched jobs needing to spend a lot of time dedicated to the new job. Andrew our artist has had a few conflicting projects causing a bit of a slow down on art, but we're wrapping up the NPC's which I'll share with everyone very soon and leaving only the book cover, deluxe box, and small things like the sticker sheet and tokens. 

A few updates :

Pledge Manager :

I've also been wildly busy at work, but spending hours every weekend getting things ready. I promised to have the pledge manager up by the end of the month and I've got most of it ready. I'm getting the final shipping costs from our fulfillment partner next week and that will be the last thing needed. :)

Timeline :

Based on art finishing, layout times, and manufacturing lead times we're estimating to have the project completed by the end of the year and shipped out as soon after as we can get it done. Again we thank you so much for your patience on the project. We feel this project is going to be absolutely amazing and high quality. I've been using The Wanderer's Guide in my own TTRPG campaign for 46 sessions and it has been an amazing resource!

SAMPLES!!!! :

We've gotten some official samples for some of the non printed items. We expect the dice and metal collector's coin to be ready very soon as well. 

The dice bags are fantastic and the flat bottom is such a beautiful simple thing that really makes it overly useful. Each bag can fit dozens of dice.

More Never Before Seen Art :

Roll For Review :

For about a year some of the members of this team have been participating in a bi monthly youtube show promoting awesome TTRPG crowdfunding projects!

Check us out on youtube :) Roll For Review 

Video Update
over 4 years ago – Mon, Jul 26, 2021 at 10:29:00 PM

Just a quick video to give you a glimpse into where we're at with the project! Lot's of progress,  but getting close to the nitty gritty work part of layout.

Please C&P this into your browser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtqlMpOhwH0

ALSO SOME NEW FINAL ART!!!

Final Art Moving Along
almost 5 years ago – Tue, Jun 08, 2021 at 10:50:09 PM

The final art stage is proving that great art cannot be rushed. Andrew Bosley is working hard to make sure each of these maps is as good as it can possible be. 

Quick note on the pledge manager. Our fulfillment partner is going to get us locked in prices next week and allow us to open the pledge manager so be on the lookout.

Color Rough / Final Caverns

Hopefully you're all enjoying seeing the progression of these scenes as they come to life! 

Tell us some stories that come to mind using these!

Color Roughs are Done!
almost 5 years ago – Sun, Apr 25, 2021 at 01:04:53 AM

We have officially as of last night finished all the map color roughs!

What does this mean?

Well the color roughs generally mean the art piece is 60-75% done because all that's left is detail work and really bringing the art to life. The line work stage is the most difficult because we have to frame the entire scene and solve a lot of perspective issues to get the beautiful cutaway views that are immersive and realistic.

So what's left on the art stage?

We have about 25 more NPC's, a book cover and deluxe box cover, a GM screen, a few punchboard items and sticker sheet that will come together easily and taking all these beautiful maps to final. It's a lot, but Bosley has been amazing throughout the process.

Here's a sneak peak at some maps that really made the team go WHOA!!!!

This map is technically 2 maps conjoined as 1. On the left you see the grand halls of the dwarf and their massive forges and mining operations and on the left the natural caverns featuring more than a few adventures.

The dragon's lair was something we added very late as we surged into stretch goals in the final hours. We wanted it to seem like the dragon took up inhabitance of a civilization and many armies had tried to root him from his home in wars at the base of the mountain.

The Underwater temple that was kind of an easter egg in the world map had so many of you asking for a closer zoomed in view we decided that we would give in to peer pressure. What type of civilization could have constructed such a temple?

From the very beginning we really wanted to have some great looking boat maps and Bosley delivered some truly epic ships.

Remember we are planning on opening up the late pledges and pledge manager for upgrades and add ons in early June.