Reckless Deck PSYCHE

Fulfillment Starts Today!
9 days ago – Thu, Jul 18, 2024 at 06:11:06 AM

Hi All,

Best Project Update ever so far - fulfillment starts TODAY! 

Production on the Complete boxed Set is DONE, addresses are imported into the fulfillment software, and boxes are getting packed and shipped out starting this afternoon.

 To my knowledge, everyone who has sent me a change of address has received a confirmation back from me saying it’s taken care of. (If you needed your address changed and I did not email you back a confirmation, please DM me again on Kickstarter.) Everyone who’s asked to upgrade from their original order to the Complete Boxed Set has had their order adjusted. Every international backer who’s asked to have their Complete Boxed Set shipped now instead of waiting for the fulfillment to their region will be getting a shipping confirmation shortly.

If you still want to upgrade to the Complete Boxed Set, let me know, and we’ll get it done.

As a reminder, here's what is shipping in this wave:

• The Complete Boxed Set to all Passport Tier backers, Cards Only Tier backers, backers who upgraded, and pre-orders in the USA and Canada
• All Playmats included in any of those orders
• All SILVER coins included in any of those orders

The Short Story Anthology, and all Gold and Copper coins will ship separately to any of these backers receiving their Complete Boxed Set in this wave. For all other backers, these items will ship in one order, along with all your other rewards.

Another really positive aspect of this milestone is that fulfilling this production run means we're past all Covid-related production decisions and emergency pivots. Now that international freight shipping and manufacturing rates are no longer cataclysmic, we're free to return the remainder of production to China, where the rates are once again much more doable. What we do need to do, though, is sell some units of this boxed set to get us over the finish line. If you're one of the backers about to receive their rewards, here are some ways you can help your fellow backers:

• Post on social about your awesome new Psyche set! Make unboxing videos, show posts of your favorite card combinations, and talk about how it's been helpful in your creative process or RPG gaming. 
• Tell friends who might enjoy it or benefit from it! 
• I will be enabling product reviews on the Reckless Deck website. Once you get yours, if you like what you see, consider writing a review.

I'm so excited for you first wave backers to get your stuff and to start using the system by holding the real, physical, finished product in your hands. For those of you still waiting, I want to reassure you that I'm fully committed to seeing this project through to the end. I'll continue to do everything I can to get the order for the individual sets placed as early in the fall as possible, in order to get it in your hands before the holidays.

Here are some images of the production prototype!

Tell me what you think of the finished product in the comments below!

Cheers,

Clark

Production Progress Update
about 2 months ago – Thu, Jun 06, 2024 at 12:17:47 PM

Hello All,

It's an exciting time for the project, as we are deep in production for the Complete Boxed Set! All the cards for the sets have been COMPLETED. I've asked the printer for photos of the stacks of our inventory, but I don’t want to delay this update any longer. I’ll share the photos in a separate update once I get them.

I’ve received word that a hand-constructed prototype of the 2-piece box is the next step, which is expected to be completed by the end of this week/ early next week. Nothing so far has come up that puts us off our projected timeline of being done with production before the 4th of July holiday, but production on the box is still ongoing. The exact start date for fulfillment and the duration of the fulfillment process are yet to be determined.

Upgrade Your Pledge 

For anyone in the US or Canada who isn't in either the Passport or Cards Only tiers and wants to upgrade their pledge level to get the Complete Boxed Set when it ships in the July fulfillment wave, Backerkit is fully briefed and ready to assist you. They will inform you of the difference between what you’ve already paid and the $199 Cards Only price, as well as any potential difference in shipping charges. Backerkit will either get your permission to charge the card already on file or take a new method of payment for the difference. If you encounter any issues with Backerkit, please let me know, and I’ll contact them on your behalf. I’ve already done this once for a backer, so hopefully, we should be good to go from here on out.

You can reach them at [email protected]m

Wave 1 International Shipping 

Many international backers have reached out to me asking how much it would cost to get one of the Wave 1 Complete Boxed Sets shipped to them directly, rather than waiting for the fulfillment for their entire region. I have some rough estimates for you:

Australia $75

Germany $60

Hong Kong $70

Italy $60

Phillipines $75

Sweden $75

United Kingdom $60

Please remember, these are ESTIMATES, based on the approximate weight quoted to me by our printer. I don’t actually have the finished product in hand yet. Additionally, these estimates do not include VAT or import taxes that your country may impose. However, I am exploring ways to list this as a “gift” rather than a “sale” on the customs declaration, and potentially undervalue it to save you some money.

Ultimately, only you, as the individual backer, can decide if an expedited shipment in July fits your budget. If it does, please let me know via instant message—I’m happy to arrange the shipment for you.

DriveThru RPG for Digital Only Content

DriveThru RPG looks like it’s going to work out well for those of you seeking physical copies of  the expansions that aren’t going forward to print. But I admit, there’s a bit of a learning curve to their process, so please bear with me. I’m working with their customer service team to set up a vendor account, and create and upload files for you to order printed copies. I will I will try to have this process completed to coincide with the July fulfillment wave.

Already Working on Wave 2

I’ve been laying the groundwork for the fulfillment wave after this one, which will include all the rest of the items, and all the other regions. 

As I’ve said before, how quickly we’re able to get the order placed for the remainder of the products depends heavily on sales of the Complete Boxed Set in the US and Canada, once  the backers receive their rewards and I have the inventory in hand. Given this dependency, it’s impossible for me to provide an exact timeline. But, I’m committed to doing everything I can to sell the necessary sets and begin production as close to Labor Day/end of summer as possible.

With the conclusion of this current wave 1 production and fulfillment, we’ll be free from any remaining Covid-era decisions or arrangements. Which means future plans, pricing, and logistics will be based on present-day conditions, and not on the constantly-shifting, state-of-emergency conditions we faced during the pandemic. Production for the remaining inventory will return to a China facility, which, as much as I hate to say it, significantly reduces our costs. I’ve begun planning freight shipping directly from the China facility to fulfillment partners in the EU and Australia, as well as to me here in the US.

Coin Issues, and Solutions

I need to inform you about an issue with the coins. Despite previously stating that coin production was 100% complete, we've discovered significant shortages of copper and gold-finished coins while preparing for fulfillment.

I’ve repeatedly tried to resolve this with our original producer, Signature Coins, but they've become completely unresponsive despite their initial “reluctant-but-probably-willing” attitude towards correcting their error. Do I think this is acceptable? No. Will fighting with them about it get you your rewards in any kind of a reasonable timeframe? Apparently, no to that as well. Ultimately, in researching other manufacturers, it turns out that they just weren't that special, and there's other vendors who can get this done for us, and at a better price. So, I’m moving on from this, and focusing on the more important issue of getting you your rewards.

 I’ve found a new manufacturer, GPI, based in Massachusetts. They have a relationship with a Chinese affiliate capable of meeting our needs, and at a very reasonable rate. Their sample work confirms they can achieve the required detail and accuracy, and production on the gold & copper coins we need has already begun. 

Unfortunately, this means gold and copper coins won’t be ready in time to ship with the Complete Boxed Sets in July. I already have a secondary shipment planned for US & Canada Passport Tier backers to receive their short story anthologies, and so the gold and copper coins will be included in that shipment. All silver coins are good to go, however, and will be included in July’s shipments. 

GPI has provided an excellent quote for the anthology printing, and Deanna and I are prepping design files to begin production. We are still deciding whether to schedule a freight shipment solely for the gold and copper coins and anthologies or to bundle these items with the larger shipment of the remaining inventory. If Boxed Set sales are strong once they arrive in July, we can start manufacturing the remaining inventory sooner. In that case, everything will be sent out in one freight shipment wave.

Whew. Yes, that’s a lot, but as I said at the start, it’s almost Go Time. Please let me know your thoughts, and any questions you may have, in the comments below. 

Cheers!

Clark

"Locking Orders" Email Went Out, But Don't Stress
3 months ago – Mon, Apr 29, 2024 at 03:14:59 PM

Hi All,

I wanted to send out a quick update to address the email that went out today. Apparently, the way it was worded made it sound like everything was about to get shipped to everybody. This is not the case. It was just a confusing auto-email from Backerkit, that was sent to alert you that I was going to be locking the orders in 2 days.

For you, this means basically nothing. If you still need to change your address, or you move addresses before it's time to ship your particular order, it's still just as easy for me to update your shipping info as it was before. Just direct message me your new address, and I'll take care of it for you. I need to lock the orders because it's a step that needs completing before all the shipping information can get uploaded to the printer's system for fulfillment. Also, several of you from international locations have asked for an estimate on costs to ship your Complete Boxed Set individually, in this first fulfillment wave. I need the printer to have all the fulfillment information before I can give any of these backers an accurate idea of what the costs might be.

I had a call with the printer today (hence the move to lock the orders), and they said it's a very reasonable goal to shoot for having production on these Complete Boxed Sets finished before the 4th of July. I don't yet know if fulfillment will start before then or not - and we won't have an answer about that until we get closer to completing production. But I'll keep you posted, of course.

As to all the other orders, it's my goal to get production on everything else moving as soon as possible. My personal, non-official target is to get the second production wave started by the end of summer. All the files will be ready - it's just the remaining funding that we need. As I've said before, the number of units of this wave 1 Complete Boxed Set that I need to sell to have the funds we need is reasonable and attainable. I will pull the trigger on production for wave 2 the very same day we reach the funding target.

Also, if you go into your Backerkit and see a balance due, from usually $5 to $40, ignore it. This is an unforeseen consequence that occurred when I raised prices for certain items in the pre-order store. Unfortunately, it also raised the prices for those items in your orders. It's just an error Backerkit and I need to fix.

Here is a quick look at my to do list at present:

1. Get quotes for printing the remaining quantities
2. Get quotes and more info for freight shipping wave 2 to Ireland, Australia, and the US
3. Have a call with Backerkit about establishing the procedure for leveling up orders for those who want to
4. Get more info about Drive Thru RPG, or some other method of printing the content not going forward to production

Lastly, I wanted you all to know I'm doing another YouTube livestream on Wednesday evening. I know we discussed not posting promotional things in the project updates, but my guest is pretty awesome, and it was worth giving you a heads up:  I'll be working with illustrator and author Greg Manchess. Greg has been a celebrated illustrator for more than 30 years, with work in Time, Newsweek, Atlantic Monthly, the Smithsonian, and National Geographic. His large portrait of Abraham Lincoln hangs in the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois. His work was showcased in the Cohen Brothers filmThe Ballad of Buster Scruggs.

Greg also wrote and illustrated his first ‘widescreen novel’ Above the Timberline, with over 120+ paintings original paintings included. In Wednesday's livestream, we'll be using PSYCHE to explore a new corner of his TIMBERLINE universe. I hope you'll consider tuning in. Just go to Reckless Deck's channel page on YouTube (@Recklessdeck) at 7, or at any point during the 1 hour stream.

Printing Proofs, Questions Addressed
3 months ago – Thu, Apr 18, 2024 at 11:34:06 AM

Hi All,

After the last Update, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who took the time to write a note or comment of support, and for expressing renewed excitement for the project. It means a lot!  Yes, we are still in production for the Passport Tier & Cards only in the US and Canada, and no, that was not a cruel and deeply unfunny April Fool's joke. Here's a look at some of the approved digital proofs from the printer:

These proofs are samples of the final, approved versions going to press. After the initial proofs were posted by the printer, there were some errors we spotted that needed addressing. I found this frustrating, but our very excellent designer, Deanna Burke, assured me that spotting errors that you managed to miss prior to this stage is a normal part of the proofing and printing process. (Deanna is more and more becoming a part of this journey, and you'll be hearing more from her as we go forward.) The cards received an extra small-brushstroke level of going over, and now we're headed to press. I spoke to Shuffled about timing. 6-8 weeks is their standard timeline for projects, and it's printed in their messaging regarding confirming and proofing orders. However, they're saying this will take longer. They've pointed it out it's equivalent to over 35,000 standard decks of cards, and as a result, it will be more like 10-12 weeks. So based on that, the estimate for fulfillment beginning is late June.

Also, thanks to those of you who pointed out in the last update that the side panels of the box lid were positioned upside down! Both Deanna and I felt pretty dumb about that. We've since corrected it. 

 Leveling Up your Tier

Let's talk about your options to take advantage of this first fulfillment wave coming up. Any US or Canada backers who are interested in bumping up their rewards tier to the Cards Only level can easily do so. Since the orders are locked, just message me here on Kickstarter, and I'll add your names to the list. I think it will mean Backerkit support adjusting orders individually - I don't believe it will become something you can just go into the Pledge Manager and do. But once Backerkit and I sort out how to do the leveling up, I will let you know.

Any International backers who are already in the PP Tier or the Cards Only Tier, who want their orders in this first fulfillment wave and don't want to wait for the production and fulfillment for their region, this is also totally possible. Some of you have already commented or messaged me, and that's the perfect way to do it.

Any international backers who want to change their rewards tier to level up to Cards Only AND do immediate fulfillment, that's doable also. Start by messaging me, and we'll get with Backerkit and make it happen.

Change of Address?

I still haven't locked addresses for anyone, in case there was a need for changes. Anyone who has a recent change of address - or one coming up - can go into their Pledge Manager and change it. Regardless, I've received a good number of change of address requests as direct messages, and to my knowledge, I've taken care of all of them. And, I'm happy to continue doing so. I will finally lock down addresses for the regions and pledge tiers in this coming fulfillment wave in LATE MAY. I'll be sure to give you a heads up before I do so.

There was an inquiry from an International Backer who asked, if they had an alternative US address, would using that allow them to get their rewards sooner? The answer is YES, ABSOLUTELY. If any of you international folks getting the Complete Boxed Set for some reason have a alternate US address you want to use, lets make that change asap, so we can include you in the first fulfillment wave.

Results from International Shipping Question

Another thank you to those international backers who responded to my question regarding your preferences about getting your future rewards sent in spilt shipments vs waiting to get everything all together. It sounds to me like almost universally, international backers do NOT want two separate shipments, and are willing to do more waiting if need be in order to get everything in one shipment, and avoid additional import fees. Duly noted!

This means I will likely produce the entire remainder of the project in one wave. This will include the Complete Boxed Sets for Passport Tier and Cards Only backers outside the US and Canada, and individual Core Sets and Companion Decks for everybody. I don't have specifics to report as of yet regarding freight shipping to individual regions, and then individual shipping within each region. 

I'm still willing to explore the Print on Demand situation for the items that were changed over to digital-only. In regards to the questions about whether those items would get added back in as fully produced sets at the end of the project, that is not in the plan as of now. 

Please continue to add comments or questions in the thread below, or send me a direct message if you have specific issues we need to solve.

Regards,

Clark

PSYCHE Complete Boxed Sets IN PRODUCTION
4 months ago – Fri, Mar 15, 2024 at 01:58:29 PM

Hi All,

This is the update you’ve been waiting for: Complete Boxed sets are officially IN PRODUCTION! 

In 6 to 8 weeks, production will be complete, and fulfillment will begin for all US and Canada backers who backed at the Passport Tier and Cards Only rewards levels. Passport Tier holders will also be getting the coins and playmats that come with the tier. Any Cards Only backers that added on coins and playmats manually will get those as well.

Unsurprisingly, the box design and other design edits and tweaks took a couple of weeks longer than I anticipated to complete. There always seemed to be one more decision to make, or one more bit of copy to edit, or one more art asset that needed fixing. Here's a tour of all the design work that’s been done, so you can check out the files that are off to the printer.

Here are the final layouts for the Box:

And here's a look at the file for placement of the spot UV on the box lid. I'm excited about all the dynamic negative shapes this will make.

Here's a look at side 2 of the dividers. This will allow you to choose between organizing your sets by category OR set. One's not better than the other - it's just a question of how you like to create. Do you want all your Secrets or Formative Events in one place, regardless of genre? Or, do you want to keep your Epic Fantasy cards grouped together in one section, and your Horror cards in another? The other great thing about this side 2 is it allowed me to get the multi figure compositions for the Companion Deck covers back into the project.

And, there were some final pass card edits. Given Circumstances got some updates. My semi-regular YouTube livestreams using Psyche have given me lots of playtesting time with the decks. There were some Given Circumstances cards that just weren't paying off in terms of adding to the narrative in very active ways. Meanwhile, I had some other ideas brewing for the category. So about 10 cards got changed out for what I think are stronger, more compelling options.

Another thing I wanted to tune up were some Inciting Incidents cards from the Epic Fantasy set. There were a decent number of cards that were what I call "straight quests". Like "They're quested to find a gryphon egg." OK, but why? And by whom? Or else what? These were cool enough quests at face value, but they needed more context to give them more urgency and narrative interest. And one thing I've learned is that adding mentions of other characters adds great hook points for weaving in friends, allies, mentors, love interests, and adversaries.

Next Steps

While I’m glad to have cleared this absolutely massive major milestone, there’s plenty of specifics to go over, and next steps to start planning for.

Here’s an answer to an important question I’ve received from several international backers that I wanted to share with all of you: If you’re willing to pay individual shipping directly to your address, I will absolutely add your order to the fulfillment list, and get your rewards sent out to you immediately. The project will only be able to bulk ship and fulfill to an entire international region once. So, the shipping funds you’ve already added on will need to be used towards that bulk fulfillment, which unfortunately means more waiting until I have more items manufactured and ready to ship. However, I will not hold back any international backer’s Complete Boxed Set if they want to have it individually shipped immediately. 

Backerkit and I haven’t officially set up a mechanism within the pledge manager that allows you to manually choose the upgrade. If you want to upgrade, message me - which several backers have already done successfully. I’ve been putting all of my focus on getting the files finished ad to the printer, and so I haven't sent any individual confirmations to those backers letting them know I got their message. I’ll start going back through those messages and sending confirmation replies, answering more specific questions, and getting the list of people wanting to upgrade into a spreadsheet.

I saw some of you comment that in regards to the decks that unfortunately won't be going forward to full production, you wished there had been some kind of poll or vote to allow you input into the choice making. The thing is, that vote happened, and each one of you participated - it was the pledge manager, which showed me total quantities of each deck ordered or added on by you, the backers. All the data I needed to determine the most to least popular decks was all right there in Backerkit. And, it was the most comprehensive information I could have collected - each one of you who completed your Backerkit survey was able to have your opinions counted, which is much more effective than trying to take a new poll, which would only include backers who happened to read that update, or who decided to take the time to actually participate. That doesn't make it smart any less for those of you who were really looking forward to the Espionage Set, or the Contemporary: Mature or Superheroes Mini Decks. I knew there would be disappointment in making that decision, and that really sucks. 

Also, several of you recommended that the sets not going into full production could get printed  through a Print on Demand service. I like this idea, and now that the files are delivered to the printer, I'll look into it. If it becomes a service I use to create physical decks, that comes with some additional logistical hurdles - it's another vendor to add to the mix, and more decks to fulfill and ship. Someone mentioned setting the service up with the files that you can then just order yourselves - this is also an interesting option. Either way, I like the idea of you being able to get the cards, so I'll continue gathering information about it.

What is the plan for the next step in production?

After last month’s update, I did more research into the current state of international shipping rates. It looks like rates have come down quite a bit since the last time I checked. They’re still not at pre-pandemic levels, but they’re the closest to that than they’ve been since 2020. Which means after this run of Complete Boxed Sets, there may be an opportunity to move production for the rest of the inventory back to China. 

I’ve made requests for pricing, to take a look at the numbers. However, the  preliminary pricing info I’ve seen show that manufacturing wise, costs could be much lower. But I need to get reliable estimates for freight costs to the East Coast of the US, Ireland, and Australia, to make sure the potential production savings don’t get completely gobbled up or even exceeded by freight shipping costs.

I hesitate to say specifics about the timing for what I want to accomplish in the next wave until I have all of this shipping information collected. I want to share as much as I can with you, but it's also important to have all the facts right first. As I mentioned in the last update, the next production wave will be paid for by a combination of the remaining project funds, and North America-based sales of the Complete Boxed Set, once it arrives. In my experience, once a project has inventory in hand after the backer fulfillment, there’s a significant bump in website sales. I plan to leverage social media and generally make as much noise as I can, to help maximize the effects of this bump for us. If we’re able to move production back overseas, the sales-generated revenue required to clear the threshold we need for our next production wave looks to be realistic and achievable. I'll say this much: my desire is to get this Wave 2 of production completed and in fulfillment by the end of summer, and I will do everything I can to make sure that international backers significantly benefit from the next production wave. As I get more concrete information, I’ll absolutely say more in detail about what’s going into production next. 

Here’s a question to the international backer community. It's loaded with hypotheticals, so it's far from an official poll. But, hearing your thoughts would help me a lot in planning the next moves: Let’s say the remaining production needs to be divided into a Wave 2 and a Wave 3. Would you rather: 

1. Have the shipping funds you’ve already paid get used to ship Wave 2 immediately, and then pay additional shipping for the remaining Wave 3 components, once they're completed? Or, 

2. Continue to wait for production Wave 3, and have the shipping charges you’ve already paid successfully cover all complete orders in one shipment?

Again, there are several logistical questions to answer before this question becomes more than just conjecture. But, it would be VERY helpful to hear from you regarding where your preferences lie. Please post answers in the comments below.

As we move forward, I’ll show you all proofs and production updates for the Boxed Set that I receive from the printer. I’ll also continue to let you know what I find out about potential overseas manufacturing and freight shipping rates. 

This project is in production and moving forward.

Cheers,

Clark