Essentials Set Shipping Update
5 months ago – Sun, Dec 10, 2023 at 04:37:08 PM

Hi Everyone,

Happy Holidays! I hope everyone’s holiday season is off to a good start. I had wanted to get this update to you last week, but I’ve been on an illustration deadline that just consumed my entire life for about 8 or 9 days. I’m now in the process of digging out. Anyway, to business: I’ve gotten some messages and questions regarding the shipping of the Essentials Sets, and I have some info for you.

The short answer: we are still on track for you having your Essentials Sets before Christmas. They were scheduled to arrive on Thursday the 7th. Then, I got word from Shuffled on Wednesday that a small change I had requested A MONTH AGO slowed down production by a week. The Essentials Sets will now apparently be arriving by Thursday or Friday of next week (If you’re thinking that any effect on delivery from a request made a month ago maybe should have been mentioned much earlier, I would say yes, yes, you’re right about that.) Last month, I had asked my contact in production at the printer to double check the height of the divider tabs, to make sure they didn’t interfere with the closing of the box. Sure enough, we needed to shave off about 1/8”-3/16” of an inch, to prevent the divider tabs from curling over when the box lid was shut. I though this would be a very minor, super easy change. Apparently not.

Meanwhile, I’m getting everything else together that I’ll need for a speedy and efficient pick & pack of all the Essentials orders, both from the Kickstarter, and from the website. As soon as the inventory comes in, I’ll immediately hit the “atomic batteries to power” button, and rock through all the orders until they’re done.

One of the things I’ll be doing as part of this preparation is finally LOCKING DOWN ADDRESSES. Many of you have sent me messages with updated addresses, and I’ll be going though all of those to double check that I’ve made the necessary changes. If you have any address updates for me that you haven’t already messaged me about, please do so in the next 24-48 hours.

As project backers, I want to remind you that you all have a 20% site-wide discount code, good through December 31st (BACKERSONLY1109). Use this to get creativity-firing gifts for your loved ones, or yourself.

I do want to say a very sincere thank you to all of you who ordered the new Essentials Set. I know that this has been a rough ride, and this show of continued faith means a great deal to me. Seriously, thanks very much for coming out for this. I’m really excited to get this set in your hands.

Lastly, here’s something that’s just for fun. I’ve created a holiday-themed downloadable expansion pack, that’s available for free on the website. It’s 30 cards, and all of them save 2 or 3 are all-new. They ride the line between straight and silly - some of them feel like they’re right out of a Christmas folk tale or Charles Dickens story, and some of them are RIDICULOUS. They can be used to spellcast a holiday whammy on any Reckless Deck card combination, whether it’s the regular printed cards, or the other downloadable sets. Here’s the link to go download yours now.

I will have more news for you in a couple of days. I’ll update you again for sure once I have confirmation that the inventory has shipped and is on its way to me.

Cheers,

Clark

A New Plan for Completion, and Your Essentials Set Promo Code
6 months ago – Fri, Nov 10, 2023 at 06:44:44 AM

Hi All,

Sorry to not follow up sooner after my last update. A combination of factors complicated things: my entire household came down with the stomach flu, I had an illustration deadline, and my conversations with the printer about the thing I alluded to in the last update were more complex and involved than I expected.

Basically, I had a plan of action plotted and priced out, and based on what I knew, had no reason at the time to question its feasibility. However, discussions with our printer revealed that there were other, unforeseen factors that impacted what I had in mind. These factors were going to create changes to the pricing structure I didn’t plan on (and couldn’t have, not having knowledge of the inner workings of their business). After a lot of back and forth, and then further drilling down and number crunching with the new information, I can see that I need to do some additional holiday selling and revenue-raising before I can move forward with what I plan to do.

Here’s what I’m thinking.

I’ve spent the better part of this year trying to secure us an investor. Though the individuals I was working with remain strong allies (and still potential future investors), they opted to not invest at this time, which was much more about their own business and investment portfolios than it was about us. Their involvement would have helped close the funding gap we’re in, and get the the project completed and fulfilled in one sweep. Since then, the re-issuing of the upgraded version of the Reckless Deck Essentials Set for the holidays (and the revenue that it stands to bring in) has opened up another possibility: breaking the project into waves, and printing and fulfilling in installments.

With Essentials Set holiday sales, I intend to do my best to raise the remaining funding needed to do a Wave 1 printing of these Psyche items, and fulfill them to US (and potentially Canadian) backers:

• PSYCHE Core Set
• Core Set Expansion
• Epic Fantasy Companion
• Horror & Urban Fantasy Companion
• Sci Fi & Cyberpunk Expansion
• Steampunk & Victorian Expansion

These Wave 1 shipments will also include all the relevant coins and playmats.

This plan does a lot of good for a huge percentage of backers. It gets close to 70% of all backers most of or half of everything they ordered, and COMPLETELY FULFILLS over 20% of the Kickstarter. Doing this means I’ll have to send 2 different fulfillments to the US, which will cost more in the long run. (I am currently working with a fulfillment service to price out including Canada in this Wave 1 fulfillment. If I can, I absolutely will.) It also turns out doing the printing in installments changes the manufacturing pricing, which was the most impactful of the unexpected details (and that required a not-small emotional journey for me to come to terms with.) But, I’ve been over and over the numbers for this, and It’s clear that the benefit of getting all this fulfilled outweighs the additional costs. 

I will be putting Wave 1 into production the minute we reach the required dollar amount.

Let me preface what I’m about to say with the fact that I’m well aware of how controversial this next decision may be: Once all the Wave 1 orders have gone out to US (and potentially Canadian) backers, I will be making these items available for sale on our website and to retailers, limited to within these regions. This bears repeating: After Wave 1 fulfillment, Psyche items will be available for sale - but only in those regions where the backers have already received their rewards. Making these Wave 1 items available for purchase will put Psyche to work alongside the Essentials Set, generating the funds we need to complete the remainder of the project.

To the international backers: I realize how frustrating this sounds. I’m not abandoning you, and I absolutely will fulfill all of your orders. I’m trying to make these products MORE available internationally, so burning my entire wave of early adopters in a given region is the total opposite of what I want.

One thing I can say is that I won’t ship a Wave 2 to US and Canada backers (which would be the remainder of the items) without also reaching at least one (and hopefully all) of the international regions with both Waves 1 and 2 as well.

To those of you who think I might just do this Wave 1 limited fulfillment and then sneak out the back door: That’s not going to happen. I plan to grow this business beyond the scope of this campaign, and so I fully intend to produce everything in the project. I want the full product line out there and available on our website and in stores. So yes, it’s all going to get finished.

One of the other things that affected the Wave 1 pricing is a service our printer offers called On Demand Finishing. It allows you to place an order for a larger number of units in total, but only take a portion of it all the way to finish. You pay a kind of “down payment” for the remaining inventory (basically the cost of all the materials), but don’t pay the full balance until you request the remainder installment. The pricing for Wave 1 includes the down payment costs for the full inventory intended for the international orders. So the decks for all the international orders will also in production as part of Wave 1.

If you follow Reckless Deck on social, you’re going to hear me talking about the Essentials Set A LOT over the holidays. I really hope you can understand this is not me trying to bait and switch you, or to sweep Psyche under the rug and just pivot to something easier. The new Essentials Set is meant to be a revenue-generating engine that’s going to power getting Psyche into your hands. Even if you have no interest in buying it, I hope you can be supportive of it and recognize how it helps us, and not feel like it’s some poorly thought out side quest that I’ve diverted resources to.

For those of you interested in further Essentials Set talk, this next part is for you. If you have no interest in hearing more about it, feel free to jump off here.

Essentials Set News

I’ve seen all your questions about whether or not the set is included in your particular pledge level. The Essentials Set is not a Psyche item, and it wasn’t in any of the Psyche pledge levels - and that includes the Passport Tiers. It's the boxed set for original Reckless Deck, the series that precedes Psyche. It was available to all of you as an additional add-on item as part of the Backerkit pledge manager process. Quite a few of you did, and these are the orders I’ll be fulfilling here in the US in a couple of weeks.

Everyone who ordered a set through Backerkit is also getting all three of the extremely awesome new Mystery Packs I’ve introduced on the website. The Mystery Packs are $9 each, and each one is either an exclusive item or an early release, and has a value that is equal to or greater than the $9 price tag. They are not random - they go in order, and each must be unlocked by first adding on the previous pack. The last of the three offers something uniquely special, so there is definitely incentive for getting all three.

For those of you who are interested in potentially adding on a set now or over the holidays, I’ve created a special 20% backer-only discount code. This is LIVE, and works now. (it will expire on December 31st.) Here it is:

BACKERSONLY1109

Current and future orders will not be getting the Mystery Packs automatically added on, but the discount code will work for them, too. Remember, this is on Recklessdeck.com, not through your Backerkit account. Since this is an (almost) in-stock item, it’s been migrated to the website. 

Here's the link: https://recklessdeck.com/collections/decks/products/reckless-deck-essentials-set

I’m extremely proud of the content in this new set, and I think it really levels up the entire original Reckless Deck system. (For those who don’t know: the original Reckless Deck is a prompt series based on VISUAL callouts taken for all across the various genres. So basically, it’s a 6-category system for designing characters based on their LOOK, with a heavy dose of genre-smashing.) It includes a ton of new content that came from five years of continuing to record great ideas for cards ever since the first Kickstarter in 2018. The result is a tighter, more sophisticated, more imaginative, and more smoothly integrated system. I certainly don’t want to twist your arm into getting one, but if you’re thinking about it, either for yourself or as a Christmas gift, I can say I highly recommend it.

OK, if you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. I know the news isn't as satisfying as I led you to believe it might be in the last update. If you're disappointed, I get it - I was too. But we will get there. Breaking the project up into a series of more achievable benchmarks brings reaching that all-important first goal a whole lot closer.

Please let me know your questions in the comments, and I'll do my best to answer them.

All the Best,

Clark

Important News to Come, and Details About Essentials Set
6 months ago – Mon, Oct 23, 2023 at 06:47:04 PM

Hi All - and Happy Spooky Season!

First and most importantly, I will have some good news relating to production and fulfillment by hopefully by the end of this week. I’m waiting for a meeting with the printer to hammer out the details. I will tell you more as soon as I know specifics - I don’t want to go into details here until I have confirmed info to share. But stay tuned for an announcement that has some of what you’ve been waiting and asking for.

Essentials Set Details

However, I do have a definite timeline for the new revised, expanded Essentials Set. This is currently in production, and Shuffled says it should be complete and IN HAND some time either the week before or the week after Thanksgiving. We finally get to experience one of the benefits of moving production to the US: shipping time for the inventory to get from the printing facility to my warehouse? 48 HOURS. This also means that barring some cosmic level f*ck up, these will be shipping in plenty of time for the holidays. I will begin fulfilling these to all the US backers who ordered them as soon as I receive them and get them stowed away in the warehouse. I cannot wait to get these in your hands - I’m incredibly excited about this new content.

Here again, is the info regarding who is getting what:

• All the backers and pre-order peeps who ordered the Essentials Set will be getting this new, updated and expanded version. It will include Volume 1, Volume 2, the Worlds deck, and the Apprentice Pack, each in their respective tuck boxes. All the newly printed expansion content will be packaged as one single, 250-card, cello-wrapped brick. The decks, the expansions, and the category dividers will all be packed into our Magnetic Collectors’ Box. All of these backers will also receive all three Mystery Pack add ons free of charge. 
• For backers who didn’t add one on in Backerkit, but who might want one now, either for themselves or as a holiday gift: I will generate a 20% off promo code exclusive to you guys. I’ll release this after I complete getting the new Essentials Set all set up on the website. Then, I’ll put the code in a project update once we get closer to its arrival. Please note that the Mystery Packs will not automatically be included, but the promo code should work for those too.

Return of the Mailing List Newsletter

Since there’s a lot of things in the works, and there’s more and more that I'm able to announce and talk about, I’ve revived my email newsletters that go out to the greater RD mailing list, which is a practice that went away at some point early in the Covid era. Since it seems to me that Project Updates that have to do with YouTube livestreams, in-store appearances, and any other brand-related announcements not specific to Psyche production and fulfillment are met with equal amounts of genuine interest and frustration, I am moving all non Kickstarter-related talk over to the email newsletters. If you’re a backer who enjoys getting these added announcements and information, look for the newsletters in your inbox. If you’re not seeing them, it’s easy to go to recklessdeck.com, and fill out the pop up message to opt in. I am specifically not merging this email list with the newsletter list unit after the project is fully fulfilled, so only the people who want the newsletters will be getting them.

Like I said, look for another project update from me very shortly. I’ll get it out to you as soon as I have this call with our friends at Shuffled Ink, and have the details.

Cheers,

Clark

About the New Essentials Set
7 months ago – Fri, Sep 22, 2023 at 02:10:18 PM

If you’ve gotten this far, That means you might be interested in hearing more about the new version of the Reckless Deck Essentials Set! It’s a revised, upgraded version, with what I think is the coolest and most expansive content seen so far in Reckless Deck.

Since the 2018 Kickstarter, I’ve kept a running spreadsheet for new card ideas. After doing countless conventions and product demos since then, I’ve learned which cards I might want to retire in favor of bringing these newer, stronger card ideas out into the world. This new Essentials set features all the benefits of five years of percolating imagination paired with hands-on, road-tested experience, and I’m incredibly excited to get to put it out there. Its the strongest, most powerful version of classic Reckless Deck that we’ve seen to date.

It will still contain the four core decks: the 75-card 3rd editions of Volumes 1 and 2, and the 72-card Worlds Deck and Apprentice Pack. My desire to revise Gods and Monsters (my least favorite expansion) led me on a very rapidly evolving ideas-and-logistics journey that resulted in me choosing to revise and upgrade ALL THE EXPANSIONS.

First and foremost: not only has the 2018 Gods and Monsters been retired in exchange for all new mythology-related content, but in doing so, I could see what an expansive category it was, and how much was possible with it. And so, the Mythology expansion category has been enlarged from 20 to 50 CARDS.

That immediately led me to looking at the popularity and demand for not just Mythology content, but the other two best selling expansions as well, Dungeoncrawler (for Epic Fantasy) and Dark Forest (for Fairy Tales and Folklore). These are also getting upgraded from 20 to 50 cards each.

The remaining five expansions: Interstellar Marines, Lovecraftian, Post Apocalypse, Steampunk Explorer, and Urban Legends are all also getting revised. The card count for these remains at 20 each, but each one will have  anywhere from 25%-75% new or revised content. (The Superhero Expansion has been retired, with all the potential material pertaining to superheroes having found a home in other expansion sets.)

We’re also introducing a new, secondary-text feature on certain cards, which will allow us to offer a little explanation for some very obscure items. This lets you dive even deeper into the rich lore of the different genres with some seriously deep cuts:

The Expansion cards are all getting a printing upgrade, with design and quality that matches the current Volume 1 and Volume 2 releases. The have:

• Improved paper quality
• Improved color vibrancy and consistency
• Updated card art for the Weapons and Core Concept categories
• Updated card backs with CMYK-printed gold texture that correspond to the Volume 1 and Volume 2 foil-printed card backs (the foil for the current Volume 1 and 2 is becoming a limited edition feature and won't be continued, since it requires printing in and freight shipping from China.)

The new Expansions collection spans 250 cards (up from 180), and for the foreseeable future, will be available only in this new Essentials Set collection. The existing individual 20 card packs are getting retired completely. The Expansions cards in the new Essentials Set will not be individually packaged - they are cello-wrapped as a complete set, and come in the Deluxe Magnetic Box currently available on our website. It will also come with the Original Reckless Deck Deluxe Dividers set.

In addition, there will be even more opportunity to buff out your collection with three add-on MYSTERY PACKS! Each Mystery Pack is $9, and contains incredibly fun, exclusive content. The retail value of the contents of each mystery pack is higher than the $9 price, making them well worth having to wait until you unwrap them to find out what’s inside.

As I said in the previous update, all the Kickstarter backers who ordered the Essentials Set will be getting this new, upgraded version - as well as all 3 Mystery Packs. US Essentials Set orders will be the first to ship, and will go out as soon as I get the cards in hand.

For any other Kickstarter backers who would like to order this new Essentials Set, I’ll be creating a backer-only discount code for 20% off your order. The discount will also apply to the Mystery Packs. I’ll post this code in an update once I know when it will be going live on the website.

I want to emphasize again that this is not an attempt to distract you with a shiny object while I try to sweep PSYCHE under the rug. This is me trying to supercharge a proven, best-selling item - and make the most of already-existing inventory - to get the funds to get PSYCHE over the finish line. It’s long been my plan that re-booting the classic RD Expansion line was going to be the next big project after PSYCHE. Instead, I’m putting that content in the game NOW, to be the rocket engine that’s going to get PSYCHE completed and shipped. Some of you in the comments suggested you’d be willing to pay an additional shipping fee, or add funds to your pledge in some way to help complete the project. Supporting this new Essentials Set is the best way for any of you to lend additional muscle and support. And, I’m much happier to be able to offer you a simply AWESOME boxed set in exchange.

This should become available rather quickly. I will keep you posted on the availability timeline for this, and get you your backer discount code before it hits the website. And then, most importantly, I will give you updates on how the item is helping us complete our funding. Based on its prior sales records, I have a lot of confidence that this will get us there.

Please let me know what you think of the upgrades to the set in the comments.

Cheers,

Clark

Progress Update, and a New Source for Funding
7 months ago – Fri, Sep 22, 2023 at 01:30:52 PM

Hi All,

There have been some fast moving developments happening, and it’s time to fill you in. Let’s talk about where the project stands, and how we’re going to get it completed.

Since the spring, I’ve talk about my search for an investor to not just help complete the project, but to help scale the brand, and take on new projects and challenges. This is an avenue I’m still pursuing - I’m currently in talks with a potential partial investor that, if works out, will get printing going immediately.

Meanwhile, I had my first full meeting with my new business mentors through an organization called RIHub, a nonprofit that helps Rhode Island entrepreneurs succeed and scale their businesses. Amongst all their other great feedback was this big piece of advice: try and make the most of the inventory you have, instead of focusing on what you can’t yet get done. And when they heard I was doing this short run of classic Reckless Deck expansions to complete backer orders for the Essentials Set, and that one of them was all new content, they strongly encouraged me to make the most out of that. To that end, I’ve doubled down and put things in motion that will quickly get a revised and seriously upgraded version of the original RD Essentials Set back on the market. Revenue from this version of the Essentials Set (which is Reckless Deck’s best-selling item) will go directly towards funding the completion of PSYCHE.

The price for the new Essentials Set will be $129, same as it was before. When this is ready for sale on our website, In addition, there will be three tiers of MYSTERY PACKS available to add on, for $9 each. The mystery packs are all items that would potentially retail for more than $9, and each one includes exclusive content that will expand and upgrade your idea-generation & creative experience.

All the Psyche backers who ordered the Essentials Set will get this new, upgraded version instead, as well as all three mystery packs. All US Essentials set from the campaign will ship out as soon as the new content arrives.

For anyone who didn’t originally order Essentials through the Kickstarter, please know that I’m not trying to sell you anything new. If original Reckless Deck doesn’t interest you, feel free to just kick back while I do my best to generate the funds we need to get Psyche out the door. However, for those of you who are interested in finding out more about it, I’ll cover all of it in a separate Project Update, which the rest of you are free to skip.

Why am I doing this? Most of this year has been an unpleasant lesson in what I have control over vs what I don’t. Seeking an investor to partner with is something I’m still actively pursuing. Since the spring, I’ve gotten very far down the road to a partnership with two different potential investors, both of which chose to go a different way, due to their own individual financial goals and circumstances. I can tell you that both times, the process consumed a lot of time and energy. As I said, it’s still an option I’m open to, but I’m no longer willing to wait for that to be the only possible solution. And, thanks in part to my new mentors, I can see that we’ve got another arrow in our quiver, and I’m going to use it.

If you’d like to hear more about the new version of the Essentials Set and all its various upgrades, there’s another Project Update hot on the heels of this one. You can find all the cool details and product images there.

Clark