From our second and last Kickstarter update: “Our first 24 hours were absolutely tremendous! 40% funded. Over 50 Backers. Awesome! Amazing! Thank you! Our second 24 hours... well, not so much. So, A) what's happening? and, B) how are we going to make it alright? Even better than now? A) By undergoing the full process of launching, promoting, and running this Kickstarter, I've come to a few realizations as to why we've so quickly stalled out at this point in the campaign and why this campaign is sub-optimal overall in its current delivery format. First, I realized that our player base is much MUCH more globally diverse than I had first figured. This is a really good thing! It's incredible that players from all over the world can so quickly rally around and enjoy a free tabletop ruleset like Star Breach! But for logistically handling a Kickstarter as a one man operation, I woefully underestimated my international shipping plan and woefully overestimated the demand for a physical book in light of high shipping costs. This leads to my second realization: the way I was hoping to print and distribute the book was out-of-line with the current demand. There IS a demand for a beautiful hardcover book, and that's awesome! Just not the demand I imagined. Preparing to print 300+ copies of a book is very different than prepping to print 50-100 copies. And so the monetary funding goal I set is just too high to feasibly reach at this time. Lastly, I realized that backers, current and potential, want a lot more say in their pledge options--especially when it came to sets of order dice. Simply put, I discovered that I had built the pledge tiers all wrong, and I can't fix them while the campaign is running. So in light of these three big considerations, I am confidently pulling the plug on this campaign today, and have already been developing a much better way forward. B) So how are we going to make it alright? Even better than now? I'm glad you're still reading, because here comes the good news! From October 22 (next Tuesday) to November 12, I will be running a "Flash Fund" page directly on our website, starbreach.com, which will serve as communal-pre-order event. While similar to a Kickstarter, it will be significantly better in several ways. For starters, it'll just be easier for everyone. The form will be very simple and the process will be natural to any online purchase or trade. Second, there will be no minimum funding needed to fulfill orders--everything ordered by any number of backers will be fulfilled. Third, backers will be able to order a hardcover book or two, a deluxe pdf, and sets of order dice in any amount or combination of their choosing. Meaning, backers will be able to custom build their own order, which I imagine will be greatly appreciated! And finally, shipping will be custom quoted for each backer at the end of the Flash Fund when invoices are sent out. Shipping will be based on weight of the total order and locale of each backer. No shipping rate confusion! Also, to top it all off, the Flash Fund on our website will ship around the same exact time we were hoping to ship with the Kickstarter: the first week of December, before this holiday season 2019! So as you can imagine, while it was a wonderful learning experience: to test the waters of Kickstarter and attempt to utilize its services, I am actually very relieved and excited to move forward with a new plan. And I believe this new plan will be just as exciting and helpful to our faithful Star Breach players and backers, like you! Thanks for the support! Cheers to you all, and we'll see you in the Flash Fund on our website, starting next Tuesday, Oct 22nd! -Elijah Kellogg, STAR BREACH
