A Change of Plans

Published: Wed, 03/15/17

Hello again, !

I know I just messaged you last week, but there's been a significant change of plans that I felt you should know about.

You see, as I explained in my previous letter, I was planning on running a massive Kickstarter that would combine the funding of the Gloomhaven reprint and the new printing of Founders of Gloomhaven. There was significant pressure mounting over the last week to get more of the art and graphic design and prototyping done for Founders of Gloomhaven, and it began to dawn on me that we just weren't going to get everything done in the amount of time I planned.

I found myself having to make a choice between delaying the joint Kickstarter until Founders was more ready to be released, or splitting the two projects up into separate campaigns. Because it is so important to get the reprint of Gloomhaven started as quickly as possible and get it into the hands of everyone who wants it, I have decided avoid delaying that process by splitting the projects.

We will be moving forward with a focused Gloomhaven reprint campaign and delaying the Founders campaign until at least May.

This may sound like bad news to you, but worry not, because there is plenty of good news as well! Because we are now solely focusing on the Gloomhaven reprinting, I've decided to work out a way to offer rule book/scenario book upgrade packs for those with the first printing who want the latest rules and scenario changes. I haven't nailed down pricing for this yet, but it will probably be something in the $10-15 range.

But that's not all! Because we are no longer waiting on stuff for Founders of Gloomhaven, I think we can actually launch the project ahead of schedule (which will also help with getting it out sooner in the end). The new (tentative) plan is to launch a week early, on March 30. This is a little iffy, since Josh, the graphic designer, is currently on vacation until next week, and then I'm going on vacation for a few days soon after he gets back, but I think we can make it work.

I will admit, though, that the main thing hanging me up about splitting the projects was the fact that I didn't know what to do about "stretch goals" for a Gloomhaven reprint. The game is complete. It is everything I want it to be, and I have no intention of adding anything else to the already massive box (other than those sweet HP/EXP dials). Gloomhaven (and Cephalofair Games in general) is all about breaking the mold, though, and so I decided to do something different. I decided we didn't need stretch goals.

It sounds a little crazy, I know, but hear me out. The main purpose of stretch goals is to keep people engaged in the campaign, and have them coming back day after day, excited about all the cool new stuff they're getting for their pledge. If keeping people excited and engaged in the campaign is the end goal, though, there are certainly other ways to accomplish that, so I've decided to create a real-time community-driven mini-campaign during the Kickstarter. That's a lot of hyphenated words, so let me break it down for you:

1. Day 1 of the campaign I will post a PDF of a single scenario that anyone can open and play, either using their own Gloomhaven box, or through a dedicated Tabletop Simulator if you are one of the many people who don't have a copy yet.

2. This scenario will contain plenty of interesting story text, and at the end, it will present a choice on what to do next. Players will then go to Board Game Geek and vote in an official poll on where they want the story to go.

3. The next day, I will create and post a new scenario (in the form of a PDF and a new Steam Workshop file for TTS) based on what the community voted for.

4. This will continue every day for the entire length of the four-week campaign. 28 new scenarios that will actually evolve in real-time based on the community's votes.

At this point, I have no content created for it. It will all be generated the day of to make it purely community-driven. Right now I have an idea for the first scenario and the choices that will be presented, but after that, the community will be at the wheel.

I don't know about you, but I am incredibly excited to see how this turns out. I can't promise you all 28 scenarios will be great, but I will tell you I full intend to embrace the chaotic, seat-of-your-pants nature of this experiment and do plenty of crazy stuff with it. What exactly that will be? Well, we will find out together.

So, anyway, that's the new plan. I thought you should know. I hope you are as excited about it as I am, and I will see you March 28!