Deluxe Ghost Hunters for World of Darkness 20th Anniversary Edition.
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Hey Ghostkickers,
OK, I had just posted our big Stretch Goal review, detailing what we've achieved over the course of this awesome campaign, and outlining two additional Stretch Goals that we could maybe reach by the end of the campaign if we were really fortunate, had the right amount of attention, and all things slid our way.
And then we smashed one almost immediately.
ACHIEVED!- At $63,000 in funding – Instant Investigators! – A trio of Ready-to-Play characters will be released as a PDF supplement, providing examples and allowing players to jump right into the frights! Instant Investigators will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters PDF.
And then this happened...
ACHIEVED! - At $66,000 in funding – Additional Investigators! – A second trio of Ready-to-Play characters will be added to the Instant Investigators PDF supplement, providing further options and opportunities!
So, we've got a half-dozen Ready-Made Characters that'll come to us as a supplemental PDF. I love these - perfect for running a one-shot, or spur-of-the-moment campaign, or just having as examples. I've played in a few games where we started with the RMCs and ended up with a pretty cool ongoing story. It was all a matter of having the perfect starting adventure and getting caught up in the drama!
So, let's set one more Stretch Goal. And it's a big stretch - we've passed what I imagined was even possible. But, let's see if our momentum can carry us for one more big one...
At $72,000 in funding – Ghost Hunters Jumpstart! – An introductory scenario, designed to introduce new players to the game, systems, and setting will be created and combined with the Instant Investigators characters as a supplemental Jumpstart! PDF, which will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters PDF.
That's right - not only will you get the Ready-Made Characters for Ghost Hunters, you'll get that perfect launching scenario to go with them!
I know that's a pretty big leap to make for one final Stretch Goal, but time and time again the World of Darkness fanbase has come out to support these interesting projects! I'd like to think that White Wolf is taking notes and hopefully even more projects will be initiated for the 20th Anniversary line at some point. Ah, dare to dream! But, this project is certainly underlining the desire for more WoD20A, that's for sure!
Anyway, the support for this project has been, and continues to be, awesome! Congratulations again! Let's see if we can keep up the enthusiasm and excitement and smash all expectations and maybe land a lucky 13th Stretch Goal!
Hey there, Ghostkickers!
WE DID IT!
We funded World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters, a new opportunity for mortals to shed some light on the World of Darkness!
And not just that! We closed the case on 13 STRETCH GOALS!
That's right! Remember yesterday morning, when I was all, "We've hit 10 goals. Can we get to 11?" Well, we did that and then another for good measure!
ACHIEVED!- At $63,000 in funding – Instant Investigators! – A trio of Ready-to-Play characters will be released as a PDF supplement, providing examples and allowing players to jump right into the frights! Instant Investigators will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters PDF.
ACHIEVED! - At $66,000 in funding – Additional Investigators! – A second trio of Ready-to-Play characters will be added to the Instant Investigators PDF supplement, providing further options and opportunities.
And then, when I thought we'd taken it as far as we could, I introduced a final Stretch Goal - a real longshot that I thought was unlikely but would be the next step in our Stretch Goal procession. Well...
ACHIEVED! - At $72,000 in funding – Ghost Hunters Jumpstart! – An introductory scenario, designed to introduce new players to the game, systems, and setting will be created and combined with the Instant Investigators characters as a supplemental Jumpstart! PDF, which will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters PDF.
Thanks to your support, not only have we funded the production and printing of World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters, but we've also added the Paranormal Investigator's Toolkit, a PDF companion book with more gear, extra systems, and more Merits & Flaws, for mortals in the World of Darkness 20th Anniversary games.
Thanks To Your Support, not only have we funded World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters and added the Paranormal Investigator's Toolkit supplement, but we've also added another project to the list: Hunting Monsters- a PDF supplement flipping the script and covering paranormal investigations specifically into other non-ghost monster types.
THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT, not only have we funded World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters and added the Paranormal Investigator's Toolkit PDF supplement, and the Hunting Monsters PDF supplement, but we've also added Necromancers & Mediums - a PDF supplement expanding on the mortals that use Hedge Magic and Psychic Abilities to interact with the dead.
THANKS TO YOUR SUPPORT, not only have we funded World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters and added the Paranormal Investigator's Toolkit PDF supplement, the Hunting Monsters PDF supplement, and the Necromancers & Mediums PDF supplement, we've also added the Ghost Hunters Jumpstart PDF supplement, a collection of 6 pre-built investigators and a starting scenario so you can dive into spooky adventures!
SO! Thank you for your support! And I'm so excited to see what haunting additions and eerie explorations the writing team will unleash with these new projects!
So, thank you to all the backers who supported us and made this happen. And a personal thanks to everyone who participated online, either in the comments section of the kickstarter or on social media around the web.
There's obviously a lot going on in the world right now - a lot of uncertainty and unknowns compounding already challenging times, and a massive news blitz as the world watches the American election - but it's been really great to see the community come together to support this project and turn it into a big success. This has been especially true for me over these past few days! Watching the backer count climb and seeing all of the support has been a real joy! It's appreciated!
So, as noted in the previous update, I'll be sending out updates once a month and whenever we've got a new goal, survey, or other item to cover. If you have any questions or need clarification on something related to the kickstarter, feel free to get in touch. I may take a bit to answer as I recover from this past month, but I'll eventually be in touch!
For setting stuff and questions about the game itself, it's probably best to post to the Onyx Path Discussion Group here: ONYX PATH FORUM. Many of you already participate on those boards, and you know the WoD20A experts are all there.
So, thanks to everyone for helping build this community and this game and helping give mortals in the World of Darkness a fighting chance!
Now to attend to other business and eventually collapse for a few hours and recover from the awesomeness of the last couple days! High fives in the comment section, and you'll hear from me again soon...
Good morning, Ghostkickers!
Welcome to the final hours of this campaign. What an amazing ride this project has been! These past 25 days have been epic, starting with a great first day and continuing that enthusiasm and excitement right up until the end. We gained backers and support throughout every step of the campaign, which has just been great!
As I prepare to post this, we are just 6 hours from the end of this campaign, and approaching an amazing finish!
Great job, everyone!
We've had, and will have, a lot of new backers join in during these last days. I want to take a moment to highlight some key Update posts that new backers may want to check out (and existing backers may want to read as a refresher!).
MANUSCRIPT PREVIEW - As noted, the complete Preview Manuscript is available for you to review prior to the conclusion of the campaign. If you're a backer, you'll have access to this preview manuscript after the campaign. Remember, though, there are still some minor edits, development and proofing that need to be done. But, you can consider this about 96.8% finished. Making the manuscript available for review before the campaign ends ensures that everyone know exactly what our goal is - making this book - and are on board with our aims for this project. So, unlike the world our investigators are exploring, no mysteries to be found here!
October 26 update - REWARD TIERS - your best starting point for figuring out which Backer Reward Level to choose to help support this project.
October 27 update - ADD ON REWARDS - the important companion piece to the Reward Tiers topic, including information on how to increase your pledge amount to maybe add the Storyteller Screen or maybe one of the 20th Anniversary PDF rulebooks to your list of rewards.
October 30 update - STRETCH GOALS - and check out all of the above and beyond rewards we're getting thanks to the community! AND, WEVE HIT TWO MORE STRETCH GOALS SINCE I POSTED THAT! Can we add one more before the end?
Shipping is calculated automatically by Kickstarter, based on your location. Add On rewards will be selected in the post-campaign pledge manager sent out once payment processing is complete.
SO: Ensure that you've selected the Reward Tier you want, and included funding for any Add Ons you wish to include. AND - make sure that you are comfortable with the Pledge Total amount, in terms of it covering everything you want and its' affordability.
I'm going to speak against my own self interest for a moment, and repeat myself one last time - the world has become a bit more unpredictable and some futures are a little less certain. Ensure that your circumstances enable to afford this pledge at this moment - Kickstarter will begin processing payments after the campaign ends and neither Onyx Path nor I have any involvement in that process. If you are unsure of your financial situation but don't want to miss out, please pledge for a tier you can afford now and know that you will likely be able to upgrade to open pledge levels in our post-campaign Pledge Manager for some time before the book is completed.
Once you're comfortable with your pledge, please ensure that the payment and contact information in your kickstarter account is up to date and correct. Making sure your e-mail is entered correctly and your credit card isn't expired will speed up the next step process. (I have learned from experience!)
First, we celebrate. Kickstarter will send out a "Hooray!" email confirming the campaign ended with final totals. We'll give sociallly-distanced high fives and virtual fist bumps in the comments section.
Then, the Kickstarter payment process begins. Over the next week, kickstarter will begin charging your payment methods for the total amount you've pledged.
If there is an issue with your payment method (expired credit card or incorrect number or pre-paid Visa awaiting funds, for example), Kickstarter will keep trying to process payment during this time.
Once this step is done, which will likely be mid-November, Kickstarter will confirm everything with Onyx Path and I can begin to set up the project with BackerKit and link it to the Kickstarter data.
BackerKit is a robust fulfillment integration and pledge management program that will allow us to work with all of the data and distribute the rewards to you. It will take me a few weeks to set the project up. Once I've got it all entered and built, the team from BackerKit will review to ensure I didn't mess anything up too badly, and then I'll make any changes they've suggested and we can move on to the Survey stage.
Once BackerKit says I'm good to go, I will send out a survey to all backers. This is why confirming your e-mail is important!
The BackerKit survey is both a verb and a noun - it will collect data for the analysis of some aspect of a group (enabling Onyx Path to set print runs, prioritize new projects, and fine-tune future kickstarters), as well as providing a general review or summary of the reward tier you've chosen, confirm all of the rewards associated with that reward tier, and confirm your total pledge amount.
I expect Surveys to go out by the end of November. If you opted to include any Add-On rewards to your pledge, this is the point where you will select them. BackerKit will deduct the cost of your reward tier (+shipping) from your total pledge and show you how much you have to allocate for add-on purchases. You simply select the ones you want and proceed. From that point forward, those add-ons will be included in your list of rewards.
During the Survey period, you can also also choose to increase your reward tier. If you've gone back to work or found an alternate income source and decide it's time to trade up to get two copies of the book or include another add-on, you can do so at this time. Note, you will not be able to reduce your reward tier selection, only increase.
If there was an issue with payment to Kickstarter, you should also be able to address that at this point in the process.
The survey will ask you to confirm your shipping address, even though it'll be some time before we ship out the final product. Do not worry about moving before shipping begins - you will be able to update BackerKit right up until the point that we begin fulfilling the final book. We will send out a notice prior to lock down so you can update any information.
I'll also use the Survey to confirm some details for the limited and premium reward tiers.
This is a long process, but I will send out regular updates (usually at the end of the month) to keep you up to speed on our progress. There will be strings of updates that are just "still working on it," but I will share new artwork or information when I can.
Eventually, we will have a completed PDF of World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters. We'll take some time to distribute, review, and compile any errata or corrections that need to be made. When we've made any necessary changes, we'll send out updated copy of the PDFs and then begin creating print-ready files for the Print-on-Demand and deluxe hardcover version.
It's yet another long process ahead, but one that we wouldn't be on if not for your faith and support.
Hey there, Ghostkickers!
We're in the final DAY countdown for World of Darknes: Ghost Hunters on Kickstarter - it ends tomorrow, Saturday, October 31st at 2:00 PM EDT - there's the tiniest amount of time to recruit additional backers, but we're definitely approaching the finish line. With that in mind, I want to make sure that everyone has all of the information they need to support the project in the way that works best for them.
Review topics covered over these final days:
Whether you're just starting to investigate your first haunted house or you've got a van full of equipment parked next to a graveyard, these are good items to review to make sure that we all end up where we want to be.
Before we get to our Stretch Goal review, though, I just want to share to a handful of quick things...
Unrelated to this campaign in any direct fashion, but spooky and ghost-related and created by some familiar names (and Executive Produced by Onyx Path's Eddy Webb), here's something really cool to check out.
A Wraith: The Oblivion audio experience, the Orpheus Device allows you to discover the secrets of a hunted house using this special channel to speak with a family of ghosts. You can make your house super-creepy by connecting it to your Alexa- or Google-powered devices.
Check it out and begin your investigation here: https://www.theorpheusdevice.com/
We've had, and will have, a lot of new backers join in during these last days. I want to take a moment to highlight some key Update posts that new backers may want to check out (and existing backers may want to read as a refresher!).
MANUSCRIPT PREVIEW - As noted, the complete Preview Manuscript is available for you to review prior to the conclusion of the campaign. If you're a backer, you'll have access to this preview manuscript after the campaign. Remember, though, there are still some minor edits, development and proofing that need to be done. But, you can consider this about 96.8% finished. Making the manuscript available for review before the campaign ends ensures that everyone know exactly what our goal is - making this book - and are on board with our aims for this project. So, unlike the world our investigators are exploring, no mysteries to be found here!
October 26 update - REWARD TIERS - your best starting point for figuring out which Backer Reward Level to choose to help support this project.
October 27 update - ADD ON REWARDS - the important companion piece to the Reward Tiers topic, including information on how to increase your pledge amount to maybe add the Storyteller Screen or maybe one of the 20th Anniversary PDF rulebooks to your list of rewards.
If you've been looking at the Premium Reward Tiers - the expensive ones that offer a bit more interaction with the setting, system, and design team - there's always some churn near the end so some rewards that were completely claimed may become available again before the end.
Choosing the correct Reward Tier for your desired rewards, and then filling in any "gaps" with add-ons, ensures that you'll be claiming all of your desired rewards as a thank you for supporting this project and bringing this world to life.
Remember, your TOTAL PLEDGE AMOUNT is equal to your REWARD TIER + SHIPPING + ADD ONS. And we will confirm your Add On selection with our post-campaign pledge manager, Backerkit, a few weeks after the campaign ends.
If you haven't yet joined in (and you're running out of time!!), here's a list of interviews/articles/podcasts/news previews to check out to get a sense of the project and where it fits into the World of Darkness 20th Anniversary line:
On Saturday, I'll be posting one further "Final Day" update, covering What Happens Next and outlining what to expect once the campaign ends.
But until then, we're going to hopefully summon forth a final Stretch Goal achievement (or two!) as we race through our final day of the campaign!
Over the course of the campaign, we've achieved 10 Stretch Goals! We've been doing amazingly well, crushing Stretch Goal targets throughout the entire duration of this campaign, and we're picking up steam again as we rush toward the finish line! We've already passed my predicted final total, and there's a solid chance to make that an excellent 11 (or terrific 12!) before we end...
Thanks to the success of the campaign, we've been able to unlock an Add On opportunity (the supernatural Ghost Hunters Storyteller Screen!), some great opportunities to spread some Ghost Hunters love (a T-shirt, a desktop wallpaper), extra excitement in the main book (with an increased art budget!) and new content in the form of the Paranormal Investigator's Toolkit PDF, the Hunting Monsters PDF, and the Necromancers & Mediums PDF!
We've unlocked a Ghost Hunters Screen Add On option:
For only +$20, Add On a sturdy, three-panel screen featuring some creepy Ghost Hunters artwork on the outer side, and a selection of charts and other reference info on the inside to make running a WoD: Ghost Hunters game session a little bit easier.
Can be added on to any reward tier containing a hardcover book by increasing your total Pledge Amount by +$20 and then confirming your selection in our Post-Campaign Pledge Manager.
All backers pledged to a reward tier that includes the World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters PDF (all tiers $20+) will automatically have this additional content added to their rewards list:
Not only did we add a new PDF supplement containing more gear, additional Merits and Flaws, and optional systems to the list of Ghost Hunters projects, we then doubled it in size! Thanks to your support, Onyx Path will be creating and releasing a supplemental Paranormal Investigator's Toolkit PDF, which will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters PDF.
Not only did we add a new PDF supplement containing rules, options, and guidance for paranormal investigators dealing with other non-ghost monster types to the list of Ghost Hunters projects, we then doubled it in size too! Thanks to your support, Onyx Path will be creating and releasing a supplemental Hunting Monsters PDF, which will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters PDF.
Are you sensing a pattern here? Yeah, we're really awesome!
Not only did we add a new PDF supplement containing expanded rules and options for mortals that use Hedge Magic to interact with the dead to the list of Ghost Hunters projects, we then doubled it in size, adding rules and options for mortals who use Psychic Abilities as well! Thanks to your support, Onyx Path will be creating and releasing a supplemental Necromancers & Mediums PDF, which will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters PDF.
As we head into our final day, we still have time to land a another one or maybe two Stretch Goal achievements and add even more content to our list of rewards.
At $63,000 in funding – Instant Investigators! – A trio of Ready-to-Play characters will be released as a PDF supplement, providing examples and allowing players to jump right into the frights! Instant Investigators will be added to the rewards list of all backers receiving the World of Darkness: Ghost Hunters PDF.
At $66,000 in funding – Additional Investigators! – A second trio of Ready-to-Play characters will be added to the Instant Investigators PDF supplement, providing further options and opportunities!
That's right! You backed this project to help make and publish WoD: Ghost Hunters. Our primary reward - the big thank you that we'll send out in appreciation for your support - is a PDF and/or deluxe hardcover copy of this book! BUT AS A BONUS, you may also have the Paranormal Investigator's Toolkit, Hunting Monsters, and Necromancers & Mediums PDFsupplements added to your rewards list as an even bigger thank you for our success in this campaign!
I know these numbers may seem daunting, but they wouldn't be STRETCH goals if we didn't have to really STRETCH to reach them!
So, as every update concludes: let's keep the enthusiasm rolling! Keep spreading the word and letting others know about this project. They've got this final day to jump in and share the 10 (can we make it 11? 12!! ) Stretch Goals we've achieved!
And every backer who joins in as we approach the end is not only able to enjoy the additional rewards already added by the early fans and backers, but also help reward those early backers by expanding everyone's stretch goal rewards!
Remember, only the funds generated during the Kickstarter campaign go toward achieving these Stretch Goal targets, so the time to act is now! Together, we can bring this game to life and make great things happen!
So, let's finish strong, maybe hit another Stretch Goal, and then we can get our costumes on!
(LOL, like most of us won't be dressed up as soon as the day starts)