Hey there everyone. As I write this, our Geeks Doing Good Fundraiser has been running for about four days, and we’ve raised about $97,000 so far to make the world a better place.
However Because we only go for a week, this means the fundraiser is more than halfway over. It’s ending on Monday, June 13th.
That means if you want to jump in and buy some of our book or game bundles, you better do it soon. Ditto if you’d like to help us spread the word to your geeky friends and family.
Today I’m going to show off some of the things that we added late to the fundraiser, or that we just haven’t put pictures of up in the blog yet.
For example:
This is something people have been asking for for years, so we’re finally giving it a try. These come in two different sizes, but they both have a bunch of little pockets, and that’s the important thing.
Also, I would like to add, that when I added this picture to the blog, I discovered it was called BatManda.
Terri Windling Prints
(Click to embiggen, really)
I love ‘s art, and she was nice enough to send us some of her signed prints for the charity. These are hard to get ahold of, and we only have a few. So if you want some of this beautiful art in your home, you should .
Foxen Nightlight
If you see this Foxen nightlight and haven’t immediately wanted it, I cannot help you find joy in life, because you don’t have the physical capability.
Secret Cubby Books
The same is true for these cubby books. You absolutely need this thing in your life.
A Freaking Puzzle
It’s so cool. The art for this is by
(concept artist for Dragon Age: Inquisition), and we thought it made an awesome puzzle. It’s our first foray into puzzles, though, so if that’s something you’re into, check it out.
So Many T-Shirts
We’ve got all manner of shirts this year….
There’s a shirt from Rat Queens, a comic I love with a fierce love. I’m so glad they were willing to come in and help out the fundraiser.
We’re teaming up with Jim Butcher again on another Dresden Files shirt, this one all about PARKOUR!
A new shirt from Temerant. Fair Warning: this one will be available ONLY during this fundraiser – after Monday, you won’t be able to get your grubby little paws on it ever again.
And for those of you who have been asking for a Worldbuilders shirt, here you go. A nice, subtle way to wave your geek flag and show the world that you’re an awesome, generous, kindhearted person to boot.
Note: If you order three shirts,
you save ten bucks….
Eolian Mugs & Coffee
These stoneware mugs are made right here in Wisconsin, but they look like something you might find at the Eolian. It’s a 22 oz. mug that can hold enough of your beverage of choice to get you through the day. And if your beverage of choice happens to be coffee…
We have three coffee blends: the standard Imre blend, a dark Tarbean blend, and an exotic Tinu? blend. The Worldbuilders team loves the coffee shop we worked with, and spent some quality time with the blends to make sure they matched the cities in the series. I know, I ask so much of my team, making them drink coffee.
Doodled Slow Regards
Last year, we asked Nate Taylor to draw in a few copies of The Slow Regard of Silent Things. We figured he’d do some quick sketches or fun doodles, something small but unique. As usual, Nate went above and beyond, this time with full-blown ink illustrations. We asked him to illustrate a few more books for us this year, so we have 10 remarqued Slow Regards available, and they’re already starting to go…
Doodled Princess Books
The last time Nate was in town, I dug through our vault and brought out some of the long-gone first edition/first printings of the first Princess book, and had Nate doodle in some of them. We’ve got five of those available now, each one with a different character doodle. The first editions are rare enough as it is, but one that’s double-signed and doodled is a rare treat.
Jonathan Coulton Picture Book
We’re bringing this picture book based on Johnathan Coulton’s song back into print. My kids love it, and even if you don’t have kids, I’m guessing you’ll love it too….
Perfumes and Soap.
In case you’re wondering, everyone agrees that Bast smells wonderful….
Draccus Plushy.
What’s almost as cute as the plushy itself is watching Amanda lose her mind over how much she loves
Okay. I’ll stop there. That’s all I’m going to put in the blog, but you should know that just *some* of the stuff we have up in the IndiGogo. There’s book bundles too. And the chance to buy a *ton* of games super cheap.
If you want to see the rest of the stuff, it’s all .
And if there’s anything you have questions about, be sure to hit us up in the comments or via email at fundraiser (at) worldbuilders.org. The team is working hard to answer them, and the fundraiser only has a few days left, so you don’t want to miss out.
Thanks for chipping in, folks. Thanks for spreading the word and helping to make the world a better place.
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Sunday, June 5
10:30am-11:30am: Guilty Pleasure Tropes-North 128B
With Christina Henry, Gini Koch, and Tom Leveen
12:00pm-1:00pm: Signing in the Signing Lounge, North 127AB
3:00pm-4:00pm: Signing in the Exhibitor Hall Signing Area
4:30pm-5:30pm: Embarrassing Author Con Stories-North 128B
With Kevin Hearne, Leanna Hieber, Mary Robinette Kowal, Pierce Brown, Sam Sykes and Shannon Messenger
The subject matter of this panel would be enough for me to desperately want to attend. The authors who are going to be on it will make it that much more amazing. Anything Sam Sykes considers “embarrassing” is going to make for an awesome story.
Indianapolis, Indiana
And, even though it’s a couple of months away yet, we wanted to make sure you knew about Pat’s GenCon schedule. GenCon has tickets for some of the panels and events, so if you want to attend you need to register online. All of Pat’s panels are free, but have limited seating, and we don’t want you to miss out just because you weren’t able to register soon enough.
Worldbuilders will also be at GenCon in a few different places, including a table outside the Writer’s Symposium, and booth #267 in the exhibit hall. We’re still deciding what we’re going to bring to sell at the booth, but there’s a lot to choose from in , so if you have feelings on what we should bring, maybe let me know in the comments and it’ll help us decide…
Thursday, August 4
1pm-2pm: Writer’s Craft: Convince the Reader to Care, Capital 1
4pm-5pm: Signing in the Exhibit Hall Author Area
All of Pat’s signings will require a ticket (so that you guys don’t flood the signing area with awesome, awesome people), so you can register for .
Friday, August 5
12pm-1pm: Talk about Tak with James Ernest, Westin, Capitol II
This promises to be a great talk, especially since the Kickstarter went so well, and it’s just plain fun to hear Pat and James get into really in-depth talks about games. If you want to check it out, ask some questions, or just hear Pat and James discuss all things Tak, you won’t want to miss this. You’ll need to register for this event, which you can .
4pm-6pm: An Evening with Pat Rothfuss
This is one of my favorite events Pat does, because you honestly never know what’s going to happen. Maybe he’ll read some poetry. Maybe he’ll make the entire audience sing with him. Maybe he’ll discuss the narrative structure of his favorite Marvel movie. No matter what, though, it’ll very likely be entertaining.
Registration for this one just went up today, so be sure to .
Saturday, August 6
1:00pm-2:00pm: Signing, Exhibit Hall Author Area
As with the last signing, this will require registration for the sake of line control. If you want to attend this signing, .
3:00pm-4:00pm: Character Craft: Representing Unconscious Motivation, Capital 1
4:00pm-5:00pm: Writer’s Life: Writers and Mental Health (You’re Not Alone), Capital 1
If I can, I’m going to make a point of swinging by this panel. It’s so rare for folks to discuss issues of mental health, and having a bunch of authors being candid and honest about it will hopefully open up the dialogue for more people, and take some of the stigma away.
And there you have it folks. You’ll probably see Pat around the con at all of these, but you’ll for sure be able to find him at these events. Make sure to register soon if you’re going to be at GenCon, and come say hi at the booths if you’ll be at Phoenix or GenCon.
Hope to see you soon!
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We’re in the final hours of the Tak Kickstarter.
As I write this, our total stands at a staggering $1,100,000, and we’re so close to 10,000 backers that I can taste it.
(It tastes like sweat and peppermint, if you were wondering.)
Almost immediately after I posted up the
earlier this week, I started thinking of other questions I wish I’d answered. So I’m going to do those now.
How much time is left?
The kickstarter ends TODAY (Friday the 20th) at 8:00 PM PST. That’s 10:00 Central. Or 11:00 if you’re in New York.
So odds are there’s only hours left if you’re reading this.
AAAAHHHH!!! Some of us don’t have credit cards, and Kickstarter doesn’t take Paypal! I know I can buy the game later, but I want to buy it sooner. And some stuff is kickstarter exclusive, it sucks that I’m going to miss that!
Ah hell. I’m so sorry. I thought we’d already set something up to fix this. I’ve been doing a lot of things lately in addition to the kickstarter, and I’m guessing this is one of the things that slipped through the cracks.
Here’s what you can do. Email us at tak [@] . We’ll take your order as if you were part of the kickstarter, except we’ll let you pay with paypal. That way you can grab the kickstarter-exclusive stuff like Devi’s the double-sided Devi’s Board…
…or the full-blown. You’ll also be able to order the stuff that isn’t going to show up in game stores, like the cloth board, the travel set, the Arcanist’s board, Crazy Martin’s piece set, etc etc.
Does that sound fair?
How cool is it that you broke a million dollars?
I’m not going to lie. It’s pretty cool.
But the truth is, the thing I’m most excited about is how much people are enjoying the game. I’m excited because y’all are excited.
But it’s also fun to be number 1.
(Courtesy of )
Do you have any more stretch goals lined up?
First off, you can get the best, most detailed information about the stretch goals
A lot of them have been unlocked, and it’s really leveled up the content and quality of the hardcover companion book that’s part of most of the backer levels. There will be a lot of information about the culture that surrounds Tak. How it evolved through the history of Temerant, and how it’s played in different parts of the world.
But do we have any more big stretch goals we’re looking to spring on you right at the end? No. We really don’t. James and I decided early on that we didn’t want to constantly dangle carrots in front of you like that. We just wanted to make a good, quality game, and let you come in and buy it.
That said, once it became pretty clear we were going to hit $1,000,000, we decided to add some things to the Classic Set to let you know we appreciate you. A bit of a present to thank you for helping to get us here.
Some of the Bonuses:
1. Everyone who comes in at the Merchant level or Higher will get an extra, kickstarter-exclusive capstone.
Right now, we’re calling it the Royal Capstone. It will be from Renere, and it will be a different shape, shade, and possibly a different wood than the other capstones.
There will be more in the companion book about the culture surrounding capstones. But one of the big upshots is that what you pick for your capstone is a matter of personal pride. People have special capstones made, or they play a certain capstone to indicate a political orientation or show that they’re from a cerain culture. It’s not uncommon to collect them, or win/lose them when you’re playing a game.
And there’s no small amount of personal flair involved, too.
Nicole’s capstone, “because *nobody* wants Unikitty to get angry…”
— The Tinker’s Packs (@TheTinkersPacks)
So you’ll all be getting one of these special kickstarter capstones, so when you play against people in the future, you’ll be able to say: “I was there back when it all started.”
2. Something secret.
I’m not allowed to talk about yet because we haven’t worked out the details. But I’m hoping it will work out. And it will be cool. Just trust me. Seriously.
Edit: I just confirmed with James that we can do the Secret thing. And that thing is that we’ll be including rules for a Tak predecessor game that *I* came up with on my very own. It won’t be as elegant a game as Tak, but I’m honestly proud of how the gameplay works as a historical precursor to Tak.
So Yeah. We’re doing that thing.
3. We’re making the gameboard in the Classic Set double-sided.
This is more expensive as it requires extra printing costs and extra art. But we’re springing for it. One side will be the relatively simple tavern board, while the other will be more ornate, decorated with selas vines and flowers.
“But Pat!” I hear you cry. “How can you possibly have Selas flowers on the board? Aren’t they fictional? Haven’t people been asking you what they look like for years, only to receive frustrating and vague replies?”
Well, yes. All of that is true. I’ve tried to come up with a good representation of the Selas flower for years and failed for many reasons.
But that was before chatting with the fabulous
(She did this.)
I want to say that she pulled this out of my head. But that’s giving me more credit than I deserve. I didn’t have anything this cool in my head. This is a perfect version of the selas that lives in my heart. I’m so happy to finally see it.
So. Yeah. Even though you didn’t know, the game you already backed just got cooler in a couple different ways.
EEEE! I don’t have the money to back the kickstarter right now! I don’t get paid for another week!
I’ve heard this from more than a few people. For some folks it’s the end of the semester. For others it’s just a tight time between paychecks.
But here’s a potential way around the problem. If you don’t have the money now, you can back the kickstarter at the $5 level. Then, in three weeks when the pledge manager comes out, you can add what you’d like to buy to your order.
Yes. Even the kickstarter exclusive things. Easy peasy.
Are you going to make an App for Tak?
Probably not.
We considered it. But creating a *good* app would cost a lot of money. And, generally speaking, people don’t pay for apps these days. That’s a bad combination. So we decided to just focus on making the game itself available.
What’s more, there’s such joy to be had sitting down and experiencing a game with another human being.
Don’t get me wrong. I love video games. I’ve played apps. They’re convenient and fun.
But they’re also solitary. I really want people to be able to sit down and enjoy this game with a friend. To talk and laugh. To feel the pieces in their hands and hear the sound of the pieces as they touch the board. To look at someone’s face.
It’s easy to forget it these days, but we are physical creatures. It is good for us to exist in the physical world sometimes. There is much joy to be had here, and that’s where I think this game really belongs.
That’s all for today, folks. Thanks for coming on this ride with us.
Be good to each other,
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So, for those of you who missed , we’re a little more than halfway through
As I write this, nearly 6000 people have joined up with us to produce a game that previously existed only as shape and shadow in my head. Over the last couple weeks, we’ve raised more than $550,000, and that is strange and wonderful to me.
As the kickstarter gets bigger and bigger, we have more and more resources available to add and improve things. And as a result, there have been a lot of additions to the kickstarter over the last couple weeks. Too many for me to go over here, especially as they’re all covered in perfect detail in the
But there are a few things that I’m especially excited about. Things that, much to my delight, make this beautiful game even more beautiful. I can’t help but show them off to you….
Let me tell you a true story. And yes, I know that all stories are true. But this story is a little extra true, because it really happened.
I’m in LA right now (typing this update in a hotel room). Earlier today, I met up with
to hang out a bit and chat. At some point, the subject of Tak came up. I mentioned I had a prototype set in my bag, and before too long, we were playing a game in the hotel bar.
Playing Tak with . He’s a classy guy.
— Clint Evans (@Maven)
(Actual footage.)
At one point the waitress comes over to bring us some drinks. She asks what we’re doing. We say we’re playing a game. What’s it called? Tak.
Then she says, “It’s really beautiful. I mean aesthetically. I just like looking at it.”
And I beam like a proud father. “Thank you,” I said. “We worked really hard on that.”
Part of what made the game we were playing a little extra beautiful is the fact that I had a early prototype of the wooden board with me.
(We’re calling it the Arcanist’s board.)
It’s a little silly how much I love this board. You might think it’s because it’s pretty. (And it *is* pretty) But for me the real appeal to it is how it *sounds.* When you put one of the wooden pieces down on the wooden board, it makes the most *marvelous* sound. It’s the auditory equivalent of being given a sharp, sweet, kiss.
I’m not saying the basic game isn’t lovely. It is. What’s more, the boards in the boxed game will have levels of graphic coolness in them this wooden board simply can’t match. I love them both for different reasons.
But seriously. The sound of wood on wood. It’s like being kissed.
Lastly, here’s something that we really weren’t sure we were going to be able to do at all until just a coupe weeks ago.
A complete wooden collector’s set of the game. The cover/board is be two-sided, so you can play in whichever way you feel is the most beautiful….
It’s made primarily of walnut and maple. I say primarily because that reddish wood you see in the diamonds and on the border of the board? That’s called bloodwood.
Also? One of the sets of pieces is made out of bloodwood.
Which is only appropriate. As this is Devi’s Tak set.
James and I have been trying to figure out a way to make a posh, all-wooden box set for a long while. Something you’d be proud to have on display. Something that was a joy to touch. But up until now, every prototype we saw was either shoddy, clunky, or would have ended up costing more than a thousand dollars…
But much to our delight, the folks from Wyrmwood came in and knocked it out of the park. This is the most attractive prototype I’ve seen so far, and while it is spendy, the lovely folks at Wyrmwood have worked with us so that we can make it available in the kickstarter for less than half of what some of our previous options were.
(I’d never even heard of Bloodwood before. Isn’t it gorgeous?)
We’re still finalizing certain elements of the design, including the piece shapes and the capstones. This is mostly for me, because if we’re saying this is Devi’s set, I need to make sure all the details are perfect. But the folks at Wyrmwood have been amazing so far. (Hell, they’ve already figured out a way to make the set smell slightly of lavender.)
So yeah. This prototype is already amazing, and the finished version will be as perfect as I can make it. But because the clock is ticking on the kickstarter, James and I decided to pull the trigger on this set and make it available for people to buy sooner rather than later.
And part of the reason for that is:
Fair Warning: Devi’s set will only be available through the kickstarter. So if you want it, you’ll need to pick it up by during the campaign, or early on when finalizing your kickstarter order.
You can find more details about Devi’s set and other cool things
Later Space Cowboys,
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