Digital Pack 13 is away! US shipping plans update.
12 months ago
– Wed, May 24, 2023 at 04:52:14 AM
Hello!
I’ve just sent out the coupons to Kickstarter backers for Digital Pack 13. It’s a good size release, and I hope you enjoy another slice of Beowulf stuff!
In this Thirteenth Digital Pack of bonus content for BEOWULF: Age of Heroes, we bring you:
- 6 Magnificent Helmets by Jacob Rodgers and Jon Hodgson
- Notes on running combat in BEOWULF Age of Heroes
- Rules for Ship Races by Jacob Rodgers
- 6 NPC Portraits by Scott Purdy
- 6 VTT tokens for NPCs
- Two location maps to use in your own adventures by Jon Hodgson
You know the drill by now - check your spam folder, give it an hour or so, check it again, and if you don't have a coupon drop me a line via email to [email protected] and I'll send you a new coupon.
Here's where we're at with digital rewards:
US shipping
Hey, thank you for all your very kind messages on the last update. That meant a great deal during what is a very trying time.
So! The pallet is definitely lost, and we have filed an insurance claim. We’re told this will take less than 30 days to process. The claim been filed for a couple of weeks and a claim assessor is on the case. I had a slim hope that the claim assessor might know the magic words to make the pallet reappear, (hence waiting for that news before posting this update) as that would have been my preferred result. But I think we need to fall back on plan B.
Plan B: What we’re going to do next is await the insurance payout, and then use those funds to send out your copies direct from the UK.
Initially we’ll start with single book backers, because this allows us to slice the waiting list in half, and is readily achievable.
The timeline of this is very much dependant on those insurance funds coming to us in good order, so fingers crossed that happens without any further hitches.
There will be some wrinkles with the larger sets of rewards, but we’ll sort those out as they arise. I have several plans there, but I don’t want to overload this update with too much text.
Of course, it bears mentioning that we have lost around £25,000 of stock, the insurance claim will only pay the manufacturing cost. That means we get back none of the funds spent on the creative work in those books - that share of the art and writing costs is just gone, as is the payment we made to ship the books across the Atlantic. We also lost hundreds of copies of BEOWULF Age of Heroes and a|state which were on the pallet.
This of course has also really set back our plans to bring KING BEOWULF to kickstarter. I wouldn't expect anyone to back that while still waiting for the last book to arrive.
So, I’m currently working round the clock, having taken on extra freelance work to recoup that cost, and enable us to post put your books by covering the extra funds needed. I’m tired, but it’s working, and I'm grateful that's something I can do to help fix this. We will get there!
Free stuff for US backers
In light of your patience and the ridiculous chain of events that have befallen your rewards, each parcel for US backers will contain a new mini book - The Trials of the Twins Seas GM's Companion.
This pocket-sized, softcover booklet in full colour, contains all the illustrations of NPCs and objects from the adventures, as well as all the location maps. This provides the GM with a handy reference to booth quickly get names and appearances of NPCs, and the ability to easily show your player the art. It’s a bit easier to handle than the hardcover book in that regard.
Those are made, and are printing right now in the UK, and will arrive in plenty of time to accompany your Twin Seas books. It's only something small, but I hope you realise how much we appreciate your support, and share your disappointment. We paid to have these books delivered, and have managed to fulfil a whole other kickstarter ourselves (and when I say "ourselves" I mean, me, personally, doing the whole thing), in the meantime. So yup, that's some shared disappointment right there.
I’m not in the US and I want one of those GM's Companions!
For Twin Seas Backers outside of the US, this booklet will also be made available to purchase on our web store. I think it’d be pretty cool if we let our US friends get it first though.
Beowulf Campaign
The trials of the US pallet has tied up my time a lot over the last couple of months, and it’s meant we haven’t got as far into the meat of the BEOWULF campaign as I’d hoped. But! Work is well underway, and pulling together our ideas for exactly how we’ll express the things we want it to do, and sketching out the arc. I think you're really going to enjoy it when we start sending you PDFs!
UK Games Expo
We are in attendance at UK Games Expo, despite not appearing on their website. We made a booking with our friends at Nightfall games, and we'll have part of their stall on current Hall maps. We're in Hall One at booth 230. If you're in attendance next weekend do swing by and say hello!
Discord
If you need to ask us anything, or you just want to chat, then the very best place to do that is on Discord. If you’d like to join up, point your browser at www.discord.me/handiworkgamers. Give us a shout that you're a Twin Seas backer and you'll be upgraded to see the Twin Seas backer channel. And even if you're not a backer you're still very welcome!
If you'd like to follow us on social media:
Twitter: @gameshandiwork
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handiworkgames
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/handiworkgames/
Thanks again!
Jon, Jacob and the Handiwork Team
US shipping update
12 months ago
– Mon, May 08, 2023 at 10:24:07 AM
Hello.
This will be a US shipping specific update. We’ll talk about the other things we have coming your way in a separate update this week, just to keep things compartmentalised.
If you’re not US-based you can happily skip this update.
So. We’ve been holding on for good news, but sadly we don’t have that yet.
After some confusion about exactly when the shipment was dispatched from our partners to our base in the US, we now know it was definitely sent out some weeks back.
The pallet of books was then promptly lost by the freight company. And I remain entirely boggled by this. It was checked into their Orlando depot, but could not then be found. And it is suspected to have been mistakenly loaded onto a truck going somewhere else.
We have been in direct contact with them, along with the logistics company we paid to move the books from the UK, and we’re applying daily pressure to resolve the situation. The freight company asked for several weeks grace to locate the pallet, and at the end of last week asked for further time to find it. We have also prepared an insurance claim if the pallet cannot be found. In the last update we had on Friday, they were scrubbing through cctv footage to find where the pallet was loaded/unloaded, so they are making considerable efforts to locate it.
I have been holding off updating here until we had some good news, but I think it’s only fair to let you know the current state of play.
Of course we are all deeply unhappy about this. I’m very angry that the freight company had one job to do and have failed so spectacularly. It has not been helpful that this job was arranged down a line of subcontractors.There will of course be changes going forward. We’ve delivered a whole other Kickstarter, which we handled entirely ourselves, in the time this has taken. That's not ok.
So what happens now?
The ideal scenario is that the pallet is found and the books delivered as planned, albeit late. This is the most preferable outcome, as it places the books in the US, and they can be speedily sent on to you, using internal mail as was originally planned.
If the pallet cannot be found (and honestly this is a wholly bizarre state of affairs it’s A PALLET, in the hands of A FREIGHT COMPANY?!?!) we still have a solid backup plan, because we have sufficient stock here in the UK to replace what might have been lost. And the insurance payout from the lost stock will enable us to do that in an appropriate time frame. I suspec thtre best course of action will be to send them direct to the US from the UK as individual parcels, with us taking the hit on the extra costs. Which seems fair, since you've been so patient.
And in the grand scheme of things, it is 200 parcels. Which is readily achievable by us, and makes all of this delay and extreme stress somewhat ridiculous. But we have a lot of payments tied up in that pallet, so it makes so sense to simply write it off. Especially since it could be found and delivered in a couple of days.
What will we do for you?
We’re planning something extra to include in all US parcels by way of apology for this delay in getting you your books. These series of errors are not at all the standard we aspire to, and I don’t find it at all acceptable.
So we’re making a new book which you’ll get in your delivery when it arrives. It’ll be a mini book which we’re calling the Twin Seas GM’s Companion. It’ll feature all the NPCs’ portraits to show your player(s), as well as quick references for all the maps in the scenario. We’ll see if there’s space for the pronunciation guides too.
This will be made available to anyone else who wants one, but it will be free to US backers awaiting rewards.
My personal apologies
In case it’s not immediately obvious, this part of this Kickstarter has been very disappointing to me personally. This isn’t the way we want things to be when you back us.
For what it’s worth it isn’t just the Kickstarter books on the missing pallet. We were also shipping a lot of general stock to our US base, and the loss of those books is hitting us very hard. This is a very challenging time on both a business and a personal level.
I like to remain professional, and my personal woes caused by these outcomes are not your concern, but I feel it’s appropriate to let you know I don’t take any of this lightly.
We will of course continue to do everything in our power to make sure those books are found. And if they are not we’ll still get you your rewards.
Thank you, once again for your patience,
Jon
Digital Pack 12 is with backers now, US Shipping update
about 1 year ago
– Tue, Apr 11, 2023 at 08:27:33 AM
Hello again!
Glad to hear of books arriving around the world!
Digital Pack 12 went out this week - be sure to check your spam folders if it didn’t arrive, and of course if a delivery glitch occurred, drop me a line via [email protected]
US shipping update
To less good news: we’ve been let down on getting the books moved to our US base. I believed that by now they were in motion, and had been for some time, but they were not. We have assurances from our logistics partner that this will soon resolve. Suffice to say I am mad as hell about this.
I can only apologise again for the very slow progress here. I do not find it remotely acceptable, and we will make some gesture of thanks for your patience: be it some additional reward, or store credit with us.
It is my responsibility to get you your books, and that will happen. The books exist, and they’re in the US. The best course of action right now is to continue to trust our current logistics partners, and allow them to make good. That of course has a reasonable time limit on it, and we will make moves on other back up plans if necessary.
Fingers crossed everything comes good soon: this will be a short update because I’m really mad about this, and just want you to get your rewards. My apologies that we’ve been so let down, and things have been so slow.
Jon
Twin Seas Shipping update
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Mar 22, 2023 at 10:37:25 AM
Hello Again!
Thanks for your patience folks! It's a nice compact update today.
I can now confirm:
• All UK parcels were sent a while back, and should be with you now.
• All EU parcels are dispatched as of today.
• All "Rest of World" parcels are dispatched as of today, aside from one person to whom I owe an email, since we're going to handle their shipping separately - I'll be in touch shortly!
The US stock is en route to Jacob for packing and onward sending. They are expected with Jacob any day, having been in motion for almost a week. I will of course update as soon as they arrive.
Parcels should generate a tracking email as they are dispatched - these often go to spam, and sometimes don't always seem to be triggered. If you need tracking info, and haven't received it, please drop me a line via [email protected], or via KS message, and we can get it for you from the warehouse. It's worth bearing in mind that I can't share private information in response to comments posted publicly. So PM or email is the best way to go.
Digital Pack 12
Coupons for Digital Pack 12 will head out tomorrow! I have one piece of art to finish tonight, and it's all good to go!
Discord
If you’d like to join our discord, then please point your browser at www.discord.me/handiworkgamers. Give us a shout that you're a Twin Seas backer and you'll be upgraded to see the Twin Seas backer channel. And even if you're not a backer you're still very welcome!
If you'd like to follow us on social media:
Twitter: @gameshandiwork
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handiworkgames
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/handiworkgames/
That's it for now! It's exciting to think that soon we will have completed physical dispatch, and we can really get stuck into talking about the details of the PDF adventures and remaining Digital Packs which you can look forward to!
Jon, Jacob and the Handiwork Team
Twin Seas March Update 1: Shipping Update
about 1 year ago
– Thu, Mar 02, 2023 at 09:15:04 AM
Hello!
Let's get into it! A muscular and compact update full of nutritious shipping facts!
UK parcels which include Story cards, and other extras continue to be dispatched right now. There are some stock movement shenanigans to overcome around BEOWULF Annuals, but that's my problem not yours and it's a monster that will be slain by next week!
EU and "Rest of World" parcels: continue to be dispatched in batches right now.
US Rewards: the books have arrived on US soil! - I'm awaiting final confirmation that they are through US customs - a mysterious and alarming process, or a very straight forward easy process? Who knows this time around?! But this is very positive progress. The books will then head to Jacob to be packed and sent out - you may remember if you're reading closely, that I'd previously mentioned parcels would be prepacked before departure. We saved some time last minute by not doing that, so Jacob will be packing your stuff. There's not tooooo many to do on this campaign, so fingers crossed we will soon be able to say that's in progress! I will of course let you know.
KING BEOWULF
Jacob has released another mighty update on the KING BEOWULF project. This will be the next book for BEOWULF: Age of Heroes.
Discord
If you need to ask us anything, or you just want to chat, then the very best place to do that is on Discord. If you’d like to join up, point your browser at www.discord.me/handiworkgamers. Give us a shout that you're a Twin Seas backer and you'll be upgraded to see the Twin Seas backer channel. And even if you're not a backer you're still very welcome!
If you'd like to follow us on social media:
Twitter: @gameshandiwork
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/handiworkgames
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/handiworkgames/
Thanks again!
Thanks as ever for all your support!
Jon, Jacob and the Handiwork Team
