BackerKit for Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game Opening!
almost 2 years ago – Fri, May 27, 2022 at 01:12:18 PM

Greetings backers!

This is a mini-update to let you know that we've started opening BackerKit for Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game . . . huzzah!

The first step in opening BackerKit is to send surveys to 5% of backers from each pledge level (the 5% of backers to receive surveys is selected at random). BackerKit calls this step the Smoke Test. Once the surveys are sent, BackerKit collates data on the response rate, the proportion of support inquiries received, and the add-on purchase rate to let us know if the survey and pledge questions are working appropriately.

Once we’re sure all is well, surveys will be sent to all remaining backers in batches (5,000 at a time). This process—from Smoke Test to sending surveys to all backers—will take a few days to complete, so please be patient.

And remember, Cam and Steve can’t help you with your questions about the Kickstarter, but we can, so reach out to us with any issues ([email protected]).

Warm regards,

Tammie and Team MCG

Cloth Map Unlocked in the Home Stretch!
almost 2 years ago – Sun, May 08, 2022 at 12:30:32 AM

Hello, Family—

THANK YOU so much for your support!

The cloth map of Alternate Appalachia has been unlocked—it's now part of the Delver into the Dark backer level and available as an add-on. As we’re in the home stretch, with just a few hours left, this cloth map is our last stretch goal.

In these final hours, now is a good time to check out your pledge and consider your add-ons—particularly the Sam plushie and the Scrip Coin Set, which are only available as add-ons.

If you haven't already, it’s really worth considering an upgrade to the Delver into the Dark pledge level. With the cloth map now added to this backer level, its total value for the physical rewards alone is nearly $500. And it’s the only way in this campaign to get your hands on a Limited DELUXE Edition of the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game that’s autographed by Shanna, Steve, and Cam.

We are so blown away by your support, so thank you, thank you, thank you`! Keep an eye out for an update shortly after the campaign to give you an idea of what’s to come over the next few weeks and months!

Thanks again for your support!
 —Team MCG

Crossing the Finish Line: Thank you!
almost 2 years ago – Sat, May 07, 2022 at 10:56:42 PM

Hello, Family—

THANK YOU for your support! It is only because of your enthusiasm that we here at MCG could even fathom bringing the incredible Alternate Appalachia to your gaming tables.

We want to give you a heads up on next steps, but there’s a few things we want to take care of first.

This Kickstarter campaign is a product of collaboration from not just one team, but two. Over on Team MCG, OGoA RPG designer Shanna’s hard work and creative ideas are making this game incredible, along with input from MCG’s other designers Monte, Bruce, and Sean. Bear, supported by Javier (and the many great illustrators they work with), coordinated the artwork and handled the graphic design of this campaign; Teri and Tammie wrangled words and logistics; and Jen and LaTia provided answers and support to you, our wonderful community, here and everywhere gamers congregate online. The man behind the curtain of this campaign is Charles, who has planned and run this campaign.

Of course, Alternate Appalachia is originated with Steve and Cam, the creators and voices of the Old Gods of Appalachia podcast. (You can also thank them for the Sam plushie add-on!) They knew they could count on the Family to come through for this campaign, but as they put it, “We never dreamed they’d come through this big. Thank you, from the bottoms of our little black hearts, for your support!”

All of us at MCG a want to extend our thanks to you, the backers. Your support brings our imagination to life and to thousands of game tables.

Here’s what to expect as we move forward from here.

This Evening and the Next Few Days

Running Kickstarter campaigns is rewarding in many ways, and we have greatly enjoyed interacting with you through these updates, the comments, social media, and so on. But it’s also a brutally hectic challenge to administer it all. And most of the MCG staff has been keeping up with our regular duties throughout—shipping your orders, bringing out books like The Origin, and getting existing projects like Stealing Stories for the Devil and Path of the Planebreaker to press.

So, as we often do after Kickstarter campaigns wind down, we’re taking a short break.

Don’t expect to hear much from us this weekend, or in the week or two ahead of us. In fact, we’ll probably be pretty quiet for a while. If you have questions, feel free to send a Kickstarter message, but don’t be concerned if you don’t get a response right away. Production of the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game and the other items we've funded will take some time. If you do reach out during this time, you may need to wait for a few days. But don’t worry—we WILL get back to you.

The Next Few Weeks

Kickstarter began collecting pledges the moment the campaign closed. But it takes Kickstarter a full two weeks to release those funds, along with the data on our backers.

In the meantime, we will get BackerKit fully set up so we can open the pledge manager when we have that data. BackerKit is a third-party platform that lets you confirm all the information we need to fulfill your pledge. If there are add-ons you’ve missed, or if you decide to increase your reward level, you can do that through BackerKit as well. You’ll be notified when we open BackerKit, which should be in two or three weeks.

NOTE: Signing into BackerKit is vital to getting your rewards. Kickstarter does NOT provide us with the information we need to fulfill your rewards; we MUST gather it from you after the campaign. If you don’t respond to your BackerKit survey, we can’t send you any rewards!

(BackerKit is open for non-backers to make late pledges right now. This is a different process than the part that manages your pledge. Don’t worry if the pledge manager opens a little later; it just takes some time for all the data to settle out.)

The Next Few Months

Once you’ve done your BackerKit survey, we won’t need anything else from you until it’s time to start fulfilling rewards. We’ll be busy crafting the products and rewards you will be receiving in the months to come.

At times during this period, you won't hear from us, maybe for a couple of months. Don’t worry if that happens—over the years we've delivered millions of rewards to tens of thousands of backers on time, and we'll be working diligently on yours.

But at the same time, please pay attention when you do get communications from us. Our emails and Kickstarter updates include critical information about your rewards.

When Your Rewards Ship

Every time a reward is ready for you, we’ll contact you again by email to begin the fulfillment process. Generally, we’ll direct you to the MCG Shop, where you’ll log in, “buy” the product (for free with a coupon, because you’ve already paid for it through Kickstarter), and check out.

This is an important part of the process because it ensures we have accurate delivery information for every item we send out. (With thousands of backers getting rewards, it's amazing how many people will change their address over the fulfillment period.) You'll pay for shipping at that time.

Make sure you're paying attention to communications from us—don't let our updates or emails go to your spam folder, or otherwise ignore them, because if you do you could miss out on some of your rewards.

This was a wonderful Kickstarter campaign, and we are very happy you chose to be a part of it. Thank you all for your support, and for setting out on a journey into the planes with us!

A Peek at What's Next!

Before you set off, here’s a special peek into what you can look forward to from us on Kickstarter in the future:

Roleplaying games give us a chance to explore, discover, imagine, create, and face challenges. Our games shine brightest when they’re vivid, unique, and a little bit mind-bending.

So how do you make another room full of orcs, another space station full of aliens, or another dark cult really special? How do you make every game session truly new and memorable—a moment of real discovery and imagination?

You make it weird.

The Weird will help you make NPCs, creatures, places, magic items, gear, spells and abilities, names, appearances, backgrounds, plots, structures, vehicles—and yes, even player characters—more interesting, no matter the setting or system. This hefty, beautifully illustrated tome will contain GM and player advice for implementing and dealing with the weird. It will be filled with literally thousands of weird ideas to pick from or roll randomly. It’s not just random strange ideas, though: it’ll also be packed with advice on how these weird inspirations might affect your game. The weirdness is organized by type and degree (from “interesting” to “gonzo” and everything in between), so you can make a shield a bit more interesting or the ghost you wanted to put in the next adventure totally surreal. And that’s just for starters.

Keep gaming weird. Get The Weird!

The Weird comes to Kickstarter in Summer 2022. Sign up to find out when it goes live!

Thanks again for your support!
 —Team MCG

Audio Streamed Game by Steve, Cam, and the Cast Unlocked!
almost 2 years ago – Sat, May 07, 2022 at 02:01:29 PM

Hello, Family—

First, a warm welcome to the hundreds of new backers who have joined us!

Thanks to you and the support of all of our backers, we have unlocked the audio game. This will be a liveplay of The Family Tradition, an adventure written and run by Cam and Steve, the creators and voices of Old Gods of Appalachia. The players in the game will be OGoA voice actors such as Allison Mullins (who voices Glory-Ann Boggs), Brandon Bentley (Waylon Boggs), Tracey Johnson-Crum (Pretty Polly Barrow), Yuri Lowenthal (The Railroad Man), and/or others. What will happen? Who knows?!? This will be a game adventure, not a scripted story, so we won’t know until it plays out!

This audio streamed game will be released to backers several weeks before it is released to the public; we want you to experience it first!

It’s our final day, and it’s moving at an amazing pace. Shall we unlock more?

We’d like to take the map of Alternate Appalachia, and give it to you as a really nice cloth map. This is something we’ve done as a premium offering for a few of our other projects, such as Numenera, No Thank You, Evil!, and Invisible Sun, and they’ve always been very popular. The cloth map will be roughly 20” x 32” (50 cm x 80 cm) and printed with a vintage look and feel.

The cloth map will be available as an add-on, and be included in the Delver into the Dark backer level. We’ll unlock it at $2,000,000.

We think we can hit this stretch goal today, so let’s all spread the word and make it happen!

Thanks again for your support!
 —Team MCG

Deluxe Book Upgrade Unlocked!
almost 2 years ago – Fri, May 06, 2022 at 01:20:14 AM

Hello, Family, and welcome to all our backers who have joined us in recent days!

Thanks to your support, enthusiasm, and help spreading the word, the final week of this campaign has been really exciting. And that’s just so far—we still have another couple of days that are likely to be even more fast-paced!

We have now unlocked another stretch goal (our sixteenth)! We will add a section to the front of the Limited DELUXE Edition of the Old Gods of Appalachia Roleplaying Game, based on the pages in vintage family bibles that allowed for family records, notes, portraits, genealogical info, and other kinds of info families would want to record for posterity. Use this part of your book to memorialize character and story events from your campaign (or anything else you choose).

(This deluxe book is feeling more and more like a true keepsake! If you aren’t backing for this limited version, consider upgrading. It’s being made especially for this Kickstarter, and won’t be widely available afterward. You might want to consider the Delver into the Dark backer level, which includes both a deluxe book and the standard version. Plus another $275+ in physical rewards (which doesn't take into account the additional included value of the autographs, early access, and digital rewards). It’s a deal you’ll never find outside of a killer Kickstarter campaign like this one.)

Our next stretch goal is a doozy!

At $1,900,000 Cam and Steve, the creators and voices of Old Gods of Appalachia, will run an audio liveplay of The Family Tradition, an adventure of their own design. The players? OGoA voice actors such as Allison Mullins (who voices Glory-Ann Boggs), Brandon Bentley (Waylon Boggs), Tracey Johnson-Crum (Pretty Polly Barrow), Yuri Lowenthal (The Railroad Man), and others. Now, the exact lineup depends on scheduling availability and other factors, but all of the voice actors are—to put it mildly—excited to be a part of this! The adventure will be recorded and audio streamed in early 2023.

Although it features the voices you hear on the podcast, this will be a game session, not a scripted story. (And they’ll be playing characters they create, not existing characters from the podcast.) Until the players sit down at the game table and events begin to unfold, nobody knows how it will play out! Like the OGoA creators and cast, we’re really looking forward to this and cannot wait to hear what their fertile minds bring to the game table!

This campaign continues to soar. Things are moving at an exciting pace—so long as we keep spreading the word, we can hit this goal and more to follow. If you have a moment, Family, won’t you give this campaign a shout-out now?

Thanks again for your support!
—Team MCG