Survey to come out tonight
over 10 years ago – Sun, Nov 15, 2015 at 09:45:28 PM

It is time for the choosing...

..or for you to choose your stuff. However you want to view it. So here are the guidelines.

First, and perhaps most importantly, the way Backerkit is designed, questions are asked first and then you go to the shopping cart section to choose your items. So, what do you do if you don't EXACTLY know what you want? Not a problem, just follow the following steps:

• When the survey asks you for instructions, just type a placeholder in the field (like "asdf", and then go to the shopping cart.
• In the shopping cart, choose everything you want. If you want artwork, make sure you choose Yes under the artwork option. When you are all done, go to the top of the page and click on "1.Questions". This will take you back to the instruction question. Tell me specifically what artwork you want on what case. Artwork names and images are included below and on my web page.
• When you are done with the instructions, click on "Next: Add-ons". This will take you back to your shopping cart It should be unchanged from when you chose your items.
• Double check to make sure everything is in the cart that you want.
• continue on to the next page and finish your survey as normal.

I know this seems a little round-about. I wish I had the technical knowledge to build my own post-project survey, but I don't. So I have to make due with what is available to me.

Second, If you want special customizations, you must contact me before hand to see if they are doable. There may be a charge associated with customizations. Most of the time it can be taken care of with a $10 charge. Major changes may be significantly more expensive. be sure you remind me of any customized work in the instructions section. When I go into production, I don't look through emails to see what needs to be changed...i only look at the order slips.

Third, If you pledged at the $100 level, you get 1 free set of dice. You can choose this dice by going to the dice section of the shopping cart. There you will see an entry for *FREE* CHESSEX OPAQUE DICE. Choose your color. You are limited to 1 set of dice. you are free to add on other dice for a price discounted off of the MSRP in the DICE section of the shopping cart.

HOLIDAY SPECIAL OFFER

We are close to the holidays and pens are one of my biggest sellers this time of year. For backers of my KICKSTARTER projects, I'm offering a special that is going to be off the backerkit books. 

On Backerkit, you can see several different pens I have available. These are some great pens and make outstanding gifts. Through Backerkit, you can buy them individually in any style and hardware you want, but I will ship them with the rest of your order which may or may not be before the holidays. 

However, as a holiday special, if you purchase any four pens, you'll get a 5th one for free AND I'll get these out to you before Dec. 15. What you need to do is this:

• send an email to me at [email protected]. 
• Tell me what five pens you want, in what wood, and what color hardware.
• I will send you a paypal invoice for the pens, but will only charge you for four of them.
• As long as I get the order in before Dec. 1, I'll get the pens out to you no later than Dec. 15. Domestic shipping will be included in this offer. International shipping is generally about $25, but contact me first to confirm.

When can I expect my order?

I listed May 2016 as the ship date for this project. I was also expecting this project to do much better and thought I'd need the extra time to make the cases. But since the project is as manageable as it is, I'm going to do my best to get this out in December. However please note the following:

1. I'm in the middle of shipping the WARRIOR project. That project takes priority. 

2. I'm going to leave the Backerkit survey open for quite a while so that more people can join in if they want.

3. If you decide to wait until the end of December to fill out BACKERKIT, then I obviously won't be able to get to your reward until January...and I hate working in the workshop in January, so I'll probably be waiting for warm days.

So, don't feel the need to fill everything out tomorrow with the expectation that you'll get the case next week. I'm going to fulfill this project early. VERY early. I'll try to get some/most of it out in the next 6 weeks, but one way or the other, I plan on closing this project FAR before the projected ship date.

Image selection

Below is a list of images available for this project. It will also be posted on my web page at www.HrothgarsHoard.com. When choosing your image, please use the exact name listed below and be sure to tell me what case you want it on. I've weeded out most of the images that don't really work well, hence the skipped numbers on some of them.

Survey to be out soon
over 10 years ago – Fri, Nov 13, 2015 at 07:43:46 PM

I'm expecting Kickstarter to release pledges tomorrow at which time I can send out the survey. After a bunch of hemming and hawing on my part I've decided to basically set this survey up as a shopping cart. In my last project there was just too many opportunities for misunderstandings and several of the surveys just didn't give me the information I needed (which I still have not completely resolved).

I think that the easiest thing on both your part and my part is to just set this sucker up as a shopping cart, and then you can choose whatever you want. The one thing you will need to do as part of the survey is to give me any graphics that you want on the cases in the comments section of the survey.

You will need to be very specific on this part. So if you want Dragon 1 on a cherry monk, please let me know that. If you want different images on different cases, please spell it out for me....assume I'm your not-too-bright-brother who needs a little extra explaining. 

Images was the only thing I couldn't easily account for in the backerkit module. Felt colors, wood species, etc. all worked fine, but there were just too many images to make them an easy part of the survey.

Hopefully I'll get that out to you tomorrow. There will be some extras available on the survey as well...I'm putting an order in for Chessex dice soon and you can order some at a discount off MSRP, I'm putting an order in for Pen and Pencil kits and there are some REALLY nice offerings there (these make great gifts), and I'm finalizing things with the wood dice. I'll also be putting together some foam options for both the MONK and the BARD that you can get.

that is all for today. I hope to be back tomorrow with a survey and more info.

John

Where do we go from here?
over 10 years ago – Sun, Nov 01, 2015 at 09:29:58 AM

First, if you "sang" that title ala Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you rock!

Second, for those who haven't backed one of my projects before, I use Backerkit as the survey section of the project. What backerkit does is allow me to ask you more specific questions than Kickstarter's survey, and then will allow you to add-on any extra items you may want.

It will take me about 2 weeks to build the Backerkit module. I need to get all the items from this project in, any extras (artwork, wood types, etc.), and then I have to do the rest of the catalog (ROGUE, PRIEST, WIZARD, PENS). But here is the important thing....

When you get the backerkit survey, please read and follow ALL directions in it. Let me repeat: WHEN YOU GET THE BACKERKIT SURVEY, PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS IN IT. Just in case you didn't understand....WHEN YOU GET THE BACKERKIT SURVEY, PLEASE READ AND FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS IN IT.

WHEN YOU GET THE BACKERKIT.... 

OK..I think you got the point.

Why am I stressing this so much? Because in the previous project, there were probably 10-15 percent who either didn't choose a wood type, an image, or left off other vital information. So this costs me extra time in trying to find out what you want, and it also costs you, because the first thing I do is put those orders on the bottom of the pile and take care of orders I can fill first. So, please. When you get the backerkit survey, please read and follow all directions in it. :)

Moving on.

So, for the next two weeks, I'm going to be building the Backerkit survey and making sure it is all in order. As soon as it is ready, I'll send the surveys out to you..that will bring us to mid-November. I will leave that survey open for you to complete until the first of the year, so you will have a full six weeks to finalize your choices.

I will begin fulfilling cases as soon as surveys are in to me. So, if you get the survey back to me two days after I send the surveys out, then I'll fulfill your order very soon. How soon will depend on A. how soon I complete the WARRIOR fulfillment (sorry, but those orders have top priority), B. if I have the wood available or before I make my purchase from my wood distributor, and C. if the weather continues to cooperate and my finishing shed stays warm enough to do the finishing work.

I will also be allowing a "preorder" module in Backerkit which will allow people who missed the project to still get in on the deal. So if you have friends or family who want a case, there will still be an opportunity for them to get in. I'll probably keep this module open until spring time.

Since this project didn't reach the levels I had hoped for, I will be able to completely fulfill this project much sooner than I projected. For anyone who gets their survey in to me prior to Dec. 1, I will do my best to get you your BARD or MONK case before the holidays. To those who wait until after December 1st, I'll get them to you asap. I fully intend to have this project closed out by Jan. 31st. I hate working in the woodshop in the winter, so I have lots of incentive to get things done before the weather gets cold.

So, thank you all who backed this project. I'm confident that you'll be very pleased with the end product. I won't be making many posts for a couple weeks so I can focus on getting the survey done.

Thanks again,

John

PREMIUM LEVEL BONUSES
over 10 years ago – Fri, Oct 30, 2015 at 10:31:02 PM

PREMIUM BONUSES!

 While the project has not hit the heights that I had hoped, thus unlocking some bonuses for PREMIUM backers, I still want to offer a few rewards to those who are backing me for more than $100. So, here is the list of options that PREMIUM backers will have: 

•  Free set of dice: Everyone always needs dice. It doesn't matter how many dice you have, you still need more. Every backer at the PREMIUM level will receive 1 set of Opaque Chessex Dice. You can choose the color on the final survey. Take a look at their selection here: http://chessex.com/Dice/Opaque%20Dice/opaquemainpg.htm 
• Misfit bundle add-on: When an item doesn't meet my standards, it gets put in the misfit pile. A bundle will include 1 WIZARD Tower, 1 miniature case (usually ROGUE, but there may be some BARDs in this batch) and 1 dice case (could be the standard dice case or a MONK). These items are chosen at random, so there is no telling what wood you get, but all items will be functional, if flawed. I'll have a tier for domestic woods and (maybe) a tier for exotic woods. Domestic woods are a $60 add-on. Exotic woods...well...I'll have to see what I have and figure out a price...there will be a very limited number of exotics available. If any bundles are left over after the project ends they will be put on my webpage as a special offer, but will also have a shipping charge added to it. 
• Wood Dice add-on: PREMIUM level backers will be able to order pairs of hand made wooden dice. These dice are made by someone I met at Gen Con this year. I'm going to hold off on more details on this because I want to confirm everything with him first. 
• WIZARD Tower pouch: to any PREMIUM level backer who adds on a WIZARD Tower, you will also receive a large felt pouch to store your tower in. These have the Hrothgar's Hoard logo etched into them and give you ample room to store your Tower or just a crap-load of dice. 

So, I was hoping that the end of the project would make this list much fuller, but this is what I can offer my PREMIUM backers right now.

Shout out from Saving Throw
over 10 years ago – Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 12:37:39 PM

If you don't watch the Saving Throw web show, you are missing out. You gotta watch it from the beginning (I'm currently behind). In episode 7, they give me a shout out for the MONK and BARD cases. Take a look here: http://savingthrowshow.com/barkys-brigade-episode-7-perlamore-council/