Postcards from Storia—and a Look At the Game
about 9 years ago – Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 11:13:04 PM

Hello, backers of No Thank You, Evil!—

We’re closing in on the release date for No Thank You, Evil!, and it’s an exciting time! We have a couple of photos of production samples for you, but first, a few notes on some other items.

The first round of Postcards from Storia have started reaching backers! If this was one of your Kickstarter rewards, we hope your kids are loving getting real mail addressed to them. We won’t be sending any out over the holidays, but look for the next round in early January. Here’s a picture of Olivia holding the card she received a couple of days ago—this reward was her idea!

In related news, Hero Stuff components are now in production as well. We plan to ship these items out ahead of the game itself—probably in late January. These are nifty accessories, and we’re sure your kids are going to love them!

Now, as promised, some photos of production samples. Some of these are finished components, some are printer proofs, and some are “blanks”—that is, samples that show the component’s design and material, but aren't actually printed. It’s really exciting to see things coming together, isn’t it?

Help Us Do Something Great This Holiday

While this isn’t directly related to No Thank You, Evil!, I wanted to share something we’re doing this holiday season: We call it the 2015 Holiday Gift. We give you $5, and you can either spend it on a gift for yourself (or a friend), or give it to charity.

Just go to the MCG store. Put a $5 donation to Doctors Without Borders, Heifer International, or the American Refugee Committee in your shopping cart. When you check out, simply use the coupon code 2015MCGHolidayGift, and your donation is on us! If you prefer, you can use the code to purchase a gift for yourself or a loved one—it gives you $5 off any purchase.

But don’t dawdle—the 2015 Holiday Gift ends on December 26.

Look forward to more news in January, as we close in on the shipping date for No Thank You, Evil!

--Charles

No Thank You, Evil! Has Gone to Press!
about 9 years ago – Thu, Oct 22, 2015 at 09:22:29 PM

Hello, backers of No Thank You, Evil!—

After a long, busy summer (and into fall), we’re really pleased to have turned over all of the files for No Thank You, Evil! to our print vendor. As of today, the game has officially “gone to press!”

I put that in quotes because nothing literally went on a printing press today. First the printer will take the files and make sure they all work properly, and send us proofs to make sure it all worked the way it’s supposed to. If there are any glitches, there may be a few rounds of revisions to work them all out. Then the various components—the box, the rulebooks, the counter sheets, the character sheets, cards, dice, cloth map, stickers, and so on—actually get made, though the timing and process varies by component type. Finally, it all gets assembled and finally put on a ship for a long journey toward our warehouse. But the overall process has finally moved from our hands into those of the vendor!

Since things are now final, here’s a peek at how the cover design turned out!

Other Stuff

We now turn our attention to some of the other items. We begin work on the Hero Stuff add-ons soon, and the first Postcards from Storia will start going out in a matter of weeks. It’s exciting to see things come together!

Any Grownup Gamers Out There?

Here’s something of interest to the grownup gamers: One of our RPG lines, The Strange, is currently being featured on Bundle of Holding. This is an incredible package deal that gets you PDFs of the corebook plus six major supplements and a handful of smaller ones, all for about the price of the corebook alone. It’s well over 1,000 pages of great content for just about $20. If you like what MCG does, and want to check out one of our roleplaying games for grownups, this is an incredible opportunity to jump in. But hurry—the Bundle of Holding deal is only available for a few more days!

Thanks for making No Thank You, Evil! a reality—only a few months until you have it!

--Charles

Last Call for Kickstarer Exclusives!
over 9 years ago – Mon, Sep 21, 2015 at 09:16:55 PM

Hello, backers of No Thank You, Evil!—

Great news: 94% of you have completed your survey on BackerKit. We have all the information we need (at this point) to fulfill your rewards as No Thank You, Evil! continues the march toward publication!

But that also means that 6% of you haven’t done it. Please remember that Kickstarter does not provide the information we need to fulfill your rewards—so if you don’t fill out the survey, we might not be able to send you your rewards for backing No Thank You, Evil!

Do It Now!

At midnight CDT tomorrow (Tuesday, September 22nd), we are locking down the BackerKit survey. If you’re one of those 6% I just mentioned—or you think you might be—please complete your survey right now!

If you lost the invitation we emailed to you, you can follow this link to the survey.

Is There Anything Else You Want?

When we lock down the survey, we also lock down orders. If there are add-ons you would still like to purchase, you can do so, through BackerKit, until midnight on September 22nd. Also, if you'd like to change any of the answers to your pledge questions (such the cut and size of your No Thank You, Evil! T-Shirt), you can do so until midnight CDT Tuesday, September 22nd.

This is the last opportunity to get Postcards from Storia, Hero Stuff, an extra copy of the Kickstarter edition of the game, or anything else you might want. Only the standard edition of No Thank You, Evil! will be available for sale when the game launches early next year. For all the other elements offered by the Kickstarter campaign, this is your last chance.

On Wednesday, September 23rd, your credit card will be charged for any add-ons you purchased through BackerKit and we will collect the data from the pledge questions to begin production of items, such as shirts and Hero Stuff kits.

Locking down BackerKit means not allowing further add-on purchases, not allowing changes to pledge questions, and charging credit cards. You will still be able to update your shipping address for the next few months.

So, How’s the Game Coming?

We’ve been working hard on No Thank You, Evil! for the past several months, and it goes to press soon. Shanna and Monte had a busy summer finalizing the game’s design, and now most of the work is in the hands of our talented Art Director, Bear Weiter, as he whips the many components—the books, box, token sheets, character sheets, dice, and so on—into shape. Here’s a peek inside the main book—Bear is just finalizing the layout now!

It’s so exciting seeing it come together! Thanks for making No Thank You, Evil! a reality!

--Charles

No Thank You, Evil! Is Coming Along!
over 9 years ago – Tue, Aug 18, 2015 at 07:49:08 AM

Hello, backers of No Thank You, Evil!—

We thought you might like a little update on the game you helped make possible!

The design and development of No Thank You, Evil! is coming along nicely. We've run the rules and adventures through extensive playtesting and are about to start the editing process. Shanna and Monte just finished writing the storybook, Lucy Lawful and the Awful Waffle, and lead artist Cathy Wilkins is hard at work in creating cool images for it!

In fact, all of our artists are busy making beautiful stuff. Here's a new piece of art from Tiffany Turrill, showcasing one of the scarier, more dangerous places in Under the Bed: the cemetery called Dead Center.

Are You a Playtest Backer?

If you backed at a level that gets you the playtest materials and you want to add your thoughts to the final game, please fill out the feedback sheet (the document is called NTYE Playtesting Questions) and return it by August 25th. We're loving seeing the images that you're posting of the players and their character sheets, and we hope you're enjoying the early version of the game!

And Have You Done Your BackerKit Survey?

The BackerKit survey went out a couple of weeks ago. As of this writing, 84% of you have filled it out. That means 16% have not!

If you’re one of the 16%, please hop in and fill out the survey ASAP. Kickstarter does NOT provide us with the information we need to fulfill your rewards. The BackerKit survey is the means by which we make sure we have all the info necessary to send you the items you pledged for.

You should have received an email with an invitation to the survey, but if it’s lost or didn’t make it to you, you can get there by following this link.

Finally, a Little Something for the Grownup Gamers!

If you’re also a Numenera fan, here’s some news that might interest you!

Over a billion years of Earth's future, great civilizations have risen and fallen, each attaining wonders beyond our wildest dreams and furthest imaginings. The remnants of these civilizations shaped the Ninth World into a place of incredible beauty, wonder, and danger. And weirdness. Oh, so much weirdness. Explorers who undertake the challenges presented by the Ninth World look not only to the wilderness, but also to the night sky, the ocean depths, and even into the worlds beyond that they cannot easily perceive.

As we near the last phases of fulfillment for the original Numenera Kickstarter campaign (just the music and movie left—and they’re in their final stages!), I thought you might want to know what’s next for the Ninth World.

We’re working on a new series of books that take Numenera into uncharted realms: Into the Night, Into the Deep, and Into the Outside.

As you might expect, Into the Night expands our knowledge of the Ninth World beyond the grip of Earth's gravity, to locations pioneered by the prior worlds on the moon, elsewhere in the solar system, and in remote reaches of the galaxy.

Into the Deep delves into the depths of the Ninth World's oceans. The prior worlds extended their empires into the seas—as previously touched on in the Numenera corebook and The Devil's Spine—and the wonders to be found there are every bit as glorious, mysterious, exciting, and just plain weird as the landbound realms of the Ninth World.

It's well known that the denizens of the prior worlds bent time and space to their liking, creating links to realms outside the normal world. Into the Outside takes us into these other worlds, exploring pocket dimensions, the realms of ultraterrestrials, and parallel universes.

We’re Kickstarting this series of titles right now. Through Kickstarter, we’re going to make Into the Night, Into the Deep, and other titles funded by this campaign as cool as we can, offering elements we normally wouldn’t be able to put into a book developed in the conventional manner. And we’re giving you a voice and a chance to interact with the content of these books. To have a hands-on role in shaping them.

We funded on our first day and have already hit some pretty cool stretch goals, including double-sided poster maps, PDF supplements, new content for the Numenera Creature Deck and Cypher Deck, and a free PDF Instant Adventure. We've even added two entire books to the  rewards: Numenera Character Options 2, and The Poison Eater, the flagship Numenera novel! Backing the campaign is a great value, a great way to continue your exploration of the Ninth World, and a great way to contribute your voice to the ongoing creation of the Ninth World. We hope you’ll check it out!

--Charles

Happy Fourth—Survey Coming Soon!
over 9 years ago – Tue, Aug 04, 2015 at 11:28:56 AM

Hello, backers of No Thank You, Evil!—

As we head into the Fourth of July weekend, we hope you’re enjoying a pleasant holiday (if you’re in the US), a pleasant summer (if you’re in the northern hemisphere), or at least a pleasant weekend!

It’s been a couple of weeks since the campaign ended, and we wanted to let you know we haven’t forgotten about you. Look for a survey invitation from BackerKit early next week. That’s the process by which we start gathering the information we need to get your rewards to you.

Sorry if it seems like this has taken a while (it seems that way to us, too!). There’s a process following the end of every campaign, in which Kickstarter collects your money, then passes payment on to us along with data confirming that you’ve paid and are due your reward. In the past that’s tended to take four or five days, but there have been some changes at Kickstarter in recent months and it now takes two weeks plus. We received those confirmations in just the past day or so.

Keep your eye out for that BackerKit survey, and we’ll touch base again next week! -

-Charles