Lessons from Gaming Con
almost 5 years ago
– Mon, Jul 01, 2019 at 12:38:27 AM
Hi everyone, I had the opportunity to attend Salt Lake Gaming Con this weekend, and was able to run a D&D Adventurer's League Epic session with Under the Wing Gaming. It was a total blast! Here's the table I ran:
Owing to the fact that I'm a huge nerd, and am, after all, the Arcanist, I wore my wizard costume.
I wanted to shout out a few really cool things that happened at the Convention:
First, I got to chat with the folks at Arcknight about their latest Kickstarter: Roleplaying Spell Effects 2.0 - Cheaper and Pre-Cut.
These guys make a seriously cool product, which totally saved my butt as a DM yesterday! I didn't have a lot of time to prep for this convention, owing to this Kickstarter, but their flat plastic minis were absolutely perfect for my needs! They also gave me some very good advice about future Kickstarters - in particular how to make fulfillment easier for my friends over in the EU. I'll definitely be using what I learned from them for my next Kickstarter (which should launch once I start fulfillment on this one - I'm currently working on prototypes and production files for it already - stay tuned!)
I also had the opportunity to talk with the owner of Die Hard Dice. I don't know if you're familiar with them, but they make the absolute best metal dice on the market. Their sets are pretty much incredible, and their customer support is legendary! I aspire to be as good as them at making sure you are all happy with my dice. He gave me a lot of very good advice about bringing dice designs to market, which I'm extremely grateful for, as well as some advice on how to make my dice easier to mold. He didn't have to do that - we're both in the dice industry, even if we're not directly competing in the same niches. If you haven't definitely check them out at https://www.dieharddice.com/
I had the opportunity to let my groups use my healer's dice at the convention, both for their normal use and for magic missiles, and they worked extremely well! It's very rewarding to hear positive feedback about something I've developed. It was an absolutely amazing day!
With that, I'm heading to bed at this point. I took next week off my day job to help me work on fulfillment for the Healer's Dice, so I'll be talking with factories and getting everything set up to get your dice to you as soon as possible after this Kickstarter ends.
Thank you all for everything! You are all seriously awesome people. If I can make it work, would you all like to see a writeup of my dice design process for my next update?
Keep being a wonderful group!
780 Backers with 9 Days to Go! Stretch Goal Unlocked, Some Awesome Other Projects I've Found, and a Partnership with BackerKit!
almost 5 years ago
– Sat, Jun 29, 2019 at 07:40:14 PM
Hi everyone! This project has been exploding, and I've been utterly blown away by your support!
First, we've unlocked our first stretch goal! Instead of generic caps for the prescription bottles, they'll be unique Arcanist's Armory caps instead!
I'm pleased to announce that to aid in fulfillment I'm adding this project to BackerKit, which should help keep everything organized and make the myriad add-ons in this Kickstarter easier to manage. I've learned a lot from this, and my next Kickstarter will be simpler to understand, I promise (I have ideas for at least four more products I want to bring to market, including one that has blown the socks off everyone I've shown it to - I've been working on it for almost a year and a half now).
I also wanted to shout out a couple of other projects I think are awesome:
First, we have The Decks of Adventurer's Allurement - 5E Class Magic Items
This is a seriously cool collection of magic items and artifacts to help you level up your game, and there are some epic ideas in here I'm really excited to implement! I like the way they're using decks to help manage everything, and their class item sets look absolutely amazing!
Next we have the d60 & d60 Spindown Dice by Flying Horseduck!
I'm a total sucker for unusual and unique dice, and I play Magic: the Gathering - particularly the Commander format. As such, these dice are perfect for me! Having a single die to use for my life total will be truly epic, and I intend to write a d60 wild magic table for my ridiculous Eladrin sorcerer/druid I sometimes play.
We're rapidly approaching our stretch goals, and I'm working hard to bring some extra ideas to life! I've been in touch with several factories and am impressed with what they've offered so far. I wanted to manufacture domestically, but I had to make serious compromises with the design to get the price per die under $1. I want to keep my dice affordable, so it looks like I have to go overseas.
Sometimes life throws you an unexpected bonus. I've found a few factories in Zhejiang province which I'm pretty excited about, and I did two internships in a furniture factory in Zhejiang province, living in China for seven months several years ago. I'm fluent in Mandarin and am extremely familiar with Chinese business practices, so I'm confident that I can get the quality I want out of them - but it will require me to go to the factory myself and ensure the facilities and capabilities are, in fact, what they're advertising, as well as to establish personal relationships with the people who run the factories. In my experience, the quality of products made in China increases dramatically with personalized, in person contact with the factory managers.
I'll keep you all in the loop about the production process, all the way through delivery.
Thank you all for sharing and supporting my project. We're at well over 400 shares on different social media channels so far, and I expect to unlock silver ink this weekend!
Thank you all very much for being an incredible group of people! It's been an honor to have your support in bringing Healer's Dice to the market!
~Steven
Nearly 113% - We Approach Our First Stretch Goal! Giveaway Announcement
almost 5 years ago
– Fri, Jun 28, 2019 at 10:04:44 AM
Hi everyone, what a day it's been! We went from just over 100% to almost 113% in one day! It's been incredible, and I again want to thank you all.
I've teamed up with Gamer Leaf and did an interview with him the other day - the podcast dropped today! If you want to check it out, here's the link: Are you nearly dead? Then try Healer’s Dice! There's also a giveaway for some blue and silver dice I'm doing with them as well.
A note on colors: There are only three ways to get blue and silver products from me: Conventions, Giveaways, and Ravenclaw-themed items. Blue and silver were my best friend Uyên's favorite colors, and I reserve that color scheme for things that directly remind me of her. She did her best to convince me to start my own company, and to help me do it - the process stalled for a few years after she passed away, but I've finally gotten back on track!
Again, I wanted to thank everyone here for all your support, and for being an amazing group of backers! Keep being incredible people!
92.5%! We're So Close! New Add-On Items Announced.
almost 5 years ago
– Thu, Jun 27, 2019 at 09:57:53 PM
Hi everyone! Thank you so much for being awesome people! It's been wonderful to watch this grow.
First, I've been reaching out to a few more factories with production quotes (I've been learning a LOT about dice mass production) and have found some very promising leads. I want to go inspect the factory before I sign a contract though - I want to ensure the quality will be to my standard.
Secondly, I've been busy experimenting! I created some interesting wooden dice boxes the other day, and just got around to photographing them last night:
At present, I won't be adding these boxes as a separate tier, mainly due to the manufacturing concerns. I will, however, include them as an add-on item. These are premium products, owing to the amount of craftsmanship that goes into their construction. As such they'll have a bit of a premium price tag:
- A small, 1-bottle walnut or cherry magnetic, felt-lined box with 1 engraved bottle without dice: $25 ($28 if you want to include two dice)
- A large, 5-bottle walnut or cherry magnetic, felt-lined box with 5 engraved bottles without dice: $100 ($110 if you want to include ten dice)
I haven't yet made the boxes for the premium tier ($100 resin sets with wood boxes), but they will be at least this quality - made from both walnut and cherry together, with veneer-inlayed highlights.
Thank you all for all your support! I am very excited to bring these dice to the market!
WE'VE DONE IT!
almost 5 years ago
– Wed, Jun 26, 2019 at 08:43:33 PM
Thank you all so much for being incredible people! We started today with just over 90% funding, and have moved up all the way to 103.5% in just one day! I am completely blown away right now.
The next step for me is to finalize the deal with a manufacturer. I'm working hard on that - I'm currently evaluating eight different quotes for quality and capability. As soon as I get one isolated, I'll go ensure that they can produce at the level they claim, then we'll get started on the manufacturing process for all your dice!
Thank you yet again for all being such incredible people!
