New Year Update
about 3 years ago – Thu, Jan 19, 2023 at 11:28:41 AM

Hi Everyone!

My name is Cory DeVore and I'm the Marketing Director at Earthborne Games. Like all of us at Earthborne, I wear many hats. I've been helping with some graphic design, art treatments, and just whatever needs done, but I've been taking on more and more marketing related tasks over the last six months. Formerly, I was the Sculpting Lead at Fantasy Flight Games for about four years, and worked at Atomic Mass as a Senior Plastic Engineer for a little after that. I'm incredibly excited to be on the Earthborne team, working with people I've missed from our time together at FFG, and I'm looking forward to helping get our game out into the world and help keep you all informed! 

A new year is upon us, and as '22 passes the torch to '23 it's fitting that we've handed off all of Earthborne Rangers to the factory for production. It's been an incredibly busy couple of months for us as we scour files for issues and make sure everything is exactly as it should be. The physical printing itself has not yet begun, but it will very soon. We'll let you know the specific dates of manufacturing and assembly once we learn them ourselves.

TL;DR

Topics: Production Timeline, Pre-order Store Closing (and how that affects pledge management), New Playable Demo, and Expansion Progress.

Action Required by Backers: If you'd like to add any last-minute items to your order, please do so by January 31, 2023. To add an item to your order please contact Backerkit at [email protected], and they'll be able to help you out.

Current Estimated Delivery:  March/April 2023.

…

Production Timeline

We've sent files to Ludo Fact (our factory) for their review, and have given everything one final proofread to make sure it's all exactly how we want it. This process has kept us, and our partners, very busy. Thankfully, we are incredibly happy with how everything is looking and, so far, we have had very few notes from Ludo Fact concerning our print-ready files.

This week Ludo Fact let us know that, based on our current schedule, manufacturing will be completed at the end of February. That's an optimistic estimate, but we sure hope that's the case! This would place fulfillment in March and/or April, as currently estimated.

Pre-order Store Closing (and pledge additions)

Back in October we opened up a pre-order store on Backerkit for folks who missed the Kickstarter but still wanted in on the initial print run. We will be closing the pre-order store on January 31, 2023, so if you know anyone who'd like to pre-order Earthborne Rangers but hasn't yet, please let them know.

Additionally, although we closed the pledge manager last April, you have from now until January 31st to add any last minute items you would like to your order. If that is something you'd like to do, you can contact Backerkit at [email protected], and they'll be able to help you out.

Please note: There will still be time to modify your address on Backerkit after January 31st. Additionally, you should receive an email to confirm your shipping address once we're closer to fulfillment.

New Playable Demo (TTS & PnP)

At the end of November we made the full rulebook available for all of you to dig into and we've loved seeing all of your excitement! On December 13th, we followed that up with a newly updated demo of the game, which is available as a mod for Tabletop Simulator and as a set of Print & Play PDFs. This demo will remain available for the foreseeable future, so if you'd like to play a reasonably spoiler-free, preview version of Earthborne Rangers before your printed copy arrives, please do!

Legacy of the Ancestors Progress

Even though we've been busy finalizing the core set files, we've been working on the Legacy of the Ancestors expansion for the better part of a year! A lot of development work has been done, including work on the campaign structure, new path sets, and new locations. Campaign development and art is currently in progress, and we'll have more to share about all of it in the coming months.

…

As always, if you’d like to stay as up to date as possible with the development of Earthborne Rangers, we invite you to check out our bi-weekly podcast. Here are the last few episodes:

Episode 21

Episode 22

 Episode 23

…

That's all we have for today, but we'll be in touch as soon as we can say "it's printing!"

Thank you for your time, folks! 

-Cory

November '22 Update
over 3 years ago – Fri, Nov 25, 2022 at 09:11:57 PM

 Hi everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you’re all doing well.

This month, I’m happy to report that––at long last––we’ve completed all work on the print files for the core game. Proofreading is complete, changes have been implemented, and we’re set to deliver our first round of files to the printer next week. This puts a cap on several months of revisions, answering rules questions and fielding suggestions from our localization partners, and fine-tuning the campaign guide and the rulebook. It’s been a tremendous team effort, and I’m tremendously relieved to have finally reached this milestone.

Our localization partners have painstakingly reviewed and scrutinized every last word of the game in an effort to make the foreign language editions as faithful to the vision as possible, and in so doing, have made the English-language edition all the better for it. We’re extremely grateful for the many, many hours of work that our partners have put into Earthborne Rangers. They’ve treated the project with care and reverence, and I’m confident that their skillful work will come through in the localized editions.

Speaking of which, I was able to see a print-on-demand version of the Italian edition last month at Lucca Comics & Games in Lucca, Italy, and it looked fantastic. Fantasia printed everything but the tokens and the box, so all the cards were there as well as the rulebook and the full campaign guide. It was the first time that I had seen the rulebook printed and bound, and just holding it in my hands filled me with joy. The cards, which I’ve grown accustomed to seeing printed on Fischer’s home printer on standard printer paper, also looked amazing.

 Even better was the fact that the game was so well received. The demo tables were always full, and – at least in the two days I was at the booth – everyone who had the opportunity to play seemed to enjoy the game immensely. The Fantasia booth staff was amazing, and Andrea and Bruno, who conducted the majority of the demos, did a fantastic job. I wish I spoke Italian so that I could have been more helpful, but I did have a lot of fun talking with content creators and a few delightful English-speaking attendees who were more than happy to translate my description of the game for their Italian-speaking friends. It was a lot of fun, and I left the show looking forward to finally being able to give demos of the game (in English) at conventions in the States next year.

On the first day of the show, Andrea of Fantasia and I demoed the game on IoGiocco’s livestream. I thought the host asked some great questions throughout the demo. You can check that out here. Most of it is in Italian, but my answers, of course, are in English.

Lastly, in celebration of finishing our work on the core game, I invite you all to explore the final version of the rulebook. Enjoy!

As always, if you’d like to stay as up to date as possible with the development of Earthborne Rangers, I invite you to check out our bi-weekly podcast.

Episode 17

Episode 18

 Episode 19

 Episode 20

 If you have any questions, concerns, or if you’d just like to say hello, please send us an email at [email protected] or send us a DM on Kickstarter.

Until next time!

Much love,

Andrew

Add-On Update
over 3 years ago – Fri, Oct 14, 2022 at 10:43:42 AM

Hi everyone!

I have a very short update for you today that applies to any backers who meet the following criteria:

• Ordered the Deluxe Energy Tokens add-on
• Ordered the Valley playmat add-on

If you don’t fall into either of these categories, then please feel free to stop reading now, and have a beautiful day!

If either of the above apply to you, then please continue!

Deluxe Energy Tokens

In working on the deluxe energy tokens with our manufacturer, I decided that I wanted to make the deluxe energy token add-on into a full set of tokens instead. To that end, we’ve added progress, harm, and general counters to the set. The counters are 15 mm wooden dice, embossed with the progress, harm, and general icon in place of the “1.” There are five of each included in one set of tokens.

Valley Playmat

In playtesting, we found that the Valley playmat, which was originally designed to be approximately 2’ x 2’ was much larger than it needed to be, unnecessarily taking up a lot of table space, so we reduced the size (and the price) to match our Ranger playmat. If you’ve ordered a Valley playmat, you’ll receive a $10 credit in BackerKit. There’s no action that you need to take. The $10 credit will effectively turn into a $10 discount on shipping once we charge for it.

That’s it!

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us at [email protected] or send us a DM on Kickstarter.

Much love,

Andrew

September '22 Update
over 3 years ago – Tue, Oct 04, 2022 at 04:32:54 AM

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re all doing well.

I have a short update for you this month. Our deadline for final, print-ready files is just a few short days away, and all written material for the core game is in the hands of our proofreaders.

I’m currently in the process of setting up our pre-order store, so if you know anyone who’s been waiting for an opportunity to pick up a copy for themselves, they will be able to reserve one very soon.

Conventions

Essen Spiel is this week, and our German partner, Frosted Games, will be at the convention demoing full prototypes of their localized edition of Earthborne Rangers. If you’re planning on attending the show, please stop by and check it out! Their booth number is 1-D116.

There’s also another big convention later this month: Lucca Comics & Games in Lucca, Italy where our Italian partner, Fantasia, will be demoing a prototype of their localized edition. You’ll be able to find their booth nestled within the Padiglione Carducci. Plus, you’ll also be able to find me there! I’ll be working the booth and helping with demos on Friday and Saturday (October 28 and 29). I’ve always wanted to attend Lucca, and I’m incredibly grateful to Fantasia for providing me with the opportunity to do so. If you find yourself in Lucca, Italy at the end of the month, then I hope to see you there!

If you’d like to stay as up to date as possible with the development of Earthborne Rangers, I invite you, as always, to check out our bi-weekly podcast:

Episode 15 

Episode 16 

If you have any questions, concerns, or if you’d just like to say hello, please send us an email at [email protected] or send us a DM on Kickstarter.

Enjoy the change of seasons!

Until next time!

Much love,

Andrew

August Update
over 3 years ago – Sun, Sep 04, 2022 at 03:54:34 AM

Hi everyone!

I hope you’re all doing well, wherever you are.

August has been a monumental month for us. After over two years of work, we’ve completed development on the core set. I’ll tell you, it feels pretty good to be able to write that sentence. As of now, the rulebook, campaign guide, and all of the cards are in the hands of our localization partners as together we scrutinize each of the 100,000 words in the core set and prepare to deliver print files to the factory a few short weeks from now.

Our current schedule has us delivering print files to the factory in mid-October. When exactly manufacturing will take place, however, is still a bit up in the air. I had hoped to have firm dates to share with you in this update, but for now, all I can share are the factory’s estimates.

Because of the ongoing supply chain instability to which we’ve all become accustomed, current estimates cover a wide range of dates. By our factory’s estimates, manufacturing and assembly will conclude anywhere between 6 and 15 weeks after file delivery. To put it another way, manufacturing could conclude as early as December of this year, or as late as February of the next. I will share the actual dates with you as soon as I have them. Once the manufacturing dates are solidified, we’ll know the fulfillment timeline as well.

More About Manufacturing

After much deliberation and internal struggle (that is, within myself, not within the company), I’ve decided to print the entirety of the first run of Earthborne Rangers at Ludo Fact in Germany. This was not a decision that I made lightly, as I truly believed that printing at least a portion of Earthborne Rangers domestically with sustainably sourced materials was not only possible, but was a forgone conclusion. That, coupled with the fact that we created (and attained) a campaign stretch goal to produce a portion of the initial print run in North America, made me very resistant to the idea of not seeing that part of the vision through.

After our first option for domestic manufacturing fell-through last winter, however, and we began the process of looking for alternate manufacturers, it became more and more clear that the number of factories in North America who a) had the expertise and machinery required to create a high-quality board game, b) could print it by the end of the year, and c) could do so with sustainably sourced materials, was extremely small.

We found a few eco-minded printers who specialized primarily in calendars, envelopes, promotional mailers, and the like, who had ready access to responsibly sourced materials, but  were either not interested or not able to take on the production of a high-quality card game.

We also found a few card-specialist printers who were interested in expanding their capabilities to produce Earthborne Rangers, but  were unable to acquire FSC-certified paper.

Lastly, we spoke with multiple established game manufacturers in the U.S. who had the capacity to print by the end of the year, but due to supply chain constraints, could not do so with sustainably sourced materials. There is a silver lining, however, in that there are a couple of factories who fall into this category who are interested in working with us down the road, and I hope to continue conversations with them in the months and years ahead to bring future productions of Earthborne Rangers, and future products, to the States.

Why Ludo Fact?

Although the decision to print entirely in Europe was a difficult one, I’m happy to say that we’re working with one of the most forward-thinking and environmentally conscious manufacturers in the industry. I’ve been in conversations with Ludo Fact about Earthborne Rangers since September of 2020, and they’ve been incredibly supportive and interested in helping us achieve our vision throughout.

If you’d like to read more about why I feel Ludo Fact is a good fit for Earthborne, you can read the “Ludo Fact Goes Green” section of their website here.

In short, Ludo Fact has all the qualities that I was hoping to find in the manufacturer of Earthborne Rangers. They’re FSC-certified, they source their paper from regional suppliers, and to top it all off, their factory uses exclusively renewable energy.

It’s worth noting also that Ludo Fact owns a factory here in the States, but as of now, that factory is not able to produce Earthborne Rangers to our specifications. It is my hope, however, that one day they will be able to do just that.

Valley and Pivotal Location Sets Preview

Over the last three months, we’ve previewed cards from the Lakeshore, Woods, and Old-Growth terrain sets. This month, I thought it would be fun to talk about how those cards combine with others to form the path deck.

The path deck contains the flora, fauna, natural features, structures, and characters you’ll meet on your journey, and the longer you remain at a single location, the more you’ll reveal from the path deck.

During a game of Earthborne Rangers, when you travel from one location to another, the first thing you’ll do is check the terrain type of the trail leading from your current location to your destination. This determines the terrain set you'll use to construct the path deck. Then, you’ll determine whether your destination is a standard location or a “pivotal” location. 

When you look at the Valley map, you’ll see that there are two classifications of locations, indicated by two different location icons. The locations marked by a yellow-gold “star” icon are called pivotal locations, and when you visit them, you’ll have the opportunity to meet characters and encounter features unique to those locations.

If your destination is one of the nine pivotal locations in the Valley, you’ll take the corresponding card set for that location and combine it with the terrain set when building the path deck.

If your destination is a standard location, however, you’ll deal three random cards from the Valley set and combine those with the terrain set instead.

The 14-card Valley set contains unique features, dangerous predators, and several fellow wanderers–many of whom will offer you side-activities that, when completed, reward you with new, powerful Ranger cards. 

After you’ve combined the terrain set with the appropriate location set, you may also be instructed by weather cards or mission cards in play to add a few more cards to the path deck. We'll preview examples of those at a later date.

Once you’ve built the path deck, you’ll proceed to “arrival setup,” where you’ll be instructed by the location card on how to stage the play area. Then, each Ranger will draw one path card, and the round begins.

If you’d like to stay as up to date as possible with Earthborne Rangers, I invite you to check out our bi-weekly podcast, the next episode of which will be released on Friday, September 9th.

Episode 13

Episode 14

As always, if you have any questions, you can reach us at [email protected], or you can send us a DM on Kickstarter.

Until next time!

Much Love,

Andrew