September Update
over 1 year ago – Fri, Sep 01, 2023 at 10:35:13 PM

September Monthly Update

Hello everyone! As we head into the beginning of fall we're watching the fires in Maui and Kelowna, and all over North America, and hoping everyone is keeping safe and well. Our Quest Chest team has friends in both those areas, and we want to wish them, and everyone else the very best.

As a reminder, if you would like to join the Quest Chest Discord to chat with each other, as well as ask any questions you might have, you can find it here - https://discord.gg/KUYaNQaPcJ

Project Update

Upcoming Survey

In the next update in October we will be launching a survey through BackerKit to ask for some information we need to prepare for fulfillment next year. We'll be looking for shipping addresses (you'll still be able to change this if you move/need to ship elsewhere, this is just going to help us estimate shipping costs etc), for those who backed Early Bird we'll be looking to identify you so you get your coin, and for those who participated in our puzzles we'll be asking which of the coins you'd like to receive. As a reminder if you have pledged more than $100 and you completed the puzzles during the campaign, you will be able to receive EVERY puzzle coin you achieved! If you are under the $100 threshold and would like all the coins, you can increase your pledge and you will get all of the ones you unlocked!

This survey is a good opportunity for anyone who wants to add items to their pledge, or upgrade to a different pledge level.

•  Writing - The writing continues apace! We've gotten each individual chest in the Campaign fully integrated, snipping all the dangling plot threads and weaving the larger narrative through each box without compromising the individual stories we want to tell. This is a little more challenging than it might seem; each box needs to have its own voice and its own unique setting while contributing to the whole. We're very excited about what we've managed to create, and the world you'll be stepping into :)
•  Art - Regional maps are great, and we love them, but this month we've been working on the full map of the continent! We came into this story with a pretty good idea of the geography of our world, but it's always very cool watching the specifics take shape. We now know the coastline, the rise and fall of the mountains, and every little river and delta, and how these features will help inform the stories you'll be telling within the world. We will be sharing the finalized map at a later time, once we've had the opportunity to add every final bit of polish to it.
•  Distribution - We'll be launching a survey with the October update to collect addresses and other shipping information so that we can finalize our fulfillment costs and give you an idea of what to expect for shipping. 
•  Manufacturing - Very little to update on this front, except that our manufacturers are ready to go! 

Words words words from Austin and Michael

Michael - Boats and bandits and ghosts and gods! I've spent most of this past month with my brain full of combat, dialogue, and characters and I honestly couldn't be happier. It's been a really fun challenge to mentally walk through each of the stories we'd created and see how they all stitch together. Every one of the Chests needs to be able to stand on its own without needing the lead-in or outro from another box, but also to fit into the storyline in a way that feels natural and narratively coherent. We're at a place now where I feel really good about anyone being able to pick up a box and play out of order, but also really enjoy playing them sequentially, so I'm onto the actual writing portion now! The mechanical portions of the Guidebooks are up next, which is going to take quite a while (most likely the next couple of updates).

Austin - Spirits and cultists and tattoos, oh my! The landscape of The Frontier is diverse and eye-catching. One of my absolute pleasures has been working with Michael to create a setting that has so many unique flavors all stirring together like a delicious meal. Creating the imagery for this world has been my foremost task, and I think you're going to love the concepts we've managed to pack into every corner. The characters, magic, and creatures are grounded in a rich landscape. A tapestry of concepts that come to life together in a truly fantastical way. I can't wait to hear the stories you weave in this world, and the props are going to truly elevate your experience! Next update, I'll be showcasing some more of this imagery with you, and I'm excited to hear your thoughts!

That's it for this update, lots more to come next month!

Post Campaign Update 1!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Aug 01, 2023 at 01:37:20 PM

August Monthly Update

Hey folks! We're one month out from the Kickstarter finishing, and wanted to provide some expectations as to how we will be updating on the project progress throughout development, and some company news! This first update is a bit of a long one, so bear with us :D

We'd like to keep everyone up to date with where we are as we create and fulfill the Quest Chest Year of Quests, so we'll be sending out official updates once per month here on Kickstarter, on the first of each month. If we have any other really exciting news that we just can't wait to share we'll be announcing it in our Discord, which you can access here - https://discord.gg/KUYaNQaPcJ

If you have any questions for us, or just want to chat and let us know what you're excited about, you can post comments on Kickstarter, hit us up in the Discord (where we will most likely be already, in our team voice chat getting writing done!), or shoot us an email at - [email protected]

Company News

We are very excited to announce that our articles of incorporation have come through! Quest Chest is officially the first product of the brand new gaming company FoxWing Games! 

When we first began creating the Quest Chest it was a pure collaboration between Austin as The Dungeon Artist, and Michael as Bookwyrm Games, but the more we wrote, and the more wonderful people we worked with to bring this to life, the more we realized we wanted to represent the project as a true collaboration rather than just a partnership between the two of us. FoxWing games will be a place we can create and imagine along with an amazing community of artists, writers and storytellers for many years to come, and Quest Chest will be our first opportunity to share our worlds with you.

Project Update

• Writing - Before the campaign launched we had a very good idea of what story we wanted to tell with each box in the Campaign Chest, and how they would all fit together, so we had a real running start when the Kickstarter ended and we got to work writing. That being said, making sure everything fits together into a cohesive and well plotted story isn't a simple matter! This past month we've aligned each of the individual stories in the Chest, and begun writing on Box 1.
• Art - Art is such a vital part of storytelling for us, and for Quest Chest, and we tend to work on it as an extension of our writing process. We can't know where characters are going, or how long it'll take them to get there until we can see it on a map! Preliminary character design, geographic points of interest, and of course the all important regional maps have been our focus this month.
• Distribution - While we're just at the beginning of our creative process for bringing you the Quest Chest, we want to be thinking as far ahead as possible to ensure the smoothest process during fulfillment. We've started conversations with several distributors with a view to locking down a timeline and shipping cost expectation sooner rather than later.
•  Manufacturing - We've had discussions with several manufacturers and have gotten preliminary quotes! We've a good idea of where we're going to land with the physical creation of the Chests, and the timeline for production. Finalizing this part obviously has to wait until we've completed the creative on what needs manufacturing, and then there's the sample process etc, but we're very confident with where we are right now.

Words words words from Austin and Michael

Michael - It's been a real joy to be able to truly kick into the creative process over the past month! Our focus has very much been on cleaning up the plotting for each box, and making sure that nothing in each of the individual stories we are telling compromises or contradicts the whole. One of the major challenges of a storytelling project this ambitious is that we need to tell cohesive and contained stories in each of the boxes. Since we want to make sure that someone playing just one box still has a satisfying experience we are taking a lot of time tinkering with the beginnings and endings of each box and how they interact with each other and with the overarching story as a whole. I've had a ton of fun reworking the nuts and bolts of how the stories stitch together, and I'm really excited about some of the new ideas and surprises which have come out of that. 

Austin - I’ve been hard at work on the map along with the other art assets. As Michael and I have been writing these stories, one challenge has been fitting all of our ideas into this world. We quickly realized that this world is far greater than we previously imagined.  Future stories will be told in the lands beyond the Frontier, and we have left ample space for those stories as well. This world that we’ve created is rich and full to bursting, and we can’t wait to show you the map when it’s completed!

That's it for this update, lots more to come next month!

Just Launched: Dungeon Scribe's Magical Oddities!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Jul 11, 2023 at 07:17:27 AM

Hello backers! 

Thank you all again for your amazing support for Quest Chest! We're blown away at the level of support we've gotten from this community. We're working behind the scenes to finish the content for these quests, and secure rates for shipping/fulfillment. We will also be launching our BackerKit surveys soon, to finalize information from our core backers, and then open up for late pledges! 

But while all of that is in the works, we wanted to reach out real quick and let you know that, even though our campaign has ended, a good friend of Quest Chest just launched their very own Kickstarter as well! Dungeon Scribe has just launched "Dungeon Scribe's Magical Oddities: 5e Item Tome"

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ds-magical-oddities/dungeon-scribes-magical-oddities-5e-item-tome

Please check out their amazing set of magical items for 5e. After all, they could make a great companion to Quest Chest, if you choose to run your Quest Chests with 5e!

We'll be back with our first major post-campaign update soon, and we will be discussing our communication schedule going forward.

Thank you,

The Quest Chest Team

Campaign Finale: 30K Unlocked!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Jul 06, 2023 at 12:24:18 PM

Wow! 30K!

In the last few hours, as the campaign was coming to a close, we blasted through the finish line over 30K! Wooooh! Thank you so much to all of you. We are floored by the response we've gotten from this project. It is crazy to think that a little over a year ago, this project was an idea in our heads. A wild dream. Now, nearly 200 backers have decided to see this happen, and have come together to make it a reality. 

This means we unlocked the 30K stretch goal!

That's right! Each quest will now come with an included sticker and pin, as well as a custom "Rune-Roller" class that is compatible with all of our supported systems!

What is Next?

With the campaign coming to a close, the card you have on file will be charged over the next 3 days. If it doesn't go through, you'll be sent follow-up emails about getting the charge resolved.

All backers will have access to the Pledge Manager Survey via BackerKit that will be released at a different time.

What is BackerKit, and When Will I Get My Survey?

BackerKit is a Backer Management system that many Kickstarter projects use to help finalize orders after the campaign has concluded. It allows us to capture all of the data, and to give backers one final chance to adjust their pledge before we begin fulfillment. 

We will be finalizing the BackerKit surveys and sending them out at a later date, that we will update you all on. The primary reason we're waiting to release the BackerKit is to allow us to have some more negotiations behind the scenes with our vendors and partners so that we can ensure the lowest-possible shipping price for our backers, and to make sure that you don't need to re-enter shipping information if you relocate before your Quests are ready to ship.

We will also be opening up Late Pledges, so if you or someone you know didn't manage to get into the campaign before it ended, not to worry! Anyone still interested in the Quest Chest project will be able to hop in late and get their very own year of quests.

Puzzle Coins Just Got Better!

If you end up backing for $100 or more(including your current pledge, and any addons or changes made in BackerKit), you will receive all of the challenge coins that you’ve achieved, instead of a single coin of your choice. 

We have also decided to sell the Brass Challenge Coin on BackerKit. So if you want extras, or if you missed a chance to complete the puzzles, you can get that one. But the Copper, Silver, and Gold coins will be exclusive to people who completed the puzzles. And the Ossein(red) coin is for early backers, and puzzlers alike.

Example 1: if you backed for $50, and completed 3 of the puzzles, you will receive one challenge coin of your choice(from the first 3 options: Brass, Bronze, or Red plating). 

Example 2: if you backed at $50 during the campaign, and raise your pledge to $100 during BackerKit, you will receive ALL 4 of the first 4 challenge coins that you unlocked.

So if you haven’t completed any puzzles yet, make sure to do them today! The #answers channel will be closing at midnight CST July 6th, in ~9 hours!!

Here are the challenge coins that are available, for reference:

Again

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for beginning this journey with us, and we look forward to sharing our progress with you as we work to bring you these Quests, as well as hearing your stories and discoveries as you play them!

With so much love and gratitude,

Austin and Michael

Puzzle Number 5: A Mysterious Letter
over 1 year ago – Tue, Jul 04, 2023 at 09:53:27 AM

Puzzle Number 5: A Mysterious Letter

Thankfully we managed to piece together the runes to open the stone door in front of us, and as we spoke the code the rock glowed a bright blue and slid out of the way. Noodle is fairly sure that this is where he dropped the last of the coins, so hand in hand we step into the dark corridor beyond the stone door. 

The rock beneath our feet slopes subtly downward, and there isn't much light to show the way. Thankfully Noodle did remember a small torch! As he lights it and our eyes adjust, we begin to see the remains of frescoes painted into the walls. We walk for a time, looking left and right as the images on the stone around us slowly become more simplistic, transitioning to carvings, and then mere scratches. 

The temperature drops as we continue downwards, and we shiver as Noodle leads us to the remains of a broken wooden door. Prodding it open and taking a tentative step inside, we observe a small stone room, broken pieces of pottery littering the ground as though dashed against the floor. A dark and slightly sticky looking substance coats one of the walls, handprints and scratches in random patterns. 

Below the stained stone lies... a letter? Perhaps this is is a clue? Or perhaps the beginning of something more....

Remember, in order to solve the puzzle you'll need to head to the Quest Chest Discord and go into the answers channel, using the /answers command to input your solution!