BOOK OF THE EMPRESS Kickstarter

[Steve Long]

Howdy Herophiles!

Hero Games is proud to announce the launch of its first Kickstarter project: The Book Of The Empress!

You can go to Kickstarter and pledge your support here: Book Of The Empress Kickstarter.

Our goal is to raise $10,000 in pledges by January 29 to produce the book. We'd appreciate any support you can offer!


For those of you who are unfamiliar with Kickstarter, here's how it works. Kickstarter is a form of "crowdfunding," in which people such as yourselves offer their financial support for a creative project to see it completed. You can pledge as much as you want, from $1 up to any amount. At certain pledge levels (such as $10, $25, and $50), there are special "rewards" you get for backing the project. For example, for the BotE Kickstarter, pledging $25 gets you a PDF of the book and thanks in the credits, while pledging $50 gets you all that and a copy of the hardcopy printed book.

When you pledge to back a Kickstarter project, no money is taken from you unless the project reaches its full funding level. If it fails to reach its goal (in the case of BotE, $10,000), then no money is taken from anyone and the project doesn't see the light of day.

But naturally, we hope that doesn't happen! Here at Hero we're looking at Kickstarter as an intriguing new way to continue to publish HERO System books the fans want. If this one funds successfully, then we'll plan and launch Kickstarters for other books. Please join us in leading Hero into a new and exciting era!

[teh bunneh]

Count me in! I've made my pledge.

[mallet]

Excited for this and I will pledge, just not sure if it will be for a PDF or physical copy. I much prefer a hardcopy of the book, but a quick question/comment. $30 shipping to Canada? Is that correct? I've ordered a lot of stuff from the USA over the years (including numerous orders from Hero) and I've never seen a $30 shipping charge for a single book before.

Oh, and a second question. If I do pledge for a physical copy of the book, do I pledge $50 now and pay another $30 later for shipping, or do I pledge $80 right off the bat and the $30 for shipping comes out of that amount?

Thanks!

[bigbywolfe]

Over 10% already! A chance to have Steve come run a game? [think]Must not max out credit card. Must not max out credit card...[/thinks]

I will definitely be donating when I'm not at work.

[Balabanto]

I support Hero no matter what the supplement is. Count me in for a printed copy.

[bigbywolfe]

Already at 14%. I know Kickstarts tend to slow down after the first few days and pick up again near the end, but if things keep this pace and we reach 100% in a week or two is there plans for more rewards or improvements if a higher goal is reached?

[Steve Long]

$30 shipping to Canada? Is that correct? I've ordered a lot of stuff from the USA over the years (including numerous orders from Hero) and I've never seen a $30 shipping charge for a single book before.

Oh, and a second question. If I do pledge for a physical copy of the book, do I pledge $50 now and pay another $30 later for shipping, or do I pledge $80 right off the bat and the $30 for shipping comes out of that amount?

The amount quoted is correct -- it's based on the US Postal Service rates for sending a book of this size to Canada. Traditionally Hero (and many other companies) have been willing to eat a large chunk of that cost, but this isn't something Hero's willing to do with a Kickstarter. None of us here are happy about it, believe me.

As I understand it you would pledge $80 and indicate with your pledge that it's a $50 pledge with $30 for shipping -- I believe there's a way to do that when you make the pledge. If you find that's not the case please let me know.

[Steve Long]

Already at 14%. I know Kickstarts tend to slow down after the first few days and pick up again near the end, but if things keep this pace and we reach 100% in a week or two is there plans for more rewards or improvements if a higher goal is reached?

You're correct that the most pledges tend to come in at the very beginning and the very end, with a "slow period" in the middle. But hopefully we'll be well on our way to funding BotE before the initial slowdown.

If the project exceeds the $10,000 goal we'll definitely consider posting some further rewards or improvements to the project. We haven't thought about that in detail because we don't want to count our chickens 'fore they're hatched, but we definitely want to support the fans who are supporting us if we can.

[gojira]

As I understand it you would pledge $80 and indicate with your pledge that it's a $50 pledge with $30 for shipping -- I believe there's a way to do that when you make the pledge. If you find that's not the case please let me know.

It appears that the amount you pledge and the reward you select are two different things. So I think they'd pledge 80$ and select the $50 reward. In the future, it might help to make the rewards with shipping a separate item. I don't know if you can have multiple rewards at the same amount but that's how I'd do it; there'd be an $80 reward that said "basic book plus shipping to Canada" and a $100 reward that said "basic book plus shipping to Europe".

Anyhoo, BotE not my thing, although I might kick in a few bucks, especially if it gets close to the end and there's only a bit more to go for the project to meet its minimum. Good luck folks!

[cptpatriot]

People have done specific selections for other countries in the past. Some of the other sci-fi campaign settings that was advertised from D3 I believe comes to mind.

[djkester]

Pledge Made.

[quozaxx]

Does this mean that the only way to get a hard copy (or PDF) of the book is to use kickstarter?

Or (if the project goes through), hard copies will be eventually available through my favorite gaming shop?

[Steve Long]

Does this mean that the only way to get a hard copy (or PDF) of the book is to use kickstarter?

Or (if the project goes through), hard copies will be eventually available through my favorite gaming shop?

If the Kickstarter succeeds, that should allow Hero to print enough copies to make the book available to other customers. However, AFAIK there are no plans to offer it to distribution, so even at that the odds are you won't see it at your local gaming shop -- you'd have to order it directly from Hero here at the Online Store.

If you want a copy, by far the best way to get one is to back the Kickstarter. That makes the project (and thus the printing of the book) more likely to succeed.

[Steve]

I threw $50 at the project, and it looks like things are moving along nicely with four weeks left to go and already a third of the goal funded.

[Lord Liaden]

If the Kickstarter succeeds, that should allow Hero to print enough copies to make the book available to other customers. However, AFAIK there are no plans to offer it to distribution, so even at that the odds are you won't see it at your local gaming shop -- you'd have to order it directly from Hero here at the Online Store.

If you want a copy, by far the best way to get one is to back the Kickstarter. That makes the project (and thus the printing of the book) more likely to succeed.

I chose the "no rewards" option when I made my pledge, counting on buying the book from the Hero online store once it's printed.