Moving Along
about 3 years ago – Sat, Nov 20, 2021 at 09:15:06 PM

Hello! I hope everyone is doing well! I don't have a big update for you today. To get right into it, nearly all files have been submitted to the printer and we are getting ready for production.

Yeah, I said "nearly". I would have really loved to not have to put that "nearly" in there. I know we had a hard deadline for the end of October, but we hit a number of setbacks on getting the rulebook finished, and so, unfortunately, it is the last outstanding element. Which sucks, because I really want to show it to you, but that will have to wait until next update.

The good news is that the rulebook goes right at the top of the box, so we're able to move forward with production while we wait for that to finish up. One other interesting tidbit about the rulebook: it is 84 pages long, which is 21 saddle-stitched sheets, which is...more sheets than a staple can handle. So we'll actually have two rulebooks! One for the rules for playing a scenario, and one for the campaign elements and outpost phase of the game, along with all the appendices.

Not much else to report other than that. I would like to mention that we will be at PAX Unplugged, which is in Philidelphia, Dec. 10-12. We'll have Frosthaven demos set up both at our booth (#2531) and the dedicated demo area, where you get to keep the character ability deck you demoed with when you're done. We'll also be doing a Frosthaven & Beyond event at the show (Leviathan room, Saturday at 10:30 am), which will kind of be a retrospective on this whole Frosthaven project, a Q&A, and some other cool surprise stuff, all MCed by Mik from Our Family Plays Games!

And if you are going to PAXU and/or are local to the area, we're looking for a few more seasoned players who are familiar and excited to share the new Frosthaven mechanics as part of our demo team. You can sign up to help us out here.

And that's it! Once we finish with proofing and actually start up the printing, we will be getting a much better idea of our schedule going forward, which will also be helpful in our continuing effort to coordinate the shipping leg of our journey. So you can look forward to more of that info in future updates.

Until then, have a great weekend and stay safe!

Oh, and one additional edit: we're working with Backerkit to get the requested organizer refunds out, and we should start processing them next week. Sorry for the delay!

Some info on solo scenarios
about 3 years ago – Mon, Nov 08, 2021 at 12:55:09 AM

Hello! The surveys are now closed for the new organizers, so we will be working with Backerkit to get refunds to everyone who wanted them and we're working on a new survey for those who selected Laserox between the full wood and the tuck boxes (see last update for more info).

In addition to that, we are still finishing up the very last of the efforts, like the rulebook and the 1-page sheet going at the top of the box to explain how to organize everything inside. We anticipate they'll be done by next week, and they're the last things to go in the box, so they aren't stopping up us from moving forward with production. We're still going through proofing for now, but I'll let you know when we have more activity on the production side.

What I wanted to do today is talk about something I haven't really touched on much this campaign: the solo scenario book addon. This book functions similarly to the solo scenario book from Gloomhaven. Once a character is level 5 (there are no other requirements), they may attempt the scenario designed specifically for them and only them as a single character. You play it by yourself, and if you're able to finish it, you are rewarded with a class-specific item.

There are a few significant changes, though. First of all, the items are very much class specific, which helped to keep them balanced. This means that you can only get the items through the scenario, and once the character retires, the item doesn't stay in the item pool for other characters to purchase. If a new character of that class wants the item, they'll have to play the scenario again. This also means the item doesn't have a sell price, so at the moment you get the item, if you don't want it, you are allowed to gain a perk instead.

Unlike the other scenarios in Frosthaven, the solo scenarios are designed as more of a puzzle, where it is intended that you'll have all the information up front. For this reason, we didn't want to implement the new scenario structure seen in the Frosthaven scenario and section books. Instead, the presentation is similar to the Gloomhaven books, where the entire scenario is on the same page and you can look ahead. Though all the graphical elements have been updated, of course.

Like everything else in Frosthaven, these scenarios went through a lot of play testing, and the item rewards are also more finely tuned, so I'm excited for you to get all 17 of them to enjoy! And if you didn't add the solo scenarios to your pledge, they will be available later through our webstore and conventions.

So that's all I have for you this time. I hope to have more production info for you next time, and in the interim, I hope you are doing well, and have a great weekend!

Finishing up files and info from Laserox
about 3 years ago – Sat, Oct 23, 2021 at 06:10:05 AM

Hello! It is a whirlwind of activity over here at Cephalofair as we finish up the last of the files and get ready to start printing. We are this close to being done with fine-tuning and polishing up this game, and I am super-excited about it. This has been my all-day, every-day for the past two years, and I'm just really happy that I can finally start to focus on some other things.

Not that we are taking our hands off the wheel, though! It's just as we continue the proofing process and move forward with production and then shipping, we'll just finally be at a point where seeing this thing out the door won't require constant attention. Obviously we are still in a global shipping crisis, though, so we will be continuing to put as much effort as needed into making sure we successfully navigate through that.

But, anyway, I am getting a little ahead of myself, because we do still have a handful of things to finish up. The final big round of edits on the scenario and section books should be finishing up early next week, at which point we just need to give those one final once-over to make sure all the edits went smoothly, and then those massive books should be ready for the printer. At the same time, Josh is finishing up the final card templates we need to get all the smaller components to bed.

Just to tantalize you a bit, here are some new card templates we've cooked up:

We've adjusted the craftable items a little to better highlight the resources needed. We've also oriented the number on the back a better way so they are easier to search through when they're in their card well.

Josh spiced up the art on these monster ability cards just a little bit, and we're also using the new format for abilities as we've already shown on the ability cards.

While monster stat cards are still four-sided, we determined there just wasn't enough space to summarize a lot of the bosses' more complicated abilities, so we went to a two-side format for the boss stat cards. This means that there will actually be two stat cards per boss - one for levels 0-3, and one for 4-7 - but we'll be able to present their info more cleanly. I'm really happy with how all these turned out!

As files come in, Jason is also hard at work getting everything together for the rulebook. And the final artwork is coming in for the puzzle book so we can get that tied up nicely as well.

This project has obviously gone on much longer than any of us anticipated, but we've set a hard deadline to get all the efforts done by the end of the month, and we are still on track to make this happen. Production and shipping will still be a long, bumpy road on a project this massive, but we are all very happy to be finally clearing this hurdle at least.

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The other thing to discuss this week is, of course, more updates on the organizers.

First of all, given this update is coming out on a Friday and some people may not see it until next week, we've decided to push back the deadline on the survey to the end of the month, Monday, Nov. 1.

You can find the survey here: https://forms.gle/UrnwPDWbswkkAXnh9

And you can read more about it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frosthaven/frosthaven/posts/3309147

We initially set the survey deadline to give Folded Space and Laserox as much time as possible to plan out how many organizers they would need to produce, but they've both agreed that another week wouldn't hurt their planning.

So anyway, the main thing we'd like to communicate this week is more about the Laserox insert, which is now close to fully designed. I'm just going to let Peter from Laserox take over from here:

Dear Frostbackers,

During a last few weeks we had some great discussion here as well as on our Discord regarding our Frosthaven organizer. We actively listen to your input and deeply incorporate this in our design process. We promised you to show the direction our design process is heading. So here are some facts I want to share:

• We will have two versions of the organizer: one with tuck boxes printed with Frosthaven artwork and one with a wooden solution for monster storage. ALL other trays/components will be identical.

• So if you like tuck boxes, you can get those with official artwork, but if you don’t like small cardboard boxes, there is also a solution with the same usability for easy setup.

(Isaac Notes: The way we will be handling this is by sending out a second Google form to all backers who chose the Laserox option, asking if they want the tuck box or all wood solution. This will be happening once the first form closes and the new form will be open for at least a couple weeks. The default option for the new survey will be tuck boxes.)

• The organizer will have four character trays, and you get to keep all your character envelopes inside the box.

• All cards will fit comfortably with premium sleeves.
• .There will be NO lid lift.
• Wherever it makes sense and seems necessary, lids will be present.
• There will be trays for setup and separate for actual gameplay use, so what you don’t need during play can go back into the box
• Trays will have slanted walls for easy access wherever possible.

• We are also working on a good map tile storage, but that needs a bit more time to clear up.
• You can join our talk about the organizer design on our discord: https://discord.gg/qCHybASE4E

Okay, Isaac again. If you want more info on the Folded Space solution, you can read more about it in the last update. Also, we're happy to report that Folded Space and Laserox got together at Essen and had lots of good conversation about their joint tackling of this project with us. They are both comparing notes and design suggestions, as well as proofing each other's final designs to ensure no errors, omissions, or inconsistencies in storage needs. So we are extra-confident that these two options are going to be the best in the business for Frosthaven.

And one final reminder that if you have already filled out the survey but now wish to change your response for any reason, please reach out to [email protected], and Chris will help you out.

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And that's it! Just remember to get the survey filled out if you pledged for the insert because it closes at the end of the month!

Have a great weekend and I'll see you next time!

More storage solution info
about 3 years ago – Mon, Oct 11, 2021 at 02:10:50 AM

Hello! Our mini convention run of Gen Con, Origins, and Geekway to the West has concluded, so we have been working hard to put the finishing touches on this project. We'll have more info for you on where we are with production in the next update, but for now, I wanted to provide you with all the information we have on our storage solution options.

But before we do that, I just want to remind people about the organizer survey. If you pledged for the organizer, please fill out this survey to let us know which of the options you want. (See the previous update for more details)

So first, as promised last time, I want to talk about the storage system that comes in the box already - no extra purchase necessary. And to do that, I'm going to hand things over to Price, who has been valiantly spear-heading the effort.

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Our Realization:

• Gloomhaven storage was pretty absent and, what was there, was fairly inefficient.

Our Objectives:

• Maintain the elevated box insert quality standard set in Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
• Make regularly used components readily accessible.

Our Solution:

In addition to reworking TWO larger stacking plastic trays used to organize and store all card decks (unsleeved) and tuck-boxes in the Frosthaven box, we worked with the talented Matt Healy to design an additional TWO removable token trays for the most commonly used scenario tokens and the overlay tiles.

Matt Healy first caught our attention for his work on City Builder: Ancient Worlds, by Inside Up Games, for having made such efficient use of such limited space while providing practical storage spaces for it's various components.

He also brings a lot of direct knowledge and experience to the table, having designed his own personal Gloomhaven insert previously, and has just generally been a fun person to collaborate with.

Each of the two token trays comes with its own lid, with the smaller tray nestled into the larger tray to save space and keep the tokens from getting jumbled around. The larger lid is embossed with the Frosthaven logo.

The smaller inner tray contains and separates the following components:

• Individually separated status tokens (with angled bottoms for easy access)
• Loot tokens
• Scenario objective tokens (letters and numbers)
• Damage tokens (1, 3, 10, 20, & 100)
• Element tokens
• Treasure tiles

The larger exterior tray contains, and separates, the following components:

• 1-Hex terrain overlay tiles
• 2-Hex terrain overlay tiles
• 3-Hex terrain overlay tiles
• Doors
• Traps

While this isn't nearly as elaborately organized as the organizers our partners Folded Space and Laserox are designing, this will at least give some better - and quicker - out-of-the-box play when jumping into Frosthaven for the first time. Also note that plastic bags will be provided for all the monster standees, like in Jaws of the Lion.

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In addition to that info from Price, both Folded Space and Laserox spent a lot of time looking through the comments for the previous update and put together some additional information to answer the most common questions. So first, here is some additional information directly from Folded Space:

• Our FS-GLO design for Gloomhaven was completed in 2017, and we have produced more than 100 new designs since then. We will use this experience and improved know-how to make FS-FROST for Frosthaven a completely new kind of Folded Space insert.
• Frosthaven is a much larger game than Gloomhaven, and our insert will also have to be larger, with more trays and more organization to ensure every component has it's designated slot.
• We plan to include four character trays to use for in-play-characters, and of course all card trays will be sized to fit quality sleeved cards.
• We intend to provide a much improved storage and organization for the monster ability cards to allow for quick and easy access to monster decks during setup.
• We intend to have the first full prototype ready by early November, with the final production design ready by the end of December.
• Anyone attending Essen Spiel can drop by Folded Space's stand 3B111 to see the new blue color print sample trays and discuss with the team our plans for FS-FROST.

Next up is more info from Laserox:

• Our Gloombox (Gloomhaven organizer) was designed four years ago, since then we have gained at least +5 insert design ability points, which we will fully invest in Frosthaven.
• We don’t have any images today, but we are working hard to get you a prototype by the next update.
• So far, we can confirm that we will include four character trays and support sleeved cards.
• We saw many requests for tuck-boxes, so we are already investigating this option, with promising results.
• If you want to share your input, don't hesitate to reach out to us on our dedicated Discord channel or next week during Spiel (1D103) in person.

We all value your input, so keep the comments coming!

Once again, I'm going to drop the link to the survey, so if you ordered the organizer, please go in and let us know which option you want: https://forms.gle/UrnwPDWbswkkAXnh9

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So that's it on organizers. Before I go, I did want to give a small shout-out to another Kickstarter currently finishing its run. I don't normally do this, but Artisans of Splendent Vale, designed by Nikki Valens (also a guest designer of multiple Frosthaven scenarios!), looks truly special. It feels like it shares some similar DNA to Gloomhaven, but with the storytelling cranked up several notches. It only has a few hours left to fund, so I encourage you to check it out!

And thus ends our regular update! There will be one more update before the survey closes. I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I'll catch you next time!

The storage solution solution
about 3 years ago – Sat, Sep 25, 2021 at 01:22:39 AM

Hello! Okay, here we are - the long-awaited update regarding the changes to the 3rd party wooden organizer! I know it's taken a while to get back to you on this, but we're really happy with what we've come up with and are ready to share the progress with you.

First of all, two caveats:

• While we've made a lot of progress, some details still have not been ironed out, and with the design still ongoing, we won't be able to show you any final products for a while. Still, I'm going to do my best to communicate what's going on, and I'm sorry for any details that are still missing.
• We are still doing our best to resolve this as quickly as possible, and we still anticipate that what we are moving forward with will not have any negative impact on the delivery of your Kickstarter pledges.

Alright, let's get to the big news: we are partnering with both Folded Space and LaserOx to give you options on what kind of organizer you want!

First of all, I want to tell you about Folded Space, which makes high-quality foam inserts (made from 75% recycled plastic) and has one of the most popular Gloomhaven organizers out there. The reason they're so popular is that they're super-simple to put together, and they are incredibly light. As we add more components and weight to the actual Frosthaven box, we are becoming increasingly concerned that the 30-pound box plus a 5-pound insert would just be too much weight for people. Folded Space's Gloomhaven insert weighs in at just 2 pounds, providing a storage solution without all the extra weight.

Not only that, but Folded Space's production techniques of art paper on foam allows us to really pull out all the stops in making the organizer look super-fancy. They will use designs, images, and text from the game, combined with colored foam, to make the insert trays really pop visually and to indicate which game components go where. We haven't decided on the look yet, but we'll have more info on that in future updates and may even ask for your feedback on multiple options.

In addition, we want to work with them to additionally provide you with a supplementary storage solution for all the map tiles - something along the lines of a box or file wallet. Storage of all the map tiles has been a limiting factor for of a lot of organizers. Because of their varied shapes and sizes, they are generally just stacked on top of the other components, often creating a bit of lid lift. With Folded Space, because there's some extra money in the budget, we'd be able to tackle this as well.

We were also just super-impressed with Folded Space as a company. They came across as very capable of handling the huge amount of orders we have and getting them out the door in a timely manner. And their manufacturing facilities in Europe are also a big plus, meaning the global shipping crisis will have less of an impact, especially for European backers.

Given all of that, though, we recognize that what we offered you during the Kickstarter was a "wooden" organizer, and Folded Space doesn't fit that bill. If wood is important to you, and you are set on a wooden organizer, don't worry, because we've got you covered as well. We've also met with LaserOx, who makes a great wooden organizer for Gloomhaven and who we are equally impressed with, and they are confident they can deliver a high-quality wood product to everyone who wants it. You can expect it to be similar to what was discussed with the previous wood organizer.

LaserOx is experienced and well-established and also uses eco-friendly materials. Frosthaven is a challenging design for sure, but we are confident they can offer an organizer solution that will make your Frosthaven game nights even more amazing. Plus they are also manufacturing in Europe, so the same shipping advantages apply.

The last thing I'd like to address is the in-box storage trays that will be in all copies of Frosthaven. You may have seen pictures from Gen Con with them, and they are relevant to this conversation. Next update I plan on doing a deep dive to show you how everything is organized natively in the box, which will include the plastic token trays, but for now I will just say that you can expect something similar to Jaws of the Lion, with plastic bags provided for all the monster sets and two plastic trays to compactly hold all the tokens and overlay tiles.

The important part

That's all the info we have for now, and so now we could use some info from you. With multiple organizer options, plus the option of a refund, we need to know what you want. Instead of re-opening the pledge manager, which would be a big mess, we just have a simple Google form for you to fill out, if you backed the Kickstarter for the organizer. Basically, we just need some basic info and whether you'd like the Folded Space organizer, the LaserOx organizer, or a refund. Keep in mind that if you pledged for the organizer as part of the $240 bundle, you will only be refunded the difference between the bundle price and the remainder of your order ($75, plus any tax and shipping costs).

Here is the Google form. Please use this instead of emailing support.

(If you'd like a full refund for any reason, you can still email support for that.)

You only need to fill this out if you've pledged for an organizer, and, really, only if you want something other than the Folded Space organizer, as that will be the default choice for anyone who backed for an organizer and doesn't fill it out. The form will be open for one month, so if you want to wait until next update to hear more about the in-box storage solutions, that is perfectly reasonable. Also keep in mind that the refunds will only be processed once the form closes and we upload the results to BackerKit.

And one final note: If all this talk of organizers has made you want to add an organizer to your pledge, we are unfortunately unable to do that for you, due to logistical and manufacturing time concerns. The partnership with Folded Space and LaserOx will continue after Kickstarter fulfillment, though, so you'll still be able to pick these organizers up later through their websites.

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In other news, things are continuing to progress nicely with finishing up the files. We're still on track to get everything to the printer in 2-3 weeks for a final review, so I am super-excited about that.

We'll see where we are with that during the next update in two weeks, along with that deep dive of the box organization I talked about.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the booth at Gen Con to tell us how much they love Gloomhaven and how much they're looking forward to Frosthaven. We had a great time, and we'll be doing it again at Origins next week. If you'll be there, we'll be at booth #453.

As always, but especially if you're coming to Origins, stay safe!