Help The Real Kevin
over 1 year ago – Sat, Oct 22, 2022 at 07:32:30 PM

Hello Backers, this is an unusual email.  I wanted to wait until just about everyone received their copies of Watchtower on the Hill to discuss an important situation behind the scenes here at Johnny Rook Games.  

There is a real person named Kevin that helped to inspire the creation of Watchtower on the Hill.  The real Kevin has been my life-long best friend and I wanted to name the central character of my first module after him because the real Kevin was instrumental in developing my personality and interests that led to the creation of the Watchtower module and the many more that will follow.  

Long story short, I had just reconnected with Kevin during the course of the Kickstarter campaign.  On the day that the campaign ended, I emailed Kevin to tell him the good news and instead received a message from his sister telling me that Kevin had a brain hemorrhage and collapsed earlier that day.  Since then, the real Kevin has been hospitalized, recovering from a severe stroke.  

The real Kevin needs real help.  

Tonight, I'm posting a (rather lengthy) video on our YouTube channel that discusses the role that Kevin played in shaping my life towards the creation of my games.  If you have the time, please watch the video and if you have the ability, Kevin has a GoFundMe page that you can donate to in order to help his finances.  All links are below as well.  

 Kevin's GoFundMe site 

 Help The Real Kevin Video YouTube Link 

 Kevin's CaringBridge site (follow his recovery) 

I would have sent this update sooner but I did not want this to appear as if it were part of the project in the first place.  Kevin's stroke was a completely unexpected situation that happened after the campaign ended.  

Johnny Rook Games will email once more when all books have reached their destinations and we officially close the campaign.  Our next campaign begins in a few days, once we get updated book quotes and can verify our pledge rates.  You can follow the new campaign:

 Warrens of the Great Goblin Chief Preview Link 

Thank you all and be well.

Warrens Launching Soon (Update!)
over 1 year ago – Sun, Oct 16, 2022 at 12:31:57 AM

Pre-Launch Page is now Working!

In the last update, I posted the link for the pre-launch page for our next Kickstarter, Warrens of the Great Goblin Chief, but I did not realize that I hadn't fully activated it <facepalm>!  It's now activated and you can head over and click on the 'Remind Me' button to be notified automatically when it launches.  We are targeting October 20th (Thursday) as the launch date in hopes that nearly all of our previous backers will have received the Watchtower by then.  It looks like only the backers from Australia and New Zealand will be further delayed as there are some shipping disruptions to those areas.  

Pre-Launch Link:  Warrens of the Great Goblin Chief or on the image below.

OSE Compatibility

The Warrens module will be compatible with Old-School Essentials (OSE) in addition to the standard compatibility for OSRIC/1e/1.5e/2e game systems.  I'm currently working on a special OSE compatibility document for Watchtower on the Hill that will hopefully be ready during the next campaign.  I'll be adding it to the digital content for anyone that purchased a pdf in the first campaign, and will be added to any future buyers.  Digital versions will be available on the website later for anyone to grab.  Physical ones might be available but I'm still working on pricing for it.  

Why OSE?  What is OSE?  Old-School Essentials is a new interpretation of the D&D basic rules, also known as the BECMI rules set, that I first started with when I began role-playing.  The rules are very easy to add to an OSRIC/1e/2e system structure and non-intrusive when playing without one rules set or another.  The OSE community is also a very vibrant and active group and I'm happy to make game content for them.   The Watchtower was not initially made with OSE rules because there just was not enough space for our quoted book and I wasn't entirely sold on the idea of selling hybrid rules books.  I prefer just a single system that I or anyone can convert for whatever they're using.  But, for Warrens, we'll try adding OSE and see what comes of it.  

Website Live!

Also, our old website is now live again (Johnny Rook Games).  It took some time, but it's back.  There's not a lot there right now, but we do have a newsletter that you can sign up for and because it's a wordpress site, you can always subscribe to its posts through a wordpress account.  Much more content will come as we move towards the new major game releases.  We hope to keep up consistent newsletters and our most recent news will be posted on the website and  Facebook.  If you want to talk to us directly, you can always find us on our  Discord server as well. 

We only have two scheduled updates for the Watchtower campaign left, so you won't have to keep hearing from us :)  We hope to see everyone in our future campaigns.

Johnny Rook Games

All Books Shipped!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Oct 12, 2022 at 02:56:41 AM

All remaining books and other rewards were shipped over this weekend.  Everyone should have received tracking numbers for your orders.  Again, be aware that tracking numbers may register as "not trackable" until the post office scans and clears the package for transfer.   Let us know in the comments to this update or the campaign comments that you received them!

Thus completes our first Kickstarter campaign: Watchtower on the Hill.

Thank you everyone!  

Watch for emails in the near future regarding our second campaign for Warrens of the Great Goblin Chief.

Some Further Shipping Specifics:

According to our Pirate Ship info, all orders appear good and on the way, if not delivered already (about 60% already delivered), with the exception of the ones we dropped off over the weekend.  The weekend drop-offs (all autographed copies) have not yet been scanned by the post office at the time of this update.  Due to the federal holiday this weekend here in the states, they are most likely backed up and will scan them during the overnight hours.  

International orders differ by region, as expected.  It looks like all of the Canada orders (other than autographed copies) are in transit and already in Canada.  The rest of the world's orders are sitting in the Elk Grove Village center awaiting global transit via Asendia.  There is a note that Australian deliveries will probably be further delayed, which will probably impact New Zealand shipments once those are scanned.

If there is a problem with your shipment, you did not receive a tracking email, or you did not receive anything at all, email us at [email protected] or message us through Kickstarter right away!

Thanks again from all of us here at Johnny Rook Games!

Wave 1 Shipped!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Oct 04, 2022 at 10:21:14 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

New Covers are In! Shipping to Begin Shortly
over 1 year ago – Mon, Oct 03, 2022 at 03:11:04 PM

New Covers!

The new covers are in and they look fantastic!  Shipping labels will begin to be printed tomorrow and hopefully we can get the first batch of books out the door tomorrow as well.  Keep an eye out in your emails for tracking info from Pirate Ship if you are expecting a physical reward.  

Autographed Copies

For anyone that ordered autographed books, there is a very small delay on those due to me running out of protective boards.  They are due to arrive later this week so we should get them out the door this weekend or early next week.  For reference, as there was a question about these, the autographed copies have signatures from both Dom and Dante.  

UK VAT Update

We are still awaiting information on our VAT registration.  I emailed our contact at the VAT office early last week but have yet to hear back on any updates.  As stated in the last update, we don't want to wait all that long on a VAT since the books have already been delayed around 6 weeks, so if we get no response before we ship out the remainder of the rewards, we will refund your VAT costs and ship without.  All UK physical backers make sure that your card info is correct/updated for refunds and if anyone paid by paypal, we may reach out to you for a correct email.  

Still Two Surveys Remaining

Lastly, we still have two physical reward surveys on Backerkit that haven't been completed.  We've tried contacting these two backers and have had no response.  If you are a backer that was expecting a book and did not get it, check to see if you completed your survey.  We will need to mark all surveys as completed once we ship in order to close the campaign.  We will hold the orders of the two backers until we hear from them.  Probably for quite some time.  

Next Campaign On Deck

Next up:  Warrens of the Great Goblin Chief, Kickstarting next week as soon as people start getting their physical copies of Watchtower on the Hill.

Here is a link to the preview page for the next Kickstarter:

Warrens of the Great Goblin Chief Preview Link 

Comments on the preview page are still open if anyone would like to add into the discussion.  The page is still subject to change at any time before launch - notably, I still need to update all of the pledge levels to reflect a few changes in what we will offer.  

Excited to finish up this campaign,

Dom!

CEO, Eater of the Most Boring Foods Imaginable, Lord of Plush, Keeper of the Holiday Snickers,

Johnny Rook Games, LLC