New Covers!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 10:09:59 PM

Something Went Right!!!

We just received word from our agent out in California that the printer saw the cover error and agreed to reprint the covers for the Watchtower books!  Great news for us (and you)!  The reprint will include an actual physical proof before they do the run and paper samples of different cover stock thickness in case we want a different type.  They were supposed to do this the first time around but for whatever reason, it did not happen.  This time, all is well.

HOWEVER.

1)  Poly-bagged, not Shrink Wrapped.

Because this is a cover re-print only, we are going to have to open all the shrink wrapped books and replace your covers.  We will instead place your re-covered books into sealable polybags for shipment.  The printer offered to re-shrink them all but we would have to send back all the books and re-ship them for quite a lot of money.  Re-bagging them ourselves is part of the compromise of re-printing the covers at no cost.  We hope you can understand.  

We might send out a survey to ask if you would still like the original errored cover in the shrink wrap and have us just send you the new cover, but we're still discussing.  If anyone has any thoughts on the matter, please leave a comment or email us at [email protected].  If you absolutely know that you want both covers, make sure to tell us!  We know there are some collectors out there that would love to get their hands on one of these errored prints before we throw them away.   

2) Cover Size a Little Larger.

The size of the external covers is going to end up being a little larger than the internal book.  This is by our choice.   The first run was printed at an incorrect size from what we asked for and we are going to partially correct this with the new cover prints.  The internal book is still cut a little too short, but they otherwise look good so we cannot get them reprinted at the right size.  They're off by about 1/8"  (0.3175cm) in both dimensions from the size that we wanted, so that's not too bad.    The new covers will be printed at the old TSR module standard size of 8.375 x 10.625.  The internal books are 8.125 x 10.5.  So, again, the cover will be larger by 1/8" on the top and side.  We're doing this to set a stage for future prints.  All other Westgate books are going to be printed at the larger size so by making the cover on this run larger, they will all collectively look nice on a shelf.  Doesn't that sound delightful?

We are sending a new and improved cover file to the printers this afternoon and we should have a proof sent within a week, on press the next week, shipped to you shortly after.  

Sighing with Relief,

Dom! 

CEO, Scrumdiddlyumptious Worker Drone, and King of the Corner Parking Spot,

Johnny Rook Games, LLC.  

Books are In! But...
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 08, 2022 at 12:17:45 AM

Today is the Day!

We got the shipment of Watchtower modules in today and will begin printing labels and packing them tonight.  Hopefully, all of them can get into the mail by tomorrow (although, UK physical backers, see the note below*).  

There is a small problem with the print.  For some reason that we are still trying to track down, the cover printed with faded colors.  It's very strange to look at it and looks kind of like someone printed a photograph of the cover and not the cover itself.  The printer also cut the external cover down to match the internal booklet for some reason, besides having us make the booklet smaller in the first place, and so the entire booklet is only about 8 3/8" x 10 5/8" instead of 8 1/2" x 11" standard.  They had emailed us about the trim size and I think we somehow miscommunicated what was supposed to happen.  This is partially because we changed printers a few months ago to another printer that could actually do the job.  Suddenly changing printers is also why we did not get a physical proof before having the job done.  We were informed that this printer did not offer physical proofs.  They did send us a digital proof though and it seemed just fine.  We all have histories of working in publishing and have never heard of a print shop not offering physical proofs.  It was/is very strange, but apparently, that's how it is now.  

Examples:

Note: The corner bend in the image is just from the top copy in the shipping box that I opened.  That is normal shipping damage from bulk boxes.  That copy would not be sent to backers or any other customer unless we had none left.  

So, moving forward:

1) We are still shipping these books because there is no other option.  Hopefully, you will enjoy them even with a faded cover.  The internal book and internal cover maps look great - it's just the external cover that looks a bit off.  I should stress, "a bit" off.  Many of you might not even have noticed the color problem if I had not mentioned it.  

2) We will do out best to resolve these problems for future Kickstarters and online shops.  They do seem like easy fixes as long as we can track down where the error occurred. 

3) I'll be demanding physical proofs from now on.  

For those of you who bought prints, those are just fine and look great.  We think they are actually too large though and for the next campaign, prints will only be 4x6 in size.  This is just an aesthetic change.  If people prefer the enormo 8x10 BWs, we can keep doing them no problem, but it seems like a set of smaller prints would be preferable for everyone.

*UK Backers!

There was a massive delay in getting our VAT registration completed and it is still not finished.  We have a personal agent working on it now but he was not able to get us a timeline as to when to expect a number.  For that reason, we are going to have to hold off shipping the UK books until we get that number because we have to have it to ship them into the country.   For reference, we registered back on July 3 and were given a 2 week turnaround time.  Here we are 2 months+ later and still no number.  We haven't been told what the problem is but they just asked for our documents again early last week, so hopefully it can be resolved soon.  We will update you as soon as we find something out.  

Books ahoy!

So, keep an eye out for tracking information in your emails and please give us some feedback on the modules when you get them. We want to hear from you, especially regarding the color and size of the final print.

Dom!

CEO, Disappointed Clown, and Seneschal of Mayor McCheesy,

Johnny Rook Games, LLC

Shipping Paused
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 08, 2022 at 12:17:07 AM

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Watchtower on the Hill has been Printed!
over 1 year ago – Thu, Sep 01, 2022 at 06:27:04 PM

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

Everything on Track!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 31, 2022 at 11:33:20 AM

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