International Shipping Non-Update
almost 6 years ago – Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 10:55:52 PM

Hey Folks!

Sorry for the long silence, however reason for it is that I've bene hoping to provide an update of substance, but sadly it's been a long while and I've not been able to acquire very much useful information.

"I'm International, Where Are My Books?!"

To be honest, they are on their way to you. They've been shipped from the warehouse 1 day after the other orders left the warehouse. But here we are many weeks later and still you don't have your books. Yes, that's very frustrating. I'm frustrated as well. 

Our printer had outsourced the fulfillment / warehousing of the books to a 3rd party. Despite contacting him almost-daily, I've still not gotten a response from the warehouse regarding international shipping status. The last thing I heard was that they needed to speak to the various International Customs departments to find out. My printer contacts the warehouse daily and they continually refuse to provide updates. This is unacceptable obviously, but your orders have already been shipped, so I can't do anything to fix this right now. Replacement books would probably arrive after the (admittedly long delay) of the initial order that has already been shipped.

It's entirely possible that International customers could be facing the same very long delay that the initial shipment faced coming into the US from Taiwan. If that's the case, then you could possibly have months more to wait (just as the initial hold-up for Customs coming into the US was multiple months long). 

The Silver Lining

This is a very small silver lining, but we did have a backer in Belgium say that they received their books. This means that the orders definitely did get shipped out, and the reason you haven't gotten your order as soon as Belgium is because your countries Post Office and/or Customs department is much slower than the Post Office / Customs of Belgium. 

I've started 10 companies in the past 10 years, so while I'm sure many folks are disappointed by how this Kickstarter has gone, I've done a non-trivial amount of business negotiation over those years. The failure of this warehouse to handle the fulfillment and shipping is the single biggest failure I've ever dealt with in 10 years of a wide variety of business interactions. This doesn't really help you get your order sooner, but the failure has been so epic that the company has gotten themselves fired. In the next few days, the entire inventory of 1,000's of books, decks, maps, etc. will leave the current warehouse and head to a new warehouse that will handle shipping and order fulfillment in a much more competent fashion.

Sorry that I don't have better news for you, but I won't be able to consider issuing replacement books for at least another 4 ~ 8 weeks from now until we begin to hear reports of a majority of International backers having received their orders.

New Orders

If you're a newer backer, your order will be shipped by the new warehouse, and they do all of the fulfillment for Savage Worlds and some other larger companies so I expect that they won't fail me as the first fulfillment company has.


Almost at the finish line, just more waiting, I'm very sorry for how slowly things are progressing for you International backers....

Brian

GM Screen is HAPPENING! ... & other Misc. Updates
almost 6 years ago – Mon, Jun 04, 2018 at 11:50:28 PM

Hey folks!

Brian here. Some announcements about some of the questions we've been getting.

GM Screen IS HAPPENING!

So, when I cancelled the GM Screen, I didn't realize that there were 343 beautiful people out there who so desperately wanted one. As such, I'm going to go ahead and do it, but it's still going to be a few months before you'll be seeing that. I promise I'll release a PDF of it so you can print one out as soon as I have it, but that'll still be a while. The month of June is booked solid for me. Apologies, but hopefully folks can be excited about the fact that they will get it, even if it is a bit late.

Digital Wallpapers

These are still on the schedule, sorry for not getting them out sooner but I'm aware of the fact that I owe them to you and I will indeed get them out to you.

Stretch Goal Content

The first adventure Mind in Flight is incredibly close to release, just need approval and and review some production items and then I'll get that out to everyone. I have some, but not all art for the next release, Shores of Valhalla. The following release will be the Valurien Intro Adventure Massacre at Writhing Bridge. These will each release about 2 weeks apart assuming all goes well.

A Sad Farewell and Best Wishes Lucus! 

Lucus has been a bulwark for me in helping keep on top of things when I've not been able to keep up. I'll be forever grateful to him. But life has called him on to the next thing and he will be leaving effective June 6th. I think I already have some ideas of who I want to replace him, but if you know someone who's an Open Legend fan and also great at project management and bringing order to chaos, send them my way to [email protected].

From the Quill of Lucus

I just wanted to say that I've enjoyed getting to know many of you while working at Seventh Sphere. I was a backer of this Kickstarter back when it first ran, but I had been (and still do) work in the tabletop roleplaying game industry as a writer and editor, and had gotten to know Brian after it had launched and funded and when he needed some help to get all the ducks in a row, I was very fortunate he tapped me. While we had very different plans way back in October when I was first coming onboard, changes in both Brian's life and my own (as I said before, my wife is pregnant with TWINS! -- we're excited but also terrified) have required I step away from "all this" -- initially to focus on spending as much of my summer with my 5 year old once she's out of school (last chance to treat her like an only child!) and then in preparation for TWINS! When we started making changes, we had been planning that by June all of you should have had your books, so my "leaving" shouldn't have caused any major problems -- and while it seems most if not all US backers have gotten there things, sorry to the international backers! Time was just not on my side. Thank you Open Legend Family!

Emails should still be directed to [email protected] but that my responses may be a little slower until I get his replacement figured out, since Lucus won't be checking in as much.

Update for International Backers
We are still working on finding out the status of International orders, sadly there are multiple communication layers and this takes longer than I wish, but we hear your requests for updates and we're working on ascertaining status of these.

New Orders

In case you're one of the late backers (whom ordered after April 9th, 2018) -- we needed to address an issue (a problem with the Bibliophile Tier problem where too many books were sent out) and also make sure that all our existing backers actually got what they ordered before we started fulfilling NEW orders, and so we have nearly 50 "stored up" orders that need to be processed. According to the warehouse, these are being fulfilled and should leave the warehouse in the next few days. 


Thanks for your patience everyone,
Brian

Updates on Shipping & Maps Were Shipped Separately and in Tubes
almost 6 years ago – Fri, May 11, 2018 at 01:18:56 PM

Hello All,

Lucus here.

I just got off the phone with the distributor of our products RE: Shipping issues, and I have a few updates and comments for you all -- but the main one is in the title of this update: Maps were shipped via Media Mail in tubes, rolled up and thus separately from your books.

Maps in Tubes

This matters a few different ways. First, a number of you have started getting "some" of your packages and reaching out to us via [email protected] saying "I got my books/decks but not my map." We didn't clearly communicate it before, and I wasn't aware until now but all the maps should be getting shipped out in those classic tubes used for rolled up posters and the like. As such, these containers are "handled" a little differently by the post office and they're also the most likely to run into errors in their processing. As such, its very likely you will get your books (a nice square shape they build their machines for) before you get the maps AND some of you may even have mail carriers that handle the tubes differently depending on your circumstance -- they're fairly large and very awkward shaped so some mail carriers will deliver them to your door if they don't fit in your mail box/container, or put them in special boxes you need to access to get them at your address, or give them to your apartment building's office for holding, etc. So please be sure to check all the various places you may receive odd packages for your maps if you have some inbound.

Additionally, they are often delayed it sounds like just because they're odd shaped and the post office handles them differently (which should be read as "slower" likely). Using tubes makes for the best chance of getting the maps in the best quality, but please give the maps a full 2+ weeks to get to you (which, by the distributor's count, we should think of that as basically May 21st -- if you haven't gotten things in the US by May 21st, then let us know).

International Backers

International backers -- things are off and still in process. Sorry, nothing interesting to report besides "things progress." 

Missing Books/Products

Besides maps (see above), some people (~6 so far) got some of their books but not all of them. Typically speaking (unless you ordered your books outside the standard pledge as an add-on, or did it as two separate orders, etc.), all of your books and decks should arrive in the same package. There's a chance that some orders were "split up" but generally speaking, if you're receiving your Open Legend RPG Core Rulebook, you should also have gotten your Amaurea's Dawn Campaign Setting book, and vice versa.

If you get one but not the other, please feel free to reach out to us via [email protected] to let us know. I can look at BackerKit, see if any clear special situation apply (for instance, as mentioned, some of you put in your orders as two, separate orders and they were processed as such which could mean adding a week or more depending on batch processing) and if no special situation applies, we can try to follow up and get new copies sent out to you.

Those Receiving Damaged Books

And finally -- some of you (at this point, only 4 backers out of 1,600+ packages sent, so the USPS is doing pretty good -- so far) are getting clearly damaged books. Sometimes its been basically empty packages (which, those SHOULD just be getting kicked back by the USPS but at least twice the post office did deliver an empty box for some reason!), some times its books banged up, and in at least one case it was a book that was misprinted with very bad alignment (how the printer didn't notice such a defective book is beyond me). 

Any and all such damaged packaged books that are more badly beat up than you like, please reach out to us at [email protected] Pictures are appreciated, as much so we can see what kind of damage is getting done and/or how it might have been mishandled (I used to work in a postal processing plant and some times those machines shred packages) to see if there's a thing that can be done differently to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Alright -- that's basically "it" for now. In general (in the US), please give us up to May 21st or so before asking where your books are, etc. And to be clear on something we weren't before -- due to how the distributor is processing these packages, we can't easily retrieve and distribute tracking information to you all due to bulk processing, etc. We thought we would be, and in previous updates we implied it or expected it, but talking to the distributor, getting everyone their individual tracking number would likely take a week or more from now, by which time, most of the books should have already been delivered. 

Thank you for your continued patience with us,

Lucus Palosaari

Please Send Problems to [email protected]
almost 6 years ago – Fri, May 11, 2018 at 12:04:39 AM

Hello All,
Lucus here.
To everyone getting copies in good condition -- I'm happy you can enjoy the books finally!
To everyone getting busted up books -- I'm so sorry!
Please-please-PLEASE keep sending messages to [email protected]
I am collecting messages, making sure I have all your information (when you email about a problem, please confirm your address if you can, it will remove a step) and I will push them on to get you new copies of damaged/missing items ASAP.

Missing Items

There's a slight chance that your order was split (especially if you ordered two different times, or "added" items later) and you've only gotten 1 of 2 (or more packages) -- so you may want to wait a day or two, but as the entire order went out in about a week or so of shipping, it seems reasonable that things should arrive within a week or less of one another if multiple packages were sent.

Just an FYI -- it may take me up to 48 hrs at a time for me to get back to you, I'm sorry, it all depends upon when you submitted your email and when I am able to check in. Other times it may be within minutes.

Lucus Paloaari

Domestic Shipping Completed Today, International on Monday, GM Screens
about 6 years ago – Fri, May 04, 2018 at 05:56:04 PM

Hey folks,

Good news! Final pallets for domestic shipping were successfully been wrapped up today. 

In addition, European, Canadian, and Australian orders are packed on the pallet and ready to go but will go out on Monday. Again, some will be "re-shipped" so expect plenty of delay as they travel around the world (my hope is that international backers are already well aware of how these things go!).

**BIG SIGH** -- so that stage of things is wrapped up and no longer in my hands. You'll have them soon. 

GM Screens

Regarding the GM Screens -- as orders start to arrive in people's hands, you'll find that the GM Screen is (tragically) missing. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I need to be totally honest with all of you folks -- this whole process, while going through a nightmare of a divorce (legally final in January, but settlement is not) and legal battle that I wouldn't wish on any of you or my worst enemy, has been incredibly difficult for me. 

Work was an outlet that I used to escape the trauma of my marriage, now that I'm clear of that, doing this kind of work has a very PTSD-like effect on me. Thank God, those PTSD-like effects hardly ever kick in outside of these kinds of work projects, but it has caused me to feel more or less mentally crippled in the specific area of completing work tasks like the GM Screen. The Bane & Boon decks were a grueling and difficult slog that typically would have been a cakewalk for me in the past. 

That said, there are a number of you GM Screen customers, so it will take some time and please be patient, but we'll be issuing refunds for GM Screens and associated shipping costs for those who purchased them. 

The Community License (yes, it needs an update released) will cover all of the needed content that would be needed for a GM Screen. Sadly, it's difficult to narrow the "best content" bits to include on such a screen and I'm very picky about design quality and what I put my seal of approval on, so there won't be an official one. I of course welcome the community to release something under the Community License, and maybe I will at some point in the future, but I'm not going to do it now.

So, again, refunds are on the way over the next few weeks. 

Thanks again for your patience folks... I understand my commitment to see this project through, but the fact that most of you have show lots of support and respect has not gone unnoticed. I want those of you who have quietly sat by while others made alot of noise to know that it means alot to me. The quantity of complaints that have come from a group of 2,000 customers is an absolute joy. You are a wonderful and magical group of people. 

Stay tuned, stretch goal content items are incoming as well, the next content item should be dropping quite soon.

xoxo
B

Final pallets about to be dropped off for shipping: