Printing Issues Still Being Resolved
over 3 years ago – Mon, Sep 07, 2020 at 11:12:27 PM

Hello Backers!

I hope your September is getting off to a good start, I know it's early in the month but here's to a good month for everyone!

As a quick spot of less than great news we did receive our test prints from the printer to find that there are major issues after making their requested bleed adjustments that were hidden in the file, once they went to print it caused plenty of errors. The good news is we know what they are and how to correct them, the bad news is we'll be forced to wait longer for the next run of test prints to come back before we can order more stock. Included are some images of the new (bad) print so you can see what I'm talking about!

And that's all in chapter 1! We're on getting it repaired now, in fact we expect to have the PDF file finished either today or tomorrow and then we'll upload it to the printer again for another test pass.

All of this is AFTER we printed our initial run and sent out books, mind you. This is after an updated auto-checker on their website caught our previous files having a bad 1/8 of an inch bleed. Such a pain but one we're getting handled as we must!

I'll send out another update to everyone once we have this straightened and we hear back from the printer, as soon as we have this straight we will be ordering more copies and sending out the remaining ones to backers!

If you have any questions please direct them to my inbox! 

Hang in there!

-Levi

Update about delays!
over 3 years ago – Fri, Aug 21, 2020 at 02:03:16 PM

Hello backers! I just wanted to catch you up on what's happening on my side here at Session Zero Games so you know why things are taking so long.

Now that we're back on track and trying to make more orders and get more packages out we're constantly running into unexpected barriers, the latest one is absolutely ridiculous but here it is... the printer which we've been using to print "on demand" copies of our book so that we can order 100 or 200 at a time has an extended delay of 21 days on top of their normal print time for our books. When we did not receive an update after that time once we had placed our last order we were informed that there was an issue with our internal book files. 

The exact same book files from which we have received hundreds of copies and mailed them out to backers.

We were told that the "bleed" on the pages of the books was not correct and that they could not be printed until we fixed the issue and increased the 3 borders of our pages by 0.125 inches. We argued for weeks to try and avoid going back and fixing the entire book. We begged, we pleaded, we tried to get them to just print what they had on file but the only real answer we got was "sometimes these things pass our systems and they shouldn't. You have to fix it yourself and then we'll print more." So we fixed it, we sent it back in and we're still waiting for them to go through and manually check our files to make sure they're "correct" this time. 

It's annoying, yes. It's slow (an additional 21 days of time at least), yes. It's probably necessary (or at least they say it is!), yes. 

We're at their mercy for the time being. Books will be printed, packages will be put together, you will still be receiving anything you have not yet received! While we wait on these issues to be resolved so that we can send out the last North American packages (and yes, put together the entire International order which has to go in one big batch to Spiral Galaxy Games) we've been working on a lot of new projects and making a ton of new fun things for people to use at their tables!

Please stop by our website and check out the new PDF's we have available including the final PDF of the Cursed Collective book and Print and Play cards (which went out to backers 2 days ago) and some of the extra's we have from our latest Project of Truly Wild Magic: Remastered!

https://www.sessionzerogames.com/shop

As something to help out a little we're offering you all free shipping to the US if you'll use the coupon code "FreeShipping" at checkout (just remove the " symbols" ) and have any physical item in your cart. This is good until the end of August!

We also are giving out free international shipping on all orders over $50 (they're killing us on prices, sorry everybody) with the coupon code "FreeIntShipping" at checkout. 

NOTE WITH COUPONS! Make sure they are applied to your cart BEFORE YOU CHECK OUT!

You never know what you'll find on the site, anything we have an overrun of you'll be able to pick up until we're out of stock. A lot of it will be things that we won't be producing a second time so grab them while you can!

More updates will come as soon as we have the approval and the books start getting actual tracking numbers for arrival to us. Thank you for your patience and we will be including some things in every package that goes out from here on as an additional bonus to those who have had to wait so long! Surprises are good!

-Levi 

Shipping info, quick update!
almost 4 years ago – Tue, Jul 07, 2020 at 10:22:54 PM

Hello backers and my apologies right away for being so late with any good news.

North American Remaining Packages

This is going to be a short update, we're mostly just waiting on delivery of books at this point so that I can finish out the North American distribution from my new shipping/packaging facility. I've got supplies inbound for packaging, I've got books at the printer delayed but being made, I've got card decks on hand and ready to go. The only outlier is the Leather Bound editions which I have decided we will get produced by hand, they are going to blow your socks off for those that sprung for the ultra deluxe copies, I didn't want to leave you hanging so hold in there and the wait will be worth it :) I've already sent out the few books I did have from my last run so there remains about 50 people who need them on this list due to 20 or so people that finally came and finished their survey over the last 3 months! At least they finished them at all it always bothers me a little when someone pays for a project item and then doesnt come and do the survey! 

International Packages

International orders are in the same boat, I've got most of what I need and have been in talks with Spiral Galaxy Games who have informed me that their prices have obviously gone up some amount for all deliveries so that's a bummer for me BUT it doesn't mean it's going to hurt you guys. I'm going to try and shoulder that and get you all of your goods because it's not your fault that I had to wait so long to send them out. You're still on the delayed list because I do have to send that giant box off to Spiral Galaxy so that they can then sort them and mail them to you individually but you're not forgotten! One step at a time!

I wish I had some more for you at this point but this is better than the last few updates :) I hope you're all excited to get your packages and I'm just as happy as you all are to get them out the door and onto their rightful place at your tables! 

Thank you again for all the support, more updates as packages keep going out and another one for sure when the International box goes out,

-Levi

I wish I had one of these!
almost 4 years ago – Fri, Jun 05, 2020 at 11:22:28 PM

Well, it's officially June and we're all still facing a lot of issues. The world seems to be going insane while it’s trying to slowly open back up… we haven’t seen anything like this before in our modern generation. It seems like everyone could use some Balm of Social Distancing as we face true waves of violence, insecurity, viral infection, and the need to do something good for our fellow man all at the same time. I know I'm just one man and my opinions may not be super important but through all of this I'd like to remind you of the famous words of two very important men...

"Be excellent to each other and PARTY ON DUDES!" - Bill S. Preston Esq. & Ted Theodore Logan

So what's with the silence on your end Session Zero?
 

Well, let's start with a major thing like "legal matters" which we can't yet talk about too openly. Our lawyers are talking to the other party and we're finally making some headway. We might not ever fully explain all of the small details but suffice it to say we're both trying to protect our assets and our... back sides by delaying any releases that may have been brewing previously. We don't expect the delay to last much longer and we do expect to have several big things all release at once as soon as we get the go-ahead from our legal team.

As we explained before WE'RE STILL WORKING ON THINGS; we just haven't been able to send them out to everyone at this time. It's a weird situation but we've worked really hard to get where we are and 2020 has not been kind in the way it’s treating the world. I’ve read comments accusing of us having vaporware or of not planning to deliver things to backers… honestly, what I REALLY hear when I read that is "other people have done this to me before, you better not!"

WE’RE NOT THOSE OTHER PEOPLE. We plan to be around for a long time to come and WE WILL DELIVER EVERY ITEM THAT YOU HAVE PLEDGED FOR!

We're still here, we're still working, we've got things to give you AND we've got plenty of new things we want to get to once we can take care of the situation we’re in right now. Believe me, we are really just as frustrated as you are. We just ask that you hang in there with us for a little while longer and you'll see things start rolling into your inboxes again!

Is there anything we can do to help speed up the process?
 

Actually, THERE IS! One of the issues we've been facing with two of our projects is needing to have printed copies of physical items delivered to us so that we can package and distribute them out to you! With the lock down happening we ran into an issue we never imagined would happen: ALL OF OUR PRINTERS CLOSED DOWN! We've been using the same printers for years now and their quality and pricing is what we've based our projects on. Now we've reached out and met new printers, we're swallowing the big pill of higher prices for the quality we expect and we're looking forward to the benefits of moving our printing back onto US soil for faster delivery times.

We've also hit a 6 month drought where not a single new project has been released; as you may know, small companies need to keep creating new and interesting things so that the ball keeps moving forward - both to keep our banks happy with the financials and to keep our company name and products relevant in the larger eye of the public.

With that in mind we're launching a new project that's live RIGHT NOW!

Hold on, let me make some short bullets that might assuage any fears here...

-The work is already complete, so it won't eat into our previous projects.

-The product and project are straight forward and simple so it won't overwhelm our schedule or push us farther behind.

-The proceeds above the minimum needed to deliver the project itself will go directly towards previous projects being printed at the higher cost printers on the faster timeline.

I'm happy to announce a gorgeously realized extremely limited-edition release of one of our oldest ground-floor products: Truly Wild Magic: Remastered!

Gold foil everywhere, elegant redesign of the entire layout and super premium card stock. Something that will make anyone who sees it ask, "What's that and where did you get it?"

You'll be able to tell them that it was a onetime thing only on Kickstarter but you were lucky enough to grab one while it was available. (Or maybe you grabbed a second one for just this occasion.) Check it out by clicking the link above, the link here or the image of the cards. Remember that by backing us you're directly supporting the existing projects and helping us produce them and ship them faster than before!

See you on the other side of this one,

Session Zero Games

Mid-April Late Update!
about 4 years ago – Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 10:42:05 PM

Hello Backers! I’m finally back behind a proper computer and it FEELS GOOD to once again have the power that a real workstation gives you!

I know it's been about 6 weeks between updates but as you all are experiencing, there’s been a lot of Real World craziness going on out there! We all have our fingers crossed that we’re heading towards better days but here’s a refresher about where we stand with this big project and the good news going forward since our last update.

With this Covid-19/lockdown/shutdown (whatever you want to call it, and I’m sure most of that isn’t repeatable in polite company) going on all over the world right now we're sure you've heard most every other small companies say this, but it bears repeating: WE CAN'T DO MUCH! This craziness has stalled/set back much of what was planned. Between all of the personal stuff that's been going on for me with all the unexpected moving multiple times, settling and re-settling, dealing with no incoming new projects, virus scares, hoarding and everything else, I've personally had to be more focused on my family and getting my house in order.  I’m sure many of you have been going through the same things.

I hope you all understand that I haven't stopped working on this project or any others but we're all in the same position here. Mine is a little more precarious because of how the cards have landed BUT I'm dealing with it as best I can. I'm happy to say that even though we're behind on our some projects they ARE moving forward… plus my family is happy and healthy and that takes a huge weight off my mind. I can tell you that I’ve never been more dedicated to finishing up these great projects and getting them in your hands… and working on future projects to expand your role-playing game opportunities!  :)

The major delay with the Tome is physically printing and receiving copies of the books we need to ship to backers. The painful reality is: the printer we were using for the Tome is currently CLOSED due to COVID-19. We do have the option to reformat the layout of our book to match another company and get some printing done at slightly higher prices here in the USA but so far, I'm avoiding that for multiple reasons. Financially we can't really afford the price increase in prints along with the additional cost of having the entire book reformatted for the new printer requirements (not to mention the additional time that will take!) so we have just been holding off until our normal printer resumes operation.

Thank you all for your patience and sticking with us through all of this crazy stuff we've been going through. Know that we're right there with you hoping to game right on through it! There’s plenty more fun stuff in store!!

-Levi