Delve through the frigid halls of a Lich's Reliquary and discover the secret of Soulfrost in this Grand✦Tales adventure!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
✧PDF almost ready!✧
8 months ago
– Wed, Mar 20, 2024 at 04:03:50 AM
Hey, dungeon crawlers!
I know it's been more than 2 weeks since the last update but there's good reasons for that happening. I personally had a medical emergency (which I am still recovering from) and on top of that, the editing process of the book got delayed due to a few hiccups.
Since the book files weren't finalized yet, we couldn't predict the weight of the book and for that reason we had to delay the opening of the Pledge Manager as well.
Things are all back on track now though and we should be delivering everything in good time and order!
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PDF is coming end of March!🎉🎉🎉
We are currently in the process of putting everything together and the PDF should be ready in less than a week's time. However, just to make sure I don't tell you a date that is not feasible, I will say end of March so that you can be 100% sure you will have it then.
We were actually a lot stricter with the editing process for this project because we want to really make sure that everything is perfect. I checked every single line of text, every single mechanic, every single difficulty check. I really want our crowdfunded work to be of the highest quality possible and that is something that time did not allow us to achieve as much as we wanted to with Starlight Arcana. Now, however, we are much more organized and can make better use of the time we have available (plus, we know a lot better thanks to experience!)
I am very proud of the final result and cannot wait for you to all have the digital PDF and later the physical book too.
All that being said; I would like apologize on behalf of the entire team on the delay. We want to be very strict with our timelines and in many cases we try to account for unexpected circumstances as much as we can so that no delays are caused. We want to perfect our scheduling so that we can run more projects in the future while still maintaining the high quality that we always aim for so that is something we are always working on.
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Map Artwork is Complete!✅
Map artwork is finally done as well! Ori has been working hard on the dungeon maps and was able to finish them all up so that she can move to PDF preparation.
Here's a little teaser with some WIP and some finalized artworks:
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🔑The Pledge Manager is opening soon!🔑
As soon as the PDF is ready, we will know how big the book is and we will therefore know the weight of it too. That means that we will be able to finish the last few steps of the Pledge Manager and open it for everyone to start finalizing their pledge.
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🎁Bonus Side QuestS for all pledges!🎁
We heard you loud and clear and we have already added two more awesome side quests to the book as the promised bonus!
Take on the deathly challenges of the Frozen Death Knight in the Knight's Return side quest...
OR!
Calm the spirits of the dead as you relive their stories in the Dead Hopes side quest!
✧Production Update + Other News!✧
10 months ago
– Sat, Feb 10, 2024 at 04:04:57 AM
Hey, frostbiters!
I hope the start of 2024 has been great for you! It surely has been for us here at Kelfecil's Tales since we've been able to finalize a big part of the Starlight Arcana project and move forward with Soulfrost Reliquary as well.
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PDF is coming in February! (for sure!)🎉🎉🎉
We mentioned it in the last update and it's worth mentioning once again; the first version of the PDF will be available in February. Judging by how things are going, it might take a little bit longer than what I initially expected, but that is by no means a big delay. I am talking about a delay of a week or two, meaning the PDF will come out closer to the end of February.
Just like with our previous project, you will be able to download the PDF from your BackerKit rewards, which brings me to my next point!
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All artwork is complete!✅
Another huge announcement that I need to make is that ALL artwork for the project has now been completed. The final thing left to make was the spell artwork and now ALL spells have their own awesome piece of artwork (that will be on the spell cards add-on).
Finishing the artwork is an extremely important milestone since it allows us to start preparing the print files for getting a proof copy and get production running sooner than later.
We are very much on schedule with everything and that makes us very happy since we will be able to delivery everything to you with the timeline we thought we would!
And as always, we cannot talk about artwork without showing you some too!
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🔑The Pledge Manager is opening soon!🔑
Remember how, in the last update, I mentioned that the Pledge Manager would open in January? Well, the reason why it did not open up yet is actually really good!
We needed to iron some final details for fulfillment (the overall plan of how we will do fulfillment) and now that we have, we are finally ready to open the pledge manager for everyone!
We will of course make another update once the Pledge Manager is ready and open for you to finish your pledges with clear instructions on how to do so!
The main reason why we delayed the opening of the PM is because...
⛵We have a fulfillment partner!⛵
Yep! We are in the very pleasant position to announce that GamesQuest will be helping us fulfill Soulfrost Reliquary!
GamesQuest has been an absolute gem so far when it comes to figuring out how to fulfill our projects. They helped us nail down all the details and specifics for the Starlight Arcana project in such a way that we were never worried about anything.
They are now going to be helping us fulfill Soulfrost Reliquary as well, meaning that our process for sending out all the pledges will be much more streamlined and straightforward!
This is huge for us since a big hassle of this project was going to be the handling of all the sending out orders and packages. We are a tiny company with no warehouse space (my own house is basically where we store most of the extra physical stuff) so I would have had to live with boxes as my housemates for at least a month if we were to do fulfillment ourselves.
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🎁Bonus to all pledges!🎁
Since GamesQuest will be fulfilling the pledges, that means that we won't be handling the pledges one by one ourselves and that also means that we will not be able to sign them.
But. There's a big but here.
We obviously weren't going to leave you like that and since you won't be getting signed books, we will instead add a different little bonus to each pledge with a hardcover book in it!
We would like your opinion though on what that should be! Please let us know in the comments below which bonus you would like to have:
Bonus Art Print (different from those in the art prints pack add-on)
Bonus Battle Map (different from those in the map pack add-on)
Bonus one-page Side Quest (different from those in the book)
We will be delaying our next project, Sirensong, because we want to be done with everything else first. We have taken your feedback very seriously and because of that we decided to launch Sirensong in Q2 of 2025.
This will allow us to:
Fully finish Starlight Arcana (everyone gets their physical pledges)
Fully finish Soulfrost Reliquary (everyone gets their physical pledges)
Have some really good pre-launch marketing for Sirensong
Finish Sirensong even before it launches and then add extras through stretch goals without incurring any extra delays
Already start working on our next project to be yet another step ahead
We do have plans to RELAUNCH Soulfrost Reliquaryat some point in the future though since we absolutely LOVE the result of our work on that project and we really think that it deserves another go on Kickstarter (it can really be a whole lot bigger as a project!)
This relaunch though will happen after a couple of our other projects and when it does go live, all of the backers of the first SFR project will get some awesome goodies for being the original dwellers of our dreadful frost dungeon!
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Other Small Projects👀
Since the beginning of 2024 we have doubled our productivity because we have some huge plans for our next big projects. Not only that, but we are also planning to create some smaller projects to get our name more "out there."
This includes some zine events on Kickstarter along with some other things that we have always wanted to be a part of but just did not have the time.
So expect to see some smaller but equally cool projects from us in 2024 and 2025 for sure!
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That's all for today's update!
Next update will definitely be about the opening of the Pledge Manager and the instructions on how to navigate it.
✧End of Year Update!✧
11 months ago
– Thu, Dec 21, 2023 at 07:32:12 AM
Hey, frost-dwellers!
This is the last update for 2023 and I am so excited to share some awesome news with all of you!
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PDF is coming in February!
As initially planned, the PDF for Soulfrost Reliquary will indeed be ready in February! We are planning to share the first version of the PDF sometime in the middle of February with all of you through the Pledge Manager.
Now, you might ask "But Kelf, we do not have access to the pledge manager yet!" which is something I would reply to with...
The Pledge Manager is opening in January!
Yep, a few days before the end of January we will be opening the pledge manager so that you can all finalize your pledges and pay for shipping and any tax your pledge might have (depending on where you are and what you are getting of course).
Our experience with our first project (Starlight Arcana) has allowed us to prepare the pledge manager much faster than last time and with a lot fewer hiccups. That means that unlike Starlight Arcana, this project will fulfill much faster!
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Development Progress
Editing for the main book - 70% done --- Estimated finish date: mid-January.
Spell Artwork - 50% done --- Estimated finish date: end of January.
Map Artwork - 85% done --- Estimated finish date: end of December.
PDF Preparation - 70% done --- Estimated finish date: mid-February.
As you can see from our development progress list above, things are moving forward and, with the exception of a few spell artworks, we are ready to finalize the PDF and start preparing the print files for physical production too.
The amazing thing that happened in the last couple of months is that we had a very, VERY in-depth look at how physical production works exactly, and with the help of our printing partner we were able to get proof prints, work on fixes for them to improve the quality of things and even set a timeline that is much better than what we expected. All of that was for Starlight Arcana but it is without a doubt invaluable knowledge that we will use to print and fulfill Soulfrost Reliquary at a much (MUCH) faster speed.
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It's almost 2024! :O
No better way to end the update than with Kyubey's cat! Thank you for sharing the photo with us Kyubey!
2023 has been quite the year for us, with lots of ups and downs. What we do take from it though is that we were able to make yet another dream project of ours a reality and we have all of you to thank for that. So once again, thank you so much for being with us on this journey and we cannot wait to deliver all the goodies to you!
May 2024 be an absolutely impeccable year for all of you and we cannot wait to see you on the other end of the Reliquary once the frost has melted away!
Until next time (and next year I guess)...
May Starlight guide your way, my friends!
~Kelf
✧First Post-Campaign News!✧
12 months ago
– Thu, Nov 30, 2023 at 07:19:11 AM
Hey, soulfrosters!
We have been quite silent ever since the end of the campaign for many reasons (both good and bad ones).
Well, the bad newsis that the whole team got sick (just an intense cold for most of us) and for at least a week or two, we were down and out. Some of us (including myself) are still recovering. It is what it is unfortunately since this is the season that a lot of people get sick.
The good newsis that we are preparing the Pledge Manager! It should be going live in no more than a month from now so that you can all access it and finalize your pledges.
Another piece of good news is that we received the Pre-Production copy of Starlight Arcana and with that, we were alsoable to finalize a lot of the things that we want to do with Soulfrost Reliquary. We were super pleased to see that the tarot cards were of excellent quality and now we know how we want the SFR cards to be printed as well.
We seriously cannot wait to receive a pre-production proof copy for Soulfrost Reliquary as well so that we can share with all of you how absolutely awesome everything is going to look!
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What is the current progress on SFR?
We still have a few things left to finish for the project, so here's a general look of where we are at right now:
Editing for the main book - 60% done --- Estimated finish date: mid-December.
Map Artwork - 80% done --- Estimated finish date: end of December.
PDF Preparation - 50% done --- Estimated finish date: mid-January.
As you can see, everything except for the above-mentioned things is complete. Our main concern is basically finishing all of the remaining spell artwork so that we can send in the print files so that the pre-production proof copy can already start getting prepared.
We are expecting to have the Digital PDF readyat the beginning of February. This is in accordance with the initial timeline we had communicated even before we launched the campaign(delivery of theDigital PDF3 months after the end of the live campaign).
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"What do I do until then? :O"
Well, until then... You could totally join our discord server and discuss about awesome things with the rest of our little community!
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Our friends at Rudok's Tavern are finishing an awesome campaign!
Discover a realm of myths, legends, and fairy tales. The land where dreams and reality are often one and the same.
This 60+ page zine will include:
Short Adventures and Plot Hooks
Plethora of Items and Monsters
3+ New Subclasses
Several Ancestry Options
And a strange new world to discover
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Our friends over at Rudok's Tavern have time and again created awesome artwork and 5E content to go with it. This zine looks like it's no different than any of their other amazing work and we are very excited about it!
(I mean... come on, you think one of our friends is going to create something with stars and stuff and we are not going to talk about it? :D)
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That's all for today!
Thank you so much once again for helping us make SFR real and we cannot wait to shower you with pictures once we have more to show you!
Until next time...
May Starlight guide your way, my friends!
~Kelf
WE DID IT!!! The Reliquary has been breached!🎉🎉🎉
about 1 year ago
– Wed, Nov 15, 2023 at 10:22:19 AM
Dear amazing adventurers,
We did it. Or rather... YOU did it! You have broken through the terrible frost magic that has kept the Reliquary shut for hundreds of years. With your help and support, we have managed to break through the gates and can now (un)safely storm through the (deadly and cold) halls of the Lich's once-great domain!
Maybe the Secret of Soulfrost will be ours after all... WHO KNOWS?!
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Epic talk aside... thank you all SO MUCH!
281 of you came together to bring this project to life and we could not be any happier! Thank you for making our dreams come true with yet another successful campaign. You are seriously all the best.
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What comes next?
We will now keep you updated on the progress of everything as we go through the following processes that are left:
Preparation of the PDF
Delivery of the PDF to backers (in approximately 3 months or less)
Finalizing all artwork (there's still some spell artwork to be finished that will go on spell cards)
Preparation of print files (depends on how fast we finish the spell artwork)
Showcase of the proof prints once they arrive
Start mass production
Fulfillment
We are really hoping to have fulfillment up and running in no more than 6 months. This would be a record time considering how most physical book campaigns go and we are really serious about doing our best to achieve that.
You will be receiving updates at least every other week about the current state of each process.
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What's after Soulfrost Reliquary?
We actually have plans to run another project next year in Autumn. It is another Grand✦Tales book that will be filled with all sorts of awesome things for both Players and GMs!
IMPORTANT: We plan on fully completing fulfillment for Starlight Arcana AND Soulfrost Reliquary before the Sirensong campaign launches.
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If you are interested in learning more about our next project, SIRENSONG, then follow the link below and make sure you sign up for our newsletter because...
Be notified when the Kickstarter launches! *For PDF pledge level (or higher) backers only.
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Lessons learned from this campaign
We learned a lot from running this campaign the way that we did and we are thankful to be able to bring to life a huge project like Soulfrost Reliquary even without any extensive marketing or any high-cost advertisements to bring attention to it.
That being said, marketing is the name of the game when it comes to crowdfunding and we learned the hard way that no matter what your project is or looks like, it won't matter at all unless you've done good marketing. For that reason, we promise you that we have already taken steps to improve that for our future projects so that we can reach even more people and make our content bigger, better, fancier, and all other awesome adjectives you can imagine for it.
I do want to say once again though; thank you so much for supporting us because being able to raise the amount that we raised is a huge accomplishment for a tiny company like we are.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you. You are helping me live the dream of being able to create narratives and amazing content like this for a living.
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Interactive Lorebook and Maps on Patreon!
I am also in the absolutely awesome position to say that we are finally ready to launch the interactive maps and Lorebook for Purveyor of the Arcane tier patrons!
With the invaluable help of Blair, KatrinaTom, and Reez, we have been able to shape the Starlight Archives into something amazing that anyone who is interested in exploring the Starlight Chronicles setting will have a blast using.
Interactive Maps!
Zoom in, zoom out, click on pins, explore regions, cities, segments of cities and so much more through the interactive maps! All of the pins have lore information that directly leads to lorebook entries that have even more details on the region, factions, monsters, adventures, and anything else that takes place there.
Lorebook!
Browse through tons of lorebook entries with information about regions, history, factions, ancestries, monsters, and so much more. All interconnected, interlinked, and ready to guide you through your journeys in Latakar (or even other planets in the future!)
Oh and... in case you were wondering "Where is the Reliquary located exactly in Latakar?"
Here you go:
(It will alsobe easily found through the interactive maps, with a special pin which will be used for all current and future Grand✦Tales!)
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So... what now? What do you do now that there won't be an update every 2-3 days? Well... you should totally hop on our Discord server where we discuss (and spoil) tons of stuff all the time!
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Thank you all so much once again... and until the next update...
