Stretch Goals.

I confess, I must have missed the official FAQ about Stretch Goals, and so I had to come up with my own guidance. Here’s what I concluded.

Stretch Goals help us achieve more, especially after we have already met base funding goal. I get to set them, but you are the ones who have to embrace them, so I think they have to be relevant to you.

Kickstarter keeps score in dollars. I think that’s great, but sometimes it doesn’t really capture what’s important. Keeping score in dollars also gets in the way of setting parallel goals. Instead, I have identified three parallel goals that are important to me and to the success of this project: Backers, Books, and Pledges.

If we have enough Backers, we are going to succeed. If we can identify interesting, fun, exciting rewards that will attract more backers, everyone wins.

As we sell more Books, we see economies of scale that let us add features and content. As our print run increases, we’ll be able to add frontispieces, color plates, printed endleaves, and more. Book numbers are roughly in thousands: increasing a print-run by 250 does nothing for economies of scale, we have to look at runs of 3,000, or 4,000, or 5,000. When our book total increases, everyone wins.

Finally, Pledges are important. Dollars are a way to keep score (and Kickstarter’s way of keeping score). We (and you) feel a sense of accomplishment (and deservedly so) as we watch the total dollar number rise.

Soon, we'll be announcing our first Stretch Goals: one each in Pledges, Books, and Backers. As we reach each one, we’ll retire it and announce the next. Stretch Goals only work, however, when Backers take them to heart and help bring others to the Project. We hope that you will help us by recruiting other… the best ways are to post about us on Facebook, on various discussion boards, and by sending an email to your own personal mailing list (more on that in a later post). And we’ll have some incentives for those of you who participate.

Here are the Stretch Goals we are considering, in no particular order, and with no particular association with a level of Pledges, Backers, or Books. Each will be prefixed with a statement like “When we reach X…”

Endleaves. We’ll be able to add printed endleaves (that’s the inside front and back covers). Instead of being blank (or black), they will include a variety of charts, tables and other imagery enhancements.

Rebate. We’ll introduce Swag Platinum. A Cr25 rebate (attention Kickstarter Admins: “not really a rebate”) in the form of an Imperial 25 credit coin (about the size of a quarter). Everyone at a Pledge Level $100 or more receives Swag Platinum.
Bigger Dice. When we reach this stretch goal, we’ll upgrade the dice from 16mm to 19mm. The original concept for the Traveller Dice emulated the original Zocchi Traveller Dice: 16 mm; big dice are so much more satisfying to roll. And we’ll make the dice in Swag Silver three (one each of Black, one Red, one White).

Astrogator's Charts. We’ll add a set of Astrogator’s Charts: three 17 x 22 inch blank sector maps printed in grayscale. These are ideal player exploration maps… the players fill in the data as they learn it… fleshing out the UWPs and such as they roam through the sector. No matter how easy it is to provide electronic versions of things, it is HARD to home-produce large sheet maps and such. We’ll include this set with every book.

Bigger Rebate. We’ll upgrade Swag Platinum to a Cr100 rebate (attention Kickstarter Admins: “still not really a rebate”) in the form of four Imperial 25 credit coins (each about the size of a quarter).

Knighthoods. We’ll add a Knighthood to the Basic Core Book through Kickstarter. There are 9074 worlds in the Imperium and each Knighthood will be randomly associated with a world. To add an element of anticipation, we’ll seed the cards with Baronetcies (so about one in ten of you will be a Baronet instead of a Knight).

Color Plates. We’ll add 12 pages of color ship plates by Jesse Degraff. These pictures go a long way to capture the feel of the Traveller universe

Even Bigger Rebate. We’ll be able to further upgrade Swag Platinum to a Cr200 rebate (attention Kickstarter Admins: “yet still not really a rebate”) in the form of one Cr100 coin (about the size of a half dollar), one Cr50 coin (about the size of a Sacagawea), and two Cr25 coin (about the size of a quarter).

Color Frontispiece. We’ll add a color frontispiece to the book. Jesse DeGraff has agreed to do a beautiful (he says it will be beautiful; I know he’s right) Traveller ship, but he hasn’t yet said which one.

Scout. We’ll arrange for an artist to draft a 17x22 inch deck plan (half-inch deck squares) of an Imperial Scout. In addition, he’ll do several interior views of the ship (stateroom, central corridor, bridge, drive room, common room, and some others). Then we’ll surround it with descriptive text and print the whole thing on a 23 x 35 inch sheet (both sides). It folds to 8.5 x 11 and fits nicely with the T5 book. We have hopes of doing several of these Folios about starships. And we’ll include it with each T5 book shipped.

Navigator's Maps. We’ll add a set of Navigator’s Maps: three 17 x 22 inch blank mapping hexes printed in Black and Red (and grayscale). These are ideal world exploration maps… the players fill in the terrain data as they learn it. As with the Astrogator’s Charts, no matter how easy it is to provide electronic versions of things, it is HARD to home-produce large sheet maps and such. We’ll include this set with every book.

Special Title Page. We’ll print the books with a Split Run; books that Backers receive will have a different title page and Frontispiece (form the general production run of the books).

Beowulf. We’ll arrange for an artist to draft a 17x22 inch deck plan (half-inch deck squares) of a Beowulf. In addition, he’ll do several interior views of the ship (stateroom, central corridor, bridge, drive room, common room, and some others). Then we’ll surround it with descriptive text and print the whole thing on a 23 x 35 inch sheet (both sides). It folds to 8.5 x 11 and fits nicely with the T5 book. We have hopes of doing several of these Folios about starships. And we’ll include it with each T5 book shipped.

Close Escort. We’ll arrange for an artist to draft a 17x22 inch deck plan (half-inch deck squares) of a Close Escort. We’re going back to the design tables for this one, pulling out the original graph paper image of the ship and recalculating everything. In addition, he’ll do several interior views of the ship (stateroom, central corridor, bridge, drive room, common room, and some others). Then we’ll surround it with descriptive text and print the whole thing on a 23 x 35 inch sheet (both sides). It folds to 8.5 x 11 and fits nicely with the T5 book. We have hopes of doing several of these Folios about starships. And we’ll include it with each T5 book shipped.

Players' Book. We’ll produce a Players’ Book: a subset of the Core rules tailored for use by Players’ but without the primarily Referee’s rules. We expect to produce a printed version in Spring 2013, but every Backer who orders a Book will receive a link to an Ebook version when it is complete.

Jump Drive Version of the CDROM. We’ll introduce a USB Jump Drive option: a custom Black with Red Stripe flash drive pre-loaded with the Traveller5 PDF (and some other stuff). (Some have suggested it be in the shape of a Scout,but I don't think that will happen. :(
SD Chip Version of the CDROM. Etc.

We are also always open to your suggestions (tell me at Traveller5@farfuture.net).

Shipping is a major consideration for any Kickstarter project. We thought about it long and hard before we started; this is what we concluded.

The T5 Core book, hardcover, 600+ pages, weighs about 70 ounces = 4.3 pounds. A single box and packaging adds another pound, making it a 6 pound package (the postal service rounds up to the next pound). Add any swag or options, and its probably a 7 pound package. For planning purposes, we really need to use that 7 pound value.

In the USA, Priority Mail is $21, Parcel Post is $14, Media Mail is $5. Media Mail only works if the package is just the book, so it's not really a candidate. There is also a Priority Mail Flat Rate Medium Box
at $12 and a Priority Mail Flat Rate Large Box at $16.

We can put a T5 Core Rules Book into a nice "literature mailer" (which costs about a dollar) and that fits into the Medium Flat Rate Box with room to add some Swag and Options. The double-boxing helps protect the book from some disappointing shipping damage. If there is a lot of stuff, it can be bumped up to the Large Flat Rate Box.

That same packaging system works for shipments to outside the USA. The Medium Flat Rate Box ships to Canada for $33 and to the rest of the world for $48. The Large Flat Rate Box ships to Canada for $40 and to the rest of the world for $60.

Armed with this basic information, we established our basic shipping concept. Our Kickstarter rewards include shipping in the USA. We ask for a Pledge increase of $25 to get it to Canada and a Pledge increase of $40 to get it to the rest of the world. We may see a couple of dollars less cost on some shipments; but we'll probably see a couple of dollars extra charges on others. The differences average out and there is far less hassle for everyone (you and us).

Now, I had to make decisions before we went live, and I though this system was fair. I have had a few criticisms about the surcharge, but frankly, I don't know a better or less costly way to ship this material.

One request I have received (from several different people) is an option for a second book, for a friend, to save shipping. I expect to add an option to add a second book (just the book) to a shipment for $75. I invite your comments on this (to traveller5@farfuture.net).

I am committed to commenting here once a day, just like on Kickstarter, but I expect the content to be different. I want to be less formal here and deal more with the nuts andbolts of making this Kickstarter Project work. I think (know) we are off to a fine start, but its still a roller-coaster ride. I genuinely appreciate everyones support.

Immediately, two issues have come up: PDFs and the unemployed.

Creating a final version of the Traveller5 CDROM has always been part of the long term plan; I intend to release one simultaneous with the hardcopy release. But it is only mentioned in passing on the Project page, and that lack has created some (negative?) buzz. Parallel with that was a discussion I had today with Matthew Sprange at Mongoose. He commented (and he had said it before) "We have already had one quarter where they [PDFs] exceeded paper sales, and I think we are about to hit another."

My plan was to implement inclusion of the CDROM as a Stretch Goal. In response to comments (I did say I wanted backers to help shape Traveller5), we'll implement the Traveller5 CDROM as part of Swag Gold (that is the $50 level). It would normally sell as a $35 CDROM, plus about $5 shipping anywhere in the world. The remainder of the cost is associated with Backer support and Swag associated with Kickstarter. For those to whom the slight premium is an issue, it will be possible to order the CDROM for delivery slightly after January 1. I hope that clears that all up.

The other issue is the subset of Traveller players who find almost any investment in Traveller at-the-moment simply impossible. I feel for them, truly. It's the old "Games get me through times of no money better than money gets me through times of no games." Indeed, in the Kickstarter video, I say that this project is a labor of love. It is about making a living, but is is more than that.

So, I am thinking about instituting

$2 Pledge Level.
"I am unemployed." Your Pledge registers your support for Traveller5 even though you don't ave the resources to buy the game right now. When this project ends, we'll talk about what can be done.

It won't work if everyone Pledges at the $2 level, but gamers are a great group of people, and I don;t think that will happen. In anycase, I am still ruminating on this one. Tell me your thoughts at Traveller5@farfuture.net

When I was writing Traveller in 1976-1977, information services were not what they are today. So it was a surprise when Time Magazine had a review of the new Star Wars movie in its May 30, 1977 issue.  In fact, they already were calling it "the year's best movie." Traveller by then was finished and at the printers. Loren Wiseman and I HAD to go see this new movie, which meant driving 130 miles to suburban Chicago to see it on some weekday afternoon.

I can still remember the thrill of seeing my own visions of Traveller as a role-playing game splayed across the big screen. And I still can't fully distill into words. BUT, lots of others saw what I saw and they were prime when the Little Black Books in a Little Black Box came out at Origins 1977 (in Staten Island; hosted by SPI). Traveller's offical birthday is July 22, 1977 (the opening of Origins).

So its fitting to talk about it today, with the opening of Origins 2012 (now in Columbus). Happy Birthday Traveller!

Traveller5 On Kickstarter Begins

Traveller is gearing up to publish its legendary Fifth Edition!

We're launching our Kickstarter project (tomorrow) May 31 to bring it to completion. I think it will be fun to add comments on the process here: the comments posted on Kickstarter itself need to have a certain formality to them; the comments I can post here are going to be less polished and more stream-of -consciousness.