We are currently scheduling this project for physical reward delivery between October and December, 2024. Digital rewards will be delivered between January and March, 2024, and all physical deck backers will also receive PDF print-and-play copies of their physical rewards for free. Note that there may also be situations outside of our control that may impact our timelines, especially with recent challenges with global freight and COVID-19. This is our 8th crowdfunding campaign, and over the past decade of designing and delivering successful crowdfunding projects, we've learned many lessons about how to deliver a project despite any obstacle that might come up—and how to keep backers in the loop every step of the way. We always communicate with backers throughout the fulfillment process and we always make sure every backer gets what they pay for. We encourage you to check out the unprompted backer comments on previous Kickstarters as proof of the level of communication, transparency, and backer satisfaction we aim for in all of our work.

The Lore Master's Deck will have up to 300 double-sided cards if all Community Achievements (Stretch Goals) are unlocked. Expansions have 60 cards each. To calculate the size of your collection, use this calculator tool: https://calculator.storyenginedeck.com/

Additional storage options include: Leviathan Storage Boxes (2 designs holding 1440 cards each) Folding Storage Boxes (6 designs holding 540 cards each) Tray Storage Box (1 design holding 576 cards) Expansion Collector's Storage Boxes (2 designs holding 180 cards each) You can calculate how many cards each main deck box and additional storage box can hold using our handy storage calculator: https://calculator.storyenginedeck.com/storage.html

Yes, you will receive early beta PDF access and final print-and-play files for every physical deck, expansion, and booster set included in your pledge.

Any backer who pledges in the first 72 hours and whose final reward tier is a physical pledge level will receive the Promo Card Pack of 16 cards for free. If you backed in the first 48 hours, you should be able to see this bonus in the 2nd-last page of the pledge checkout. If you backed between 48-72 hours, we will manually add the Promo Card Pack to your pledge in the pledge manager after the campaign ends. If you back the CONJURE or DEVOUR pledge levels, a Promo Card Pack will be included in your rewards. Digital reward backers will receive a PDF copy of the early bird cards. Pledges after 72 hours can still get the early bird cards as an add-on: $5 for a physical pack or $1 for the PDFs.

You don't need to do anything other than make your pledge using the same email address you used for reward surveys on our previous Kickstarter campaigns. We used BackerKit for the reward surveys on both our previous Story Engine/Deck of Worlds Kickstarters, so the BackerKit system should automatically check for your email address when you make your pledge (as long as you use the same email). When you reach the 2nd-last checkout page, you should see the returning backer incentive mentioned in a sidebar. We'll also be available to troubleshoot once the pledge manager is released after the campaign to make sure everyone's rewards are applied properly.

We feel that in recent years, crowdfunders have been looking for new leadership that listens to creators and backers and is willing to adapt tools to meet their needs. The crowdfunding space innovates so quickly and creatively, and a lot of the existing platforms have either failed to keep up or started laying down roads we believe may be leading in the wrong direction. BackerKit approached us before launching their new platform to share their vision of what community-driven crowdfunding could look like, and we decided we wanted to be part of their launch team and help debut a new platform driven around collaboration and engagement rather than just funding dollars. We're excited to be working with BackerKit on this project to see how this platform and the larger crowdfunding community continue to adapt and grow.

The Story Engine is primarily a tool for generating story prompts based on characters and their motivations. Lore Master's Deck does three things that are significantly different from The Story Engine: 1) It introduces a much wider range of card types to reflect worldbuilding elements that can shape a story: not just characters, but factions, events, locations, objects, materials, creatures/species, and gods. 2) It really explores the threads that connect worldbuilding elements. What is character A's relationship to faction B, and what is faction B's relationship to event C, which took place in location D, which is the lair of creature E? You end up with a web of worldbuilding connections that serves as a vibrant ecosystem for developing story and setting. 3) The cues get a lot more specific than we were able to be in The Story Endine Deck, where cues had to be universal enough to work with multiple card types. With Lore Master's Deck, we could get as granular as character-specific speech patterns, faction-specific entry rituals, event-specific catalysts, object-specific powers, material-specific properties, and creature-specific morphology. The deck still contains characters and motivations, but they're configured to create a rich spread of worldbuilding elements for your story rather than a singular character focus.

As of right now, it is best to assume the Focus Sleeves cannot hold an already-sleeved card. We would like the cards to be double-sleevable, but the margins of error for sleeve manufacturing are very precise and we can't currently guarantee we'll be able to make this happen.

You will be able to purchase refill pages and blank PDF printable refill pages for the Lore Master's Journal in the pledge manager. The Lore Master's Journal does not include the printable PDF pages by default.