Matte CSI (UV) Dice Refund
about 3 years ago – Mon, Jan 25, 2021 at 06:39:03 PM

Good afternoon, everyone!

I apologize for this rare breaking of our "no more updates policy," but it is the best way to get a hold of everyone who is still tracking these dice.  This isn't a sales message, so if you didn't pledge for the CSI dice, or are absolutely happy with the glossy ones you got, you can disregard this update entirely.

I am, unfortunately, not here to bear good news.  We had originally planned to re-run the CSI dice with the matte finish during a production run on our next dice campaign, but COVID-19 kept pushing that timeline further and further back.  Now we're at the point where it's not cost-effective to do so at all, so far from the original production.

I'm sincerely very sorry about that.

However, I am committed to making our customers as happy as possible, so here's the plan.  I will refund anyone for their CSI sets if they're unhappy with them.  Send me an email at [email protected] with your name and the email address with which you pledged, and I'll put the refund through.

I hope you all stay safe and healthy!

Stanford

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Final Final Upstart Update
over 4 years ago – Tue, Oct 22, 2019 at 12:08:08 AM

Good afternoon, everyone!

Well, that's a wrap! This will be the last update for this campaign.  Let me start by saying a huge THANK YOU to all of you!  Without your support, we wouldn't have gotten this little dice company started in the first place, much less been able to keep doing what we love.  Every day I think, "how the hell did I get so luck?" and the answer if always the same: because of you.

As is tradition, there will be no more updates after this one, because no one likes getting sales updates from long-dead campaigns.  So, if you want to keep up with us, the best place is to follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Legendary_Pants

Feel free to message me here or email me at [email protected] if you need any customer support for this campaign (or just want to say "hi").  We won't be updating any more, but we'll still be here if you need help.

Now, I've got a couple of things to tell you before I shut the lights off.

We're moving away from Kickstarter

The timing of this with KS's recent internet troubles is not entirely coincidental, but it is not the sole variable in this move.  In fact, we've been low-key searching for a new crowdfunding solution for a little while now, and we've finally found one I think we're going to like.  It's called Game On Tabletop, and it's going to be the home of LP campaigns moving forward.

Among several benefits (including better rates for us), the primary advantage to GameOn for our customers is the one-stop solution.  No longer will we need to rely on a second website for pledge management.  Instead, all during-campaign pledging and post-campaign add-ons will be handled through the same site, making your lives SO much better. 

I know, it's a big change, but I know it'll be better for you and us, so let's jump in together!

We've got a fulfillment partner

To any of the several dozen people who needed me to send out replacement dice from poor fulfillment, this will come as a huge relief.  We have partnered with Fulfillrite for our online sales and future crowdsourcing campaigns.  On the bright side, this means professional fulfillment handled quickly and with (generally) cheaper prices for shipping and handling.  On the down side, my living room won't get filled with a literal ton of dice.  Oh wait, that's a good thing too.

Really, your experience won't change much, except that you will be less likely to get the wrong dice.

Our next line of dice

This campaign is called the "Final Upstart" because we are soft-retiring the line.  What's a soft-retirement?  It means we won't be making any new colors in this font (with the exception of those straggling L&L dragons, but that's classified, shhhh).  However, if we run out of stock and people still want them, we will run more of the same colors.

Now, I have preliminary samples for our next line of dice.  Wanna see 'em?

This is a color sample in the default mold of the factory (our new numbers are different).  Yeah, it's gonna be sweet.

Here's the new font, too:

Crisp, clean, and not sci-fi.  This will be our new font for our dice which will be useful for a wider range of tabletop games.  We've already got molds being made!

We're really excited for the future, and we hope y'all will tag along with us.  I have a sneaky suspicion that 2020 is going to be LEGENDARY!

Forever grateful to all of you,

Stanford

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EU Shipping Complete (Penultimate Post)
over 4 years ago – Tue, Oct 15, 2019 at 10:57:55 PM

Good morning!

First of all, apologies to anyone who was waiting on a response from me since last Thursday.  We were at a convention all weekend, and then I promised my staff (including my wife) that I would take yesterday off.  However, I'm back at it!

EU/UK shipping is out the door, and a bunch of you have already reported that you've gotten your dice.  Because of the staggering difference in cost, we don't send EU shipments out with tracking numbers.  I think, across our three campaigns before this, a total of 2 out of over 2,000 packages were confirmed lost in transit in the EU, so we're pretty confident.  However, if a couple weeks go by and you haven't received them yet, please let me know and we''ll try to find out what happened.

This is the penultimate post on the project, so the last one will be on Thursday (or Friday, knowing me).  We have some big news to share as well as some teaser pics of our next line of dice.  However, remember that you will always be able to reach me at [email protected] if you have any issues, complaints, threats, or even something nice to say.

Thanks!

Stanford

About Those F-117s...
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 03, 2019 at 02:37:49 AM

Good afternoon, everyone.

Well, this is horrendously embarrassing, but we've received several comments and inquiries regarding the F-117s.  They do not look quite like the picture, as it turns out.  When we opened the boxes, we saw bags and bags of matte black dice with gray numbers, labeled them F-117, then put them on the fulfillment line.  Upon closer inspection, thanks to some discerning customers, they are a bit different than we expected.

For the "why" of it, let me give you a quick peak into how dice manufacturing works.  We design a color combination that we think looks real slick on paper.  For example, here is the F-117 as it looks in pure colors on the screen:

We send that, along with the color codes for the gray and black, to the factory.  They quick-run a sample in the mold, polish, mattify, and ink.  They send that back to us.  We either okay it or nay it.

For these dice, we had the samples months prior to the campaign.  Here is the original unedited shot I took of these dice:

Notice that there are already some differences.  The black is lighter than the perfect-pitch-black of the design and, in this case, the grays of the number came out a bit lighter.  However, those difference are exactly what we expect when we get the sample; that's why we get physical samples.  We were happy with it, so we ran these dice as the advertised dice of the campaign.

Flash forward to today, and the dice we have are slightly different again.  We asked for the same color codes on the same kind of dice, yet they came out differently.  This is fairly common; it's why sometimes plastic toys will be slightly different shades even when they're the same toy.

So, how are they different?  In two very critical ways:

1. the black of the die came out slightly lighter to more of a charcoal gray.

2. the gray of the numbers came out darker (more in line with our original pitch image above).

What does this mean?  If either of these factors had happened independent of the other, it would have been barely noticeable.  However, because both of these occurred, it brings the base dice into the same gray ranges as the ink itself, leaving us with a charcoal-tinted set of dice that seem to have very little ink on the numbers.

Now, they do look pretty awesome, but they are definitely not exactly what we advertised.  Here's a couple pictures showing them side-by-side.  (Sorry the original sample is dinged up, I play with my dice every week, and apparently lost the d6).

Now, we are a small-time company, but we're trying to make moves to get into the big-times.  Mishaps like this are rough on smaller companies, because they can be expensive to correct.  As far as the F-117 is concerned, we're happy with how they turned out, even if they are a little different, and so we're not going to run a new batch of them.  When selling our stock, we'll update the pictures and make sure new customers know exactly what they're getting.

Here's the upshot for you, though, our backers:

The dice you received are the official LP F-117 dice, and no one got anything different (if it makes you feel better, I'll melt down my sample so that no other version exists).  However, we do understand that the end result is different than what we were expecting and, therefore, what you were expecting.  So, if you ordered the F-117s and are truly unhappy with what shows up, let me know and we'll refund that portion of your order.  You can send me a message here or email me at [email protected] .

I am sorry that these came out differently than expected, and I'm sorry that we can't shower you with more free dice as an apology this time.  I hit my free-dice-quota after the CSI thing.

Stanford

US/WOrld Packing Completed, Shipping Monday
over 4 years ago – Sun, Sep 29, 2019 at 01:19:25 AM

Good evening!  How was your day?  That's nice; I'm glad.

WE'RE BEAT!  We had 4.5 solid hours and 10 adults cranking through all of the dice, but at the end of it, we have 1201 packages of dice ready to go out into your waiting hands.

Before I go into the specifics, a word to our European neighbors: the dice are due at the distributor on Monday.  Andy usually turns it around in a week, but I'll update again when that happens.

So, we're going to drop 1201 packages at the Post Office Monday morning.  They will likely get them all scanned and processed inside the day, but it may take until Wednesday.  The US packs are on 2 and 3 day labels, so the latest any of you should receive them is Saturday or Monday, but some might start arriving as early as Wednesday (or Tuesday if you're local to us).

The world destined ones will obviously take a little longer, but you all should have received your tracking numbers so that you can keep tabs on them.

I have three labels that wouldn't print due to a bad address, so I'm going to reach out to you three and get those confirmed and in the mail by Tuesday.

Finally, I just want to say that if dice show up with something wrong or if they are lost in the mail, please let me know.  We're happy to replace dice that go awry before they're under your roof.  The easiest way is to email me: [email protected]

Now, some pictures!

Further updates as events warrant!

Stanford

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