Only 24 hours to go. Let's end with a BANG!
about 1 year ago – Wed, Jul 26, 2023 at 10:19:55 AM

To our dear budding geologists,

We're almost at the finish line... can you believe it?!

Over the last month, over NINE THOUSAND of you came together to...

• Fund Geologist's Primer in less than 5 minutes!
• Raise over $550k (and counting!) and unlocked 19 stretch goals!
•  Made this our biggest Kickstarter project, ever!

Today, we come to you with a few updates and clarifications. But, before we get it, we'd like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for everything you've done to bring this project to life. Truly, none of us imagined just how far we'd come.

And now, onto some clarifications!

What exactly is the Alchemy Toolkit?

We're glad you asked! The Alchemy Toolkit is a brand-new, digital-only supplement ready to add to any TTRPG you wish. Written by Jakub and Anna, it includes rules on foraging ingredients, brewing, distilling, and empowering potions. It's fully compatible with Herbalist's Primer and Geologist's Primer, unlocking 200 magical ingredients for you, both plant- and mineral-based. Operating on a self-contained system of tags and magical effects, it organizes the alchemical process, so you can enjoy it while playing your favorite game.

Can digital tier backers get the $50 All Add-Ons Bundle?

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Yes, but once the BackerKit Pledge Manager is live (which will be a short time after the campaign ends). Due to how Kickstarter works, a backer whose core pledge does not include any physical rewards cannot select any add-ons that provide physical rewards. But please don't worry! As soon as the Pledge Manager is up and running, we'll share an update with you!

This also means that if you're a physical tier backer waiting to add the bundle to your pledge, you won't miss out on it once the Kickstarter ends.

TL;DR: If you want the $50 All Add-Ons Bundle, you're gonna get it!

Where can I watch the Bedrock Lullaby Actual Play?

If you missed out on the live stream yesterday, fret not! We'll have a VoD uploaded to YouTube and shared with you all soon!

What about the interview with Anna?

You can head to our campaign page right now to listen to our very own Markeia McCarty interview with the legendary Anna Urbanek, creator of the Geologist's Primer!

Let's make these final 24 hours count!

If you haven't already, please share the Kickstarter with your friends, family, and loved ones who'd be interested in backing it! Once again, thank you for all your love and support! We'll be back soon with more updates!

(And of quartz, we must end every update with a good pun!)

- Anna, the Double Proficiency team, and the Hunters Entertainment team

2 DAYS TO GO, $500k raised! Add-on bundle, actual play, and an interview with Anna unlocked!
about 1 year ago – Tue, Jul 25, 2023 at 05:01:46 AM

Dear budding geologists,

It's finally here! GET ALL YOUR ADD-ONS for $50!

The last 4 weeks have been an absolute thrill. We've managed to unlock every single one of our stretch goals, including the one you've all been waiting for: a complete add-ons bundle for $50! Backers can now edit their pledges to add the bundle (and remove any individual items they may wish to!). With only 2 days left, you've made this our biggest Kickstarter yet! As a way to celebrate, we have a few surprises for you...

An interview with Anna, the creator of Geologist's Primer!

You can listen to it right on our campaign page! Anna discusses her inspirations, hopes and shares tidbits from the Geologist's Primer in a candid chat with our very own Markeia McCarty.

And don't forget the Bedrock Lullaby actual play!

To show off the versatility of the Geologist's Primer, join gamemaster Markeia McCarty in the GM's seat for Bedrock Lullaby, which takes the system-agnostic guide and utilizes an adventure written by Jakub Wisz, sets it to a magical mystery using our Kids on Brooms game system.

Jasmine Bhullar, Surena Marie, Eugenio Vargas, and Xander Jeanneret are set loose to run amok in a bizarre tale filled with magical crystals, whimsy, and danger! It'll air on Tuesday 25th of July at 12 PM PST (3 PM EST), over on our Twitch channel. Check it out to get a taste of how the Geologist's Primer can add to your game!

We sincerely thank you for your support throughout this Kickstarter.

This wouldn't have been possible without you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We'll see you soon with our next update!

- Anna, the Double Proficiency team, and the Hunters Entertainment team

3 Days Remaining! Gathering no moss!
about 1 year ago – Mon, Jul 24, 2023 at 11:21:43 AM

We're SO CLOSE to the discount bundle!

Since our last update, we've smashed through several more stretch goals! We've unlocked the following thanks to all your support:

• $350K – a random Gem-erator/digital rollable table
• $375K – a physical edition of the Coloring Book
• $400K – another pay bump for the team! Thank you so much!
• $425K – a Digital VTT Art Pack
• $450K – Alchemy tools update! The team will update the alchemy tools and tricks from the Herbalist's Primer to include elements from the Geologist's Primer as well!
• $475K – another set of community copies, to spread the shiny love!

The next stretch goal is at $500,000 pledged and, at the time of writing this, that's just $4K away. If we can get there, we'll unlock the physical add-ons bundle! That's $85 worth of physical items—adding all physical stretch goals (including the notebook, poster, flashcards,  printed adventure zine, and coloring book) to your pledge for just $50!

Some of you have asked if you can add that $50 to your pledge now and amend it to snag that super bundle when it's unlocked. The answer is yes. Select the "Manage your pledge" button at the top of this page, choose "Change your pledge" on the following page, and type in the amount you'd like to pledge in the "Bonus support" box just under the description of your pledge tier. This will not cancel your existing pledge! Then, when the bundle is unlocked, you'll be able to manage your pledge once more to allocate that bonus support to the bundle on the add-ons page.

💎 Bedrock Lullaby 🎵

Smashing stretch goals isn't all that's been happening! We have an Actual Play session coming your way!

Catch our very own expert gamemaster Markeia McCarty in the GM's seat for Bedrock Lullaby, which takes the system-agnostic guide and utilizing an adventure written by Jakub Wisz, set it to a magical mystery using our Kids on Brooms game system. Familiar TTRPG personalities Jasmine Bhullar, Surena Marie, Eugenio Vargas, and Xander Jeanneret are set loose to run amok in a bizarre tale filled with magical crystals, whimsy, and danger! It'll air on Tuesday 25th of July at 12 PM Pacific time (3 PM Eastern), over on our Twitch channel. Check it out to get a taste of how the Geologist's Primer can add to your game!

Of course, we couldn't have come so far without you, our amazing backers. There are over 8000 of you now, which is simply incredible. We're so lucky to have each and every one of you on board with this project. In these closing days of the campaign, please keep spreading the word.

After all, a good community is crater than the sum of its parts... and if just a few more people cave in, we can hit that $500,000 mark!

Lastly... as we head into the final hours of our Kickstarter, we also want to shout out our friends over at Dungeon Scribe! Their  Magical Oddities—Item Tome for D&D 5e & CFR is live now on Kickstarter! This 5E & CFR (Core Fantasy Rule) Tome is a sourcebook for GMs, filled with unique magical items to grow your table's arsenal and empower players and NPCs in unique ways. If it sounds like your jam, go show them some love. <3

We'll be back tomorrow with more updates!

- Anna, the Double Proficiency team, and the Hunters Entertainment team

Some grateful words from Anna
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jul 07, 2023 at 11:29:22 PM

Hello, my dearest, most wonderful Backers,

First and foremost, thank you. I've spent the last week and a bit in somewhat of a haze, overwhelmed by your support. "It's your second book, you could have expected this campaign to be successful," one might say. Alas, no. All I could have done was hope you will like this book too. Expectations are not really an option for me; my brain refuses to hold on to them.

Many words of thanks were already said during this campaign, but I'd like to elaborate on a particular facet of this shining gem of gratitude. You see, Herbalist's Primer was written as an escape: from the pandemic, from a rather low mood, from all the commission work needed to cover life's basic needs, like roof over my head and food for the kids. I wrote that book over two years in every hour stolen from sleep my body could afford. The success of Herbalist's Primer and the incredible generosity of its backers did something I never thought possible: it allowed me to focus on writing and drawing as my main job.

Thanks to the previous campaign, Geologist's Primer is not an escape—it's my life. If this Kickstarter campaign goes well, and it does, it means I get to do this again. I get to write another book for you without worrying about rent. These books take a lot of time: thousands of hours of research, hundreds of hours of drawing and writing (which make my arthritic hands unhappy, so I need to pace it out, so it takes longer... You get it). Do I love every second of it? No. But there's nothing I'd like to do more.

I'll let you in on a secret: these books are my lifelong dream. If you could see this little girl from a tiny Polish village who spent years upon years engrossed by her mother's books on plants, minerals, fungi, and animals (thanks, Mom!), if you could hear her excitedly trying to tell people about all the amazing, incredible things she learned only to be met with disinterest—well, you could maybe understand why am I so grateful for all of you who chose to listen. All of you who also think that plants and rocks are neat. Nothing brings me as much joy as sharing with you the shiny folklore and natural sciences, my special interests. I became a librarian in an effort to tell people about books and fun things contained within; you made it possible for me to start my own library.

With your support, dearest Backers, and thanks to Hunters Entertainment who graciously agreed to take care of the technical side of this hopefully years-long project, the dream of that little girl becomes reality.

Now, having written this, I feel like it's time for me to return to my desk, turn off all social media, and focus on writing. There's not much left to do in the book: it's already fully illustrated, 75% of the entries are written, all the lore chapters and appendices planned out and drafted. It won't be long until it's finished, and then it's out of my hands: science editing, copy editing, proofreading, pre-press, printing, distribution... And meanwhile, I'll start working on the next one. The subject is yet to be determined, but if there's anything you'd like me to cover, feel free to sound off in the comments.

Thank you, once again.

Love,

Anna 💎

What a wonderful week! Let's streeeetch some more!
over 1 year ago – Fri, Jul 07, 2023 at 12:52:55 PM

To our beloved overachievers...

Can you believe it's been barely over a week? Yeah, us either. You all have absolutely blown us away with your support and your passion for this very special book put together by our delightfully scrappy team. We cannot thank you enough, but, hey, we're certainly going to try!

Since our last update, you've unlocked something very special...

A digital colouring book with line art from the Geologist's Primer!

Now you can make your own digital art pieces inspired by the fantastic work throughout the Geologist's Primer.

And that's not all...

We've also prepared a new list of stretch goals all the way to $500K! All of these goals were created with accessibility and sustainability in mind, so that we can continue to provide products of the absolute best quality while taking great care of our team. (And so we can make the next book in the series! Don't ask us what it is yet, Anna's too good at keeping secrets)

Some highlights from the new list of stretch goals are:

•  $350K- A random Gem-erator/digital rollable table so close!)
•  $425K- A Digital VTT Art Pack 
•  $475K- Another set of community copies!
•  $500K- A Physical Add-On Bundle ($50 for all physical add-on products)

And so much more! Stay tuned for more updates, special sneak previews, and maybe a chance to see the book in action at the table!

Thank you all again for your support, we promise we don't take it for granite. (HAH still snuck a pun in there!)