All good things must come to an end
almost 5 years ago – Mon, Feb 10, 2020 at 11:32:37 PM

I can't believe we are in the last few hours of this campaign. I don't have a lot to say in this update, other than this:

We're over $2.8M. We're over 35,000 backers. We unlocked all 20 social stretch goals.

I promise we will do everything we can to make you proud.

Thank you for believing in us. Now grab some popcorn and enjoy these last 12 hours!

<3

48 HOURS left! (Lots of answers and clarifications inside)
almost 5 years ago – Sun, Feb 09, 2020 at 11:02:21 PM

Hello! :D

We are in the home stretch of the project (and we just hit over 30,000 backers!!!!). I wanted to make sure to post another update that addresses some of the questions that have come up in the last couple of weeks.

First of all, in case you missed it, Update #20 provided a ton of information about add-ons, next steps after the project ends, etc. - That update is particularly important for first-time backers to read if you haven't already!

Also, there were a lot of questions answered in Update #7, so if you have questions and don't see the answer below, you can check out that update as well.

And, of course, if you still have questions, please leave them in the comments and we will be happy to answer them to the best of our ability before the project ends! We've tried to be as thorough as possible, but I know there will always be unanswered questions and points of confusion. A Kickstarter campaign like this comes with a massive amount of information, so please don't hesitate to ask if you still have outstanding questions!

With the addition of all the Kickstarter Exclusive Party Leaders, can the game be played with 10 people?

Our original answer to this question was that we do not advise playing the game with 10 people; however, we have since run some play tests with 10 people (utilizing all of the Party Leaders as well as all of the expansions), and they went a lot more smoothly than expected. The increase in play time between 6 and 10 players in our play tests was not substantial, and they ran roughly 90 minutes each. Please be warned, though (and this applies to any game)- the more people you add, the higher the risk that certain play styles will impact the length of the game (i.e. friends may, at times, want to troll rather than move forward). That said, our answer, based on our recent tests, is that the game can, in fact, be played with 10 people :D

Are all the Party Leader and Monster cards oversized?

Yes- all of the Party Leader and Monster cards are 70x120mm, and the rest of the cards in the game are 63x88mm.

Can we get a 9th Dragon Sorcerer Hero card since each of the other classes has 9 Heroes (when including Kickstarter Exclusive cards)?

Yes :D Our team is working on this now, so the Dragon Sorcerer expansion pack will get one extra Hero card to make sure all classes that come with the campaign have the same number of Hero cards for you. 

Is it possible to change tiers in Backerkit?

It is :) When the BackerKit surveys are sent out, you'll be able to switch tiers (in addition to selecting add-ons)

Can I use Here to Slay art for my personal profile pics?

Of course! Just be sure to tell your friends where you got it ;)

Will there be retail bundles available?

If you are interested in retail bundles, they will be available in BackerKit. You can simply pledge for $1 to get access. If you have questions about the specifics of retail bundles, you can email [email protected]

Do the acrylic standees ship as 2 pieces or 1?

The acrylic standees are made up of 2 pieces, the character and the base, so they will ship flat :) 

Are the new promo cards Heroes or Party Leaders?

The new promo cards are Heroes. When the expansion is released later this year, it will include a Warrior and a Druid party leader.

Will there be play mats, acrylic standees, and dice to accompany the Warrior and Druid expansion?

We haven't officially designed these yet, but our plan is to put together all of these items and make them available as part of a future Kickstarter project once the expansion is completed :)

If I get add-ons (like the Unstable Unicorns: Adventures Expansion pack, t-shirts, or enamel pins), will everything arrive together or will they ship separately?

Everything will arrive together with your pledge! 

Does the Play Mat box hold the central play mat in addition to the 11 individual player play mats?

This was my mistake in communication on a previous update, but yes, it does hold all of the play mats that come with this project (in addition to the 11 acrylic standees, 70 meeples, and 14 dice!)

How is the team feeling about the success of this project?

This is a really big question- to be honest, we are still in shock. When we started working on this project, we had no idea the kind of reception it was going to receive. We put our hearts into the game and hoped for the best, and seeing this kind of response has been an absolute dream come true.

There's also the reality that a project like this takes a lot out of our team. Thousands of hours of work went into the project before it began, and we continue to work to get everything done to meet our timelines and fulfill our promises. There were many times when it would've been easier to choose an easier path, but at every turn, we wanted this to be the best game and campaign it could possibly be. To anyone on our Unstable Unicorns team who is reading this, I hope you know how much I appreciate and value you. 

I'm going to get vulnerable here for a second- when putting everything you have into a project like this, it's hard not to attach your self worth to the outcome. I did a lot of self-coaching in advance of the launching the project to prepare myself for the possibility that Here to Slay wouldn't be well-received. There were a lot of creeping fears and anxieties that it would feel like our best isn't be good enough. At the end of the day, though, we wanted to make sure we created something that made us proud, even if nobody else liked it.

Of course, with how this project has gone, none of our fears were realized. In fact, it's been quite the opposite. We couldn't be more grateful for the support you've given us and the way this project has gone. It is such an incredible feeling to put so much into something like this and then see our community come together for us. 

So thank you <3 

So this last part isn't exactly a question, but I wanted to provide updated graphics for added clarity on all the exclusive items (and a few notable add-ons) in this campaign.

As mentioned above, if you still have questions, please let us know in the comments so we can get them answered as quickly as possible.

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

<3

Here to Slay: the Print & Play! (+coloring pages, concept art, wallpapers & more!)
almost 5 years ago – Sat, Feb 08, 2020 at 11:16:58 PM

This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.

Add-ons! (Everything you need to know about what happens once the project ends)
almost 5 years ago – Fri, Feb 07, 2020 at 11:18:16 PM

Hello :)

Only three days remain in the campaign, and I just can't believe how quickly the last few weeks have gone by. There will still be many loose ends to tie up and promises to fulfill over the next several months, and I will keep you posted along the way, but the daily project updates will soon come to an end. Thanks for being a part of this all along the way.

We have so many first-time backers on this project (welcome!!) - I know a lot of this can be confusing and intimidating, and I wanted to put this update together to alleviate any anxiety and answer any questions I could before the project ends.

In this update, you'll find:

• Information about next steps once the project ends (AKA what to do to make sure you receive all your stuff!)
• An explanation of how to add add-on items to your pledge (and how to calculate how much they'll cost)
• A rundown of all the add-on items that will be available as part of this campaign

If you're a first time backer (or just want a refresher/info on the add-ons), please read ahead. I know this can be a lot to follow, so please jump in the comments and let us know if you have any questions!

What happens once the project ends?

Once the project ends, your card will be charged for the amount that you pledged, but your work is not done yet! Approximately 2 weeks later (and I'll send out an update to let you know when to expect it), you'll receive an email from BackerKit to manage your pledge. Please make sure the email address on your Kickstarter account is up to date, because that's where the pledge manager email will go! 

It is crucial that you fill in the information there, because that's how we will collect your shipping information (otherwise, we won't be able to ship your package!) 

In BackerKit, you'll also have the option to select any add-ons that you want. We wrote a guide that outlines what to do once BackerKit surveys are sent out on our last project, so if you have any concerns or want to know more about what I'm talking about, you can find that guide here. Don't worry- I will send this information out again when the BackerKit surveys go out for this project to make sure there isn't any confusion- I just thought it might be helpful to see how it has looked on previous projects so you're prepared :)

How do you actually add add-ons?

We've talked a lot about add-ons throughout the project, which I know can be very confusing (particularly for first-time backers). Essentially, you can think of add-ons as a way of allowing you to customize your pledge/order to include exactly what you want. We are offering 7 different pledge tiers on this campaign, but with the number of add-on item options, there are many thousands of possible combinations of items that backers might be interested in adding.

You can look at what is included in your pledge, and then anything extra that you want to add, you can do so with add-on items. What makes add-ons confusing is that there is actually no way to add them to your pledge directly through Kickstarter- all of the action with add-on items happens once we send out the BackerKit survey (so you'll make your final selection of add-on items at the same time that you input your address, which is around 2 weeks after the campaign ends).

So the first thing is to make sure you've selected the right tier. Our handy guide on what's included in each tier is up to date, so make sure to take a look and update your pledge if you haven't already selected the one you want. I added in a row to show the % off for each pledge (compared to if you selected the included items as add-ons) in addition to including the add-on cost of each item for your reference. You can change your selected tier at any time until the campaign ends from the main campaign page :) 

Once you've ensured you have chosen the right pledge, you can decide if there are any add-on items you know you are interested in purchasing. You can then use one of the following formulas to calculate your new pledge total (including add-ons):

•  US backers- take the cost of your pledge + shipping and simply add the cost of the add-on items you want. No additional shipping will be charged for any add-on items you add!*
•  International backers- take the cost of your pledge + shipping, add the cost of the add-on items you want, and then add a flat $5 for additional add-on shipping. The shipping won't be charged per item- the $5 will cover any number of add-on items you add!*

*I put an asterisk here because there are a couple of exceptions to this. The first is if you want to add multiple full tiers- in this case, there may be an additional shipping cost for the added tier (which will be calculated in BackerKit). The second exception is for retail bundles, which will also have shipping calculated in BackerKit. If you aren't planning to add retail bundles or additional full pledges, you can disregard this note and just plan your add-ons with the formulas above. If you do plan to add additional pledges or retail bundles, you can handle all of the details directly in BackerKit- no need to do anything additional in advance :)

If you know you are interested in some of the below add-on items, you can use the formulas above to calculate your new pledge total. You can change your pledge amount on the main campaign page without changing tiers (which will leave you with a credit once you get your BackerKit survey). This credit can then be applied to any add-on items you select. For instance, if your selected tier + shipping cost is $166 and you pledge for $206, you will receive your BackerKit survey with a $40 credit already applied that can be used towards add-on items. Alternatively, you can wait until the BackerKit survey comes out and pay the difference at that time after you select your add-ons.

If you still have questions about changing your tier, changing your pledge amount, or adding add-on items, please post them in the comments below so we can answer your questions before the project ends!

What add-ons will be available?

Throughout the campaign, I've done my best to announce any new add-ons that have come up in updates, but below you'll find a consolidated list of everything to expect once you get your BackerKit survey. Anything marked with a green "KSE" badge is Kickstarter Exclusive, meaning you won't be able to get it later on our website, Amazon, in retail stores, etc. The other items are not strictly Kickstarter Exclusive, but if you want to save on shipping, you can obviously add any of them you want and they'll all be shipped with your package!

Before jumping into the items, I did want to clarify something- we've added a lot of Kickstarter Exclusive cards (including the Warrior and Druid promo cards and the 3 KSE Party Leaders) as well as the dice tower that are automatically included with the Kickstarter Exclusive Edition of the game. This means that you won't be able to purchase these items separately- if you want multiple copies of any of these cards or an extra dice tower, the only way is to add an extra copy of the Kickstarter Exclusive edition (which will automatically come with an extra set of all of those exclusive cards). 

Here's a full list of those extra Kickstarter Exclusive cards/items you'll get with each extra copy of the Kickstarter Exclusive edition of the game:

• 3 oversized Kickstarter Exclusive Party Leader cards
• 6 Kickstarter Exclusive Hero cards
• 1 Kickstarter Exclusive Item card
• 1 Kickstarter Exclusive Cursed Item card
• 1 Kickstarter Exclusive Magic card
• 4 Kickstarter Exclusive Modifier cards
• 6 Kickstarter Exclusive Challenge cards
• 2 Kickstarter Exclusive Promo Hero cards (the Warrior & Druid below)

Below, you'll find a detailed list of all of the items that will be available as add-ons (including pricing). A few of the items (such as the t-shirts, enamel pins, and plushies) will have a larger selection once the BackerKit add-on store goes live, which you'll receive 2 weeks after the campaign ends.

I did want to highlight one of the add-on items below again, which is the special pin for the animals in Australia. As a reminder, 100% of the proceeds will be donated to WIRES to help with rescue and rehabilitation efforts of animals that have been impacted by the wildfires. You can get it as a special item for yourself or as a gift and know you're doing something to make a difference <3

If you still aren't sure which add-on items you want, don't worry! You'll still have the option to decide once BackerKit surveys are sent to you two weeks after the campaign ends. I just wanted to make sure you had all of the information now and knew exactly what to expect. Once again, if you have any questions about any of this, please leave a comment and we will do everything we can to get you the answers you need before the campaign ends :)

Thanks for hanging in there with this super long update! I wanted to be as thorough as possible, since I know all of this can be quite confusing and intimidating. I hope it was helpful, especially if you were unsure about what comes next :)

In tomorrow's update, you can expect:

• A first draft of the Print & Play version!
• Coloring book pages!
• Some more early concept art from Here to Slay!

That's all for now- thank you!

<3

Exclusive Here to Slay t-shirts & pins (+new custom Party Leaders & almost 15 social stretch goals unlocked!)
almost 5 years ago – Thu, Feb 06, 2020 at 11:13:15 PM

Hello :D

Here to Slay has continued to soar, and as of a few hours ago, it officially passed Unstable Unicorns: Control & Chaos to be our most funded project yet. I keep waiting to wake up from this dream. This has been, and continues to be, truly incredible. Thank you for making this possible <3

As promised, our team has been working on some Kickstarter exclusive Here to Slay t-shirts and enamel pins for anyone who wants to show off their Here to Slay pride!

Each of the exclusive shirts will be available for $20 in Backerkit, and shirt sizes go up to 3XL for unisex and 2XL for women's. 

The pins feature each of the Kickstarter Exclusive Party Leader characters and will be available for $5 each. (In addition to these Kickstarter Exclusive pins, we'll also have an assortment of other Here to Slay pins as well- the full selection will be available in Backerkit).

As always with add-ons you're interested in adding to your pledge, you can choose from the following options:

• You can increase your pledge by the amount of the add-ons now and then select the add-ons in BackerKit when the surveys are sent out
• You can purchase the add-ons directly in BackerKit and add funds at that time

If you have any questions about how to adjust your pledge (or anything else for that matter), please let us know in the comments and we'll be happy to help :D

We finished a bunch more custom Party Leaders, but we can't keep up with the campaign! This makes 49 completed out of 108 that we currently owe, so we have a lot of work still to fulfill as more of your Party Leader requests!

These have been added to the custom Party Leader tool online so you can officially use them to create your characters :D

 We've gotten almost 2,000 submissions on there, and we love seeing the wave of new Party Leaders each time we make new art available :D

We've made tremendous progress on our social stretch goals since my last update about them! We have such a vibrant, creative, and talented community, and it really makes the project feel so special to see so much participation towards these goals. I love being a part of this community and seeing everyone come together towards a shared purpose!

With that said are about to hit 15 social stretch goals, which means we will make a Print & Play version of the game available to all backers so you can experience Here to Slay early :D We are super excited to put this together and share it in a future update with you. I know a number of backers have asked if we can put together a game play-through video for Here to Slay- while we won't be able to do so right now, you can feel free to use the PnP version to create your own and post it here :D

Here are our current tallies:

•  Campaign shares: 17,590 (Lv 4 COMPLETE!)
•  Backers: 25,938 (Lv 2 COMPLETE!)
•  Fighter Heroes: 11/10 (COMPLETE!)
•  Bard Heroes: 12/10 (COMPLETE!)
•  Guardian Heroes: 16/50
•  Ranger Heroes: 16/10 (COMPLETE!)
•  Thief Heroes: 50/50 (COMPLETE!)
•  Wizard Heroes: 7/10
•  Party Animals: 20/20 (COMPLETE!)
•  Dressed for Success: 26/50
•  Hero's Anthem: 1/1 (COMPLETE!)
•  Everyday Heroes: 10/10 (COMPLETE!)
•  Band of Heroes: 10/10 (COMPLETE!)
•  World of Adventure: 1,856/3,000
•  The Legend of Ramy: 166/500

Here are more of the submissions we've received for your viewing pleasure:

•  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHpNI4SKNNo&feature=youtu.be 
• https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipP6rJdXlp_X5u05_fPGPAjoHSv10cdycxay68Xqyx6Dy8aHUAQ18HFby9ilsMGhTA?key=c0lPbkFtRzRJVnJUNEJXcVA3NDFiNHc0cXdDX0pn
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAYwRMWcyO0
• https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10213099739026099&id=1172528001

•  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTQdVgqN4-8 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYt8aRgG3Os&feature=youtu.be
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX_S2J8MZTA&feature=youtu.be

•  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls6eqKoR_2U&feature=youtu.be 
• https://twitter.com/gmattorivarola/status/1224102415630249985
• https://www.facebook.com/100013374935881/videos/872032586585898/

• Raven Mystro
• Ramy the Rambunctious Bearicorn of AWESOMENESS!
• Panorama Ramy
• Ramsel the distressed
• The Creator
• He who SHOULD be named
• Dude Who did the Thing in the place that time
• rampire 🧛🏼‍♂️
• Ramy, Creator of Worlds
• Ramyfication, the Consequential One
• Ramini the Gemini
• Ramy llama llama ka dinga da dinga dong! When Ramy met S’llay?
• Ramy Hammy!
• Rambles
• Ramy Box-O-Plenty
• Grand Master Turtle Tee-er. 🐢
• Battering Ramy!
• Ramy the Cardsmith
• Ramybo
• Ramybambibafi-fi-fo-famby Mamby Ramy.
• King Ramy the Great
• Crown Prince Ramy, Commander of the Unicorns and Custodian of the Cards!
• Remal of Pitvial
• Ramy the mythical adventure
• Ramy the mighty crusader
• The Great ramy hero of the elements!!
• Knight of the Game Table
• Ramy the Baaabarian
• Ymar
• Ramy the redemptor
• Ramy from Behynde
• Sir. Ramsalot of Bunghole
• The legend of Ramy: Infinite Ramyfications
• Ramybear, Scourge of the three forests and half an acre of wetlands. Also maybe a football field, but that territory is contested.
• Lord Ramy, God of Chaos.
• Ram-me(or -my) the Ram [See Ram [animal)]
• Ramy-za [FFT/FFT:WotL Main character reference]
• Ramy King of All Things Unstable
• Ramy-fication of Fun
• Battering Ram(y), My suggestion for Ramy's hero name is:
• Rammykub
• Ramy the hero-maker
• Rammystein
• Ramyses the great
• Bubu
• Stable Human
• Total Ramyfication
• As King of Yorheart I knight ye Sir. Ramsy Ramy Ramsaton. A most well-renowned ram of rapid stamina regeneration, as was my pleasure to enjoy during last night’s annual Royal-Ramy-all-night-long festival. T’was a true marvel to behold such a talented third horn. 
• The Rammighty Goat
• Dramy the Drum-drummer
• Ramy the Ramming Ram
• Ram Names Rameses Jr or Rameses
• The Ramy-kin
•  Ramy's number one, he knows the secrets of desire. Rapapapapiliapupaliapuppa. Ramy's number one, he put the people all on fire. Rapapapapiliapupaliapuppa. He will be named Ramy Libre 
• Ramy the Troll King!
• Ramy the Remedial.
• Ramy the Unicorns' slayer
• Ramyfications.
• Mustarshooter
• Ramindald "Ramy" Ramington, the Third, of Ramvale
• Unicorn Unstabler
• Avatar Ramy
• Ramy the Reliable
• Rah Rah Ramy!
• Ramy the bowl of noodles
• Ramy the twilight warrior
• Ramy RamCorn it's a Ram with an additional Horn, Ramy Cob, a Party leader with cob in hand!
• The "Take my Money" Sorcerer
• Ramy the hope whisperer
• Jammie Ramy. Maybe he could have a sidekick who's name works well with peanut butter.
• Ramy the Unicorn Badie.
• The Ram Slam
• Ramy Malek
• Rammillion
• Ramy Claws
• Ramstone.
• Ramy the Shady Lover
• TEAM RAMROD
• Ramy the ramycorn
• rimy bedaa
• Black Betty (Bam-ba-Ram)
• Ramy the Relentless Riot
• Ramistell
• Card Baron Ramy of the Cruciform Turtle
• Ramy, Tamer of the Volatile Unicorn
• Sir Badie, No It's Just His Name He's Actually Pretty Chill Please Put Down The Torches Guys
• Ramington Steele
• The Golden Ram, Magus Mercentile
• My Boss Told Me To Make A Hero Card For Him, So I Did And This Is It
• Ram Lord
• Sir Ramy the Recalcitrant
• Ramy the benevolent
• Ramy-lamy-ding-dong <3
• Ramytato the Red
• Ramystic
• The Fabulous Ramy
• Stabby Ramy
• Dr. Ramystein
• Unicorn of Ramy's Glory
• Ramy, the pineaplepizza lover/hater
• Ramy, The NSFW Unicorn
• Ramy the Bear-Barian
• Rammy the Rabious Ram
• Cyborg Ram-mY
• Sinbadie the Sailor
• Ramy the Rattlesnake Wrestler
• RAMpantly Red Rhino
• Ramy the Lamby!

Thank you for being so engaged with this project and helping us reach these goals. I have found it particularly delightful (for only slightly biased reasons) to see all of the suggestions of Hero names for me. So thanks for indulging me 🙈

(That is all for now)

<3