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The Publishing Goblin's Oracle Dice

Created by Publishing Goblin, LLC

Pre-Orders now closed.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Manufacturing in Swing!
about 1 year ago – Tue, Feb 21, 2023 at 09:17:51 AM

If you backed all three of my currently in process projects, don't be alarmed. The updates are all named the same thing because apparently at three different manufacturers, the projects are in manufacturing.

Last week I was told that everything but the dice is complete. By the end of this month, the resin dice will all be finished, and the stone dice wrapping up within a week of those. I will be updating soon as well with info on the shipping, as we should be putting in shipping prices and charging for that in the next week or so. I will make an update before that happens, so hang tight on that.

Shipping will begin not long after that when we have finalized packing lists and addresses for everyone. Non-North American packages will go directly out from the manufacturer like we did with the Alleyman's Tarot, and US packages will ship to the US first as a large grouping, then go out into the USPS system. I will be reaching out to the community copy recipients today to gather addresses. I think we're close enough now I can do that and not fear addresses changing! All things going as they should, we should be packages in hand for the vast majority of people by the end of April.

With that in mind...

I want to take the second here to let you all know that I have prepared my big project for the year:

The Alleyway Oracles!
You can click through on it now and get signed up to be notified on launch day, which right now is tentatively May 16th. I'm fairly certain that on all three currently fulfilling projects that all packages will be in the mail or already in people's hands by that time, but if anything changes I may yet move it back.

This time around we're looking at 3 different decks-- The Alleyway Tarot, the Oracle of Secrets, and the Oracle of Play. This project will coincide with the release of the first episode(s) of the second season of the podcast, and a lot of the lore between the project and podcast will be shared, so it should be an even deeper dive into the Alleyman myth. There will be bundle bags of add-ons, a new booster pack, and more! 

I have been going a bit loopy gathering all the artists for it in 3 months, rather than a year like I did the first time, but with the template of the first project in hand I have had an easier time getting exactly all the info I need the first time around. As much as I would love to run a series of 12 projects next year, I think the better option is 1 divination project, 1 game project, and 1 project of some other variety a year (like the alleyman podcast cd set!). That way even if things overlap the audiences tend to be different enough, and I feel more confident things won't drag on. So aside from this project, I only have one currently planned project for October for a roleplaying game.

I thank you for all your patience. The dice especially were supposed to be in hand by now, and it's nice knowing it will be soon, but it really should have been months ago. For this reason, the Alleyway Oracles will be expected to fulfill in 2024, and I just won't put out another big divination project until it's done.

Thanks all!

7

The Timeline! | New Information
over 1 year ago – Thu, Jan 26, 2023 at 05:04:25 PM

Hello you amazing people!

Last week I put out an update but without any real information, simply because I didn't have new info yet. I hate doing that but it had been too long since you'd all heard from me and I wanted to at least say hello.


New Dice Manufacturer


Today I got an email from New Titan, who has been kindly sourcing all the elements of this project with local factories in China. We had a really hard time on the Alleyman's Tarot due to the state of the world, but I honestly can't imagine how impossible it would have been without their help. I trust them.

Everything but the dice are going smoothly. Boxes, cloth, books, cards, prints, etc. Unfortunately with the dice, the manufacturer we were working with started being really sketchy. They refused to follow the designs we'd sent them exactly, which is why the symbols on the dice were smaller than the original edition. They wouldn't sign a contract without including a large tolerance for sizes of the dice and symbols-- basically they didn't want to suffer our Quality Assurance with the dice, and if their dice were too big or too small from what they were supposed to be, or if the dice had tiny symbols, we wouldn't be able to hold them accountable for it. They also just generally wouldn't sign a reasonable contract, they would only go forward if there was no ability for us to ask for changes, etc.

New Titan already lined up a new manufacturer and a set of the dice done by them is already on the way to me as of yesterday. The dice are simply better quality with this new manufacturer.



Old manufacturer's first run of dice is on the left, new manufacturer is on the right. First thing to note is that all the colors are actually right this time, which is a pleasant change. The top left die in both sets is the Actions die-- they failed to use the right colors and as a result I couldn't read it. Now this was something they said they could change, but I hadn't seen fixed dice yet. The new manufacturer got it right the first time, which definitely makes me feel a bit better. Same on the bottom right die, which was supposed to be a deep blue with pink ink, and the first manufacturer delivered a muddy water brown die.

The other obvious thing is the symbol sizes. The first manufacturer refused to keep the symbols the same size they were the first time, shrinking everything. Smaller things I'm excited about is the fact that on the Goblin Die, the old manufacturer said that symbol that's showing, with the Goblin head under the moon with big round eyes-- they wanted to change that symbol to have eyes that were dots, rather than circles. There were a lot of small things they wanted to simplify. In some cases it was minor, in some it was major. The new manufacturer is working with the designs as we sent them, and it's just going to be a better product.

I'm also being told that the stone dice will be better quality, though I'm a little unclear on how or why, so I won't say that for sure. I'd imagine if we're using the same stones we will have the same quality-- the symbol size will be bigger again so that's nice, but otherwise nothing has changed with stone dice.


Generally it's the same with the stone dice, so no biggie there.





What Does This Mean for the Timeline?

As of today, this is the situation with each item:
Reading cloths: Finished, received in their warehouse.
Coins: Finished, received in their warehouse.
Wood Box: COVID hit the wood box manufacturer we used in the past hard, but they should still have those all finished by Feb 15th, potentially sooner.
Cards: Could have been done already but since they were waiting on other pieces they set aside to complete by Feb 10th. You can see lots of the cards above, so they're already in production. Assuming art prints are tied into this category, but I'll ask.
Guidebook and Journal: Also by Feb 10th, though their binding department has had a labor shortage after the reopening, with 50% of their workers getting COVID and going back home right away.
Resin and Stone Dice: The manufacturer has pledged to sort the dice into sets for New Titan and get it out to them by Feb 25th.

For shipping, this means:
By the 2nd week of March, US orders will be pick+packed and on a ship heading over to the US. This will arrive late March, meaning shipping US orders would start in the first week of April. This is the tightest turn around, and while generally speaking the world is a bit better at getting things places now than it was a year ago today, I think it's fair to think we could have another COVID-related delay as China has been opening back up fully in spite of COVID that could place US shipments reaching people in mid April, or at the worst, late April.

By the 2nd week of March, Rest of World shipping would already be starting, as those would all come directly from China. All international packages will be in the mail by late March, but with travel times won't likely arrive until April, unless you live nearby.

Charging Shipping

So! We have put off setting and charging shipping for a while now due to the general delays. But since we'll want to lock orders in by mid February, I will likely be setting up shipping costs (and charging for it) in early February. We will be doing this so I can give everyone on the project time enough to get their stuff settled and paid before I send a list of stuff to pack to New Titan-- since they will be pre-packing US orders like they did on the Alleyman's Tarot BEFORE it leaves China, that way boxes arrive ready to drop into the mail.

I will put out an update when shipping is put up and let everyone know a couple days before I charge it, then let people know after it's done.

Community Copies

At the time when I go to charge shipping, I will be contacting the community copy recipients to get addresses from them for their free sets of dice, books, and reading cloths. Apologies for not reaching out on this sooner, just didn't seem necessary yet as we were still a bit from shipping. With it looming on the March/April horizon, I'll gather these in February.

No Other Projects Until Dice are in Hand!

I was lining up to launch the Alleyway Oracles in April, then as things seemed a little uncertain, I was thinking instead May. I'd like to do May, really I would, but something tells me with the state of the world it might be even smarter to do June and lock that in. I was comfortable having the current 3 projects overlap because they all used different fulfilment teams and manufacturers. However I will be using New Titan for the Alleyway Oracles, and I'd like them to have a month to ensure everything is out the door, and for them to get my print prototypes of the decks for that new project, before we launch. So Alleyway Oracles will wait until this is in people's hands.

We're coming to the end, and things will be moving through the air before we know it!
Thanks for all of your patience, excited to have the final sets in hand myself shortly,

7

A Short Update
over 1 year ago – Wed, Jan 18, 2023 at 04:47:16 PM

Hello everyone!

I know it's been quiet, but it's really just been sitting around on my hands time. New Titan is putting things together, but it's Chinese New Year holiday, and we're just going to be waiting around a bit for that to wrap up. Knowing how long things will take, we should still be on for shipping in March, but thinking about how long things took to get from place to place on the Alleyman's, I wouldn't be surprised if it bled into April.

Unfortunately, I can't even get responses to emails at the moment because of the holiday, so I don't have a latest update on where things are, if things are moving-- I just don't know yet. 

I had an overall pleasant holiday, though my partner and I split up (amicably) at the start of December. Been trying to figure out some personal life things around that, and that coupled with no immediate or clear changes in the schedule on this project had made me hesitant to post an update. I hate to have no news. But I suppose no news is sometimes better than news. 

So tl;dr, we're on track for March, though we may be pushed into late March/early April. I can't say with certainty just yet, but will update when I have that info to share! Hope you're all well and healthy, and had lovely holidays.

Fond regards,
7DA
your Pub Gob

The Dice in Hand! So! Many! Pictures!
over 1 year ago – Wed, Nov 30, 2022 at 04:36:45 PM

Okay, I just threw a little fit honestly. I wrote this massive long update, all these pictures. It was an hour of writing. I scrolled down to hit Save, and it took me to a login screen. I knew immediately it just deleted everything. I don't know why the save button took me to login, or what logged me out. I'm just so so so frustrated, and re-writing this whole thing. It will probably be missing some of the thoughtful details I thought about, blah. So now at the end of my work day I'm re-writing everything I can think of. Agh. Bleh. Screm.


The Dice are In


Okay, so I have the dice in hand. The long and short is this: They look amazing. They're not all correct though. Of the 22 dice, only 7 got my total okay, both in their plastic and stone form. The remaining 15 have various issues, mostly color of die or color of ink, but one had a symbol flipped/mirrored for reasons I don't know.

I don't have the new wooden boxes in hand, but I do have pictures from the manufacturer I'll share for now! If you are excited about anything you see here, and realize you didn't get it-- or you want to adjust your pledge in any way, such as adding, removing, or choosing new options for the wooden box (new engraving for the top), you MUST reach out to backerkit support on your survey to have them adjust it. I wish I could adjust or help you with this, but I can't!

I'm locking current unlocked orders and charging those (mostly pre-orders, some people who did surveys late) next week. So get your stuff in now! Addresses will remain unlocked until we are close enough to charge shipping costs.

Please bear in mind that the pictures don't capture everything completely the way they look in real life, and anything that was actually hard to read in real life I am adjusting with the manufacturer! : )

Additionally, only two dice, the red Obstacles Die and the 12-sided Chaos Die were made with finalized molds. The rest were all lazer etched. As we move from lazer etching to the final molds, a dozen or so dice are having small changes made to their symbols to simplify things. In almost every case, these changes were so small they're irrelevant. I almost couldn't tell on some what the changes even were. However, for the Mariner's Die and the Metamorphosis Die, some very big simplifications are being done. Simply put, I like the original designs better. However, those two were always way more detailed than everything else, so these changes might be for the best in making them match the rest of the set. (You can't see the simplification here, these dice were all lazer etched.) They also will make them actually legible on the stone dice, which right now are hard to parse with the detailed design on the textured stone surface. We are talking about potentially engraving these two dice for the whole run, I'll let you know how that shakes out.








A Closer Look at What's Right, and What's Wrong


Made it to the bottom? Awesome, and welcome. Let's have a better look at the dice as a whole. This picture below features the dice set in its entirety. The original dice, the new plastic version, then the stone version. The changes I sent to New Titan to give to the dice manufacturer is below the photo, so you can see all the changes that are happening. Please remember this is a photo and in photos not everything comes out right, colors are different, some things are hard to read that aren't in real life. So trust me on the changes! : )
I think it's true that some dice are losing saturation. Some of that I'm changing, some of that I like. Also this is a different manufacturer with different clearances, so yes, all the symbols are generally shrinking in from the edges a little. In comparison directly with the first edition it is a little blah, but on their own I don't even notice.
If I do a third edition sometime down the line, I'd consider going back with the original edition's manufacturer and raising the price on the set to make that work out. But I promise, the set on its own doesn't read poorly or look less-than in person. It looks so fantastic, the mistakes aside.



And here are all the notes I'm sending back (They cover the plastic die, then the stone die, then suggested changes from laser etching to molds). I figure that even if I say to trust me on what's changing, some people will still worry about specific things above:

  • Spring Die looks good in all three forms. The stone is good. The changes they suggest on this die are okay with me.
  • Autumn Die looks a little desaturated in plastic compared to the original one, makes it hard to differentiate between it and the yellow dice. I'd like it more saturated orange. Stone fits in box easily. I can't even tell what they changed in their design, so I'm okay with it.
  • Winter Die looks great, I like the desaturation on it. Stone die barely fits in the box, and if I turn it certain ways it doesn't fit at all. I like their changes.
  • Summer Die is super desaturated/dark, both the die and the ink used on it. I'd like it brighter yellow and the ink brighter red/orange. Stone is good. Changes look good to me.
  • Elements Die looks fantastic! Stone is a little hard to read, I'd like to change to white ink for readability. Stone is otherwise good. They had no changes.
  • Fate Die looks great. Stone is good. Their changes to the roulette face are okay with me.
  • Majors Die has a big problem, the ink is way too dark and you can't read it at all. It needs to be a bright, bright red. The stone die looks great, and the red ink used on it is much lighter and better. Their change is okay.
  • Alchemist's Die looks good. The only change I'd like to ask is if they can slightly thicken the lines, they are a bit thin. Otherwise all of it is good.
  • Mariner's Die overall looks good. The stone die is really hard to read. It doesn't help that the design is shrunk, but the teal is also hard to read on sides of the die that have gold flecks in it. I think the only fix is to accept their changes, so that the lines can be thicker and more clear. All the little details are impossible to read on the stone die.
  • Relations Die looks good, but I would like the die to be lighter grey than it is. Right now it's too similar to the Suits Die. Stone die looks great. They have no changes.
  • Metamorphosis Die looks a little off, not quite the right purple. A little more like the original purple would be good. Otherwise the die looks good. The stone die is hard to read, which like the Mariner's Die I think would be best fixed by using their changes, so the lines can be thicker and more clear. However I don't like their changes for the normal die, but I think their changes make the die look more like the other dice, which is okay. So let's accept their changes.
  • Actions Die the ink is totally the wrong color, which makes it impossible to read. Ink should be bright pink, not this dark red. The Stone Die looks fantastic. They have no changes.
  • Suits Die I would like the die grey to be darker. Right now it looks exactly like the Relations die, even though they're slightly different. So darker grey. The stone die looks amazing. Their change looks okay to me.
  • Obstacles Die looks so amazing, both the plastic and the stone. I don't like that the design on the stone die is so much smaller. You can see a huge difference on the face in my picture with the bars. However it looks great. They have no changes.
  • Longings Die  looks good. Stone too. They have no changes suggested.
  • Influences Die is totally the wrong color. It's supposed to be a nice deep blue, this is some kind of tan or beige. Kind of caramel colored. The pink ink looks like the color I wanted on the Actions die (please let them know this pink should be used on the Actions Die), but this pink is way too neon, it's supposed to be soft baby pink. The stone looks good. They have no changes suggested.
  • Attentions Die is totally good. No changes suggested either.
  • Goblin Die the yellow looks good, but the black ink they used was supposed to be dark green. On the Stone Die, let's use gold ink on the it instead of black, it's too hard to read. The changes are okay with me.
  • Chaos Die it's almost perfect, but there's a big issue. The main face on it, the triangle with the 's' in it-- they flipped it. I know you said this is one they made a mold for, but they did it wrong. This is the correct symbol below, and you can see in the image I sent that the S is backwards. I checked all the other symbols on all the dice, nothing else has been flipped. Everything else, the colors, the stone die, it all looks good. I don't see any other suggested changes.
  • The Kindness Die is the wrong colors. It should be a bright, almost neon baby blue, not this deep almost purple blue. The ink looks okay. The stone die looks amazing. It doesn't look readable in photos, but in real life it looks great. They have no suggested changes, so we're good.
  • The Wounds Die is good. The ink is a little darker than I thought it would be, but it works. The stone is good. They had no changes.
  • The Alley Die is good. The stone die is too hard to read. I don't know what color would work well, I'm open to suggestions from them, if they want to try a different color and send a picture. They had no suggested changes.

And a note on the stone dice... The plastic dice are molded, they are exact. Perfect. The stone dice are carved, they are not exact. Some of the stone dice were snug in the wooden box holes. Some of them had issues where they didn't fit in the holes at all unless I turned it to a different face, because the stone isn't perfectly square. None of them were WAY big or anything, they were just slightly too large when turned certain ways. The only issue this brings is that if you get the symbol engraved top for your wooden box, and then it turns out that stone die can't fit in the right way to get that face upright... I'm asking if we can ensure the dice will be as close to size as possible, but it may just be a trait of the stone dice. Bear that in mind, their more organic form just isn't absolutely exact, and can lead to snug fits.

And that's everything! Fulfillment...

We're about 2 weeks behind on our planned schedule, so I wouldn't be surprised if we end up shipping into and through March, rather than February, but I think I basically said Feb/March last time. New Titan thinks we'll be good for February but I know better than to trust the state of the world right now. I'll of course let you all know as things change, if they change, etc.

Right now I'm exhausted. All the final fixes and details for all three projects have gotten bigger than they were, and while I should have everything finished up shortly, I'm tired. There's a fourth overlapping project in the background I wasn't supposed to have a hand in, but something got messed up horribly back in June or July and I've been working on that simultaneously ever since. As a result, I'm taking a break once my work on these three overlapping projects is done by the end of next week, and just focusing on making sure the Alleyway Oracles are ready to go in mid April, when all 3 of the current projects are finished and in people's hands. And after that, I'm likely not doing any other projects in 2023. Okay, maybe one in October.

Year of the Goblin will get prepped in full for 2024. No 'small detail that becomes a big detail' will be left to be done for later. The only projects that will go live will be projects fully ready to go, every print file finished and okay'd with printers/manufacturers, etc. If 12 projects aren't ready for that, then only the ones ready will run. Period. The little details I have to chase down at the end of each project are never as little as they seem!

I'll continue to pass on news as I get it. Thank you,

7DA
your pub gob

Where we're at! | Pictures!!!
over 1 year ago – Tue, Nov 08, 2022 at 01:28:08 PM

It's been a little bit, but I've been finishing up clearing the storage unit of Alleyman things and finally being done with my part on that project. What a long process that has been, but rewarding and full of lessons. However, most of what I've been doing with the dice is the same as you all, waiting for news!

A note that Preorders are still open for people who missed the project, so PLEASE share this link with people if they see this over your shoulder and want it for themselves!
https://oracle-dice-2.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

So, today I can share pictures I've been sent by the manufacturers. I don't have the test manufacturing prints of anything yet, but I should in the next two weeks. And based on these pictures, I'll be saying YES to it all very quickly.



First up we have the box tops! The first image is three options for the wood, the dice box I have my hands on already is the middle one with the goblin face, just engraved with no filled in portions. Looks like they were testing (and offering) options on this, blacked in, just engraved, or gold! This is also your first view of the Symbols top option, with the dice symbols in their places over the holes that are inside the box. You don't have to arrange them this way, but I imagine many of you will be unable to help yourselves!

Keep in mind there are also blank box top options for people who get the wooden box, so you don't need an engraving at all. If you want to change your engraving choice, or add a box, feel free to reach out to Backerkit support for help adding to your order!


The dice cloth is amazing! It's double sided and features these two grids on the front and back. This is the original reading grid on the left, and the new reading grid with past, present, future, and fated on the right. It's 18"x18", and because it's double sided it will make a better bandana if you're so inclined. I found with the Alleyman's Tarot cloth being white on the back, it always looked a little odd if the underside showed while wearing it. This was part of the basic set, so if you got a basic pledge with the set and book, it also had a cloth! Ironically it was the most expensive thing in the set almost, because double sided fabric printing in full color is pricey.


But of course, you're here for the dice! These aren't quite the final versions. Only a few had molds made for them just yet, the rest are resin molds with our designs on them. This is to make sure it all looks good before we go all the way and buy to have the metal molds made for the large scale manufacturing, as the molds are expensive and making 22 of them only to find out they are no good would be an issue. I of course can note we don't see the D12 here just yet. By my count this is 20 dice, so 2 are missing. Looks like Obstacles and Chaos.

A few colors are off from what I sent them, so I'll adjust on that, but the symbols look great!

I'm waiting on the dice to show up to me so I can include photos in the guidebook, so no guidebook or journal has been printed yet. We'll get to those last, as books are FAST to print compared to how slow it is to get the dice, box, etc made. But what's that? Oh yeah, what about the stone dice?


Here's a BUNCH of the stone dice in someone's hand at the manufacturer. They look fantastic, but a few will need different inks to be legible. That's alright, we'll adjust.

But they're real, and they should be heading my way very soon!

Update again when I have things in hand and I've made my final revisions to everything!

Talk again soon,

7
your Pub Gob