Collaborating with gummy goblins to support more hospitals!
almost 3 years ago
– Wed, Oct 27, 2021 at 11:50:37 PM
Hello backers!
Game to Grow was recently contacted by Crawlspaces & Critters, a currently-running Kickstarter creating gummy goblin miniatures for use in TTRPGs. We partnered, along with Penny Arcade, on a fundraiser called Spice & Dice that raised $15,000 for Game to Grow’s nonprofit mission!
In a discussion with Michael over at Crawlspaces & Critters, we shared our passion for supporting youth in hospitals. Game to Grow has been running virtual RPG games to support hospitalized youth at the Methodist Children's Hospital in San Antonio, Texas, and we’re currently in discussion with several other hospitals around the country about expanding the program and training volunteers to continue running the virtual game sessions. As part of this conversation, Micheal and I realized we could do even more to bring the life-enriching magic of play to hospitalized kids.
Crawlspaces & Critters has an option as part of their Kickstarter to donate a pack (or packs) of gummy goblins to a hospital. You may remember Critical Core had a similar funding level to donate a copy of the game to “a good cause.” Great minds think alike!
Here’s the deal: As of today, any hospital receiving a donated pack of gummy goblins from Crawlspaces & Critters backers will also get a donated digital copy of Critical Core! We have many physical “good cause” copies already earmarked to share with hospitals, and we’ll work with Crawlspaces & Critters to send gummies to those hospitals as well.
Check out the Crawlspaces & Critters (already 100% funded) Kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/critters-0/edible-gummy-tabletop-minis.
For more information about the Spice & Dice fundraiser for Game to Grow, visit the Game to Grow blog here: https://gametogrow.org/2021/10/21/spice-and-dice/
Best,
Adam Davis
Critical Core Lead Author
Game to Grow Executive Director
A manufacturing update (sort of)!
almost 3 years ago
– Wed, Oct 27, 2021 at 11:47:48 PM
Hello backers!
I didn’t want to only post about our new partnership to support hospitals with Crawlspaces & Critters without providing an update about manufacturing.
Based on our review of samples and our feedback, materials are under production! We also recently updated the external box art (as you may recall the sample box was blank).
Here’s an image of what the outside of the Critical Core box will be:
We’ll keep you posted as soon as we have more information from the manufacturer about how progress is coming along!
Best,
Adam Davis
Critical Core Lead Author
Game to Grow Executive Director
The sample is here!
about 3 years ago
– Sun, Oct 03, 2021 at 12:03:09 AM
Greetings backers!
As we mentioned in the most recent update, the sample arrived from the manufacturer and we’ve looked through it to provide feedback and any revisions.
There were a few very minor issues around margins and cropping, but all in all the kit looked GREAT and nothing major will need to be revised, thank goodness.
Below are some pictures of the sample:
The box arrived unprinted as the main thing we were looking for was overall material quality, and the box image was still being rendered. You can see a slight ding in the left corner from being shipped roughly (don't worry, we have a quality shipper lined up!).
The game master screen! There was a slight margin error on this one but not one that'll require any major revision.
The map of Toverus! The final version will be larger than this one. This sample was for print quality (superb) and material quality(also superb).
The character sheets were nice quality as well, though you can see the corners were a little dinged up from the box shipping issue.
The modules looked beautiful! The first two modules will be printed with a staple stitch, while The Age of Green is large enough for a spine.
There were a few printing margin errors that we've reported back to the printer.
The Game Master's Guide and Facilitator's Guide look great, and the paper quality should be high-enough quality to survive frequent use to clarify rules or look up group management strategies.
The dice bag with prototype dice (not shown), tokens, and the NPC/monster cards, the spell cards, and the ability cards. The cards arrived unprinted to check for paper quality.
The card art was all printed on a proof sheet so we could check quality and bleed lines. Looked great!
We even tore a card in half to check for paper quality. It's not a synthetic-fiber playing card durability, but it should hold up to player use!
Once they incorporate the revisions, the manufacturer has stated an expected month and a half for production and assembly. After the kits are produced, the North American kits will be shipped en masse to our distribution center in Florida where they will be sent out individually to backers. Backers in other regions will have a similar process. We’ll provide updates along the way.
We aren’t able to provide promises for delivery dates, as manufacturing and shipping are largely out of our hands at this point. But trust us, we’re moving things along as fast as we can! We’ve read that other kickstarter projects being manufactured similarly have hit supply chain issues exacerbated by the pandemic, so we’re even more cautious about setting date expectations. In the spirit of full transparency, we just don’t know. As much as we may want to tell you what we think you want to hear, we’d rather give you the honest truth.
Thank you again for being on this journey with us, for sharing your enthusiasm for the mission of this project, and for your continued support as we get this project ever closer to completion.
If you have any questions or comments please don’t hesitate to send them to [email protected].
Best,
Adam Davis
Lead Author, Critical Core
Executive Director, Game to Grow
A tale from YOUR real-world table!
about 3 years ago
– Fri, Oct 01, 2021 at 12:33:16 PM
Greetings backers!
At the end of the Critical Core Facilitator’s Guide we share some “Tales from the Real World Table,” stories of real-world success from Game to Grow’s own games. When we built Critical Core, we did so with the hopes that we’d be able to someday hear and share your successes as you bring it into your own community.
Well, we just received an email from a backer in Australia and I couldn’t help but pass it on (with their permission of course!)
Dear Game to Grow,
I just wanted to say a huge thank you for creating Critical Core. It is such a fantastic product and in the short time that I have been using it we have already seen some great outcomes.
I have been running two games so far and it has been brilliant.
- I started playing it at home with my family to learn the game and also help my children build some social skills. My eldest has been diagnosed with ADHD and Level 1 ASD and it has been a huge win for engaging him. Even better, it has given my youngest son some agency in their relationship with their brother which is often hard for siblings.
- We started a pilot group at school. For context, we are a Special Ed setting with a focus on Trauma Informed Practice. ...We have been in lockdown for about 3 months, with lockdown expected to extend until the end of October. For some time we have been planning to run Critical Core during this term, but due to lockdown were unable to get it going. We decided to trial it online, as a way to engage our students in work. We have started with three of our young people, a teacher who is a player and moderator of the chat and myself as GM.
- After 1 session all 3 boys and the teacher were hooked, and each of them will almost never speak in a public forum were able to speak up in the group at least once. In the second session (skellie attack) our students worked together to take down the skellies and were very patient with the rules learning process and gave each other space to talk with me and the teacher about what they need to do to play. This is our biggest challenge, as trying to teach the game over a zoom connection is hard when I can't work alongside them with their character sheets.
Thanks again for the awesomeness.
What a great story! Do you have a Critical Core story of your own to share? Would you like to be an ambassador for the power of social play? Please share your story here! https://gametogrow.org/criticalcore/shareatale/
We're expecting the sample to arrive any moment from the manufacturer! I'll update as soon as it arrives!
Best,
Adam Davis
Lead Author, Critical Core
Executive Director, Game to Grow
New character artwork featuring faces of Kickstarter supporters!
about 3 years ago
– Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 08:49:49 PM
Greetings backers!
In our last update, we mentioned that new character art would be coming soon, featuring actual faces of some of Critical Core's benefactors. They're in!
The artist, Grant Griffin, was able to send over his final revisions, and we're so excited to share them!
Here is the half-orc barbarian, the dwarf cleric, and the halfling bard:
There is so much personality in the facial expressions, and as a good Seattle-based Jimi Hendrix fan, I love that the bard is left-handed!
Here is the half-elf rogue and the tiefling monk:
The confidence of the rogue has always been a reason why so many of our players have loved playing that character, and this artwork absolutely conveys it! For the tiefling, we were excited to see Grant explore some non-fiendish inspirations for the character. This one has a sort of dinosaur-looking ancestry (think triceratops) that I'm particularly excited by.
And we have two additional elf wizard characters, each with their own elemental flair. Such power they have!
A huge thanks to these particular backers for being a (literal) part of Critical Core, and thank you again to all of our backers for being a part of the Critical Core journey with us!
As I mentioned in the last update, the physical samples are on their way (the tracking information says they're in the US and should be here in a few days). We'll keep everyone updated as soon as we know more!
Best,
Adam Davis
Lead Author, Critical Core
Executive Director, Game to Grow
