Tariffs Talk Continued- May 20th, 2025 update
10 months ago
– Thu, May 22, 2025 at 07:30:07 AM
Greetings spiderlings! There's more tariff info to talk about, but it doesn't really come to much in regards to our product. Short story: Physical products are still going to be delayed and at this time we can't estimate by how long.
Tariffs have gone down (good), but not enough (bad), and may go up again (bad), but could go down later (good). The "tariff pause" is not long enough for us to take advantage of, sadly. This trade war is definitely not over, so the battlefield remains chaotic.
If the tariffs go down and hold steady in the 10% range we can get the production wheels turning again. And at that time we can start estimating when physical stuff will get into your hot little hands. We've discussed our situation with our printers and they understand (they're more impacted than we are, of course). They're on call for when the landscape changes.
In better news, the book is going to the copy editor next week! That's a significant milestone, as it signals we're ready to let someone else read it and check our work.
Apologies for the tardy update, life intrudes in many ways, but we'll talk again when we know more!
In the meantime, here's some of the newest art we've gotten from our tireless artists (the book is going to look SO good). Can you guess the context for these two charismatic beauties?
Let's Talk About Tariffs - April 8th, 2025 Update
12 months ago
– Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 07:36:04 AM
A Tale of Tariffs
Hello, champions. Tariffs are the hot topic in all the game-making communities, and we have to address how they affect us.
When we embarked on this project we had one goal: get the Widow's Web into the hands of the public. Karl tortured us with the fun of the Web for several decades and it was time to share that with as many people as possible. (That's you, you beautiful spidery miscreants).
We truly just wanted to share and did not (do not) care if we made money. But... we certainly didn't want to lose (a lot) of money.
With the amount we raised on KS, and even before the tariffs came around, each of us would be in the red when all was said and done. Enough of a loss to notice, but we could take that hit and the Web would be out there, our goal would be met.
However, our budget was calculated in a different economic world and the current tariffs increase our manufacturing costs more than 100% (as of the writing of this update).
The four of us simply cannot soak up that increase. What would've been a small personal loss would now be devastating.
What's the Plan?
First the good news: The PDF version of the book is unaffected. Everyone will get the digital copy of the book per their pledge tier. The Widow's Web will be unleashed!
The original plan was for a July release of the PDF. And... we're pretty confident we can keep that timeline! If we hit a bump and have to delay, it would be a matter of weeks, not months and months.
AND, all digital stretch goals (the Mini Adventure and VTT integration, for example) will not be delayed by tariffs and are still planned to be sent out by October 2025.
Secondly, and sadly, manufacture and shipping of the physical products is now TBD. I'm so sorry we can't be more precise or sure. But the tariffs are crushing to us little guys and we can't bear that weight.
That said, we fully intend to get the physical items done and shipped in the future. We're gutted that we just don't know when that will be. If the tariffs go way down or go away then the conversation changes, and we're hoping that will be sooner rather than later.
Steve Jackson Games has a post on the situation that you should read. It discusses why we can't just switch to U.S. factories and lays out the overall situation. And we are aware that this is an ongoing situation that could change rapidly. We held off posting this for a couple weeks to see what would happen but it's only gotten worse for our situation so we're letting you know the current status.
All the best, champions. We'll keep you updated and press on to get that PDF into your hot little hands so you can take the Widow's Web to the four corners of the world!
Update schedule and Web 2 Even More Done! - March 21st., 2025
about 1 year ago
– Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 12:18:23 PM
Updates Will Be Monthly... For Now!
Howdy you webby wild ones. I'll be moving to a once-a-month schedule for these reports as the news is mostly the same: Working on layout, editing, stretch goals, and logistics...
So, I'll throttle back on choking your inboxes until we have more exciting stuff to talk about. But for now...
Web 2 More Done!
While the text for the second Web has been laid out for a while now, we got the rest of the actual art from our artists and it is now all in place! All that's left is more proof-reading and a professional copy edit.
Karl has been hard at work reading and re-reading all our words to make sure we worded good. He's catching editorial mistakes but is also the keenest eye to check our design and flow. A professional copy editor will be focused on our spelling, grammar, and consistency, though they won't have as much familiarity with the game play nuances. A winning combo for a smooth read.
Mini-Adventure Title Reveal and Logistics - Feb. 27th, 2025 Update
about 1 year ago
– Fri, Feb 28, 2025 at 10:06:17 AM
(Psst... if you haven't filled out your BackerKit survey, please do so! It helps us plan.)
Logistics and Trade Routes
You know... I think I find logistics more fascinating than the average human, but I suspect y'all don't want to hear about the negotiations around printing, tariffs, and shipping timetables.
Just take it as written that Nick is hard at work on that end of things. I mention this to flag that there is currently a lot of tumult in the world around trade and tariffs. And that is a wrinkle we didn't see coming. It may impact our schedule but so far we're still tracking well. I just want to mention it so if the worst happens it's not out of the blue. (And "worst" just means a delay).
Mini-Adventure Has a Name!
We had the aforementioned mini-adventure design jam session and nailed down many details. The outline is being tightened up and then writing will commence in earnest.
Ryan came up with the title and I think it rules and is perfect: House Cleaning.
(Though you'll need to wait and read or experience the adventure yourself to really appreciate the genius of that title. Feel free to speculate!)
Many Arms, Light Work
And I leave you with this, a formidable creature, that can be encountered in the Widow's Web, who may or may not have your best interest at heart...
Surveys for Stuff! You Like Stuff, Right? - Feb. 14, 2025 Update
about 1 year ago
– Fri, Feb 14, 2025 at 12:44:35 PM
Can You Spare a Survey?
Greetings, wicked websters! 85% of you have filled out your surveys and we thank you.
Now, if you're part of the 15% that haven't... please do! We can't send you stuff if you don't tell us where it should go. We'll have cool stuff to ship to you, don't you want cool stuff?!?
If you need your survey link sent again, drop a line to [email protected] with your name and the email address you used for Kickstarter. I can send the link directly to you!
OK, enough of that, more fun stuff now...
Mini-Adventure Progress
The mini-adventure outline has been polished up and we are meeting in the next week to hammer out the gory details before we start writing out the gory details so you can eventually read all the gory details.
I'll probably be milking the mini-adventure for backer updates for a while since that's the most fun activity we have going on right now (the rest of what we're doing is logistics, arranging printing, taxes, editing, etc. etc.). So! Here's a key detail about what we're working on, that I don't... think... we've shared before. Maybe we implied it, but here it is explicitly!
The adventure will be for level 8 characters. That's right, you can use your Web Champion build! (Hey, I find this wildly exciting. I'd love a chance to use my drow fighter/cleric again, she got roflstomped in room 1 back in 2014).
More to come in future updates...
