Animon Story shortlisted for 'Best RPG' at Tabletop Awards 2023!
5 months ago – Mon, Nov 13, 2023 at 07:25:52 AM

Hello all,

I'm so delighted to share that Animon Story has been nominated as a finalist in the Dicebreaker Tabletop Awards 2023, in the 'Best Roleplaying Game' category!

https://www.dicebreaker.com/events/tabletop-awards-2023/news/tabletop-awards-202...

The game has come a long way since its initial release on itch, all the way through to the full release of the updated physical version this year.

The final vote will be made by a panel at PAX Unplugged in early December, however there is also a People's Choice award that runs until November 27th, which anyone can vote for by clicking this link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdgpiI4VGGd-Q-HpMOsNasvZ-owzv1CZiOCIaLa...

Sincerely, thank you for all you support of myself and Animon Story. I'm so delighted the game has been able to connect with people as much as it has. I am constantly blown away by kind words from people who've bought and played the game.

And there's more Animon to come next year!

Cheers,
Zak B

October Fulfilment Update
6 months ago – Mon, Oct 30, 2023 at 06:35:45 AM

Hello all,

It's been a little while since the last update - the main reason for that being the ongoing fulfilment process. Batches of books have been going out worldwide, and many of you have received your books already, however I am aware of certain backers who are still waiting.

I've been waiting to get as much information from the warehouses as possible, but for now I will give a quick update to check in with everyone.

Few Remaining Deliveries to be Made

As far as I am aware at this point, I believe the vast majority of orders from the AUS and US warehouses have been fulfilled. Generally the warehouses send out batches of books, rather than all at once, which is one reason there can be some orders waiting while others are finished.

I also believe most orders from the UK warehouse to UK/EU backers are now complete. Gamesquest, the distributor myself and Metal Weave Games have been working with in the UK, have been far slower than other regions unfortunately. First we had to wait over a month for any books to go out from them, and now we have a final batch of orders which are still waiting. This is, to my understanding, a logistical issue involving the inventory of enamel pin add-ons that Gamesquest recieved.

If you are in the UK and have not recieved your order yet, check if you bought any enamel pins from Backerkit. If so, we are still very much aware of your order, and actively trying to get Gamesquest to send them out ASAP.

Needless to say, Andreas from MWG and I are both quite frustrated with the Gamesquest situation, but it is good to know the majority of orders have now arrived with you.

We are still close enough to the start of fulfilment that its possible there are orders still on there way to people, so if you are still waiting on your order (and its not because of the enamel pins issue), it is most likely on its way.

If you believe there has been a specific issue with your delivery, you can contact me directly via Kickstarter messages, or get help from Andreas at Metal Weave Games: [email protected].

I do hope everyone who has got their books is enjoying them. Thank you all for sending your pics to me on social media, its very lovely to see them in your hands!

Until next time,

Zak B

Bonus Digital Content Released, Final Fulfilment Steps, and Ko-fi Launch!
9 months ago – Mon, Jul 31, 2023 at 09:37:25 AM

Welcome back to another update.

I am very happy to be releasing the third piece of digital bonus content, following on from Shadow Under Bough and The Twins Kid Type - I hope you've been enjoying those! All backers at the BASIC Stage and above should now find The River Kingdoms in their Backerkit downloads.

The River Kingdoms & Ko-fi Content

The River Kingdoms is all about Lancelotl and their other evolutionary stages, and the kingdoms they build beneath the waterways of the animon world. It includes plenty of NPC and location info, variant stats for Lancelotl, and a bunch more useful stuff! This is the final bonus digital release for the Animon Story Kickstarter.

As I stated a few months back, I have spent quite a while planning for a Ko-fi Membership page, which will allow people to support me directly between large releases, in exchange for smaller monthly releases to use with Animon Story. As thanks for all the support I've received from Kickstarter backers, I also decided to send out the first Ko-fi releases to all of you as well.

If you've enjoyed these digital bonus releases and want more in the future, you can sign up to my Ko-fi Memberships now. Thanks once again for all the support, I can't overstate how much of an impact on my life and career it makes.

Final Steps of Fulfilment

As Andreas said in the previous update, the books are very nearly with you! I've now had confirmation that the warehouses in the US, UK, and AUS have all received their stock, and the US has already got our list of backer shipping info. UK and AUS will have theirs very soon (if not as I'm writing this).

With all the digital bonus content released, and the books almost with you, we are nearing full completion of this Kickstarter - thank you again for all the interest and support over the past year. I will be posting future updates during the final shipping steps, and then regarding future animon releases - including the full-sized expansion planned for next year.

May your bonds of friendship grow ever stronger!

Cheers,

Zak B

Books are here!! CHECK/UPDATE YOURJ ADDRESS!
9 months ago – Fri, Jul 14, 2023 at 12:47:57 AM

Hey Backers!!

Andreas here from the publishing and fulfillment side of the house. Books have arrived at their respective warehouses in AUS and UK (and arriving next week for the US). 

So as we begin to prepare for fulfillment, i wanted to make sure everyone takes a moment to check their address to make sure everything is right. You should get an email from Backerkit to verify and confirm your address (which will lock in 2 days, 7/16). 

If you have problems you should be able to recover and get into your Backerkit account using this link https://animon.backerkit.com/.

And if you run into any issues you can reach out to us via email, [email protected], please include Animon somewhere in the subject, and your name/email so i can find your pledge.  

Also, if you are going to be attending GenCon (Indianapolis, in a few weeks), or BigBadCon (Burlingame,CA, in several weeks) and want to pick up your books at either of these, (shipping should be underway by then), also send us an email I'll make sure ill have copies for you.

Also if you're not already, we have a pretty lively Animon channel in the MWG discord  if you want to join the community and the conversation. 

Books are coming! Super excited for you all to get your hadns on it. 

Andreas

Bonus Kid Type released & the future of Animon Story!
10 months ago – Fri, Jun 30, 2023 at 05:09:29 AM

Hello all,

This is a short update, following on from the release of the Shadow Under Bough adventure last week. I hope you've all been enjoying that digital bonus! I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences with it. This update coincides with the release of the second digital bonus - the Twins Kid Type.

The Twins

As mentioned a couple of updates ago, as thanks for everyone's patience and support through the production process, I am providing three pieces of bonus digital content to backers at the BASIC Stage or higher. This is the second, a new Kid Type! The Twins is designed to be taken by two players together, if they want to play the character archetype/trope of twin characters, often defined by their close sibling relationship that highlights their similarities, but also their differences.

The Twins has just been released on Backerkit, so you should soon receive a download prompt email, as with last weeks release.

Animon Story Expansions

As this would otherwise be an extremely short update, I thought I'd take a moment to lift the curtain a little bit, and talk about my future plans for Animon Story. Originally, I had planned that once the physical release was complete I would support Animon Story with small digital releases, and shift my focus to designing a brand new game - that project underwent some early planning and has a good framework, but for now it is waiting in the wings. The reason being that Animon Story has had such a great reception, it made me totally re-evaluate the next couple of years of work I had planned.

I have mentioned this on my socials (@ZakBFree everywhere) a couple of times, but I am currently deep in the process of creating a full-sized expansion book for Animon Story which I'm hoping to bring to Kickstarter in 2024. This will be more than just an add-on, or adventure module, but a broad expansion for the game including player options, a fleshed out setting with a baked in campaign, new animon, new illustrations, new optional rules, and I'm hoping an entirely new card deck to go with it as well!

For this expansion project, I am drawing more inspiration from the Pokémon side of the monster taming genre, without losing the blend of reference points that Animon Story draws from by default. For example, player characters in the expansion will still have a main partner animon, but they'll also be able to build a team of supporting animon as well, via befriending or taming 'wild' animon. There will be a defined 'region' that players can explore, with each area containing an ecosystem of local animon and human societies coexisting. There will be myths and legends relating to powerful animon, dangers to confront, and challenges to overcome on the road to strengthening the bond between Kid and Animon partners. Though humans and animon in this world have more fully integrated together, there are still many mysteries to uncover.

I hope that sounds exciting! As mentioned, I am hard at work on this expansion, as well as developing a series of monthly content that will be released via Ko-fi Memberships, starting after the release of the third piece of bonus digital Kickstarter content. 'The River Kingdoms' will be dropping next month, a detailed look at the Lancelotl evolutionary line, the places they live, their various factions, and how they can be incorporated into your game sessions.

Until next time, cheers!

Zak B