I am likely going to regret setting a =gasp= date on the release of something related to Tenra Bansho, being (ahem) 7 years into a “2-year” project. But only a few things left to do (contact the license-holders to make sure all is ready to go forward; prep some catch copy; take pictures; finish video) before the Kickstarter for Tenra goes live. Aiming for next Monday. This will let me start the kickstarter before GenCon, have it continue through GenCon, and still go through JGC (Japan Game Convention, “The GenCon of Japan” http://www.arclight.co.jp/jgc/ ), and complete early next month.
Here’s the details of the book: There will be two books, a full-color Setting book and a black-and-white Rules book, sold together as a set. The books are going to be American comic/trade paperback size, and will come together in a cardboard sleeve/holder. To play Tenra, at its core you only need about 4 pages of rules and another 4 pages of setting, so don’t let the next details throw you: But the books total about 690 pages total (240 in the setting book, 450 in the rule book). There’s over 320 pieces of distinct art throughout the two books, which includes 33 full color comic intro and 11 full-page rules explanations in manga form. Most of the weight of the book comes from all the art and extras. The books cover all the original text from the Tenra Bansho rulebook (save one 5 page section which will be translated later for a future download, and a reworked scenario), and also include a lot of rules data, revisions, explanations and clarifications from the major Tenra supplement “Tenjo Tenge”. There is also some additional data (in the form of character archetypes) from the six extremely rare mail-order pocket supplements for the game. In other words, this one book combines about (in the current exchange rate) $145 worth of material (just the core book alone today runs almost exactly $50.00), all condensed, collated, and reorganized to make more sense and order than even in the original book.
Luke Crane, as I’ve mentioned about a hundred times, did the layout. If you don’t know him, check out the Mouseguard or Burning Empires RPGs. He’s a layout and design genius, and really made the game gorgeous. Seriously, I’m in shock as I flip through the print PDF on my iPad, the thing is one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever seen!
Note that the following numbers below may change before the Kickstarter goes live!
My starting Kickstarter level is pretty high, close to $9,000. This will still put me in the hole initially, but will pay for almost half of one 2,000 copy print run of the book if funded.
The starting level for the two-book set will be about $55. This is the Kickstarter price, and not the MSRP (which will likely be more, depending on how much money raised initially, how many copies can be printed, etc).
There’s a crapload of extras, mostly in the form of additional downloadable content, including:
* Getting access cheaply to planned DLC coming later this year, including four rare character types/archetypes, and rules for mass combat wars.
* A “director’s cut” PDF/book that basically has tons of “popup details” about the background of the game, deep cultural info, vignettes about the book and its translation, a stupid-expansive glossary, rules changes that happened and why, and so on.
* An extra sample setting, which mixes Tenra Bansho and Final Fantasy into a wonderful cocktail.
* 16mm Japanese kanji dice sets
* One of 50 rare Furoshiki wrapping cloths (90cm x 90cm) in five gorgeous styles, imported directly from the crafters.
* PC Screen backgrounds, iPad/iPhone backgrounds, etc.
Again, there’s still some stuff in the air, and hoping there’s going to be no stops or stalls with contacting FEAR or approving the final data. But the dominos are all lined up, the first one’s been flicked, and they’ve started tumbling. If there’s no hangups, the last domino will hit the Kickstarter Go-Live button in one week!
Just to check, will we be getting access to the PDF through the Kickstarter?
Heya, you can request the PDF (or print copy, which comes with PDF) through kickstarter. Then, if we get funded, you’ll get access to the PDF probably within 1-2 weeks of the Kickstarter ending (given how long it’ll take us to compress/shrink down the file).
9K for this is easy! Don’t sweat about it.
You got my money for the DLC, Director’s Cut, and Art Book(Which sadly didn’t get a mention). Here’s praying everything goes as planed.
Less talking, more Kickstarting! (Planning upon paying at least 1-2% of the total kickstarter cost…
) Waiting with baited breath…
My money are waiting!
Been robbing banks for weeks for this.
Be warned, if you actually do put in a top-level reward that involves having you fly anywhere in the world to run a session of TBZ, I *may* actually spring for that! Not sure if you’d actually make any money out of that, though, given where I live… :/
Shiro: Heh. I’ve been waffling on that, but with an angle: Contemplating an angle where, if you pledge something like $2400, I run a game for you: __In Japan__. Also, I take you on a tour of Japan and act as your interpreter for 8-10 days (basically you pay to fly to Japan and back, I meet you at the airport and pay for your travel, food, lodging from that point on; which actually makes the price a very real bargain). I’m really, really, really on the edge on this one. Hmmmm.
That sounds like a great deal, especially as I’ve always wanted to visit Japan. I was kind of hoping to get a game with me and my buddies, and I’m not sure how many of them I can ship to Japan as well! ;P Still, whatever you come up with, I’ll be seriously considering the upper-tier options.
…You really make me wish I had $2400
that’s a bargain for what you offer
Unfortunately, I currently have less than $1000 to my name
Sounds like I might be eating Ramen in September…
OK, think of me a stupid ignorant but I would like to understand everything clearly – think that English is a language I nearly taught myself and now I teach others, but I am not native to… I just would like to know how I could get the books from my country, here at the South Western portion of Europe called Spain – no Mexico, no Venezuela, no Costa Rica… countries in which Spanish is also spoken, but they are not Spain (usually confusing issue for American citizens…), what procedures must I fulfill and so on, evereything told as if I were a stupid, borderline, kind of Homer Simpson inteligence level individual.
I apologise if someone gets offended by the issue of me emphasising that SDpain is a different country and is not in Central or South America, but even highly cultivated people from the USA – colleages teaching in Secondary Schools, believe me – confuse matters in this respect…
Thank you in advance
From Spain, Antonio
Antonio –
Others may have better information, but this is the way I understand it as happening.
When the Kickstarter goes live, click the link and sign up for a Kickstarter account. Look at the reward levels you like and figure out which you want to back. The prices will be listed in USD (I’m not sure if you can change it to your own currency or if you’ll have to use a conversion service to figure it out).
After you choose the reward level you want, you’ll be taken through Amazon Payments. (If you already have an Amazon account, it should use what information they have on file for you. If you don’t, I’m not entirely sure what will happen, but it should walk you through it.)
In any case, once you’re through that step, Amazon will hold that money in escrow until the Kickstarter ends. If the project has its asking price or above, the money will be sent through. (But if the project doesn’t succeed, the money goes back to you.)
After you’ve made your choice on reward level, you just wait for the Kickstarter to end. Once everything is all settled and sorted, the books are printed, and everything is ready to go, the gentleman here running the project will send out a survey through Kickstarter to the supporters of the project asking to confirm shipping addresses, perhaps asking if you want to be put on a mailing list, maybe asking questions about how the team ran the Kickstarter, and if there are extra things you could add to your reward level (for example, “Add Maid: The RPG to your Kickstarter reward level for $xx.xx!”), what those extras were.
Since you’re out of country, one of the things you’ll likely have to add to your reward level is shipping and handling fees. So if the reward level you wanted was 20.00 and the international S&H was 10.00, you choose the 20.00 reward level but pay 30.00. Then when you get the reward you say something like, “The extra money is for my international shipping.” and if you have any tips on getting the package through Spanish customs without something crazy going on (like, in some countries it’s safer to mark a package as “gift” whereas others that might get it more scrutiny and ends up in manhandled packages).
I hope that helps some! Hopefully other people can be more specific/elaborate or if you’re still not sure about some areas, you can ask more specific questions.
I’ve backed a few projects on Kickstarter so far and it’s not too difficult to use. The worst part is trying to decide how much you can afford to spend on a project you really like, and then waiting for the delivery. 
Oops:
“Then when you get the reward you say…”
I meant, “Then, when you get the survey, you say…”
Also, please let me know if I (or someone else who comes along before I check back again) should rephrase something. I don’t always know if I’m using language that is too complicated for English as a second language speakers.
Flamesoul mentioned an art book! Is there an art book? Tempting! Even more so, I’m happy to see the FF-inspired setting will be available.
Andy confirmed the art book in a previous post and I’m a little over excited for it. Although the dev book with all the random info from the years of doing this project may interest me more.
Almost there!
Waiting anxiously!
Are we there yet?
Wallet ready for tossing at screen.
Where is the place where I can give you my cash for the seven years I’ve waited so very patiently for this product so I can play it and blow stuff up in a whole flurry of explosions?
Hnng! HNNG!
In the immortal words of Philip J. Fry: Shut up and take my money!!!
Everyone here seems to be missing that Kickstarter has to approve all projects before they can go live. I don’t know how long this takes, but a few days to a week seems realistic.
TBH don’t think anyone has missed that. If you look at the post a week ago, the go live date for KS was estimated to be be yesterday. So, there’s been at least a week for dealing with KS approval. Its more just the usual waiting and guessing game