Add-Ons and Kickstarter Funds Allocation Through BackerKit
over 5 years ago – Thu, Apr 22, 2021 at 07:14:58 PM

Happy Thursday! Some backers had questions about add-on options coming in BackerKit, since they were interested in topping up their funds now to help qualify for stretch goals. Here’s a brief rundown.

How BackerKit Works

Any funds you pledge in Kickstarter are transferred to BackerKit for allocation after the campaign. So if you select the Adventurer tier ($100) and then top up your pledge to $280 total (+$180 extra), all $280 will be transferred to BackerKit for you to allocate in the survey. Here’s the sorts of things you can “spend” this $280 Kickstarter credit on:

• The Adventurer tier ($100)
• Adding On Anime 5E products (like the $100 Deluxe Limited Edition)
• Shipping fees (like $15 for the Adventurer tier + $5 for the DLE add-on)
• Physical product add-ons (like $35 for the Dice Tower and $15 for Dice)
• Bonus add-ons (like $10 for another Anime 5E poster)
• Upgrading the standard Anime 5E to Deluxe Limited Edition (a $50 upgrade)
• PDF-only add-ons

So if you wanted the Adventure pledge plus Deluxe Edition plus Dice plus Dice Tower plus extra poster, the total funds required for this pledge total would be $100 + $100 + $15 + $35 + $10 + $20 shipping = $280 total. The entire cost has been covered by your Kickstarter funds that were credited into BackerKit

If you had only submitted the original $100 tier funding to your Kickstarter pledge, you can still get all those extra products, of course. To reach the $280 total cost, BackerKit will charge your credit card the outstanding $180.

Here are most (if not all) the things you could fund now through Kickstarter by topping up your pledge that you could allocate towards in BackerKit:

Shipping Charges

The campaign page includes details in a table about the shipping charges due for each pledge tier, as well as for specific add-ons. Simply total the correct individual amounts from the table (depending on your mailing address country).

Anime 5E Add-Ons

(includes print + PDF editions, when available; any extra shipping fee increases are included)

• +$55 for Anime 5E standard edition
• +$105 for Anime 5E Deluxe Limited Edition
• +$30 for Anime 5E Pocket Edition
• +$25 for Anime 5E Game Screen and Adventure
• +$10 for Anime 5E Character Folio
• +$50 to upgrade your tier’s Anime 5E standard edition to Deluxe Limited Edition
• +$15 for Anime 5E Dice set (+free d20) – FOR $50+ TIERS ONLY
• +$35 for Anime 5E Dice Tower and Trays kit (+free tray) – FOR $50+ TIERS ONLY

Bonus Anime 5E Add-Ons

(any extra shipping fee increases are included)

• +$10 for a folded Anime 5E poster
• +$10 to upgrade shipping each Anime 5E poster from folded to rolled in a tube
• +$10 for a download link for the Anime 5E fantasy soundtrack score
• +$10 for extra Anime 5E dice tray

Anime 5E PDF Add-Ons

• +$25 for Anime 5E standard edition PDF
• +$13 for Anime 5E Pocket Edition PDF
• +$8 for Anime 5E Game Screen and Adventure
• +$5 for Anime 5E Character Folio

Anime 5E Digital Only Stretch Goals

• +$5 for the Low-Tier PDF bundle (extra races, classes, and organisations), which is included automatically as stretch goals with all $25+ pledges
• +$10 for the High-Tier PDF bundle (two short adventure scenarios plus paper minis), which is included automatically as stretch goals with all $100+ pledges

BESM Fourth Edition Anime RPG Add-Ons

(see http://BESM4.life for details; includes print + PDF editions, when available; any extra shipping fee increases are included)

• +$70 for BESM Fourth Edition core RPG
• +$110 for BESM signed and numbered Deluxe Limited Edition RPG
• +$40 for BESM Extras optional rules hardcover
• + $75 for BESM Essentials package of BESM Game Screen and Adventure, BESM Character Folio, and BESM Dramatis Personae
• + $150 for BESM Accessories package of BESM Naked RPG, BESM 2D-Animinis, BESM Dice Tower and Trays, BESM Adventures Volume 1, BESM Tokyo Sidekick, and BESM Dice set

Hope this helps! We’ll check in again soon.

Adventure Unlocked and Final Two Stretch Goals Revealed
over 5 years ago – Thu, Apr 22, 2021 at 01:22:16 AM

Thank you for advancing the campaign through the next stretch goal threshold so quickly! Because you helped funding reach $550K, every backer who pledges $100+ will now receive a short adventure scenario PDF for 4th-level characters.

Next Up at $575K: Creature Variant Stats

Vanilla fantasy monsters are great, but rare variants are so much more interesting! If campaign funding reaches $575K, we will create conversions of an additional five monster variants from the Fifth Edition MM to Anime 5E stat blocks, and we’ll make this work available as a free bonus PDF to all backers pledging $13+. These extra five creature variants are in addition to the 14 monsters that we detail in the Anime 5E core book, and the five extra MM conversations unlocked at the $45K stretch goal.

FINAL BIG STRETCH to $600K – Anime 5E SRD

The final stretch goal for the Kickstarter may not be easy to reach with 24 hours remaining, but we hope you’re up for the challenge! If campaign funding reaches $600K, we will extract all the open gaming content from the Anime 5E core rules (designated under the Open Gaming License v1.0a) and compile it into an Anime 5E System Reference Document (or SRD). We will then make this Anime 5E SRD freely available to gamers in convenient RTF and PDF formats, as well as to game publishers who may be interested in creating additional Fifth Edition content using materials from Anime 5E.

You have given tremendous support to Dyskami throughout this Kickstarter, and this is our way to return some of that support back to both role-players across the globe and to the gaming industry as a whole.

We would plan to release the Anime 5E SRD to coincide with the fulfilment of the print edition in Q4 2021. Should campaign funding not reach the $600K milestone, we will investigate options to release an Anime 5E SRD sometime in the future.

We’ll check in a couple more times before the campaign ends at 9 pm EDT (GMT-4) on Thursday, April 22nd. Don’t forget to share the Kickstarter link, or http://Anime5E.com.

Thank you for your dedication to anime fantasy role-playing awesomeness!

$500,000 Reached With Over 6,600 Backers!
over 5 years ago – Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 08:53:51 PM

THANK YOU!

You have kept this campaign rolling steadily for three weeks now, and helped push the funding beyond the remarkable $500,000 milestone – or 5,000% of its original funding target! 😱

Since you unlocked the $500K stretch goal, we will now make an Anime 5E dice tower and tray kit available as an add-on to your pledge (after the campaign, through the BackerKit pledge manager). Even better, every backer who adds on the dice-rolling kit will receive free custom Anime 5E dice tray bonus, too!

$525K Stretch Goal: Connecting with Organisations

From the Thieves’ Guild to Merchants’ Union, from the College of Harpers to the Cult of the Being-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, organisations and associations play a crucial role in many role-playing campaigns. So let’s connect with some of them.

If campaign funding reaches $525K, we will create two original fantasy organisations for your game – with descriptions, hierarchy, and resource details. Furthermore, we will provide notes for each organisation that breaks down various Ranks of Anime 5E’s Connected Attribute, so player characters can join the organisations and call upon membership privileges.

This bonus content will be available as a free PDF download for all backers pledging at least $25 in the Kickstarter. Like most of our content stretch goals, the file will also be available for sale to those backers with pledge tiers that don’t align with this free bonus.

Anime 5E Preview: Energy

Energy represents a character’s reserve of personal stamina, luck, and spiritual power. They are used to power the Dynamic Powers and Spell-Like Ability Attributes, as well as other Attributes that have the Deplete Limiter. Additionally, Energy may be drained as a result of attacks by Weapons with the Enervation Enhancement, or by general fatigue.

Since Energy is only used for specific applications during gameplay, this section is considered optional for campaigns that do not have any characters with the aforementioned Attributes.

Character Energy Pool

All characters can have an Energy pool that they can tap as an internal power source. A character’s maximum Energy is equal to a base of 10, plus 5 times their character Level (15 at 1st Level, 20 at 2nd Level, 25 at 3rd Level, etc.). This number can be increased by the Energised Attribute, which adds an additional 10 Energy/Rank to the pool.

Fatigue

The DM may rule that a character will lose Energy if they are travelling or working without taking any time to rest. As a guideline, every 5-10 minutes of hard work or tiring travel (dashing, swimming, etc.) can result in a loss of one Energy. In most situations, this is too much trouble to worry about tracking precisely, but the DM may wish to impose it during a situation where characters balance their exhaustion with a race against time.

Out of Energy

If a character’s Energy pool is ever reduced to zero or below, they will collapse due to exhaustion until their Energy is sufficiently recovered after a period of rest.

Recovering Energy

Characters recover 1d8 Energy after each short rest. After a long rest, a character regains all expended Energy.

Dramatic Feats

A character’s Energy can also represent a character’s reserve of luck or karma that can be used in moments of high drama or extreme emotion to transcend a character’s normal limits. Only player characters and significant NPCs may use Energy in this way.

A moment of high drama is one in which something the character holds dear is at risk. This could be the character’s own life, of course, but should usually be something that transcends that, such as the safety of a loved one or close friend, or the success of an important cause (including revenge against a hated nemesis). In such circumstances, Energy can be spent to temporarily provide a bonus to any d20 dice roll the character makes. The character may spend this Energy after rolling the dice. Each +1 bonus to a d20 die roll burns 5 Energy.

Energy spent activating a dramatic feat returns to their pool at the character’s normal recovery rate.

Player Retcon

Retroactive continuity, or “retcon”, can be a helpful role- playing device in which established plots or actions in a game are changed or ignored for the betterment of the unfolding adventure. With DM permission, players can expend Energy to alter the story plot details in some way.

Minor Plot Changes

By expending 10 Energy, a player can make a minor change to the adventure, which allows for a slight alteration in the game environment that works in their character’s favour. Examples of minor changes include: finding a weapon conveniently located under a table, modifying an NPCs reaction to the character’s activities, gaining a burst of inspiration (ie. a DM hint), etc.

Major Plot Changes

Alternatively, a player can burn 50 Energy from their character to change drastically an action or event that occurred in the game – and can retell the plot from a new perspective! With such a high Energy cost, this option is only open to higher-Level characters (Level 8 and above), or those with the Energised Attribute.

DMs may limit a player with excess Energy or fast Energy rejuvenation from initiating major plot changes too frequently by restricting its use to once or a few times each character Level. Alternatively, the DM can actively encourage players to become co-narrators of the game, and enact major plot changes as often as desired – or even reduce the 50 Energy cost to place this story option within reach more frequently.

Example: The heroic characters return to their pastoral village after a successful quest to reclaim the sacred Moloch Diamond from the hands of the barbaric invaders. As they emerge from the forest surrounding their home, they discover that the entire village has been burned to the ground and all the citizens with it!

Rebecca – the player assuming the role of young Maerlin, the blacksmith’s feisty daughter who is an apprentice Dynamic Spellbinder – previously invested significant role-playing time and emotion establishing a romantic relationship with a young fellow named Robin, one of the local farmer’s sons. Not wanting that engaging role-playing relationship to come to an end, Rebecca expends 50 of Maerlin’s Energy Points and declares that Robin was actually saved from the disaster when he took refuge from the marauders in the cellar of the mill, saving six young children playing nearby when the fires began.

The DM takes their cues from Rebecca and runs with this unexpected turn of events. Robin describes to the characters the vicious and unprovoked attack against the village, and provides enough detail that the characters have suspicions who is behind this cowardly attack. The campaign continues as the characters seek revenge and retribution!

Thank you again for helping unlock the $500K stretch goal. Enjoy the rest of your Tuesday!

Welcome, 48-Hour-Reminder Backers!
over 5 years ago – Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 08:53:49 PM

We’d like to extend a HUGE welcome to the 400+ new backers that have joined the campaign during the past 24 hours. We know that many of you may have received Kickstarters 48-hour reminder email, and we appreciate you taking the time to revisit throwing your support behind this runaway game success. The next 36 hours will be busy, go buckle in for the updates. 😁

Since your support helped unlock the $525K stretch goal, we will now create two original fantasy organisations for your game and make the PDF download available to all backers pledging at least $25 in the Kickstarter.

$550K Stretch Goal: A Second Anime 5E Adventure Scenario

As a companion piece to the short scenario unlocked at $40K, if the campaign raises enough pledges to reach the $550K funding goal, we will write another short adventure scenario for 4th-level characters. The custom adventure PDF will be send as a free bonus to every backer who pledges $100 and above. Like most of our content stretch goals, the file will also be available for sale to those backers with pledge tiers that don’t align with this free bonus.

Let’s Keep The Momentum Going!

We can continue unlocking stretch goals by spreading the news to all your gamer friends and family, and extended network. Also, don’t forget to post on your social media feeds (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) as well as on the various game industry forums to which you belong. You can either share the Kickstarter link directly, or use our master link http://Anime5E.com which redirects to the campaign. Finally, if you haven’t joined the Anime 5E Facebook community yet, we’d love to see you there, too! 

Thanks again for your support! We’ll check in again soon.

More Pre-Gens, and Let’s Keep Things Rolling!
over 5 years ago – Wed, Apr 21, 2021 at 06:14:27 PM

With several hundred more backers joining you to help make the Anime 5E Kickstarter super awesome, the funding broke through the $475K stretch goal overnight. This means we will be designing a pre-gen pack of six 16th-level Anime 5E characters, which will be a free bonus PDF for all backers pledging $13+. 🥳

It’s astounding that the $500K stretch goal is on the horizon, thanks to your dedication and support. We had great interest when we announced the inclusion of a custom Anime 5E polyhedral dice set add-on as the $400K stretch goal (with a free bonus d20), and so we’re doubling down on the dice theme for the next target at $500K.

Unlocking at $500K: Anime 5E Dice Tower and Trays!

With table space often at a premium, it's handy to have a compact option for dice rolling. If campaign funding reaches $500K, we will ask our factory to manufacture a custom dice rolling kit. With the Anime 5E Dice Tower and Trays, we will package together a functional yet beautiful constructible cardboard dice tower, plus two snap-together neoprene dice trays. The 18-cm (7-inch) tower will be illustrated to represent a wizard’s spire with a dangerous moat at the base. The two dice trays will each portray a section of the RPG cover and Game Screen – one of the characters fighting the dragon, and the second of the archfiend battling a goblin hoard. When paired with the previously unlocked Anime 5E Dice to accent your gaming table, your adventures will be ready to roll!

Add-On Tower

We will make the Anime 5E Dice Tower and Trays set available as a $35 add-on to your pledge during the BackerKit pledge manager survey after the Kickstarter ends (not through the base campaign page). Since this kit falls into a different shipping category, though – which, like the Anime 5E Dice add-on, will change the pricing structure – we can only make the kit available as an add-on for the $50 Gamer, $100 Adventurer, $100 Collector, and $300 Storyteller pledge tiers. We will absorb the additional shipping costs instead of increasing the shipping fee when adding on the Dice Tower and Trays, which is why the kit won’t be available to other tiers.

In the video below, Mark gives you a look at the Dice Tower and Trays kit that we produced for our other anime RPG, BESM Fourth Edition. The kit for Anime 5E will have different images and visual design, but will be of similar physical construction.

Free Dice Tray

As we indicated when unlocking the Anime 5E Dice add-on, we like to also include a free backer gift when we unlock a new add-on product. Every backer who adds on a Dice Tower and Tray kit to their pledge will receive an exclusive third dice tray featuring an iconic adventuring party as a free bonus gift. This tray won’t be available for sale in retail stores; it’s an exclusive promotional gift to show our thanks for your support. We will, however, make this promotional item available as a separate $10 add-on during the BackerKit pledge manager.

Modifying Your Kickstarter Pledge

Several backers have asked how they can contribute more to the campaign. Fortunately, you can top up your pledge through Kickstarter with any dollar amount.

• Click "Manage Your Pledge"
• Click "Change Your Pledge"
• Under "Bonus Support", add on any monies you want that can be allocated through BackerKit to shipping costs, add-ons, etc.
• Alternatively, instead of including funds under Bonus Support, you can choose a different reward tier instead.

It's that easy! There’s still a few days remaining in the Kickstarter to modify your pledge and encourage your gaming community friends and social network to join in on the fun. Sharing the http://Anime5E.com link is a great way to unlock even more stretch goals – so we can reward you with more free bonus stuff! Thank you very much once again for your amazing support.