Saturday, Not Friday, for Digital Rewards
over 3 years ago – Sat, May 29, 2021 at 02:49:39 AM

We'll be brief. Although we had hoped to get the digital rewards out to all backers today (Friday), that's simply not going to be possible. Sorting through 8,000+ rewards is taking longer than expected (the data isn't super friendly!), and we don't want to rush anything and miss any backers. Only those who completed their BackerKit survey (including any outstanding payments) prior to this message (or 5:15pm EDT) will receive their rewards in this first batch on Saturday, May 29th.

Sorry we couldn't get it out today. Thanks for your extra day of patience!

Progress Report Before Digital Rewards AND a Pledge Question
over 3 years ago – Fri, May 28, 2021 at 03:33:09 AM

Hey, backers! We have a short progress report for you, which builds upon all the information in the previous recent updates.

BackerKit Surveys and Card Charges

You have made tremendous progress with BackerKit surveys. Nearly 90% of everyone has completed their pledges through the system and will receive their digital rewards early – an outstanding number! The majority of backers with card charge errors have been able to solve their problems by using a different card or contacting their bank/issuer to remove security holds. For others, we have resolved the payment issue by moving to PayPal instead. Thank you for staying on top of your pledge!

If it isn’t the right time to complete your pledge, no problem. You can always retrieve another copy of your BackerKit survey link by entering your email at https://anime5e.backerkit.com when you’re ready. If you have already entered a credit card into your survey that just won’t seem to work, though, you may want to delete the card info since repeated authorisations will continue, as will the failed authorisations.

If you have any questions about your pledge, or need help resolving any issue, read Update #55 first. If you still need help, please contact Dyskami Publishing at [email protected]. This is better than posting in the Kickstarter comments section or Kickstarter message button – email us directly, please.

Stretch Goal Progress

We set a goal for September to complete the digital stretch goals, and honestly – we’re killing it here! 🤘😖🤘

We are ahead of schedule on nearly everything! When you receive your digital Anime 5E rewards in the next few days (or whenever you complete your BackerKit survey), here’s all the stretch goals that will be ready to download as well (for backers that have qualifying pledges):

• Adventure: Conversion for Unrest in Syfia
• Adventure: Short introductory scenario for 1st Level characters
• Adventure: Short scenario for 4th Level characters
• Pre-gen character pack for the Game Screen adventure
• Pre-gen character pack for 4th-Level characters
• Pre-gen character pack for 8th-Level characters
• Pre-gen character pack for 12th-Level characters
• Five converted creatures from the Monster Manual
• Five original monsters
• Five original magical artefacts
• Five original traps
• Five original fantasy mecha
• Five original mounts
• Five original fantasy vehicles
• Five original arcane weapons
• Five original poisons
• Two original character races
• Two original character classes
• Two original fantasy organisations
• Custom Anime 5E soundtrack score
• Printable paper minis pack
• Anime 5E Primer
• Free PDF of BESM Naked RPG

We’ll look at tackling the remaining non-product stretch goals throughout this year, including: advancement on a Roll20 sheet, streaming gaming session, adapting a fantasy series license to Anime 5E, and creation of an Anime 5E SRD. Stay tuned!

PS: you may have noticed that we made small changes to two announced stretch goals. Rather than statting out 16th-Level characters, we made 4th-Level characters since we though they would be more useful for most groups. Also, rather than five Monster Manual variants, we created five original monsters instead to provide more variety in your games.

And Now, a Pledge Question

If you can spare another moment for us, we’d love to hear from you: why did you decide to pledge your support for Anime 5E? The level of support blew away any expectations we had, and we’re dying to know what was the driving force behind your pledge decision! Please post your brief story in the comments, or drop us an email at [email protected] if you’d prefer to let us know privately. Thank you kindly for taking a few moments to share your thoughts!

We’ll check back in on Friday or Saturday when we will announce the digital release plans. It’s … so … close ….

IMPORTANT: BackerKit Survey Payments
over 3 years ago – Wed, May 26, 2021 at 09:10:25 AM

Hey, everyone! Today is an important update regarding payments made through BackerKit. It may not apply to you if your payment was already processed through BackerKit, but it’s VITAL information if you have not yet completed the survey or if you received a notice from us via BackerKit about a failed credit card charge. Note that we will not be replying individually to emails sent to us in the past 24 hours about card processing issues because this update covers the matter comprehensively.

Cards Have Been Charged For Completed Surveys

Yesterday, we locked down all orders from submitted surveys and processed credit card payments for outstanding charges (shipping fees, add-ons, etc.), and this includes late backer pre-order pledges. You will have received one of two emails from BackerKit:

“We successfully charged $X to the credit card you provided.” – This means everything processed normally, and you’re good to go. There’s nothing more you need to do right now except wait until we send the digital PDF rewards later this week. The rest of this update does not apply to you.

“Our system tried to charge $X to the credit card, but the charge failed.” – This means your pledge payment is not yet complete because your credit card could not be processed for one of several reasons. Please continue reading this update.

Credit Card Processing, BackerKit, Stripe, and Dyskami

The BackerKit pledge management system uses Stripe to process credit card payments on behalf of Dyskami’s Anime 5E Kickstarter. We (Dyskami) do not have any input in or control over the charging process, and thus do not have specific answers regarding why your credit card was not successfully charged. It could be a simple glitch that is resolved when a recharge is attempted, or an incorrect number or expiration date entered, or mismatched address in your survey vs. credit card file, or incompatibility with your credit/debit/prepayment card (HINT: credit cards seem to give fewer issues than debit cards or prepaid cards), or international banking issues, or your bank/card issuer denying the charge due to security concerns, or the phase of the moon.

We have no clue why the charge failed – all we know is that it did fail. Short of us hitting the “recharge” button, there’s nothing we can directly do to change this situation because we do not handle this directly (that’s between Stripe and your card issuing company).

But that’s not to say there are no resolution options.

Recharging Cards Today

Before we sent this update, we attempt to recharge all refused credit card charges. Some of them went through and were resolved, but most of the refusals continue to be refused. We will continue daily attempts until Friday, May 28th to ensure the most number of backers possible receive their digital PDF rewards when we send them out at the end of this week.

How You Can Resolve The Charging Issue

We know that this situation is frustrating 🤬 – especially in situations when you can’t see any reason why Stripe can’t charge your credit card, because everything seems fine to you.

There are several ways that you may be able to resolve the declined credit card issues. Not all of these ideas may work, but you are encouraged to work through as many of them as possible, as soon as possible, to ensure your pledge is processed promptly.

1. Update Your Payment Information

Perhaps there was an initial error with your credit card and it can be resolved by checking on the information, updating it, and reprocessing your card. Dozens of backers have fixed their issue in just a few minutes doing this, so give it a try if you haven’t already.

2. Try a Different Credit Card

If the entered card is giving you problems, perhaps you can enter a different credit card and have the charges process through that other card instead. Again, dozens of backers have switched to a different card and resolved the decline issue. Still, this may not work for you, and you’ll need to move to option 3.

3. Call Your Bank or Card Issuer

There is a phone number on the back of every credit card that you can call to inquire about a declined payment. Most often when this happens, the card issuer (Bank X, or Store Y) has an automatic security system that flags suspicious activity and declines the charge. If you tell the card issuer that you authorise Stripe to process the payment that we declined, the charge should be accepted next time we try recharging the cards. Most bank and card issuers can be very helpful with this.

If All That Fails, There's A Backup

There is another option that we can use if you simply have no other way to process your credit card through BackerKit. We can send you a payment request through Paypal to cover your outstanding funds. This isn’t an efficient or desirable way to accomplish this, but it’s a workaround option we have available if everything else fails.

If you have tried every other option first, the first thing you need to do is remove the credit card information that you entered into the BackerKit system (click on the link they sent to you earlier). That way, you won’t accidentally be double-charged if you pay through PayPal and Stripe successfully charges your card at a future date. Remove the payment information first.

Next, please email [email protected] directly (do not message us through Kickstarter, please!) and give us the following information: your name, your Kickstarter identity if different from your name, the dollar amount outstanding that you wish to pay, and the email address to which we should send the PayPal payment request. We will then manually send a payment request to you for payment.

Charging Cards Moving Forward

As mentioned, we will retry to charge cards daily until Friday, May 28th. After this time – and for new surveys that come in over the following weeks and months – we will make 1-2 attempts each week to charge outstanding credit cards.

Some of you have indicated that your credit card won’t work until a specific date, and you’d like us to charge your cards at that time. No problem! With regular recharge attempts, we’ll be sure to capture your payment when it’s ready to go.

Digital Reward Delivery

If your BackerKit survey and credit card payment is completed in full no later than Thursday, May 27th, you’ll receive your DriveThruRPG download links on Friday/Saturday, May 28th/29th.

Every weekly period moving forward from the end of May, we will compile all the late surveys received and process the digital pledge rewards at that time. We will only send out download PDF codes to late backers in these weekly waves, not daily as they come in. Credit cards will continue to be processed bi-weekly during this time.

If you have any questions about your pledge, please contact Dyskami Publishing at [email protected]. This is better than posting in the Kickstarter comments section or Kickstarter message button – email us directly, please.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long message. We’re looking forward to getting the Anime 5E rewards to you as soo as we can!

Awesome Survey Uptake
over 3 years ago – Fri, May 21, 2021 at 07:48:53 PM

We love how eager you are! In the first 24 hours after opening the BackerKit survey, more than 60% of you have completed it – an absolutely outstanding uptake. As mentioned yesterday, we will process all surveys submitted by May 27th at the same time and preparing the digital download emails on May 28th/29th. A few additional notes:

Credit Card Charges

Since we want the process to move as smoothly as possible and avoid any backers missing early PDF access, we will be charging cards for shipping/add-on/outstanding funds for all surveys submitted this week on Sunday, May 23rd. Surveys submitted between Sunday 23rd and Thursday 27th will be authorised on May 27th.

If your credit card is declined when BackerKit/Stripe attempts to authorise any outstanding charges, you’ll be sent an email notification right away. It is vital that you work to address these issues promptly. since there’s not a lot of time to resolve any errors before we send all 100% completed surveys their digital files on May 28th/29th.

As always, please send us an email directly ([email protected]) if you try to resolve outstanding issues yourself but are unsuccessful.

Changing Emails Not Easy

We had thought you could update your email address during the BackerKit survey, but we were incorrect. You can’t, but we can. If you need to make a change, please drop us an email ([email protected]) with your old and new email addresses, and we’ll manually make the adjustment.

Apple ID Emails

We are hardcore Apple fans have been using Macintosh computers exclusively since the mid 1980s. That said, Apple ID emails are proving incompatible with Kickstarter/BackerKit communication and are … well … a pain in the ass. 🤬

If you are one of the few dozen backers that processed your Kickstarter pledge using your Apple ID email (probably through ApplePay), you won’t be able to access your BackerKit survey. Please email ([email protected]) us your Kickstarter name, pledge details, and normal email address and we’ll manually make the change and resend you a survey link.

Future Address Changes

Once your orders are locked on May 27th (or sometime thereafter), you’ll still be able to make changes to your shipping address for several months if necessary. We won’t lock address until we are closer to shipping from our factory, so there’s lots of time remaining.

That’s it for today. Thanks again for jumping on those surveys so quickly!

We Are Go for Survey Launch!
over 3 years ago – Thu, May 20, 2021 at 07:15:27 AM

Hey, everyone! The BackerKit survey “smoke test” was successful and so we’ll be sending out surveys very soon to all backers. 🥳 But first…

Anime 5E Soundtrack Sample

The award-winning conductor that we hired to compose an original Anime 5E soundtrack has completed the hour-long score, and it is glorious! This epic piece of music moves through the narrative beats of a role-playing adventure – journey, discovery, battle, recovery, conquest, and victory. The soundtrack download is included free with every $100+ pledge, or it can be added onto any tier for +$10. We’ve attached a brief two-minute excerpt from the final track that celebrates the adventurers’ victory.

Now, Onto The Main Event!

The BackerKit survey will be distributed today to all backers, emailed to the address you had on file with Kickstarter when the Anime 5E campaign ended in late April. It’s likely coming from [email protected] or a variation, so please check your spam filters if you don’t receive it within the next several hours. Alternatively, you can ask BackerKit to resend the survey link to your Kickstarter email address at https://anime5e.backerkit.com/

With the BackerKit survey, you can:

• Confirm or change your pledge tier
• Top up your pledge funds to select one or more add-on products
• Upgrade your standard version of Anime 5E to the Deluxe Limited Edition
• Remit shipping fees for any physical rewards in your pledge
• Provide your mailing address for shipping physical rewards
• Update your email address for delivery of PDFs through your DriveThruRPG account

Your credit card will not be charged immediately for any additional funds allocated to your pledge, since we have to manually request that from BackerKit. The card authorisation may be submitted at any time, though, so please ensure the card number you provide can be successfully charged – otherwise, the delivery of your digital rewards may be delayed.

Timeline Reminder

If you want to be amongst the first wave of backers to receive your Anime 5E digital PDF, it is vital that you complete your BackerKit survey no later than Thursday, May 27th. Our plan is to then send out the first wave of DriveThruRPG download links on Friday/Saturday, May 28th/29th.

If you do not complete your survey by Thursday, May 27th, you will not receive your digital rewards in this first wave. Even if you aren’t requesting any changes or modifications from what Kickstarter has already processed at the campaign’s end, completion of the Anime 5E BackerKit survey is still mandatory for all backers to receive your digital and print rewards.

Further Waves

Every week (and then later, two-week) period moving forward from the end of May, we will compile all the late surveys received and process the digital pledge rewards at that time. We will only send out download PDF codes to late backers in these weekly or bi-weekly waves, not daily as they come in. In other words, if you want your digital pledge rewards as soon as possible, please don’t delay completing the survey please. And don’t forget to ensure your credit card is ready for process any additional funds for shipping fees/tier changes/add-ons/etc.

Late Pledge Pre-Orders

We know that during this crazy time, not everyone was able to complete a pledge during the Anime 5E Kickstarter campaign. We are thus offering a late pledge pre-order option for those that unfortunately missed the campaign or were dropped due to credit card processing errors. Here’s the link you can pass onto your gamer friends and community: https://anime5e.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

If you have any questions about your pledge, please contact Dyskami Publishing at [email protected]. This is better than posting in the Kickstarter comments section or Kickstarter message button – email us directly, please.

Thanks for your patience over the past few weeks! Now so get those surveys filled out so we can deliver your goodies. 😆