Old Hellfire Update: One Year On...
almost 4 years ago
– Thu, May 14, 2020 at 12:11:57 AM
What-Ho Hellfire-ites!
And a HUGE HELLO from what is the first day of the mind-numbing ninth week of lock down in Hellfire HQ!
As you may have spotted from the title of this update - this week marks the end of a full year since The Old Hellfire Club funded on Kickstarter and, what with there only being so much else to do at the moment, I've been in a somewhat reflective mood...
First, I'm grateful... profoundly grateful... for the trust, generosity and patience you've all placed in me by backing this leviathan project I appear to have set myself! It's been an inspiration all in itself and I can't wait to repay your enormous kindness!
Second, I'd be lying if I didn't say that there was a gloss of disappointment in myself that you didn't have your copy of The Old Hellfire Club in your hands already as had long been the plan - I'm very sorry about that. However, I console myself a little that the time has been spent pulling together an experience that I hope you will truly love for years to come (... and surviving an absurd number of life events / international incidents - those were something of an obstacles too!). By way of a stop-gap you might like to know that a demonstration version of The Old Hellfire Club is now available for FREE on Tabletopia (with HUGE thanks to an extraordinary generous member among our ranks) so you can start playing it with friends online RIGHT NOW - AND FULLY COMPLIANT WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING!
Third, WE ARE SO, SO CLOSE!
Seriously - the final delivery of all of your games is within touching difference now! I'm just awaiting confirmation of the arrival of the US consignment of core games and bonus expansions at our logistics partner (Gamerati) in the US. My home is slowly filling up with a huge array of coins, gloves, boxes, cards and busts of Prince Albert - all to send out to your good selves and more is arriving every day!
However, there have been some logistics / production obstacles thrown up by the current pandemic situation which will throw off our delivery schedules very slightly for North American backers. At this stage it's hard to gauge exactly how great the impact will be, but I do not expect any delay to be significant for anyone. However, the groups impacted are -
CANADIAN BACKERS - No impact except for Exclusive Level Backers. Your pledges will arrive in two deliveries rather than one - 1) The core game and expansion pack, and 2) The Secret History and Art Cards.
US BACKERS - Impact only for Exclusive Level Backers and Buyers of the 100-Year Old Coin Add-On. Logistics / Production delays for some of the additional components have meant we have needed to push back the delivery of components for US distribution. I am doing all I can to resolve the situation, expect to have a solution in the next few days and will keep you posted of developments.
And so with that frustrating update out of the way – let's throw ourselves back into our latest Choose Our Own Adventure!
We Begin... Greganezzer D’Arcy was dead to begin with. But, as Eastertide approaches he was haunted by the ghost of some CRESS who warned him to change my evil ways and of the coming haunting by three spirits... The first, a disembodied chimney sweep, had shown him the mistakes of his past - working a teacher to death in my school days and falling out of love with a sewer maintenance operative... What now of his present?!
WHERE SHOULD OUR ADVENTURE TAKE US NEXT – YOU DECIDE… VOTE NOW!
All my best to you all as always! Please look after yourselves and stay safe! Jamie
Old Hellfire Update: Week 49 and Time Has No Meaning Anymore
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Apr 17, 2020 at 01:35:20 AM
What-Ho Hellfire-ites!
And a HUGE HELLO from what is the first day of the interminable sixth week of lock down in Hellfire HQ!
I hope all is well with you all and that the same is true of those you love, like and have a begrudging respect for... because you're going to need it!
THE GAMES ARE COMING!
Yes - I can hardly comprehend that I'm saying this - but the games are now fully manufactured, boxed up and are wending their merry ways over the ocean! Don't believe me? There's a photo of a crate of them at the bottom of this update!
What can I say? They look AMAZING! No effort has been spared - the level of detail that has gone in it astounding (seriously - my account manager and I spent I have no idea how long examining individual pixels!). You're getting a game that I am genuinely proud to have made - a weighty, glossy, GORGEOUS game packed to the brim with cards, counters and a full colour rulebook. As promised so many months ago, we've included no space fillers - the box is as small as it can be (4 x 5 x 1.5 inches) to minimize the shipping costs and environmental impact. I think you're going to love it!
SO WHAT OF THE FLOOR SHOW...
And by that I mean all of the elements that aren't a core part of the game itself (but ten points to anyone who got the reference!)...
Well this is where things get a little more frustrating - as all of you in the UK will know (and everyone else will be able to guess) - many businesses have had to slow down or go into hibernation to protect their staff and survive the current crisis. The upshot of this has been that some of the items I need in order to be able to fulfill some orders have been difficult to source.
My absolutely commitment to all of you is that you will all receive everything you have paid for as quickly as I am able to provide it at no extra cost to you. However, that may mean that some pledges will either need to be delayed for a short while while I wait for deliveries (maybe a week or two longer) or I will need to fulfill those pledges over multiple deliveries. At the moment the two items that are causing me the most concern are the Secret History source books and the wooden cases for Imperial level backers, but I am not worried at all that I will not be able to provide these items given enough time.
And so with that frustrating update out of the way – let's throw ourselves right into our latest Choose Our Own Adventure!
We Begin... Greganezzer D’Arcy was dead to begin with. There is no doubt about that. Or so the insurance company thought! As Eastertide approached, all were convinced by my apparently fatal incident with ISABELLA BEETON... I had sent my book keepers HUGE QUANTITIES OF OPIUM which had left me free to muse over my greatest regret... WHIMSY! Just then I was haunted by the ghost of some CRESS who warned me to change my evil ways and warned me of three spirits who would visit me...
WHERE SHOULD OUR ADVENTURE TAKE US NEXT – YOU DECIDE… VOTE NOW!
All my best to you all as always! Please look after yourselves and stay safe! Jamie
Old Hellfire Update: Week 47 and The End of Days
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Apr 03, 2020 at 02:22:17 AM
What-Ho Hellfire-ites!
Well… It’s hard to know where to begin, isn’t it? Let’s start with the good news… because there’s PLENTY of it and Goodness knows we need some cheer in the world!
FIRST – THE GAMES THEMSELVES
Last time we spoke I was absolutely gagging with delight to tell you that WE WERE PRINTING! We’ll Today I’m simply COCK-A-HOOP to inform you that WE HAVE PRUNTED (legitimate past tense – honest)!
That’s right – the actual physical copies of THE OLD HELLFIRE CLUB that you so generously backed all those months ago now ACTUALLY EXIST here in the REAL WORLD. Don’t believe me – there are photos of the cards fresh off the press below! The first copy will be in the post to me to check tomorrow and then they’ll be loaded onto ships to head out across the world.
In other FANTASTIC NEWS – LOGISTICS!
My logistics company for North America (the fabulous Gamerati) has somehow been designated an essential service and so is still fully operational and there should, powers that be willing, not be any delays to your deliveries if you live in the US or Canada.
If you live in the UK or EU then your copies are coming directly to me and I (recent bouts of tonsillitis and a staggeringly painful burst eardrum notwithstanding – seriously the last three weeks have been really awful) am still fully operational so there should be no delays to your deliveries either!
Of course, given the way the world is right now, I have to caveat all of the above with some pretty serious caution – after all there is no telling what restrictions will be introduced in the meantime, but we’ll do our best to keep as close to schedule as we can!
And so with the updates out of the way – why not throw yourself right in at the beginning of a BRAND NEW Choose Our Own Adventure!
We Begin... Greganezzer D’Arcy was dead to begin with. There is no doubt about that. Or so the insurance company thought! As Eastertide approached, all were convinced by my apparently fatal incident with...
WHERE SHOULD OUR ADVENTURE TAKE US NEXT – YOU DECIDE… VOTE NOW ( https://twitter.com/OldHellfire/status/1245833963215740928 )!
All my best to you all as always! Please look after yourselves and stay safe! Jamie
Old Hellfire Update: Week 44 Precisely
about 4 years ago
– Tue, Mar 10, 2020 at 07:40:53 PM
What-Ho Hellfire-ites!
MAGNIFICENT, SHINING, SUPERBERUS, COLOSSATASTICAL NEWS!
** We are PRINTING! **
Yes, you read that right – in spite of everything – storm, plague, trade war, diplomatic parting of ways, more plague, two more storms, unbelievably awful rail services in my part of the UK and probably so much more…
** We are PRINTING! **
I can hardly begin to describe how excited that makes me – and all the more so given that I’ve been in touch with the manufacturers to make sure that their work force is only returning to the factories under safe working conditions.
But what is more, this finally gives us some clarity on delivery dates! Though way short of our initial hopes, and still assuming that everything goes to plan, we’re looking at a date of mid-May for the finished games to arrive in North America and Europe - I can’t wait to get them to you all!
** BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! **
What else can I tell you – only that THE OLD HELLFIRE CLUB: A SECRET HISTORY (our RPG-style source book) is entering into the final typesetting stage! This is no mean feat in itself as the Secret History is currently weighing in at nearly 175 pages and over 30,000 words!
When finished this potted history of Victorian London’s glistening, sweaty underbelly will provide great wedges of excitement in the form of tales of adventure and terrifying factual content to give an ample dollop of inspiration to you all on starting your own games.
And even that’s not all – thanks to the science of paper and writing you will be able to avail yourself of hundreds of juicy titbits for you to drop into conversations to amaze your friends and confound your enemies! And who will get to partake of this splendiferous volume?
Everyone! Or at least, everyone who backed us for at least the paltry sum of £3 / $4 will be getting in some form or other ranging from simple PDF, through splendid paper back to glorious clothbound hardback!
And so with the updates out of the way – let’s catch up on our latest Choose Our Own Adventure!
The Story So Far… It had all gone tragically, tragically wrong! With butlers Great Britain awash with cloned butlers and opium I had fled with Jessica Fully-Rounded Character to and escaped from Russia in the company of Charles Darwin! We returned to Blighty just in time for… for the height of the BUTLER CLONE APOCALYPSE!
My rag-tag group of Wench, Scientist, a newly acquired Rogue and I had uncovered the heart of this schoolboy conspiracy and were setting about finding suitable chastisement…
WHERE SHOULD OUR ADVENTURE TAKE US NEXT – YOU DECIDE… VOTE NOW!
All my best to you all as always! Jamie
Old Hellfire Update: Week 41 Paragraph C
about 4 years ago
– Fri, Feb 21, 2020 at 01:37:32 AM
What-Ho Hellfire-ites!
Well what a week it’s been!
If you’ve been keeping up with British Weather News this week, and frankly I don’t see why you wouldn’t be – it’s 80% of what we talk about, so I assume that it’s a least 30% of the conversation everywhere else in the world! - then you’d know that we’ve had a little bit of wind and rain lately which has turned the glorious countryside surrounding Hellfire HQ into, frankly, at times… an actual lake?
Not that this has held things up here though! I’m approximately 1500 words away from finishing the final story for The Secret History! I have a WHOPPING SIXTEEN POUNDS of Victorian Pennies ready to send out you lovely people (or at least to those of you who want them)! And I’m delighted to say we have a winner in our ‘what shall the bonus content be’ competition!
And the winner is… TEN NEW CARDS! It will always be a shame that not everyone’s first choice could be the winner, but the votes came in and, by thunder, I’ve got to respect the will of the electorate – plus I’m really, really proud of these new cards! What I’ve added is Ten New Patron Cards on the themes of humility and generosity which have added a WHOLE new tactical angle to the game by giving you a chance to manipulate your own and your opponents hands. Two sample cards are included at the bottom of this update – I really hope you like them!
And so, onto the less upbeat news… I’m still waiting for the factory in China to get back up and running to get production of The Old Hellfire Club started again. I’ve spoken with the account handler and I know that the pre-production staff are starting back to work (albeit that some of that work can be done remotely), but getting a manufacturing plant back up to speed is several orders higher in terms of complexity and actually requires everyone to be back on site. I’ll keep you posted on progress and I do share your perfectly justifiable frustrations, but if it’s a choice between a delay and containing a potentially even more devastating worldwide pandemic I know which I’d choose!
Incidentally – thanks to you all The Old Hellfire Club now has a better user rating on BGG than Pandemic! We’re only a slither behind Dominion now (take that Donald X Vaccarino!) – and thank YOU all so much! For everyone else, please do rate us if you’ve played The Old Hellfire Club already and have the time! It makes a really massive difference!
And so with that – and in the meantime – lets catch up on our latest Choose Our Own Adventure!
The Story So Far… It had all gone tragically, tragically wrong! With butlers Great Britain awash with cloned butlers and opium I had fled with Jessica Fully-Rounded Character to Russia and had been immediately imprisoned in a forced labour camp. There I immediately hatched an escape plan with fellow inmate Charles Darwin! We fled in triumph and returned to Blighty just in time for… for the height of the BUTLER CLONE APOCALYPSE!
Having found myself lacking an UMBRELLA, my rag-tag group of Wench, Scientist, a newly acquired Rogue and I are off to see if anyone can make the land feel once more like home...
WHERE SHOULD OUR ADVENTURE TAKE US NEXT – YOU DECIDE… VOTE NOW!
All my best to you all as always!
Jamie
