Refund Progress Report: 6/18/22
almost 2 years ago – Mon, Jun 20, 2022 at 04:44:03 PM

Refunds are approximately 20% complete.  Thank you for your continued patience.

As we have been working through the initial surge of direct messages, it has been an absolute pleasure to read so many kind words and well wishes from hundreds of you.  Thank you for reminding us that there are so many amazing, caring, and considerate individuals out there.  We wish that we could thank you each individually, but please accept our sincere gratitude nonetheless!

For anyone who has not yet messaged us with an email address that is linked to a PayPal account, please do so.  This will allow us to keep processing the partial refunds as quickly and efficiently as possible.  Thank you in advance for your understanding and patience.

Necessary Procedures for Processing Refunds (Please Read)
almost 2 years ago – Sat, Jun 11, 2022 at 10:44:19 PM

In the last several days, we've been smoke testing the refund process that is available through Kickstarter and BackerKit, and there are a number of limitations.  Some backers have successfully received their refunds, but many others have been declined due to various card-related issues.  Both funding platforms require refunds to be credited to the same card to which they were originally charged, and Kickstarter Support has advised us that many transactions will have to be handled outside of the process that's available on the site.  We've already had several backers reach out to us to let us know that the standard procedure will not work for them due to expired or cancelled cards, so we've decided to process all refunds through an alternative channel.

We are asking ALL print reward backers who are due a partial refund to send a message to us here on Kickstarter.  In that message, please include an email address that is directly linked to a PayPal account.  Since PayPal interfaces directly with your bank of choice, this will allow us to process an instant transfer that is not limited by credit or debit card policies.  It's quicker, it's cleaner, and it's more reliable.  It will help us to get the money back to you all in a more timely manner.

We have just under 1,400 of these transactions to process, so we would appreciate your patience and your cooperation with our request.  There is no bulk refund process available on any of these platforms, so each transaction has to be entered and verified manually.  Please send your message to us as soon as you can in order to expedite the processing of your refund.

The End of Next-Level Gaming (Print Reward and Shipping Charge Refund Process Enclosed)
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jun 02, 2022 at 09:33:06 PM

TLDR:  Refunds are in process for all print rewards and shipping charges.  Grio's Guide to the Wildlands will remain PDF only, and Next-Level Gaming will cease to continue as a business entity.  We apologize that we have not been able to live up to our original promises and our backers' expectations.

Company Dissolution

We at Next-Level Gaming regret to announce that we've made the decision to close down the company, effective June 30th, 2022.  Messages, comments, and service requests will be addressed as deemed necessary up until that date.

Our team leadership has spent the past several months in an attempt to find a reasonable way forward, but those attempts has fallen short of finding a sustainable solution.  There will be more details provided about our company's liquidation at the end of this update, but first we want to provide details on how this will directly affect the Grio's Guide to the Wildlands project.

PDF Status

We have taken the PDF copy of Grio's Guide to the Wildlands as far as we can with our current team leadership.  We're aware that some backers are unhappy with the design and layout.  We are also aware that many backers have reported that they are very happy with the depth and detail of the content in the document.  It was always our intention to provide innovative and useful content for 5th Edition players and DMs, and we strongly believe that we have done that.  The PDF document contains a wealth of detail that represents a great deal more value than the $25 pledge that we requested to support it.  

The latest version of the PDF is available for download through BackerKit with minor updates.  If there is any confusion or difficulty with how to obtain a digital copy of the PDF, please feel free to send us a message here on Kickstarter, and we'll make sure that you are given additional assistance.  No further updates will be made to the PDF.

Hardcover Status

Our company leadership has decided that, given the impending dissolution of our company, and with the difficulties that are currently being experienced in the printing and shipping industries, we will not complete the fulfillment process with the Standard Hardcover or the Limited Edition Hardcover.  Backers will be refunded any amount of money pledged and paid over and above the PDF-only Tier. 

Refunds on Reward Tiers

• Rewards for a backer who pledged the early-bird PDF for $20 have been fulfilled, and there will be no refund issued.
• Rewards for a backer who pledged the PDF copy for $25 have been fulfilled, and there will be no refund issued.
• Rewards for a backer who pledged the early-bird PDF + Standard Cover for $40 have been partially fulfilled, and a refund of $20 will be issued for the unfulfilled Standard Hardcover.
• Rewards for a backer who pledged the PDF + Playtesting Sessions for $45 have been fulfilled, and there will be no refund issued.
• Rewards for a backer who pledged the PDF + Standard Cover for $50 have been partially fulfilled, and a refund of $25 will be issued for the unfulfilled Standard Hardcover.
• Rewards for a backer who pledged the PDF + Hardcover + Playtesting for $70 have been partially fulfilled, and a refund of $25 will be issued for the unfulfilled Standard Hardcover.
• Rewards for a backer who pledged the PDF + Limited Edition Hardcover for $85 have been partially fulfilled, and a refund of $60 will be issued for the unfulfilled Limited Edition Hardcover.
• Rewards for a backer who pledged the Limited Edition + Playtesting Experience for $105 have been partially fulfilled, and a refund of $60 will be issued for the unfulfilled Limited Edition Hardcover.
• Rewards for a backer who pledged the Retailer Kit for $150 have been partially fulfilled, and a refund of $125 will be issued for the unfulfilled Standard Hardcover and Limited Edition Hardcover copies.

Refunds on Add-ons

• Add-ons for Limited Edition Cover posters will be refunded in-full.
• Add-ons for Online Play and Group-Sessions with Grio will be be refunded in full if they have not been delivered prior to this update.
• Any additional selections added through  BackerKit will be refunded in full if they have not been delivered prior to this update.

Refunds on Shipping Fees

• All shipping fees submitted through BackerKit will be refunded in full.

We will make a concerted effort to process all refunds by June 30th, 2022.  If the card originally used for pledge payment is not active and eligible to receive the refund, the backer will be contacted to make alternate arrangements.

Company Dissolution

For any of you who care to read more about the details of our company dissolution, please continue.

Next-Level Gaming, LLC was founded with a desire to bring high-level TTRPG experiences to players everywhere.  The company was created with a goal to find exceptional DMs who have the ability to run games with creativity, consistency, and passion.  For the past few years, we have been able to do that very successfully.  We had a stable of excellent Dungeon Masters who ran dozens of games for paying clients around the world each month.  However, all of us participated in the day-to-day operations of this company as part-time contractors with other full-time commitments outside of D&D.

Since December of 2021, it has been very clear to the leadership team in place that the company operations required far more man-hours that we had available.  It would take full-time workers to keep this company moving forward, and our leaders have found themselves working full-time hours for an unreasonably low return on their investment.  Our families have suffered because of the sacrifice that we have given to this company.  Our day-jobs have taken every ounce of energy that we had hoped to be able to put into the continued growth of Next-Level Gaming.  The business is no longer sustainable.

Our contract DMs will likely continue to do what they do best, but it will not be under the umbrella of Next-Level Gaming, LLC.  The company will wind up on June 30th, and all contracts will be cancelled.  Any players who have paid for our services in the past are welcome to continue participating in pay-to-play games with our DMs.  Non-compete clauses are not in effect, and we wish all of our professional DMs the absolute best of luck as they continue to build their careers in this burgeoning industry.

Grio's Guide Update - May, 2022
almost 2 years ago – Fri, May 06, 2022 at 09:50:37 PM

With our new designer we have made improvements to the manuscript that will help with readability and ease of use. Formatting has been standardized, and some straggling grammatical errors have been corrected. Because our new designer has much more experience with layout projects like ours, it was expected that the output would be higher quality, albeit longer to process since they are focusing on multiple projects at a time.

That being said, we will be ordering a final proof to review soon. The turnaround on those is typically 7-10 days at which point we will review and approve. Then, the entire order can be submitted for printing. Once those books are ordered and shipped to us, we will pack and ship as quickly as possible. The next update will be after we have approved the proof and have received an estimated time for printing to be completed.

Thank you all for your continued patience,

Next-Level Gaming, LLC

Grio's Guide to the Wildlands Will Be Printed
about 2 years ago – Fri, Apr 01, 2022 at 12:38:48 AM

For this update we want you all to have the most pertinent facts concerning this project.

1. We have a new layout designer who is currently working with BookBaby on the required formatting. This issue (among others) was a major hurdle for our last designer. The new designer has experience in doing this kind of production work and is a good friend of the company who has committed to seeing the book through.

2. So you guys have as many details as we can give you, I want to start by defining layout and design. Layout is the text on page and how that is arranged. Design is the artwork, accent design elements, and overall theme of text/font/size. Our new designer has stated that he believes we have close to double the content than is typical for a D&D publication like Grio's. We are constrained by page count for the printing since a bigger book will be much more expensive to print, and because of that, the layout will not be changing much. What our designer will focus on is the design elements and unifying the overall design theme of the book. This should improve readability significantly without sacrificing any content. He took particular issue with the mounts section, and will likely rework that considerably for the print.

3. Pledge money has been sitting in a bank account, untouched by us, waiting to be spent on the printing and shipping costs of the book...we have not dipped into that for any reason. This money was pledged to support the development of content and the delivery of PDF and printed rewards, and we will honor that support by continuing to update the PDF and by printing and shipping this book out to all who backed it at the print reward tiers.

This has always been a labor of love for us, and we're the type of people who will not just throw away something we love because we hit a snag (or 7) in the road.  We want this book on our bookshelves because we know the content is great.

Thank you for your continued patience as we work through this challenging scenario.