The End is Nigh!
almost 2 years ago – Tue, Jul 26, 2022 at 11:20:18 AM

Hey faithful friends! 

We've got a production update for you!

The production on the rest of our Gangs of the Undercity minis is nearing completion. 

The rest should be done within a month and then shipping should begin very shortly after. 

All the funds have been paid to the manufacturer, and we are now just awaiting confirmation that they have completed the balance of the printing. 

Once complete, international orders will be filled directly (since the factory is in the UK), and shipping to America will happen in two steps. First, the minis will be sent to FUG's offices, and we will ship out to our American backers immediately. So while US backers got their box sets a bit earlier, international folks will get their stretch goal minis a bit earlier than others. 

Here's a pic of production!

 We are running our second yearly tournament at GenCon this year, so swing by and say hi if you're in attendance!

 - Opti

Production Update
almost 2 years ago – Thu, Jun 23, 2022 at 12:13:04 AM

Hey folks!

I have some good news. Final production began on all the rest of our minis on June 8. We were in the middle of preparing for Origins Game Fair, so we weren't able to make the update 13 days ago, but it has happened! All of the models are in production, and we've been told that the entire process will take 2 months. 

Once manufacturing is complete, shipping will begin. Since the production hub is in England, backers not from the Americas should be getting their shipments first, as we are getting a bulk shipment made to us here in the states and we'll be handling US and Canada-based shipping from here. 

On a small other note: 

We've attended Origins Game Fair twice with Gangs of the Undercity, and it has been under-performing. In terms of play, everyone who plays it loves it. But in terms of sales, it just doesn't seem to be the kind of game that the Origins convention seems to cater to. So our new plan is to NOT have a tournament at Origins from now on, but rather to run demos as much as we can. We are going to see what happens at GenCon as well (which was better for us) to see where we go from there and if we'll follow the same tack as we do with Origins. But towards the future, we will focus Gangs more at minis-based conventions like ReaperCon and Adepticon to the extent we can.  I don't think this affects most all of you, but I thought you might like to hear what we've been thinking. 

Thanks again for hanging in there, folks!

 - Opti

(Non-Gangs related) Misspent Youth: Fall In Love, Not In Line Kickstarter is LIVE
about 2 years ago – Tue, Apr 19, 2022 at 04:52:14 AM

Hey friends, 

Disclaimer: If you aren't interested in non-Gangs of the Undercity stuff, skip this Update. It is about our newest game, Misspent Youth, and your support is appreciated but not required. :)

HEADLINE: We are giddy about launching our second Kickstarter! This time, it is for Misspent Youth: Fall In Love, Not In Line, the next addition to an amazing game. With this book, we are taking Misspent Youth in the direction of invitation – inviting traditional role players, and those with no RPG experience at all, into a narrative RPG and removing all the barriers to learning and playing quick! Head here to back the book: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fraggingunicorns/misspent-youth-fall-in-love-not-in-line

Fall In Love, Not In Line!

Misspent Youth is a tabletop RPG about friendship, standing up to bullies, and changing the world. It’s for 4 to 6 people. One plays The Authority, the force that’s making the world a crappy place to live. The others all play Youthful Offenders (YOs), the punks who can redeem the future from the pack of douches trying to frag it up.

This book focuses on inclusion and invitation. Sometimes it takes new gamers a bit to get comfortable with narrative gaming, so we’re removing the most common roadblocks to imagination, streamlining rules to prevent indecision from slowing down the action, and innovating tools to get everyone having fun fast. It’s like quickstart rules for narrative rebellion, except there’s nothing halfway, cheap, or missing about these quickstart rules. They get everyone into roleplaying revolution seamlessly with maximum joy.

For those that already love Misspent Youth, there are streamlined rules, new options for selling out (and redemption!), new settings to explore, and new Authorities to dismantle. And not least, LOVE is the focus of our struggles in this book. When we act for romance, friendship, and community, tearing down injustice is that much sweeter.

Punch up against injustice, stick to your convictions, and avoid selling yourself out to the Authority. Maybe YOU can dismantle the Authority, change the world, and find someone to share it with.

For those unfamiliar with Misspent Youth, check out nerd superstar Wil Wheaton and crew playing Misspent Youth:
Watch part 1 here: https://youtu.be/DPQ9Jj_IGOo
Watch part 2 here: https://youtu.be/npEcCw0SX0w
Watch the bonus, world-building segment here: https://youtu.be/J7ff0JODjpU

Here’s what Gail Simone, author, DC Comics, had to say – “Reading through it feels like being part of the PUNK scene when punk was completely terrifying to outsiders. I love it. I can’t believe they made a rule book for anarchy, but it works! Great job!”
She also said, “I have heard REPEATEDLY that it’s a ‘hidden gem and unlike any other rpg,” and, “Just read the back cover for some idea of why this isn’t MY LITTLE PONY. “

As a bonus, here’s a free, eyebleed edition of the first Misspent Youth book to give you an idea of what narrative rebellion looks like:
http://misspentyouth.robertbohl.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/MisspentYouthEyebleedEdition.pdf

We hope you dig our latest Misspent Youth release and back the Kickstarter. Look out for more RPG goodness coming from Fragging Unicorns Games, including more from our miniature skirmish game Gangs of the Undercity, a cyberpunk/fantasy RPG called Subversion, and the Fragging Unicorns card game.

Those of you who have been following us for some time know we’ve had an uphill learning curve, some aggravating supply chain issues (thanks, Covid!) but we still love what we are doing! We’ve built a great community, labored to be as honest as humanly possible with our process, encouraged new and diverse people to work with us, paid our authors, sculptors, artists, and other freelancers more than fairly, and are still striving to do everything we can to be the goodest folks and game devs we can be. And we owe exactly all of that to your support. We honor it. Honestly.

Thanks for your time!

Opti, Founder, Fragging Unicorns Games

Frustrations Which I Am Sure You Will Share With Me
about 2 years ago – Mon, Apr 18, 2022 at 12:49:36 AM

There's no good way to bring frustrating news. I can only hope you all know that no one is more frustrated than I am. 

I mentioned in the last update we were starting the process of fulfillment for the stretch goal minis, beginning with those overseas who ordered one of everything. This was, as noted before, for quality control and to make sure things were going to go smoothly for the rest of our worldwide fulfillment. This was a relatively small group to fulfill with, but it had all our models, so it was perfect. What ended up not being perfect was a miscommunication on the part of the manufacturer's agent. Once we agreed to a price for the fulfillment, I mentioned we would be doing this in waves and they agreed. However, once I had submitted the names and numbers of that first wave, I later received a reply that if we fulfill in waves, the bulk discounts we were getting go away, thus increasing the prices of each wave/mini. 

ARGH. 

So now we are back to doing things in a slower way. Quality, numbers, logistics, shipping, all have to be coordinated on a larger scale now. This won't mean much to the American backers, who would have been waiting a few more months anyway was the waves caught up with them, but it does mean that our non-US backers, who have been more than patient, will have to wait longer than intended. Again. 

All of my team has pointed out that you lot have been wonderful, and when I am as honest as possible, everyone understands. They also pointed out that a month or two makes not much difference at this point in the game. But as I told them, it matters to me. We made a great game, and had all our ducks lined up to do right by you, and through series after series of odd or understandable events, this just keeps being pushed back. 

Have we learned a lot? Absolutely. We are now extremely confident in our ability to produce books, rules, work with writers, artists, get products made and prototyped, how to get the best shipping prices, and we are getting ever better at distribution and marketing. But the one thing that we can't control, the one thing bottlenecking all of this, is getting products made and made at the costs we agreed. It helps me to know that it isn't limited to Fragging Unicorns, and that we got into the manufacturing game at the perfectly wrong moment, but my concern is that our name and our reputation with you all will be tarnished. 

I've done everything I possibly can to ensure the best outcome, and I will continue to do so. 

You have been wonderful. 

So FUG team, if you read this, there. I've been as honest as possible. 

I'll be back with any other updates we have, as soon as I have them. 

We have some pretty cool news about our Misspent Youth Kickstarter launching in a few days, but I can get in to that another time. For now, you have my thanks for your patience and my gratitude for continuing your support. 

 - Opti

First Batch Is On the Way!
about 2 years ago – Tue, Apr 05, 2022 at 02:36:32 PM

Friends, 

I told you I'd be back as soon as I got any news, and now we have some. 

The first batch of minis for complete fulfillment have been sent. This does NOT necessarily mean YOU will get yours soon. Allow me to explain. 

In order to make sure there are no mistakes and to make sure we don't miss anyone, and because the factory has somewhat limited capacity, we are sending out the rest of the models in waves. 

Before, the Americans got first dibs and got their 2 Player Box Sets first. Now it is the non-US folks' turn to get something first. 

But just to be extra clear, not all the international orders have gone out. 

As of now, only those people who ordered the "One Of Everything" upgrade AND are NOT in the US are having their minis printed and sent right now. This is a fairly small group, but a lot of models, which means it is a perfect control group. This way, we can make sure our system for fulfillment is working, make sure they get to everyone in good shape, and otherwise observe the process and make sure we're happy. 

Once phase 1 is complete, we'll begin fulfilling country by country, from the smallest to the largest, again, just to make sure that we have every chance to get things right before the largest fulfillments. 

Sorry to say that the US will be last, but they had the most backers and the overseas shipping would kill us if we tried to do it another way. 

I am here to answer any questions, and once again, I thank you for taking this journey with us!

 - opti