Pledge Level Overview and Tagline Vote
over 4 years ago – Sun, Nov 10, 2019 at 08:09:02 PM

Greetings potential Zorros!

Today we have an overview of the different pledge levels, some info on the pledge manager we are using, news from the Zorro universe, and a vote for the tagline. We are nearing the end of the campaign now but we are just over $1000 short of unlocking the stretch goal for 8 extra meeples!

Am I Backing at the Right Level?

It's often hard to figure out which level is right for you when backing a Kickstarter campaign, so we're going to go over each one to help make sure you're in the right place before the campaign ends.

•  Zorro Base Game - If you plan to play this with 2-6 mostly casual gamers or you want to try the base game before considering picking up the expansion, this level is for you.
•  Zorro Base Game + Expansion - If you want to play solo or with up to 8 players, you want additional strategic depth to play with more experienced gamers, you’re OK with storing everything in the two boxes, and you don't care about fancy components, this is your level.
•  Zorro Base Game + Expansion: Deluxe - If you want to carry everything in one bag instead of two boxes, you want all the gameplay components upgraded to deluxe versions, and you don't want the metal dice or dice cup add ons, you want to back here.
•  All the Things - If you want to “set it and forget it” and know that you’re getting absolutely everything at the best price, this is your level. This comes with the add ons (metal dice and dice cup) and you will store everything in the custom Zorro bag.

BackerKit

Very soon after the campaign ends, we will be sending you an invite to a BackerKit pledge manager survey where you will decide if you want to add on any other items to your order and provide your mailing address so we know where to send your reward. You will get the best price if you back now on the campaign, but as long as you back for at least the $1 level, you will be able to upgrade your reward level or add things on later. You will have about 3 weeks after the campaign ends to modify your order in the pledge manager and you will pay for any additions just before we begin shipping in early 2020.

We will have some of our previous titles and deluxe items in the pledge manager, but only for the quantities that we have in our Kickstarter fulfillment centers, so there will not be an unlimited supply and the sooner you fill out your survey, the better your selection. It looks like we won't have the supply to be able to offer Good Cop Bad Cop 3rd Edition in the pledge manager, but don't worry, our next campaign will be for the 3rd expansion to it so you can get it then.

Zorro on Kimmel

Antonio Banderas was on Jimmy Kimmel Live last week in full Zorro garb! The first couple minutes are about Zorro and then the conversation gets into other, deeper topics, but it's all really good stuff. Thanks to @WEREDINO for sharing!

New Zorro TV Show

In other Zorro universe news, a new television series is in the works where a decedent of Zorro takes up the mantle herself to carry on the family tradition. Oh man, that sounds AWESOME!

Equipment Spotlight: Medicine

No matter which evil-doer you are facing or which heroic feat you are attempting, Medicine is the cure for what ails you because it lets you re-roll one of your dice on each of your 3 ROLLs. This is usable in every situation, so it's one of the better Common equipment you can get, even though it's not quite as flashy as some.

This one used to be in the base game until we noticed that all the re-rolling slowed down the pace of the game a little bit with more casual potential Zorros. So although we really like this card, we wanted it to be used by more experienced heroes, so we put it in the Equipment Pack. We figure that if you're a Kickstarter backer, you probably know your way around a dice game and it won't slow you down.

Vote for Tagline

And now what you've all been waiting for.... let's talk about the vote for the tagline for the box! In the last update, you gave us 39 suggestions for what it could be (thank you!) and we narrowed it down to a baker's dozen that we think could be a fit. VOTE HERE to tell us which one you think should be on the box. Voting ends right when the campaign ends! Note: It’s possible we won’t go with the #1 vote recipient as we’ll have to collaborate with the licensor, our sales and retail partners, and decide what we and they feel is best, but the more votes something gets, the more likely we will use it.

We're in the final stretch now. Thanks for all your support, everyone!

-Clayton and Brian

Avatar and Tag Line Ideas
over 4 years ago – Sun, Nov 03, 2019 at 01:04:34 AM

Greeting heroes!

Today we have an avatar for you, an equipment spotlight, some more reviews, and you can help us choose a tag line for the game at the end!

Avatar

If you want to update your social media or Kickstarter avatar to spread the word about the campaign, here's one you can use!

Equipment Spotlight

Fireworks (shown below) is one of the unlocked stretch goal equipment that will go in your Equipment Pack. Using this could allow you to roll up to 8 extra dice at once if you use it early in the game. You may think that it's over-powered, but the longer you wait to use it, the less powerful it will be because those dice will get claimed by various players as scoundrels and the villain are unlocked.

For example, let's say you use it at the end of the game when fighting a blue (plaza) villain. Someone will already have claimed both blue Hero Dice in order to activate them so using this at that point won't really help you much. However, no matter when you use it, this is a fantastic one to combo with one of the expansion Equipment that lets you do something cool when you roll 3 Taunts or 3 Thrusts because all of the Hero Dice have those symbols on them. 

Dog and Thimble Podcast

If you are a podcast listener but you don’t subscribe to Dog and Thimble, here is your chance to both listen to their 20 minute comedic review of the game and see if you want to add them to your podcast lineup. Warning: You will be laughing out loud as you listen because they are hilarious.

Hairy Game Lords Video

And if you want some laughs in video form, you can watch a review by Hairy Game Lords. They each give individual reviews so you get some different perspectives, which is a unique style that we think is really cool.

Tag Line Ideas

The Zorro™ Dice Game is a casual dice roller for a large group. It doesn't take itself too seriously, just like Zorro himself. On the front of the box, we would like a tag line that will make that come across to those who see it on a shelf at their friendly local game store, and maybe even make them chuckle.

For example, the game The Bears and the Bees has the tag line, "Honey is sweet, but victory is sweeter!" Post in the comments ideas for what our tag line should be and then we'll choose a few and put it to a vote.

-Brian and Clayton

Vote Results, Videos, and Metal Dice
over 4 years ago – Sat, Oct 26, 2019 at 10:46:36 PM

Future Zorros,

We are officially in the "dead zone" of the campaign, where backers are not joining our ranks as quickly as early on in the campaign, but you can help recruit new potential Zorros by sharing the campaign on your favorite social media platform and/or re-tweeting this tweet.

Meeples vs. Bags vs. Bands Voting Results

Thanks for voting on your preference between meeples and bags and bands for future stretch goals! Your votes were given 3 points if it was your first choice, 2 points if it was your second choice, and 1 point if it was your third choice. Here are the results:

The meeple camp clearly won, so we made that the next stretch goal we revealed. Next up was the custom bags by a significant margin, so we'll slot those into a future stretch goal as well. The bands and bags both keep your cards together, so they are redundant, and it doesn't make sense to give both. We'll make custom zip bags a future stretch goal as well!

Equipment Spotlight

And we have another one of the pieces of equipment that was unlocked through stretch goals and will be in your Equipment Pack. Restraints is a PREMIUM equipment, rather than a COMMON equipment, which is why it's all gold-like and it's really good. If multiple heroes defeat the final villain (or none of them do), the game comes down to a final duel. Most games end in a duel, in fact. This Equipment won't give you any assistance in getting to the Villain or defeating him/her, but it will give you a big edge in that duel to see who becomes the next Zorro. This is one of those pieces of equipment that newbs will think isn't very good because you only use it at one point in the game, but that point is so critical, that veterans will recognize its value.

You'll also notice 2 dots in the bottom-left corner, which means that you only include this in games with 2 or more players. Fun fact: In previous games (like Good Cop Bad Cop or New Salem), we have used numbers in the past for this, like "2+", but then people often ask what those numbers mean during the game, and we would rather have them focus on the game itself instead of being distracted by information that is only needed during setup. That's one of those little things we've learned by making so many games in the past.

Because you're backing early early, only you will have this equipment pack when your reward is delivered and then eventually it will be made available to everyone on the BGG store.

Solo Playthrough Video

As requested and as promised in the last update, we posted a full solo playthrough on the campaign page. It also gives you a look at a bunch of expansion equipment and some of the deluxe components. Take a gander:

How to Play with Close Ups

Since it’s a bit hard to see the components in that solo playthrough, I wanted to highlight another review from Evangelos at epitrapaizoume.gr because he has some very nice close-ups of the prototype components as he teaches us how to play:

Just know that the final components will have some graphic design improvements and the cards will be cut better. :)

Metal Dice

And here's another close-up of the metal dice you can get as an Add On or as an All the Things pledge:

They are sooooo heavy, which feels awesome but also increases shipping prices. The $15 USD includes shipping anywhere. Adding them on before the pledge manager will help us get some more stretch goals, so if you're going to get these anyway, you might as well do it now.

Thanks for reading everyone!

-Clayton and Brian

Solo Rules and a Vote
over 4 years ago – Wed, Oct 23, 2019 at 11:39:01 AM

Heroes,

We have been leaping over stretch goals and we're about to hit another one! Today we highlight one of the equipment cards we unlocked, solo rules, and our first vote!

Equipment Pack Update

Through stretch goals, your equipment pack now contains 4 equipment instead of 2. If you haven’t backed many of our games in the past, we usually do these special packs of cards that go out to anyone who backs the campaign and then we make it available to everyone a few months after the game comes out in stores for ~$5 on the BGG store.

We’ll highlight one of these cards in each update so here’s the first one:

 The Hero Dice are the dice you are awarded for collecting 2 Heroic Feats from a matching location (Plaza, Tavern, Market, Farm), which also unlocks a scoundrel or villain. The Torch allows you to choose any Hero Die that has not yet been claimed/unlocked to use on whichever Heroic Feat, Scoundrel, or Villain you are fighting. Each of your main black Zorro Dice has 1 of each symbol on it, but each Hero Die has 1 Thrust, 1 Taunt, and 4 of its location's symbol. For example, the Plaza Hero Die has 4 Leap symbols as you can see below the hero die compared to the standard Zorro die.

 So if you were fighting a Plaza scoundrel, which requires 3 Leaps, you would want to borrow the Plaza Hero Die that no one has claimed using Torch to give you the best chance of getting those Leaps.

Solo Rules

Many of you have asked about the solo version of the game. The solo rules are exactly the same as the base game except for a few exceptions:

Setup: Start out with 9 Heroic Feats, each with an Equipment under it, instead of the 4 that you start with in the non-solo games.

Heroic Feats: If you fail at a Heroic Feat, that Feat and its Equipment go on the bottom of their respective deck. Heroic Feats do not get replenished, no matter whether you succeed or fail, so the 9 Heroic Feats represent your "9 lives" in the solo game. (just like your cat)

End Game: You win if you defeat the Villain. You lose if:

 - you fail against the Villain

OR

 - you do not have any Heroic Feats left to attempt

We will post a solo play-through video on the campaign page later today or tomorrow and we'll put it in the next Update too.

Stretch Goal Vote

We have some possible super stretch goals we are considering that would improve the Deluxe and All the Things reward levels:

•  8 More Custom Meeples - We have 16 possible characters, 8 men and 8 women, that we can use for the 8 character cards, so if we hit this goal, we would include a different hero on each side of the character card and then have a custom meeple for each one of all 16 characters (instead of the 8 you currently get). 
•  6 Custom Zip Bags - There quite a few different decks of cards and it can get a little messy in the box without any way to organize it. Currently, you will get a few plastic, transparent zip bags to keep them together. This stretch goal would add 6 plastic zip bags that have full color art on each one matching the card type so you can quickly grab the right bag.
•  6 Custom Plastic Bands - As an alternative to the bags, we could instead give you custom plastic bands in a unique color with the card type written on them that you can wrap around your sleeved cards to keep them organized in the box. They work really well and are less bulky than the bags as long as you sleeve your cards (everyone at these levels have sleeves), but they are little loose when you don't use sleeves.

Comment below the order in which you would rank these to help us decide how to set them up as stretch goals. For example, you might say: 1) Plastic Bands, 2) Zip Bags, 3) Meeples.

Thanks everyone! And keep an eye on the page for that solo playthrough soon!

Clayton and Brian

First Half a Day
over 4 years ago – Sun, Oct 20, 2019 at 02:00:25 PM

“It’s been a great many years since Don Diego de la Vega first donned his signature Cordovan hat, cape, and mask to hide his identity while battling to protect the people of Pueblo de los Ángeles from the corruption and dangers surrounding them. Throughout that time he has faced many dangers, performed numerous acts of heroism, and defeated deadly foes. His quest has taken a great toll, felt in his bones and in his warrior spirit; de la Vega knows that it’s time to retire. Retire he may, but El Zorro must live on!” -Maurice Fitzgerald (read the rest in his preview here)

That’s where you come in! You’ve already performed your first heroic feat in helping us get funded (it only took 2 hours), but there are many more feats ahead of us through the rest of the campaign where you can show Zorro you deserve to take his place. I mean man, we’re less than half a day into the campaign and we already carved a giant Z through our funding and even a couple stretch goals! It's going to be a wild 31 days!!

Meeple Overboard Playthrough

We didn’t get this Meeple Overboard video up in the Reviews section on launch, but it’s a hilarious and thematic ride through the game so we wanted to share it here and recommend you watch it if you have a hankering for a 2-player playthrough video:

Spanish Rules

The Spanish rules translations are now available right here. If any of you find mistakes in there, please send us a Kickstarter message or email to [email protected] and we’ll correct it.

Communication Expectations

Every creator/team who runs a Kickstarter campaign communicates a little differently so we wanted to tell you what you can expect from us:

• If you send us a Kickstarter message or email [email protected], we will respond within 24 hours, so that’s the best way to ask us questions that pertain to your particular situation. (Example: “Could you use purple packing tape on my reward shipment? It's my favorite color.) We will probably respond sooner than 24 hours, but we have full-time jobs so, during a weekday in the United States, you probably won’t get an immediate response.
   
• If you have a question that others will benefit from hearing answered, please post in the comments and we’ll also respond within 24 hours. (Example: “Will the actual sword stretch goal cause a customs delay for those of us in Australia?”)
   
• We prefer fewer, more meaningful Updates to spare your inbox and let you know that when you get an Update from the campaign, it’s probably worth your time to read. We’ll send an update every few days while the campaign is live and once per month after the campaign ends. We do a lot of “mini updates” in the main campaign comments so you can always check there for the very latest information.
   
•  We reserve the right to leave inappropriate or very negative comments or messages unanswered. We want the comments to be a place of positivity and collaboration for everyone. You are more than welcome to give us suggestions for changes or constructive criticism, but just keep it respectful. Before you post that comment, ask yourself whether Zorro would approve of it. :) 

Thank you so much for being with us right from the start of this epic journey and in the first Kickstarter campaign since our re-branding! We have a lot of fun in the comments so if you feel like being silly with us in there, please join in the conversation.

-Clayton and Brian