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Metal Heroes and the Fate of Rock: A Rock/Comedy Gamebook

Created by Swen Harder

Bring the world's loudest gamebook on air! [ENGLISH HARDCOVER EDITION]

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Should I Stay Or Should I Go – After Show Update #19
over 1 year ago – Wed, Oct 05, 2022 at 04:06:55 AM

Hi Metal Heroes Supporters!


We know, many of you are still waiting for your Metal Heroes copy.

As you may have read, we’ve had a huge problem with misprints to solve (12% of the books were faulty). This issue costs us much time, money and nerves. For instance, we had to check hundreds of books before we could approve them for shipping.

Anyways, the fulfillment started over a month ago and is still ongoing. I’ve divided all destinations into three areas: EU countries, GB/US/CA and “rest of the world”.

Most of the EU backers should have already received their books. The shipment for the rest of the world has started too. Unfortunately, due to pandemic restrictions the delivery around the globe can take up to 50 days (to Australia or New Zealand for example).

Backers from Great Britain, United States, and Canada are in the final wave, which starts in October.

In the end, all of you should get your pledge in December at the latest.

Side note: When you receive your pledge, please check the whole parcel carefully for items. Some backers have overlooked their Special Edition box at the parcel’s bottom or missed the dice inside the poker deck box.


Rock on!

Swen + FuFu

From out of Nowhere – After Show Update #18
over 1 year ago – Tue, Aug 23, 2022 at 11:47:27 AM

Hi Metal Heroes supporters!


This update starts some good and some bad news. The good news is: We started fulfillment! And the bad news is: We started fulfillment. Huh, what’s going on?

Okay, what I learned in the past is doing a smoke test is always a good idea. So, I started sending the first books to some backers in Germany and near EU countries to see everything is going smoothly, the packaging is good—and it was.

But one of my nightmares became reality: It turns out some books are misprinted! (This never happened with this printer in dozens gamebook editions before.)

Of course I stopped fulfilment immediately and my wife and I checked every single book we had at home over the last weekend. The outcome: We found more than 12% faulty books, which is a horrible number and more or less the safety margin I calculated for replacements. And as you can imagine, every book being dumped is really hurting my author’s heart and a huge setback to our calculation.

Unfortunately, the checking isn’t done yet. I’ve to do another one with the remaining books as well, taking the 600 kilometers ride to the warehouse again, to make sure no misprinted book gets sent out to you guys (or at least bring the number down to an absolute minimum).

It took me a few days to recover from this shock, but I’m determined to bring this campaign to a successful end, and deliver to each one of you your copy of this one-of-a-kind Rock/Comedy Gamebook!


A few BackerKit surveys not completed

Finally, a friendly reminder for all backers of the first campaign: Please check your mails for a BackerKit survey you have to answer (entering your postal address and paying for shipment). Most of you have done this already, but there are still some backers who we haven’t heard from.

Backer numbers: 53, 67, 105, 137, 144, 150, 178, 181, 185, 201, 210, 212, 217, 220, 241, 257, 266, 271

If you are one of those backers and haven't received a survey yet, please write me a PM!


Rock on!

Swen

Rainbow in the Dark – After Show Update #17
over 1 year ago – Fri, Aug 05, 2022 at 09:10:52 AM

Raise your horns, Metal Heroes supporters!


Finally the time has come! The books have arrived, clogging my apartment up to the ceiling and my wife expects the stuff to go out again as soon as possible (otherwise I have to!).

Last Wednesday in July: My wife and I took a day off, rented a van and drove 600 kilometers to pick up the 500 copies of Metal Heroes.

Before we can start sending you stuff, however, all the material has to be prepared. Signing and stamping books, packing poker decks and dice, put bookmarks, metal journals and CDs in the DVD box, add tickets and dust covers, ...

There are more than 30 individual components that need to be combined for the Special Edition, which will weigh a whopping 1.2 kilograms.

Bring it all together, ooky: Last weekend we started to stamp, sign and assemble all the items for the hundreds of normal and Special Editions. By now we have been able to complete around 20%.

Well, so that's our part of the (or)deal. Your job is to update your address now if neccesary. In addition, all backers of the first campaign need to complete their pledge by paying the costs for shipping using the Backerkit Pledge Manager. If desired, you can now purchase add-ons there.

I think most of you know the drill when it comes to how BackerKit works. But for us it's the first time we're using this feature on the creator side, so it's not unlikely that we did something wrong when setting it up. Therefore, BackerKit will send smoke test surveys to 5% of backers from each pledge level in our campaign to catch any errors in the survey and make sure everything runs smoothly.

Once the smoke test has been completed, surveys are send to the rest of you!

Please do all this by August 25, at the latest. Then we will be ready to go!

Speaking of numbers and fulfilment, as you'd expect, the shipping costs we estimate have gone up a few euros over the last year. However, for most of you living outside the EU, you shouldn't notice too much of a difference as the exchange rate between foreign currencies (like US dollar) and the euro has fallen by 20% since then.

Metal Heroes gamebooks with alternative dust cover (left) and without.

This time we have an experienced partner on board for the shipping: ShipQuest. So they will send most of the books on their world tour.

This should especially speed up shipping to the US and Canada. Nevertheless, we will take care of a few exceptions ourselves, e.g. very large packages or ones with special content. Some backers who expect additional content (for example original illustrations by FuFu) will receive an extra delivery by post.


Just one more step onto the stage!


Thank you for your support, rock on!

Swen + FuFu

Reason to Believe - After Show Update #16
almost 2 years ago – Wed, Jun 22, 2022 at 02:19:54 PM

Hey-ho Metal Heroes Backers!


After a long search for the perfect paper and a tricky approval process (an error had crept into the cover PDF which we weren’t able to find and eliminate so quickly) the time has finally come!

We have green-lit the printing of 500 Metal Heroes game books. Thus, a huge hurdle for this complex project has been cleared and a big weight is taken off my mind!


So, what's next?


The special Metal Heroes dice are currently in customs clearance while the Metal Heroes Poker Decks are still being printed.

Fufu is painting the last strokes on the alternative dust cover. I've already seen a preview and I’m looking forward to seeing that hot off the press as well (but this shouldn't cause as much drama as there was with the 'original' cover).

Once everything is here—and should take no longer than a few more weeks—I can start putting together all the stuff for the first Special Editions and checking that everything fits into the collection box as planned.

Please understand that only then can I unlock the Pledge Manager, so that I don't have to retroactively change anything in case of problems.


Rock on! Swen

It's a long way to the top – After Show Update #15
almost 2 years ago – Sun, May 01, 2022 at 05:50:47 AM

Hello Metal Heroes Supporters!


Welcome to this update! We are actually getting close to the printing of the gamebook you are all waiting for, which is scheduled for mid/end May!


So what's been happening lately?


The book has passed a further check and correction process. Thanks to the valuable input of our ROADIE supporters the text, linking and rules were improved. Especially the new Kickstarter parts!


Fufu did an expanded version of the cover (a hardcover image needs to be bigger) and he also finalized the Hall of Fame artwork; I’m pretty sure all the backers represented personally on the book’s final pages will like how they are portrayed.

To wrap it up, I need to know which name (or two names for all ROCKIN' COUPLE backers) you want to have printed there to complete those last six pages! Therefore, you’ll receive an email from Kickstarter soon with the Metal Heroes survey. It’s important to respond to this survey as quickly as you can.


As backer of the original campaign, you’ll also receive a link to the BackerKit Pledge Manager soon.

Please fill in your address there as well. This is even more important to get the fulfillment and shipping started.


Rock on!

Swen