mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5056
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Twisty Little Passages is a book of dungeon crawl adventure puzzles that we're launching on Kickstarter May 14.

The pages are laminated and you use a fine-tipped dry-erase marker to draw right on the pages to track your progress through each dungeon, gathering treasure, updating your stats and battling enemies.

Early feedback has been split on whether to raise KS reward base cost and shipping by including some dry-erase markers, shrink wrapped together with the book. (For instance, US media mail can't be used to keep your shipping cost low when including pens with a book.)

Please share what option you'd most prefer for yourself when backing the TLP campaign to get copies for yourself and others (if applicable).
(Please don't answer with a guess on what others hypothetically might want.)

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

davidatk100
Level: Delver
Rank Points: 42
Registered: 11-27-2007
IP: Logged

I'm a bit split on this one. For myself, I would rather not have a marker included, solely to keep cost down. If I buy as a gift, I would also prefer not to have a marker included to keep cost down and source one myself. I'm in Australia so shipping cost is an issue. In the past I have used a shipping forwarding company who have been cheaper than shipping direct. I might consider doing this for TLP depending on cost.

For other people, I'm concerned that it might reduce their experience. However, I'm reminded of what Dischorran said the other day:

Dischorran wrote:
if someone can't handle the choice of a couple options when it comes time to finalize their kickstart payment, they're probably doomed when it comes to solving the book itself.

I feel this will also apply to people who have have difficulties caused by the absence of a pen.

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

davidatk100 wrote:
For other people, I'm concerned that it might reduce their experience.

Fair idea to express. But it's possible that there aren't actually many people in Mike's target group that would care. If everyone votes their own preference, not altruistically for someone else, we'll see a clearer picture.

I selfishly declared "No. I already have one."

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5056
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Status update:

On the polls here and on BGG thus far, we have three respondents who would like to receive pens included with the book and one "maybe/add-on" out of a total of twenty-four responses.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

The spitemaster
Level: Smiter
Rank Points: 354
Registered: 06-09-2005
IP: Logged

Question: I have always been a fan of grease pencils. Is the lamination suitable for those types of writing tools?

____________________________
Last night upon a stair
I met a man that wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish that man would stay away

---

[Last edited by The spitemaster at 05-10-2019 10:31 PM]

ErikH2000
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 2794
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

The spitemaster wrote:
Question: I have always been a fan of grease pencils. Is the lamination suitable for those types of writing tools?

It seems like the kind of question that can't be answered with 100% confidence. Dry erase markers follow a certain standard. Do grease pencils? Maybe one pencil would be fine and another one not.

But I don't know much about em. No grease pencil expert here. I could test out various forms of grease on the booklet though and report back. Bacon... Elbow...

-Erik

____________________________
The Godkiller - Chapter 1 available now on Steam. It's a DROD-like puzzle adventure game.
dev journals | twitch stream | youtube archive (NSFW)

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5056
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

I don't know how grease pencils would work either.

At present, I'd have to suggest that any pen besides a dry-erase one is not recommended.

Edit: However, I have experimented with using dry-erase crayons on page protectors to solve multiple prototype puzzles, and those work well and can be wiped off fairly easily with a cloth. You might like using those.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=dry+erase+crayons

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.

---

[Last edited by mrimer at 05-13-2019 05:23 PM]

mrimer
Level: Legendary Smitemaster

Rank Points: 5056
Registered: 02-04-2003
IP: Logged

Poll update (integrated with Board Game Geek poll results):

30 respondents
4 would like markers
2 would like an optional add-on for markers

I'll estimate these results as indicating that 10-30% of backers would like markers included.

I'd like to ensure this important minority is covered. I'm working on adding support to have markers included with campaign pledges by selecting markers as an add-on. This would be done following the campaign once it funds through BackerKit, our post-campaign pledge manager. It would be a very simple process to select that option.

____________________________
Gandalf? Yes... That's what they used to call me.
Gandalf the Grey. That was my name.
I am Gandalf the White.
And I come back to you now at the turn of the tide.