Thank you all so much! With your help, Going For Broke made it past the finish line! I'd love to share with you the timeline for what happens from this point forward.

Preorders: Now. For anyone who missed out on the Backerkit campaign, preorders are now live here.

Digital + DIY Kits: March. I aim to have the Digital + DIY Kits finished by the end of March. This is the zipped folder containing any PDFs and image files you need to either play virtually (over Zoom, Roll20, or similar) or print your own DIY set of cards at home. Every backer will be receiving a copy of this kit.

Print Production: March-April. Proofs have already been examined. The card and sleeve box layout files were just finalized. A few logistical details are being sorted out, and then the print run can begin.

Surveys: March 25. I am required to wait fourteen days for failed payments to be processed before I can send out backer surveys. Expect your survey to arrive on March 25. Completing your survey is mandatory - it's how I get the email and physical addresses I need to deliver your rewards!

PDF Rules: April. The rules are already available for free online, so you can learn how to play whenever you'd like. But right now, those rules are only available in-line on the page itself. That's not everyone's preferred mode of learning! The next step is to create a PDF version of the rules (which will also be available for free on that same page). I'm going to focus on this after all production and survey stuff has been sorted.

Surveys Close: April 13. Surveys will close mid-April, and at this point credit cards will be processed for all outstanding charges (your pledge has already been processed, so this will be taxes, shipping costs, and any post-campaign add-ons).

Product Receiving: May. Once printed, the card packs will be sent to distribution points in Canada, the United States, and the UK. I'm hoping they'll arrive in April, but this entirely depends on turnaround time at the printing facility plus international shipping time.

Product Shipping: May-June. I'm hoping to have the games sent out by the end of May. I'm hoping that everyone receives their copy by the end of June.

Now, all of this could change! It's common to encounter snags in production, shipping, packaging, and life. Maybe a box gets turned around at customs and it takes a month to sort out. Maybe I catch a nasty flu. Any of these dates could slide by a few weeks or months. Nothing above constitutes an ironclad promise. It's just the plan as it currently stands! But I'm hoping that it gives you a valuable frame of reference.

Thanks so much for supporting this project. Don't hesitate to ask questions if you have them.

I've been designing roleplaying games for nineteen years – the entirety of my adult life. The games that have made it to print have generally been ones that really mean something to me. Going For Broke is no exception, and I wanted to take a moment to talk about why.

Going For Broke was, from its inception as an It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia tribute game, designed with a vision for play in mind. The vision was simple: crack open a single pack of cards and you have a self-contained, quick, easy, fun game that can serve as a first invitation into the world of roleplaying.

In my experience, it's not hard to get people interested in the concept of roleplaying games. The idea of creating stories together, of laughing and playing make-believe with your pals, is an easy sell. That's more true than ever now, with roleplaying games making bigger waves in popular culture. People are intrigued and want to try this hobby out for themselves! But the moment that they learn how steep the initial time and learning commitment is... they balk. Reading a whole chapter of a book? Blocking out four hours of free time? Buying weird little dice?!

The design of most roleplaying games is, frankly, hostile to first-time players. Needing to create a character and learn a bunch of rules before you have any context for what those things are for—what sort of experience they're going to facilitate—is taxing and confusing. A good entry-point game should have you playing make-believe within the first few minutes of sitting down. To do that, it needs to have dead simple mechanics, approachable touchstones, and a really clear vibe. So that's the biggest reason that Going For Broke matters to me: I think it hits that mark.

The game won't be for everyone. It's improv-driven and it demands a confident wit. But it's a game that you can toss in your backpack or purse and forget about until the perfect moment reveals itself. And when that perfect moment reveals itself, and you reach for it and suggest playing a quick game (right here, right now - we've got the time!), I think it has the potential to make some new roleplayers out of the people in your life.

That is... if we manage to cross this finish line! We have four days remaining, and we're 87% of the way there. I could really use your help. Tell your friends about this campaign. Click those share buttons. Consider adding an extra copy or an additional game to your pledge (see the Add Ons page). We're so close, and I would really appreciate your help hitting that target.

In 2018, I got back into playing wargames. I picked up a Legion of Everblight army for Warmachine, enticed by the corrupted elves and strange tentacled beasts. I fell in love with the game's lethal and technical gameplay, and ended up getting quite invested in the competitive scene. (For veterans of Immoren's endless war: I mostly paired Abby2/Lylyth3, and played Rhyas1 in brawlmachine.)

I say that I was enticed by the corrupted elves and strange tentacled beasts, but it's maybe more accurate to say that I was enticed by the release model that Privateer Press had chosen: the rules were available for free online. At a time when I wanted to get back into playing with minis, other games made it hard to break in - buying a core rulebook and army codex for something like Warhammer would have set me back over a hundred dollars, and then I was on the hook to read dozens or perhaps hundreds of pages before I could decide whether I wanted to get into the game and what my first mini would be. In contrast, I could learn to play Warmachine by watching the official youtube tutorial and I could study what all the cool models did over at Warmachine University.

The free rules release model meant that Privateer Press was able to connect to more players, and teach their game in more interesting and accessible ways. It meant that as a prospective player, I could get a better sense of whether this was a game for me before having to commit any dollars. And ultimately, it's what lead me to get into the game. (I ended up moving on to other hobbies around 2022.)

As a designer, I took note of how much was made possible when the rules weren't paywalled. I know that roleplaying games are a different beast altogether, but I was intrigued by the idea of trying to apply a similar concept to my own work some day. Going For Broke proved to be the perfect fit! And as a bonus, having the rules available for free online meant that I could release a super slim, compact game that had a low price point and was easy to toss into your purse or backpack.

You can read the current rules for Going For Broke here!

Going For Broke's rules are currently available in-line on the webpage itself. Once the crowdfunding campaign is successful (60% of the way there already!), I'll also be developing a PDF version. In the future, I'll be adding a video tutorial as well!

This crowdfunding campaign is a big part of what enables me to take this approach, because the support upfront means I'm not pressured to hawk my PDFs to pay the bills. Which means I'm super thankful to all of you for your contributions! Thank you so much for being involved in this release!