Hi everyone –

Surveys for Grandmaster are scheduled to go out this week. We’re currently waiting on an answer from BackerKit about one final technical question. Once we have that, we’ll release the surveys.

First, 5% of backers will receive a “smoke test,” likely on Tuesday or Wednesday. This lets us confirm that everything is working properly by reviewing each survey carefully for errors.

After the smoke test, we’ll send surveys to every backer. We will post another BackerKit update when the bulk of the surveys go out. If you happen to receive a survey before that update—congratulations! You’re part of the smoke test.

Last week, we sent a Kickstarter update for our previous World of Valdemar campaign, letting those backers know that our one-year grace period for late surveys was about to close. We received many worried messages from Grandmaster backers who thought they might have missed fulfillment on this campaign. Please rest assured that the end of late fulfillment for World of Valdemar on January 31st does not affect Grandmaster surveys or fulfillment in any way. These are different campaigns.

Nothing for Grandmaster has shipped yet. Surveys for Grandmaster have not gone out yet.

All Grandmaster updates will be labeled with “Grandmaster” and will clearly share our progress on these books.

In the upcoming Grandmaster surveys, we will also collect names for our Loremaster winners—those who correctly answered all 18 trivia questions. When surveys are released, we ask that trivia winners please complete them as soon as possible so we can get your names into the book and proceed to print.

We will not charge shipping costs immediately after surveys are completed. Our goal is to keep shipping as affordable as possible, so if we can lower costs before fulfillment, we will. You will receive at least 48 hours’ notice before we charge cards for shipping. We typically make those charges right before shipping begins.

If shipping costs are too high for you, please email us at [email protected]. We have once again set up a fund for shipping scholarships to help cover these costs.

Please email [email protected] with your support questions. We anticipate a lot of requests this week, so please only email if:

You do not need to email if:

Thank you so much for your patience and support. We’re excited to send out these surveys and get one step closer to delivering Grandmaster to all of you!

Hi everyone!

Lots of news to share today.

First, we've received the Art of Grandmaster dummy book from the manufacturer. The "dummy" stage of a project is a version with all of the paper, assembly, and details, aside from actual printed content. It lets us make sure that the paper, format, and weight are all correct. Then, when we send the interior contents, there won't be any surprises.

After much consultation with the manufacturer, as well as reading your comments about wishing that we had offered posters of the new art, we've made some upgrades and improvements to the art book! The art book is now larger, a whopping 9x12 inches. It will contain eight color pages (single-sided) and eight B&W coloring book pages (also single-sided). The color pages are on heavy-duty matt art stock and the B&W pages are a thick woodfree stock that's perfect for coloring. Every page is now perforated, so it can easily be removed and framed. The gold-foil cover will also be suitable for framing.

We will be printing 4500 copies of the art book and 4500 copies of Grandmaster Deluxe. This is the only manufacturing run we have planned for these books, so once they're gone, they're gone. We've made a 50% deposit with the manufacturer, who is currently purchasing materials for the run.

Unfortunately, surveys still aren't quite ready. Normally we calculate and charge shipping later in the process, but we're working on simplifying our shipping tables and procedures so that we can do everything at once.

In the surveys we will collect the names for the Grandmaster credits, for everyone who qualified for the Loremaster credit in the book. That will be the final piece of content that lets us send the interior files to the manufacturer.

We have more original Valdemar art to share with you!

By Jabari Weathers in gouache paint, this piece depicts Vixen, Vanyel, Matya, and of course the world's most adorable spiderlings.

Speaking of Discord, don't forget to join the 650+ members who are now on the Official Valdemar Discord Server! There are so many great conversation happening and we'd love to invite you to the party.