Rules Available + Hero Book Preview
over 1 year ago – Mon, Oct 17, 2022 at 03:10:10 AM

Hello everyone.

Manufacturing is nearly complete and most accessories are on their way to warehouses across the world right now. 

Rules

We aim to make the rules for the Quest Calendar simple. However, we have still gotten plenty of clarifying questions over the years, so we created a comprehensive document to answer them all. I am sure there will be more questions to come.

The official rules are now available!

We will make a printer friendly version without the colored background soon.

The calendar does explain things as you go along, and if you are familiar with other RPGs at all then you can likely begin your adventure without ever looking at these rules.  

We took some time to make a PDF with pictures and examples. It is much nicer that a plain text file from previous years. However, with nicer formatting, the file grew lot. 

Summary of Changes from Previous Years

If you played previous Quest Calendars, there are a couple rules changes you will want to get familiar with. Here is a list of a few.

Ship Combat - This is brand new. Get familiar with how the Karnack battles other ships and handles damage.

Crew - Followers in the Quest Calendar are now assigned to rooms aboard the Karnack and can get killed if the ship takes damage.

Ship Upgrades - Just as your hero can take on equipment, you can upgrade your ship to perform better in combat.

Death and Items - We changed the consequences of death just a bit. Now you only need 1 item to remove any wounds and negative trait consequences when you die.

Pickpocket - It was too fun to only allow 1 class to pickpocket. Now every player can grab extra coin, but the Smuggler is a bit better at it.

Sunday Lottery - With weekends still combined into one page, we give you something to do on Sunday to earn (or lose) some credits if you choose to gamble a bit.

Hero Book

Our big update with all the heroes and extra sheets is going to come next, but we wanted to inform you of a small change to the hero book.

At the beginning of the project, some of you requested that the Hero Book be bound on the side edge so it is easier to navigate and flip between heroes and equipment. When the binding was at the top, it was hard to tell what direction to turn the page to get to your equipment and inventory.

Well, we took your advice and are proud to present the new landscape format:

Next Update?

We will be publishing the next update in just a couple weeks (before the end of October). In that update, we will release all the hero sheets on our website for you to view and download. We also expect to have a set date and time for the local pickup.

Update + Cover Art
over 1 year ago – Fri, Sep 16, 2022 at 05:53:21 AM

Hello, everyone!!!

Everything is coming along as normal. We hope to have manufacturing progress photos for you soon. Things are shaping up to match our schedule last year, but we are taking a different approach to getting goods shipped to the local fulfillment hubs from the manufacturers.  This means that shipping should begin in late November for most countries. We are likely to have the local pickup event in early to mid December.

Cover Art

May we present to you the box art cover for the 2023 calendar:

I am sad we didn't get the progress videos like we did the last two years. It was difficult to choose the cover art this time. We had a few designs we requested but ultimately chose this one from the calendar itself. It felt more natural.

A personal message

Our updates this year haven't been as frequent as past years. It is a tricky balance trying not to spam everyone but still provide useful updates to those that are interested. We will pick up the pace as we begin to build hype for the season. 

Part of this is due to a few personal life events. Many of you are return backers from 2020. This pursuit was an "interesting" choice during the pandemic back then and added lots of extra work to an already stressful time. I think the pandemic has given many people time to reconsider their life choices and their work-life balance. It happened for us as well. Thanks to all of you, I have been able to make this my full time job and can now focus on the future of Sundial Games as well as my family.  It will also help with pushing up the schedule so you get your calendars sooner in the future.

I hope this also serves as a reminder that we are a very small family company. We aren't here to get rich. We are just trying to live our dream of being game creators. With that said, we are working on expanding outside of the Quest Calendar series with some more traditional games in the future. We can't wait to delve deeper into the ideas that have been brewing for years.

Lastly, thank you all for your valuable feedback on the BoardGameGeek forums and on our Discord channel.  Input from players like you helps to improve the game. While we can't implement every change, we read and consider all suggestions. Many do get implemented.

Featured Artist

This update features art from FranMr, a returning artist from prior Quest Calendars. His style has changed a bit over the years. There is more detail in each of his pieces. 

What does one eat while exploring space? How do you cater to all the species and their vast array of diets. In this piece, you see your crewmate, Ascel the maintenance tech, taking on the roll of cook. 

Up Next 

Future updates include:  

Final detailed rules (we have them, but not in a nicely presentable format yet),  character sheets, inventory sheets, manufacturing progress photos, and more.

Heads Up - Charging Credit Cards for BackerKit Orders
over 1 year ago – Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 07:19:32 AM

Hello!

How are you wonderful backers doing?

We just wanted to give you a little heads up that we plan to charge cards at the end of today, August 17th for add-on items you purchased or any additional funds you may owe through BackerKit. 

If you payed via Paypal, your funds were already collected.

If any issues arise with your payment you’ll receive an email letting your know to correct your payment information.

If you need to review payment information, you can return to your survey by clicking the link in your survey email or requesting your survey link under "Lost your survey?" on our BackerKit project page at https://2023-quest-calendar.backerkit.com/

This update, we want to feature an artist that was originally a backer, Eric Carter. We love when we can get the community involved and contributing to this project. 

Future updates include:  final detailed rules, cover art,  character sheets, inventory sheets, manufacturing progress photos, and more.

Thomas

Sundial Games LLC

Meet the Crew + Pledge Manager Dates
over 1 year ago – Sat, Jul 30, 2022 at 07:11:40 PM

I hope you are having a wonderful summer. I know many of you are experiencing quite the heat wave. Stay cool and safe. Colorado is funny in that it has started to get cold already. With our kid is going back to school soon, the summer feels like it is coming to a close.

We are getting ever closer to finalizing the files and getting them sent to the printer.  With this deadline approaching, we want to make you aware of important dates for you.

All current orders will be locked down on August 10th.  We will also close the store for Pre-Orders. This is the last time you can get your 2023 Quest Calendar at this price.

An email will go out from BackerKit telling you you have 48 hours left. After this, you won't be able to make any updates or changes without contacting [email protected]

So please go in now to check your cart and make sure you have everything you wanted to order.

A week after the orders are locked, your credit card will be charged. That's August 17th. If something has changed with your card (expired, number changed, etc.) and the card is no longer valid, BackerKit will reach out to you to have you make updates.

If you specified PayPal as a payment, your payment has already been collected.

A lot may have happened since March when this project launched. Did you move?  If you want to change your address now, here is how you can:

On Desktop, find an "Edit your order" button in the top right on desktop. Then find your address and click the "Edit Shipping Info".

On Mobile, you have to tap the carrot to expand the "2023 Quest Calendar..." selection at the top. Then tap "View Confirmation". Then scroll down and expand "Shipping Info", then tap "Edit shipping Info"

You will still have time to change your address up until we lock them for shipping in November. Another email will go out at that time. If you are changing country or state, you'll likely need to reach out to [email protected] due to changes in shipping costs.

Need to make changes but lost your survey?  Go to https://2023-quest-calendar.backerkit.com/

All good ships have an even greater crew. Even the Mandalorian can't go on an epic journey without meeting friends and allies. On board a ship, your crew becomes family. Meet the main crew of the Karnack.

The Quest Calendar is a solo adventure centered around you, so these crew mates will act like NPCs (non-player characters). You will be there every step of the way to make decisions, fight, explore, and pilot along side them. See them in action below.

So many talented artists bring the Quest Calendar to life and inspire the lore, background, and even the quest details.  We will be giving you a sneak peek at some of the fantastic work and art you will see throughout the year.

This year, we found a wonderful company full of artists with varying styles. Purple Llama Creatives Inc. reached out to us and had a great reputation to go along with their samples. 

They are one of many artists that wanted to get featured in the calendar. We are done with the art for now, but if you want to get involved or know a great artist for 2024, send an email to [email protected]

Information to come in future updates include:  final detailed rules, more featured artists, cover art and more.

Happy 4th! + Ship and Crew Management
almost 2 years ago – Fri, Jul 01, 2022 at 02:37:34 PM

Independence day approaches in the US and I wish you all a happy and safe holiday. 

We always try to hit up the pool during the day, BBQ in the evening, and watch fireworks at night. We can usually watch local displays from the park near us, but we can also see all the neighbors lighting them throughout the night in a full 360 degree view. Funny though that they are illegal in the city. 

We are steadily continuing work and still have lots to finalize, but below is a preview of some large additions.

Ship Combat

In past years (coming up soon for the 2022 calendar), we introduce a limited mechanic where you roll to fire cannons on a ship to attack enemies while in flight.  

For 2023, we expanded on these mechanics and you will encounter ship combat regularly throughout the adventure. The Karnack/Fang will be your home base and (in a way) act as it's own hero with it's own combat stats. 

Ship Stats

Your ship will essentially have these stats for combat: 

• Aim allows you to hit enemy ships. It acts similar to 'Attack' in traditional combat.
• Evasion gives you a chance to avoid getting hit. It is similar to 'Defense' in traditional combat except you roll for this value.
• Your ship's Shield will help you reduce incoming damage.
• Integrity is essentially the health of your ship.

Some heroes you choose will even have abilities that improve your ships stats and can be used in ship combat. More on this later.

Ship Management Sheet

Upgrades and Crew Management

Your ship can be upgraded with parts you find or buy along your journey. These upgrades can increase the ship's combat stats. We also use the ship to manage hired crew members (followers) this year.

The Karnack/Fang is a large ship and it has 6 main rooms we are calling 'compartments'.  Each upgrade and hired crew member must be assigned to a single compartment. This is similar to the way you manage equipment for your hero. Upgrades can only go in specific compartments. Hired crew members can go in any available compartment.

More on Integrity

Each of the 6 compartments has it's own Integrity value. When your ship takes damage, you will roll a d6 to determine which room gets hit. You then reduce the Integrity of that room. If it ever reaches zero, the attached upgrade and crew member get destroyed. Further damage to the same compartment will reduce your hero's health.

Repairs to the ship's Integrity can be made by purchasing Ship Parts.

Up Next

Information to come in future updates include:  meeting the crew of the Karnack, final detailed rules, featured artists, and more.

With the next update, we will also be giving details on dates for locking orders and charging cards.