The Final Kickstarter Post

As I type this, the Pairs Kickstarter stands at about $250K which means all 12 decks have been unlocked, and there’s been a lot of cool extras added.

Also, the kickstarter will be ending in about 33 hours. And after the kickstarter ends, there will be no adjusting your bid. (More details about this below, when I talk about the cool new stuff that’s been added.)

First, I want to show off some art. Like the Princess and Mr. Whiffle deck.

Princess Deck

These characters should be familiar to those of you who have read The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle. As you can see above, the cards range from the noble Sir Whiffle down to the contemptible Black Duke of Banebridge.

We’ve got the core deck for the Four Corners, too: NotW Deck

The order of these cards goes from high to low social ranking. The Amyr are pretty high up there. The troupers? They’re the 10, as we all know there are none lower than the filthy, thieving Ruh.

The Modegan deck has some of that social hierarchy too. But it’s not as simple as that, as Modeg is not a simple place:

empty-god-finalv1

This card is called The Hollow Gods. You should probably click it to see an embiggened version of the image. For reasons.

We’ve got the Faen deck too. You’ve seen shirtless bast in a previous blog. Here’s an early sketch of the White Riders….

4-SitheYou may have heard of them:

“Rode they horses white as snow.
Silver blade and white horn bow.
Wore they fresh and supple boughs,
Red and green upon their brows.”

There non-Rothfuss decks too, each awesome in their own right. There are Professors and Pirates:

Professor and Pirate Decks

Barmaids and Baby Cthulhu.

LilCthulu and Barmaids Decks

 

Goblins and Fruit (Pairs = Pears. Get it?)

Goblin and Fruit Decks

And the deck I’ve rooting for ever since it was set at our 200K stretch goal: the muses from one of my favorite comics of all time: Girl Genius. (I’m a super geeky fan of Phil and Kaja Foglio’s work.)

musepreview

In addition to the decks themselves, we’ve unlocked a lot of stretch goals too.

I’m not going to go into all of them. You can go browse the Kickstarter itself for that. I’m just going to hit some of the big ones:

  • Three sevens – More Calamities, Mendicants, and Mortal Guests:

Early on in the kickstarter, people asked if the seven card in the main deck would be the Chandrian. It’s a sensible question. Chaen does mean seven after all….

That said, the answer is a resounding “no.” These are decks of cards *from* the four corners. A deck of cards like that simply wouldn’t exist. If it ever did exist, it would have been burnt down to the waterline long, long ago.

But this suggestion gave me an idea. So I had many secret talks with Shane and James. The end result is the Calamities.

Each of the sevens has a different picture revealing a different calamity. And James worked out a few simple (though optional) rules that makes drawing a seven worse that drawing a ten. (In Pairs, high-numbered cards are bad.)

Fast forward to about a week ago, when Hank Green and Veronica Belmont agreed to lend their likenesses to a couple cards in the Faen Deck:

Faen Deck

(Early sketches of Hank’s Alabaster Buttocks and Veronica’s wanton cavorting with faerie boys.)

And I started to think, wouldn’t it be cool to have more Mortal Guests?

Like maybe some character from the books? Like maybe Kvothe? and Elodin? And Auri?

So we’re doing that. Nate has agreed to do five more pieces of art. There will be a few surprise guests too….

Lastly, we’re adding something similar to the Modegan Deck as well. The seven in that deck is Mendicants, and now each card will show a different type of traveler coming into town. There will be Tinkers, trade caravans, wandering Amari, and, of course, the dreaded Edema Ruh.

  • Unseen rewards: 

As you can see right on the kickstarter page, if you order at the 42 dollar level (or higher) you get freebies in addition to any four decks of your choice. (The limited edition Pairs coin and sticker.)

But there are a few other cool free add-ons that aren’t listed so clearly on the front page, because they were unlocked later.

For example, since we’ve hit 250K, everyone who comes in at the $50 level or higher gets a rule book that…

…will be a collection of all the Pairs variants, like Calamities and Pieces of Eight, and alternate games, like Blackstone and Hawthorn. It will also contain some Pairs history (both real and fictional) and artwork from the game.

One of the other unseen goals is for the people who come in at the $80 level and above. It’s a limited-edition bookplate, drawn by Shane and signed by me.

bookplate-sketch2[3]

Plus you get the decks themselves, and since your pledge includes shipping, you’re actually getting them cheaper than they’re going to be selling for in the stores.

  • Finally, a warning.

If you’re like me, and moderately addicted to kickstarter, you’re probably used to being able to go in during the final confirmation process and add a few things to your pledge.

You won’t be able to do that with this kickstarter.

That’s because James isn’t doing add-ons. So we’re not using a third-party service like Backerkit or Pledge Manager.

The good thing about this is that it *really* streamlines the ordering and shipping process. That means we’ll be able to get you your order more quickly and cleanly than most kickstarters.

The downside is that if you’re used to waiting until after the kickstarter closes and adding a few extra items at the end, you’re going to end up being a sad panda.

*     *     *

That’s all I’ve got, folks. Thanks for being awesome and supporting this project. And by extension, supporting me and Worldbuilders. (I’m giving the charity a piece of my royalty money.)

And I’d like to say thanks on behalf of James and Shane and Nate, too. I love the games and art these guys create, and I love that y’all are helping them make a living doing it.

One last time: The Link to the Kickstarter.

pat

This entry was posted in cool news, cool things, gaming. By Pat33 Responses

33 Comments

  1. Posted March 13, 2014 at 2:07 PM | Permalink

    This is an awesome project! I’m glad to have supported it. Also I love that Hank is with a man and a woman. You guys are awesome.

    • Posted March 13, 2014 at 6:34 PM | Permalink

      Hank and the artist Nate are awesome. I merely shine in their reflected light….

      • Posted March 14, 2014 at 1:01 AM | Permalink

        They are, but your awesomeness is what drew a good chunk of people to the project allowing them to shine (in this instance.)
        In any case thanks for all of your many projects. You, sir, go beyond a full service author!

  2. katherineofyork
    Posted March 13, 2014 at 2:12 PM | Permalink

    I need to become famous so I can cavort with faerie boys on a playing card. Or in real life.

    These are gorgeous, and they must be mine!

  3. Airborne1996
    Posted March 13, 2014 at 2:17 PM | Permalink

    I have jumped the gun and order Pairs early from Drive Through Cards. I also grabbed enough cases for the 12 decks I’m getting from the Kickstarter.

    http://www.drivethrucards.com/browse.php?keywords=Pairs&x=-765&y=-164&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=

  4. Jack Lancaster
    Posted March 13, 2014 at 2:19 PM | Permalink

    Veronica Belmont looks very happy with her Faen boys.

    • Laish
      Posted March 13, 2014 at 2:22 PM | Permalink

      And Hank with both a guy and a girl… Thumbs up for that! *-*

  5. Laish
    Posted March 13, 2014 at 2:21 PM | Permalink

    And to think that in the beginning of this kickstarter my pledge was for one deck only… After a few days and it was already 12 decks… oh well… :) Now only a couple days left before i finally have to decide which decks will i want!

    • cynrtst
      Posted March 13, 2014 at 4:07 PM | Permalink

      I uped my pledge 4 separate times now. Finally can’t anymore. It’s a relief.

    • Posted March 13, 2014 at 6:36 PM | Permalink

      It’s a slippery slope.

      • cynrtst
        Posted March 17, 2014 at 2:04 AM | Permalink

        Though, there are people on Waybackers who made two accounts. I couldn’t justify that.

  6. Tobinka
    Posted March 13, 2014 at 2:27 PM | Permalink

    If there actually will be naked Elodin and / or Kvothe, I swear I will go and hug you, Pat. (maybe buy you a pizza)
    I am so looking forward!

  7. selquest
    Posted March 13, 2014 at 2:45 PM | Permalink

    Elodin & Auri showing up would be awesome, but only if Neil Gaiman & Felicia Day agree to lend their likenesses again. Obviously not all visual representations of these characters will be the same forever, but it’d be a bit disappointing if after waiting this long to get those likenesses in the first deck the image is shattered so quickly in the second.

    Also, I feel like Neil & Felicia would both be right in their element as mortal guests cavorting with the Fae :)

  8. Amy
    Posted March 13, 2014 at 3:01 PM | Permalink

    For those of us going to P5, ( splurged as a birthday present for my husband) will there be a way to request awesome pub games?

    • Posted March 13, 2014 at 6:37 PM | Permalink

      I’m afraid I have no idea what P5 is….

      • Vatiquada
        Posted March 13, 2014 at 6:39 PM | Permalink

        I think that it is the PAX Pairs Party

      • Amy
        Posted March 13, 2014 at 7:04 PM | Permalink

        On the kick starter page they are calling it the pax prime pairs pub party or P5 for short.

        • Posted March 14, 2014 at 12:08 AM | Permalink

          Ah. Of course. Because I’m an idiot.

          • Posted March 14, 2014 at 1:20 AM | Permalink

            I think there will just be general gaming by consensus. All manner of cards and food and sociability and whatnot….

  9. bren553
    Posted March 13, 2014 at 5:26 PM | Permalink

    I just went for five decks and shipping to Ireland. Boom

  10. Vatiquada
    Posted March 13, 2014 at 5:34 PM | Permalink

    Pat, you’re killing me here.

    The Kingkiller Chronicles is a trilogy, therefore I need THREE bookplates. That being said, I cannot pay $80 three times, because then I cannot have an equal number of each deck unless I sacrifice not having all of them; that said, I have had to spend $145USD (as I am Canadian and shipping costs extra) in order to get all three bookplates for all three books, as well as to have an matching number of each deck.

    Well played Pat, well played.

    P.S.
    I am okay with never eating again so long as it supports James, Nate, Shane, or yourself.

  11. Gabriel
    Posted March 14, 2014 at 1:59 AM | Permalink

    “wandering Amari”
    We haven’t heard of those, have we? Can you say anything about them?

    And Auri in the Fae… that’s big.

  12. Daniel_TH
    Posted March 14, 2014 at 7:45 AM | Permalink

    This has probably been proposed before, but how about adding images from the Trebon relic on the 7 for the Calamities deck?

    I know you didn’t want anything too direct since this is ‘from the 4 corners’, but the relic survived for a while…

  13. Holmelund
    Posted March 14, 2014 at 7:49 AM | Permalink

    Hi Pat

    I got a question.
    While I like the rule variant for 7s it feels kind of wrong to use in the deck that is supposed to be used in the Four Corners. While there are 7 Chandrians, we hear several places in the Name of the Wind that 7 is considered a lucky number, so it feels out of place to have it be unlucky in the card game.
    Am I just being nitpicking?

    • Posted March 14, 2014 at 2:42 PM | Permalink

      Yup.

      Also, you’re wrong about seven being exclusively a lucky number in the four corners. It’s got a very mixed reputation.

      • Holmelund
        Posted March 15, 2014 at 2:14 AM | Permalink

        Allrighty :)
        Thanks for the answer, I just focused to heavily on the places where its pointed out as lucky.

  14. Posted March 14, 2014 at 8:57 AM | Permalink

    I wasn’t able to put cash into this one, but I’m super glad it was successful. I am legally blind, and when I got my NOTW deck from the last kickstarter, I sat down and thought: how can I make these actually playable? Because obviously I can’t see them?
    Long story short, I am sitting down this evening and hand-brailling every card so that they are accessible to blind and sighted players alike. I just thought I would share.

  15. TrueEyes
    Posted March 14, 2014 at 1:37 PM | Permalink

    Boom James just hit 300k…..Thanks for helping me to be a part of that kickstarter with him Pat…..Seems like an amazing guy

  16. masha
    Posted March 14, 2014 at 3:41 PM | Permalink

    My first time supporting a kickstarter and I just pledged for 2 decks :D Such an awesome project. All the cards look amazing! Now to decide which ones I want the most…

  17. novaengliae
    Posted March 14, 2014 at 9:27 PM | Permalink

    Kickstarter is evil. Had to up my pledge after seeing all the goodies of course. I JUST my cards from the last kickstarter this week. Evil I say!

  18. Rahl
    Posted March 15, 2014 at 5:12 AM | Permalink

    Next Kickstarter has to be a “The Art of” book featuring all of the artwork from all of the decks from all of the decks!

    Its the only way that i will ever see all of the awesomeness. 8(

  19. Caesura
    Posted April 9, 2014 at 1:22 AM | Permalink

    I feel incredibly foolish, but somehow I missed the kickstarter! Probably because I was job hunting/paying taxes and didn’t have disposable income until now. Can someone enlighten me as to where I can purchase any and/or all of the decks? Please and thank you!

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