Pair Of Dice Paradise - Season 4

Hello!
An update on the coins from Season 4's "Bank On It" reward is available. As previously mentioned, Season 4's coins will feature "the pets of Pair Of Dice Paradise". Both of these animal companions have snuck their way into several Pair Of Dice Paradise videos.

Comps of both sides of the coin design were completed this weekend, and are in the process of being sent to the coin manufacturer. Next, they will make a mockup based on these designs, and, once approved, the coins will then be minted.

One side of the coin features El Capitan, VeeBug's opinionated pet conure. The other side features Ollie, The Goofy Looking Dog in all of her anxiety-riddled, unkempt majesty. I'll let you decide for yourself which side represents good, and which evil.

Samples of the coin illustrations are included below. Enjoy!

I will keep you posted on the manufacturing progress of the coins. In the meantime, thank you for your support of Pair Of Dice Paradise's 4th year, and thanks for your consideration of support for our current fundrasier for Year 5, going on now at: https://podpledge.com/podp

Take care, and I'll talk to ya'll again soon!
- Chaz

A few weeks ago, the PoDP Season 4 fundraiser reached the milestone to unlock a live streaming chat where viewers can "ask me anything" and get a peek behind the scenes. Well, my internet has been down for several days, but (if I can get and stay connected) I'll be hosting a live Q&A session on Thursday, October 5th at 3pm PST! 

So, I'm putting myself not only at the mercy of my internet connection, but also your questions! So join the live chat on Thursday, and ask me anything!

Here's a link to where the live chat will be, for those who like links to things:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErUku9mY6uw

See you then!
-Chaz

YEAR FIVE!

On September 5th, Pair Of Dice Paradise will enter its fifth year of board game news, review and commentary. And it wouldn't have been possible to produce the 197 videos produced during Year Four without the assistance that each of PoDP's backers provided. So, before I go any further, I want to say a hearty, sincere thank  you!!

At the end of September, the PodPledge fundraising campaign will wind down, with the Year Five fundraising campaign planned to start the first week of October. But, before we get to that, we need to complete and ship out the current year's backer rewards. So, here's a status report:

Promo Packs 1 and 2
As of the time of this writing, all of the Promo Packs 1 and/or 2 that have been earned by backers have been shipped. If you earn one during September, I will ship it as promptly as possible. If you have earned a Promo Pack but have not yet received it, please contact me through the contact form on the PoDP website at: pairofdiceparadise.com/contact

Soup Stain Containment Device (T-Shirt)
There have been a few challenges encountered with the production of the t-shirts. The shirt printer I was originally in talks with to produce the shirts recently had to close their business. However, a few weeks ago, I started talking with a new printer who specialized in board game t-shirts, which is helping get production back on track.

As of this writing, 41 backers have earned t-shirts. I will soon be sending out a survey to those backers to obtain their desired shirt sizes and styles. I would like to create two shirt designs: one based on the Team V.E.S.T. playmat artwork, and another based on the PoDP logo. But the PoDP logo isn't very screen print-friendly in its current form, so a revised "graphic" version of the logo is needed for that. If multiple shirt designs will be available, I will include an option to select your preferred one in the same survey that asks for your desired shirt size.

Bank On It! (Commemorative Coin)
As of this writing, 22 backers have earned this year's commemorative coin. The same company that has produced the fundraiser coins the last two years is on board again to produce one this year. The design is currently scheduled to be the "animal guest stars of PoDP", with Ollie the goofy looking dog on one side, and El Capitan the conure on the other. Sketches and samples will be posted as the design process continues.

A Cushiony Place For Your Bits (Play Mat)
As of this writing, 16 backers have earned this year's play mat. To be honest, the design of this year's play mat has been giving me some trouble. I don't really want it to have me on it, so I've been sketching some other ideas. The current idea in the lead is for "the ultimate gamer's play mat", with marked spaces for everything a gamer needs: a spot for their deck, a discard pile, their phone, keys, drink (complete with coffee stain), rule book, a spot under the rule book to hide resources they can use to cheat with, a socket wrench, another rolled up play mat, and other, crazier and crazier stuff.

Thank you for your patience this year as I've worked to get all these items lined up for production. I'm looking forward to getting into "project wrap up" mode and completing each of these items over the weeks to come, and then launching right in to PoDP Year Five!

Thanks for all the support you've provided, and I hope to see you in the year to come!
-Chaz

NOW LOOK WHAT YOU DID!
Thanks in very large part to Pair Of Dice Paradise's financial supporters, and some recent video side projects that have come along, a looong-awaited camera upgrade has finally become a reality!

I want to underscore that this improvement for the channel would not have been possible without the support that YOU have given to Pair Of Dice Paradise's PodPledge campaign. You absolutely helped make this happen!

I have had the VIXIA G40 on my wishlist for literally years. (Back since it was still just the VIXIA G20!) This camera is a substantial upgrade to the original, economy-class camera I've been using since I started recording videos about four years ago. It is highly rated and used by quite a few YouTubers that I know. So, I've been dreaming about the day that PoDP could make this upgrade for quite some time!

Perhaps the feature I'm looking forward to most is the fact that this camera includes a manual focus option. HOT DOG! Hopefully, this means that my "randomly blurry footage" era, due by my original camera's lack of manual focus controls, will now be coming to an end and will be replaced by a new age of crisp, clear images.

Once again, I want to thank you, because this improvement to the channel simply would not have been possible without your assistance. This is a direct result of the support of viewers like you. So, thank you very much, and I hope to get right to work putting it to good use, producing entertaining and informative content for you to enjoy.

Thanks for your support and viewership, I appreciate it!
Chaz

Well, this week has been a bit of a whirlwind. Earlier in the week, I reported that it was necessary for The Dice Tower to renegotiate the terms of our agreement for me to produce video content for their YouTube channel as a paid contributor.

While that news was disappointing, I could understand the reasoning behind it, and I started making new plans to continue moving on. Sometimes, when life throws a monkeywrench at you, you can find a way to make it work in the machinery of your life.

Fortunately, it seems that I'm not the only one that approached the situation with that attitude. During this past week, it appears that The Dice Tower found a way to resolve the issues they had encountered. As a result, Tom (owner of The Dice Tower) contacted me this morning to inform me that they would be able to reinstate the terms of our original agreement; allowing me to continue producing content for The Dice Tower's channel as a paid contributor.

So, kudos to The Dice Tower for overcoming the obstacles that they encountered! That's good news!

I look forward to producing more content for them, and also to containing to have the opportunity to hang out with the Dice Tower viewers through next January. See you online!

Update: My Dice Tower contract work
I recently posted this message on the Pair Of Dice Paradise Facebook page, but, since it directly impacts Pair Of Dice Paradise's financial forecast, it seemed relevant enough to post it here on our fundraiser page too.

As you may know, for a little over a year, I've been a paid contributor to The Dice Tower's YouTube channel, producing videos for their channel. And The Dice Tower is continuing to grow! But, anyone familiar with running a company knows that even in times of growth, (and sometimes because of it) resources can become tight.

That's why, due to unforeseen new financial obligations that they will be encountering later this year and into the next, it was necessary for the Dice Tower to contact me to renegotiate the terms of the agreement that was compensating me to produce videos for their YouTube channel.

As a result, effective immediately, I won't be publishing any more videos directly on The Dice Tower's channel. However, my videos that are already published there to date will remain, and The Dice Tower and I may collaborate on future projects -- including videos, conventions and live events -- as time and resources allow.

I wanted to post this update before any speculation starts to spread as to why I'll be appearing on The Dice Tower's channel less. "Was there a falling out? Did something exciting and dramatic happen behind the scenes?" Nope, there's no riveting story to tell.

In fact, The Dice Tower has been very supportive of Pair Of Dice Paradise, and has given me many opportunities that I wouldn't have had otherwise. I look forward to seeing where they go from here, and hope to continue contributing to it in some way.

But, for now, this puts renewed importance on Pair Of Dice Paradise's fundraising efforts. If you're reading this, it's likely you're already a financial supporter of the channel. And for that, I can't thank you enough. But, I thought I'd take this opportunity to thank you once again anyway. Thank you for your encouragement and support!

Now, onward! Let's make more neat board game stuff to watch and talk about!

Chaz

Two Project Milestones Added!
Several new opportunities for special events for Pair Of Dice Paradise to work our way towards have recently become available.Two new milestones have been created to record the progress towards them. They are:

A live-streaming, behind-the-scenes look at the PoDP studio and board game collection.
Several viewers have requested a "behind the scenes" tour of the PoDP game library and recording studio. When we reach 200 pledges, I'll do a live stream and/or Periscope walkthrough of the Pair Of Dice Paradise recording area and game shelves. 
This milestone will be unlocked at 200 pledges!

Vlog & Reports from the CMON Expo
Pair Of Dice Paradise has been invited to attend the CMON Expo in May, to demo and report on many of the news and games coming this year from CMON (Cool Mini Or Not) and other designers & publishers that will be present at the Expo!
This milestone will be unlocked at $3,500 in pledges!

Thanks to everyone who has been helping Pair Of Dice Paradise work its way towards these and our other goals. Watch for more special events and milestones to come!

Shipping Update!

I wanted everyone to know that the Promo Packs provided by Passport Game Studios arrived a bit earlier than planned, which has allowed us to ship them out sooner than expected! As of today, Promo Packs 1 and 2 have been shipped to everyone who has earned them so far!

This is what's in Promo Pack #1. Bask in its promotional goodness.

And let us not forget Promo Pack #2. I think all of us will always remember where we were and what we were doing when Promo Pack #2 was announced.

Whether or not you have earned one of these Promo Packs, you may have earned additional rewards as well. These additional rewards are either still in development, or don't require shipping and will be distributed through other means. Check the fundraiser page at podpledge.com/podp for a list of all the rewards that your pledge has earned.

And, as always, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me and let me know.

Until the next update, thank you for your support, and take care!

Chaz

New Promos Available as Backer Rewards!

Hello, and welcome to the first in a series of sure-to-be informative and highly entertaining updates for Pair Of Dice Paradise’s Season 4 fundraiser. Soon after this season’s fundraiser started, Passport Game Studios, who I work with, offered to donate a half-dozen different board game promos to use as backer rewards. So, thanks to their generous support, two packs, containing several promos each, have been added to this season’s fundraiser as backer rewards!

The first pack, which will be received by all those who back at the $35 or higher level, contains these items: The Penguins promo for Antarctica, the Mech World’s tile for Pocket Imperium, and three promo cards for CV, Board Game Collection, Board Game Designer, and Trip To Game Fair In Essen

The second pack, which will be received by all those who back at the $65 or higher level, contains: the Void Tile add-on for Quantum, a pack additional artifacts for Warehouse 51, and the Antoine and Naide character cards for Tokaido, which are based on the game’s designer and artist and have their own, unique special abilities.

Pair Of Dice Paradise’s fourth season is powered by the PodPledge fundraising website, and one of the cool things about how PodPledge works is that not only will these new rewards become available to those who make a donation from this point forward, but all those supporters who have already pledged enough this season will also still receive these promos as well. So, nobody is going to miss out!

And if you’ve previously pledged to this season’s fundraiser at a lower amount, PodPledge keeps track of how much has been donated so far, and will apply that towards these backer rewards, in case you wanted to top off your pledge to get a copy of these promos.

So, a colossally huge thanks to Passport Game Studios for their generous donation to Pair Of Dice Paradise’s Season 4 fundraiser, and to everyone who has been supporting the channel with financial pledges and by helping spread the word. All of this is greatly appreciated, and is what will help keep PoDP going and growing throughout 2017.

I’ll be back with another fundraiser update soon, and in the meantime, take care, and enjoy your special promo rewards, everyone!

Chaz