Planting A Seed, Lighting A Bonfire

Hello, revelers ✨ it's Aura writing, the creator of Witches' Revel.

Growing up, I was told that the fall season is a time of work and reflection — a time to sow what shall then need to wait and grow beneath wintry snow. It has never felt so appropriate as it has with the launch of the game.

The game has been doing rather well. Thanks to your kindness and generosity, in less than a month of being out, it has recouped almost 50% of its print cost and it seems poised to break even on that metric this year, which was my only real objective. Thank you so much!!!

And speaking of things that are now bearing fruit — there are four different announcements in this newsletter. So, without further ado, let me tell you about:

• … this very newsletter! Not a lot to say here, besides the new name (what could it mean?!) and the move to a provider, Buttondown, that is much more respectful of your experience and of mine. With that out of the way:
• The new Witches’ Revel website is now live!!! The loose collection of pages that helped the playtest along is now something you can just link to a friend — send them to witches-revel.games! — and they’ll be able to see the gorgeous art, the final cards, and read up on what makes it a smaller, cool, different game.
• Witches’ Revel is coming to conventions! The first confirmed one is a local one — Fan Expo San Francisco, November 27-30. There’s quite a bit more to say about this that will have to wait for a future newsletter… but for now, know that you’ll be able to come by at the Witches’ Revel table to try the game, buy it, and also buy accessories — playmats and card sleeves!

And that’s not the only place you’ll be able to get those… because:

Accessories are Coming to the Witches’ Revel Store Today… As A 1-Week-ish Drop!

People seeing the game have often remarked that the prototype mats I use to teach the game look real nice and would love to have them! And, I agree with them — I would love for them to have ‘em, but figuring out how to make accessories work as online sales has been a complicated thing.

I think I cracked it. It may work out if done as a limited-time, limited-quantity ‘drop’ — a way for you to get them and for me to work out how to make printing the game and going to cons make sense financially!

So, as an experiment, I’m starting an accessory drop… TODAY. Here’s how it works:

• Starting today, on or closely after Friday October 24 at 4 PM Pacific, you will see accessories on the Witches’ Revel Store.
• There are limited quantities available for immediate shipping. (We’re talking single or low-double digits!)
• The drop will last about one week, closing earlier if order capacity is reached. It will not go longer than a week.
• Any orders that do not ship immediately will ship when produced. (A timeline will be provided when production starts, but on average that’s around 3 weeks.)

And I think the designs truly bring the illustrations to life. There will be two playmat designs, check them out:

(Important: Final designs may be slightly, though not substantially, different.)

(The art for this card missed the first printing of the game, and I’ve been looking for ways to spotlight it while waiting for the second run. This is one!)

(Likewise, a deliberate choice was to avoid flavor text in favor of using titles and more illustration space to tell a story. But the flavor text I wrote for the promo version of this card was so good that having space to highlight it like this is a treat!)

… and four sleeve designs, though the quantities of these will be very limited:

(All card sleeves are produced by Dragon Shield and come in 100-count packs.)

If you’re reading this before 4 PM, check out the drop page on the Store — you may already be able sign up for reminders and get some sweet stuff when it goes live. And if after… well, it may be now or not at all for a bit!

The same playmats and sleeves (plus a surprise…) will be available at Fan Expo, so if you miss the drop but are local, don’t worry too much. And if it goes well, I’m sure I’ll tweak the formula for more, so stay tuned :)

And That's It For Now!

So much to say, and I don't want to take up too much of your time. There’s so much to sow and so much to kindle to prepare for a winter that makes the game better and more sustainable long-term!

So. May you too ascend to a place of power beyond the cosmos, and — either way — see you on the next one! — ✾ A.

(Oh, one last thing —)

If you’re reading this one the web, consider subscribing to the newsletter. It is infrequent and it will let you know of opportunities just like these above!