Final Update
over 3 years ago – Sat, Oct 01, 2022 at 12:16:12 AM

Hello Backers and previous believers in Session Zero Games, this is Levi giving you an update on the unfortunate state of the company.

After spending the last 3 years trying every trick in the book to bring us back from the dead, it appears that my unscrupulous business partner HOBIE HILL (owner of the now extremely defunct DEEP DUNGEON GAMES) took so much money, time, and productivity from the company that it spiraled into an inescapable whirlpool of delayed product deliveries, delayed product creation, poisoned watering holes (professionally turning suppliers and distributors against us through blind slander) and topped off with the world economy taking a steep nosedive that we just weren't able to recover from it.

There is no money in the bank or under the mattress.

Hobie took his “share” of every Kickstarter we did together BEFORE we paid the expenses to produce things. That left every Kickstarter we did in the hole, with only me to try to find money to make it happen. Hobie has done the exact same thing with his own Deep Dungeon games, taking money from backers well into the six figures without delivering product. Even now, his backers are screaming at him to “deliver or refund” but he’s already spent that money. The same thing he did to backers of SZG Kickstarters that were done in conjunction with him. He killed both companies and tanked our projects.

In an attempt to make whole as many people as possible I kept spending every penny I could back into the company and refunding what was possible, delivering what was available whilst denying my family a lot of time and attention they needed during some tough times... it almost broke us all.

With a tear in my eye we have to say goodbye to Session Zero Games as a company that produced fun things for people who just wanted to escape into other worlds and tell awesome stories with friends!

As a last ditch effort I've reached out to Arcanist Armory and worked a deal with them. They have an awesome track record of picking up after other failed projects and doing their best to make backers whole.

I turned over the rights to most of my completed product lines (the ones that were not tied up with another company, anything that was needing help and they were able to help with) which means most of the products ever released on Kickstarter through SZG. I did receive a small payment, just enough to physically cover the shipping of all of the products that I had remaining on my shelves cross country to their location. They are finishing inventorying everything now. In return for this I've been able to promise my assistance to their company as needed with whatever contacts or skills I can offer in exchange for a very small stake in their company, although it’s most likely that I won't be seeing any returns any time soon.

In case you have any questions such as "what about my refund,” "What about my product, ship it to me", or "Why dont you just get a loan, it’s simple?"

As I said, I was left in a negative money situation after my ex-business partner squandered funds that were not his to take. I have done my best to take extra income from other projects and apply them to Kickstarters that are still outstanding. But that money is gone.

There are NO banks that will "give me a loan" for my business… it’s NOT simple. Believe me, I've tried.

That is why I’ve made this arrangement, to put the existing product and creative material in the hands of someone who can try to fulfill the products for those who backed those projects. ANY remaining products that were printed and minted exist completely with Arcanist Armory at this time. I cannot personally send anything else myself as I have relinquished the entire inventory. At this time they have different versions of Truly Wild Magic, The Cursed Collective, and Hero Coins. I am not sure as to exact numbers at this time.

BUT... if you're owed a product that has not shipped you can reach out to Arcanist Armory directly at [email protected] and tell them what you are missing. If they have it in stock they are willing to ship you those items if you simply make a small order on their website, which helps them cover the cost of shipping to you. The exact products available and how that will work is still to be worked out with them but if you send them some form of proof that you backed a project and didn't receive anything, they'll do their best to help.

I’m sorry it all turned out this way. It was not what I wanted but I was unable to make up the deficit I was left with, as much as I tried.

Goodbye for now, everyone. Keep on keeping on and playing game with people you love!

Onward!

-Levi

International shipping failed, update about refunds!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 12:55:58 PM

This issue has equally affected Onward To Adventure and Truly Wild Magic: Remastered. If you're a part of both projects you may have already seen this update but if you are not then continue reading.

Please take a moment to read this.

Since our last update, my optimism about your packages proved to be unfounded. The packages HAD already left my hands at the not-so-meager expense of $1000 for the trip to Germany where they were to be handed over to ShipQuest. BUT…

Simply put: the packages never made it through German customs. They were rejected and shipped back to me.

I've been told many different versions about the reasons; they range from plausible but greedy all the way to wild but possible due to our current shipping climate. I won’t dive into the “what” or “how” but, long story short, I've received the packages back and lost the $1000 I spent to ship them.

Why can't you ship them now and try again?

You may also remember that I shipped the packages in a rush at a time when there was an increase coming in taxes due for imported goods. Due to that time having now passed, we hit the tipping point – it's no longer possible for me to ship these items to backers at my own expense nor is it reasonable to ask you to pay the ungainly prices now being charged. The funds simply are not there on our side and each person would have to individually weigh their choice to pay a marked increase for their products.

That means I have to make the painful decision to cancel those orders and issue refunds.

How long will this take?

There’s no point to sugarcoat this: it will probably take quite a while. Some of you will begin to see refunds in a month or two; others might not see the last refunds go out up to a year or more from today. The reason is simple and it's the same issue that brought us to this place... lack of funding.

We plan to address this by continuing to visit conventions and expanding our business, by running Kickstarters that we can guarantee will be fulfilled to backers in the USA in a timely manner, and by moving products that have been delivered to backers onto digital or print-on-demand platforms to widen our reach. Every penny of profit that we made in the last year - EVERY PENNY - has gone towards trying to refund or ship outstanding packages to backers.

Now we're going to start shifting all of our profits away from the lost cause of shipping and into the more viable avenue of refunds.

Can we still get your products elsewhere?

Yes, there are 3 options available to you listed from best to worst.

1. Print-on-Demand
For more affordable options you can try print on demand services such as Lulu or DTRPG which offer our products. These services can directly print our items in multiple countries (you'll have to check and see if this works for you or not) thus lowering the cost of fees and shipping down to something totally reasonable for most customers. It's honestly still hit and miss on whether your country has access to those printers. The two current places that the Tome of Magical Mystery and The Cursed Collective are available via print-on-demand are

Lulu (The Tome of Magical Mystery and The Cursed Collective, Hardcover editions)

DTRPG (Books and cards available in print on demand and shipped directly from the factory to you)

2. Etsy Discounted Shipping

It is possible to get our products directly from us with reduced current shipping using our Etsy store where shipping matches current cost, although that is still insanely high. A recent customer in Greece who purchased $50 worth of cards paid over $94 as his total after taxes, fees, and shipping. We cannot pay Etsy directly for shipping only and thus only items sold right now on Etsy are available through their contracts for their reduced shipping fees.

This doesn't help us ship things in general, it just allows us to ship items sold on Etsy for far less than if you were to purchase them on our website. Etsy does go ahead and charge everything needed for your country including VAT so there will be no surprises when your items arrive. We take extreme care when packaging items for long distance travel. If there is something you wish to purchase from us through Etsy and you do not see it currently available on our store, please let me know and I'll make it available for you.

Session Zero Games Etsy

3. You pay every penny of the increased shipping

This one is both the most straight forward and the worst option at this point. You can have us look at all of your pledges across all of our projects and anything not yet delivered then calculate exactly what it's going to cost to package and ship your products to your country. This method would have to be paid by you 100% in full at the time of shipping so we could afford the packaging and the cost of shipping.

Unfortunately, if you previously paid for $20 shipping, we are unable at this time to discount that amount from your shipping cost: it's simply not available. Although this option is the fastest way to get your products, and we're happy to do this if you request it, know that this cost is the highest before you request it. Also, understand that other complications can arise with VAT fees needing to be paid by you upon arrival to your local post as our Stamps.com account or local shipping offices don't allow us to pay that for you before the product leaves the USA. That can change depending on location – sometimes it will automatically calculate this in and other times it requires you to pay your post directly.

4. Extremely Generous Forfeiture

This is an open option for any backers interested in simply declining their previous pledges, rewards and or refunds that would be coming your way. I've been asked by a few people about this option before, it IS available with a massive thanks if you want to go that route.

Well, where do we go from here?

That one is simple, my friends. We put our feet on the ground, dust ourselves off, and head ever...

ONWARD!

-Levi

Shipping, company and general IMPORTANT UPDATES!
almost 5 years ago – Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 01:56:28 PM

Hello world and you amazing backers!

A lot of big things have happened this year and we're happy to finally be getting all of your pledges out into the world! The feedback we've been receiving on the quality of the coins and the products in general is amazing, thank you all so much for your kind words! 

I've put together a quick update for those waiting on their goods and to ask you to please follow our upcoming project so that when we launch you'll get a notification and can come take a look at our newest creation! We've been going through this entire year with nothing new to put on the table, we're ready to show off our updated Kickstarter and all of the magical lore hiding within! Scholars of artifacts, conservators of rarities, obtainers of antiquities, you're all welcome here!

North American Backers

If your product has not arrived please message me one more time, we had multiple packages go through customs without any issues and we've had several returned to us damaged or only partial empty boxes returned due to poor handling :( Please let us know through a private message if you at this point do not have your goods!

International World Wide Update

The bulk packages, which were shipped off to Germany before July 1st, are currently being held in customs. At this point we're just waiting on each package to be inspected and then customs fees paid before having them sent along to ShipQuest for sorting and final packaging to backers. This process is taking much longer than expected but we did ship our goods during the transition period as we were trying to beat the crossover time for as many of these products as possible, we are as of yet unclear if this was successful or not!

Short story long, the old rules were that we had to pay 20% of the goods manufacturing cost (example: $0.30 per item x 2500 items = $750) as import fees into the EU and the new rules were that we would be paying from now on 20% of the goods final retail value as sold (example: $3 x 2500 = $7500) which is obviously a major difference. This is causing customs to double check everything and request multiple copies of the same form in different formats (very annoying) but we're moving along, even if that motion is quite slow.

TLDR: Everything for international backers is with customs either in the US or Germany (different packages, different locations, pain in the backside!) and we're communicating with them now to get things cleared and moving!

State of the Company

As we’ve mentioned, a lot of big things have happened this year and we're starting to finally make positive headway at Session Zero Games! We've delivered over 600 more outstanding physical packages and have another 400 lined up to go out in the next 3 or 4 weeks thanks to new investors. These good folks joined the SZG team because they believe in the quality of the products and the direction that the company is heading. Not all small companies like ours have survived the COVID nightmare of 2020. But where many others have folded, SZG has continued swimming against the stream as best we can, looking for ways to deliver our qualities products to those who believed in us and pledged for them.

All of that effort is finally paying off.

By the time our next project launches we'll have shipped 1000 packages… and made zero profit this year. We’ve been using every penny we could muster (including personal finances and investors generosity) and we're now at the point where we can focus on putting something back into the company coffers so we can continue forward. We're hoping that by proving to you that we mean business - and we mean to do GOOD business for our backers - you'll consider taking a look at our upcoming project when it launches. Use this link below to get notified when we launch in mid-August.

An Important Note on Suicide Awareness

To shore up some of the edges, we've been working with other companies when we can by lending our experience and expertise where it’s needed! An upcoming project that we'll be assisting with is tied to an amazing but tragic story. The original creator, Steven Collins - who was a normal guy just like me, with a family and personal life - sadly was overwhelmed by a combination of life's problems and the complications of a huge backlog on Kickstarter. His project was funded but fell on hard times, just like those of a lot of other small companies who try their hardest but sometimes struggle with life’s unseen complications.

Even with hundreds of supportive backers (though most were silent during his trials and tribulations), Steven sadly took his own life, leaving behind a family and network of friends. His closest friends took up his project and were able to deliver the rewards that had been sitting in his garage (as Steven had been unable to pay for the shipping and some other small inclusions). He never got to see the fruits of his labor.

So remember, as backers of multiple projects, that there are numerous companies really struggling right now, as we admittedly have the past year. Try to have some compassion and think about the human beings – and their families - behind these projects; they are out here stressing and busting their butts trying to make sure you get to enjoy the projects that you pledged for while they try to stay financially solvent delivering them. Understand that we DO know that you've given us your money and your trust, and we're doing everything we can to make sure you're satisfied. Even though things don't move along as fast as we all hoped at times, please know that we're here every day trying to figure out the magic behind the scenes for you.

Take a look at the upcoming campaign from Arcanist's Armory by following them now and getting notified when their project launches in September!

For now, we're back to work and building more awesome stuff for our loyal backers and RPG enthusiasts to enjoy! Thank you again for being the most awesome people I've ever known!

Onward!

-Levi

International Shipping figured out!
almost 5 years ago – Sat, Jun 19, 2021 at 01:38:01 AM

WE DID IT! 

We found a few investors that have banded together with us in this fight! 5 in fact whose names we won't quite put up in front of the world unless they tell us that we can later but they've already helped the company make IMMENSE leaps forward in terms of deliveries! over 500 in 2 months!

We also finally found some AWESOME people in the company GameQuest (also ShipQuest and TradeQuest) who are helping us get all of this under control! 

The biggest issue we were having was finding someone who actually knew what was going on, what all the policies were that changed and how we were going to prepare for this going forward and thankfully I ran into an amazing man named Paul who introduced me to Nigel and Steph and Ian and so many other people who were immediately bending over backwards to help us. I can't state enough how much help they've been in the last week!

What does this mean to backers?

We now have prices that make sense for both delivering our international packages that are outstanding AND for offering new Kickstarter products to international backers going forward! 

Delivery Status

The hero coins have almost all been delivered to North American backers minus a few (less than 2%) missing an item here and there (which are on route to me from a manufacturer now) and we're in the process of getting the prices lined up for international deliveries as you read this. If it weren't for a glitch in the intake system (or a flub up by me, we'll see what they say) I'd have them already but ShipQuest is on it! I'm double checking the products now that are on my shelf and prepping them to go overseas early next week and I'll be shifting some product that is printing from china directly to their warehouse in Germany for EU distribution as soon as printing is done (mostly some books and decks of cards that were missing.)

What about our delivery date?

I know this word is ominous at this point but... SOON! And this time I can say "some number of weeks less than 10" for the majority of everyone who has been waiting. We have hundreds of cards and books and coins and other products that are being counted now, prepped for shipping to their warehouses and then will be moving on to you. There is still some paperwork, some intake process for the products, all that behind the scenes stuff but we are finally actively moving forward. 

I will be posting another update as soon as we have a more solid timeline because until this is final and something is in the mail I don't want to set down a date. The entire world is still delayed with shipping due to a ton of reasons, in fact there's an excellent video that was put out be Quackalope recently that hits a lot of the high notes and I do suggest you give it a watch! 

More soon!

Onward!

-Levi

PS> I will be copying this over to Truly Wild Magic Remastered as well, if you read this update you can skip that one!

Shipping update!
about 5 years ago – Wed, Jun 09, 2021 at 02:07:16 AM

Quick recap on where we are with shipping!

98% of US Packages shipped!

8 remaining, missing 1 or 2 items that will arrive within 2 weeks!

100% of Canada/Mexico packages will be shipping this week!

There are only 24 of these packages remaining, we expect them in the mail by Friday evening.

0% of International packages have been shipped as of  today.

Ludo Cards out of Italy and Games Quest out of the UK are still working out the logistics of delivering 4 Kickstarters simultaneously. As soon as we have more info we'll pass it on to you!

New Release!

If you missed it, our new Paladin class deck of magic items is available in a pay-what-you-want format on DTRPG, link HERE and you can also find it added to our list of existing products available on Roll20 HERE. 

That's it for now, short and sweet! More info soon!

ONWARD!

Levi

P.S> If you haven't followed us on FB or Twitter you should! We're doing polls about upcoming projects and have a new social media manager who's reaching out to the community to answer questions and help out where he can! Stop by and say hello to Big Burnam!