PWG Presents: Cosmic Century Knights, Homecoming, and Chuck

January Update: Slowed but Steady
about 2 months ago – Thu, Jan 29, 2026 at 02:16:14 PM

or, being anti-crunch starts at home

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you're all staying safe and warm! Pittsburgh got hit hard by the weekend's winter storm, and thanks to 37 of the city's 80 snowplows breaking down day one (58% of the fleet had exceeded their planned lifespan without replacement) we're only just now starting to get dug out. Finger crossed wherever you are is handling things better than our public works did!

But enough about the snow: let's talk games.

As you could probably tell from our last update, the end of 2025 was pretty wild for Possible Worlds Games—both in terms of sales and my personal health. Thankfully I got the go-ahead to start lifting things again (just in time for shoveling) but our uptick in sales has yet to slow down! It's a great problem to have, but I've been hand-packing and mailing over 50 orders a week on top of the usual day-to-day work of running the company, which includes not just game dev, but cutting checks, issuing 1099s (we worked with 30 artists last year), customer service, marketing, tax prep, and, well, everything else too. It's genuinely exciting to see plans for PWG coming to fruition and to be growing so much in such a short time, but it also took one of my organs literally shutting down for me to realize I was working myself harder and faster than was reasonable.

Progress has been made on all three games since our last update, but I've had to slow down to make sure nothing falls through the cracks. None of this is on our collaborators—Meghan, James, Drew, Luna, and Will have all continued to do excellent work—but it's precisely BECAUSE they've been doing such good work I don't want to rush my part of the process. Namely final editorial passes before locking in layout and any rewrites, wrapping up packaging design, and the various quality control tasks involved in the pre-production process. Our team is too talented, and these games are too good, for me to give them anything less than my full attention. And, as much as I hate it, pockets of undivided focus are getting harder and harder to come by in my typical work week.

So what are you doing?

First and foremost, I'm leaning on others! Will Jobst has stepped in to help me break up some editorial log jams, Alex Meehan (ex-Dicebreaker and my go-to marketing consultant) is helping workshop packaging copy, our fulfillment partner White Squirrel will be helping us with day-to-day sales sooner than planned, and Logan Dean is helping adjust production schedule to keep future projects moving while giving these three more time to cook.

I'm also bumping these games' release from this spring to the summer. Fulfilling our previous Tacklebox & Better Strangers campaign in just two months was only possible because I took most of the pressure of crossing the finish line on myself. Sharing the spotlight with a larger team of designers and collaborators has been a breath of fresh air, but being a reasonable employer/publisher includes understanding when life gets in the way of deadlines. I've granted plenty of extensions to our team members as they've needed them (and will continue to) but this is my first time extending that same grace to myself. I really appreciate the rest of the team's understanding and for encouraging me to pump the brakes some to better pace myself.

Chinese New Year this year is from February 17-March 3, so our printers will (rightfully) be unavailable the second half of February while they're on holiday. Rather than crunch to rush files out before they go on break, we're going to use February to finish our creative tasks and March to lock in print finals across the board. We'll go to print in April, and assuming a maximum of 90 days for any production or shipping delays, fulfill in June before Gen Con. These will be our three big focus titles at the show, but we'll make sure backers get their copies first.

I'll also be trickling out early PDF copies of the games to backers before the official release. That way you'll have games to play, proof of progress, and sneak peeks before anyone else. I'm typically a day-and-date release kind of guy when it comes to physical and digital, but you deserve the advance copies to tide you over.

In the meantime, I appreciate your patience and support! We're still well within my "always fulfill campaigns in under a year" personal standard, but it's never fun to admit you can't hit a goal you wanted to! I'll continue to be transparent throughout the dev process, and apologize for being overly optimistic in my initial estimates and updates. As always, feel free to ask any questions whether here in the comments or via direct message and I'll answer them as quickly as possible. Otherwise, rest assured these games as still shaping up beautifully, and I couldn't be more excited to share them with you!

All best,

T

December Update: Sales, Spotlights, & Surgery
3 months ago – Tue, Dec 23, 2025 at 03:53:55 PM

WHAT A MONTH!

I feel like I've been saying it all year (and am planning a 2025-retrospective blog of some kind) but wow! December really threw me for a loop in new and interesting ways.

When last we talked Backerkit surveys had just been sent and PAX Unplugged was right around he corner. Both of these went swimmingly! Most of you have answered your surveys by now (42 of you just got a reminder) and PAXU is consistently my favorite convention of the year. Thanks to everyone who stopped by, whether to buy games or just say hello, and those of you who did got a first look at our Chuck prototype in person!

PAX was weirdly early this year, so I gave myself a few days off between getting home and the Thanksgiving weekend.

On Thanksgiving, this happened:

Quinns Quest is a YouTube channel with a pretty substantial subscriber base (nearly 100k as of writing), and eagle-eyed thumbnail searchers will notice Possible Worlds Games' own Tacklebox at the top of his pile! Quinns had reached out months ago, so I new he'd be touching on Tacklebox in one of his upcoming videos, but I had no idea it would be quite as in-depth or glowing (or would be dropping right before one of the biggest weekends days of the year).

The result was 1500 unexpected orders two weeks before a planned surgery.

With our fulfillment partnership not kicking in until next year and a video-game-style countdown of when I wouldn't be allowed to lift heavy boxes seared into my brain, I got packing. Believe me, it's a fantastic problem to have, but any productivity I'd hoped for in December was soon overwritten by a flood of orders and just as many people emailing to ask whether they'd arrive in time for Christmas (in most cases, yes!). It was the biggest "oh, I can't be hand-packing every order alone anymore" moment of my career, but I white-knuckled my way through and managed to get the last packages out the door the same morning I was scheduled to go under the knife.

Then I got my gallbladder removed.

This was my first surgery let alone organ removal, so I didn't know quite what to expect. Thankfully the procedure was minimally invasive and everything went well, but I wasn't quite expecting just how SLOW recovery would be. Everything's on schedule, but as I'm sure anyone else who's gone through a surgery can tell you, your mind is ready to return to business as usual far sooner than your body is. And even with mental clarity, you far fewer waking hours of focus to work with. It felt like hitting a brick wall after an extremely busy and productive year, and I'm still bouncing back (although thankfully I can carry medium-light boxes to the post office again).

So what does that mean for our campaign?

Honestly, not a ton other than a very weird, very unexpected month-long delay! Don't get me wrong, both the influx in sales and the removal of an organ that was rebelling against me are very good for PWG security and productivity in the long term, but there isn't much of anything new to report. Editing is just about wrapped on CCK, Chuck's prototypes look great, and Homecoming still has some layout work to go. A January delivery won't happen (which was ambitious to begin with) but I've got my eyes on February. The trick will just be seeing if we can thread the need of having all files approved and games shipped before everyone goes on holiday for the lunar new year.

That's all for now!

Thanks for bearing with me as I'm a victim of our own success and failing organs. On the bright side, you still have time to add Tacklebox as an add-on to any of your pledge surveys!

All best,

Tyler

BackerKit Surveys Sent! PAX Unplugged!
4 months ago – Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 05:29:56 AM

Greetings from our PAX Unplugged hotel in Philly! Just a few quick updates before our December progress check-in:

BackerKit surveys have been sent to start collecting shipping addresses & any add-ons!

These surveys are sent to your Kickstarter-associated email (the one you log in to Kickstarter with) so be sure to check that address as well as its spam folder. If all else fails, shoot me a message and I'll send you your survey link via Kickstarter DMs. 

For those of you new to the platform, BackerKit is a service that lets us collect and charge shipping costs AFTER the conclusion of a campaign. That way, we're able to calculate and charge exact shipping costs once copies of the games are in hand, not guesstimate 2026 shipping rates before the fact. Shipping is not being charged now—we're simply starting the process of collecting addresses and add-ons. You'll receive another email/update alerting you before any orders are locked or any shipping is charged so that you can confirm and/or adjust anything.

Speaking of add-ons, the other thing BackerKit lets us do is add items to your pledge from the larger Possible Worlds Games catalog. If there's another game you'd be interested in—and you don't mind waiting until 2026 to get it alongside your pledge—you can add it to your order to put everything in the same package and save on shipping.

Lastly, you can also switch your pledge if you decide you'd like to upgrade from one reward tier to another. The most common reason for this would be if you if you backed for one game and wanted to upgrade to the discounted bundle or if you backed at the digital tier and wanted to upgrade to physical. Just select the Switch You Pledge Level option at the start of your survey below the "Get Started!" button. This will let you apply your current pledge amount to any other tier, essentially giving you a discount equal to however much you pledged already. 

If you're at PAX Unplugged this weekend, stop by our booth (#3758) for a $5 backer discount!

I mentioned this briefly in my last update, but since then I've made the deal even bigger! We'll be plugging pre-orders for Cosmic Century Knights, Homecoming, and Chuck at PAX this weekend, offering anyone who pre-orders at the convention a single $5 discount on any purchase made at our booth. Since you already "pre-ordered" the games, though, I don't see why you shouldn't get the same deal! Simply show us proof of your backer status and we'll apply the same deal as a thank you.

That's all for now!

I'm returning to convention mode, so I may be slow to respond to any questions or comments, but I'll be keeping any eye on things as I'm able! Thanks as always for your support, and if you're at PAXU, but sure to stop by and say hello!

All best,

T

November Update: Progress, Fulfillment Partners, & PAXU
4 months ago – Mon, Nov 03, 2025 at 01:56:51 PM

Hey everyone! Happy November, and a belated happy halloween! October was a mostly a reminder for me that the body does, in fact, keep the score, and I took a longer break than planned to rest and address some health issues. But the work continues apace! We've just been a little quieter about it than during the campaign. Here's a breakdown of where each game is as of this update:

HOMECOMING

• Text: Complete
• Editing: Complete
• Art: Complete
• Card Layout: Complete
• Box & Instructions Layout: In Progress

Homecoming is just about done, with only things like copy, barcode, logo, etc. missing from the back of the box. The rules booklet is a bit trickier since we're formatting it small enough to fit inside the box, but most of that work is legibility rather than anything ornate. 

CHUCK

• Text: Complete
• Editing: In Progress
• Art: Complete
• Component Design: Complete
• Packaging & Rules Poster Layout: In Progress

With Chuck, the most complicated part was the component design—dialing in the right size and thickness for the wooden figure (we arrived at 2" tall) and then building a clamshell around it that would hold and protect Chuck, 2d6, and the game's fold-out rules. It took some doing, but we're very happy with the results!

Everything's still in the white-copy prototyping stage, but the clamshell will eventually hold red & yellow dice as well as a fold-over card stock cover with the rules poster on the inside. Here's a rough photoshop over our layout files to give you a better idea of what I'm talking about.

I have a bad habit of prioritizing other designers' games over my own, so Chuck was the last game to be handed off to editing, but it's also by far the shortest. Otherwise, similar to Homecoming, a lot of the remaining work is fiddly layout bits rather than anything game design intensive.

COSMIC CENTURY KNIGHTS

• Text: Complete
• Editing: In Progress
• Art: Complete
• Page Layout: In Progress
• Cover Layout: In Progress

Lastly, Cosmic Century Knights! Like the other two games, CCK is fully art and text complete. It's the game with the longest word count, though, and editing a book with co-authors always takes a little bit longer. Both James & Drew need to review any of Will's edits before handing them back to me, sometimes with with all of us having to reconvene to find the best path forward for an edit or concern. That said, we're nearly there! The first half of the book is ready for layout and the second half is ready for James & Drew's review, with only the Blade Blessings left on Will's plate. From there it's a matter of plugging text and images into Luna's larger page layout and taking care of cover things like the spine, back copy, and etc.

So we've made a lot of progress in just 38 days! BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

BackerKit, Add-Ons, Etc.

Would you believe that after five years of making and selling TTRPGs professionally I'm still hand-packed every single campaign reward and order? Well that ends SOON! We'll be working with the good folks at White Squirrel to better land, ship, and warehouse our products, starting with this campaign. They work with a lot of comics creators, so specialize in shipping art-heavy products safely, but have also been hard at work on the comics convention circuit. The post-campaign BackerKit for will be up to collect add-ons and addresses soon, but I'm taking my time building it to work with their back-end rather than my own DIY process.

Or Buy Add-Ons at PAX Unplugged!

We'll be back in the city of brotherly love November 21-23 for our last convention of the year. We'll be offering 10% off convention purchases for anyone who pre-orders CCK, Homecoming, or Chuck at the booth, and if you show us proof of your pledge, we'll extend the same to you! I'll post a reminder about it before the con, but add Booth 3758 to your itinerary if you'll be in attendance.

Lastly, Meghan joined James to talk Homecoming & CCK!

Check out their episode of The Ultimate RPG podcast for even more insight into the campaign and both creators' games!

All best, and more soon!

T

We did it! More updates on the way!
6 months ago – Wed, Oct 01, 2025 at 03:50:06 PM

From all of us—THANK YOU!

I've been a broken record already about how helpful campaigns & pre-orders like these are and how much we appreciate everyone's support, so I'll just leave it at that! We rallied to $30k (150%) in the home stretch and can't wait to put that money to good use. I'll be getting in the habit of monthly updates on the status of all three games, but before that, I wanted to send a quick, two-item missive your way:

1. First, we're taking some time to rest and catch up in other areas after a month-long campaign! People like to think of Kickstarters as playing the lottery, but really it's more like going to work—especially when you use the platform strategically like we do. Now imagine working long days and weekends at your job for a full month. Even when you're doing work you love, it adds up! And the first step we need to take in getting you great games is getting ourselves some R&R.
2. Thankfully, though, there isn't much else we can do until October 10 anyway! Kickstarter takes 14 days to process cards and attempt to recover dropped pledges before transferring any funds to us. That also means it's more efficient to hold off on setting up our pledge manager on BackerKit until we know which pledges were ultimately dropped. In any case, we can't do much on the campaign-management side of things until then. 

So tl;dr, expect another update with development and backer next steps in about two weeks and monthly updates after.

In the meantime, happy spooky season one & all, and thanks again for all your support!

All best,

T