Hi friends,

My name is T.A. Gray, and I’m the founder of Scoundrel Game Labs – a TTRPG publishing company based out of the U.S. I’m excited to tell you that my company has purchased the assets, remaining stock, and IP rights from the liquidators of Grimlord Games. In this post, I’ll run down who I am and what this means for you.

Before I go any further, I will be making limited use of Kickstarter updates in the future. The best way to stay up to date on plans for the release of print and play games as well as news on what we have in store for these lines in the future is to sign up to our email list. This list will be focused on this line of games and will be kept separate from our D&D newsletter, so you won’t get any updates about those projects if they don’t interest you. 

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To Start – An Apology

I want to start by giving my since apology to everyone who was left hanging by the Village Attacks Grim Dynasty campaign. I’ve backed campaigns that have failed to deliver and know that frustration. While I was not involved in the previous campaign, I am sorry that so many of you walked away empty-handed. When this happens it hurts the games industry and crowdfunding as a whole, and I can’t blame you if you feel frustrated, let down, or disillusioned with the crowdfunding process.

What about the claim I made to the liquidators?

Unfortunately, I have no part in the liquidation process outside of making a bid to purchase these assets that was ultimately accepted. I don’t have any information on what that means for you as creditors or when you might get an announcement from them regarding any claims you filed. The process is foreign to me and I wouldn’t want to speculate on it, but hopefully, you will hear something about that soon.

Who are you?

My company has been publishing games since 2020, but until now we have exclusively focused on products compatible with 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons. You can see the Kickstarter campaign for our most popular book Grizelda’s Guide to Ghost Hunting here. I came back to board gaming during the pandemic and have been planning to expand out from TTRPGs for some time. I’m a big fan of all of the games in this portfolio, so making a bid to purchase those assets seemed like a good way to dive in.

I am also a person who knows the frustration of unfilled crowdfunding campaigns, and I wanted to try and not only keep these games alive but do my best for the people who were impacted the most.

What is the plan?

Since the situation for each of these games is very different, skip down to the campaigns you have previously backed to learn more about our next steps.

Village Attacks – Grim Dynasty

As you all know, Grim Dynasty was never made. I would love to be able to simply print these games and ship them out or run a second Kickstarter campaign that pays to fulfill the first. Unfortunately, printing these games would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars – an expense that makes fulfilling this campaign impossible. I know that isn’t what anyone wants to hear, even though I doubt it comes as a surprise. However, my hope is to do what I can for you as a backer despite the way this campaign ended. Here are a few things we are already working on:

• Print and Play: We are committed to creating a Print and Play edition of Grim Dynasty and providing it to every backer. In fact, I have already been in contact with Christian, the BoardGameGeek user and backer who has already done much of the work converting the project to PnP. Our plan is to get started on this effort in earnest in January. This will take some time, as have not yet received any of the digital files for the game. We are also exploring our options for PnP versions of the game in languages outside of English and German. 
• Dice: There are several dice sets remaining from the original Village Attacks campaign, we’ll have those for sale at a discount on our website soon. We’re also looking into at-cost print-on-demand options. 
• Miniatures: I am exploring options for print-on-demand minis through a partner like only-games.co. Only-games prints resin miniatures on demand, which could be a temporary solution for anyone who can’t live without the minis. I have not explored the cost of this option yet, but if we go forward we will offer them at cost + shipping to keep prices down as much as possible.
• Future Crowdfunding Efforts: While the Print and Play edition is my priority, at some point in the future I hope to bring Grim Dynasty back to crowdfunding to anyone who wants it. I’ve been in contact with the manufacturer, and they have assured me that the files are complete and ready to print.

I plan on answering any questions you might have here or at the Village Attacks Facebook group and will make regular updates on our email list. I’ll limit updates via Kickstarter to major milestones like the release of Print and Play modules., but I will answer questions in the comments should the come up. 

The Everrain

I have limited information on thefulfilment  of the Everrain campaign, other than (1) it was mostly fulfilled (2) some U.S. backers got the game in the wrong language and (3) some backers never got their game. Because I only purchased the assets and IP for this game, I do not have access to all of the records – including fulfillment information or a list of backers.

Further complicating things is that the existing stock that was held by Quartermaster Logistics no longer exists. I am under the impression it was liquidated to pay for storage costs at some point, but I am unclear on exactly what happened there.

For now, I am looking into options on how to make it up to the backers who never received anything from this campaign. I am still waiting to get more information about the extent of the fulfillment issues that were never addressed, but I hope to have an update there soon. For now, feel free to ask any questions here or in the Everrain Facebook group.

Endure the Stars

Endure the Stars 1.5 is one of my favorite games from Grimlord, and I have a lot of ideas for the future. In the short term, my plan is to release some new scenarios in the Endure the Stars Facebook group as well as on our website. I’m considering an updated edition with a new rulebook as well as possibly expanding into other options like a solo gamebook that combines an interactive, choose-your-own-path novel with both new and old game scenarios. I am also considering a tabletop roleplaying game in the Endure the Stars universe. My immediate priority is doing what I can for Grim Dynasty backers, but I hope to have some news for Endure the Stars fans soon.

Conclusion

I understand that for some of you, this will be a welcome update, and for others, it is more bad news. My plan is to do what I can to help those who came away from these campaigns empty-handed while keeping the product lines alive for anyone who is still interested. I hope you will give us a chance, and I’ll be responding to comments here if you have any questions or concerns.