VOTING
over 3 years ago – Sun, Jan 24, 2021 at 11:01:10 PM

Hey Caretakers!!

We just smashed through the 75k goal and are inches away from 80k! This means we've unlocked custom product tags for all owlbears, this will be akin to the Beanie Baby TY tag, where (planning). I have artists working on designs for the box, accessories, and tags (its been quite the mad dash), and will have things to share shortly.  

Physical Unlock #1 Vote!

Alright, I want to thank you all soo much for your suggestions in the last update. They've given us a lot of ideas and we picked the favorites that you will now have to vote on! 

Normally I would give the vote until the end of the week, but given the pace of backers, we're going to cut it short to close this poll on Wednesday 11pm PST. Even if you're suggestion didn't make it into this poll, we'll definitely have opportunities for more suggestions and votes. 

VOTE HERE- https://strawpoll.com/79pv8ds4c

Owlbear Variant Research

Also, we're talking with our partners about variant owlbears, and something that is a huge concern for us is volume. This is because a color swap is actually an entirely new production run in their eyes. So costs per unit apply at that lower volume. So we want to be sure that if we added a variant there would be enough demand for it (for instance we would have to produce 1k of them, and that would be problematic if we only had 20 or so backers interested in it).

So I created a little survey to see your thoughts on a snowy owlbear, and which owlbear preference you had. If you're getting more than one and want both, just select the third option. 

This will help us get a better idea of owlbear volumes since we're already at 2000 backer owlbears!!

LET US KNOW YOUR OWBEAR INTERESTS HERE -https://strawpoll.com/218guavu7

Thank you!

If you're new to the Baby Bestiary and our projects, welcome. We've got a lot of cuteness in store for you. We thank you for your pledge and we can't wait to see what how many levels and prestige classes we can put on our owlbear cub.

Thank you all for your support, and until the next update. 

Caretaker Andreas

50k!! Unlocked Accessory#1 - Nominations
over 3 years ago – Sun, Jan 24, 2021 at 12:11:04 PM

Hey Owlbear Caretakers!!

I am super excited to announce At 45k Unlocking another bit of digital goodies, which includes a new 5e caretaker subclass focused on the owlbear!!

And we passed 50k!! Which means we've unlocked our first physical accessory!!! 

This will go to to all backers who get the 'in a box' or 'with a box' reward tiers).

Much like how we run the baby bestiary projects, I want to use this post to collect your ideas on what that physical item / accessory should be. Now they don't have to be accessories for the owlbear, they can also be physical goodies, that go in the box.

My ideas are

• A bowtie
• A cape
• a pendant/necklace
• crown/diadem
• Printed Owlbear Artbook
• Fridge Magnets
• coloring books
• owlbear companion statcard

If you have ideas or are in support of any specific ones, feel free to comment on which you want/like!

In the next post (which will be titled - vote), you will vote on which accessory you want.

Thank you soo much for the support, we're excited to see our owlbear embark on new adventures in your care. 

And finally, I've got got some social links, if you want to help support us a bit more to spread the word.

I'm excited to see your ideas for the accessory, 

Caretaker Andreas

35k Unlock and Box Clarification
over 3 years ago – Sat, Jan 23, 2021 at 01:20:41 PM

Hey Backers!!

I apologize for the delay in updates today, I've been stuck in meetings all afternoon which was supposed to be super short. Anyways, we've crossed 35k! which means we unlock another set of Digital Goodies set out for the project, unlocking the Owlbear lifecycle (an expansion to the artbook) which will feature a series of illustrations showing the owbear as they age from, egg to elder. And a 5e Owlbear-focused subclass (druid).

Digital Rewards So Far

So far here are the digital unlocks we've made that every backer gets. 

• Owlbear Artbook (+20pages, +3 artists, + owlbear lifecycle)
• Owlbear Wallpaper Design
• D&D 5e Owlbear Subclass (druid)
• D&D 5e Adventure.
• Ryuutama Journey.

The Box Clarification

After some discussion with some backers, I realize that I may have miscommunicated our goal with the boxes/box reward. 

One way to describe that tier is All Physical Reward Unlocks, and the first of which is the Collector's Edition style box for the plush (which, when it gets to shipping likely contain all of the unlocked physical rewards). Our goal being that, as the project grows and we unlock physical stretch goals/accessories, this tier will be the one who gets them. 

This makes fulfillment of this project easier to manage (esp for the warehouse staff), as everything is set into established bundles. 

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Also, due to an amazing suggestion, we're going to include a Caretakers Charge Certificate (both Digital and Physical) so that you can name your owlbear, but also pledge your care and support of the owlbear. I'll have a mockup of it soon!

Updated Backer Tiers

UpdatedStretch Goals

I snuck in another goodies expansion. 

But I would be eager to hear what suggestions you have for physical and digital unlocks.  

Thank you!

Anyways, I need to finish all the mockups for a few things (digital rewards, the box, and the stretch goals, and the certificate), so stay tuned for more! 

Thank you all for the support and have a wonderful evening!

Andreas

Boxes Unlocked!!
over 3 years ago – Tue, Jan 19, 2021 at 12:41:12 AM

Hey Backers!!

Just a (hopefully) last update for today. First thing said, I am totally slammed at the amount of support we're getting and I'm glad everyone is excited to get their hands on this adorable little plush!

We've hit the 25k mark, which means we can start working our way towards developing accessories for the Owlbear. 

Reward Updates

Alright, here we are! the final versions of the Pledge Goals! (I will also create a merchant tier for those who are at FLGS stores)

We've now added two new pledge tiers called, Owlbear In a Box and Owlbear Twins With A Box.

Both tiers feature a Deluxe Box and Accessories: 

• The Box: A merchant style box that the owlbear can be displayed and presented with. I don't anticipate that we'll make enough boxes for all the owlbears so we're gonna keep it unique and special. (I'm working on the art/design for the box, so stay tuned for it in a later update)
• Accessories: Unlocked with stretch goals, if we unlock any accessories (like a hat, cape, bowtie, etc) They will be automatically included in the pledge.

Its important to note that Owlbear in a Box (has one box and one owlbear), and Owlbear Twins With a Box (has two owlbear plushes and one box). 

(If you want more than one Box, just wait till we get to the pledge manager)  

Stretch Goals

And since we hit the 25k goal, we need to update our Stretch Goals! 

This mean we unlock he Owlbear Box (as noted above), and we look forward towards the 3rd Goodies Expansions (35k) and first Accessory goal ($50k).

Goodies Expansion

As a note, we're open to hearing ideas behind the owlbear themed digital goodies we can create for you all!

Thank you And Stay Awesome

I can't say it enough, and I really do appreciate the support all of you have given us and this project. 

If you have any questions, I will do my best to answer each and every one of them, thank you and stay awesome everyone.

Andreas

First Update!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 11:49:27 PM

Hey Beastmasters and Caretakers!

I just want to thank you all soo much for joining us on this new adventure we are embarking upon, and I'm thrilled to see so many new and familiar faces. (so far it looks like at least 40% of you are from one of the prior projects we were involved in!). We fully funded in only 22 minutes, which the fasted funded project I think I have ever had!!

Also, we just passed the 20k mark, and you all are smashing stretch goals faster than I can update the project, or write an update to talk about them! 

New Pledge Tier 

For those who were interested in two plushes, I've created a tier for TWO owlbear plushes, called Owlbear TWINS! 

If you're looking to add even more owlbears to your collection, just add +30 to your pledge, and we'll get it all sorted out in the pledge manager. As for shipping, it will not be double, but likely a marginal increase to accommodate the extra size (my guess is +$2-3), but I'll nail that down in the coming weeks.

Stretch Goals! 

A big consideration that I had when building this project was to keep the number of rewards low and modular. So in that, we came up with the Digital Goodies, and the Deluxe Box (unlocks at 25k). 

Stretch Goal: Digital goodies

The digital goodies are intended to be a slowly expanding set of digital content for the owlbear. Increasing the size of the artbook and creating owlbear goodies (like wallpapers), and Tabletop game content, such as stats, adventures, guides and more!

Goodies Expansion #1 (unlocked @ $10k) 

• Artbook expansion x3 - we will bring in three more artists to do their own illustration of the owlbear plush. 
• Adventure - We're going to create an owlbear-focused adventure for D&D 5e.

Goodies Expansion #2)  (unlocked @ $15k)

• Wallpaper Design - we will commission a repeating wallpaper design of the owlbear (sometime in the future we'll use this pattern for gift wrap or even a cloth pattern)
• Adventure -  An owlbear-focused adventure for Ryuutama 

Goodies Expansion #3)  (will unlock @ $35k)

• Artbook Expansion -As an owlbear ages - a series of illustrations that show off the owbear from, egg to elder.
• TBD

Also, if you have ideas/thoughts for owlbear-focused digital goodies, I would love to hear your ideas!! (they don't have to be bound to D&D or any particular system, we've worked in all of them)

Stretch Goal: Owlbear Box

I'm super hyped about this. It will unlock at 25k (which we're almost there), and what it will be is a $60 pledge tier, where we will design a custom box for the owlbear to be shipped in (like you would see if you purchase statuettes or a funko-pop). In addition, any accessory designs that we will unlock (which will come after the box), will come with it. (but we gotta get there first, but that's my plan). 

Shipping

shipping always a pain, so I wanted to do a little explanation here first. Shipping is more than just postage. 

So for the US we estimated shipping costs will be about $10-15. To start off, plushes are not media mail, so we will likely have to ship it via USPS First Class, the sticker cost of the postage will come to $9. Then we need to factor in the labor costs of the warehouse doing the work. 

This is usually done via a pick cost (the cost to unload, or recover items from the warehouse), and a pack or handling cost (which covered packaging, labels, and pick-up services as necessary. 

For our warehouse its a 1.50 per item pick cost for the first item, and a handling cost of $3.

So right off the bat, we're looking at $13.50, unless there are things we can do to reduce that overhead cost (bulk label costs can do that sometimes, but its difficult to tell until you have a volume lined up). Same with reducing on packaging costs, it can be done in bulk but it depends on the volume. 

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Nevertheless, shipping is complicated, and we're doing our best to ensure that we don't fall into a pickle when we get to shipping, and we also want to make sure that we don't over or undercharge anyone as well. In the coming days, I'll be doing reviews with our shipping partners to see what can be updated where and refine the estimates as we go (though like all things, they're subject to change until they're finally nailed down to the best of our ability.).

Art Showcase

 The picture that started it all. The owlbears from the Baby Bestiary Handbook Volume 1. Illustrated by Conceptoplis. They're just so darn cute!!!

Thank you for your support

I want to thank you all for being here, and for joining us on this amazing journey! 

If you have any questions feel free to ask, in addition, we would love to hear your ideas for more digital goodies! 

All the best, 

Andreas