As we watch the year roll over to 2013 and we hear the echoing laughter of the Mayans for us not understanding how a calendar works, we have to stop and look back at what we’ve done this year so we can talk about where we’re headed for in 2013 and for many years beyond that. Let’s hit the high notes before we break it down by SGG staffer.
Kickstarter – Dice
Though it wasn’t our first major project for the year, it was definitely the most rewarding and the most frustrating project we did all year. It was great because it got us exposed to the Kickstarter program and the feel of the way that they are run, and supported, and it was an overwhelmingly positive experience for us. It was frustrating due to unforeseen delays, a few mistakes on our part, and some massive communication issues we had with our main supplier. The results speak for themselves, however, and for those of you who supported us, you should either already have your dice or you should be receiving them shortly upon publishing this! Due to errors made on both sides of the equation, we also have plenty of dice available for purchase in the Silver Gryphon Store, and in all four colors that we offered during the Kickstarter!
Product Releases
We released a number of adventures this year, and we planned on getting a couple of bigger projects out the door, but those didn’t materialize for a number of reasons. Many of the things we want to release will be kickstarted this year, at least the big projects, and we have some pretty awesome ideas for what we want to do, starting with the Wellstone City Encounter Deck, which is slated to become a physical product, not just a PDF that you use a random deck of cards for! We’re starting this year off with some fun short adventures and we have two longer ones in the works, which should see release dates in the first half of the year. We appeared in 3 different Savage Insiders with adventures and articles, and we grew our partnership with Fabled Environments as they have become our official cartographer. Following up on the release of Camp Wicakini III this year, we’ll be doing Camp Wicakini IV as well, and a ton of follow up work on releases from 2012!
Staff
You’ve undoubtedly noticed a better Facebook presence, a Twitter presence, a G+ presence, and a lot of things that changed with us social media wise. Running the numbers, we had a 619% growth in our social media since May of 2012! That’s been a lot of work, but it’s been very rewarding, and it’s due largely in part to our Social Media Manager and her Intern, Kelly Barone and Grant Lachner. Feel free to join us on any of our social media channels for contests, give-aways, and fan exclusive adventures and coupons!
We’ve added an Intellectual Property Manager to the list as well, and the input from Micah Ascano has been invaluable. We also brought in another Staff Editor, Shannon Patrick, and his contributions have been amazing, as well as those of existing Staff Editor, Dave Baymiller.
Last, but never least, is our Booth Girl, Yuki, who has been with us since Kant Con of 2011, and has been part of our sales team since then.
Conventions
This last year saw us branching out to some new conventions in the Midwest, and the upcoming year will see us go to even more. Last year we bowed out of a few conventions, but we’ll be picking them up this year. We’ve found a serious love for small conventions put on by local gaming groups and university gaming groups. We love the atmosphere and the friendliness of the staff. We’d like to give a very special nod to KantCon in the Kansas City area and Nanocon in Madison, SD; you both are our current favorite convention locations.
Personal Notes
It’s been a busy year for us personally. Our Intellectual Property Manager passed the bar exam and became a full-fledged lawyer. Kevin lost his son in June to an accident at the local pool. Ben Overmyer got one house sold and settled into another house 400 miles away. All in all, it’s been a very rough year for all of us, with a lot of ups, but some pretty low spots as well.
2013 is looking to be better on every level, both professionally and personally, and we’re looking forward to meeting more fans, hitting more conventions, and getting you more awesome products!
2012 is behind us, and we’re running at full tilt to make 2013 the best year we’ve ever had!