A hosting platform with a backend server and one without a backend server refer to two different types of hosting environments. Here are the differences between the two:

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2. Frontend server: A frontend server is a server that delivers static content, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, to users. Hosting platforms without a backend server are typically limited to serving static content and don't provide the ability to run custom software or configure server settings.
3. Scalability: Hosting platforms with a backend server are generally more scalable than those without. This is because backend servers can handle more complex requests and can be scaled horizontally by adding more servers to a cluster. In contrast, frontend servers are limited in their ability to scale, as they can only handle a limited amount of traffic.
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5. Maintenance: Hosting platforms with a backend server may require more maintenance and management than those without. This is because backend servers can be more complex to set up and configure, and may require ongoing maintenance to ensure optimal performance and security.

In summary, hosting platforms with a backend server offer more flexibility, scalability, and control over the hosting environment, while hosting platforms without a backend server are simpler and easier to use, but offer less flexibility and scalability. The choice between the two will depend on the specific needs of your website or application.

Item Name Set Number: 71044 - Approved by u/LukemFrank
Lego Price: $507 BL 6 month average
Shipping: $57 UPS 24x20x6 13lbs FL to WA. Winners in Hawaii and Alaska pay the difference.
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Price justification: BL 3 month average
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Duration of spot limit: 30 mins
Location(Country): USA
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Timestamp pics: https://imgur.com/a/Vmpr89v
Description: New/Sealed
Payment required w/in 10 minutes of raffle filling.
PayPal payments are to be Friends and Family only with NO COMMENTS. Comments will result in a permanent ban

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Tip BlobAndHisBoy
Number of vacant slots: 60
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This slot list is created and updated by The EDC Raffle Tool by BlobAndHisBoy.
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I find it pretty hard to disagree with the sparks of AGI paper.
It seems superhuman compared to at least the average person in every micro task it does, provided you can actually input the information.
In fact in the coding or writing of short pieces, it exceeds most human performance, certainly at least in speed, if not also quality.
The main issue seems to be the inputting of the right information into the thread so it can output something that answers the right question correctly.
To that end we have the token length issue: That it can only compute on a few thousand words input to it, and can only output a few thousand in one response, whereas on any information not included in that, it’s knowledge can be hazy, incorrect, hallucinated, etc.
But let’s think about that.
1)
The tokens are limited because these LLM models have compute that scales superlinearly with the number of tokens: for 10x more tokens, it takes more than 10x longer, often 100x longer
(Note: New papers have architectures whose compute scales subquadratically with token length, but it’s still superlinear.)
But is this an issue with the architecture?
As with all cognitive systems, compute is finite, and computing on more information scales superlinearly.
Because intelligence involves comparing information it’s naturally superlinear.
Vaguely, you have to combine all the information in a field pairwise, or in every combination of 3s or 4s. You have to walk thru decision trees of ifs on every possibility. The complexity of a game evolves superlinearly, perhaps even parabolically or exponentially in the number of players, parts, or rules.
2)
So it can’t think about everything all at once.
As it’s currently set up, it needs us to input a coding library’s docs into the thread to get it to use it. But, I too need to reread a library, or a reminder of the rules of chess, or whatever, to be able to make something with it.
When people code with it and continue to remind it of the current goal, recently completed goals, the file system, and what character it should play, and it continuously works with that info to keep contributing to the project, those are feedbacks that are altogether parts of an intelligent system.
What about when we ask it to output a 5 letter word that’s the opposite of start and it outputs “end” or “finish”, and we have to say, hey that’s not 5 letters, until it finally outputs “pause”?
The sparks of agi paper basically makes this clear. We would do the same thing, internally. We’d fleetingly think of these other words and fleetingly ask ourselves, okay that’s not 5 letters, that’s not 5 letters, until we thought of one that is.
—— Putting these 2 perspectives together…
It’s precisely because the thinking scales superlinearly with the number of parts in the thought, that any cognitive system has to summarize fields, encapsulate them into small sets of symbolic information, and then think on a small set of information.
Cognition, ie efficient computation on the world, is therefore made of loops of intelligent systems onto themselves: summarizing a set of information, and then using the summary… encapsulation of one thinking modules output as a part into the next run of the thinking system.
—— Are we so different?
Our minds are also a general pattern machine with some general and vague knowledge.
We need to re study the specifics of any field or library or issue in order to effectively think about anything.
Our thinking modules need feedback too.
But, we can provide that feedback to ourselves within our mind…. or in conjunction with external information like speaking, writing, external resources, and other people.
We output something and then summarize it, combine it with other short form information, and think on it anew.
When we think about something for a long time, we keep re running it thru our cognition. From new angles, with new pieces of information appended, new emotional biases in each moment. Re running it, saving any conclusions and then doing new comparisons of those conclusions etc..
We just have more of an exponential time decay on recent tokens, with an efficient iterative summarization system that turns recent experience into a shorter summary, and then inputs those back into the thinking machine, with new goals appended to it.
——- So I’m proposing that we have everything we need to create a decent AGI:
Imo it’s not what gpt4 can output in one output that should be the judge of the algorithms intelligent potential, but rather the full integration of it with access to external information, including information that it creates, as we have. The ability to write, to save information, allows a cognitive system to iterate using its own outputs as new inputs.
Especially when this information, like the notes we learn to take, and the summaries we create in our minds, are designed to be used as our own inputs in the future.
I imagine GPT4 could learn to do that, if it got the chance to observe GPT4 outputs and learn to create good inputs.
Basically you just need to hack together these feedback loops and you’d have a more complete intelligence
More ideally, what you probably want is some amount of learning/optimization around telling it to summarize information in such a way that this output can be used as an input to a new thread.
You want these threads to be connected continuously, differentiably, reusing its own main system as it iteratively compares its summaries to other summaries it’s created and external information and then reruns it.
—— In conclusion..
Anyway I think other people are figuring this out and my point is imo we are super close to closing the gaps that seem to still exist with gpt4

Would it be possible to create a mod which makes villager enchanted tools and armor trades less random so that they only pick level 19 enchantments? (I read on the wiki the enchantment range is 5-19).
I know it's unpractical, I'm just trying to set up a maxed out trading hall.
Thanks in advance <3

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Journal of Camille Lambert - April 14th (Part 3)
​
The inside of Calhoun’s home was no less of an eyesore than the outside. The walls were stone and decorated with ornate carvings. They would have been beautiful if they made any sense. Curves seemed to go nowhere and branch off into even more bizarre curves. Light shone in through windows despite the fact that outside, it was pitch black.
​
Every footstep echoed off the stone floor. There were columns and stairways that rose up to the ceiling but never seemed to go anywhere and every time I looked away, something was always different.
“What the fuck is this place?” Nina murmured, looking around and failing to make sense of everything just as I was.
​
Gretchen studied the walls, slowly walking further into the entrance hall.
“Incredible,” She said. “I suppose I really shouldn’t have expected anything less, but I must admit this is impressive!”
She looked back at us.
“It’s like the mists that surround the towns! Although, this is a little more tangible. He’s done the same thing with this architecture. Navigating this place should be… interesting…”
​
She took out her notebook and began scribbling in it, walking absentmindedly forward.
“Okay, so anybody know what the fuck she’s talking about?” Nina asked, looking at me, then at Dom. We both just shrugged.
“Exactly how long have we got before people start following us in here?” Nina asked, looking back at the door as we followed Gretchen. “That rune you drew, how long will it hold?”
​
“So long as the door remains functional,” She replied. “I used a modified Abyssal Rune. Opening that door in either direction leads into the Abyss. Or I suppose you might better know it as ‘Hell’. Either way, I can’t imagine that Hell is somewhere that the Rosen Prince wishes to go. He can claim all the Demons he wants but they’re not going to be of much use to him. They just get eaten by the God of that realm anyways and He stands no chance of corrupting Her.”
​
Nina paused, looking back at the door.
“Oh. So you just casually turned that door into a portal to Hell?” She asked.
“Before you ask, no. Opening a portal to Hell was not a better option than summoning the Rosen Prince,” Gretchen replied. “It could have taken hours for a Demon to wander through and really, Demons aren’t going to do much against the Nightwalkers. They’re nowhere near as resilient,”
​
Nina thought about it for a moment, then shrugged.
“Fair enough. They do go down pretty easily.”
Dom and I exchanged a glance and quietly accepted that we had no idea what the heck either of them were talking about, and that it was probably better if we never found out. Gretchen paused as she continued into the house, looking up and to the side. It took the rest of us a few moments to see exactly what she was seeing.
​
A new hallway had appeared in the wall beside her, this one looking more like a worn down cavern, overgrown with moss. In fact, if it weren’t for the pillars and shifting carvings on the walls, it would have been easy to see it as a natural cave.
“Intriguing,” Gretchen said. “It seems as if we’ve received an invitation.”
She turned to go down the new hall only to be stopped by Dom.
“Wait, how do you know that’s safe?” He asked, “Look at all that moss, what if it’s…”
“This is not the Rosen Prince,” Gretchen assured us. “No, this is something else…”
​
She pulled away from him and started down the hall. Nina watched her for a moment before following her, and I figured if they trusted it, I might as well trust it. I looked back to make sure that Dom was following me and saw him sigh in resignation before joining us. I reached out for him to take my hand, and laced my fingers with his as we walked through the hall. Ahead, I could see the hall growing longer. Vines slithered along the walls like serpents and beckoned us deeper.
​
I’m not sure how long we walked. Not long, only a few minutes. But it felt so much longer and when we finally came to the room at the end of the hall, I wasn’t sure what would be waiting for us there.
​
The room seemed more like part of a forest than part of a house. Thick moss and vines grew along the stone walls, and massive tree roots tangled down from the far wall to the floor, overgrown and entangled.
“Love what he’s done with the place. It’s very ‘ancient ruin’.” Nina said under her breath.
“You look upon the carcass of something far greater than you could dare to dream,” A low voice replied, making the entire room tremble.
​
All eyes were drawn to the tangle of roots on the far wall, and I noticed two sunken eyes staring at us from them. The roots shifted, with something ensnared in them leaning forward. At a glance, it was hard to tell the difference between it and the rest of the roots. It seemed to be made of the same wood, although this was clearly something else. Something alive.
​
Maybe once upon a time, this thing had been shaped like a person although now there was little that detached from the wall aside from the head and part of the torso. The roots hung off of its face like a beard, and in its hollow eye sockets, I saw no eyes. Only deep pits in the wood that still seemed to watch us.
Nina took a step back, raising her gun but not daring to fire just yet. Gretchen on the other hand remained perfectly still.
​
“A strange lot you are… a vampire and three mortals. Not the salvation I had hoped may come… but better than none.”
“Salvation?” Gretchen asked, “You were the one who called us to this room?”
“I am the Eldest of my kin,” The creature said, “Those of the forest who christen themselves Old Fae walk within my footsteps. How it would pain them to see me now… reduced to this.”
​
The Eldest… this was the thing that Calhoun had used to form this place. I’d expected it to be more than this although the more I looked at the thing tangled in the roots, the more I understood. He was as much Calhoun’s prisoner as we were.
“Noble Eldest, I lament your fate,” Gretchen said. “Though I am but a humble child of Shaal, it pains me to see one of your kind treated with such disrespect.”
​
“Then thank your God, that you know not the pain of my being,” The Eldest said. “Once… I had thought myself above this. Once, I was proud… free… no longer.”
“Noble Eldest, tell me how?” Gretchen asked.
“A man sought me in the forest once… a man who believed as many do that fortune was owed to him by fate,” The Eldest said, “He purchased such fortune from me, as many did before him, trading kind memories and pieces of his past for wealth and prosperity. And like many before him, it brought him no peace. He sought power over men… a pittance, really. And yet it meant so much to him. He corrupted this place… this town… Parsons. Claiming it as his through lies, extortion and trickery. Becoming its leader and yet it did not sate his hunger… no. He sought higher status in the offices of man. His hollow title, ‘Governor’. He sought that. And when he failed and the loss of the power he had gained was threatened, he could not accept it. Unwilling to let go, he came to me once more. He offered up his own flesh… his own eye, in exchange for one last gift. To claim this town as his in perpetuity. As per our contract, I granted him his wish. I permitted him to live out his fairy tale in this place… knowing it would not sate him, but not suspecting the lengths of treachery he would go to. I know not how he came across my heart. I had thought it hidden well… but he claimed it as his own and with it, he has claimed me. Enthralling me as he has so many others… as he will continue to enthrall others…”
​
“Noble Eldest… I mourn your fate,” Gretchen said. “One such as you should not have been enshackled by one with so little honor.”
“Mourn me not. My fate was written in stone in ages past, when first I chose this path. Alas… my servitude has granted me new clarity. And now I wish only for silence and peace.”
“That, we can grant you,” Gretchen said. “You need only tell us where to find your heart.”
“In the chest of the traitor,” The Eldest replied, “He needed his own so little, that mine would suffice. His life and mine are one, now. My power… his power. Kill him and release me in turn.”
“And where exactly do we find him?” Nina asked, looking up at The Eldest.
​
The roots began to move, some of them pulling aside to reveal a door behind them.
“The Wretch has had me open several doors for him. He moved through this one, only a short time ago… no doubt to summon more thralls to this place, and complete his vile contract with the Lugal… curse the day I ever heard his name. 5000 souls in exchange for the power to drive off those who would stand against him. A mindless request, made by a mindless man. He did not heed my warnings that there was no salvation with the Lugal. Those who have died, go neither to Heaven nor Hell but someplace far worse. His Court, corrupted into the same wandering beasts who slip through the veil. Nightwalkers… Grovewalkers… whatever name you choose.”
​
My stomach churned uneasily. The memory of my mother's corpse flashed through my mind.
“Can we save them?” I asked, feeling guilty for speaking out of turn, but I had to know.
“Perhaps… should Calhoun die before the bargain is completed, then they will be forfeit. Free to move on to a kinder afterlife. The souls I claimed for him, h keeps bound around his neck. Shatter that charm, and you may yet save the dead. But hurry. The clock ticks down.”
​
“Then we need to move our asses,” Nina said, heading for the door. Gretchen gave the Eldest a respectful bow.
“Thank you for everything, Noble Eldest. You have our gratitude,”
“Go, then. End his tyranny and my despair,” The Eldest replied.
Nina opened the door and gestured for us to join her.
“Come on,” She said.
Dom and I moved through behind her, with Gretchen following moments later.
​
The light on the other side of the door was almost blinding, after being inside Calhoun’s house. I raised a hand to shield my eyes from it.
“Where are we now?” Dom asked, looking around.
I saw Nina staring down at her phone.
“Well, we’re not in the pocket, I’m getting a signal,” She said.
​
I looked around. We’d just come out of a small, run down office building in what looked like a small, run down town. Most of the buildings I saw seemed abandoned, save for a few small stores.
​
A clock tower chimed, and I looked over in its direction. It looked to be part of some old church just across the street although it looked like it’d fallen mostly into disrepair.
“Welcome to Smokey Falls, Alabama,” Nina said, still looking at her phone. “Well, least we know where we are.”
“Yeah, but where’s Calhoun?” Dom asked.
“Logically, somewhere close,” Gretchen replied. “The spell he’d need to cast to pull this place into his pocket reality would be fairly complex, one would need absolute privacy and time to set it up… you would need to draw a ritual circle around the entire town. That alone could take days at minimum to do discreetly. After that, you would need a good central vantage point. Somewhere high, I might think…”
​
My eyes wandered back to the clock tower atop the old church.
“Somewhere like that?” I asked.
Gretchen looked up at it.
“That would be where I’d go,” She said before starting toward it. “Let’s have a look.”
Dom and I took off behind her, and Nina trailed behind, still tapping away at her phone.
“Not sure what good the FRB will do us right now, but at least they should know we’re still alive,” She said when she noticed me staring.
​
Gretchen reached the church first and tried the door. It swung open easily.
“Unlocked,” She noted. “Promising.” She pushed inside and looked around.
The church was more or less empty. Natural light shone in through the tall windows along the side walls, illuminating the drab violet carpet. White pillars stretched up toward the sky blue concave ceiling, decorated with simple geometric patterns and gold trim. This place had a certain beauty to it that was hard to deny. The pews were long gone, leaving the space feeling open and empty. At the far end of the church, past the altar lay a crucifix broken upon the ground. Pieces of garbage and stray furniture littered the ground.
Gretchen admired the church for a few moments, before noticing a door off to the side as we entered the chapel.
“Here…” She said quietly, before going through the door and up the stairs inside.
​
The stairs led to a balcony looking out over the chapel, and on that balcony, I could see another door leading up to the clock tower. We followed Gretchen up there too. Above us, I could hear footsteps and movement.
​
We weren’t alone.
​
Whoever was up there seemed to pause, recognizing that his solitude had been disrupted, and then I heard his voice.
“Well, well… I guess there’s nothing that slows you guys down, is there?”
​
Nina gripped her shotgun tighter and moved to continue up the stairs but Gretchen stopped her.
“Attribution spell,” She warned.
Nina and her locked eyes for a moment before Nina gave a slow nod and let Gretchen go first.
“Come on up,” Calhoun said. “You’ve all come so far, it’d be a waste not to speak with you.”
​
We ascended the stairs, joining Calhoun in the little room atop the clock tower. He stood with his hands raised beside the collection of large gears housed in a metal frame that made the clock run. A turret clock, I believed it was called. Behind him, I could see a ritual circle drawn in chalk with an incense burner set in the center of it. He had set it close to the glass clock face so that he could look out on Smokey Falls as he dragged them into his world.
​
Calhoun wore a sheepish, almost gentle smile as we joined him, his one good eye shifting to each of us in turn. I noticed a small wooden pendant around his neck. It had the erratic patterns of a piece of burl wood, and the sight of it sent a chill through me.
That must have been what The Eldest was talking about. 4000 souls… all bound in there.
“So… here we all are,” He said. “Exactly where we mean to be. I’ve got to say, I admire your persistence even if it is wasted,”
​
“Tough talk for the man at the end of his rope,” Nina said.
“An animal is at its most dangerous when backed into a corner,” Calhoun replied. “Not to imply you’ve pushed me to that extent, of course. While you have caused me a number of problems, all you’ve done is challenge me to grow and adapt. Honestly, you have my gratitude for that. I may even miss you after you’re dead.”
​
While Nina kept him talking, I noticed Gretchen rounding the turret clock, studying his ritual circle.
“A modification of the spell required to enter the Midnight Grove,” She noted. “Simple… but I can’t imagine the range is very good,”
“I planted the seeds to make Smokey Falls mine long ago,” Calhoun replied. “This place was an ideal candidate to join my Sovereign Nation. They’re a religious lot… almost blindly so. You should have seen the level of devotion they showed the Pastor who was running things before me… that’s what they call me here, Pastor Calhoun. Really, the title makes no difference to me. So long as they recognize my authority. Given a few more years, I could have had incredible success here, once they came to fully trust me and see me as one of their own. They would have come to my world with open arms, singing my praises. It’s a shame I’m going to have to sacrifice so many of them… but we do what we have to.”
​
“You’ve got the choice not to,” I said, looking Calhoun dead in the eye. “We offered you a peaceful way out before. You can still take it. You have that choice.”
“So did you,” Calhoun replied. “I recognize that you may not comprehend the inherent value of my work and that is your choice. But it does not change the fact that before you came and forced my hand I was in the business of saving people! This world here? It’s fundamentally broken! It’s so painfully divided, pulling itself in a million different directions! You haven’t seen it yet… but stay here long enough and you will. I wanted to bring people into a world where there was no discourse. Where there was only order and peace! Was my vision flawless? No. Building a nation takes time and it takes work! It took me decades to even get Parsons into a state where I could even be remotely proud of it, and it would have taken me decades longer to get the other towns in line! But, given time I could have perfected them! Given time, I will perfect them… once I’ve completed my bargain, I will repopulate them and rebuild them better than before!”
“Buddy, I’ve met a lot of assholes in my time but you might easily be the craziest…” Nina said.
​
Gretchen quietly stalked closer to Calhoun’s ritual circle, and he looked over at her, pulling a polished wooden dagger from his suit jacket.
“Stop…” he warned, glaring intently at her. “I have come so far and you will not take that from me!”
​
He moved suddenly, slashing at Gretchen as she drew closer to his ritual circle. His dagger grazed her cheek, leaving a thin red cut along it. She took a step backward as an identical cut appeared on his cheek. Calhoun paused, pressing a hand to his new injury as Gretchen cracked a knowing smile.
“Do you know what happens when two witches, each with an attribution spell fight?” Gretchen, “The spell affects them both. Each wound you inflict on me… comes to you in turn.”
“Then I’ll kill you another way,” Calhoun growled, taking a step back and pressing two fingers to his temple.
​
A red eye sigil flashed on his forehead, and the room seemed to grow darker around us. I heard an animalistic hiss in the instant before I noticed another glowing eye sigil appearing in the dark shadows of the roof overhead, followed by two glowing red eyes.
​
Nina didn’t wait for the new Nightwalker to reveal itself, she just started shooting.
​
The sparks from her shotgun illuminated the creature and set it alight, but did nothing to stop it from coming down on her. The ground beneath Nina moved, taking Dom with it and pulling them out of harm's way as the Nightwalker pounced. It landed on the ground in a heap, before looking around for its prey. Like most of the others, it too looked as if it had been human once, although its body was twisted far past whatever humanity it may have had. Its arms resembled leathery wings and its mouth opened into a familiar maw of needle like teeth.
​
Calhoun ran to his ritual circle, as the new Nightwalker lunged for Gretchen next, pinning her up against the wall as it tried to sink its teeth into her skull. Dom and Nina ran to grab it from behind, trying to wrestle it off of her as Gretchen drove her dagger into its stomach, tearing at its flesh to no avail. While they were busy with the Nightwalker, I focused on Calhoun.
​
I saw him wiping the blood from his cheek and letting it fall into the incense burner before hastily lighting it. As he got the incense to burn, I grabbed him from behind, trying to drag him away from the ritual.
“NO!” He snarled, slapping me away and sending me to the ground. “You won’t stop this!”
​
I just scrambled back to my feet and launched myself at him, tacking him against the clock face. I felt it crack under our weight. I grabbed at the pendant around his neck only for Calhoun to throw me off of him. Beside us on the other side of the clock tower, Nina’s shotgun went off and the Nightwalker pulled away, crashing through the face of the clock behind him as it took to the air.
​
Calhoun spun to watch as it departed with wide eyes, in the moment before he noticed that the glass from the broken clock tower hadn’t fallen. It remained floating, and the jagged edges were now pointing toward him. He looked over at Gretchen through the turret clock, who only cracked a knowing smile before flickering her wrist and sending the shards toward him. I dove out of the way and watched Calhoun do the same.
​
The glass pieces crashed against the clock face on the other side of the tower, and Gretchen seized the moment to come for Calhoun, warping the ground beneath her to bring her closer to him.
“I’ve been doing this far longer than you have!” She hissed, catching him by the throat as he tried to stand. “You think an attribution spell will protect you? It won’t!”
​
In one deft motion, she hurled him through the glass and onto the roof of the church. Calhoun skidded down the curve of the roof before grabbing onto one of the tiles and trying to pull himself up.
​
Gretchen stared out at him, before noticing the mist sweeping in to devour Smokey Falls. Calhoun saw it too, and I noticed a small smile crossing his lips.
“And you think your experience will protect you?” He asked.
​
An ear piercing shriek filled the air and Gretchen turned just in time to see the Bat Nightwalker swoop in through the other broken clock face. It hit her head on, sending her out onto the roof as well. I watched as pieces of the roof broke apart, forming into a flatter surface for him to stand on, while leaving the section of roof Gretchen had landed on uneven.
​
“The incense…” She yelled to us, “Add new blood to it!”
I looked over at Calhoun’s ritual circle before running to it, although I heard the scream of the Nightwalker again as soon as I reached it and saw it circling back toward the clock tower.
“Where’s that goddamn revolver when you need it…” Nina growled, running to the broken clock face and firing at the oncoming Nightwalker. I’m not really sure why she bothered. It did nothing.
​
The Nightwalker crashed back into the clock tower. Dom dove out of its way and leaped out of the other side of the tower, onto the roof as the Nightwalker crashed into the frame of the turret clock, thrashing violently as it tried to claw at us. I dove out of the way, before noticing that it was going for Nina first. She fired at it, retreating hastily before realizing that the only place she could go was out onto the roof, and she fired one more blast into its face before leaping out to join Dom.
​
I think she’d hoped that the Nightwalker would follow her, although it seemed to already know her game. As soon as she was out of the clocktower, its attention focused on me. With a defiant cry, it ran for me, and I had nowhere left to go but back down the stairs where I’d first come up.
​
I sprinted down the first flight, before looking back up to see if I was being followed. The Bat Nightwalker tried to wedge its body down the stairs, shrieking and clawing at me all the while. I raised my gun and fired a few bullets at it to keep its attention and saw its red eyes narrow as they fixated on me.
​
“Come on!” I cried, “Come get me!”
The Nightwalker jerked its body around, twisting it to try and get down the stairs… and I could see it coming.
​
I kept on running, going down another flight of stairs as I heard it coming after me. Wood splintered and stone shifted as it made its pursuit. At the bottom of the last flight of stairs, I came out onto the church balcony again.
​
Above me, I could see the concave roof buckling and saw a section of it collapse outright. As it fell, I had just a split second where I could see Calhoun clinging to life on it.
The section of the roof hit the ground hard, kicking up dust as it did. Another section of the roof began to warp and collapse as well. This one curled inward, and I could see Gretchen on top of it, making a more controlled descent. At the top of her section of roof, I saw Nina and Dom looking down at her.
​
“ENOUGH OF THIS!” Calhoun roared, stumbling away from the ruined section of roof he’d come down on. I could see blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. “I will not let you jeopardize my creation!”
​
He gripped his dagger and ran for Gretchen, meeting her on the sloped section of roof she was descending on. I saw her raise her dagger to parry his, as they fought upon the floor of the church.
​
I could see Dom sliding down Gretchen’s slope, with Nina right behind him. They kept away from the fight, but something told me that they were there with a purpose. Dom took off toward the balcony, presumably to try and make it back up to the clock tower, while Nina remained close to Gretchen, watching the fight with her shotgun at the ready. I saw her look down at one of the damaged pieces of furniture lying on the ground. What might have once been part of a pew. She took aim at it and fired twice, setting it alight.
​
As soon as Gretchen saw the flame, she claimed it for herself, pulling away from Calhoun and holding her dagger at the ready as the fire abandoned the burning piece of pew and collected in her hand.
“You’ll have no say in the matter,” She said, giving Nina a knowing look. Nina nodded at her, before making her move, coming at Calhoun from the side with the butt of her rifle. He turned just in time to catch her, teeth gritted in rage.
​
“You’ll need more than that!” He spat, before realizing that all Nina had done was take his attention off of Gretchen.
The ground beneath them moved, turning like the gears of a clock, shifting so that Gretchen was right behind Calhoun. I saw the fire leave her hand, washing over Calhoun’s back… and burning his neck. Nina pulled back, leaving Calhoun to take the brunt of the inferno.
​
I remembered the attribution spell carved into the back of Gretchen’s neck… she had said all of her sisters had carved it into the backs of their necks.
​
I knew that Calhoun had carved it there too.
​
And now, it was burning away for both of them.
​
He screamed, as did Gretchen, whose knees gave out as soon as her spell was cast. Calhoun howled in pain,
“What did you do?” Calhoun wailed, “What did you do to us?”
Gretchen didn’t respond, she just panted weakly before collapsing.
​
I saw Dom coming up the stairs beside me. He paused to look down at Calhoun as he writhed on the ground below us, I saw Nina staring knowingly down at him, the shotgun sitting comfortably in her hands.
“This is for wasting my Friday,” She said as she took aim at his head. Calhoun looked at her, and I waited for the burst of fire that would end his life.
​
Suddenly from above us came an explosion of plaster and broken wood. I looked up to see the Bat Nightwalker tearing its way through the wall above us. Nina paused, looking up at it before pulling the trigger on Calhoun but he’d bought himself just enough time to save his own life.
​
He grabbed her by the midsection, tackling her to the ground. Nina’s shotgun fired into the air, hitting nothing. I saw him trying to grab her by the throat, only to get clawed at and bitten for his trouble. Nina kicked him off of her, and Calhoun wasted no time in running while the Bat Nightwalker leaped down from the hole it had just put in the wall above us to go after Nina.
“Oh FUCK OFF!” She growled, firing at it as it came for her.
​
Calhoun stumbled away, looking up at the sloped section of roof that Gretchen had brought down. He pressed a hand to the back of his neck, teeth gritted in pain before pressing a hand to the collapsed section of the roof. I watched as it twisted and reformed into a stairway, and with his way back up secured, Calhoun started to climb.
​
“The ritual…” I said, turning back toward the stairs to the clock tower. “We still need to disrupt it!”
“What about them?” Dom asked, looking back at Nina as she did everything in her power to avoid the Nightwalker, while Gretchen tried to get on her feet again to help.
“Help them,” I said. “I’ve got the ritual.”
Dom nodded and took off again, while I went back for the clocktower.
​
The Bat Nightwalker had damaged the walls, but the stairs were mostly intact. I raced up them, almost two at a time to make it back to the top of the clock tower. My legs ached and my lungs screamed for air, but I needed to make it there before Calhoun did.
​
At last, I got up the last flight of stairs and found myself back at the top. Through the broken clock faces, I could see Smokey Falls enshrouded in mist. I could see distant specks of people out on the street. I had one shot to get this right… only one.
​
Calhoun’s ritual waited before me. I set my gun down and reached out to pick up a shard of glass off the floor. Bracing myself for the pain, I gently raked the glass across the bottom of my palm, leaving a shallow cut. Then, I held my hand over the incense burner and let the blood flow into it.
​
I saw a ripple pass through the mist before me… and I felt it respond. As I breathed in the incense, I could feel myself… drifting. Even through my mask, I could feel the mist filling my lungs and I reached up to pull it down so I could breathe it in better.
​
Gretchen hadn’t told me exactly what to do, but somehow I could sense it. Different places appeared in my mind. The town in Estonia, Bakersfield, Parsons, Thompson Falls… the places I could bring this town. I realized that the mist was giving me the chance to choose. And there was really only one right choice. To set it all back where it belonged.
I pictured Smokey Falls exactly as it had been when I’d arrived, and I felt the mist respond.
​
Then I heard movement beside me. The crunch of glass underfoot. I heard Calhoun breathing as he came for me. I only barely moved out of the way in time as he brought his dagger down at the spot where I’d been kneeling only a moment before.
“No…” He panted, teeth gritted in rage. “NO! YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY WORLD FROM ME!”
He came for me again and in my panic, a new image flashed through my mind.
I envisioned Smokey Falls, empty. Lifeless. And I envisioned Parsons. Two images overlapping each other.
​
The mist pulsed again.
​
It accepted my choice.
​
The entire Church shook violently. Calhoun was thrown off balance and braced himself against the turret clock.
The mist rippled around us, as the entire world seemed to tremble. The sunlight faded abruptly, casting everything into absolute darkness. I could hear the distant crash as the consequences of my choice became manifest.
​
And then there was silence.
​
Calhoun looked out through the broken clock face, his single eye growing wide with terror.
“No…” He said again, looking out over the abomination that I had just created. “NO!”
The skyline of Parsons had changed. Merged. I could see it now, intersecting with Smokey Falls. Buildings merging in ways they should not be able to merge. Brick overlapping brick. Towers branching out from each other, sometimes not even at the right angles. Some of the buildings jutted out of each other like thorns or cancerous growths. The sight seemed so surreal… and yet it all stood, somehow.
​
“What did you just do?!” Calhoun demanded, looking at me with a wide, furious eye.
“You wanted Smokey Falls…” I said, “You got it… or I guess the version you would have left behind.”
“How?” He demanded.
“You’re the one who made this place,” I said. “You tell me how it works.”
​
He let out an enraged roar before coming at me with his dagger again, but this time I was ready for him. I kicked out at him, knocking him back a step before trying to scramble to my feet. Calhoun swayed drunkenly, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. My eyes darted to my gun, just a few feet away and I lunged for it.
​
Calhoun came for me again, but he wasn’t fast enough. I grabbed my gun off the ground and raised it to him, squeezing the trigger just as he reached me.
​
The first two bullets caught him in the stomach. The third struck the pendant around his neck, shattering it into splinters. It burst with a bright flash, as every soul he’d stolen was set free. I felt a cool wind wash over my face, as a vivid image of my mother’s face flashed through my mind. For a moment, I thought I felt a hand on my cheek… and then it was gone.
​
Calhoun stumbled, before tripping over me and falling toward the broken face of the clock tower. He had just enough time to scream as he plummeted through it, and into the darkness below. I didn’t give myself a chance to rest. Panting heavily, I dragged myself over to the broken clock face and poked my head out, looking down and hoping to see the broken corpse of Calhoun smashed against the cobblestone beneath me… but I had no such luck.
​
Calhoun only lay a few feet beneath me, on top of what might have been a hardware store, jutting out of the building across the street at an impossible angle. He’d landed by the window, on the cold, unforgiving brick, and was clutching his bleeding stomach as he stared up at the sky. His good eye fixated on me with a bitter hatred that I almost relished.
​
I forced myself to stand, taking aim at Calhoun with my gun to finish the job. But Calhoun wouldn’t give me the satisfaction. With the last of his strength, he rolled onto the window. I fired, only to watch the glass shatter beneath him. He fell into the store, and out of my sight.
“Son of a bitch…” I seethed, before I took one more look at the abomination of a cityscape I’d just created. Along some buildings, I could already see the glowing flowers of the Rosen Prince and I could hear gunfire and inhuman screeches in the street.
​
Part of me wondered if Calhoun was even worth pursuing into this nightmare… he had no pendant and thus no souls to barter with. This world of his was dying, waiting to be devoured by the Rosen Prince. But I also knew that if anyone could worm their way out of this situation, it was him… best to be sure.

I have no personal frame of reference for this opinion, but I imagine being a drug runner for the Mexican cartel (or any cartel) is loads more fun in a video game setting than in real life. The latter pays more I'm sure, but the stress, risk to life and limb, and persistent threat of jail time have me convinced to stick with legal employment. Not so for some GTA Online gamers who thought it a good idea to become meth mules.
It sounds wild (because it is), but apparently drug cartels sometimes use online multiplayer video games as a source for new blood. Back in October of last year, for example, Mexico's assistant public safety secretary, Ricardo Mejía, said a cartel recruiter purchased bus tickets for three teenagers between 11 and 14 years old.
The recruiter found the teens on Garena Free Fire, a popular online game, and offered them each $200 per week to serve as lookouts for the cartel. Authorities detained the teens before they boarded the bus, but Mejía told ABC News that other cartels have also recruited drug mules and lookouts through video games, including Call of Duty, Gears of War, and Grand Theft Auto V.
Now three months later, Forbes says it discovered that US officials have evidence showing GTA Online is also used as a recruitment tool for drug cartels.
It's not clear how long this has allegedly been going on, but according to the site, border agents stopped and inspected a Jeep Cherokee in Arizona last November and found almost 60 kilograms of methamphetamine. The driver, Alyssa Navarro, said a man named George first contacted her in GTA Online, through which they got to know each other over time.
Those in-game chats later pivoted over to Snapchat, where George raised the idea of being a runner, albeit for electronics to be sold in Mexico. Navarro claims she was offered up to $2,000 per trip, depending on the size of the load.
The only problem for Navarro is that the cartel allegedly hid meth in the Jeep's fuel tank. Authorities have charged Navarro with conspiracy to import and sell meth, and also possession, charges for which she has pleaded not guilty.
It remains to be seen how that case will turn out. Suffice to say, though, if someone online propositions you for an offer that seems too good to be true—or is outright illegal—it's best to politely decline.

Does anybody know where I can find interior CF pieces for a '20 m240i? Most of the sets I've found are stick on, not tabbed.
I don't necessarily need the whole set at once, so I'm OK with buying each piece indivdually if needed.
Thanks!

First Entry
Second Entry
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Fifth Entry
Sixth Entry
Seventh Entry
Eighth Entry
Ninth Entry
Tenth Entry
​
Journal of Camille Lambert - April 14th (Part 3)
​
The inside of Calhoun’s home was no less of an eyesore than the outside. The walls were stone and decorated with ornate carvings. They would have been beautiful if they made any sense. Curves seemed to go nowhere and branch off into even more bizarre curves. Light shone in through windows despite the fact that outside, it was pitch black.
​
Every footstep echoed off the stone floor. There were columns and stairways that rose up to the ceiling but never seemed to go anywhere and every time I looked away, something was always different.
“What the fuck is this place?” Nina murmured, looking around and failing to make sense of everything just as I was.
​
Gretchen studied the walls, slowly walking further into the entrance hall.
“Incredible,” She said. “I suppose I really shouldn’t have expected anything less, but I must admit this is impressive!”
She looked back at us.
“It’s like the mists that surround the towns! Although, this is a little more tangible. He’s done the same thing with this architecture. Navigating this place should be… interesting…”
​
She took out her notebook and began scribbling in it, walking absentmindedly forward.
“Okay, so anybody know what the fuck she’s talking about?” Nina asked, looking at me, then at Dom. We both just shrugged.
“Exactly how long have we got before people start following us in here?” Nina asked, looking back at the door as we followed Gretchen. “That rune you drew, how long will it hold?”
​
“So long as the door remains functional,” She replied. “I used a modified Abyssal Rune. Opening that door in either direction leads into the Abyss. Or I suppose you might better know it as ‘Hell’. Either way, I can’t imagine that Hell is somewhere that the Rosen Prince wishes to go. He can claim all the Demons he wants but they’re not going to be of much use to him. They just get eaten by the God of that realm anyways and He stands no chance of corrupting Her.”
​
Nina paused, looking back at the door.
“Oh. So you just casually turned that door into a portal to Hell?” She asked.
“Before you ask, no. Opening a portal to Hell was not a better option than summoning the Rosen Prince,” Gretchen replied. “It could have taken hours for a Demon to wander through and really, Demons aren’t going to do much against the Nightwalkers. They’re nowhere near as resilient,”
​
Nina thought about it for a moment, then shrugged.
“Fair enough. They do go down pretty easily.”
Dom and I exchanged a glance and quietly accepted that we had no idea what the heck either of them were talking about, and that it was probably better if we never found out. Gretchen paused as she continued into the house, looking up and to the side. It took the rest of us a few moments to see exactly what she was seeing.
​
A new hallway had appeared in the wall beside her, this one looking more like a worn down cavern, overgrown with moss. In fact, if it weren’t for the pillars and shifting carvings on the walls, it would have been easy to see it as a natural cave.
“Intriguing,” Gretchen said. “It seems as if we’ve received an invitation.”
She turned to go down the new hall only to be stopped by Dom.
“Wait, how do you know that’s safe?” He asked, “Look at all that moss, what if it’s…”
“This is not the Rosen Prince,” Gretchen assured us. “No, this is something else…”
​
She pulled away from him and started down the hall. Nina watched her for a moment before following her, and I figured if they trusted it, I might as well trust it. I looked back to make sure that Dom was following me and saw him sigh in resignation before joining us. I reached out for him to take my hand, and laced my fingers with his as we walked through the hall. Ahead, I could see the hall growing longer. Vines slithered along the walls like serpents and beckoned us deeper.
​
I’m not sure how long we walked. Not long, only a few minutes. But it felt so much longer and when we finally came to the room at the end of the hall, I wasn’t sure what would be waiting for us there.
​
The room seemed more like part of a forest than part of a house. Thick moss and vines grew along the stone walls, and massive tree roots tangled down from the far wall to the floor, overgrown and entangled.
“Love what he’s done with the place. It’s very ‘ancient ruin’.” Nina said under her breath.
“You look upon the carcass of something far greater than you could dare to dream,” A low voice replied, making the entire room tremble.
​
All eyes were drawn to the tangle of roots on the far wall, and I noticed two sunken eyes staring at us from them. The roots shifted, with something ensnared in them leaning forward. At a glance, it was hard to tell the difference between it and the rest of the roots. It seemed to be made of the same wood, although this was clearly something else. Something alive.
​
Maybe once upon a time, this thing had been shaped like a person although now there was little that detached from the wall aside from the head and part of the torso. The roots hung off of its face like a beard, and in its hollow eye sockets, I saw no eyes. Only deep pits in the wood that still seemed to watch us.
Nina took a step back, raising her gun but not daring to fire just yet. Gretchen on the other hand remained perfectly still.
​
“A strange lot you are… a vampire and three mortals. Not the salvation I had hoped may come… but better than none.”
“Salvation?” Gretchen asked, “You were the one who called us to this room?”
“I am the Eldest of my kin,” The creature said, “Those of the forest who christen themselves Old Fae walk within my footsteps. How it would pain them to see me now… reduced to this.”
​
The Eldest… this was the thing that Calhoun had used to form this place. I’d expected it to be more than this although the more I looked at the thing tangled in the roots, the more I understood. He was as much Calhoun’s prisoner as we were.
“Noble Eldest, I lament your fate,” Gretchen said. “Though I am but a humble child of Shaal, it pains me to see one of your kind treated with such disrespect.”
​
“Then thank your God, that you know not the pain of my being,” The Eldest said. “Once… I had thought myself above this. Once, I was proud… free… no longer.”
“Noble Eldest, tell me how?” Gretchen asked.
“A man sought me in the forest once… a man who believed as many do that fortune was owed to him by fate,” The Eldest said, “He purchased such fortune from me, as many did before him, trading kind memories and pieces of his past for wealth and prosperity. And like many before him, it brought him no peace. He sought power over men… a pittance, really. And yet it meant so much to him. He corrupted this place… this town… Parsons. Claiming it as his through lies, extortion and trickery. Becoming its leader and yet it did not sate his hunger… no. He sought higher status in the offices of man. His hollow title, ‘Governor’. He sought that. And when he failed and the loss of the power he had gained was threatened, he could not accept it. Unwilling to let go, he came to me once more. He offered up his own flesh… his own eye, in exchange for one last gift. To claim this town as his in perpetuity. As per our contract, I granted him his wish. I permitted him to live out his fairy tale in this place… knowing it would not sate him, but not suspecting the lengths of treachery he would go to. I know not how he came across my heart. I had thought it hidden well… but he claimed it as his own and with it, he has claimed me. Enthralling me as he has so many others… as he will continue to enthrall others…”
​
“Noble Eldest… I mourn your fate,” Gretchen said. “One such as you should not have been enshackled by one with so little honor.”
“Mourn me not. My fate was written in stone in ages past, when first I chose this path. Alas… my servitude has granted me new clarity. And now I wish only for silence and peace.”
“That, we can grant you,” Gretchen said. “You need only tell us where to find your heart.”
“In the chest of the traitor,” The Eldest replied, “He needed his own so little, that mine would suffice. His life and mine are one, now. My power… his power. Kill him and release me in turn.”
“And where exactly do we find him?” Nina asked, looking up at The Eldest.
​
The roots began to move, some of them pulling aside to reveal a door behind them.
“The Wretch has had me open several doors for him. He moved through this one, only a short time ago… no doubt to summon more thralls to this place, and complete his vile contract with the Lugal… curse the day I ever heard his name. 5000 souls in exchange for the power to drive off those who would stand against him. A mindless request, made by a mindless man. He did not heed my warnings that there was no salvation with the Lugal. Those who have died, go neither to Heaven nor Hell but someplace far worse. His Court, corrupted into the same wandering beasts who slip through the veil. Nightwalkers… Grovewalkers… whatever name you choose.”
​
My stomach churned uneasily. The memory of my mother's corpse flashed through my mind.
“Can we save them?” I asked, feeling guilty for speaking out of turn, but I had to know.
“Perhaps… should Calhoun die before the bargain is completed, then they will be forfeit. Free to move on to a kinder afterlife. The souls I claimed for him, h keeps bound around his neck. Shatter that charm, and you may yet save the dead. But hurry. The clock ticks down.”
​
“Then we need to move our asses,” Nina said, heading for the door. Gretchen gave the Eldest a respectful bow.
“Thank you for everything, Noble Eldest. You have our gratitude,”
“Go, then. End his tyranny and my despair,” The Eldest replied.
Nina opened the door and gestured for us to join her.
“Come on,” She said.
Dom and I moved through behind her, with Gretchen following moments later.
​
The light on the other side of the door was almost blinding, after being inside Calhoun’s house. I raised a hand to shield my eyes from it.
“Where are we now?” Dom asked, looking around.
I saw Nina staring down at her phone.
“Well, we’re not in the pocket, I’m getting a signal,” She said.
​
I looked around. We’d just come out of a small, run down office building in what looked like a small, run down town. Most of the buildings I saw seemed abandoned, save for a few small stores.
​
A clock tower chimed, and I looked over in its direction. It looked to be part of some old church just across the street although it looked like it’d fallen mostly into disrepair.
“Welcome to Smokey Falls, Alabama,” Nina said, still looking at her phone. “Well, least we know where we are.”
“Yeah, but where’s Calhoun?” Dom asked.
“Logically, somewhere close,” Gretchen replied. “The spell he’d need to cast to pull this place into his pocket reality would be fairly complex, one would need absolute privacy and time to set it up… you would need to draw a ritual circle around the entire town. That alone could take days at minimum to do discreetly. After that, you would need a good central vantage point. Somewhere high, I might think…”
​
My eyes wandered back to the clock tower atop the old church.
“Somewhere like that?” I asked.
Gretchen looked up at it.
“That would be where I’d go,” She said before starting toward it. “Let’s have a look.”
Dom and I took off behind her, and Nina trailed behind, still tapping away at her phone.
“Not sure what good the FRB will do us right now, but at least they should know we’re still alive,” She said when she noticed me staring.
​
Gretchen reached the church first and tried the door. It swung open easily.
“Unlocked,” She noted. “Promising.” She pushed inside and looked around.
The church was more or less empty. Natural light shone in through the tall windows along the side walls, illuminating the drab violet carpet. White pillars stretched up toward the sky blue concave ceiling, decorated with simple geometric patterns and gold trim. This place had a certain beauty to it that was hard to deny. The pews were long gone, leaving the space feeling open and empty. At the far end of the church, past the altar lay a crucifix broken upon the ground. Pieces of garbage and stray furniture littered the ground.
Gretchen admired the church for a few moments, before noticing a door off to the side as we entered the chapel.
“Here…” She said quietly, before going through the door and up the stairs inside.
​
The stairs led to a balcony looking out over the chapel, and on that balcony, I could see another door leading up to the clock tower. We followed Gretchen up there too. Above us, I could hear footsteps and movement.
​
We weren’t alone.
​
Whoever was up there seemed to pause, recognizing that his solitude had been disrupted, and then I heard his voice.
“Well, well… I guess there’s nothing that slows you guys down, is there?”
​
Nina gripped her shotgun tighter and moved to continue up the stairs but Gretchen stopped her.
“Attribution spell,” She warned.
Nina and her locked eyes for a moment before Nina gave a slow nod and let Gretchen go first.
“Come on up,” Calhoun said. “You’ve all come so far, it’d be a waste not to speak with you.”
​
We ascended the stairs, joining Calhoun in the little room atop the clock tower. He stood with his hands raised beside the collection of large gears housed in a metal frame that made the clock run. A turret clock, I believed it was called. Behind him, I could see a ritual circle drawn in chalk with an incense burner set in the center of it. He had set it close to the glass clock face so that he could look out on Smokey Falls as he dragged them into his world.
​
Calhoun wore a sheepish, almost gentle smile as we joined him, his one good eye shifting to each of us in turn. I noticed a small wooden pendant around his neck. It had the erratic patterns of a piece of burl wood, and the sight of it sent a chill through me.
That must have been what The Eldest was talking about. 4000 souls… all bound in there.
“So… here we all are,” He said. “Exactly where we mean to be. I’ve got to say, I admire your persistence even if it is wasted,”
​
“Tough talk for the man at the end of his rope,” Nina said.
“An animal is at its most dangerous when backed into a corner,” Calhoun replied. “Not to imply you’ve pushed me to that extent, of course. While you have caused me a number of problems, all you’ve done is challenge me to grow and adapt. Honestly, you have my gratitude for that. I may even miss you after you’re dead.”
​
While Nina kept him talking, I noticed Gretchen rounding the turret clock, studying his ritual circle.
“A modification of the spell required to enter the Midnight Grove,” She noted. “Simple… but I can’t imagine the range is very good,”
“I planted the seeds to make Smokey Falls mine long ago,” Calhoun replied. “This place was an ideal candidate to join my Sovereign Nation. They’re a religious lot… almost blindly so. You should have seen the level of devotion they showed the Pastor who was running things before me… that’s what they call me here, Pastor Calhoun. Really, the title makes no difference to me. So long as they recognize my authority. Given a few more years, I could have had incredible success here, once they came to fully trust me and see me as one of their own. They would have come to my world with open arms, singing my praises. It’s a shame I’m going to have to sacrifice so many of them… but we do what we have to.”
​
“You’ve got the choice not to,” I said, looking Calhoun dead in the eye. “We offered you a peaceful way out before. You can still take it. You have that choice.”
“So did you,” Calhoun replied. “I recognize that you may not comprehend the inherent value of my work and that is your choice. But it does not change the fact that before you came and forced my hand I was in the business of saving people! This world here? It’s fundamentally broken! It’s so painfully divided, pulling itself in a million different directions! You haven’t seen it yet… but stay here long enough and you will. I wanted to bring people into a world where there was no discourse. Where there was only order and peace! Was my vision flawless? No. Building a nation takes time and it takes work! It took me decades to even get Parsons into a state where I could even be remotely proud of it, and it would have taken me decades longer to get the other towns in line! But, given time I could have perfected them! Given time, I will perfect them… once I’ve completed my bargain, I will repopulate them and rebuild them better than before!”
“Buddy, I’ve met a lot of assholes in my time but you might easily be the craziest…” Nina said.
​
Gretchen quietly stalked closer to Calhoun’s ritual circle, and he looked over at her, pulling a polished wooden dagger from his suit jacket.
“Stop…” he warned, glaring intently at her. “I have come so far and you will not take that from me!”
​
He moved suddenly, slashing at Gretchen as she drew closer to his ritual circle. His dagger grazed her cheek, leaving a thin red cut along it. She took a step backward as an identical cut appeared on his cheek. Calhoun paused, pressing a hand to his new injury as Gretchen cracked a knowing smile.
“Do you know what happens when two witches, each with an attribution spell fight?” Gretchen, “The spell affects them both. Each wound you inflict on me… comes to you in turn.”
“Then I’ll kill you another way,” Calhoun growled, taking a step back and pressing two fingers to his temple.
​
A red eye sigil flashed on his forehead, and the room seemed to grow darker around us. I heard an animalistic hiss in the instant before I noticed another glowing eye sigil appearing in the dark shadows of the roof overhead, followed by two glowing red eyes.
​
Nina didn’t wait for the new Nightwalker to reveal itself, she just started shooting.
​
The sparks from her shotgun illuminated the creature and set it alight, but did nothing to stop it from coming down on her. The ground beneath Nina moved, taking Dom with it and pulling them out of harm's way as the Nightwalker pounced. It landed on the ground in a heap, before looking around for its prey. Like most of the others, it too looked as if it had been human once, although its body was twisted far past whatever humanity it may have had. Its arms resembled leathery wings and its mouth opened into a familiar maw of needle like teeth.
​
Calhoun ran to his ritual circle, as the new Nightwalker lunged for Gretchen next, pinning her up against the wall as it tried to sink its teeth into her skull. Dom and Nina ran to grab it from behind, trying to wrestle it off of her as Gretchen drove her dagger into its stomach, tearing at its flesh to no avail. While they were busy with the Nightwalker, I focused on Calhoun.
​
I saw him wiping the blood from his cheek and letting it fall into the incense burner before hastily lighting it. As he got the incense to burn, I grabbed him from behind, trying to drag him away from the ritual.
“NO!” He snarled, slapping me away and sending me to the ground. “You won’t stop this!”
​
I just scrambled back to my feet and launched myself at him, tacking him against the clock face. I felt it crack under our weight. I grabbed at the pendant around his neck only for Calhoun to throw me off of him. Beside us on the other side of the clock tower, Nina’s shotgun went off and the Nightwalker pulled away, crashing through the face of the clock behind him as it took to the air.
​
Calhoun spun to watch as it departed with wide eyes, in the moment before he noticed that the glass from the broken clock tower hadn’t fallen. It remained floating, and the jagged edges were now pointing toward him. He looked over at Gretchen through the turret clock, who only cracked a knowing smile before flickering her wrist and sending the shards toward him. I dove out of the way and watched Calhoun do the same.
​
The glass pieces crashed against the clock face on the other side of the tower, and Gretchen seized the moment to come for Calhoun, warping the ground beneath her to bring her closer to him.
“I’ve been doing this far longer than you have!” She hissed, catching him by the throat as he tried to stand. “You think an attribution spell will protect you? It won’t!”
​
In one deft motion, she hurled him through the glass and onto the roof of the church. Calhoun skidded down the curve of the roof before grabbing onto one of the tiles and trying to pull himself up.
​
Gretchen stared out at him, before noticing the mist sweeping in to devour Smokey Falls. Calhoun saw it too, and I noticed a small smile crossing his lips.
“And you think your experience will protect you?” He asked.
​
An ear piercing shriek filled the air and Gretchen turned just in time to see the Bat Nightwalker swoop in through the other broken clock face. It hit her head on, sending her out onto the roof as well. I watched as pieces of the roof broke apart, forming into a flatter surface for him to stand on, while leaving the section of roof Gretchen had landed on uneven.
​
“The incense…” She yelled to us, “Add new blood to it!”
I looked over at Calhoun’s ritual circle before running to it, although I heard the scream of the Nightwalker again as soon as I reached it and saw it circling back toward the clock tower.
“Where’s that goddamn revolver when you need it…” Nina growled, running to the broken clock face and firing at the oncoming Nightwalker. I’m not really sure why she bothered. It did nothing.
​
The Nightwalker crashed back into the clock tower. Dom dove out of its way and leaped out of the other side of the tower, onto the roof as the Nightwalker crashed into the frame of the turret clock, thrashing violently as it tried to claw at us. I dove out of the way, before noticing that it was going for Nina first. She fired at it, retreating hastily before realizing that the only place she could go was out onto the roof, and she fired one more blast into its face before leaping out to join Dom.
​
I think she’d hoped that the Nightwalker would follow her, although it seemed to already know her game. As soon as she was out of the clocktower, its attention focused on me. With a defiant cry, it ran for me, and I had nowhere left to go but back down the stairs where I’d first come up.
​
I sprinted down the first flight, before looking back up to see if I was being followed. The Bat Nightwalker tried to wedge its body down the stairs, shrieking and clawing at me all the while. I raised my gun and fired a few bullets at it to keep its attention and saw its red eyes narrow as they fixated on me.
​
“Come on!” I cried, “Come get me!”
The Nightwalker jerked its body around, twisting it to try and get down the stairs… and I could see it coming.
​
I kept on running, going down another flight of stairs as I heard it coming after me. Wood splintered and stone shifted as it made its pursuit. At the bottom of the last flight of stairs, I came out onto the church balcony again.
​
Above me, I could see the concave roof buckling and saw a section of it collapse outright. As it fell, I had just a split second where I could see Calhoun clinging to life on it.
The section of the roof hit the ground hard, kicking up dust as it did. Another section of the roof began to warp and collapse as well. This one curled inward, and I could see Gretchen on top of it, making a more controlled descent. At the top of her section of roof, I saw Nina and Dom looking down at her.
​
“ENOUGH OF THIS!” Calhoun roared, stumbling away from the ruined section of roof he’d come down on. I could see blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth. “I will not let you jeopardize my creation!”
​
He gripped his dagger and ran for Gretchen, meeting her on the sloped section of roof she was descending on. I saw her raise her dagger to parry his, as they fought upon the floor of the church.
​
I could see Dom sliding down Gretchen’s slope, with Nina right behind him. They kept away from the fight, but something told me that they were there with a purpose. Dom took off toward the balcony, presumably to try and make it back up to the clock tower, while Nina remained close to Gretchen, watching the fight with her shotgun at the ready. I saw her look down at one of the damaged pieces of furniture lying on the ground. What might have once been part of a pew. She took aim at it and fired twice, setting it alight.
​
As soon as Gretchen saw the flame, she claimed it for herself, pulling away from Calhoun and holding her dagger at the ready as the fire abandoned the burning piece of pew and collected in her hand.
“You’ll have no say in the matter,” She said, giving Nina a knowing look. Nina nodded at her, before making her move, coming at Calhoun from the side with the butt of her rifle. He turned just in time to catch her, teeth gritted in rage.
​
“You’ll need more than that!” He spat, before realizing that all Nina had done was take his attention off of Gretchen.
The ground beneath them moved, turning like the gears of a clock, shifting so that Gretchen was right behind Calhoun. I saw the fire leave her hand, washing over Calhoun’s back… and burning his neck. Nina pulled back, leaving Calhoun to take the brunt of the inferno.
​
I remembered the attribution spell carved into the back of Gretchen’s neck… she had said all of her sisters had carved it into the backs of their necks.
​
I knew that Calhoun had carved it there too.
​
And now, it was burning away for both of them.
​
He screamed, as did Gretchen, whose knees gave out as soon as her spell was cast. Calhoun howled in pain,
“What did you do?” Calhoun wailed, “What did you do to us?”
Gretchen didn’t respond, she just panted weakly before collapsing.
​
I saw Dom coming up the stairs beside me. He paused to look down at Calhoun as he writhed on the ground below us, I saw Nina staring knowingly down at him, the shotgun sitting comfortably in her hands.
“This is for wasting my Friday,” She said as she took aim at his head. Calhoun looked at her, and I waited for the burst of fire that would end his life.
​
Suddenly from above us came an explosion of plaster and broken wood. I looked up to see the Bat Nightwalker tearing its way through the wall above us. Nina paused, looking up at it before pulling the trigger on Calhoun but he’d bought himself just enough time to save his own life.
​
He grabbed her by the midsection, tackling her to the ground. Nina’s shotgun fired into the air, hitting nothing. I saw him trying to grab her by the throat, only to get clawed at and bitten for his trouble. Nina kicked him off of her, and Calhoun wasted no time in running while the Bat Nightwalker leaped down from the hole it had just put in the wall above us to go after Nina.
“Oh FUCK OFF!” She growled, firing at it as it came for her.
​
Calhoun stumbled away, looking up at the sloped section of roof that Gretchen had brought down. He pressed a hand to the back of his neck, teeth gritted in pain before pressing a hand to the collapsed section of the roof. I watched as it twisted and reformed into a stairway, and with his way back up secured, Calhoun started to climb.
​
“The ritual…” I said, turning back toward the stairs to the clock tower. “We still need to disrupt it!”
“What about them?” Dom asked, looking back at Nina as she did everything in her power to avoid the Nightwalker, while Gretchen tried to get on her feet again to help.
“Help them,” I said. “I’ve got the ritual.”
Dom nodded and took off again, while I went back for the clocktower.
​
The Bat Nightwalker had damaged the walls, but the stairs were mostly intact. I raced up them, almost two at a time to make it back to the top of the clock tower. My legs ached and my lungs screamed for air, but I needed to make it there before Calhoun did.
​
At last, I got up the last flight of stairs and found myself back at the top. Through the broken clock faces, I could see Smokey Falls enshrouded in mist. I could see distant specks of people out on the street. I had one shot to get this right… only one.
​
Calhoun’s ritual waited before me. I set my gun down and reached out to pick up a shard of glass off the floor. Bracing myself for the pain, I gently raked the glass across the bottom of my palm, leaving a shallow cut. Then, I held my hand over the incense burner and let the blood flow into it.
​
I saw a ripple pass through the mist before me… and I felt it respond. As I breathed in the incense, I could feel myself… drifting. Even through my mask, I could feel the mist filling my lungs and I reached up to pull it down so I could breathe it in better.
​
Gretchen hadn’t told me exactly what to do, but somehow I could sense it. Different places appeared in my mind. The town in Estonia, Bakersfield, Parsons, Thompson Falls… the places I could bring this town. I realized that the mist was giving me the chance to choose. And there was really only one right choice. To set it all back where it belonged.
I pictured Smokey Falls exactly as it had been when I’d arrived, and I felt the mist respond.
​
Then I heard movement beside me. The crunch of glass underfoot. I heard Calhoun breathing as he came for me. I only barely moved out of the way in time as he brought his dagger down at the spot where I’d been kneeling only a moment before.
“No…” He panted, teeth gritted in rage. “NO! YOU WILL NOT TAKE MY WORLD FROM ME!”
He came for me again and in my panic, a new image flashed through my mind.
I envisioned Smokey Falls, empty. Lifeless. And I envisioned Parsons. Two images overlapping each other.
​
The mist pulsed again.
​
It accepted my choice.
​
The entire Church shook violently. Calhoun was thrown off balance and braced himself against the turret clock.
The mist rippled around us, as the entire world seemed to tremble. The sunlight faded abruptly, casting everything into absolute darkness. I could hear the distant crash as the consequences of my choice became manifest.
​
And then there was silence.
​
Calhoun looked out through the broken clock face, his single eye growing wide with terror.
“No…” He said again, looking out over the abomination that I had just created. “NO!”
The skyline of Parsons had changed. Merged. I could see it now, intersecting with Smokey Falls. Buildings merging in ways they should not be able to merge. Brick overlapping brick. Towers branching out from each other, sometimes not even at the right angles. Some of the buildings jutted out of each other like thorns or cancerous growths. The sight seemed so surreal… and yet it all stood, somehow.
​
“What did you just do?!” Calhoun demanded, looking at me with a wide, furious eye.
“You wanted Smokey Falls…” I said, “You got it… or I guess the version you would have left behind.”
“How?” He demanded.
“You’re the one who made this place,” I said. “You tell me how it works.”
​
He let out an enraged roar before coming at me with his dagger again, but this time I was ready for him. I kicked out at him, knocking him back a step before trying to scramble to my feet. Calhoun swayed drunkenly, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. My eyes darted to my gun, just a few feet away and I lunged for it.
​
Calhoun came for me again, but he wasn’t fast enough. I grabbed my gun off the ground and raised it to him, squeezing the trigger just as he reached me.
​
The first two bullets caught him in the stomach. The third struck the pendant around his neck, shattering it into splinters. It burst with a bright flash, as every soul he’d stolen was set free. I felt a cool wind wash over my face, as a vivid image of my mother’s face flashed through my mind. For a moment, I thought I felt a hand on my cheek… and then it was gone.
​
Calhoun stumbled, before tripping over me and falling toward the broken face of the clock tower. He had just enough time to scream as he plummeted through it, and into the darkness below. I didn’t give myself a chance to rest. Panting heavily, I dragged myself over to the broken clock face and poked my head out, looking down and hoping to see the broken corpse of Calhoun smashed against the cobblestone beneath me… but I had no such luck.
​
Calhoun only lay a few feet beneath me, on top of what might have been a hardware store, jutting out of the building across the street at an impossible angle. He’d landed by the window, on the cold, unforgiving brick, and was clutching his bleeding stomach as he stared up at the sky. His good eye fixated on me with a bitter hatred that I almost relished.
​
I forced myself to stand, taking aim at Calhoun with my gun to finish the job. But Calhoun wouldn’t give me the satisfaction. With the last of his strength, he rolled onto the window. I fired, only to watch the glass shatter beneath him. He fell into the store, and out of my sight.
“Son of a bitch…” I seethed, before I took one more look at the abomination of a cityscape I’d just created. Along some buildings, I could already see the glowing flowers of the Rosen Prince and I could hear gunfire and inhuman screeches in the street.
​
Part of me wondered if Calhoun was even worth pursuing into this nightmare… he had no pendant and thus no souls to barter with. This world of his was dying, waiting to be devoured by the Rosen Prince. But I also knew that if anyone could worm their way out of this situation, it was him… best to be sure.

https://imgur.com/a/pmhVi0L
Please comment if interested in anything, some prices are negotiable, feel free to offer!
I would consider shipping international
Most volumes are in great or new condition, will specify if not
All orders shipped the same day or next
Some volumes shown in photos have been sold in previous listings, only volumes listed below are available
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
COMPLETE SETS
Flame of Recca 1-33 COMPLETE: $800
Bleach Box Sets 1,2,3 COMPLETE: $380
Code Geass Bundle (Lelouch of the Rebellion Anthology for Boys 1-4, Lelouch of the Rebellion Anthology For Girls 1-4, Tales of an Alternate Shogunate, Suzaku of the Counterattack 1-2, Nightmare of Nunnally 1-5): $280
Junji Ito Lot (+ Uzumaki): $170
Hana Kimi 1-23 COMPLETE: $120
Fullmetal Alchemist 3-in-1 Omnibus 1-27 COMPLETE: $120
Dragon Ball Z Box Set 1-26 COMPLETE: $120
Demon Slayer Box Set 1-23 COMPLETE + Fire & Water + extras: $120
A Devil and Her Love Song 1-13 COMPLETE: $100
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
INCOMPLETE SETS VOLUMES 1-?
My Hero Academia 1-30: $200
Negima! 1-24: $120
Ghost Hunt 1-4: $100
Boruto 1-15: $90 new
Komi Can't Communicate 1-13: $90
Rising of the Shield Hero Light Novels 1-8: $60
Platinum End 1-9: $50
Suikoden III 1-6: $40
Rent A Girlfriend 1-6: $40
Eminence of the Shadow 1-5: $40 new
Psychic Academy 1-11: $40
Dragon Ball Super 1-7: $40
Kaiju No. 8 1-5: $40 new
Demon Diary 1-7: $30
Pretty Face 1-3,5: $30
One Piece 1-5: $25
Seven Deadly Sins 1-10 (missing 7): $25
Crescent Moon 1-4,6: $25
Citrus 1-3 (singles): $25
Zom 100 1-3: $25 new
Demon Slayer 1-6: $25
World Trigger 1-3: $25
Attack on Titan Before the Fall 1-5: $25
My Hero Academia 1-4: $15
Attack on Titan Box Set 1 (1-4): $15
Cardfight Vanguard 1-4: $15
Death Note Black Edition 1-2: $15
Samurai Deeper Kyo 1-2: $10
One Punch Man 1-2: $10
Dog Ningen Uncensored 1: $60
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
SINGLES (will only add these to a purchase of at least $50)
Jaco Galactic Patrolman 1: $30
Ghost in the Shell Deluxe 1: $20
Death Note All In One Edition: $20
$10 Singles Shaman Warrior 1 / Kingdom of the Gods / Akira 2 / Steins Gate;0 1 /
$5 Singles Ace Attorney / Negima! 1 / Kagerou-Nostalgia 1 / Bakuman 1 / Ultraman 1 / Spy x Family 1 / The Elusive Samurai 1 / Dr. Stone 1 / D. Gray Man 1 / Shaman King 2 / Mär 1 / Black Clover 1 / Samurai 8 1 / Cactus's Secret 1 /
I also have a bunch of Demon Slayer stuff, Soul Eater Liz Funko, Lucario Funko, Anime Expo Bags and How to Draw books if anyone is interested
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
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Item Name Set Number: 7700 Stealth Hunter and 7701 Grand Titan
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This will be a very long post with a lot of information. To make it easier to navigate, I have divided it into sections so you can easily skip to the parts you’re interested in. But to start, here’s a link to the Kickstarter I’ll be discussing: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phoenixgrey/lewd-dungeon-adventures-a-role-playing-game-for-couples

Expectations versus Reality

Since this was my first Kickstarter ever, my expectations weren’t particularly high. I had originally set my funding goal at $500 and would have considered the Kickstarter a success if it made $10,000. I would have considered it a big success if it made $30,000.
When the Kickstarter hit $100,000, I literally cried. Never in a million years did I dream it would make it all the way to $250,000.
Because my goal was set so low, I did what everyone told me not to do. I had a lot of physical items with the Kickstarter. When the Kickstarter blew up, this later became somewhat of a regret because it complicated everything so much and added a bunch of additional expenses I hadn’t prepared for. Which brings me to my next section, and the very first thing you should do before you launch your Kickstarter.

Planning and Pricing Accordingly

There is a lot of conflicting information about whether you should price your products at a discount, at retail pricing, or above retail pricing (to accommodate for all the extra expenses that come with running a Kickstarter(and depending on what you’re offering, there can be a lot)). I had originally planned on discounting all of my tiers, but an author friend advised me not to, and boy, am I glad I didn’t.
Expenses you need to take into consideration besides manufacturing: Kickstarter fees, Backerkit fees (if you decide to use them), Marketing agency fees (if you decide to use them), shipping fees for physical products (I’m talking about actual postage, not just packaging), customs/VAT (if you plan to pay it), warehouse fees (if you plan to use one).
The first three on the list are fees that companies don’t have to pay once the product goes to retail, which is typically why you see the price of a Kickstarted project being more than what it will be when it hits retail.
I consider myself pretty business-savvy and thought I had everything figured out before I launched. I did not. Lol I never anticipated that I would need a warehouse. Nor did I account for the shipping costs of having physical products shipped to me (paperbacks to sign, candles to label) or shipping them to the warehouse, which was a lot. By the end of everything, I incurred an extra $12,700 in unanticipated expenses. My boyfriend calls it ‘the learning tax,’ but it was damned expensive. This is all to say that you should go over your numbers, then go over them again, then probably do it a third time before you launch.
If you plan to use a marketing company…or even do marketing yourself, it’s important to know what your ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) will be so that you don’t sink all your profits into ads. Here’s a great article on calculating that number: https://help.backerkit.com/article/608-guide-to-setting-your-target-roas The basic equation is Average pledge divided by Margin per pledge = Break even ROAS.
Another big mistake I made was that I only had Stretch Goals planned up to $150k, which I had already thought was a pipe dream. I had them all the way up to $150k despite thinking I’d only make $30k max because I had seen other TTRPGs make around $100k, and I thought it was better to plan for more than for less. Everything you see on my Kickstarter page past $150k is Stretch Goals that were created as I went.
For most of my planning, I looked at Kickstarters similar to mine and tried to copy what they were doing. As the saying goes, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. But I also knew that a lot goes into a Kickstarter beforehand. To learn about that, I bought the book Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter by Russell P. Nohelty and Monica Leonelle because it was recommended to me by an author friend. I did most of the stuff in the book but not everything, even though I wasn’t Kickstarting a book. I feel like the marketing stuff for Kickstarters is pretty much the same no matter what you’re trying to Kickstart.
This next tip is going to be specific to TTRPGs and really doesn’t belong anywhere else in this post, so I’m leaving it here. If you are creating your own TTRPG system and can offer up a Kickstarter-exclusive conversion to another popular system, like Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, do it. I leveraged this to the tune of about $100k in sales that I probably wouldn’t have made if I hadn’t done it. Doing this is kind of like creating an insurance policy for your Kickstarter.
Things I did this time: Priced at retail.
Things I’m doing differently next time: Pricing above retail. Why? Because I have an incredibly low-cost product, and even by increasing my prices, with all of the Stretch Goal and Early Bird reward stuff I’m offering, people who pledge are still getting way below the retail price for all of it combined. Plus, it helps to offset Kickstarter, Backerkit, Marketing, and any unplanned fees.
One of the biggest reasons why Kickstarter creators run out of funds and can’t deliver their products is because they don’t financially plan correctly. This is a lot easier to do than you would think.

Building Social Media and a Mailing List

Whether you’re a fan of social media or not, it’s here to stay, and you will need it to run a successful Kickstarter. Lewd Dungeon Adventures had zero social media presence when I started all this. Ideally, you’ll want to start working on building social media for your product before you even go into Pre-Launch. I started maybe a week before Pre-Launch.
I created a Facebook Page and ran ads to build it quickly. To get followers to Twitter and Instagram, I created a giveaway that I posted primarily on Facebook that used people following the other two social media platforms as an entry into the contest. The prize was my highest tier on Kickstarter. I used the paid version of Gleam.io for this, and it did work decently. Much better than my original approach.
According to online research, the cheapest and fastest way to get Instagram followers is to follow people similar to your Instagram page. The theory is that a certain percentage will follow you back. Don’t do this. It’s a complete waste of time.
The Gleam contest also had a link to my mailing list to encourage sign-ups. But I mostly built that list through Facebook ads because it was much quicker and more effective. To build my mailing list, I gave away a playtest bare-bones no-color PDF copy of the Core Rulebook & Starter Adventure for my game in exchange for people signing up. In the book industry, this is a pretty tried and true method, and it didn’t fail me this time either. I believe that I had around 1,000 people subscribed to my mailing list by the time I launched.

Preparing for Pre-Launch

For the sake of brevity, I’m not going to go into all the nuances of using Kickstarter itself. But at the very basics, before you can pre-launch, you will need an image to represent your Kickstarter, ad copy (Your Story or sales pitch), and some tiers. You should also have a video trailer and an idea of whether or not you’re going to do Early Bird Rewards and have Add-Ons.
I did have the two covers for the two campaign books I was offering in my Kickstarter designed before I pre-launched, but those were literally the only art pieces I had. The entire reason I was Kickstarting the game was because hiring artists is expensive.
I decided to use the cover of The Core Rulebook & Starter Adventure as the main image for the Kickstarter. When you go on Kickstarter, you will see tons of main images with text, but Kickstarter advises against this because it doesn’t look good as a thumbnail. Using just an image was something that I was admittedly a bit nervous about, but I also knew that this was pretty standard practice with Facebook ads. Not long ago, they penalized ads that had text in them. I figured there were probably statistics backing up the success of non-text images, so I went with it.
Good cinematic video trailers are typically very expensive to have made. That’s part of why you see so many people just posting videos where they talk about their product. The other appeal is that it helps to connect the creator with the product, which builds consumer trust through feelings of familiarity, as if they are somehow connected with the creator on a deeper level. This is pretty solid marketing, so if you want to take this approach, by all means, do it. It works.
I actually hate being on camera, and I also didn’t want to spend the money to hire someone to make the video trailer for my game, so I learned how to make it myself. This was incredibly time-consuming. I spent close to a week making the trailer, and it still cost around $100 for the program I used and the assets. But I actually enjoy doing this kind of work, so it was worth the savings to me.
For my story (ad copy), I copied the format of several popular Kickstarters in my genre, leaving out what wasn’t relevant to my particular campaign. The first section always talks about what the product is and how it came to be. Telling that story helps to get people emotionally attached to your product. This section of your Kickstarter page should be honest and uniquely you and your product.
Though Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter had a section about Early Bird Rewards, at the time I was planning my Pre-Launch for Lewd Dungeon Adventures, I had only seen one Kickstarter that was offering Early Bird Rewards, and it was not difficult to figure out why. It is damn hard to come up with a lot of freebies to give away, especially as many as Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter suggests.
The whole point of doing this is mainly to get people to pledge early so that you get better placement on Kickstarter’s front page. Giving away free stuff also adds more value to your Kickstarter, which, theoretically, should make more people want to pledge. I do think this works, and I do plan to do it for every Kickstarter.
I wracked my brain trying to come up with Early Bird rewards, and even came up with a few that I was pretty sure most TTRPG players would not care about, like a collection of romance books. Admittedly, I am not planning to have as many Early Bird rewards this next time around, mostly because I really want to keep them relevant to my game.
For tiers, I looked at the top three TTRPGs on Kickstarter to see what they were offering, and then I modeled my own tiers around theirs. I strategically placed the 5e conversion of my game on a higher tier. My main goal was to sell my own system, so if people wanted the 5e version, they would have to buy the original version as well. This worked really well, and it is how I will be running future Kickstarters.
As mentioned in the previous section, I had Stretch Goals planned all the way to $150k. Honestly, I did a HORRIBLE job planning Stretch Goals. Without having fully created the product before launching, I assumed it would have X amount of art, so that’s what I promised with my Stretch Goals. When I actually created the finished product from playtester feedback, that number changed, so I did not deliver on all of my Stretch Goals and ended up making up for it by creating a compendium and sending that to all backers instead. This is all to say that if you’re going to offer something as a Stretch Goal, it’s best to know that you’ll be able to deliver what you say you will. Luckily, none of my backers were upset, but depending on your audience, that might not always be the case. Plan better than I did.
One thing I don’t regret doing was not revealing all of my Stretch Goals at once. The next Stretch Goal was only revealed after the previous one had been reached. This allowed me to modify things on the fly as necessary. It also hid from backers where the bar of funding was truly set. Had I only planned Stretch Goals to $30k and revealed that many right away, I might have seen backer decline after the final Stretch Goal was reached, as there would be nothing else to get excited about.
And finally, I wanted to discuss artwork for your Kickstarter. As mentioned above, I only had two pieces of artwork pre-designed for the Kickstarter. Everything else was screenshots from the interior pages of the game, things I’d made in Photoshop, or stock photos. If I’m being completely honest, aesthetically, my Kickstarter was ugly. You don’t need a pretty Kickstarter to make a lot of money; you just need a good product.

What I Did During Pre-launch

My Pre-Launch was a month long, and I mainly spent it building my mailing list and social media accounts. My Gleam contest also had an entry option for people to click Notify Me on Launch on my Pre-Launch page. Honestly, that’s probably where the vast majority of my Pre-Launch people came from. Aside from doing that, I went through Facebook and made a list of Kickstarter and TTRPG groups that allowed posting of Kickstarter Pre-Launch pages. I found 30 groups in total and posted ad copy with my link to 1 group a day. By the time I launched, I had about 180 Pre-Launch sign-ups, which isn’t great but not the worst either.
I read on a Kickstarter marketing website that having around 10,000 Pre-Launch sign-ups before you launch is best. Even for my upcoming Kickstarter, I currently only have about 800 sign-ups. If I’m lucky, I’ll have 1,000 by the time I launch.
The theory is that a certain percentage of your sign-ups will convert to backers on day 1 of launch, and you want a lot of backers right out of the gate so that your campaign will appear higher in the Kickstarter rankings. From my own experience, I don’t think you need a ton of Pre-Launch sign-ups to have a successful Kickstarter. Do they help? I’m sure they do, but I would not postpone my launch if I didn’t reach some magical target number.
Also, during this time, I worked on all of the emails and social media posts I would send out for hitting Stretch Goals and warning people that Early Bird rewards were about to expire. There was a lot. It took almost an entire day to write the majority of them. Some of them, I wrote on the fly. Still, having all of these written up in advance is a good idea so that it isn’t an added stressor after you launch.
The last big thing I did during pre-launch, which I firmly believe got me to $250k, was looking for a marketing partner, which I will discuss in the next section.
Things I did this time: Ran a Gleam contest to get Pre-Launch sign-ups.
Things I’m doing differently next time: Running Facebook ads directly to my Kickstarter pre-launch page.

Finding and Working With a Marketing Partner

If you look at the very bottom of the page of a Kickstarter that is making bank, you will often see a banner that says Promoted by ‘Insert Advertising Company Name Here.’ These companies have typically compiled massive mailing lists of backers for various projects and have marketing teams specializing in Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads.
As I’m writing this, the two biggest players in the game are Jellop and Backerkit, with Backerkit being the best. Yes, I said it. Backerkit is the best. Why? Because you don’t have to pay any advertising fees upfront. They won’t ask for that money until after your Kickstarter has ended and you have the funds. They also charge less than Jellop, 15% of the money they bring in as compared to a fluctuating 15%+ charged by Jellop.
Neither of these companies are big risk-takers. They typically do not take on a Kickstarter project unless they believe it has the potential to earn 6-figures. Backerkit is even pickier than Jellop.
Backerkit rejected my campaign when I submitted it. I honestly didn’t expect Jellop to accept, either. While I was a mid-tier author in 2 genres, I had never created a Kickstarter before. But Jellop said yes, and that was the first time I realized that reality would likely exceed my expectations of what my Kickstarter could fund for.
As I mentioned above, the problem with working with Jellop is that I had to come up with the funds to market my Kickstarter during launch…and they don’t play with small money. On day 1, you are expected to spend $400. That is the baseline, so you need to be able to maintain that spend for a few days until they can figure out if it’s worth putting more money into it or pulling back.
The great thing about both of these companies is that they meticulously watch your ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and will adjust accordingly. They will also tell you how to optimize your Kickstarter pre-launch. I am currently working with Backerkit on the next Kickstarter. Yes, I switched teams for this one because I wanted the unlimited marketing budget. With that said, I will tell you what they made me change about my pre-launches so far.
Jellop: Made me change my launch date. I had scheduled for a Tuesday thanks to the advice in Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter saying that was the best day to launch. The problem is, that’s when all the biggies launch, so the competition is fierce. They said launching on a day when fewer people were launching was better, so they had me change my launch date from a Tuesday to a Friday. They also made me change my funding goal from $500 to $5,000. Let’s be honest, there was no way I could buy all the art I needed for $500…or pay for any of the other expenses to actually produce the product. I had planned to pay for that out of pocket if I didn’t reach my funding goal. But their reasoning was that setting my funding goal to $500 made the project look cheap. People don’t see a quality product when you set your funding goal that low.
Backerkit: On my current campaign, Backerkit asked me to raise my prices. Why? Because they want to maximize the amount of money we’ll both make. People who launch TTRPG Kickstarters typically charge way more than what I did for my last Kickstater. And to be completely honest, I gave waaay too much away for free last time. By raising my prices, both Backerkit and I will make more money, and backers will still be getting a better value than if they just bought the retail version of the product. Everyone still wins. They also asked me to change my launch date…from a Friday to a Tuesday. LOL Honestly, this Kickstarter hasn’t launched yet, so I have no idea what that will do, but I’m nervous about it. Backerkit specializes in TTRPGs, though, and they have a much bigger mailing list for them than Jellop, so I’m just going to go with it and see what happens.
Both companies require you to sign contracts and upload digital assets (images for them to use for their ads). Backerkit seemed to want these to be ready-made for them. Jellop took my game covers and made a few of their own. To be honest, the stuff I uploaded to Jellop wasn’t that great, but they did the best they could with what they had to work with. Both companies will give you your very own marketing rep.
My relationship with Backerkit Marketing has just started, but they’ve been great to work with so far. I don’t want to focus on them much because this post is supposed to be about my last Kickstarter, so for the rest of this section, I will focus exclusively on my partnership with Jellop.
Jellop gave me a marketing team and put me in a private chat with them. I was given a live dashboard to watch my stats as the Kickstarter was live. The team was very nice and professional during pre-launch. As soon as I launched, it literally became all about how much money I was willing to spend. Our relationship turned very impersonal, and I quickly realized it was all about the money and numbers. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it was a bit stressful as they pressured me to keep spending more because they saw the Kickstarter’s potential. Honestly, if I wasn’t limited to the 3 credit cards I was spending on, I could have made more than $250k, but I legit maxed out all 3 credit cards for a total ad spend of $35,000.
In the Jellop dashboard, there is a place to input your credit cards—a primary and a backup. I had thought that this was just for initial set-up and that I would talk to my marketing representative if I needed to update these later on in the process. I had a large expense coming to the main credit card I was using. When I told my marketing rep to update my credit card in their system, she said she would and never did. This got me into financial trouble as I ended up maxing out the credit card, which put a halt on my ads. They did not ever apologize for this, even though I got pretty pissed off about it. It was not until later that I learned it was up to me to update my credit cards in their system for whatever I wanted them to spend on. This was never told to me, by the way, I had to figure it out on my own. Ultimately, it was a big miscommunication, but it was handled very coldly and left a bad taste in my mouth.
The only other thing I disliked about working with them was the constant pressure to up my ad spend despite the strain on my personal finances. They tried to convince me to apply for more financing or take out a loan. And let me tell you, before I got paid from Kickstarter, I was very poor from how much money I had poured into advertising.
I am also somewhat convinced that they take credit for sales they did not generate, as the amount credited to them in their dashboard overlapped with what was generated by Kickstarter, but with the vast amount of money the Kickstarter generated because of their efforts, if they were skimming, it wasn’t enough that I particularly cared.
And I do know that they’re responsible for the vast majority of the success I saw. I know this because I cut ads with them for a few days to try running my own Facebook ads. I will preface this by saying that I have 8 years of experience successfully running Facebook ads for books, so I wasn’t going into it a novice. But no matter what I tried, even up to using the same ad copy and images they had used, I could not replicate their results, so I handed the reigns back to them and don’t regret it.
Though there were a few hiccups and misunderstandings, I absolutely would work with them again if Backerkit Marketing had not accepted my campaign this time around.
Things I did this time: Used Jellop as my marketing partner.
Things I’m doing differently next time: Using Backerkit as my marketing partner.

What I Did During Launch

Launch time was mainly spent blasting social media, mailing out to my mailing list, and responding to comments on the Kickstarter and Facebook ads. Jellop gave me links to all the Facebook ads they ran so that I could respond to comments. Being on top of customer support is crucial during your launch because responding quickly to all inquiries builds backer trust.
I also went through the list of Facebook groups I’d made during pre-launch and posted to one a day throughout the launch to let them know my Kickstarter had launched.
My one regret is that I didn’t post more Updates. Honestly, I still wasn’t sure how the Update system worked then, and I looked at it as just a way to spam people who had just backed the Kickstarter. I personally HATE being spammed, so I did not post Updates about Stretch Goals reached or anything beyond what I deemed absolutely necessary. I have come to realize that during launch, Updates should be used as a hype tool, so I will be posting more Updates this time around.

After Launch - Manufacturing

When the Kickstarter reached about $100k, I realized I had made several mistakes in my offerings. One was that I offered a set of 4 candles…which I would have to label myself. Another was offering signed paperbacks.
My original plan was to have everything shipped to my house, put the packages all together, then load them up in my car and take them to the post office. This was when I was expecting to make $30k max. Surely, I wouldn’t have more than 50 packages to physically ship myself…… yeahhhh. By the time the Kickstarter was over, I had 1,600+ orders that included physical items beyond just the unsigned books. There was no way I, as one person, could do it all myself.
But before we get into the logistics of warehousing and shipping, let’s get into manufacturing, because this project had a lot of different physical products from a lot of different places. I’m only going to list the items I had issues with.
Art – The main reason I Kickstarted Lewd Dungeon Adventures in the first place was that I could not afford all the art I wanted to go into it. During the Kickstarter, I offered 2 additional bonus campaigns as Stretch Goals. This was 2 extra installments of the game that both needed art. It was not long before I realized that my one artist would not be able to illustrate the entire thing and get it done before the projected deadline. I ended up hiring 8 more artists to work on the project. I hired them from a variety of places, from 99 Designs to DeviantArt, to Fiverr, to artists recommended by author friends, and even artists I’d worked with in the past. Two of them, I am not using again because of lack of communication and turning in art late. One of them submitted plagiarized work that ended up getting caught by a fan after the final product was delivered…which was mortifying and a complete nightmare. But for the most part, my artists delivered their work before the deadline, which helped get the product delivered to customers early.
Dice Tray – The dice tray for my game was manufactured by someone on Etsy. The prototype actually had an error when she sent it to me, but her customer service was so good that I decided to still move forward with using her for the Kickstarter, and I don’t regret it. This angel seriously stored those dice trays for me for about 6 months and still was gracious enough to offer me a discount and free shipping.
Candles – I decided to offer a set of 4 votive candles with the game’s logo on them. These were actually relevant to one of the campaigns in the Kickstarter. I ordered the candles from Michaels and tried a few different companies for the logo stickers. I ended up sticking the logos on the candles by hand…and there were about 1,000 of them to do, which took me two days of labor plus having my mom over to help. I would never do it again and do not recommend it.
Signed Books – I also had about 1,000 books to hand-sign. I will NEVER offer signed books again unless I put a limit on the quantity.

After Launch – Shipping and Warehousing

Once I realized I would have more physical products to ship than I could handle myself, I started looking for shipping solutions. Enter EasyShip.
EasyShip is one of the biggest name shipping companies for Kickstarters. They reached out to me directly, and after doing some research, I accepted a contract with them. I was then assigned my own shipping representative. They hooked me up with the warehouse I would be working with, UFreight, and we started coordinating everything.
I do not know if my shipping representative was new or just…not great at his job, and I’m not going to be a dick and name him outright, but he dropped the ball more times than I find acceptable, which made for a pretty frustrating experience, if I’m being honest.
For instance, when I was uploading order information to their platform, all of my orders errored out due to the form missing a field. His solution was for me to enter the missing information on 1,600+ individual orders manually. And I was like… there’s got to be an easier way than this, talk to your tech department. And there was.
Other not so great experiences included being told that the couriers would just bill my account the difference if the weights of packages weren’t right…and having most of my orders returned because of it, which led to a pretty good chunk of fees from the warehouse from needing to have the orders re-shipped. And not knowing that a certain courier would only accept a minimum amount of packages, which I didn’t meet their requirements, so these packages just sat at the warehouse, and I knew nothing about it until a customer reached out to inquire about where their order was.
Would I use EasyShip again? I’m not going to say no, but I 100% won’t say yes until I’ve explored other options first. I am actually taking a break this next Kickstarter from needing to use a shipping company, but when I do have physical products to ship, I will be using a different company. My experience with EasyShip was just too needlessly frustrating to want to continue a business partnership with them.
UFreight, however, was great to work with. My rep there was always on the ball and kept me informed every step of the way. I would highly recommend them as a warehouse partner.

Other Important Things

If you are going to have add-ons for your Kickstarter, I highly recommend using Backerkit for your backer surveys. Setting it up is a bit of a pain, but it makes it really easy to organize and deliver things to who they need to go to. Plus, they will do a lot of customer support for you, leaving you to focus on other things.
With that said, not everyone will fill out their backer survey. It’s frustrating and even a bit perplexing. I have people that pledged to my highest tier but still haven’t filled out their survey, and I delivered the Kickstarter to everyone else in February. It happens, and you can either make a choice to refund people or just wait until, hopefully, one day, they’ll claim their pledge.
Some backers will also try to update their mailing address after their pledge has shipped. As a creator, know that as soon as a package leaves your residence/warehouse and is with a courier, it is no longer your responsibility to ensure it gets where it’s supposed to go. In most cases, the best thing you can do is either give the backer the courier’s information so that they can try to intercept the package or suggest mail forwarding, if they have just moved. Thankfully, most backers are understanding of all of this.

In Conclusion

I know this was a lot. If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments, and I will answer them as best I can.
And for anyone curious about following my next Kickstarter, you can find it here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phoenixgrey/price-of-the-dragon-a-role-playing-game-for-couples Honestly, I’m not really sure how well it will do, but we’re expecting 6-figures.
I hope this helps someone out there that’s trying to get started. Running your first Kickstarter is intimidating and a bit scary, and you probably will make a few mistakes your first time around – Lord knows, I did – but it’s definitely worth it if you’re willing to put the time and effort in.