Hello, backers—

We have an important upgrade for you. It’s not a stretch goal—it’s just something we’re doing as a result of requests and feedback we’ve received from you, our backers.

We’re going to replace the three softcover books in the boxed set with the Jewel in the Sky hardcover. The boxed set will now include the standard hardcover, instead of breaking up the book’s content into three softcover books.

Monte originally specced the boxed set’s version of the book as three softcovers to make it even more usable at the game table. We still believe there’s merit in that approach, but your feedback convinced us that the more deluxe feel of a hardcover outweighs the relatively minor benefits of smaller softcover books. So we’re making that change!

Again, this upgrade isn’t a stretch goal—we’re just doing it!

We’re very excited for Jewel in the Sky, and all the ways you’ve helped us expand and upgrade it. We really want to make the boxed set an amazing experience from the moment you open the box—and to make it a true jewel on your game shelf. This is one more step in that direction!

Thanks for your support!
 —Team MCG

Hello, backers—

The opening week of this campaign has been a rousing success—you’ve really gotten Jewel in the Sky off to an amazing start!

You’ve unlocked yet another stretch goal, and we’ll be making the loose-leaf maps included in the backer-exclusive boxed set twice as big—tabloid sized (roughly A3) instead of letter sized (roughly A4).

And hitting that goal, of course, also means another free bonus reward for every backer. You voted to add this XP card to your collection:

Your Jewel in the Sky adventures will be the stuff of legends. (Monte’s been running a playtest for a couple of months now, and we’ve been having an epic time!) Straight out of the box (or the book), you’ll have a everything you need for an awesome fantasy or sci-fi experience, loaded with immersive detail and atmosphere. But your campaign will really shine when you make it your own—customizing NPCs and encounters to your players’ strengths and interests, tracking subplots and character arcs, and so on. We want that part of your experience to come as easily and naturally as the storylines and encounters you find in Jewel in the Sky.

So we’d like to include a custom GM’s notebook. Record character information, plan upcoming sessions, take notes, record prompts, and track events in this digest-sized journal. It’s an entire new item in the Jewel in the Sky boxed set—another component that helps you build a truly great dungeon experience for you and your players.

We’ll unlock the GM’s Notebook when we get to 1475 backers!

As always, when we unlock this goal we’ll add a free bonus reward for every backer. You’ve been voting for your favorite XP cards throughout this campaign. Often the votes have been close, but so far nearly all of the winners have been fantasy characters.

That’s fine, but we want to solidly represent the sci-fi side of Jewel in the Sky, too. So this time we’re going to do something a little different—instead of choosing from two new designs, we’d like you to pick one of the sci-fi characters that barely missed winning in past polls. Which is your favorite?

Vote now, and we’ll add the winner to everyone’s rewards when we unlock the GM’s Notebook!

Remember, you, the backers, have made this campaign soar—and only you can keep up this great pace! Share the campaign.

Here are links to our social media accounts, where you can find loads of sharable posts along with inspiration for your own thoughts.

You can also find loads of beautiful graphics here:

Thanks for your support!

—Team MCG 

Hello, backers—

What an exciting week this has been! You’ve blasted through yet another stretch goal with head-spinning speed. The exclusive, backers-ony version of Jewel in the Sky will now come in a deluxe, magnetic-closure box that will make it just as cool and enticing on the outside as it is on the inside. Look at how you've expanded and upgraded this boxed set just in the first few days of this campaign!

And, as always, there’s a bonus reward for every backer: another exclusive XP card to add to your collection. We asked you to vote for your favorite, and this is the design you chose:

We’re having a live conversation with the fan community tonight on the Cypher Unlimited Discord, to answer questions about Jewel in the Sky and discuss the campaign—and perhaps to unveil a little treat for CU members!

Cypher Unlimited is a friendly and welcoming hub for Cypher players to find groups to join, share advice and experiences, or just chat and hang out—if you’re not a member, you should be! You can join through the link above.

The boxed set of Jewel in the Sky contains a bunch maps duplicated from the book in loose-leaf format, for extra-convenient use at the table. You’ve already increased the number of these loose maps through an earlier stretch goal. Now let’s make them even better!

The maps are currently letter sized (that’s roughly A4, for non-Americans). We’d like to make them bigger, taking them to tabloid size (roughly A3). This will let the details shine, and (for those maps that are player-facing) make them easier to view around the table.

As always, we design to the best needs of the product. Some of the maps might work better at the smaller size—and, if so, that’s the size they’ll be. But we anticipate that most will benefit from the increase in size you’ll unlock through this stretch goal.

When we unlock this goal, we’ll also give every backer another XP card as a free bonus reward! Which design should we add to the collection next?

Vote now!

If you like the imagery you’ve seen for Jewel in the Sky, good news: we’ve created a folder filled with images you can download and share.

This campaign has really been moving this week. It will only keep up the momentum if backers keep the buzz alive. Crowdfunding campaigns live and die by the enthusiasm of their backers. We love what you’ve done so far—keep it up!

Thanks for your support!

—Team MCG 

Hello, backers—

In an amazing burst of speed, you’ve hit the latest stretch goal! We’re now adding at least a dozen additional creature and cypher cards to the Jewel in the Sky boxed set.

And, of course, with this goal comes a free bonus for all backers: another exclusive Jewel in the Sky XP card. At this pace, we’ll assemble a really nice XP mini-deck for use in your Jewel campaign—and these cards are completely compatible with the forthcoming Cypher XP Deck, so you can add them to that if you like, too. (You’ll also get this collection on the Datasphere Deck Tool, so you can use them digitally no matter how you play RPGs online.)

Here’s the design you voted for:

We’re pretty excited about the next stretch goal, but first:

Charles and Liv are talking to the fan community tomorrow evening on the Cypher Unlimited Discord—and we’d love it if you joined us! We’re going to answer questions about Jewel in the Sky and discuss the campaign—and we may have a little treat for CU members!

(If you’re not a member of Cypher Unlimited, the fan community for all things Cypher and MCG, you can join here. The CU is a friendly and welcoming hub for Cypher players to find groups to join, share advice and experiences, or just chat and hang out!)

Look at this cool box!

As it currently stands, the exclusive, backers-only deluxe version of Jewel in the Sky comes in a standard game box—sturdy, attractive, and well-made. But one of the great things about building up a product through a crowdfunding campaign is that we can go beyond what’s merely practical and make something that’s truly wondrous. Jewel is going to be a great mega-adventure, and we want every part of the experience to evoke the awe and wonder of Vocurro’s dungeons.

This box will have a handsome die cut and magnetic closure, giving it a reliquary-like feel. It will be a striking addition to your collection even when it’s just sitting on the shelf! 

Help us reach 1300  backers, and we’ll give the boxed set of Jewel in the Sky this beautiful and inspiring presentation.

Our XP card collection continues to grow! Which design should we add to the collection next?

Vote now!

This has been a fantastic week for Jewel in the Sky, and we’re racking up the stretch goals quickly. This is a pretty short campaign (the timing is dictated by BackerKit’s Mega Dungeon Month promotion), and we’d really like to keep up the pace and unlock a LOT more stretch goals.

That’s up to you! Keep spreading the word. Here are a couple of shareable images, but we’re going one better: We’ve set up a repository with loads of images and art you can share. Click the button and see what we have for you!

Thanks for your support!

—Team MCG

Hello, backers—

Another stretch goal over the line! You’ve funded the mini-bestiary, Creatures of Vocurro, which will now be added to the box.

You’ve also unlocked a bonus goal! Throughout this campaign, we’re giving every backer—no matter their pledge level—a free bonus reward every time we unlock a stretch goal. We’re building a collection of Jewel in the Sky XP cards, and you’ve been choosing the designs as we go. Here’s the card you chose to go with this goal:

The Jewel in the Sky box contains several dozen cards for creatures and cyphers. Creature cards put a monster’s stats in a handy, quick-reference form, with an illustration on the reverse side to show your players. Cypher cards each contain, well, a cypher. You can give the card to a player when they discover the cypher; they give it back when they use it. It’s quick and prevents scribbling notes on a character sheet, only to erase them a couple of hours, or a couple of sessions, later.

These cards are all fully compatible with the general-purpose Cypher Creature Deck and Manifest Cypher Deck—if you have those, you can combine them, in whole or in part, with these cards.

And like those decks, these cards will also be featured in the Datasphere Deck Tool, the forthcoming digital tool that makes our decks just as easy to use in the digital realm as they are at your physical game table. (You can learn more about the very cool Datasphere Deck Tool here.)

All of these things are so useful, speeding up and easing play. So let's have more of them!

Get us to 1225 backers, and we’ll add another dozen or so creature and cypher cards to the Jewel in the Sky boxed set!

Another goal means it’s time to pick another XP card! Which design should we add to the collection next?

Vote in the attached poll!

In our last update we asked you to contribute to a conversation about inviting non-Cypher fans into the dark dungeons of Vocurro. Many of you have offered really insightful thoughts and ideas. If you haven’t already, please hop in and let us know what you think!

(If you missed yesterday’s update, we really encourage you to give it a read.)

We’re so stoked for Jewel in the Sky, and where you’re taking this campaign. And when we say “you’re” taking it places, we literally mean you.

We’ve run a lot of very successful campaigns over the years (and we here at MCG back a lot of them, too!). One thing we’ve learned is that campaigns soar when—and only when—the backers share their excitement. Your voice reaches places we can’t, and it carries so much more weight than ours.

You can find shareable posts, images, ideas, and messages on our social media accounts. Please spread the word, and let's unlock these cards and, hopefully, many more stretch goals to come!

Thanks for your support!

—Team MCG