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Invisible Sun – Return to the Actuality

Created by Monte Cook Games

Invisible Sun is an amazing and visionary new tabletop roleplaying game from Monte Cook that introduces new modes of RPG play, a unique and original setting, and an unprecedented physical production weighing in at over 30lb (14kg). "A very different approach to storytelling...Invisible Sun stands out as a revolutionary advancement among roleplaying games" —LA Review of Books Released in the summer of 2018 to Kickstarter backers, and through retail game stores, and on the Monte Cook Games website, it sold out immediately. And so we held a successful Kickstarter campaign to reprint this groundbreaking, but very hard-to-find, piece of RPG history. Reserve your copy today! Once it returns to Shadow, it's, well...gone.

Latest Updates from Our Project:

Monte Cook Is a Jerk
about 5 years ago – Fri, Feb 22, 2019 at 01:48:46 AM

Hello, wise vislae—

Now that we have your attention, we should say that we don’t actually think Monte is a jerk. Far from it, in fact. But he did have a specific vision of what he wanted Invisible Sun to be, and he stuck to his guns in ensuring that the game we made fit that vision.

From the very beginning, when Monte was designing Invisible Sun, he had an uncompromising idea for the form he wanted the game to take. He envisioned not just a game that was fun and compelling, but also an amazing box to open and explore. He wanted to really celebrate the game group as an entity that gathered together around this physical object—the Black Cube.

But then we ran into a problem. (Not a terrible problem for a game company to have, but a problem nonetheless.) Demand for Invisible Sun was far higher than we’d originally anticipated. By the time the Black Cubes were finally assembled (no small task!), on a ship, and making their way to North America, the game was already sold out. We did a Kickstarter campaign to fund a reprint—because it’s a very expensive game to make, as you can imagine—and we began doing the math. When we compared the ever-increasing demand with the real world limitations (time, materials, shipping, etc.) of physically producing this incredibly deluxe game, we realized that we would probably never be able to keep up.

People had been asking for PDFs of the Invisible Sun game since we first announced it. Was Monte going to stick to his guns and insist that MCG retain his vision? Was he going to continue to be a jerk who kept the digital version of the game from existing, in light of all these people who simply weren’t going to ever get the game otherwise?

No.

The deluxe nature of the Black Cube itself was keeping it out of the hands and away from the tables of many people who wanted to explore the surreal world of the Actuality. Presented with this fact, Monte ultimately had to relent, and admit that making a digital version of this game was necessary. Monte’s a gamer at heart, and wants nothing more than for people to play the games he makes. The play’s the thing, and while the digital version might not be the absolute optimal version of the game, it’s more than enough to get people started playing Invisible Sun. And that’s what's important.

But Monte insisted on one caveat: We had to be true to the people who had faith in this game. That meant that our Kickstarter backers (and those who preordered the game from MCG) had to be rewarded for seeing from the start that this was going to be something special. So Monte proposed—and we all immediately agreed—that the digital version of the game should go to all of those people, automatically and for free.

The upshot of all this is that after much deliberation, we’re going to release Invisible Sun in PDF, and if you backed this campaign for a Black Cube, you’re going to get a copy of Invisible Sun in PDF.

In the days to come, look for a redemption email coming your way. When you receive it, follow the instructions to claim and download your copy of Invisible Sun in PDF. (If you didn't back for the Black Cube, and would like to purchase Invisible Sun in PDF, it will be available in the near future.)

Monte’s original vision for Invisible Sun remains, in our minds, the ultimate way to experience the game. The tactile nature of the many great components—the cards, the tokens, the counters, the dice, the Sooth Deck, the props, the board, the Testament of Suns, and on and on—make the physical game by far the best experience (and, for the money, the best value). But even for owners of the Black Cube there’s a benefit to having hyperlinked PDFs of all of the books, printable files for the props, and many of the other digital elements. And as Monte pointed out, there are thousands of gamers for whom the physical Black Cube is simply not a practical option.

Thank you again, wise vislae, for making Invisible Sun a reality. We hope you enjoy the PDF!

—Charles and the MCG Team

Sooth Deck, Wicked Keys, and All the Creatures of the Actuality
about 5 years ago – Fri, Feb 15, 2019 at 01:12:50 AM

Hello, wise vislae—

Here in Shadow today we’re celebrating St. Valentine’s Day, and we certainly hope you’re having a pleasant one. Elsewhere in Shadow—China, specifically—Spring Festival, which runs for about two weeks following the Lunar New Year, is underway. Spring Festival, which sees most factories in China close for up to two weeks, will end in the days to come, which means work on the reprint of the Invisible Sun Black Cube (along with the Vislae Kit and other components) is about to begin in earnest. As we’ve reported in earlier updates, we completed the proofing approvals process last month, and some of the longer-lead components were ordered then as well. But the bulk of the component production, to be followed by the lengthy assembly process, starts in the next week or so.

Teratology

Secrets of Silent Streets shipped to those who backed (and redeemed) for it over the past couple of weeks, and the book hit retail stores recently as well. The next title in the pipeline is Teratology, which recently went off to the printer. This 192-page tome is the masterwork of vislae Taramoc Eslin, a compilation of her research across all the worlds and half-worlds, and the authoritative bestiary of the Actuality. When asked how many beings live in the Actuality, Taramoc answered with characteristic aplomb: “All of them.” No book could possibly catalog every creature to be found across the Actuality, but the Teratology is the most comprehensive attempt to date.

Here’s a look at some of the page spreads, to give you a quick taste of the book:

A look at a few page spreads. That's Taramoc Eslin herself, there at the top, giving a lecture on her studies to a number of fortunate vislae.
A look at a few page spreads. That's Taramoc Eslin herself, there at the top, giving a lecture on her studies to a number of fortunate vislae.

Book M

With Secrets of Silent Streets out, and Teratology on the way, clever vislae may be wondering: What news of Book M?

In our last update, we mentioned that slipcases and cards were somewhere in transit between port and the book printer, but terrible winter weather in Canada threw the rail and trucking schedules into disarray. The first container of components did eventually reach its destination, and those books are completing the assembly process right now.

However, that’s just the first batch. A second batch remains in transit to the printer, and is expected to arrive (barring any additional weather-related flux) early next week. Assembly of those books will begin as quickly as possible, so they should follow the first batch by just a couple of weeks.

We will fulfill Book M to backers of the original Kickstarter campaign first, and that will probably use up the first batch. When the second batch arrives, we’ll fulfill your copies before we ship to preorder customers, or make it available to (non-backer) retailers or for sale on the MCG Shop. That should all happen within a matter of weeks.

Sooth Decks and Wicked Keys!

Did you add on an extra Sooth Deck, or perhaps a set of Wicked Keys? If so, we’re fulfilling right now. Check your email—you should have received a message today with instructions on claiming your reward.

(If you didn’t back for these extras, keep an eye on the MCG Shop. Both items will be available for purchase soon!)

There are a number of other add-ons still to come, of course: Extra dice, character tomes, medallions, T-shirt, prop sets, and so on. Some of these will deliver with the Black Cubes when they ship, and others will come a bit earlier, over the next couple of months. Keep your eye out for news on those items in future updates.

—Charles and the MCG Team

Secrets of Silent Streets, Book M, and the Black Cube
about 5 years ago – Wed, Jan 23, 2019 at 01:53:06 AM

Hello, wise vislae—

The Black Cube has been summoned and is beginning to materialize!

Thanks for making the reprint of Invisible Sun a reality. Since the campaign closed in November, we’ve been hard at work moving the Black Cube back into production. For a product as complex as Invisible Sun, with literally thousands of pieces within the box, that’s a complicated undertaking, but we’re happy to report that all the pre-production work is complete. The numbers have been sorted, the components have been proofed, and production is beginning.

Chinese New Year, a lengthy festival that closes down most factories in China for two weeks, kicks off in a couple of weeks. Between now and then, the components that take the longest to manufacture move into production. Following Chinese New Year, in late February, work will begin on the remaining components, and then the Black Cubes and Vislae Kits will be assembled and packaged up. For most games, making components and assembling the final product takes six or eight weeks. For Invisible Sun it’ll be quite a bit longer. But we’re happily on schedule, so all is good!

In the meantime, if you’ve backed for Invisible Sun supplements, we have some great news.

  •  Secrets of Silent Streets is finished and is now in our warehouse—and it will be heading your way soon. This beautiful, 216-page book is a tour of Satyrine, and we’re immensely proud of how it turned out. It will begin its fulfillment process, for both the hardcover and PDF, in the next few days. Look for an email before the end of this week with your redemption instructions.
  • Look for an email to redeem Wicked Keys at around the same time as Secrets of Silent Streets. And if Wicked Keys aren’t one of your rewards, check them out on the MCG Shop (backer redemption orders are always prioritized over preorders and regular orders).
  •  Book M is only a couple of weeks behind Secrets of Silent Streets. Book M was actually supposed to come out first, but transportation complications, due to harsh weather in North America this month, have kept the slipcase and cards from reaching the book printer. The book itself is fully printed, and will be assembled with the other components as soon as they arrive—probably in the next few days. We’ll let you know when we’re ready to send your copy.

Thus far, several digital rewards have been offered for redemption. They are: Invisible Sun Rules Primer PDF, The Key PDF, We Begin at the End PDF, and the Digital Rules Reference (searchable text file). Check the Coupons section of your MCG Shop account to redeem your copies, if any of these are rewards for you.

If you have any friends still trapped in Shadow, preorders for the Invisible Sun Black Cube reprint are now open on the MCG Shop. Like the original printing, we expect this one to sell out, possibly even before preorders close, so now’s the time to reserve a copy!

—Charles and the MCG Team

The Campaign Has Come to its Exciting Conclusion. What’s Next?
over 5 years ago – Sat, Nov 17, 2018 at 12:05:38 AM

Hello, honored vislae—

Thank you for your amazing support in bringing Invisible Sun and the Vislae Kit back into print—as well as making Enchiridion of the Path and our other stretch goals a reality.

I’ve got some critical info for you, but first I’d like to thank everyone on the MCG team who helped make this campaign a success:

Monte, obviously, for conceiving and breathing life into Invisible Sun. But also the rest of the design team, who helped bring that vision into existence: Shanna, Sean, and Bruce. Bear (and the many great illustrators he worked with) for the fantastic imagery and beautiful production design that helped us all see the Actuality and appreciate the awesome tactile experience of the Black Cube, and for his great work on the graphics for this campaign. Tammie, for keeping the wheels on the company while this was all going on. And Darcy for interfacing with you, our wonderful community, here and everywhere gamers congregate online.

And of course to the many backers who embraced the vision of Invisible Sun. We are so happy to bring this game to thousands of new gamers, and you’re the ones who made that possible. So thank you.

Here’s what to expect as we move forward from here.

This Evening and the Next Few Days

Running Kickstarter campaigns is rewarding in many ways, and we have greatly enjoyed interacting with you through these updates, the comments, social media, and so on. But it’s also a brutally hectic challenge to administer it all. And most of the MCG staff has been keeping up with our regular duties throughout: moving Book M through production and getting Secrets of Silent Streets ready for press, writing and editing titles like Teratology, The Ninth World Bestiary 3, and Priests of the Aeons (those latter two for Numenera), and so on. Not to mention getting MCG Shop orders out the door, prepping for events like PAX Unplugged, and so on. So I don’t think you’ll be surprised when I say that we’re taking a short break.

Don’t expect to hear much from us this weekend, or during the holiday week to come. If you have questions, feel free to send a Kickstarter message, but don’t be concerned if you don’t get a response right away. Production of the Black Cube reprint will take months, and work on stretch goals like Enchiridion of the Path will take longer. There isn’t anything that can’t wait for a few days. But don’t worry—we WILL get back to you.

The Next Few Weeks

Kickstarter began collecting pledges the moment the campaign closed. But it takes Kickstarter a full two weeks to release those funds, along with the data on our backers.

In the meantime, we will get BackerKit fully set up so we can open it when we have that data. BackerKit is a third-party platform that lets you confirm all the information we need to fulfill your pledge. If there are add-ons you’ve missed, or if you decide to increase your reward level, you can do that through BackerKit as well. You’ll be notified when we open BackerKit.

NOTE: Signing into BackerKit is vital to getting your rewards. Kickstarter does NOT provide us with the information we need to fulfill your rewards; we MUST gather it from you after the campaign. If you don’t respond to your BackerKit survey, we can’t send you any rewards!

The Next Few Months

Once you’ve done your BackerKit survey, we won’t need anything else from you until it’s time to start fulfilling rewards. We’ll be busy crafting the products and rewards you will be receiving in the months to come.

At times during this period, you won't hear from us, maybe for a couple of months. Don’t worry if that happens—we've delivered hundreds of rewards on time in the past, and we'll be working diligently on yours.

But at the same time, please pay attention when you do get communications from us. Our emails and Kickstarter updates include critical information about your rewards.

When Your Rewards Ship

Every time a reward is ready for you, we’ll contact you again by email to begin the fulfillment process. Generally, we’ll direct you to the MCG shop, where you’ll log in, “buy” the product (for free with a coupon, because you’ve already paid for it through Kickstarter), and check out. This is an important part of the process because it ensures we have accurate delivery information for every item we send out. (With roughly 1,500 backers getting rewards, it's amazing how many people will change their address over the fulfillment period.) If you're an overseas backer or want to upgrade shipping, you'll pay for it at that time. Make sure you're paying attention to communications from us—don't let our updates or emails go to your spam folder, or otherwise ignore them, because if you do you could miss out on some of your rewards.

This was a grand endeavor, and we are very happy you chose to be a part of it. Thank you all for your support, and for helping us continue to welcome new vislae into the Actuality.

--Charles and the whole MCG crew

A Couple of Things for the Final Day of this Campaign
over 5 years ago – Fri, Nov 16, 2018 at 11:18:40 PM

Greetings, wise vislae—

What an incredible week we’ve had! And a great final day, too, to close out the campaign! We just funded The Essence of Invisible Sun, and things aren’t even over yet.

Before the campaign reaches its end, we wanted to give you a little checklist of things you might do to make sure you get all of the rewards you deserve without any hiccups.

1. Double-check Your Pledge. Go right now to the Kickstarter page and make sure you chose the reward level you want. If you want any add-ons, make sure you’ve increased your pledge amount accordingly. (Just click Manage Your Pledge, then increase the amount of your pledge by the cost of the add-on(s), without changing your pledge level. We’ll clarify what the extra funds were for in BackerKit, after the campaign ends.)

2. Credit Card. Please make sure your credit card information in Kickstarter is current and correct.

3. Last Minute Reward Add-Ons. Once the Kickstarter campaign is over, you won't be able to modify your pledge using Kickstarter. Add-ons should available, for a limited time, through BackerKit. We can't guarantee it, though, so if there's something you want, now's the time to be sure you get it.

4. Be Prepared for Additional Updates. The Kickstarter campaign is ending soon, but we’ll be interacting for some time—most rewards won’t ship for many months! Updates are the most reliable way of reaching all backers, so please make sure you read them and that they don’t go to your spam folder.

5. How Do You Spell Your Name? We apologize if this sounds silly or condescending, but it’s a real issue, and we have no other choice but to confront it head-on. Occasionally, in haste, people misspell or omit critical information when they provide it to us. This creates problems with shipping and sending rewards. When you provide information—your name, address, and so on—please pay close attention to all the details. If you live overseas, and your name or address includes special or accented characters, if at all possible please instead use the closest standard alphabetical character. Accented characters are often garbled as the Internet tries to convert them into American text; an "É" may come through the system written as "$%^", rendering your address undeliverable. Sometimes we can determine the correct spelling, but often not.

6. Spread the Word One Last Time! This campaign isn’t over yet! We greatly appreciate all your support. Thank you for helping us make all these amazing books happen!

--Charles and the whole MCG crew