Looking Back on an Adventurous Year

Looking Back On An Adventurous Year

Wow, been a while since I have updated this blog. Well, better late than never. Our blog on the Dungeon Crate website is now fully dedicated to the Adventure Poll, so this blog will be the one we feature with news, info, commentary, and other game-related stories.

Back in the winter of 2015, I was ready for a change. I decided to stop drinking, lose weight, and start a new business in 2016. It was my “Year of Transformation.” And I did just that.

2016 started off with a bang. With the help of my partner Bill and my wife Laurie, we launched Dungeon Crate and started the Lords of Adventure and Wargames company. I remember being at Bill’s house when we launched, watching the orders come in and ending the night with so much more than expected. It was scary, exciting, and we knew we had a lot of work ahead of us.

Looking back, it truly has been an adventure. Bill has since moved to other aspects of involvement with Dungeon Crate, and Laurie is busy with our other business Big Ink Writing Services. I took over all operations of Dungeon Crate and wow, it’s been a ride. Here are a few highlights:

·       Our first packing day we had camera crews, the newspaper, and a group of volunteers to help out. So glad we are not using that damn excelsior anymore.

·       Those first few negative reviews were painful. The positive ones were delightful. Video reviews were awesome to watch. We had a lot of learning to do about what people like and don’t like. Customer suggestions helped us immensely.

·       Dungeon club was a fun way to get in touch with local gamers and share the fun of our little business.

·       We started blogs, video channels, an online store, the DC Adventure Vault, podcasts, and all the social medias. It’s a lot to keep up with.

·       We moved out of the downtown office and back home as our fulfillment center is doing an incredible job. So no more packing for us here in Omaha. I do kind of miss it. Though a couple of my Dungeoneers don't...heh.

·       It’s been a game figuring out items and themes as well as balancing out the contents with retail value, my cost, and box appearance.

·       The conventions were a blast! Dressing up, rolling the dice on the giant dice tower, so much fun.

·       New box designs, more subscribers, new vendors, it’s all coming together at the end of the year.

I’m looking forward to the new year. I think with everything I’ve learned in the past year, along with all the things I have in the works for 2017, it’s going to be a great year. This is what I am calling my “Year of Growth,” so that is exactly what I plan to do with my life and business.

Thanks to everyone, friends, family, and you gamers, for supporting me and this adventure I call Dungeon Crate. It has truly been a dream being able to take a lifelong hobby and make it a business. Sharing my love of roleplaying has been a truly rewarding experience. 

Thank You For An Amazing Launch!

Greetings Adventurers!

What an awesome launch!

We are overwhelmed and immensely excited about our launch on Wednesday! We were hoping for 200 subscriptions for the first month and we made 300 subscriptions in 5 DAYS! So we would like to say THANK YOU to all our subscribers, vendors, and supporters.

Founding Memberships

We had 25 slots open for Platinum Founding Members (annual subscriptions) and 100 open for Gold Founding Members (those purchasing 3-6 month subscriptions) and they all sold out by day 2! We have sent emails out to those that got the slots and will be sending out Founding Member bonus packs shortly after our first box goes into the mail.

Shipping dates

We opened enrollment on the 13^th and realized that our service provider CrateJoy batches subscriptions on the 5^th of each month and auto-renews on the 15^th of each month. So in order to get you all your subscriptions before the next billing cycle, we are scrambling like mad to put together our first box to ship around the 8^th of February. 

Limited first box!

We are capping our first box subscriptions at 500. This is mainly due to the ramped up shipping schedule of the first box as we were limited on the amount of boxes we could get by that date. If we hit 500 before the 5^th, we will temporarily suspend enrollment from the 5^th to the 15^th. If not, we will leave it open and anyone that signs up after the 5^th will be put on for the next month’s box. After that, we will be on track and enrollment will be open 24/7. Just remember that if you enroll after the 5^th of any month, you’ll be on the list for the next month’s crate. Remember, if you decide to cancel your subscription, do it before the 5th of each month. 

T-shirt size issue

One issue that came up initially was not having all the available sizes for T-shirts on our initial launch product. We changed that quickly and now have sizes up to 5XL. We want you to know that we won’t be sending out many shirts over the year, but needed the sizes regardless. We have all the requested size changes and will ensure you get the right size when we mail out boxes with shirts.

 Help us spread the word!

Feel free to share our site with others. Check us out on facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Post a link to our site on group pages that allow it, and feel free to send us links to any video reviews. We’ll be hosting random drawings for prizes from our email list, facebook comments, and various posts we make in social media.

Again, thank you all so much for your support and patronage. We’re working hard to get things put together to bring you a killer box of stuff we hope you’ll love.

Sincerely,

The Dungeon Crate Crew

Wayne Brekke

Bill Harvat

Laurie Brekke

1/2/16 Happy New Year from Dungeon Crate!

Team DC Assemble!

Well here it is, 2016. We’re looking forward to a big year here at DCHQ. Our launch is days away and the response from the gaming community has been overwhelming. Great things did happen before the end of 2015 though. Fellow drummer and war gaming nerd Bill Harvat has partnered with Dungeon Crate and will be adding his talents to the adventure. Bill will be handling accounts, customer service, product acquisition, and a slew of other duties. He’s got years of experience as a tabletop war gamer, roleplayer, and is a co-host of the Star Wars Bounty Hunters Collectors Podcast. He’s a great drummer and his band Flight Metaphor just released another album. You guys will dig this dude. Welcome Bill!

 

The Countdown Begins…

Now that most of the groundwork is laid out, the fun part begins. We’re gearing up for open enrollment. That means we’re working on our pricing, products, packaging, and logistics. Personally, I’m very excited about our box design. We’re waiting for some samples so that we can put together a prototype box and photoshoot so we can show you what to expect. We’ll be sending out the date and time for our open enrollment to our email list first and those in the know will get a shot at a Founding Membership. Founding Members get some extra special treasures in their first box, and the glory of being either a Gold or Platinum Founding Member. Founding members are crucial to the beginning success of any sub-box business and we appreciate those who are so excited about our launch. We are too. Middle of January is the target launch date. Stay tuned.

We’re Good Listeners

Your feedback is important to us. We’ve been getting lots of comments, questions, and suggestions from folks in the gaming community and we listen. In fact, I’ll be posting an FAQ on the website with answers to questions from potential subscribers. It’s important to all of us to ensure our subscribers get a box that’s worth every penny with products they will use.

As Green As Possible

We care about the environment and have a goal to be as green as possible with this business. The box is fully recyclable and in fact, we’re going to be adding some things that will encourage people to reuse their box. Dungeon tile stamps you can cut out and use in game, packaging filler that can be used for crafting and terrain, and a box size that’s handy for storing gaming supplies.

As the owner of Dungeon Crate, I want to wish everyone a prosperous new year. It’s a crazy world out there and our love for gaming lets us escape the daily grind and strengthen our imaginations. I hope you have lots of adventures in 2016 and I hope you come along with us on ours.

Get on our mailing list on our home page at http://dungeoncrate.com

Cheers,

Wayne Brekke – Dungeon Crate Overlord