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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Parmandur" data-source="post: 9644754" data-attributes="member: 6780330">Another update on the Stormlight RPG and tariffs today:Today's update will focus almost entirely on tariffs, and how we're planning to manage them for this campaign. Before we dive into that topic, we're happy to report that production continues to be right on schedule. We've produced the majority of accessories (GM screens, cards, tokens, miniatures) and we're well into book production. Here's a look inside a final production copy of the Stormlight World Guide:When it comes to all the factors within our control, we're feeling great about our progress. The rest of today's update will discuss how we're contending with global issues that are more challenging for us to manage.A Rapidly Escalating Trade WarAs you likely know, President Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on most goods manufactured in China. During the past month, the trade war between the US and China has escalated to unprecedented levels. Under the latest tariffs, Brotherwise would pay an additional 145% in taxes against the cost of most Cosmere RPG products, all of which are being produced in China.These extreme tariffs are hitting at a time when Stormlight production has been well underway for months, materials have been purchased, and factory bills have been paid. These tariffs present an almost overwhelming obstacle to toy and game publishers like us, but we’re doing our best to take a thoughtful approach to this challenge, and minimize the impact to you, our backers.Considering Every ScenarioBefore we go any further, we want to make something clear: At every step in this process, our guiding principle has been to avoid price increases for Cosmere RPG backers.It has been a chaotic few weeks, and we’ve been running a lot of scenarios for how to survive this trade war. But none of those plans have involved imposing an extra surcharge on backers to cover the tariffs. Behind the scenes, here’s how we’ve reacted to each tariff increase as they’ve been announced:20% Tariffs: At this level, we felt confident in our ability to cover the tariff costs. The success of this Kickstarter, and strong economies of scale, put us in a position to handle this kind of cost increase.54% Tariffs: This is a huge tariff amount, and not feasible for most companies like ours. When we faced 54% tariffs, our plan was to generate some new PDF content and give backers the chance to add on a couple of “tariff relief” e-supplements. (A few $5 or $10 PDFs wouldn’t be enough to outweigh the tariffs, but would soften the blow if enough people opted in.) We considered this our worst-case scenario, but one that we could survive.145% Tariffs: This level of tariff, which went into effect on April 10, is effectively an embargo. At this point, the costs reach into the millions of dollars and become impossible to meaningfully offset. Paying these tariffs would drastically undercut our ability to invest in the future of this RPG.Part of the challenge we face is that these tariffs are so unpredictable. At any time, these tariffs could increase, drop, or disappear. These tariffs put us in a situation where shipping a product on the wrong day could be a multimillion-dollar mistake. There are signs that the administration may be softening its stance on tariffs, so we are closely watching the news to see how the situation develops.Our Plan for this KickstarterTo make the best of a very difficult and unpredictable situation, here’s how we plan to proceed. This plan prevents any price increases for backers.1. All backers will receive PDFs and digital rewards in late July. We want all of you to be able to start playing the game you’ve backed.2. We’ll revise our fulfillment plans so international backers are not affected. Under our revised plans, international orders (including Canada and Mexico) will not ship through the US.3. International fulfillment will proceed on time. We’ll begin international fulfillment without delay. Assuming our production schedules continue to proceed as they have, that means international fulfillment will begin in September.4. US fulfillment will face delays if tariffs persist. We’ll be ready to ship product on time if tariffs drop over the next two months. If not, we will hold goods in China while we reassess the situation.5. Mistborn development has not been delayed. We’re still on track to deliver the Mistborn campaign setting on time. We’ve already set aside all funds for design, art, and production (though we’re exploring US and European manufacturing options).Predictions are very difficult to make right now, and we wouldn't be surprised if tariff levels shift several times between now and the end of June, when our production is complete. We will continue to monitor tariffs daily and we’re prepared to jump on fulfillment quickly if the situation improves.Always the Next StepThis is a deeply frustrating situation for everyone involved. Here at Brotherwise, we’re looking at beautiful production samples of all these books, and we want nothing more than to get them in everyone’s hands.At the same time, we have our sights set on the future of the Cosmere RPG. We’re trying to make the choices that will allow this RPG to thrive for years to come, and that includes keeping Brotherwise productive and in business during this halt in US-China trade. Right now, we’re hearing from peers in the game industry who don’t think they can stay solvent if the tariffs last more than a couple of months. We’re seeing some publishers already starting to furlough workers and cut costs. Right now, we have no such plans.Our teams are well into Mistborn development and taking the first steps on Worldhopper and Warbreaker content. All of our decisions are designed to maintain that long-term momentum.Tariff FAQsWe know folks have a lot of questions right now, and here are some that might be on your minds:Will Brotherwise have to pay tariffs on the RPG books? Or are they exempt?Right now, this is unclear. Under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, “informational materials” like books are exempt from tariffs. However, past rulings on RPGs have miscategorized RPG sourcebooks as game accessories rather than books. We’re working through this with our customs broker and hoping for new precedents to be established.Can I cancel my order if I don’t want to wait for physical goods?While we recommend waiting for your physical rewards, we understand if you don’t want to endure an uncertain wait. As long as you cancel your pledge prior to digital reward distribution, we can provide a refund.Can I shift my US order to an international address?If your circumstances allow, you may shift your US address to an international address. In this scenario, your new shipping cost would be whatever other backers are paying for shipping to that region.Can I pay you more now to get my rewards in the U.S. sooner? Can you ship the books to us now and the non-book products later?Unfortunately, given the scale of this project, we can’t accommodate individual shipments. And splitting the project into multiple shipments to each backer could be even more expensive than the tariffs themselves.President Trump promised tariffs on the campaign trail. Why didn’t you anticipate this issue?Our scenario planning did include tariffs, but Trump’s actions in office have far exceeded even his boldest rhetoric on the campaign trail. In general, most economists and policymakers do not endorse tariffs. Those who do have recommended gradual implementation of tariffs on China (e.g. 2% per month) and up to a maximum of 60%. The rapid escalation of tariffs has hamstrung the ability for American businesses, particularly smaller ones like Brotherwise, to pursue sourcing in the US or other countries outside of China.Why don’t you shift production to the US?Production on this project began some time ago, but even looking to the future, moving production to the US would be incredibly challenging. From a trade perspective, the US focuses on services and high-complexity goods. Due to our relative wealth and standards of living, our labor costs and manufacturing base do not support lower-complexity, high-labor products like games and toys. It’s very difficult to find manufacturing alternatives to China that offer the same combination of scale (supporting our high print runs) and quality (supporting promised features like gilded edges and spot UV).When we sourced this project, even when we looked at a “worst case scenario” of 60% tariff scenarios, prices in China were still considerably lower than those in the US, Canada, or Eastern Europe. The situation is even worse for plastic goods like dice and miniatures, which require heavy manufacturing equipment to make at scale. It would take years for the US to ramp up the capacity for tooling and injection molding, and most materials and industrial machinery required for that work would need to be sourced from China.Why don’t you handle this differently? For example, why don’t you pass the tariffs on to backers? We’ve seen a few commenters suggest that businesses should charge their customers more for products, with the goal of turning consumer sentiment against these tariff policies. We’re also seeing a lot of our peers in the industry react to these tariffs in different ways, including those who have no choice but to pass on the costs. We’re doing what feels best to us right now, trying to navigate this crisis while keeping our promises. We appreciate your patience with the decisions we’re making, but also hope you save some understanding for publishers who can’t make the same choices.This will all be worth it!Confident, and Somehow Still Full of HopeAt Brotherwise Games, we are optimists. That’s what has driven us to pursue a project this ambitious, and so far, that positive outlook has been justified thanks to the strength of the Cosmere community. We’ve appreciated your support through this project’s triumphs, and we hope you’ll continue to root for us as we face some tribulations. We’ll continue to maintain open lines of communication in the weeks and months ahead. Thanks for your patience, and for believing in us as much as we believe in this RPG.[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/brotherwise/the-stormlight-archive-rpg/posts/4368937?ref=ksr_email_mktg_auto_backer_project_update_registered_users[/URL]</blockquote>

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