Mea Culpa

I have a rather embarrassing confession to make.

I'm still in the process of unpacking from the move.  Imaging my surprise when I came across a box containing half a dozen Miskatonic University Alumni packages.  That should be impossible, since I mailed all of them.

Except, upon reflection, I didn't.  I'd set aside a number of them for international customers and had started posting them off as I checked the shipping charges for each country.   That process was well underway back in June when the I had the one-two punch of twin high school graduations followed by my eldest's wedding.  In the mad three week rush of those events I totally forgot about the remainder of the international orders.  That means some of you are still waiting to hear back from me about how much your order will cost.

And you've been waiting five months.

Because I'm a putz.

For that, I sincerely apologize. 

On the bright side, I still have your packages.  Unfortunately, I don't have any record of who is still waiting.  I have the PayPal invoices for the orders that did go out, but I only billed people right before I actually sent out their packages.  If you contacted me about a set, but never received a shipping quote or PayPal request, your package is sitting in my workshop.

If you're still interested please drop me an email at propnomicon@gmail.com.  Again, my sincere apologies for letting this slide through the cracks.

Miskatonic Alumni Package, International Edition

I'm waiting for some bubble mailers to arrive, so I won't be able to take international orders for the Miskatonic Alumni Package until Thursday.  If you've already emailed me, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you.  I'm trying to package things so the shipping charges aren't astronomical.

Just as a heads up, I have a feeling shipping is going to be pretty hefty for the Eurozone and Australia.  It looks like the package will have to be treated as an oversized envelope because of the weight.  That means a minimum of $12.60 for postage. 

Miskatonic University Alumni Package Update

It looks like all but one Alumni package arrived safe and sound at it's destination.  The USPS says the one that went missing is in Milwaukee, despite being addressed for San Francisco.  Clearly, some postal routes travel between the dimensions of conventional reality.

Later this week I'll have about two dozen more packages available.  They'll be lacking the field journal, but I'll be throwing in some other goodies to partially compensate for that.  They'll be $33 instead of the original $35 via PayPal for domestic US customers.

Next week I'll have a small number of packages for international customers.  I'm going to be handling those through email so I can calculate shipping on an individual basis.  As I've written, I've been really torn about international orders.  It's a huge hassle having to deal with customs declarations.  At the same time, one of the glorious features of Lovecraft fandom is that it is an international community.  Some of the best art and literature within the genre is coming from far afield of the Old Gent's New England stomping grounds, something he'd no doubt be amazed by.

Miskatonic University Alumni Package Update

The final batch of packages is going out tomorrow.  With Priority Mail delivery everyone should have their goodies by Saturday at the latest.

Again, my apologies for the delayed delivery.  What really killed me this time around was collating everything.  In hindsight the easiest way to do it is to lay out all the items on a table, pick one from each pile, and then drop them into a mailer bag.  That's what I finally ended up doing, but I started by doing groups of 20 bags and adding one item at a time.  It was incredibly inefficient and wasted a lot of effort.

If you ordered multiple packages you should be receiving a notification for a partial refund.  More than one set can fit in each Priority Mail box, so I returned the $6.80 in shipping you were charged for each additional set.

Miskatonic University Alumni Package Update

I still haven't finished mailing out all of the packages.  For that I apologize, and ask your indulgence.  A week's delay isn't anything unusual, but for every previous project I've been able to post off everything in just a matter of days.  This one turned out to be a bit more involved than I'd planned. 

That said, I should be caught up in the next two days.  If you have the slightest trepidation just drop me an email and I'll be happy to refund your money.

Miskatonic Alumni Package Update

The second batch of Alumni packages will be going out this afternoon and everything will be posted off by Friday.  I've been doing them in blocks of 25 to keep the very nice staff at my small town post office from losing their minds.  My sincere thanks for your patience.

I want to say again that this was a short run project, with an emphasis on the "short".   I've received a goodly number of emails from people irate that they didn't get a chance to buy a set.  For that I'm genuinely sorry.   

In an effort to fix the issues that have upset so many people I'm going in a new direction.  If things pan out future projects will be offered through Amazon.    They'll significantly streamline the sales and shipping process, including free Prime shipping.  That should make it easier to meet demand for both the complete package and individual items. 

Miskatonic University Alumni Package

Update: I'm temporarily sold out. I may have about two dozen additional sets available, but without the notebooks. I'll have a better idea on that number in a few days.


Since it's founding in the 18th century Miskatonic University has been one of the most influential and prestigious schools in the United States. It's students and faculty have traveled the globe, earning a reputation as tireless researchers and scholars without peer. Their willingness to quite literally go to the ends of the earth in their quest for knowledge has produced a body of work of unparalleled quality and depth. With that comes a sense of pride, in both the individual and collective accomplishments of the school's alumni.

We're proud to offer this collection of keepsakes in honor of that unquenchable spirit.

The Miskatonic University Alumni Package

The package includes nine items- three Miskatonic postcards, a pocket field journal, 4" embroidered patch of the University seal, 1.5" brass keychain, 4" varsity-style embroidered patch, a cloisonné lapel pin, and the "Bookworm" Mythos Merit Badge.

The keychain is 1.5" in diameter (not counting key ring) and features a mirror-polished brass and black enamel finish.

The handsome cloisonné lapel pin is 1" (2.5 cm) in diameter and would look perfect on your Miskatonic varsity jacket. It's constructed of solid brass and fired enamel with a butterfly clasp backing.

The 4" (10 cm) patch is embroidered on a tough cotton twill backing that will last for years of use, and the heat-sensitive adhesive makes it easy to iron it on to the garment of your choice.

The varsity-style embroidered patch is 4" across and has a an iron-on backing.

The "Bookworm" Mythos Merit Badge is given to those who've delved into forbidden tomes.  It's sized at the Boy Scout standard 1.5" and features an iron-on backing.

The included paper goods consist of three vintage-style postcards of Miskatonic University locations (Orne Library, Front Campus, Middle Campus)and a pocket field journal. The journal measures 3.5" by 5" (8.89 cm by 12.7 cm) and has a saddle-stitch binding, 1/4" rounded corners, a heavyweight cover, and 32 pages of high quality lined paper. All materials are 100% recycled and the cover designs are printed with environmentally friendly soy ink.

Special Delivery

The good news is that I arrived home this evening to discover the "Bookworm" Mythos Merit Badges had arrived. Here's what the original concept looked like.

And here's the actual patch. These are sized at the Boy Scout standard 1.5".

That means all the hard goods are now in and just need the postcards and such inserted for the final package.

Here's the bad news.  The "Bookworm" patches were supposed to arrive on Monday, so I'm running a little tighter on my schedule than I expected.  That's not a major issue, at least not yet, but I'm going to have less prep time than I'd planned on.  The bigger problem is that my order of Priority Mail packages is also running late and may not arrive until Friday.  I've cleaned out the local post offices so I can get a solid start on orders, but it's still cutting it a bit close for my tastes.

That said, it looks like I'll start taking orders on Saturday instead of Friday morning.   That will give me time to take some decent product shots and bundle up the first batch so they're ready to go once I print out address labels.  I'm a big believer in getting packages in the mail as fast as possible.

Almost There...

The Miskatonic Alumni Package is almost ready.  Despite all the hassles with the varsity-style logo the patch looks awesome.

All that's left now is the "Bookworm" Mythos Merit Badge, awarded to those that have delved into forbidden tomes.  The whole impetus behind it was an attempt to get out of my comfort zone by embracing the mainstream, cheesy take on the Mythos.   And boy, did I embrace the cheese...

Don't worry, I don't plan on doing too many non-canon friendly items.  There's already more than enough of that sort of thing.  The merit badges are just a bit of fun between friends.  If the delivery schedule holds I should have the package up for sale next Friday and take orders over the long Memorial Day weekend. 

The Gathering

The Miskatonic Alumni Project has entered it's third phase.

The first was the initial "Wouldn't it be cool...." giddiness.  This is the stage filled with enthusiasm for making something new.  It's nice while it lasts.

The second was the "My God, what have I done?" phase.  This is when you take all those cool ideas and start paying for them.  It starts off well enough, and then you learn that those handy price lists don't include things like setup fees.  Or art fees.  Or any kind of realistic shipping fees.  What really drives it home is the arched eyebrow of your significant other as you spend the equivalent of, and I believe this is a direct quote, "A week spent lounging in someplace with grass huts and a sandy beach".

The third phase is when all that stuff starts arriving.  You take a razor knife to the packing tape, rip open the cardboard, and discover that, much to your relief, nothing got futzed up.  Even better, it turns out to be just as cool as you thought it was going to be.  For a brief time you're the only person in the world whose keys dangle from a polished brass and enamel Miskatonic University keychain.

Forgive the terrible photography.  They weren't kidding about the "polished" part.  That dark spot on the bottom of the keychain is the reflection of my camera.

On a related note, Geek and Sundry has an article up explaining how Chaosium's hugely successful Kickstarters almost killed the company.   There's plenty of blame to go around for the implosion of those efforts, but one of the biggest was the bugaboo of international shipping.

The problems began with the Horror on the Orient Express Kickstarter. The previous management only charged international backers $20 to ship a ten pound game. The actual cost of shipping was vastly higher, sometimes as much as $150 for backers in Japan. Meints said that this Kickstarter alone likely lost Chaosium $170,000. When Greg Stafford took over the company, there were still a number of backers who had yet to receive their products.

To avoid falling into a similar trap I'm going to give preference to domestic orders for the Alumni package. About a week before they go on sale I'll take orders from anyone who wants multiple sets at a discount. For that initial round I'll take international orders. I expect only a handful of folks will order several, so I'll have enough time to determine actual shipping charges and fill out customs forms for international orders.

After that the sets will go one sale to domestic customers with shipping via USPS Priority Flat Rate. For $6.80 it's a steal for a relatively heavy package like this and includes tracking.   If there are any sets left once all the domestic orders are taken care of I'll make them available to international customers.  

To avoid having to worry about this in the future I'm looking in to using Amazon.  I'd much rather send one big package filled with goodies to one of their European warehouses and have them take care of shipping, customs, and VAT.

The Miskatonic Curse

First, the good news.  The keychains are on the way a month ahead of schedule.  What was advertised as a 4-6 week production window turned out to be two weeks.  Hail Cthulhu!

Now the bad news.  I'm still having difficulties getting the patch and pin order straightened out.  The ones with the Miskatonic logo are already in production, but after two weeks I still haven't received a production proof for the varsity-style patch.  Keep in mind I sent what I thought was production ready artwork- a vector Illustrator file.  It's literally exactly this, but with the black replaced by empty space. 

Here's the first artwork proof I received.

Wait...what?  What was supposed to be a varsity letter inspired design...isn't.  To my chagrin, I clarified that it should be "The letter "M" surmounted by the bar with the "Miskatonic" name inside.  Like the original image".  This was the result.

You can't write comedy like this.  In their defense, the bar is surmounting the "M", but not in the way I meant.  Hopefully everything will be straightened out on Monday.  The irony is that I thought the keychain production was where the biggest risk for screw ups resided.  Instead, that part of the project appears to have gone off swimmingly. 

In other news, I discovered that the USPS has raised their Priority Mail package prices from $5.50 to $6.80.  It's not a huge change, but it means I have to bank a bit more to make sure everything gets mailed quickly. 

I'm once again developing a profound respect for business people that do this kind of thing full time.  None of these production issues is a project killer on its own, but the minor delays and complications add up over time.  It's the death of a thousand cuts.  Now that I've plunged into it again I find myself gaining new sympathy for the poor schmucks who have their Kickstarter projects go off the rails.  A goodly number of them are scam artists, to be sure, but I'm getting reminded how even someone with good intentions can get in over their head.

The Clock is Ticking

Production on the Miskatonic Alumni keychains is underway.   Here's the manufacturer's mockup of the design after tweaking the lettering to make sure it would register correctly.  I went with a 1.5" fob in cast and polished brass with a fired black enamel infill.  It might not stop a bullet, but it's tough enough to avoid getting scratched up by keys or pocket change.

I should have the patches and lapel pins finalized by the end of the week, if not tomorrow.  That will take care of all the hard goods in the package.  Unfortunately, production costs are running a little higher than I expected.  That's not a serious issue, at least not yet.  I've set aside $600 to cover the postage on the run (assuming 100 Small Priority Box packages) and can dip into that cash to cover any overruns. 

Miskatonic University Varsity Style Logo

This is one of the new patch designs for the Miskatonic Alumni Package.  It's a faux varsity letter logo using the conjectural crimson and white colors of the University.  Why that instead of the oft repeated purple and black? Two reasons, aside from taste.*  One, there's very little visual contrast between purple and black. Two, given that Lovecraft based Miskatonic on Brown University, and their colors are red, white, and brown, it seems appropriate to use the red and white while leaving the school its namesake color.

*Let's be honest.  Purple and black is where the twee "Hurr durr...spooky...spooky!" way of thinking leads to.  Down that path lies madness.

Miskatonic Alumni Unite!

I'm getting the itch again.

It's been a few years since the original Miskatonic University Prop Project.  I still get emails asking if I have any patches or pins available on a regular basis.  I inevitably reply that another run is coming up "soon".  I think that time has finally arrived.

The motivation for getting things in gear is that I really, really want a nice Miskatonic keychain.  The kind of thing an actual Ivy League alumnus would be carrying around.  Ideally, that means cast metal, or fired enamel (so the keychain doesn't get ruined by scratches) around 1.5 inches in size.  Not too big, but large enough to be impressive. 

As part of the package I'd also like to do a "Mythos Merit Badge".   Long time readers know I'm generally not a fan of the cheesy "Spellcasting 101" approach to the Mythos.  That said, I think it's a fun idea to commemorate the achievements of Lovecraft's protagonists.  In honor of Miskatonic University the first one will be the "Bookworm" badge, honoring those who've delved into eldritch tomes in search of forbidden knowledge.  If it goes over well I'll follow up with "Reanimator" and "I go Mi-Go!" badges

At this point I'm looking to have the complete Miskatonic Alumni package available in May, just in time for graduation season.  I'm aiming for a run of about 100 sets and a price point of $20 to $25.   If you have an idea for something cool to include I'm open to suggestions.