I’m happy to report that Oath: New Foundations is now in mass production. The vast majority of files and samples have been approved and the elements that remain won’t hold up production. Whew, we’re getting there!
It’s always hard to gauge how long prepress on a project like this will take. I’ve been on some projects where we sail through prepress in a few weeks. With Oath New Foundations we spent nearly four months going back and forth with the factory on a variety of issues and waiting for samples. Some of this delay has to do with the factory’s own internal scheduling. It seems like their workshop has been pretty over-booked this winter and spring. But, it also speaks to the complexity of this specific project. There were just a lot of things that we had to get right.
It will be a few weeks till we get an updated production timeline from the factory, so we’ll have to wait till July’s update before we brief you all with specifics about the game’s fulfillment. Right now we’re almost certainly looking at a fall fulfillment of some kind. This puts us about a year behind our initial estimate. I think there are basically three contributing factors towards this delay. The transition to the new company is one, the size and scope of the project is another, and, lastly the delays at the factory itself. It’s possible that each of these accounts for a roughly equal share. All that said, things are in a good place. The design itself feels great and was very well received when I showed it off at UKGE this past weekend. We cannot wait for you to all see the final game.
As mass production gets underway, we’ll be updating our tabletop simulator module and building some print-and-play kits for intrepid players. We've got some other little surprises to share as well along with some capstone designer and developer diaries that I'll be writing over the next couple months. Stay tuned!
Storage Box PPC (Finally!)
Last week we got the final major PPC for this project: the storage box. It is really fantastic. There were a couple of very small modifications that we needed to make, but basically everything looked and felt great. The only adjustment we have to make is to switch to different paper stock for the player boxes to make them just a bit sturdier (weirdly, this means going a step lighter in weight, as it is less likely to tear on assembly).
I took a whole heap of photos which you can find below.
Here you can see the storage box and the base Oath box. As I mentioned before, the new storage box is the size of the Blighted Reach box and is the same size as the Oath box, but taller. The top region of the base has plenty of space for notebooks and other things you might want to add to your copy as well as the game's rulebooks.
On the top layer, you can easily store the solo tray (top left) or use the included foam sheet. We decided to perforate these sheet so that there are some tear-away foam blocks. these can be used as spacers if you want to pack your box tight. We wanted to make sure the box worked with players who sleeved their copies and with those who did not. The foam blocks are also useful if you want to store your box on one of its shorter sides to keep the cards from shifting.
We spent a ton of time working on the player boxes. We came up with a construction that is quite sturdy and has plenty of room for the little warband holder, all of a player's pieces, and any cards that they might be carrying over. Here's a picture of my lineage from our current office campaign We've just started our third era and have played around 11 generations so far.
Note: I like to splay my legacies generally. Many of these cards have powers that alter setup and teardown and so only those with have powers that are active in the game need to be clearly visible.
You can see the Atlas box above. We made sure to make it easy to take sites from the front or back of the box. You'll also notice that I like to store the tarot chronicle cards and the player aids in the extra space just to keep my box neat and tidy. There are a few other places to put these cards in the box if you choose to sleeve your copy, but, if you don't, the Atlas box is a nice spot since you use them every game.
We also decided to prepare a little starfield for the inside of the box. While the game record sheets also provide space for constellation drawing and star naming, we thought it'd be nice to give players a more permanent option.
If you ever have any questions about your pledge, just submit a support request here and we'll reach out over email.
The Waiting is the Hardest Part (and a Clockwork PnP!)
about 1 month ago
– Mon, May 11, 2026 at 12:51:11 PM
Dear Backers,
First, I want to apologize for this update’s delay. We had planned on posting an update several weeks ago, but it got lost in the shuffle during the Arcs KS campaign. Rest assured that we’ve been working steadily on New Foundations and that the project is in great shape. Let me take you through what we’ve been up to since I last wrote.
In the weeks after the last update, we submitted files for the PPC review process. This ended up taking about twice as long as it usually does for a variety of reasons. The biggest one is that the factory happens to be slammed at the moment, and we had to wait our turn. During this period, we recorded three games of a little mini chronicle to celebrate the game’s finish.
The second can be found here and the third is here. Speaking frankly, it was a little mad to do these recordings. We were all working hard to get the Arcs crowdfunding ready and put the final touches on Oath as it moved through the pre-press process. But, in the process of finishing Oath, we knew we wanted to play the game a few more times, and, if we were playing, we thought we might as well record the games for you all.
These plays are a great glimpse into New Foundations as well as what near-final games look like. You'll see a very tired version of Josh and I discuss some little odds and ends throughout and even stumble through a few rules! But, I think you'll also get a sense of how much we all care about this game and why we still love playing it.
While we recorded these games in late February and March, Oath continued moving through the pre-press process. At the time, my expectation was that we’d get the PPC sometime by the end of the month and that we’d show it off right away. However, the PPC instead came at the very end of April. In fact, it arrived at my house right as the Arcs campaign was ending, and I even showed it to the camera during our end-of-campaign stream.
Under most circumstances, the arrival of a PPC is an all-hands-on-deck occasion. However, after the work on the Arcs campaign, the staff was tired. It was a bad time to conduct an exhaustive review. So, after the campaign, we made sure to give everyone a few days off. Afterwards, the full team would be in town and we could complete the PPC review in person. Last week, the PPC passed our internal review with flying colors. However, once again, we encountered a small delay. The factory didn’t want to start mass production until we had approved every related project, which means they would not accept our final files until we had approved both the storage box and the second sleeve pack. These were also operating under the same delay as the other PPCs. We should get the storage box in about 10 days and the sleeves should be here by then as well.
This is all incredibly frustrating, but we’ve tried to make the best of it. During the pre-press process, you're generally free to alter files so long as they don’t change anything fundamental about the game’s production. That means that we can still improve the text or put in extra art. So, while we've been waiting for the PPC over the past several weeks, we’ve kept playing Oath and tightening the bolts. In fact, just this last weekend, I used the PPC to play a six-game marathon of New Foundations. Even these late-stage games yielded a couple of small clarifications in wording as well as adding some table talk guidelines in the rules. None of this is game-critical, but we wanted to use the extra time we were given.
Kyle, Pati, and Megan have been busy too! They've found some new places to sneak in art and done a hundred little things that have improved the look and feel of the final game. For instance, last update, we showed off the storage box. If you looked closely, you'll notice in that image that the art wrapped around to the sides. However, with extra time we were able to ask Kyle to properly extend the art on all box sides. The result is stunning. And, when you get the final thing, you'll find new art in all sorts of other places too.
Believe me, there is no person on the planet who is more eager for the game’s fulfillment than I am. The design has been almost fully locked for months now, but game making is a many-step process with as many partners. Often, you can only go as quickly as the slowest element.
Within a couple days I'll also have the full kit uploaded on the official TTS mod as well.
Next month, production should be fully underway. We’ll share photos of the storage box PPC and have a better sense of the fulfillment timeline for the game. Thank you all for your patience and support. We’ll talk more soon.
Best, Cole
Covers, Storage Box Detail, and Pledge Manager Info!
4 months ago
– Thu, Feb 12, 2026 at 01:54:51 PM
Dear Backers,
We have an exciting update for y’all!
Over the past month, we have been busy here at Buried Giant. Though we’ve all worked together for a long time, a new company means setting up a lot of new accounts, reorganizing our workflows just a bit here and there, and, of course, taking New Foundations across the finish line. This all takes time, and, happily, it hasn’t caused any major delays. After a few weeks, I’m happy to report that we are running basically at full capacity.
There’s some big things to share with you all today. Most importantly, we have a final date for closing the pledge manager and for charging cards. The pledge manager will close and all payments will be processed February 26th. That’s in just 2 weeks! Reminders to finalize your pledge will be sent out on February 24th for everyone to review their pledge items. We’re still a few months away from confirming shipping addresses, so while it’s extremely helpful to have your address on file, you’ll have another chance to confirm your delivery info before fulfillment starts. We plan to confirm all addresses when production is complete in (we're estimating June) and when the games are ready to be fulfilled in your region. This will occur on a rolling basis from July-September. More info on our fulfillment timelines by region once production is underway.
I am also happy to share that we have updated all of our entries on BackerKit with the final cover designs as well as better product descriptions. The entries were first written shortly after the campaign and hadn’t reflected the final state of the design. I’m glad to say that, outside of a couple minor details, all of the add-on information is now locked. The biggest adjustment from what was originally presented on the KS campaign is that we moved the new player colors into New Foundations along with the bandits from the Deluxe Component II add-on. This gave us room to offer new (and nicer) x3 metal coins with Deluxe Components II and made a lot more sense from a packaging standpoint. We hadn’t known that we would want these coins at all initially, but during development we encountered some really interesting high-favor chronicle states that were worth supporting. We've shared pictures of these coins throughout production, but wanted to make sure you saw the final samples which are a little thicker and more legible than some of the earlier samples. And yes, they do stack with the singles!
Okay, let’s talk about the storage box. Storage boxes are not things that we do lightly. The Blighted Reach box took months of work to get right, and Oath’s storage box is no different. I think the best storage boxes are those that aid in the set up and tear down of a game. Period. I don’t want a flashy insert with lots of cool trays if those trays make the game harder to actually set up! In many cases, I’m much happier with a handful of player bags than something elaborate. But, for certain games, good storage can be a godsend. Can you imagine setting up (or even just playing) Feast for Odin without those trays?
With this in mind, we’ve done our best to create a box whose biggest priority is helping you all play more Oath. This was a real team effort and major props are owed to Megan and Alita for spearheading the months of iteration as well as Andrea, Anne, and Cardner. Critically, this is a team that also has a very deep knowledge of Oath. We wanted the box to be designed by the same folks who had played the game the most over the course of development. Alright, let’s take a look at how it works!
We’ll start with the cover and size. We all love Oath’s original cover, and, when we talked to Kyle about the art for the storage box, we wanted to find something that didn’t stray too far from it. Covers are the first and last thing you see when you are getting ready to play a game or pack it up, and so I loved his choice to adopt a sunrise/sunset palette. Also, as you can see from the render, the box is basically the same size as Blighted Reach.
Originally, we had planned on doing a vacuform plastic tray (similar to Arcs). However, because the storage box’s design primarily used rectangular storage areas, it seemed like a cardboard tray would be basically as strong and a lot more space efficient. This excellent suggestion came from Cardner, our production specialist at Buried Giant. Cardner has a lot of experience working on game productions like this, and boy was it helpful!
The other day, I went over to Matt's house to shoot a quick video about the insert. Because we wanted to get this update out quickly, we didn't have time to do something more elaborate, but hopefully it will give you a sense of what's to come! We're looking forward to doing a lot more behind-the-scenes videos like this in the future.
As I mentioned in the video, one of the troubles with cardboard inserts is that sometimes the dividers can be a little flimsy. Thankfully, the factory was able to engineer these little “winged” dividers that can withstand a lot of force. This is one sturdy tray.
The trays will come fully built. And, don’t worry. This won’t be a fully white insert. Kyle is working on some beautiful artwork that will be printed on the tray. A printed tray also lets our graphics team put reminders about which elements go into which areas.
Here’s how it all works. On the base layer, players will store all of the game material across the four columns. You can see here that I'm using the tray from the original game. The storage box will come with new trays that are a little narrower than the originals (so they fit a bit better).
Then, above that, you can add the plastic storage tray that comes in Clockwork if you are a solo/coop player as well as the player boards on the right. This creates a nice natural lock. Finally, above that there’s ample space for rulebooks, journals, and other things that you might want to include with your copy of Oath.
The individual player boxes are done in a thick card stock with a glossy finish. They will come preassembled and should be pretty tough. The atlas box on the other hand will have 2mm thick walls and close with a magnet.
Most of the pictures above are from factory white samples. There are a number of small adjustments that we’ll be making over the next month, but we’re hoping to get production underway in March. Once that happens, we’ll update you all again with our best guess for when the game will ship.
Now, all that said, you can still pack up the game in the regular Oath box. We’ll have some guides to that end later. Especially if you don’t sleeve cards, there are a number of approaches that may suit you just fine. In fact, even with sleeved cards you can get all of New Foundations in the base box without any box lift.
In order to do this, you take out the old insert and arrange things as above. Obviously you'd want to put the relics and legacy/setup cards in a bag, but I wanted to make sure, they photographed clearly here. Then, in the remaining cavity, you can put the bags with the lineages. (Note that the world box here has a little booster box below it so it takes up the same space as the new atlas box--New Foundations comes with a cardstock variant of the more deluxe one found in the Storage Box.) If you want to fit in the Clockwork materials with a sleeved set, you either need to tolerate a bit of box lift or take some of the player colors out (perhaps storing them in the NF or Clockwork box). And, if you don’t sleeve your game, you’ll have extra space you can use in a number of ways.
In short, yup, it’ll all fit and fit well. However, we really have found the storage box to be a much nicer way of organizing the game with a lot more room to grow. If you want a box that makes set up and teardown as seamless as possible, the storage box is about as close to an ideal solution as we could get.
The Non-Box Stuff
While we’re still several months away from fulfillment, if you’re itching to play or talk about Oath, you should check the new Buried Giant discord server here: there’s a ton of great discussion going on and lots of games of Oath: New Foundations.
If you cannot find your pledge or the link to your pledge, please go here.
If you have other questions, please visit the FAQ here.
If you need direct help with your pledge, you always can email [email protected].
If you are just pumped about more Oath, give a like and leave a comment.
An Important Update about the Future of Oath
5 months ago
– Tue, Jan 13, 2026 at 01:10:00 PM
Dear Backers,
I have some important news for you all. Kyle and I will be leaving Leder Games and starting a new company, Buried Giant Studios. This separation is amicable, and we wish the best of luck to our friends at Leder Games.
As part of this separation, Buried Giant Studios has purchased both Arcs and Oath from Leder Games. This purchase includes the fulfillment and remaining management of the New Foundations Kickstarter. While this may cause some small delays as we coordinate the transfer, it should not impact the campaign’s fulfillment significantly. The design is finished, the production is nearly ready to get underway, and our new company is well-equipped to complete the campaign.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be posting more about the new studio and taking you all through the final stages of the production process. In the short term, we’re happy to answer any questions you might have regarding the campaign in the comments or you can send a message to [email protected]
On the production front, I’m happy to report that nearly all of the files for both New Foundations and the Clockwork Adversaries are ready for prepress. We are still waiting on a couple elements for the storage box before that project is likewise ready. In order to not delay things, we’ll be initiating the prepress process for the main game files first and hope to have files approved in the coming weeks.
Finally, I want to say a world of personal thanks to the remaining team at Leder Games for their flexibility and kindness as we work through this transition. As you might imagine, the transfer of a property like this is complex and involves the goodwill and understanding of many people in order to make the result as seamless as possible. It has been a real joy to be able to work on both Oath and Arcs and we are thrilled that we will be able to continue to support both games in the future.
Best, Cole
Rulebooks!
6 months ago
– Thu, Dec 18, 2025 at 12:53:24 PM
Dear Backers,
I hope this finds you all well. We've already had a busy, snowy winter here in Saint Paul. I'm happy to report that we've made a lot of progress on tying up the final elements of Oath: New Foundations.
We are still waiting on a few production samples, but basically all of the print files are ready for the pre-press process.
There is one rulebook that still needs a bit of graphics work: Liz and Ricky's base game servant rulebook is still in final layout. We should have it ready soon (though perhaps after the holidays). However, if you have any questions about how the servant works, the New Foundations servant rulebook will give you a very good sense of just that.
Closed for the Holidays
As usual, the office will be closed for the final two weeks of the month. Things will reopen on January 5th. If you reach out during that time, please give us a little grace upon our return to respond. We appreciate your patience!
Support Questions
As always, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact [email protected]. Please don’t use the Kickstarter messaging system.
