"Treat heroes like the superheroes that that they are..."
The above quote has been a driving force of ours these past couple months as we finished up with The Hero's Planner Kickstarter, and began approaching our 1 year anniversary with The Hero's Guild.
The 1st year of The Hero's Guild was all about The Hero's Planner & SideQuests, and testing those work-in-progress products with our loyal heroes in The Guild Hall. Needless to say, it's been an amazing time, and we couldn't have ever imagined the level of support we've received up to this point. Now that we've properly tested the concept of a digital community, and the planner is almost out in the wild, we think we can go a lot bigger for Year 2.
As Guildmaster, my commitment for Year 2 of The Hero's Guild has always been to help provide even more value to you the heroes, without any additional cost to the membership plan.
All this is being said, read on more for more information regarding what's new this October, along with some sneak peaks on some of the new features that are coming very soon...
What's New for October?
Step into Adventure: Istoria Walking Challenges
In September, we started beta testing a concept for "Istoria Walking Challenges" via a simple 30-day "Land of Istoria Walking Challenge" program, and we couldn't have asked for a better response. We had so much fun with it, we want to go even bigger for October. This month, you'll have an option for 3 different challenge levels, ranging from a more casual stroll from class to class in the Istoria Magic Academy, all the way up to hopping from planet to planet through the Galaxy of Istoria.
Each Walking Challenge comes with its own captivating "mini-story" that unfolds as you reach weekly milestones, and we plan to expand these stories furtherif y'all like them.
New Planner Spreads: 'Trek Through Istoria'
We've now released all the planner spreads from The Hero's Planner, available for download in the "Planner Pages" tab. As promised, we still have a couple of exclusive "Hero's Guild" planner spreads to offer sometime this year, and this month, we've got a new one for ya.
Presenting: 'Trek Through Istoria'
You can download the new planner spreads anytime via the "Planner Pages" tab. And if the walking challenges aren't your cup of tea this month, consider diving into Spooky Eve instead. 🎃 Remember, all our planner spreads are undated!
Looking Ahead: The Hero's Guild v2
Key Changes To Be Aware Of (Evolving Membership Tiers)
Soon the current "SideQuest" tier at $3/mo will transform into being a "Free Tier", accessible to all heroes. Everyone will have access to The Guild Hall, and we're revamping our weekly SideQuest routines with a syndicated quest structure. Expect exciting SideQuests and even the possibility of The Hero's Journal team sharing their weekly SideQuest updates. 😉
The current "Hero's Planner" tier will transform into a "Beta Testing" tier, remaining at $12/month or $120 for the whole year. We have a slew of new ideas in the works, from premium Walking Challenges to games and significant evolutions of the SideQuest Deck. Your input as trusted superheroes is crucial. Alongside beta testing opportunities, we're planning limited-time merch and introducing a "Mercantile" store with even greater value (more on that below).
Coming Soon: Updated 'Guild Hall' Experience
The "Guild Hall" will become The "Hero's Hub": a one-stop hub for all Hero's Journal communities.
A new "Quest Central" section will add forums for our challenge groups, as well as forums for major individual quest types. Make threads about your individual quests, and/or cheer on others doing similar quests.
There will be links to the "Guild Hall", a new group for Beta Testers, and even links to our Discord, YouTube, and Hero's Quarters communities.
Coming Soon: Updated 'User Profiles' and 'Badges'
Access your profile by clicking on the drop down arrow in the top right, followed by “Profile”.
Send follow requests to other heroes, send them messages if both are following, and keep your profile updated with desired information about your quest(s).
Earn badges for completing 'Walking Challenges', and other challenges we offer in the future. Gotta collect 'em all!
1 Year Anniversary Digital Badges coming soon! 🎉
Coming Soon: "The Mercantile"
"The Mercantile" will be a subscriber-only store page w/ discounted evergreen bundles for both The Hero's Journals, and eventually also The Hero's Planner.
Where our current offering grants a $15 gift-code to Planner Tier subscribers, and a $5 Gift Code to SideQuest Tier subscribers - the new mercantile format will allow you the ability to re-up on your journals and planners whenever you need at a whopping 30%-off discount! That's over double the value of the gift codes (maybe even triple if you decide to buy a bundle for a friend).
Throughout the year we hope to clear a few new exclusive merch items that we'll have the ability to do limited time pre-orders for when the time comes. Let us know what kind of merch drops you want or need!
Coming Soon: SideStories?
The enthusiastic response to the Walking Challenges hints at a future with even more diverse quest options. Beyond walking, think fitness challenges, educational, creative, and more. Imagine a future wherein there are different flavors of challenges available in The Guild: An education based challenge in the Istoria Magic Academy library, a Creative quest challenge on Gollstar in Galaxy of Istoria, etc. The possibilities are endless...
For now though, let's focus on getting ready for the more immediate changes we have coming up the guild, as well as having fun together making these Walking Challenges as fun and helpful as they can possibly be!
Share Your Heroic Insights: Which Features Excite You the Most? Let us know in the comments below! 🧙♂️
~John 👾 Guildmaster
Maybe I missed it, but I was wondering if the members were still going to be able to get a monthly coupon code. That code made it possible for me to get things I needed that otherwise I couldn’t..
Thanks for doing that last year, you guys rock!
Definitely looking forward to a shift in the organization of the Guild Hall and the challenges that aren't specifically for walking or running.
I think coming out with more layouts to go with the challenges is a good idea. Another idea for the long run: making a journal type in which you can interchange spreads (like a reusable binding) and have challenge spreads that could be added in. (For an example, Happy Planner has "extensions" that can be purchased separately and inserted in to their disc bound layout. Could make different adventures for different types of challenges.)
It's always a thrill to watch this project grow. Thank you for your efforts to keep growing and improving! We appreciate you.
Ok, I had to put all school work aside just so I could digest what I was reading. I am extremely excited! This all sounds so wonderful, and I am really looking forward to each and every one of them. I am making one of my goals this month to write down steps daily so I can record in the Walking Challenge, I totally spaced that last month. Yup, school work is on the back burner for the rest of the evening while I play around with all the new items currently up and running and re-reading over all the wonderful coming soon items!!
I’m excited about year 2 of the guild! I like the ideas on future side stories and really enjoyed the beta test of the walking challenge! New merchandise sounds fun and the upscaled discounts possible. I’m looking forward to downloading and using this month’s new planner pages too!
Also — forgot to say that I really really really like the new tier set-up. I love that the side quests and hub are open to more users of The Hero’s Journal than before and love the ways you’re making the paid subscription more unique! So excited to be on board early enough to watch these changes happening in real time 🤩