October Progress Update!
1 day ago
– Mon, Oct 12, 2026 at 09:22:32 AM
Welcome back, Agents!
Since our last update, you have kindly provided lots of feedback on the Rulebook. Thank you so much. We're currently working through over 100 changes, from spelling and grammar to rule accuracy.
At some point, we will send you an updated Rulebook PDF, probably around the same time we share the missions. Speaking of....
THREE BONUS MISSIONS
All our bonus missions are currently in the approval process. There are three major approval stages. The brief, the manuscript and the final rulebook version. All three missions are now in layout (the final step), but this stage (which includes maps and artwork from the original comics) can be very time-consuming.
Since they are all still being approved, I'm sharing only blurred versions below. While we don't want to promise a timeline yet, we're confident the next mission will reach you before the year ends!
Bonus missions are intended for a group of player characters who have played at least one other mission, can be played in any order, and can follow on directly from the rulebook mission Lost Patriot.
1: Puppets on a Wire
Mission Brief: Tasked with investigating a series of uncharacteristic, politically charged behaviour among ordinary citizens, they will soon discover that the greatest threat to a person's freedom isn't always one they can see coming… or resist. Section 9 must stop a growing wave of forced political coercion, cyber-attacks, and escalating violence before the conspirators can unleash their ultimate plan.
2: The Cruise
Mission Brief: At the grand opening of a luxury high-rise hotel designed as an immersive “cruise,” Section 9 goes undercover to monitor suspicious activity. When a sudden crisis locks the building down, Section 9 is cut off from support and must adapt to a rapidly escalating situation.
3: Cell Island Syndrome
Mission Brief: Section 9 infiltrates a remote island following a crisis and communications blackout. Inside, rival factions and covert operatives struggle for control. The team must form alliances as they navigate shifting power dynamics and unknown threats, ultimately deciding the fate of an isolated society.
What's Next?
We're turning all of your feedback into an updated rulebook. Again, while I can't promise an exact timeline for when that will be complete, we will absolutely provide an updated version via PDF once it is done.
As previously mentioned, we'll send campaign updates monthly. This will ensure each update gives you real insights into our progress and lets you know about exciting milestones passed. I'll still check the comments, but if you have any urgent questions, please email
[email protected].
Until next time, thank you for joining us on this great adventure.
- Ross and Team Mantic
Thank You From Alessio, 85% of Pledges Complete and Rulebook Feedback
about 1 month ago
– Fri, Sep 04, 2026 at 04:46:46 AM
Welcome back,
Agents!
Thank you for your support. Over 85% of you have now completed the Pledge Manager and should have received the Rulebook PDF. We hope you're already enjoying exploring the world of The Ghost in the Shell Tabletop RPG!
As a reminder, if you are a Pay Over Time backer, you will receive your Pledge Manager survey once all four payments are completed; however, if you'd like to access the Rulebook PDF early, we can manually send it to you. Please send your details and request to
[email protected].
This is a huge passion project, and game designer Alessio Cavatore wanted to share a short thank-you video now that the campaign has finished, before we get our heads down to finalise all the files.
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Rulebook Feedback
A number of you have very kindly asked to provide corrections and feedback on the Rulebook PDF, so we've created a form to help us capture this information.
Please leave your feedback here:
The Ghost in the Shell Rulebook FeedbackThis feedback form is to help us correct typos, grammatical errors, unclear rules or any contradictions before the rulebook goes to print. Please note that we cannot make any substantial changes to the rulebook as The Ghost in the Shell Rulebook has already undergone a rigorous approval process with Kodansha and Shirow Masamune to reach this stage.
Feedback is open until September 23rd - Thank you!
What's next?
This is just the first part of the journey, but we're well underway on the next stages. The team is already hard at work on the Bonus Missions. Over the next few months, these missions will be finalised and sent to you as mission PDFs as they're completed.
The first bonus mission, "Puppets on a Wire", is the closest to being finished, at around 32 pages across its 8 parts. We'll share more about its progress once we're able!
This project has been a new process for us, both in delivering a Rulebook PDF immediately after the campaign ended and sending mission PDFs as they are written. Our goal was always to let you get to the fun of play faster, with the rest of your rewards following on the usual timelines. We've already had messages from the community about playing, and we hope many more of you will be able to jump into Section 9 and start playing over the coming months.
Moving forward, campaign updates will now be sent monthly. This will ensure each update gives you real insights into our progress and lets you know about exciting milestones passed. I'll still be checking the comments, but if you have any urgent questions, please send them to
[email protected].
Until next time, thank you for joining us on this great adventure.
- Ross and Team Mantic
Surveys Sent - Section 9 Awaits
about 2 months ago
– Thu, Aug 27, 2026 at 12:41:08 PM
Welcome back, Agents!
Yesterday we sent the smoke test, and as it appears to have gone smoothly, we've now sent survey invites to everyone. Section 9 awaits!
Surveys take a little while to go out, so I'd allow 24 hours for them to show up in your inbox.
For those who receive the email today:
You do not need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the survey invite email, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email!
Your Rulebook PDF is available to download on the confirmation screen once you confirm your pledge.
After you complete your survey, you can go back and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and finalise our counts.
We plan to enter & charge backers for shipping closer to fulfilment when we have better estimates of what it will cost to ship backers' rewards. We will alert backers when shipping costs are finalised & before we charge your cards in your BackerKit survey. We will keep you informed all along the way!
After all surveys are sent, if you did not receive the email and you signed in with Apple ID, your email address might be a private relay email address. We can help locate your survey and update your email address. Please message us or post a comment with your Backer ID or Pledge # found on your confirmation. You can learn more about hiding your email for your
Apple ID here.
If you Paid Over Time, your Pledge Manager survey arrives after your final payment has cleared. However, we know many of you are excited to get playing, so if you want to access your Rulebook PDF earlier, send us an email with your backer details to
[email protected] and we can get that sent out to you manually. Just allow us 24-48 hours to resolve your query. Unlike other backers, we have to manually step in to make this happen before your payment is completed.
This is a new process for us, so we appreciate your patience. If you have any questions, let me know!
Until next time, thank you for joining us on this great adventure.
- Ross and Team Mantic
BackerKit surveys are coming - Smoke Test!
about 2 months ago
– Wed, Aug 26, 2026 at 12:57:21 PM
Welcome back, Agents!
Soon, a lucky 5% of you will receive an email from us with a special link to your BackerKit survey. It’s essential to respond to your survey as quickly as possible since we need this information to fulfil your rewards and, more importantly, ensure the Pledge Manager is working correctly.
This process, known as a smoke test, allows us to verify that everything is set up correctly before we send the surveys to the remaining 95%. If you haven't received an email, don't be alarmed; if all is good with the smoke test, you should receive your invite tomorrow.
For those who receive the email today:
You do not need to create a BackerKit account to fill out your survey. When you receive the survey invite email, click the survey link to respond. Answer the questions about your reward preferences, provide shipping information, and purchase add-on items if you like. You don’t have access to this survey link yet, but it will be available soon via email!
Your Rulebook PDF is available to download on the confirmation screen once you confirm your pledge.
After you complete your survey, you can go back and change your responses at any time before we close the surveys and finalise our counts.
We plan to enter & charge backers for shipping closer to fulfilment when we have better estimates of what it will cost to ship backers' rewards. We will alert backers when shipping costs are finalised & before we charge your cards in your BackerKit survey. We will keep you informed all along the way!
After all surveys are sent, if you did not receive the email and you signed in with Apple ID, your email address might be a private relay email address. We can help locate your survey and update your email address. Please message us or post a comment with your Backer ID or Pledge # found on your confirmation. You can learn more about hiding your email for your Apple ID
here.
Until next time, thank you for joining us on this great adventure.
- Ross and Team Mantic
Campaign Epilogue + Next Steps
2 months ago
– Thu, Aug 13, 2026 at 11:42:10 AM
Welcome back, Agents!
What a wild last day. Between the 35C/95F heat and that 8 hour backer train taking us into overtime, today has been one heck of a ride. As this campaign closes, I wanted to send a huge thank you from myself and the whole team. We've really appreciated your enthusiasm, curiosity and kindness during this campaign. It's been a wonderful one to be a part of.
I've named this update Campaign Epilogue, but really it's a prologue to the stories yet to come. Your journey into Section 9 is just beginning. More on that below!
Whether you're new to crowdfunding or not, now is a great time to go through the next steps so you know what to expect and can ask any questions you need to in the comments below.
A common question during the campaign is when and how can you get the Rulebook PDF. This ties directly into the Pledge Manager process that everyone needs to take, so let's go through those steps below.
- Once the campaign ends, your pledge is fully charged (Pay Over Time is taken in instalments).
- BackerKit processes these payments and gives you time to fix declined or failed cards. This process will take around 14 days. After this, we receive the campaign funds.
- At around 14 days, you will receive a Pledge Manager survey (via email, but I'll share an update too) where you will:
- Confirm your shipping address
- Finalise your pledge
- Purchase add-ons or extras
Note: Shipping will be charged closer to the fulfilment of physical items
- Once you've completed the Pledge Manager, you'll receive the Rulebook PDF!
- After this we'll share the bonus missions as they are finished. These will be sent via BackerKit and I'll be sure to post an update incase you miss the email.
The above is great for knowing when to expect the Pledge Manager, Rulebook PDF and missions, but let's zoom out a little further to view the fulfilment of all other items. Here is our estimated timeline at this stage.
2026
AUG: Crowdfunding ends. Late Pledges become available.
AUG: Physical refunds can be issued at 90% (due to platform fees). Digital PDF is non-refundable once downloaded.
AUG: Pledge Manager opens.
OCT: Pledge Manager closes.
DEC: Order confirmed with the factory. No refunds are available beyond this point.
2027
JAN: Pre-production Feedback
FEB: Manufacturing begins.
APR: Shipping addresses are now locked in the Pledge Manager.
APR: Pledges are shipped to regional hubs.
MAY: Fulfilment of pledges from hubs to backers.
If anything changes with these timelines, we'll be sure to keep you up to date.
Thanks to everyone who has voted so far on which VTT platform you want to see The Ghost in the Shell TTRPG on. Over 300 of you have voted, so I've extended the poll by a few days to give all the new backers a chance to participate. Please have your say below.
Your support of this campaign and participation in this vote have made us think that VTT for this game IS POSSIBLE. While we're not quite ready to guarantee this will happen (yet), we've been speaking with all the relevant people to understand the landscape, platforms, and costs involved. Just to set expectations for development, it takes around 12 weeks, so if we did proceed, this wouldn't happen overnight.
We'll be making decisions on this very soon and will, of course, keep you all updated.
Expect monthly updates big and small, as we continue to work on the project. Our next update will focus on the Pledge Manager (and perhaps more news on VTT), but whatever the news we'll stay in touch until your pledges are finalized.
Until next time, thank you for joining us on this great adventure.
- Ross and Team Mantic
