Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms

Ralph-Wiggum · Post by **Ralph-Wiggum** » Sat Mar 30, 2019 9:16 pm

I had the Resistance: Avalon and it was a big hit with my gaming group. It was also the game that burned me out on social deduction games. Definitely worth the purchase if your group is into Werewolf.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Apr 05, 2019 11:48 am

hentzau wrote: Tue Mar 12, 2019 1:21 pm
hentzau wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 6:09 pm
hentzau wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:49 pm Speaking of exploding Kickstarters...

Critical Role's Kickstarter to create a Vox Machina animated special.
Currently sitting at 4.5 million dollars in a little more than 24 hours. Now that's a fan base.
Now over 7 Million dollars pledged in just over a week.

8.9 million, and the final stretch goal is achieved, a full 10-episode series.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:27 pm

FedEx says "Label Created" on what *should* be Gotham City Chronicles. Will my kids play it? Ha!

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:26 pm

I've read about a few other people getting their shipping notices for GCC. I'm really looking forward to it to play with the family over the summer. So much painting, though! I'll likely have to wait a little longer, as the couple who backed it for me as a birthday gift live a couple of hours away.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:22 pm

coopasonic wrote: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:27 pm FedEx says "Label Created" on what *should* be Gotham City Chronicles. Will my kids play it? Ha!

Number of pieces: 1
Weight: 36.50 lb.

Fedex got the package today, expected delivery... 4/25. That seems like a hell of a long time to go from Indianapolis to Dallas. I assume it is being walked here.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:10 pm

I got my BM:GCC shipping notification and got the gigantic package the next day. Of course, I only live 50 minutes from Indianapolis, so that helped. The game is monstrous, and the "base game" comes in two packages (villains and heroes). I despair that I may never play the game, but it looks very awesome! Also, the batmobile is one of the coolest models I have ever seen, followed up by the giant T-Rex.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:40 pm

Fidget.

Fidget fidget.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:01 am

My BM:GCC is expected Tuesday. Yay! i am most excited about this and my Core Space pledge... I'm still waiting on a shipping notice for that and people who did the pre-order after the KS have already received theirs due to some "length of time" shipping reasons. Not happy about it, but at least the KS people get extra stuff.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Sun Apr 14, 2019 8:16 am

baelthazar wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:10 pm I got my BM:GCC shipping notification and got the gigantic package the next day. Of course, I only live 50 minutes from Indianapolis, so that helped. The game is monstrous, and the "base game" comes in two packages (villains and heroes). I despair that I may never play the game, but it looks very awesome! Also, the batmobile is one of the coolest models I have ever seen, followed up by the giant T-Rex.

Yeah I got my all in pledge yesterday. Storage nightmare!

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:07 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 6:22 pm They're not staring the US shipping until 4/8, ending 5/20 - all estimates. I'm a little surprised at all this as I thought after 4 KS projects, they kinda had this all figured out. Watching the video, it seems like they're still learning things. Also, if your order contains Baba Yaga's hut, Tree of Despair, and/or the Frost Giant Raiders they only have limited quantities on hand. Your order might be delayed if they can't fulfill it when it's time to pack and ship. No ETA on when it would be coming then either.

They have been dead silent on this. They missed the original 4/8 shipping date and said nothing. They started shipping and said nothing. They stopped shipping, then started shipping and said nothing. There was a leak that they didn't even have enough huts to finish wave 1, but they said nothing. People have been begging for some basic information, but they haven't made a peep. Now people from wave 1 who ordered the hut appear to have been bypassed, but Reaper won't confirm.

And now they're locking or deleting any Facebook or forum posts asking about it.

Reaper's famous customer service apparently doesn't apply to Kickstarter backers.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:09 pm

I've got my eye on the upcoming ANACHRONY expansion Kickstarter. A game that's been on my radar for quite some time, and might be a good time to all in.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:30 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:07 pm Reaper's famous customer service apparently doesn't apply to Kickstarter backers.

Want me to stop by HQ and kick their asses?

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:32 pm

If you'll just gesture rudely, I'll be oddly mollified.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:40 pm

Come on down for ReaperCon and I'll provide moral support while you yell at them.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:56 pm

YellowKing wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:09 pm I've got my eye on the upcoming ANACHRONY expansion Kickstarter. A game that's been on my radar for quite some time, and might be a good time to all in.

It’s really a great game. I suck at it. But that’s not the game’s fault. The solo AI is top notch. If you can grab them, the minis are great. Sure, they’re just bling and you don’t need ‘em. But I wouldn’t play without ‘em after finding them.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:24 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:07 pmReaper's famous customer service apparently doesn't apply to Kickstarter backers.

My take on all this (and it's totally a guess) is that Reaper has grown significantly since the first three Bones KS efforts. While they might have started out as a way for existing customers/fans to get in on their productions, my feeling from this last effort was that it was gigantic beyond what they expected and that the number of KS junkies/backers in comparison to the hardcore fans of the Bones product line had shifted significantly. On top of that, they continued to take pre-orders over the last year, ballooning the project scope from ~16k backers to 21 or 22K backers (it's a little fuzzy now). That's not insignificant, IMHO particularly when it's shipping world-wide.

Anyway, my takeaway from this is they weren't/aren't prepared to be under the microscope and when you have 20k+ backers, there number of vocal unhappy people is going to be noticeable. It does not appear as though they were/are prepared in any way to deal with vocal backers/customers and aren't accustomed to sharing information, particularly as delivery/fulfillment is underway.

Again, that's my take and I might be out of line, but amazingly I've seen similar things happen in other KS projects. Communication and dealing with the backers is an art and it doesn't take much for things to get out of control from a PR perspective. For whatever reason some creators are hesitant to say anything unless it's positive. I've genuinely appreciated when creators are honest and share something rather than let the vacuum of information attract speculation and let frustration build. I'm currently backing a wargame project by two veterans in the hobby. I am absolutely disgusted at how they've been handling communication and what I interpret to be a real lack of interest in sharing progress (It's not my job to do this; I have a day job, etc...) It's already 2 months late (normal) but getting them to even admit it wasn't shipping last month was like pulling teeth. And there's no current estimate as to when it's coming at all. It's not really rock science to keep backers advised. Buyer (backer?) beware, of course, but I've learned to just stop supporting them.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:45 pm

I also just found out that their old community manager ("Reaper Bryan"), who handled all the communication in the past, left the company since the last Kickstarter. The only one communicating now is Matt-whathisface, who has a reputation for being surly and unfriendly, especially when their methods are questioned.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:04 am

I saw this post and about 10 minutes later I got my "shipping label generated" email. Maybe they checked in here?

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:43 am

They haven't stopped shipping. Their plan was that if they got to an order that had one of the three specific items (frost giants, hut, tree) and they had run out, they'd just skip you and go on to the rest of the wave, then come back to you later in a few weeks when the next shipment arrived. The issue is that the people who are waiting for their tracking information have no idea if they've run out or not, or if they've been skipped. Their shipment will either be in the next few days, or a month from now. And Reaper refuses to comment on which it will be. Given that some people aren't receiving their shipment notifications at all, some receive them late, and some just find the boxes sitting on their porch, nobody has any idea as to what's going on with their stuff.

I have two other people who ordered things along with my pledge, many hundreds of dollars worth. I really dislike telling them that I have no idea where their stuff is.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:50 am

This is the kind of thing that seems to happen when a person or company wants all the direct benefits of a KS project (quick cash infusion) but doesn't want to deal with what it means to run a KS campaign (as opposed to running a store front). I'm allegedly moving in ~2 months and I have zero idea when to expect my Wave 12 order or whether I should try to contact them somehow and give them a temporary address. It's all unfortunate.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:55 am

Solar City: a solarpunk game

Dear Backers,

We regret to inform you that Games Factory ceases to exist. The company has been bankrupted by it’s CEO.

Before we explain to you everything, we are forced to announce that the BGCK and Solar City campaigns, despite our best efforts, will not come to fruition.
...
In the first week of February the president of our company (and also the person who was responsible for all the finances, production and logistics) resigned and fled the country.

As a result, the remaining director began to learn about the monstrous mass of shortcomings, debts, inaccuracies and lies that were hidden.
...
In the Solar City case - all the production information that the president handed to us, as a person who was in charge of this project, turned out to be untrue.
...
We apologize especially to Marcin Ropka and Viola Kijowska - authors of Solar City. We were all deceived. The rights for Solar City went back to the authors in order for them to save the game.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:56 am

There are also a lot of people who jumped in early, essentially waiting in line to be in the first couple of waves so they'd get their products as soon as possible. Since Reaper shipped the US last, they're now watching wave 9 people from other parts of the world doing unboxing videos while being told that they'll be delayed, likely until the rest of the US shipping is almost done. And the people most likely to be affected by the extra delay are those who jumped in soonest and spent the most. Much of waves 1 & 2 just got bumped to wave 10, and they're not happy about it.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:57 am

Fleeing the country after mishandling the finances? In the KS world, that's called an "Up Front".

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 11:40 am

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:57 am Fleeing the country after mishandling the finances? In the KS world, that's called an "Up Front".

Ouch. Thanks a lot, man.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 11:53 am

I'm right there with you. Still burns me up. If not for my buddy helping to update/change the old cards, I likely never would have played.

He's currently doing something similar for Firefly Legendary, but you didn't hear it from me.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 3:44 pm

For those of you that love miniatures... flying!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bu ... ying-minia

I prefer co-op, but it looks intriguing.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:53 pm

Punisher wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2019 10:04 am I saw this post and about 10 minutes later I got my "shipping label generated" email. Maybe they checked in here?

well, my order now says "order processed, waiting for UPS" and an ETA of delivery for this Friday. I am pretty sure the Tree was in my order and possibly the Frost Giants, but I'd have to go through the orders and confirm (I kept adding stuff slowly until it closed)

EDIT: and I just checked. I was one of those early birds who was in Wave 2.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:18 pm

Going back to Bones 4, one of the big pieces was Argent, a 12" silver dragon they were putting out for $20. After people started getting theirs, and the complaints started rolling in, they mentioned yesterday that it was going to cost more than they thought to make it, so they shrank it to 8" to save money, and didn't bother to mention it.

I'm starting to get really, really unhappy with Reaper.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Fri Apr 19, 2019 10:10 pm

Wave 4 and I ordered the Tree for hepcat. I'm expecting to be at the end.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Fri Apr 19, 2019 11:41 pm

Blackhawk wrote:
hentzau wrote: Tue Mar 12, 2019 1:21 pm
hentzau wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 6:09 pm
hentzau wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:49 pm Speaking of exploding Kickstarters...

Critical Role's Kickstarter to create a Vox Machina animated special.
Currently sitting at 4.5 million dollars in a little more than 24 hours. Now that's a fan base.
Now over 7 Million dollars pledged in just over a week.
8.9 million, and the final stretch goal is achieved, a full 10-episode series.

Final tally was 11.3 million dollars raised. Incredible.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 11:31 am

Just arrived. Absolutely thrilled.

Delivered about a month early. That's how you run a KS. Also, with a move pending, the idea of packing up all my games is causing stress. Not to mention trying to guess about delivery dates and updating pledge managers so I actually get things that were backed 12+ months ago.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 11:36 am

I don't know what that is, but the art makes me want it.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 11:39 am

Yeah, that's why I had no hesitation about going all in on the STREET MASTERS AFTERSHOCK KS. I've heard nothing but good things about the Sadler/Blacklist Games KS campaigns.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 11:40 am

So the Sadler brothers created a gaming mechanic that is core to the Street Masters game and really just an evolution of their prior designs for other publishers. It's a "modular deck system" that allows you to quickly and easily swap in gaming elements with card decks (characters, enemies, plots, environments) and tweak how things play out because it's all done via card decks.

Anyway, Street Masters was an arcade fighting style game and this was the next step - using the modular decks to create a police theme game that is loaded with references to 80s and 90s cop movies and TV shows.

Next month they're going to launch a KS project for this system using a goth fantasy theme (Altar Quest).

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 12:05 pm

I'm a little skeptical about Altar Quest's static dungeon map, but I'll withhold criticism until I see how the components randomize the layout. Coming from these guys, I have no doubt about their ability to pull off a fun game.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 12:14 pm

Yeah, I'm not quite sold on it either. But I know one of their biggest criticisms of dungeon-crawly games is how frustrating it can be to try and find a specific tile when there's a pile you need to choose from. It absolutely slows the game down and/or you need to come up with a crafty storage solution that also keeps them ordered very specifically. I think abstracting that element a bit with the static map plays into their general design goal of having games that are quick to setup and play. That really is the amazing thing to me about Street Masters. As a solo game, I can bang out a round in ~45 minutes and then just quickly swap out a single deck (enemy, character) or change the stage or story (also decks) and reset the game in less than 5 minutes. I find value in that.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Sat Apr 20, 2019 1:03 pm

Mystery Mansion solved that problem in 1984.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:23 pm

Zarathud wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2019 10:10 pm Wave 4 and I ordered the Tree for hepcat. I'm expecting to be at the end.

My order did arrive Friday. I did order the tree and checked if it was in the box and it was. Haven't gone over anything else and only pulled out the painting DVD's I ordered. Haven't popped one in yet though.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Sun Apr 21, 2019 8:26 pm

Blackhawk wrote: Fri Apr 19, 2019 7:18 pm Going back to Bones 4, one of the big pieces was Argent, a 12" silver dragon they were putting out for $20. After people started getting theirs, and the complaints started rolling in, they mentioned yesterday that it was going to cost more than they thought to make it, so they shrank it to 8" to save money, and didn't bother to mention it.

I'm starting to get really, really unhappy with Reaper.

I am not even sure if I ordered that, so I'm gonna have to double check, but on your 4th KS, plus you have a regular business producing mini's, there is NO excuse for this. That is very shady IMO. That should have been communicated WAY in advance and refunds/alternatives offered. I will bet that they just hoped nobody would notice.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:23 pm

hepcat wrote: Sat Mar 31, 2018 11:53 am I think the real selling point for me was the narration for Unbroken's trailer on the kickstarter page. I really felt like I was listening to a pervert tell me about a board game while he looks at porn sites.

If you backed Unbroken, check out the comments section of their Kickstarter page for a surly shipping company attacking customers, who admittedly were being complete dicks at times; as well as an update pleading for backers to send them more money as they underestimated shipping costs.

It’s truly something.