Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms

[Archinerd]

My copy of Root: The Underworld Expansion is on the way.
Fedex says it will get here tomorrow.

Still no word on my other kickstarter for Bites, I'm expecting a shipping notice for that sometime very soon.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Personally, I'm just looking forward to owning a dino-themed game minus the typical cartoonish artwork:

Spoiler:

...not that there's anything wrong with such games, I would hasten to add. It's just that cartoony dinosaur artwork seems more par for the course, so a game that uses plausibly ferocious-looking dinosaur artwork makes for a refreshing and welcome change. Draftosaurus was the last dino-themed game I acquired though, so perhaps that's coloured my judgement a wee bit (though in fairness, the cutesy artwork that game uses does seem ideally-suited for what is an undeniably lighter, family-friendly drafting game).

[AWS260]

[Punisher]

I ended up backing the Heroforge thing at the $100 lifetime token level.
I think this would be cool to have.
I'm also thinking about adding on and getting at least 1 printed mini.
I don't think that $40 for a full-color mini is too much. That's if the actual product ends up looking like the samples they show.

[hentzau]

Personally, I'm just looking forward to owning a dino-themed game minus the typical cartoonish artwork:

Spoiler:

...not that there's anything wrong with such games, I would hasten to add. It's just that cartoony dinosaur artwork seems more par for the course, so a game that uses plausibly ferocious-looking dinosaur artwork makes for a refreshing and welcome change. Draftosaurus was the last dino-themed game I acquired though, so perhaps that's coloured my judgement a wee bit (though in fairness, the cutesy artwork that game uses does seem ideally-suited for what is an undeniably lighter, family-friendly drafting game).

Psst. Hey. AB! Between me and you, I think that L9 was commenting that his very excellent game, DinoGenics, did not have cartoonish artwork in it. FYI.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Heh, touché (there's also a 'Stomping Dead' expansion that includes zombified dinos). But they're expansions that can otherwise be ignored if Erich von Däniken-style dinos-armed-with-lasers and the undead isn't your cuppa.

[hepcat]

Sigh...I hate you all so very, very much.

...backed.

[$iljanus]

Dinosaurs with laser beams. Oh no (looking at campaign now)

[Lordnine]

And...the Conan KS was canceled. Probably the right call in this case. I respect their final post a lot for taking responsibility for the failure.

It sounds like they will be back with a more adventure mode focused KS in the future, which is really what most people wanted in the first place.

[Blackhawk]

$780K in a six day campaign for Conan? KS has definitely turned a corner.

Monolith revealed their funding goal along with a press release in advance. Basically, $780K is what it costs to make a mini heavy game like Conan and turn a profit. Instead of leading people on with fake stretch goals they just threw everything into the pledge level to begin with. I actually really respect the honesty as most people have known for a long time that campaigns like those run by CMON are largely BS when it comes to stretch goals and only there to drive up hype.

...and canceled. They say that they made a mistake, ignored the community, and that they'll be back with a smaller, less ambitious release built around Conan's adventure mode later on.

[Smoove_B]

I was just about to post this. Really, the best outcome and a genuine (seemingly) humbling moment for the CEO to realize he didn't listen. Here's hoping with some new perspective they can come up with something people are asking for.

[Blackhawk]

I hope so. I really, really want the pieces necessary to turn a retail into a King's in order to be able to play all of the online scenarios and the published solo content.

[Kasey Chang]

Finally received the Mjolnir wallet off Kickstarter. It wasn't as great as I hoped. The ejector mechanism was basically an arm at the bottom pushing out the cards via a button. While it does hold bills and coins, the coins are not that handy, IMHO. It does have a tap slot, a place to put a micro pen, and a place or two to put SIM cards and microSD cards. But after loading in a few cards, I went back to the wallet I bought off Amazon, which is cleaner and seems to fit better. If I had to go back to 10 cards in my wallet I may give it a go. For now, I'll stick with my other wallet.

[Anonymous Bosch]

I was gratified to read the latest Apex Theropod update announcing that neoprene mats will be available as an official add-on in the pledge manager. For a card-based game like this, that's definitely a welcome option. Also good to see they'll be providing a 1.5" metal coin first player token as a replacement for the shoddy figure that was previously used.

[AWS260]

Glorantha: The Gods War reprint.

I've always been interested in this one, but not quite enough to pull the trigger. Nothing in the new Kickstarter has changed my opinion, especially with the late 2021 delivery date.

I keep coming back to The Gods War, and I'm achingly close to backing it after all. I love the weirdness of the Glorantha setting. I don't own a fighty dudes-on-a-map game (Inis doesn't count). The price is actually cheaper than the original kickstarter. And the long production timeline is a plus, because I can pretend that I'll somehow have shelf space by then.

The most likely scenario is that some night this week, I'll have a couple of beers, and that will impair my judgement enough to take the plunge.

[Blackhawk]

The Level Up, a board game table... table. I've seen similar pieces before, but they're expensive and take up a ton of storage space. This breaks down completely. With all of us who have been straining with limited table space, this may be a solution, as it would effectively make a small table larger without taking up more square footage. Even if it is only room to put the board on top and some draw decks underneath.

I absolutely cannot afford this right now. And yet I backed it because it seems to solve a problem I've been fighting with for a decade.

[coopasonic]

That is pretty cool. I am amused at the thought of getting one and placing it in my recessed play area.

[Blackhawk]

If one of the stretch goals ends up being a way to increase the width, I would love to be able to put my 4'x8' topper on my coffee table with this on top with a Chessex mat. As it is I have people sitting on my very low couch trying to play D&D on a dining room table, and it just isn't user-friendly.

[Zarathud]

On the other hand, players sitting far below you on the couch are less likely to challenge your GM rulings or start LARPing.

[Blackhawk]

That's true! There is usually a coffee table there, but we switch it out with a large dining table on game day, then put the topper over that. We've run with the topper on the coffee table before, but drawing on the map and moving miniatures from my office chair always destroyed my back. This thing would solve that, and give players more room, too.

[Kasey Chang]

I'd say they can simplify the SKU even further by having just ONE type of piece, instead of at least two (the "corner" pieces with 2 locking edges, and the "side" pieces with 3 locking edges.

I think they should go with a rectangular piece about half of the current size with locking edges on all four sides, and just forget about a smooth edge. Gamers don't need it, and the rectangular but smaller pieces would give a lot more flexibility to fit more tables as gamers can assemble it into more different shapes, rather than just ONE shape right now.

Maybe they can save it for 2.0.

[Isgrimnur]

You could use the length extenders on the short side to get a 3x3 with a 1x1 hole in the middle.

[AWS260]

A boardgame accessory on Kickstarter that isn't over-engineered or handcrafted by artisan woodworkers? I'm genuinely shocked.

[Blackhawk]

I just want them to make a center piece, then sell the centers and edges ala-carte. With that, you'd be able to make any shape and size.

[Kasey Chang]

I just want them to make a center piece, then sell the centers and edges ala-carte. With that, you'd be able to make any shape and size.

I was thinking about just ONE square piece with connectors on all four sides and sell the edge "border lips" a la carte as optional accessories. The most common pieces should be standardized to ONE piece SKU only, and instead of all those choices of leg positions, have just ONE: right in the middle. It should be stable enough, "as is".

The optional raised edge lips for the sides to keep the bits and pieces stay on the board, but completely optional. The lips can probably even support "pockets" to hold extra pieces, as well as clips to hold down the maps.

I can see the table with optional magnetic overlays for grid or hex pattern to help with miniatures, maybe.

[Smoove_B]

Kickstarter is live.$40 for a full color mini. Previews of the creation tools look fun though.

Prototype review. This looks incredible for $40.

[hepcat]

Cole Wehrle's latest kickstarter is live.

The core rules are simple: Players will spend their turns adventuring within the Chancellor's realm and the lands that surround it. They will gather support, recruit warbands, and discover dark and dangerous secrets. Over the course of the game, players will collectively populate the world with a cast of strange and wonderful characters and institutions. This world is essentially a shared tableau, which every player can interact with and seek to control.

I'm tempted by this. I liked Root, but not as much as some folks around here. But I do love Pax Pamir. This one sounds like his take on a narrative dungeon crawl, but with legacy aspects that don't seem to lock you into one and done or one and you're stuck with the endgame state in future plays.

[AWS260]

I feel seen.

[Lordnine]

That is not wrong. I hate spending money at retail on games but barely bat an eye at spending $100 on KS. I'm in a unique and privileged situation where I can declare/use many of them as market research but even before that was the case I still felt the same.

I will say though that KS does allow for a certain amount of enjoyment (at-least for me) that buying retail does not. I have always enjoyed following the development of games so for me, it is almost like a subscription fee to a monthly newsletter on game development.

[hentzau]

Kickstarter is live.$40 for a full color mini. Previews of the creation tools look fun though.

Prototype review. This looks incredible for $40.

I like that guy's channel. He's pretty entertaining and creative. Have to watch this when I get home.

[hentzau]

Tempted by the Star Realms Nova Collection box. I've always liked that game, but never expanded it to further than the base set.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Tempted by the Star Realms Nova Collection box. I've always liked that game, but never expanded it to further than the base set.

Unless the foil cards really appeal to you, you may want to hold off for the next Star Realms KS later in the year if you're looking to go all-in for a more complete edition:

Robert Dougherty Creator
about 2 hours ago

Hi Andreas,

I'm glad you are enjoying Star Realms! Yes, you should not get this Deluxe Collection if you don' t like foil cards. They are kind of the main point.

We will have a regular Star Realms Kickstarter later this year. You could get an all-in set there. Or you could just buy everything from your local game store. I bet if you told them you wanted everything they would give you a nice discount.

You can also get Star Realms on the White Wizard Games online store: https://www.shop.whitewizardgames.com/

Universal Storage boxes are sold out. We are working on a reprint.

[Smoove_B]

Wow, I think there's going to be some backlash on the Level Up KS project. It took them 3+ days to release the Stretch Goals that they clearly blasted through in 12 minutes. For the record, they were hoping to raise $10,000 with this. They've just crossed over $350K and that unlocked a tote back upgrade for everyone. The next stretch goal is at $500K and gives everyone the ability to purchase a $20 center piece. At $1,000,000 they're giving everyone free clips.

I'm not saying they should be giving anything away for free, but I think it would have likely been wiser to just abandon this idea of stretch goals when they've very clearly exceeded expectations on the launch. Better (I think) would be to add different pledge levels that have more options.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Wow, I think there's going to be some backlash on the Level Up KS project. It took them 3+ days to release the Stretch Goals that they clearly blasted through in 12 minutes. For the record, they were hoping to raise $10,000 with this. They've just crossed over $350K and that unlocked a tote back upgrade for everyone. The next stretch goal is at $500K and gives everyone the ability to purchase a $20 center piece. At $1,000,000 they're giving everyone free clips.

I'm not saying they should be giving anything away for free, but I think it would have likely been wiser to just abandon this idea of stretch goals when they've very clearly exceeded expectations on the launch. Better (I think) would be to add different pledge levels that have more options.

Yup, a KS that goes nuclear and wildly exceeds expectations + inexperienced British creators + Brexit = Here be dragons.

I hope they're able to make a success of it, but I wouldn't touch that particular KS with a ten-foot barge pole myself.

[Blackhawk]

And the center piece (which was the only consistently demanded item) was priced at about three times what an edge piece costs.

They just posted another update that was, basically, 'Oops! We goofed.' They're rolling it back, and they're sending out a survey asking for what people actually want.

We'll see. There's still time to back out, and I really, really need what they're offering.

[Isgrimnur]

So they're looking at, from the available levels currently, ~$60 for 6 sq ft, or $10/tile.

You can get hard plastic garage flooring for ~$3-4 sq ft.

Tack on some ersatz legs, and you'd still come out ahead.

[Zarathud]

I have completed my Star Realms from their Hero Realms kickstarter. Not sure I’m happy about a rolling Kickstarter.

[Blackhawk]

I have all of Hero Realms, minus the latest KS stuff that hasn't even shipped yet. I looked at the new Star Realms KS, but it is essentially the same game I already own with shinier pictures (there is zero new content in it, just upgraded art.) I just can't justify that. Maybe someday I'll jump as deeply in to Star Realms as I did Hero Realms, but not that way.

[AWS260]

Yup, a KS that goes nuclear and wildly exceeds expectations + inexperienced British creators + Brexit = Here be dragons.

I hope they're able to make a success of it, but I wouldn't touch that particular KS with a ten-foot barge pole myself.

Yup, they clearly weren't ready for this level of interest. I really think it would be in their best interest to just produce the original thing that got people excited, and save all the variations and complications for a second kickstarter nine months from now.

[Blackhawk]

A lot of the comments are pushing them to roll it back and just offer the original table, the original options, and add just the center piece as a new addon. Hopefully that is the route they'll go.