Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms

[Archinerd]

Started today, ends Feb 18th.

[Blackhawk]

Nope, not TED. My mysterious package turned out to be the Orrorsh sourcebook and deck for Torg: Eternity. It was so late, and backed so long ago that I'd forgotten it was even out there.

My Ice Dice arrived today as well. It was also backed quite a while ago - such that I'm not even sure why I ordered it.

[Fishbelly]

Started today, ends Feb 18th.

One of my favorite games from the past few years. The art is eclectic and not to everyone's taste, but the deluxe version just makes me happy every time I set it up on my table.

I finally have a hidden movement game my family will play, especially because play times run an hour or less. I'm so happy they're running a second Kickstarter right away, so other people can enjoy this fantastic game.

[hepcat]

I wish I enjoyed hidden movement games. But as anyone who played Captain Sonar with a bunch of us at Octocon a few years back can attest, I panic when I play them. It’s just too much stress for me. Lord Mortis is the same way, I believe. Or at least he was when we played CS.

[Isgrimnur]

Captain Sonar is high-stress.

Play a game of Whitehall Mystery with me, and you'll see it distilled into the purest form that I've seen.

[Skinypupy]

I watched the SU&SD review on that one. Looks neat, but is definitely not my style of game.

[Isgrimnur]

Why’s that?

[Zarathud]

I wish I enjoyed hidden movement games. But as anyone who played Captain Sonar with a bunch of us at Octocon a few years back can attest, I panic when I play them. It’s just too much stress for me. Lord Morris is the same way, I believe. Or at least he was when we played CS.

I remember you and Mortis were opposing captains in that game, both basically with your hands up going — “I have no idea, we’re fucked.” Your words, not his.

[coopasonic]

Captain Sonar is high-stress.

Play a game of Whitehall Mystery with me, and you'll see it distilled into the purest form that I've seen.

Fugitive boils it down even further, making it just a straight line but yeah that's a bit different. Mr. Jack is another mor e pure version, but I'd say Whitehall Mystery is a good compromise as it is less of a filler than those.

Yeah, hidden movement is my thing.

The real time factor of Captain Sonar makes it a totally different thing. It's too much for me as well, at least as the captain.

[hepcat]

I wish I enjoyed hidden movement games. But as anyone who played Captain Sonar with a bunch of us at Octocon a few years back can attest, I panic when I play them. It’s just too much stress for me. Lord Morris is the same way, I believe. Or at least he was when we played CS.

I remember you and Mortis were opposing captains in that game, both basically with your hands up going — “I have no idea, we’re fucked.” Your words, not his.

It was like everyone at the table looked at each other and thought, "Who would make McHale's Navy look like The Hunt for Red October?".

[Archinerd]

The hidden movement is nice, but what really appeals to me is the bluffing. Any game that allows me to deploy a stone cold stare towards my opponent(s) has my interest.

[coopasonic]

The hidden movement is nice, but what really appeals to me is the bluffing. Any game that allows me to deploy a stone cold stare towards my opponent(s) has my interest.

A look is nice, but a mocking laugh or derisive comment is so much more satisfying. Isgrimnur may have a different opinion.

[Isgrimnur]

Only when it comes to whom is delivering it.

[coopasonic]

Point.

I miss getting to play hidden movement games (and games in general).

I watched some of a playthrough of MIND MGMT on Twitch and it looked interesting. Kind of like a cross between Letters and Cryptid.

[Skinypupy]

Why’s that?

My brain doesn't do particularly well at parsing random bits of info into a pattern. It's why I'm generally terrible at any puzzle or logic games.

[coopasonic]

Why’s that?

My brain doesn't do particularly well at parsing random bits of info into a pattern. It's why I'm generally terrible at any puzzle or logic games.

Easy solution, you play the recruiter!

[Blackhawk]

I'm loving the (original, video) game. This is obviously out of the question for me, but some others here have shown affection for the game, too.

[hepcat]

First game of Tiny Epic Dungeons down. Don't let the "tiny" in the title fool you, there lots of game here.

And the tutorial app is down for maintenance. Oh well, I'll give the manual a try. I'm a veteran of bad rule books at this point.

I will say the person who okayed the iron cross for the plus signs really should have thought that through.

[Skinypupy]

First game of Tiny Epic Dungeons down. Don't let the "tiny" in the title fool you, there lots of game here.

And the tutorial app is down for maintenance. Oh well, I'll give the manual a try. I'm a veteran of bad rule books at this point.

I will say the person who okayed the iron cross for the plus signs really should have thought that through.

According to the designer of the app, he's fixing it as we speak and it should be back up soon.

[Isgrimnur]

I will say the person who okayed the iron cross for the plus signs really should have thought that through.

Context matters.

[hepcat]

Hitler had jets!!??

[Isgrimnur]

Yes.

[hepcat]

Hitler had TWO jets!!??

[Blackhawk]

Testicular compensation.

[Skinypupy]

I tried a Tiny Epic Dungeons round with the Dized app tutorial today to refresh on the rules.

The updated version is SO much better. They clarified a number of rules, and generally improved the flow of the tutorial significantly. Big thumbs up there.

Jury is still out on the game itself. It’s fun, but holy shit is it hard. And not just the usual “skinypupy sucks at games” hard…everyone seems to be finding it incredibly punishing. I’ve already determined I’m going to house rule a higher torch starting spot on the track, just to keep my sanity.

[TheMix]

My friend was in town. And we had a conversation about game difficulties. Personally, I find it really hard to get into a game that is too difficult. Even if you end up winning, it's kind of soul-crushing. He'd brought Eldritch Horror, and we tried it out (my first time playing it). I started off poorly. Failed all my initial rolls. We ended up getting destroyed. I was feeling a little better for the second half because I finally was making some successful rolls. But the game still left a bitter taste.

[hepcat]

Jury is still out on the game itself. It’s fun, but holy shit is it hard. And not just the usual “skinypupy sucks at games” hard…everyone seems to be finding it incredibly punishing. I’ve already determined I’m going to house rule a higher torch starting spot on the track, just to keep my sanity.

We played a 3 player game on Saturday afternoon and didn't really have any issues with the torch track. I think we had 5 spaces left after defeating the boss and winning the game. Are you remembering to move it back 6 spaces after a minion is defeated as part of the reward for doing so?

I'm really digging it, but it took us almost 5 hours to play with all the icon referencing we needed to do, and rules checking. I'm hoping I can drop that down to 90 minutes or so in a future game as more than 2 hours for this one kind of negates the whole point of a small box dungeon crawler, in my opinion.

[Skinypupy]

Jury is still out on the game itself. It’s fun, but holy shit is it hard. And not just the usual “skinypupy sucks at games” hard…everyone seems to be finding it incredibly punishing. I’ve already determined I’m going to house rule a higher torch starting spot on the track, just to keep my sanity.

We played a 3 player game on Saturday afternoon and didn't really have any issues with the torch track. I think we had 5 spaces left after defeating the boss and winning the game. Are you remembering to move it back 6 spaces after a minion is defeated as part of the reward for doing so?

I'm really digging it, but it took us almost 5 hours to play with all the icon referencing we needed to do, and rules checking. I'm hoping I can drop that down to 90 minutes or so in a future game as more than 2 hours for this one kind of negates the whole point of a small box dungeon crawler, in my opinion.

From everything I’m reading, it’s actually quite a bit easier at higher player counts (I’ve been playing solo as two heroes). It also is somewhat luck dependent on what rooms you draw. In my game yesterday, for example, I went through 13 rooms without uncovering a minion, so I had no way to lower the torch track while getting destroyed by multiple trap rooms with bad rolls. Just bad luck, but it can happen.

It’s interesting enough to keep playing, so I’m hoping the strategies start to come together.

[hepcat]

Ah, two player solo may be more difficult as you only have two minions to defeat, not three.

[hepcat]

New update from Blacklist Games this morning for the Fantasy Miniatures 1 set and Hour of Need. The former is supposedly one to two weeks away from being paid for after their investor’s money is cleared, then QML has to find them a shipping slot. Hour of Need will start shipping after that.

So I’m guessing we won’t see any of these until late spring, early summer. Maybe later if they suddenly find yet another 11th hour issue.

So yeah, they overextended themselves with too many kickstarters before finishing most of their outstanding projects. Pretty shitty business model. I doubt I’ll be backing anything by them again. It’s retail only going forward for Blacklist Games.

[Smoove_B]

What I can't understand for Hour of Need is that back in December, they told us the issue was an errata pack that needed to be included with each shipment. Now it's a money issue as well? I mean, we knew it was a money issue (indirectly) but the fact that they were lying about that in December after telling everyone about the money issues for the miniatures shipment? Super ultra mega sketchy.

[$iljanus]

New update from Blacklist Games this morning for the Fantasy Miniatures 1 set and Hour of Need. The former is supposedly one to two weeks away from being paid for after their investor’s money is cleared, then QML has to find them a shipping slot. Hour of Need will start shipping after that.

So I’m guessing we won’t see any of these until late spring, early summer. Maybe later if they suddenly find yet another 11th hour issue.

So yeah, they overextended themselves with too many kickstarters before finishing most of their outstanding projects. Pretty shitty business model. I doubt I’ll be backing anything by them again. It’s retail only going forward for Blacklist Games.

Was just going to post about this! I’ll add the update they sent:

Just a quick update on progress since our last post. Since then, we have discussed with QML about scheduling and they are excited to ship the games out for us after the next available slot is free, which will come right after they begin fulfillment of Fantasy Series 1. We are currently awaiting funds to be received by QML for Fantasy Series 1 (which should happen this week or next at the latest since all the necessary paperwork is complete), then finally things will continue moving again. This is very exciting news since all products are in their warehouses and just waiting to ship out. We’ll keep you posted with this progress and hopefully with a sooner than later update this month letting you know of scheduled shipping dates from our fulfillment partner.

Went to the Fantasy Miniatures KS to read about their update for giggles and had to chuckle a bit about them finding a Chinese investor and their adventures in international wire transfers. I’ll post that update for your amusement.

Hello adventurers!

Just a quick update on progress since our last update! As of early this month, we've already completed all the legal contracts, paperwork, and jumped through all the government hoops on our end to get things going. Since our investor is an international investor, they have several legal documentation on their end that each require 3-5 business days every time they submit it. Given the beginning of the month was CNY and multiple parties (such as banks, lawyers, the government) were having to prepare and process documentation to cater to the unforgiving tax/tariff scrutiny, it has just been the waiting game for the funds to hit our bank the past week and a half. The investor and I have been waiting for news that it has been processed. Once we're ready to make a full announcement that QML has received funds (they have been advised that funds are on the way) AND have actual dates secured, we'll send out an update here, in an instant. We’re so close to getting things moving and are just waiting (literally waiting) for that final step!

I think I’ll be sticking with other companies for my Kickstarter needs instead of shopping with a company where it’s amateur hour in their accounting department.

[coopasonic]

Started today, ends Feb 18th.

Caved and backed it. In the end, everyone calling it their favorite hidden movement game did me in.

[Isgrimnur]

I look forward to playing it at some future BBGCon.

[$iljanus]

What I can't understand for Hour of Need is that back in December, they told us the issue was an errata pack that needed to be included with each shipment. Now it's a money issue as well? I mean, we knew it was a money issue (indirectly) but the fact that they were lying about that in December after telling everyone about the money issues for the miniatures shipment? Super ultra mega sketchy.

And for those needing a reminder (from Dec)…

Hello heroes,

We’re back with a new update for Hour of Need!

Firstly, I would like to apologize for the vagueness of our last update regarding all the moving pieces with fulfilling this project. That said, here’s where we are at and why fulfillment hasn’t occurred yet, even though hubs had the games last month.

Essentially, we had requested a hold on fulfillment in order to ensure the following was done:

Inventory transferred from various hubs to the UK hub in order to ensure that the correct inventory needed for fulfillment in UK was satisfied (as per our previous update).
Receive the errata packs at all hubs (that were printed after the initial products left China when we discovered a misprint on certain components related to the “Volume XXXVI” issue deck/guide) and assign them to each pledge so they are manually placed in outbound parcels.

We’re happy to report the above points are now taken care of, so after the new year we will be inquiring and determining what fulfillment slots will be available to us. Following, we will give QML the green light to a mutually agreed shipping schedule and begin thereafter. We don’t have any information on imminent availability for these slots as this is traditionally a busy time, but rest assured we are going to make sure to get you your games as soon as possible.

They conveniently left out the whole “And we need to line up a foreign investor and pay off our bill”. A small detail I guess.

[baelthazar]

Geezzzzz.... If Blacklist's Fantasy Miniatures Series 1 models are just now getting paid for/moving, I have very low expectations on getting Lasting Tales and the FSM 2 models. Which sucks, because I backed that at a level to get the first and second set of models.

[Blackhawk]

Pinnacle just launched a Deadlands KS. It is probably the first project in a year that I would have backed.

What I'm dreading is the soon-to-launch Reaper Bones 6. They haven't set a date yet, but I'm hoping they wait until the current situation is resolved (IE - Michelle has found a job.)

[hepcat]

ooooh....deadlands, you say?

[Blackhawk]

ooooh....deadlands, you say?

I do say.

[coopasonic]

God dammit...

I have 24 hours left to resist this. I have my terrible memory in my favor. If I can just get busy and forget about it, I will be good. The busy part is not really a challenge. 5 hours of meetings on the calendar today.