Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 1:54 pm

I don't have to worry about what items and stat upgrades the Nightfall cards accrued last time I played. They all come out of the box without having to account for what I did last time I played.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 1:55 pm

And I gave up on Magic over a decade ago.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 2:31 pm

Smoove_B wrote:
Isgrimnur wrote:If it involves having to keep track up upgraded stats and character inventory like the Pathfinder card game, I'd not care for it.
Wait a sec. Aren't you one of those Magic the Gathering or Nightfall wack-a-doos? You think keeping track of numbers and things like inventory is too complicated? Nightfall sent me home from a convention early because my brain was scrambled completely.

Isgrimnur took to Nightfall like a fish to water. Or a gator to the swamp.

Dump the character cards and bits into a baggie. Easy peasy. Or get someone to act as your hepcat sherpa.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 3:34 pm

And yet my wife will crush me routinely.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 6:57 pm

Watch out Hentzau - Tombstone Kickstarter:

Tombstone is an old west tabletop skirmish game for 2 players. We're releasing the book, available in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian (printed version only in English) plus over 110 new 32mm resin miniatures!

This Kickstarter is to put the project in action and to give us exact numbers of the book and miniatures ordered to aid in printing and production logistics.

Most of the work is done and ready to see below! The rules, translations (except Italian) and miniatures are all complete. All that's to be done is the final graphics layout of the book and miniature production.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:13 pm

Damn Brits and their cultural appropriation.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:18 pm

I do like the look of the minis. Not a bad job for people across the pond.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Thu Apr 06, 2017 9:49 pm

Yeah, I do like some of them. But I really have more western minis than I need. And I've been spoiled by Knuckleduster. Some of the nicest metal western minis I've seen.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Fri Apr 07, 2017 9:53 am

Only three days left for Pine to reach its goal. It is "an action adventure game in which an intricate game ecology adapts to your actions, inactions and choices" and looks pretty interesting. I'll set a reminder for it.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Sun Apr 09, 2017 6:30 pm

Chrisoc13 wrote: So to sum up:
- I don't like exclusives because they are exclusionary by nature, come with a myriad of their own issues, are used to manipulate backers. I don't even like game changing or variety adding promos for games outside of KS.
- I don't like most stretch goals because they are either artificially created, or they create real problems in the campaign or the game down the road.

If this sounds like I am angry about it, I'm not. I just avoid these kickstarters now and stick to ones that I see as treating backers fairly.

As a disclaimer I am not a minis guy. Yes my favorite game is X-wing but hordes of minis being thrown at me does not sway me one bit, and I don't care about the price of each mini being a "screaming good deal" as people will often say in big mini kickstarters. I don't collect minis outside of games, so I don't care how great of a deal the minis are if they add little to the game or the game is of little value.

Thanks for the clarification. It seems that we are just two different minds on the subject..and this is coming from someone who knows exactly what your are talking about regarding Zombicide.. I just started playing it last year with the family and have been slowly picking up the various seasons, but while doing so, found out that some characters that seemed cool were KS exclusives that are not worth me paying.. In the same vein, there are quite a few that were also promo's for various things...and I've seen stuff like that before for Comic-Con exclusives (I assume you would feel the same way about those).
As a player/collector, it IS somewhat disheartening to find that I missed out on some things because I never knew about them..But I also understand the business part of it.
Yes, KS exclusives ARE to encourage people to pump money into something that they aren't actually getting right away and to build capital for the company..and I am OK with that. For the most part.. I don't think I've come across anything that seemed game changing as an exclusive. Maybe an extra mission for something would be closest. Most of the things I have backed have had extra mini's as the exclusives and stretch goals.
I have seen stretch as something they'd like to do, but don't have the capital to do so and by getting the goals to activate, we get to have some things earlier than expected..
As for mini's, I would not have considered my self a mini's person... until we started Zombicide and I started painting them.. This has kicked off a mini's bug with me so I do tend to pick the KS level that includes all the mini's that I like. (Some I skip, because while the base game is something I want, I don't always want the extra mini's.. I suspect I will tire of this someday and go back to base games only.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 6:08 am

Yeah and there's nothing wrong with liking exclusives and stretch goals. Just not my thing. But to be fair the games that do that tend to not be the kind of games I'm as into anymore as my games have become quite a bit heavier and less ameritrash the last two years. Though I still love a good romp dice Hucking affair from time to time.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 10:43 am

I love the exclusive minis for CMON's KS projects. Otherwise, I have seen more trouble caused by exclusives (SoB... SoB...) than they are worth. Normally, it just bugs me to know there is content out there that I can't have if I did not back the KS. It bugs me enough that I just refuse to buy the game retail. I was interested in Rising Sun (by CMON) but just could not jump in on the KS. Now, I doubt I would buy the game because I do not like all the exclusive content out there that I would not be getting.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 1:39 pm

I’ve actually been selling some of the exclusive content from Kickstarters. I recently sold the Wild Boar Clan from Blood Rage for about what I paid for the 5 player expansion, effectively meaning I got that free. The Wild Boar Clan was completely cosmetic, offered no unique game-play at all and was just sitting in the bottom of my box anyways.

Even better than that, I sold the Cthulhu Wars duplicate sculpts for about $80. These were just included as collector’s pieces and had no gameplay function. So I basically got the ridiculously overproduced Cthulhu Wars for about $60.

I love exclusives.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 1:46 pm

I like the way you think, Melon.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Mon Apr 10, 2017 3:03 pm

Lordnine wrote:I’ve actually been selling some of the exclusive content from Kickstarters. I recently sold the Wild Boar Clan from Blood Rage for about what I paid for the 5 player expansion, effectively meaning I got that free. The Wild Boar Clan was completely cosmetic, offered no unique game-play at all and was just sitting in the bottom of my box anyways.

Even better than that, I sold the Cthulhu Wars duplicate sculpts for about $80. These were just included as collector’s pieces and had no gameplay function. So I basically got the ridiculously overproduced Cthulhu Wars for about $60.

I love exclusives.

I agree. I made double what I paid on Zombiecide, because of exclusives.

Moat_Man · Post by **Moat_Man** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 1:39 am

Well I caved and backed the Gloomhaven Second Printing after watching Tom Vasel's glowing review and Paul Grogan's awesome Gaming Rules! videos:
Rules
Campaign Overview

Paul was the one that sold me on Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization and the Moat family really likes that one.

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 1:31 pm

Brass: Lancashire
Apparently a remake of a very popular older game and a sequel as well. I love the art direction.

Anyone recommend the original?

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 3:41 pm

Lordnine wrote:Brass: Lancashire
Apparently a remake of a very popular older game and a sequel as well. I love the art direction.

Anyone recommend the original?

I haven't played it but it's been on my short list for a while. I've never pulled the trigger on it because I've read reviews that it feels dated and the shut up sit down review said the same thing.

The Kickstarter is interesting though... I'm starring it for now.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Mon Apr 17, 2017 4:40 pm

I have danced around getting in a game of Brass at a few conventions but always miss it. Sounds like a game to try, not own.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 5:20 pm

coopasonic wrote:Gloomhaven's second printing is on KS right now...

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13 ... =discovery

Over a million on the first day, 9500 backers for the game itself.

The original kickstarter generated $386k from 4904 backers.

With 10 days to go, the second printing is sitting at $2,467,366 from 25,895 backers (including 3533 upgrade combo packs).

That's a nice boost. I suspect #7 is not Gloomhaven's peak on the BGG charts.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Fri Apr 21, 2017 5:38 pm

I'm glad i was able to get in on this.. Looks like a good game to add to the gaming collection.
I do think at some point my wife is going to cut me off, only because we are running out of room....

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 9:46 am

I put this together for the daily BGG thread asking for kickstarter thoughts and figured I may as well share it here as well since you guys made me buy most of this crap.

Summary: I would have saved a lot of money skipping all of these kickstarters and buying the ones that turned out to be my kind of game later, either in retail or the secondary market. You might think you'd miss the exclusives that way. My response to this is that none of the games in my No Regrets list are there because of exclusives.

The regret list (23 games):
Zombicide: Black Plague - should have learned my lesson, at least I only have one zombicide game now
I Hate Zombies. - I did it to support the geek, I guess I shouldn't regret that
Hostage Negotiator - it was ok, but not enough variation for me
Flash Point - Honor & Duty Expansion - I play the base game a good bit, but never got into the expansions
Zombicide: Season 3 - no, I didn't need more zombicide
XenoShyft Onslaught - prefer the legendary encounters games
Galaxy Defenders - The Earth Strikes Back! - never finished the base game, why back this?
MERCS: Recon - too much, so much...
Pairs: A New Classic Pub Game - have never played it, I don't go to pubs...
Xia: Legends of a Drift System - not my kind of game
Railways Express - not interesting
MYTH - so clunky
Sails of Glory - prefer x-wing
Dungeon Roll - too light
Flash Point: Fire Rescue - Extreme Danger - I play the base game a good bit, but never got into the expansions
Zombicide: Season 2 - no, I didn't need more zombicide
Dungeon Heroes Advance! Upgraded Edition - have never played it or even had a glimmer of interest... huh
Flash Point: 2nd Story, Urban Structures & FF Figures - I play the base game a good bit, but never got into the expansions ( I like the figures though!)
Zombicide - should never have started
Zpocalypse - never could figure it out
Puzzle Me! - too light
D-Day Dice Board Game - never got into it

The no regrets list (6 games):
POWERSHIPS - I don't have this yet, but Powerboats is my favorite racing game and this is the same system. I am not concerned.
Fugitive - Made my own copy to try it out before backing
Evolution: CLIMATE - I already knew the Evolution game
The Evolution Game System - this was when the Flight expansion was being kickstarted. I had already played evolution so I knew what I was getting
Burgle Bros. - One of the few blind backings that has remained in my collection
Arcadia Quest - I played the entire campaign twice and immediately sold it to get all my money back. A good investment.

The TBD list (2 games):
Gloomhaven - I have watched a LOT of gameplay and I am fairly confident I can get this played.
The Apocrypha Adventure Card Game - I backed this back when I was big on the PACG games... I am no longer big on them, but we shall see... this summer I think?
Hero Realms - I was in it for the campaign stuff, still waiting for that

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:00 am

Here are mine (only games, not book, video, or performance projects that I've backed):

Regrets
Myth - My first and last time being seduced by piles of miniatures

No Regrets
Sunless Sea - totally worth the £10; would happily have paid twice as much
That Dragon, Cancer - still in my backlog, but I'm very happy to have supported this project
Paranoia - I knew going in that I would probably never play this, since I don't have an RPG group, but I'm greatly enjoying reading the books just for fun
Dawn of the Zeds 3rd edition - I don't have many opportunities to get it to the table, but when I do it's lots of fun
High Frontier 3rd edition - ditto

TBD
Sunset - still in my backlog

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:11 am

Looking at my Kickstarter list, I've got two decks of cards, two 'causes', one RPG map, one RPG audio project, and a bunch of miniatures or miniature accessories. There is exactly one board game I've backed. I will organize that game into a list.

Dungeon Roll. light push-your-luck game (ala Zombie dice), but zero interaction between players means that it is essentially a group of people playing solo and then comparing scores at the end. Unlike Zombie Dice, though, it doesn't feel fast-paced, which isn't much fun for whoever's turn isn't up. It rarely comes off the shelf.

I have seen a lot of games I've liked on KS (Zombicide, for instance), but two things hold me back. One, that isn't the way I buy board games, as so many of them are high price items (which I'd call anything above $30.) I just can't buy high price items when they happen to be available. I put such items on a wish list, then buy them when the money is available. Second, because of the first factor, I have a bunch of board games on wish lists already, all of which have reviews, videos, and will be at my house in two or three days. If I have the money for a game, I'm getting those, not something unproven that won't arrive for a year or two.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 10:21 am

I regret:

Agents of SMERSH - Nice idea...too bad they forgot to include an actual game. I mean, Tales of the Arabian Nights is accused of the same thing, but it's far more of one than this pile of crap.
Shroud of the Avatar MMORPG - Wow, this is just not a good game by any definition.
Til Dawn - I've never played it. Not once.
Conquest of Speros - It's just...bland.
Capes and Villains Remastered - Remastered from what? Designer took the money and ran. 2 1/2 years and counting. I doubt it will ever release...I doubt it was even started.
Dungeon Dice: Guilds expansion - Not the games fault I was drunk backing and confused it with Dungeon Roll. If anyone has the base game and wants a free copy of this, let me know.
Operation FAUST - Just not my cup of tea.
Martians: A Story of (barely legible) Civilization - When you're planning on releasing a game outside your native Poland, hire a translator. Don't just run your rules through google translate.

I don't regret Myth, oddly enough. The minis have come in handy for other games, and the 2nd edition rules seem fun.

I've got Folklore: The Affliction arriving soon...but it may go in the regret column. Zarathud and I played a demo of the beta at Origins a few years back and I came away decidedly UNimpressed. Still, I hated Mage Wars when I played an early release, and that ended up being one of my favorite games of all time. So who knows.

Apocrypha...well, I feel the same as Coop. We'll see.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:17 am

I regret NOTHING! Nothing, I tell you!!!

(Well, OK, I regret Up Front. A lot. And Airborne in your Pocket. Those two hurt.)

(Hey Coop, if you want to get rid of your D-Day Dice I may have a buddy that might want to take it off your hands.)

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:33 am

I’m still doing pretty well with Kickstarter. This is board game related only, video games would double the list size.

Regrets
Rise of the Kage
Raid & Trade
Warquest (this may turn into a good game someday but it was so under baked they had to launch a 2nd KS to finish it.)

Indifference (These weren’t for me but I sold them for at least what I paid so whatever)
Aqua Sphere
Dark Age Z
Rum & Bones
How to Serve Man
Post Human

Happiness
Cthulhu Wars
Dungeon Lords Anniversary Edition
Lift Off! (Cute game for younger audiences that doesn’t suck)
Conan
Lots of Upgrade kits from Meeple Source
Among the Stars Revival
TTM Board game inserts
Blood Rage
Mare Nostrum
The Others: 7 Sins
Scythe

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:35 am

hentzau wrote:(Hey Coop, if you want to get rid of your D-Day Dice I may have a buddy that might want to take it off your hands.)

All of my regrets have been sold off except for the following:
Zombicide: Black Plague - should have learned my lesson, at least I only have one zombicide game now
Pairs: A New Classic Pub Game - have never played it, I don't go to pubs...
Dungeon Heroes Advance! Upgraded Edition - have never played it or even had a glimmer of interest... huh
Flash Point - Honor & Duty Expansion - I play the base game a good bit, but never got into the expansions
Flash Point: Fire Rescue - Extreme Danger - I play the base game a good bit, but never got into the expansions
Flash Point: 2nd Story, Urban Structures & FF Figures - I play the base game a good bit, but never got into the expansions ( I like the figures though!)

I have my Flash Point stuff split into two boxes, one with the base game plus the minis and the upgraded POI tokens, the other with the expansion stuff that is never used.
Pairs and Dungeon Heroes take up almost no space so no hurry to clear them out (and nobody wants them).
Zombicide... well I might play it some day.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:43 am

Hmm... I have some regrets:

Agents of SMERSH - Same as Hep
Shroud of the Avatar MMORPG - Not sure I agree with Hep, because I have not been able to get past the intro zone - which may mean I agree with Hep.
Ground Floor - fine idea, just seemed way too fiddly and clunky.
Super Dungeon Explore: Forgotten King - Love the minis, the game seems fun, but I can never get this on the table.
Mercs Recon - Thankfully, I only got the base level with both core games. I am not a fan of the ruleset.
Massive Darkness - I wish I had taken my pledge level and bought more stuff for Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower.
Scythe - It is fun and I love the quality of the components, but it did not really live up to the hype.
Rum & Bones - great minis, tedious gameplay

Pretty much every PC game I backed other than Divinity Original Sin, Chaos Reborn, Wasteland 2 and Project Eternity

Things I am very happy with:

Pyramid Arcade
Arcadia Quest
Cthulhu Wars
Mare Nostrum

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 1:20 pm

baelthazar wrote:Hmm... I have some regrets:

Massive Darkness - I wish I had taken my pledge level and bought more stuff for Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower.

You regret something you haven’t even played yet?

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Fri Apr 28, 2017 7:54 pm

Lordnine wrote:
baelthazar wrote:Hmm... I have some regrets:

Massive Darkness - I wish I had taken my pledge level and bought more stuff for Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower.
You regret something you haven’t even played yet?

More that I spent the money when it could have been put towards Warhammer Quest and Warhammer: Overkill.

KDH · Post by **KDH** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:08 pm

.

.. Gloomhaven review: 2017’s biggest board game is astoundingly good

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:36 pm

Played for seven hours today. I want to play another seven. It's safe to say I still love Gloomhaven. Every scenario I've played keeps things fresh by introducing great, thematic gameplay that tells a story while satisfying your tactical card needs.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Sun Apr 30, 2017 9:29 pm

In looking over my backing history it really isn't all that different. I too would have been better served to have simply backed less games. But... by the criteria put forth...

The Regret List:
Eminent Domain Microcosm- Even at a cheap price point this game is just not good
Zombicide Black Plague- I don't need more Zombicide
Zombicide Seasone 3- I don't need more Zombicide
Galaxy Defernders- The Earth Strikes Back- I don't need more Galaxy Defenders
Mercs: Recon- This company... is literally the worse. Luckily I sold it for what I paid.
Coin Age- Small, cheap, but... still not good.
Myth- Again terrible company, and this gmae was a mess at launch.
Dungeon Roll- This is a terrible game in my opinion.

The Indifference List:
Tiny Epic Western- Meh, it's fine
This Town Aint Big Enough for the 2-4 of Us!
Tiny Epic Kingdoms- Meh, ok to good, but not that exciting
Scythe- This game... I want to love it... I really want to love it... but I just... can't. But I don't regret it.
Monsters & Maidens

The No Regrets List:
Fields of Green- Pretty fun little game, and cheap
Mare Nostrum Empires- Love this game, and everything about it.
Pyramid Arcade- Probably one of the best things I've backed before
Zombicide Season 2- I actually did want more Zombicide at this time
Galaxy Defenders- I really enjoyed this game. I wasn't sad to have it.
Ultimate Werewolf Deluxe Edition- Good to have a copy of
Krosmaster Arena- I don't like this game very much... But I have trouble being dissapointed since I made $600 profit off this game
Tiny Epic Galaxies- The best of the Tiny Epic Series
Carson City- Perhaps my favorite worker placement game

To Be Determined List:
Solstice
Stop Thief
Empires of the Void II
Tortuga 1667
Railways of Nippon
Gloomhaven
Tiny Epic Quest
Tiny Epic Galaxies Beyond the Black
Outlive
Yokohama (this game is in my possession but I haven't tried it yet)
Burgoo
Templar Intrigue

The I Wish I had Backed/ Spent More On List:
Small World Deluxe Edition- Man I regret not getting this. I love this game. I really wish I had the definitive version.

The downside is a lot of those regrets ones were huge money. Tons of money dumped into them. And while I normally made my money back, they generally still were not worth it. More is not better.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Thu May 04, 2017 9:33 pm

Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea has come back to Kickstarter. They simplified the pledge tiers and lowered the costs. For $150, you get a crap ton of factions and minis. For now, I think I am provisionally in on this.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/co ... ir-and-sea

They also added solo rules, which is interesting.

Punisher · Post by **Punisher** » Thu May 04, 2017 10:01 pm

baelthazar wrote:Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea has come back to Kickstarter. They simplified the pledge tiers and lowered the costs. For $150, you get a crap ton of factions and minis. For now, I think I am provisionally in on this.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/co ... ir-and-sea

They also added solo rules, which is interesting.

Since there is no early bird, I saved this to see what my funds are like closer to the end..
The $25 add-on to have your mini's painted is a really good deal, but I am wondering if that is too much of a low ball price...

Lordnine · Post by **Lordnine** » Thu May 04, 2017 11:31 pm

Punisher wrote:
baelthazar wrote:Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea has come back to Kickstarter. They simplified the pledge tiers and lowered the costs. For $150, you get a crap ton of factions and minis. For now, I think I am provisionally in on this.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/co ... ir-and-sea

They also added solo rules, which is interesting.
Since there is no early bird, I saved this to see what my funds are like closer to the end..
The $25 add-on to have your mini's painted is a really good deal, but I am wondering if that is too much of a low ball price...

The original KS has some images of the painted minis. They didn't look very good to me but I've been painting for a while now.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Thu May 18, 2017 7:57 pm

Mentioned in a System Shock update today: Fort Triumph. A "fantasy XCOM" that looks interesting. Four days to go and not quite there yet...

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Fri May 19, 2017 8:52 am

MonkeyFinger wrote:Mentioned in a System Shock update today: Fort Triumph. A "fantasy XCOM" that looks interesting. Four days to go and not quite there yet...

That looks pretty cool and if they publish it I will probably play it, but I am done kickstarting video games. My judgment is lacking.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Sat May 20, 2017 7:36 pm

A couple of kickstarters I'm backing currently.

The first is The Manhattan Project 2: Minutes to Midnight. It's the sequel to The Manhattan Project which is one of my wife's favorite games. The original game is worker placement with some direct conflict. This game seems to be the same worker placement idea, but with more tension than direct conflict (more fitting with the Cold War era the game seems to be trying to go for). It was a day 1 backing for me because my wife loves the original so much. I think the original is a very well-designed game with some clever new mechanics so I am looking forward to this one.

The Flow of History deluxe version is also up for kickstarter. I have to admit I wasn't going to back this one but then I received my deluxe version of Yokohama and I was very impressed with what TMG did with it so I am giving this one a go.