Interesting Kickstarter Catch-All

SpyNavy wrote:
tanstaafl wrote:

StarCrawlers

SF based "dungeon crawler" RPG, except in this case the "dungeons" are derelict starships and the like.

Might have to get behind that.

Oh, I definitely am. Scifi dungeon crawling is pretty rare and while I'd rather this be a top down joint, I'm good with 1st person.

Nerd vs. Geek Season 1 DVD

One of my friends has guest roles in the show, so I feel a bit obligated to share, but I also enjoyed it on the whole. You can watch the series on YouTube (they're only about five minute episodes, except for the last one). It starts a bit slow, but I think many of the middle and latter episodes are pretty amusing.

I don't know if this was posted earlier, but the follow up to Waves was put on KS about a month ago. Unfortunately, it just cracked the 10% line yesterday and could really use a miracle to push it to the end. If you liked the first game or games like Geometry Wars please take a look: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...

SpyNavy wrote:
tanstaafl wrote:

StarCrawlers

SF based "dungeon crawler" RPG, except in this case the "dungeons" are derelict starships and the like.

Might have to get behind that.

Yeah, I'm down for that.

Posted this in another thread, but it is worth putting here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...

A Middle Eastern RPG with oodles of reactivity and a character advancement system that makes things deadly for even a high level character? Yes, please!

The whole crux of the game is too forward thinking, unfortunately. How many people have biofeedback hardware? I know it says you don't need it, but I'm sure you really do.

Gravey wrote:

Project: Dark by Will Hindmarch

Play fantastic thieves in a fantastical city in this new stealth-adventure tabletop roleplaying game.

[...]

I designed Dark from the ground up to cultivate the tension and suspense of stealth gameplay. For the players, the game hinges on regular playing cards, rather than dice. This allows players to better plan, make both dramatic and tactical choices, and benefit from patience and precision in tangible ways. The better hidden your character, the more cards you have in hand.

Characters themselves are described by the cards players place in their deck and the skills they train. Each player needs their own deck of regular playing cards to play.

I decided to back this. It sounds interesting, plays with as few as two, and isn't expensive. I would have waited for regular release, but decided that chances are, I wouldn't wind up hearing about it again, since I don't really follow PnP RPGs much. Plus, with the stretch goals, it's three different settings, so there's some variety there.

I haven't played a tabletop RPG in ten years, but I may be in for the books on principle. Stealth!

Mantic Games is a week into their Kickstarter for Dreadball Xtreme. It has already cruised by the funding goal, and now it is all about how many more teams and players can be added to the game. It is sort of like a standalone expansion to Dreadball, which is a sci-fi universe's violent sport. It most often gets compared to Blood Bowl, but it plays a lot faster and the rules are a lot cleaner (to me). They have a high-cost tier that basically gets everything this Kickstarter puts out, but it is limited, so if you think you'd want everything, the time to get in is soon. They also have a tier (Rampage, I think: ~150 dollars) that gets a huge selection of options, and is probably the absolute sweet spot for the game.

Just went on another backing binge, including Dangers Untold a LARP for youngsters about being a heroine in the style of Dorothy from Oz or Sarah from Labyrinth.

Bonus points for them because I'm on the header image, covered in feathers and mirror-masked.

And in today's Kickstarter meltdown...

John Campbell Burns Comics Rather Than Sending Them To Donors

And by meltdown, I mean meltdown

I shipped about 75% of kickstarter rewards to backers. I will not be shipping any more. I will not be issuing any refunds. For every message I receive about this book through e-mail, social media or any other means, I will burn another book.

If you would like a refund, please contact a fan of my work directly for your money. This is where the money would come from anyway. I am cutting out the middle man.

I refunded some of the preorders I received through paypal in addition to the kickstarter orders, but I will not be refunding any more.

The backers who gave me the most money received the least “reward” from me. After shipping costs, I “lost money” on most of the books I sold at the $25 level so, backers at the higher levels, you could perceive of yourselves as having “paid for” the books that the “lower” backers currently have, and you could try to get those books that you “paid for” somehow.

You could try to obtain refunds through kickstarter or paypal, through your bank or credit card company. You could try to harass me or inconvenience me or tell other people negative things about me or this kickstarter in the hope that this will affect me negatively. Be aware that each attempt to contact me about this book will individually result in the burning of a book until the books are gone.

The whole article is a major exercise in "WTF?"

Wow, so not only is he bad at running a business, but he's also an asshole.

That's amazing.

Kickstarter is a scary place sometimes

A lot of people dont have the knowledge or skill to manage the financial side of a succesful kickstarter campaign and we're far from seeing the last desperate people who've run out of money and who have to deal with an angry mob

Okay, so he's really bad at planning this stuff out (it takes skill and knowledge). But he's also a ginormous asshat. I hope this results in him never working in the business again. There are so many other, better ways to handle the pickle he found himself in.

I'm... really glad I didn't back that.

Wow.

There's a (mean, small) part of me that wants to just email him "where's my book?!" over and over again, just because he's such a douche. It really comes across as "I f*cked up, spent all your money, so there's nothing in it for me anymore. I'm out." Am I reading this situation right? Is there something I'm missing? But then I realize that he's here in Chicago and the weather probably just drove him crazy, like it's doing to the rest of us.

I actually understand a lot of what he was saying, but wow.... What's the sound of one man checking out of society? The sound of burning books, apparently.

I read about that as well, and honestly, I now have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I enjoy Pictures for Sad Children. On the other hand, the content of the comic now makes a lot more sense and I feel ashamed.

ccesarano wrote:

I read about that as well, and honestly, I now have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I enjoy Pictures for Sad Children. On the other hand, the content of the comic now makes a lot more sense and I feel ashamed.

Enjoyed, past tense. Because he's apparently deleted his websites and most of the pictures.

Well. That's... a very interesting way to guarantee that nobody will trust you ever again.

Hypatian wrote:

Well. That's... a very interesting way to guarantee that nobody will trust you ever again.

No, no: in his last update he explains that the problem is clearly capitalism. And he's given up money and has stopped paying his rent.

If you want to check out of society, do so. Go for it.

If you want to set yourself up some kind of patronage system so you don't have to worry about participating in society, this is America, knock yourself out.

You think money is dumb? Fine. Good on you.

But what you do not do is break the social contract you agreed to when you offered goods in exchange for currency. This person received 50 grand (or whatever was left after KS' cut), could not deliver on the promises made, and now thinks that they are above such pedestrian things like fulfilling obligations because they deserve to be able to sit in a room and think without needing to contribute anything tangible to anyone else.

Seriously, I hope he (or she) finds what they're looking for but that shouldn't be at the expense of people who still want to live in society and already supported them. If this person really wants to bring about social change, then they first need to be able to be trusted.

This strikes me as a very selfish act.

Ah the risks of kickstarter.

ccesarano wrote:

I read about that as well, and honestly, I now have mixed feelings. On the one hand, I enjoy Pictures for Sad Children. On the other hand, the content of the comic now makes a lot more sense and I feel ashamed.

That was kinda my reaction yesterday. I'm not terribly surprised he went out in a blaze of glory on the project (I'm not a backer, btw) given the content of his strips. That said, like many projects, it sounds like he completely misjudged the production costs and while expecting the "whales" to subsidize or amortize the expenses of the lower tiers is well and good you need to make sure that the math is going to work out right.

the backers who support his behaviour or defend his actions.

There are people online who will defend anything. I think it may be a version of trolling.

Malor wrote:
the backers who support his behaviour or defend his actions.

There are people online who will defend anything. I think it may be a version of trolling.

I'm not so sure it is.

The thing that kills me is there are backers who support his behaviour or defend his actions. Go skim the comments section. I'll wait.

Stockholm syndrome at its finest.

Malor wrote:
the backers who support his behaviour or defend his actions.

There are people online who will defend anything. I think it may be a version of trolling.

Yeah, I read all the comments. Some of the supportive ones struck me as sarcastic.

I don't know, I didn't back it, I'm glad I didn't and I hope he finds the help he needs (unless this isn't a public melt down, this is a public art... thing) and I hope the people that want them get refunds.

What's worse is that, not only did he not fulfill the orders, he took his site down. That's... it's just low.

Malor wrote:
the backers who support his behaviour or defend his actions.

There are people online who will defend anything. I think it may be a version of trolling.

Some people are so empathetic that they forgive most behavior if given a sob story with a high enough sob-level.