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| Where's my book at yo! |
I have received shipments from 2 of the 4 Kickstarters in this post. All of the Kickstarters in this post are way past due date.
Oldest of the old - Far West - 11/21 "Completing the layout is taking me longer than I'd hoped for, due to some sort of virulent plague hitting the Skarka household." As of 4 days ago, Gareth is now healthy and back to work. This isn't going to hit a December 2013, which will push it over 2 years past it December 2011 announced release date. How much of that delay is the result of Con Crud and random plagues we may never now, but apparently one needs to account for it while planning a Kickstarter.
Next up is the Quantum RPG - last update was 9/29 - " The past nearly two months have been awful. I've struggled mightily to get the final art pieces in, even going so far as to seek additional art help for Hugo with no positive results. I've hesitated to discuss art struggles as my own writing and design struggles have been significant, but I feel all struggling aspects of this game now need to be discussed, not just my own. At this point, I may have to release the book missing some of the monster art and without a poster map. I seriously hope this doesn't happen, but I can't wait for the art any longer.
Financially, I reached the wall where continuing to work on this game without a paycheck is not possible. I then had to spend time looking for, finding, and then accepting a new part-time job. It's not exactly the sort of job I want to shout to the roof tops, but it pays the bills. It also takes a great deal of time away from what I want to be working on (the game), but after the "busy period" I'm in right now at work ends in a few weeks, things to will settle back down to where I can crush the remaining chapters." Quick summary - I've spent the money and now need to work a real job. I can't pay for the art and I've run out of ideas and excuses to stall. I asked Nystul for more advice and he had none to give except "avoid all social media". Maybe I'll just try to fade away and not log into Kickstarter ever again.
Myth & Magic Player's Guide - where the fuck should I start? The 9/26 update claiming that 99% of the backers had shipments coming within 14 days. the 10/23 update where he failed to acknowledge that 99% of backers had not received their packages 28 days later? My hounding of him until he posted my name and shipping info in the comments section f the Kickstarter and then promptly sent my book. Or perhaps today's update, where it seems he claims that not everyone got their stuff because of a postal screw up?
"My apologies, but the holiday and end-of-year season takes everything out of me. Sort of the name of the game in tax and trust/estate law -- not to mention the home-front craziness.
I have a lot of returned mailings to send out, mostly wrong addresses, some mailings that slipped through the cracks, and a lot of international mailings. Everything will get done by or right after the holidays. The list grows and of course so too does everything else in my life at this time of year. I generally take a week right after the holidays to decompress so that will provide me the time necessary to punch it out."
Read the comments section of this Kickstarter - it's an eye opener. A few angry assholes is just that, but many angry assholes means someone is a major screwup
Appendix N - I'm still getting emails from folks asking how I got my stuff in June and now it's december and they don't have theirs. I don't have an answer (but will include some copies of the first 2 Appendix N adventures in the 12 Days of OSR Christmas Giveaway that kicks off a week from today).
From today's update - "Sorry for the lateness in updating. I will start doing short, weekly updates on Mondays.
My main guy I hired to help me get these modules shipped out found a better second job (more money, but worse hours) a couple of weeks ago, so I am trying to find more help. My day job has kept me working 12-16 hour days recently (with emergencies) and this is why shipping the first batch of modules has slowed down recently.
However, I have much of December off (catching up on unused vacation days), so I have already started picking up the slack. Plus, my three boys have been helping me out too. I have also started packaging the products in a new way that is MUCH faster and it will allow me to ship more each week.
We should be a bit over 50% shipped by the end of next week. I am working at trying to ship around 100 orders a week and I will start posting the weekly numbers in my Monday updates.
Beginning next week, all shipments will now include:
The Ruins of Ramat (Levels 0 & 3 versions), The Vile Worm (Level 1), Three Add-On Adventures (The Golden Orb, Gifts of the Only & The Perplexing Disappearances in Brambury), two detached covers with maps-on-the-back and eight player's handouts on card stock. This will officially give you twice as much as is available in the retail versions. We are keeping track of who has been shipped what (and NOT on index cards), so if you have already received your first shipment, we will include these others in your next shipment.
I am currently working on updating the Dagger Kids RPG screen and text along with my own "DCC-ish" add-on charts and hope to have the pdfs of those to you in early January."
At least John seems to be trying and adding in extras. Not so sure how it makes financial sense for him, but I appreciate the gesture. Please let me know when these enhanced packages start arriving in the wild.
For Myth and Magic, I see more than one person giving details about their packages being mangled by the post office, and the dates seem to be the same. Mailed in late October, delivered about a month later. Not saying it's a universal explanation, but it does seem that a PO machine went haywire and ate more than a few of the M&M packages.
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting on Adamant's Warlords Of The Apocalypse, from 2010. I was reassured over and over (in email, and in person) that it was coming out "any week now"..,but then it went to a new company in December of 2012. And they reported it was unfinished, and pretty unusable.
ReplyDeleteSo all you Far West gripers have it easy!
I'm waiting on two that I'm really disappointed in:
ReplyDelete1. Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls - I should have been wary because it wasn't written yet but the idea of the 5th edition gang going out with bang was too good to pass up. Sadly, we're well on the way to a whimper. It was due August of 2013.
2. Guide to Glorantha - If you have it written don't add stretch goals you'll need to write more material to produce. Moon Design also comments rarely but had time to comment on the whole Heroquest thing and plugging someone else's KS. Quit worrying about a board game you haven't made yet and ship books you took money for and promised 6 months ago. Someone must have told Rick that because we got an update about the actual product the Kickstarterd funded for the first time in a month today instead of the usual 2+. It was due in February 2013.
To make matters worse, both are professional companies. One has been around in this hobby longer than I have. I'll be amazed if I get the latter less than 18 months late and the former less than a year late.
I'm also getting aggravated about Domains at War by Autarch. For all their talk of learning from the past we're pushing three months late. That might not seem like much but it is now 100% overdue. It funded in May for an August delivery and it would take a miracle to make December. To be honest, if you're not ready to ship by December 1 (which they weren't) you're looking at February. Even if we exclude Dwimmermount this is three up and three late by the own admission. I won't be looking at their next Kickstarter.
So far three, count them, three people have a high level of Kickstarter trust: Joseph Bloch (did two with him, both came out early...my books in fact surprised me so much I was like "what could this box be"), Kevin Crawford (one which was early and where I saw a draft where it funded), and Dan Proctor (did Majus with him which was early and I got the pre-art /editing PDF when I committed so I got something even if it didn't fund). They all have "if I'm interested I'll sign up without hesitation" status.
Know what all three had in common: at the very least a draft that was complete even to give to people when they started the Kickstarter, although only two did. That has pretty much become my minimum for RPGs. I better get a full PDF at least beta-test ready no later than the day the campaign funds. If you're not offering that don't bother asking. Also, Kevin and Dan have put out plenty of material without a KS and Joseph did so well with one KS it funded his next project without one. Dan even went so far as to do no stretch goals but instead use extra money to give bonuses to the author and artists. I know if they're asking me to put money in it is for polish on something they've finished and to pay for already done work.
My big problem is Tephra who so far have not mailed the international backers their product and have now gone silent on the matter. One more attempt to reestablish communication and then I'll have to start having friends begin legal proceedings on my behalf (and adding their legal fees to the debt claim).
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting on T&T Deluxe and expect we'll actually see it around April. I'm a little disappointed as well that some old pros are lagging but I have confidence Liz, Ken Rick and co. will finally show results. Even if the occasional update leaves me nervous that they're trying to get too experimental with the rules.
ReplyDeleteThe Appendix N one really sort of pisses me off. The project is classically mismanaged.
ReplyDeleteAll the time spent on the Dagger RPG that should have been spent on the adventures, which BTW is now available for order from Game Trade magazine.
Now we are going to have to wait for bonus adventures, and the box thing he promised to hold it all.
Granted he undersold the whole package in a big way and many of us later gave him more money to help out, and that just makes it worse honestly.