Swords & Wizardry Light - Forum

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Mike Drops "Nystul" - The Wandering Wizard Wants Your Patronage on Patreon



A tip of the hat to +Dyson Logos (and +Joseph Bloch ) for bringing one of my favorite serial Kickstarter failures back to my attention.

Mike Nystul (as he is wisely trying to distance himself from none other than himself) is looking to raise backing on Patreon to support his creation of new games. Nowhere does he mention using the monies raised to actually produce the games he has already been paid for via his Trifecta of Kickstarter Failures.

Now, I have to give the Wandering Wizard credit where credit is due - he doesn't allow the fact that he blew over $75,000 (less fees) from three Kickstarters on a Dwarf Con and a failed business venture (not spent on the Kickstarters themselves) keep him from fleecing more people. He did it with Nystul's Castle over at Indiegogo and now he's trying to use Patreon.

edit - here's the link directly - Mike does his best to not use Nystul anywhere in the pitch, but it's in the link itself - poor Mike - https://www.patreon.com/nystul?ty=h 

Well played Mike. By the time the new folks realize what kinda fucking flake you are, you'll be moving to your next scam.

Is it safe to assume that Nystul's Aura no longer serves it's purpose for you?

15 comments:

  1. I'm waiting for him to set up a second Patreon account to pay for the stuff promised to his patrons in the first.

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  2. He's got double the number of patrons I have and nearly making double the amount I am! Lol.

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    Replies
    1. add 1 more patron :)

      i do need to go back to highlighting other patron projects

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  3. Would love to hear someone who gives money to this guy explain why...

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  4. Can anyone do anything to "out" this a-hole on Patreon, so people don't give him money?

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    Replies
    1. Given that he is asking for payment per game or game resource, this sounds like it will end up being a self limiting process...

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  5. Really, at some point I just have to accept that Nystul is no different from the guy on the street with a sign explaining he needs gas because Obama or Martians stole his car, and can I give him cash to help out? It's just that now we have an internet version enabled by the tools to get that money in the digital age.

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  6. If you sponsor $5 or more a month, you get to join special sessions on "RollD20" - once they get around to building such a thing, he'll do it. Until then, he'll pocket your $5

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  7. Tempted to pay him 5 bucks just to call him out in his make believe online session

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  8. Tempted to pay him 5 bucks just to call him out in his make believe online session

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  9. I did call him out! Here is his reply to me;

    So Chris, here is the thing. The Kickstarter thing was a disaster on many levels. One of the problems is once it failed and my personal as well as professional finances were trashed I had no resources to do much of anything to move forward. I lost everything. Not asking for sympathy here because it was the result of my bad decisions and miscalculations but i had nothing left and at one point was literally homeless. I pulled down that Indiegogo campaign you mentioned not long after it went up (I collected nothing). It would have been going down that same road, a profoundly bad idea (and in some ways in bad taste). Patreon is a different beast entirely. First, it is meant to be used to support a creator not a specific project. If you like what I'm doing - awesome! Become a Patron and we are both happy! If you don't - don't. The other thing is I went with the "only collect anything when I post" model rather than straight monthly. That way, if i produce nothing - nothing gets collected. There is no way for me to "fleece" anyone. The Patrons have complete control over things like monthly limits and I encourage them to use them. Going back to your original issue, yes, the Kickstarter issues were huge and horrible and I am very very sorry about them. They do not represent my entire career though and my choices were never do this kind of work again or find a way to do it as above boards as i can. People will forgive me for the failed projects and accept the arrangements I was able to make to try to make good or they will not. At this point all I ca do is do better, yes?

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  10. Replies
    1. Job? Job? Matt, what part of "Wandering Wizard" do you not understand????!!!! :)

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    2. "I also dabble in comedy and film making. I love sharing interesting food with interesting people. In my spare time I make things. All sorts of things, from game terrain and stage props to art. I plan to start designing toys." Obviously, his job is "liberal arts major".

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  11. Wow.
    Very disturbing to see Lord British listed as a patron, too. Either he doesn't know or doesn't care ....

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