I'm ready to let go of my last hope of Far West coming to a successful conclusion, and you should too.
The last update was May 26th, moving completion from the end of May to early June. We are now at the end of July and this project isn't doing Gareth or any of us any good, because the sad truth is it will never be complete.
The above tweet was from last night (thanks to another awesome reader for brining it to my attention.)
I'm out $150. I NEVER expect to see either a finished product nor my money. Gareth should just admit the same, not just to us but to himself.
Far West is beyond late and, even if it reaches some sort of completion, the money for the print books is long gone. Hell, the cost to ship alone has gone up enough to bankrupt Gareth should he even try.
If Gareth DOES burn out so close to the finish line, so close yet so far away, he'll just punt 6 months down the road and this drama is just put on time delay.
From my POV I'm done. I'll post updates when we get them, because it's still news until Gareth throws in the towel or completes it, and neither of those is a likely conclusion to this drama. It's likely I'll be posting something similar in a year, on my 50th birthday. We're already 5 years in and 4 1/2 years late.
Time to let go...
For certain. He should release it to the community to let them finish it, if they want. Personally, the mechanics weren't my cup of tea and a lot of the art was pretty bad Photoshop, with incongruent heads atop bodies.
ReplyDeleteI pre-ordered after the kickstarter ended both this and Buckaroo Banzai RPG. I doubt that I'll see either one of them.
ReplyDeleteI am only out $50 on Backaroo Banzai, but honestly I gave up a long time ago. While he was a jerk and condesending to other designers I still have respect for him. He should just make a public statement and gracefully retire. He can make Far West a creative commons game and let his fans finish it. I would love to get the BB license for TSR to publish, but I think the license at this point is his Linus blanket.
ReplyDeleteThis is probably the best outcome. It's a shame he won't read this, or if he does, he won't go for it.
DeleteThere's no other way out of this. Five years overdue? No end in sight? No cut off point? When will it otherwise get resolved?
I htink with projects like this KS should step in and force the issue.
Do they have to keep up the illusion of finishing for the purpose of getting further employment? That is, rather than say "I've no hope in hell of ever finishing this monstrostity" it looks better for future employment opportunities to say "I'm still working on Project X despite delays and it should be out any month now"?
ReplyDeleteKeeping up the illusion is one way of not getting taken to court. As long as you're "still working in good faith" (heh), you're staving off the masses. (See Ken Whitman for a classic example.)
DeleteWhat makes you think he's "so close to the finish line"? Any evidence that he's achieved anything on this? Or are you taking the word of an inveterate liar?
ReplyDeleteFor the folks that pre-ordered 'Far West' or 'Buckaroo Banzai', ask for your money back. It's different legally than pledging via KS--you are straight-up owed refunds, with no "paying for a process" nonsense involved.
ReplyDelete(I pre-paid for the vaporware 'Warlords Of The Apocalypse' which was solicited at the same time, and got mine back.)
Indeed, while I still plan to deliver Warlords of the Apocalypse, and I never saw any of the pre-order money, and Rogue Genius Games inherited it from Super Genius Games, who bought it from Adamant, it WAS a pre-order rather than a KS, and we consider refunds our duty to any customer who ever contacts us for one. We have paid a few, and will continue to refund anyone who pre-ordered until there are no more pre-orders, or the book is out.
DeleteIf anyone needs to contact me about WotA, it's owen.stephens@gmail.com.
Owen - I didn't realize you took on WOTA without getting any of the pre-order funds.
DeleteYou paid $150 to become the Red Hands of Death. To me, that was priceless...
ReplyDeleteUgh, Jesus... This is so depressing...
ReplyDeleteSeeing news like this makes me genuinely happy I'm live in a crappy poor country and can hardly ever afford to KS anything, much less exorbitantly priced TRPGs.
I still don't understand why he won't put out the current manuscript, even if it's incomplete. I find it hard to believe that he doesn't have _something_ written.
ReplyDelete