TG Kickstarter Thread II - Son of the Stretch Goal

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Tollymain: Jul 9, 2010; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Winson_Paine posted:

I like how Nightfall is NOT the comedy option here.

Well, it's less of a comedy option than it once was, I guess _v :v:

# ? Jan 22, 2014 05:58

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# ? Jun 6, 2024 00:15

inklesspen: Oct 17, 2007; Here I am coming, with the good news of me, and you hate it. You can think only of the bell and how much I have it, and you are never the goose. I will run around with my bell as much as I want and you will make despair.; Buglord

Iron Edda just posted all their system and setting expansion stretch goals, and boy is the font hard to read.

Meanwhile TimeWatch is almost out of stretch goals and is going to post more later this morning.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 16:17

Germ: May 7, 2013

No Pun Intended posted:

I got my tracking number for Rivet Wars

Got 5 games of it in last night, over the stretch of about 3 hours,with plenty of time to socialize. Really fun and plays super quick. I think the extra unit types from the KS are going to help it with variety, but it's fast and easy to pick up. The secret mission cards add some big luck swings, but still alot of tactical depth in regards to resource management. Fun game!

# ? Jan 22, 2014 17:06

Thedandmom: Jul 5, 2013

Hi everyone. Still making progress on Deck of Legends, But I wanted to let you know of a project that I'm part of. It's just a small one but it's a tabletop game and I'm personally actually looking forward to it.

quote:

The Whispering Road: A Miyazaki-inspired Tabletop RPG
by Brent P. Newhall

A story game designed to evoke the films of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

What It Is

How would you like to play through a Hayao Miyazaki movie with your friends? That's exactly the purpose of The Whispering Road, a tabletop role-playing game I built. It not only mimics the stories of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, it's also a simple story game that anyone 8 years old and up can play, not just traditional role-players.

I've already playtested the rules, so I know the game works. But this game deserves more than a plain PDF release. It deserves a beautiful, full-color art book.

The Basics of the Game

The players begin by defining their heroes. Each hero is composed of a few pieces:

An Archetype (a little like a class in D&D) -- Ordinary Hero, Special One, Mentor, or Rascal. Each archetype has a general goal, so Special Ones protect someone, while a Rascal needs to prove himself or herself.
A Need -- Something that the hero wants, but is prevented by someone else.
5 Traits -- Special abilities that your hero possesses. The game comes with over 30 traits, including Amazing Durability, Burst of Courage, Calm in the Storm, Fiercely Protective, Insatiable Curiosity, Pacifist, Shapeshifter, and of course, So Cute!
The game comes with a story framework that makes it easy to tell a Miyazaki-like story. It includes scenes and ideas for traveling to an alternate world, meeting allies and enemies, and resolving the problems you face. You can follow this closely if you're not feeling particularly creative, or travel down whatever paths you want.

When the heroes get into a conflict, the players first figure out how that conflict applies to the heroes' Needs. Each player can then tap his or her hero's Traits to satisfy the hero's Need or someone else's Need. Each tapped Trait gives you a d6 for a normal trait, or a d8 for a highly applicable Trait (like using Pacifist to argue someone out of fighting). If any of your dice roll 5 or higher, you satisfy the Need you identified.

However! What you roll is added to your Good Karma if you were helping someone else's Need, or added to your Bad Karma if you were helping your own Need. If your Bad Karma overwhelms your Good Karma, you will not leave this alternate world.

What This Kickstarter Funds

This Kickstarter will fund full-color art drawn by the amazing Kaitlynn Peavler (a.k.a. thedandmom). She draws precisely the style of art that fits this project, and will illustrate each part of the game.

If the Kickstarter funds, I'll make an 8"x8" paperback rules book (and a PDF version, of course). I've chosen this format specifically to make it straightforward to produce and easy for people to carry around. It's an ideal size for slipping into a backpack or a binder without smashing it up, and it'll be very lightweight.

What You'll Get

At the $5 level, you'll get the full-color PDF, formatted as a square.

At the $20 level, you'll get the PDF plus the full-color, glossy paperback. That includes shipping around the world. And yes, I've checked my prices. :-)

Also, because the rules are already done, when the Kickstarter funds you'll get a no-art PDF of the rules the very next day.

When You'll Get It

The full-art PDF and paperback will ship in April of 2014.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 18:16

Leperflesh: May 17, 2007

Boy, I sure hope you have a licensing agreement signed with Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki. Even if you're not explicitly claiming an endorsement from them, you're clearly "trading on" their names, and that's potentially trademark infringement.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 18:48

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Swagger Dagger posted:

You're still waiting on Hillfolk? Where do you live? I've had them for something like months now.

Berkeley CA

# ? Jan 22, 2014 19:01

moths: Aug 25, 2004; I would also still appreciate some danger.

Yeah that's a very explicit influence. Legally you can say it's a game to tell children's adventure stories inspired by titles like Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, or Hansel and Grettle.

But if you say your prison football RPG is based on the 1974 Burt Reynolds film The Longest Yard then you should probably have the rights secured.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 19:11

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

What are RPGs but a constant litany of literary theft?

That being said, namedropping is a constant sin of kickstarters and it's a great way to get me to not care about those that indulge in it.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 19:15

Leperflesh: May 17, 2007

Alien Rope Burn posted:

What are RPGs but a constant litany of literary theft?

That being said, namedropping is a constant sin of kickstarters and it's a great way to get me to not care about those that indulge in it.

I want to talk more about this but I'm pretty sure we should do it in the TG Industry thread so I'mma quote you there.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 19:32

Thedandmom: Jul 5, 2013

moths posted:

Yeah that's a very explicit influence. Legally you can say it's a game to tell children's adventure stories inspired by titles like Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland, or Hansel and Grettle.

But if you say your prison football RPG is based on the 1974 Burt Reynolds film The Longest Yard then you should probably have the rights secured.

It's not actually following any of the movies but the game has the feel of a Ghibli film.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 20:24

Leperflesh: May 17, 2007

Thedandmom posted:

It's not actually following any of the movies but the game has the feel of a Ghibli film.

Actually following the movies or not, isn't that important. Using Ghibli/Miyazaki's names to promote your product is very important. I advise you/the project owner to consult with an IP lawyer before posting your kickstarter. It would be a shame to put a lot of time and effort into this project, only to receive a C&D and have to take it down (or if KS receives a C&D, they will take it down). A one-hour consultation should be sufficient.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 20:27

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Just talked to Pelgrane, and Hillfolk is on the way! One more of the list down.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 20:32

long-ass nips Diane: Dec 13, 2010; Breathe.

Humbug Scoolbus posted:

Berkeley CA

You should email them, hard copies went out a while ago unless you bought one of those super fancy handcrafted ones

# ? Jan 22, 2014 20:32

Thedandmom: Jul 5, 2013

Leperflesh posted:

Actually following the movies or not, isn't that important. Using Ghibli/Miyazaki's names to promote your product is very important. I advise you/the project owner to consult with an IP lawyer before posting your kickstarter. It would be a shame to put a lot of time and effort into this project, only to receive a C&D and have to take it down (or if KS receives a C&D, they will take it down). A one-hour consultation should be sufficient.

He says fair enough, but he's not too concerned about it. The game has been released for some time. This is just funding a printing of it with artwork.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 20:51

inklesspen: Oct 17, 2007; Here I am coming, with the good news of me, and you hate it. You can think only of the bell and how much I have it, and you are never the goose. I will run around with my bell as much as I want and you will make despair.; Buglord

Why is your friend raising money for a RPG with a custom system without giving information about the system? (There's a few sentences there, sure. But it's not enough for me to get a good idea of how the system works.)

# ? Jan 22, 2014 21:50

jmzero: Jul 24, 2007

quote:

He says fair enough, but he's not too concerned about it. The game has been released for some time. This is just funding a printing of it with artwork.

These kinds of things are often completely fine until they're suddenly not - and as it stands I think if someone on their end noticed, they'd probably reason that they have to say something, and that something would get the KS shut down very quickly.

Some small changes to make it clearer that you're not affiliated or endorsed, and that describe your game setting as less directly derivative, might save you much pain later while still making your aims clear to your audience.

# ? Jan 22, 2014 21:57

Thedandmom: Jul 5, 2013

He's not concerned with it because he's decided on the off hand that he is ordered to take it down, he will just take it down. He's not going to make a big deal over it. He is just using the name to describe his game, like how Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple (which is a very popular game) described the game as being like Avatar the Last Airbender.

As for rules, I know he has been running playtests, but I personally haven't had the chance to play. I will talk to him and see if he could elaborate on the rules and system a bit more.

edit: Exactly what more do you want to know?

Thedandmom fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Jan 22, 2014

# ? Jan 22, 2014 22:15

MadScientistWorking: Jun 23, 2010; "I was going through a time period where I was looking up weird stories involving necrophilia..."

Thedandmom posted:

He's not concerned with it because he's decided on the off hand that he is ordered to take it down, he will just take it down. He's not going to make a big deal over it. He is just using the name to describe his game, like how Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple (which is a very popular game) described the game as being like Avatar the Last Airbender.

Yeah but that is a decent elevator pitch. Throwing out a studios name whose projects don't necessarily have any connective association between them is a bit odd. Hell I don't think he even lists a viable archetype in the description for the last Miyazaki film I saw.

MadScientistWorking fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Jan 23, 2014

# ? Jan 23, 2014 00:24

inklesspen: Oct 17, 2007; Here I am coming, with the good news of me, and you hate it. You can think only of the bell and how much I have it, and you are never the goose. I will run around with my bell as much as I want and you will make despair.; Buglord

Thedandmom posted:

edit: Exactly what more do you want to know?

I'd like to see a sample of play. (Look at any popular storygame to see a little script-style thing showing the GM and players creating characters and running a scene.)
The Kickstarter text has a brief description of the core mechanic, but to me that's not enough to know what playing the game is going to be like.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 00:28

Mikan: Sep 5, 2007; by Radium

I won't back any RPG kickstarter that doesn't include the rules text for backers. Ideally the basic rules are linked in the sales pitch, but giving it on backing is fine too.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 00:32

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Yeah I stopped doing phantom backing after Alas Vegas, except for Pinnacle stuff.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 00:45

Fenarisk: Oct 27, 2005

Got Dragon's Hoard today, it was packaged really nicely with plenty of plastic wrap so it wouldn't get wet here in all the lovely Chicago snow, and it even has a nice little "thank you" envelope for the game starter card with a special message on the back. Looks great!

# ? Jan 23, 2014 01:22

Thedandmom: Jul 5, 2013

inklesspen posted:

I'd like to see a sample of play. (Look at any popular storygame to see a little script-style thing showing the GM and players creating characters and running a scene.)
The Kickstarter text has a brief description of the core mechanic, but to me that's not enough to know what playing the game is going to be like.

http://brentnewhall.com/games/doku.php?id=games:whispering_road
This page here has some videos of playtests of the game.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 02:37

InShaneee: Aug 11, 2006; Cleanse them. Cleanse the world of their ignorance and sin. Bathe them in the crimson of ... am I on speakerphone?; Fun Shoe

I think this is my new favorite example of how not to run a kickstarter:

Near the start of the year, Margaret Weis Productions ran a kickstarter for The Cortex Plus Hacker's Guide, or how to use their in-house system as a generic system.

Flash forward to now. The printed book is months behind schedule, the Kickstarter hasn't been touched in 2 months now, and the fact that MWP is taking pre-orders for the book is starting to worry people.

Turns out that, at some point, the guy running the kickstarter left the company, and no one had the password to access the KS page this whole time.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 05:31

Gravy Train Robber: Sep 15, 2007; by zen death robot

InShaneee posted:

I think this is my new favorite example of how not to run a kickstarter:

Near the start of the year, Margaret Weis Productions ran a kickstarter for The Cortex Plus Hacker's Guide, or how to use their in-house system as a generic system.

Flash forward to now. The printed book is months behind schedule, the Kickstarter hasn't been touched in 2 months now, and the fact that MWP is taking pre-orders for the book is starting to worry people.

Turns out that, at some point, the guy running the kickstarter left the company, and no one had the password to access the KS page this whole time.

I'm not sure I'd willingly give Margaret Weis Productions anything. This aside, they haven't had the greatest track record when it comes to producing products and getting things out anywhere near a schedule. The whole Marvel Heroic fiasco still leaves a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

So, this level of incompetence is not surprising.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 05:57

oriongates: Mar 14, 2013; Validate Me!

It is very amusing to see work on a "Hacker's Guide" stymied by losing password access though.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 06:18

crowtribe: Apr 2, 2013; I'm noice, therefore I am.; Grimey Drawer

I'm not sure if I'm misreading something, but is the Iron Edda backing levels saying if I pledge $15 I will get every PDF (campaign setting and core ruleset) if/when they unlock, without any further investment?

# ? Jan 23, 2014 06:41

Pau: Jun 7, 2004

Fenarisk posted:

Got Dragon's Hoard today, it was packaged really nicely with plenty of plastic wrap so it wouldn't get wet here in all the lovely Chicago snow, and it even has a nice little "thank you" envelope for the game starter card with a special message on the back. Looks great!

Nice! I guess I'll get my copy around next month then. This will be my first physical kickstarter and I'm hyped.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 08:42

Avenger_Mullah: Dec 28, 2008

Hope none of you guys backed Torn Worlds/Armor...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alyssafaden/torn-armor/posts/726991

Essence:
Chinese company responsible for producing all the minis aren't able to produce poo poo, but also wont/can't refund the money.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 10:42

ijyt: Apr 10, 2012

Avenger_Mullah posted:

Hope none of you guys backed Torn Worlds/Armor...

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alyssafaden/torn-armor/posts/726991

Essence:
Chinese company responsible for producing all the minis aren't able to produce poo poo, but also wont/can't refund the money.

Correction: Original Chinese producer raised prices by 30%, so they went with an American company (Defiance), who aren't able to produce poo poo but also won't/can't refund the money.

e: Hopefully, both parties being in the same country, it'll be easier to use the legal system to get their money back. Once they have the money, Reaper have said they're happy to help.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 10:54

Avenger_Mullah: Dec 28, 2008

ijyt posted:

Correction: Original Chinese producer raised prices by 30%, so they went with an American company (Defiance), who aren't able to produce poo poo but also won't/can't refund the money.

e: Hopefully, both parties being in the same country, it'll be easier to use the legal system to get their money back. Once they have the money, Reaper have said they're happy to help.

Ah, fair point. But the end result is still the same bleak outlook for the project

And additional googling shows that Defiance has a terrible reputation, so it might not be easy to get the money back. They might just fold the company instead. No matter what, the result will at best be a very late delivery.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 10:57

8one6: May 20, 2012; When in doubt, err on the side of Awesome!

crowtribe posted:

I'm not sure if I'm misreading something, but is the Iron Edda backing levels saying if I pledge $15 I will get every PDF (campaign setting and core ruleset) if/when they unlock, without any further investment?

Indeed. Quoting from the page (just underneath the first reward graphic)

Iron Edda posted:

This one gets you in the door. A digital, full-color copy of the War of Metal and Bone PDF. And as more stretch goals are unlocked, they'll be added to this tier for no additional cost!

# ? Jan 23, 2014 11:13

DigitalRaven: Oct 9, 2012

Mikan posted:

I won't back any RPG kickstarter that doesn't include the rules text for backers. Ideally the basic rules are linked in the sales pitch, but giving it on backing is fine too.

Onyx Path have done that on our last few kickstarters � Hunters' Hunted II, Changing Breeds, Demon, and now Anarchs Unbound. The full manuscript as it goes to layout, linked right there on the front page. We leave comments on the doc. After the KS ends, we can go through and fix things based on those comments, where people point out where things don't line up.

From the creator's side of the fence: It works.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 11:22

Mikan: Sep 5, 2007; by Radium

DigitalRaven posted:

Onyx Path have done that on our last few kickstarters � Hunters' Hunted II, Changing Breeds, Demon, and now Anarchs Unbound. The full manuscript as it goes to layout, linked right there on the front page. We leave comments on the doc. After the KS ends, we can go through and fix things based on those comments, where people point out where things don't line up.

From the creator's side of the fence: It works.

Demon blew me away with that. I had to read it a few times before it clicked that yes, here's the whole book, please read it and enjoy it enough to give us money. I wish a certain other branch of Onyx Path would learn from that!

# ? Jan 23, 2014 12:56

MadScientistWorking: Jun 23, 2010; "I was going through a time period where I was looking up weird stories involving necrophilia..."

Avenger_Mullah posted:

Ah, fair point. But the end result is still the same bleak outlook for the project

And additional googling shows that Defiance has a terrible reputation, so it might not be easy to get the money back. They might just fold the company instead. No matter what, the result will at best be a very late delivery.

Terrible is a bit of an understatement. Everyone who had the capability of manufacturing a miniature quit the company in mass.

ijyt posted:

e: Hopefully, both parties being in the same country, it'll be easier to use the legal system to get their money back. Once they have the money, Reaper have said they're happy to help.

Depending on how hosed up the company is there is an incredibly good chance that they won't be able to get the money back.

MadScientistWorking fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Jan 23, 2014

# ? Jan 23, 2014 14:38

neonchameleon: Nov 14, 2012

Gravy Train Robber posted:

I'm not sure I'd willingly give Margaret Weis Productions anything. This aside, they haven't had the greatest track record when it comes to producing products and getting things out anywhere near a schedule. The whole Marvel Heroic fiasco still leaves a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

Without Cam Banks (now at Atlas Games) I'm not sure what's going to happen to them. They produced some excellent games with him at the helm, and Firefly looks ... pretty solid but vastly less ambitious than the other Cortex+ games.

But their printing practices are inept. Their games before Smallville were either cheap tie-ins using a mechanically wonky system that wanted to be Unisystem without the elegance or were d20 Dragonlance. They keep erasing their website and I wonder why. And this is just clown shoes level. Which means that if the level of products they produce slips back to its pre-Cam Banks standard then they've nothing left really.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 15:20

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

Mikan posted:

I wish a certain other branch of Onyx Path would learn from that!

Mikan, is the truth just that you hate Christmas? :ohdear:

Well, Christmas 2014, by the looks of things.

# ? Jan 23, 2014 15:31

Evil Mastermind: Apr 28, 2008

DigitalRaven posted:

Onyx Path have done that on our last few kickstarters � Hunters' Hunted II, Changing Breeds, Demon, and now Anarchs Unbound.

When is the Mage 20th KS coming, dammit? :argh:

# ? Jan 23, 2014 19:09

lilljonas: May 6, 2007; We got crabs? We got crabs!

MadScientistWorking posted:

Terrible is a bit of an understatement. Everyone who had the capability of manufacturing a miniature quit the company in mass.

Depending on how hosed up the company is there is an incredibly good chance that they won't be able to get the money back.

Aaaaand we have Kickstarter tabletop company drama fight! My favourite!

Round one: Fight!

http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2014/01/23/83624/

(Defiance Games being prissy in public)

# ? Jan 23, 2014 20:19

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# ? Jun 6, 2024 00:15

MadScientistWorking: Jun 23, 2010; "I was going through a time period where I was looking up weird stories involving necrophilia..."

lilljonas posted:

Aaaaand we have Kickstarter tabletop company drama fight! My favourite!

Round one: Fight!

http://www.tabletopgamingnews.com/2014/01/23/83624/

(Defiance Games being prissy in public)

Its kind of interesting because unlike other tabletop company drama this one I'm expecting the owner of the company to end up in jail.

MadScientistWorking fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Jan 23, 2014

# ? Jan 23, 2014 20:23

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > TG Kickstarter Thread II - Son of the Stretch Goal

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