Liquid Communism posted:

It's mostly interesting as a backdrop. Overarching reasons why particular cities are hotbeds of shadow work, like the DMZ in Chicago after the bug spirit invasion, or the war in Azatlan.

ProfessorCirno posted:

Yet another thing in Fragged Empire's favor - your ship is to at least some degree treated as another character, rather then a piece of gear.

Darwinism posted:

How much of a clusterfuck is Starfinder space combat? From the stuff I saw before it's eerily reminiscent of Starships of the Galaxy, which younger me loved for how nitpicky it was but older me knows was a pile of hot garbage made of the worst kind of charop.

Ratoslov posted:

Although it fucks up a little bit because you have space-ship stuff currency (Influence) that is usually pooled among the party to buy a space-ship, but your maximum Influence is limited by your level. It's entirely possible that you can't afford a space-ship for quite some time- you could only afford a bare-bones ship at character creation if you had 5 PCs and everyone was playing the Corp, the rich capitalist race.

Darwinism posted:

How much of a clusterfuck is Starfinder space combat? From the stuff I saw before it's eerily reminiscent of Starships of the Galaxy, which younger me loved for how nitpicky it was but older me knows was a pile of hot garbage made of the worst kind of charop.

LuiCypher posted:

If you want to play a crunchy RPG with SPAAAAAACESHIPS, just play Rogue Trader. The ship rules are surprisingly good, players aren't locked into singular roles and can do things as needed, and your crew is amazingly important when it comes to getting poo poo done.

Plus, with the ship creation rules that come in the core book (supplements related to ships are actually Quite Good), the ship itself is a character that you can outfit with cool gear. Like the Auto-Temple. Which allows you to more or less orbitally bombard a planet with churches.

What's more is that you don't even have to play RT like a 40k game. Of all the 40k RPGs out there, it's the one that you need the least understanding of the 40k universe to play and you can gradually introduce elements of it to people as needed.

EverettLO posted:

As long as no one tries to play an Arch Militant, everything should work out fine.

Dr. Angela Ziegler posted:

ShadowRun: Anarchy was Catalyst's attempt to cash in on the storygamey, rules-light "adjectives as stats" thing FATE was doing, and it really comes close. It has its faults, but having run it (and as a con game no less), I would never ever ever go back to any version of ShadowRun prime.

LuiCypher posted:

If you want to play a crunchy RPG with SPAAAAAACESHIPS, just play Rogue Trader. The ship rules are surprisingly good, players aren't locked into singular roles and can do things as needed, and your crew is amazingly important when it comes to getting poo poo done.

Plus, with the ship creation rules that come in the core book (supplements related to ships are actually Quite Good), the ship itself is a character that you can outfit with cool gear. Like the Auto-Temple. Which allows you to more or less orbitally bombard a planet with churches.

What's more is that you don't even have to play RT like a 40k game. Of all the 40k RPGs out there, it's the one that you need the least understanding of the 40k universe to play and you can gradually introduce elements of it to people as needed.

Lord_Hambrose posted:

What is wrong with Arch-Militant?

LeSquide posted:

I love me some Rogue Trader and own most of the line, but the system is full of trap options, fake choices, and the occasional subsystem that just doesn't work. I don't think it holds up unless you really like the premise and FFG's particular take on the setting.

Lord_Hambrose posted:

What is wrong with Arch-Militant?

Avery Alder posted:

Hey backers,

A final update! This is a post about the expenses and nitty-gritty details of fulfilling this kickstarter project. If you aren't curious about the business side of things then feel free to skip! But if you want to learn more about how funds from a project like this get spent, and the work that goes into finishing it, read on! I'm writing this to share knowledge with other creators and to increase transparency.

Goals & Context

I want to state upfront: game design is my primary source of income. It's how I pay bills and feed my family. For a number of reasons (chronic illness, mental illness, young children to take care of, regular human limits), I'm not able to do this while also holding down a regular job. So! I sought to make money through this kickstarter, enough to live comfortably while making it.

I've been designing games for a decade, and in that time have learned how to dodge some pitfalls. From bloated crowdfunding campaigns that were exhausting to fulfill, to games released without fanfare that failed to gain an audience, I've slowly been learning what works. For Monsterhearts 2, my stretch goals had a predictable fixed cost, and were only delivered digitally. I used existing art assets throughout the book, adding a few more pieces as I went. I did my own graphic design and interior art. I kept add-ons and upgrade options to a minimum, because kickstarter fulfillment can easily become a full-time gig if you're not careful. I paid attention to my time and energy limits, and tried not to overwork myself. All these factors helped keep the campaign focused, manageable, and financially viable.

But on the business end of things, making money wasn't my only goal! I wanted to act in accordance with my ethics. That meant offering affordable copies to people living in poverty, as well as queer teenagers (because this is a game about queer teenagers). It meant finding a worker's cooperative to print the book. It meant paying diverse collaborators. It meant doing multiple rounds of structural editing, to ensure that this book was as accessible and teachable as possible. I feel generally successful in this domain.

Time

After the release of the first edition of Monsterhearts, I spent four years playing the game, chewing on how it could be improved, answering forum questions, and accepting feedback about play experiences. My brain is always wondering about how things could operate differently, and so throughout this time I would often imagine design tweaks that I could make.

I spent a few months doing market research, talking to other designers about the possibility of getting back into design, prototyping rules for asexuality, and making the decision to move forward on this project.

From August to December, I worked 40-70 hours a week: writing the text, doing dynamic structural editing with Daniel Wood, setting up the kickstarter, managing kickstarter engagement (very labour-intensive!), liaising with playtesters, incorporating playtest feedback, doing interviews, promoting the project, liaising with collaborators, and dealing with a large controversy that arose.

After that, there has been a steady stream of part-time work up until now: seeking quotes from a half-dozen printers, doing rewrites and working with my editor, continuing to clarify the text based on playtest feedback, laying out the book and all printable materials, supporting the "Experiencing Race" team in finishing their contribution, managing additional pre-orders, writing the "Dear Diary" supplemental zine for backers, getting the "Dear Diary" printed and shipped out, turning kickstarter backer reports into something my warehouse partners could work with, fulfilling all the hand-signed and individualized rewards, answering emails and kickstarter messages (I would estimate 1500+ related to this project so far), providing some design and project planning support to Jackson Tegu as he finishes Second Skins, and more.

At this point, the kickstarter fulfillment is essentially done. There are a few more bouncebacks to deal with, and two custom Skins to write. But otherwise, Monsterhearts 2 is entering regular upkeep mode. That looks like: 1-2 hours of weekly order fulfillment and other business chores, 1-3 hours of weekly email responses, 2-4 hours of interviews and promotion each month, participating in some public conversations, and running the game at occasional conventions.

Expenses

All of these figures are in Canadian dollars.

The kickstarter grossed $95,130.

Kickstarter and credit card processors take a cut, and so the amount actually deposited in my bank account was $85,287.59.

This kickstarter was the vast majority of my declared income for 2016, and for the year I had to pay $22,627.70 in taxes.

I paid $630 for new cover art.

I paid $920 for editing, primarily the back-and-forth process of structural editing. (I was a little blown away by this figure, but also exceptionally pleased with the results.)

I paid $1,673.64 for writing contributions, split between the Small Towns stretch goals and the Experiencing Race section.

During the kickstarter, there was a big controversy that emerged. It significantly affected my mental health and ability to write. I went on a three-day writing retreat, without internet access or distractions. This cost approximately $300.

I paid $9,718.89 to the printing company to print and freight the books. Note that I have a large number of remaining copies which I continue to sell. That means that this project continues to generate more revenue as I move forward.

I paid approximately $400 to print the "Dear Diary" zines and then ship them to the United States.

Monsterhearts 2 was shipped out by a fulfillment company who I work with. In total, shipping out the kickstarter rewards cost $18,319.07. I could have cut this figure down somewhat by working with additional printers and fulfillment partners in different regions of the world, but ultimately chose to not take on the additional work and stress of setting that up.

I've spent around $200 re-shipping copies to people who had bouncebacks and other shipping issues.

I've spent about $300 in other miscellaneous costs, including packaging and shipping the individualized and signed rewards.

In total, after expenses and taxes I was left with about $30,197.34 (or more, depending on how you want to make sense of the taxes). I'm also continuing to bring in more revenue from ongoing sales.

End-to-end, the process of designing, crowdfunding, producing, and releasing this new edition took thirteen months.

To Wrap Up

Hopefully this breakdown is useful or interesting to some other creators out there.

Monsterhearts 2 is my biggest initial release to date, and will likely be one of my most successful titles over time. It built on years of enthusiasm and feedback. And I wanted to unpack what that actually looks like, on my end. It doesn't look like making $95k in a month! But it does look like making an initial $30k for a year of work, plus an ongoing revenue stream.

I'm really proud of Monsterhearts 2. Thanks for joining me on this journey!

Leperflesh posted:

JFC she declared the entire amount of the kickstarter as income

e. I realize that's canada but I feel fairly confident in suggesting that Canada also has a tax structure for small businesses that lets them deduct expenses before figuring tax.

Subjunctive posted:

The small business can't pay her rent or buy her food. Eventually it becomes income unless she's letting it sit there to compound before withdrawing, and then it becomes income after that.

Liquid Communism posted:

Yeah, it looks like she may not have set up an LLC-equivalent to let her pay herself wages and deduct business expenses. I don't know how the tax implications of that work out in the land of Maple and Ice, but I bet there were some accounting methods that could have reduced that burden.

potatocubed posted:

a) they all add layers of complexity that I didn't want to deal with and b) like I said, between the over-funding and the day job it wasn't the end of the world. It's not a stretch to imagine Avery was in a similar frame of mind.

Leperflesh posted:

Leperflesh posted:

Yeah that could add another $3k

Haystack posted:

You're overlooking the cost of CPP (Canadian social security?)

Haystack posted:

More like 6.5

There are good reasons to set up an LLC or to incorporate, but the tax savings involved are situational and often not the main point.

Liquid Communism posted:

Yeah. The LLC is for poo poo like 'My $30k print run of glossy books was in a low-lying warehouse in Houston last week' or when someone decides to sue you because your IP looks like their Sonic the Hedgehog fan character from 1997.

Comrade Gorbash posted:

This.

It's also worth noting that the difference between business and income taxes is generally a lot more advantageous in the US than elsewhere, political rhetoric not withstanding.

Leperflesh posted:

Yeah. The big issue is that tax codes generally treat "all the money you got given to you" as income when you're an individual, but "all the money you made after expenses" as income when you're a business. When you are getting money to make a product, the latter is potentially 0% or less than the money you got given to you (if your kickstarter makes no net profit). You should not run a kickstarter and then treat all the cash you get from KS as income.

quote:

An open letter re: Powered by the Apocalypse

Dear friends, fellow designers, critics, and concerned citizens,

It was a going topic, not to say a sore point, at Gen Con, so please allow Meg and me to define once and for all what "Powered by the Apocalypse" is.

"Powered by the Apocalypse" isn't the name of a category of games, a set of games' features, or the thrust of any games' design. It's the name of Meg's and my policy concerning others' use of our intellectual property and creative work.

This policy appears in all of Meg's or my public statements on the topic, we hope, and we try to include it in our answers to all private inquiries. It's possible that some of you have never happened to encounter it before this, but our hope is that it's more or less common knowledge. It's stickied at the Barf Forth Apocalyptica forum, for instance.

Here's the policy:

If you've created a game inspired by Apocalypse World, and would like to publish it, please do. If you're using our words, you need our permission, per copyright law. If you aren't using our words, you don't need our permission, although of course we'd love to hear from you. Instead, we consider it appropriate and sufficient for you to mention Apocalypse World in your thanks, notes, or credits section.

It's completely up to you whether you call your game "Powered by the Apocalypse." If you'd like to use our PbtA logo in your game's book design or trade dress, ask us, and we'll grant permission for you to do so. This isn't a requirement of any sort.

In other words: Is Apocalypse World an inspiration for your game? Enough so that you want to call your game PbtA? Did you follow Meg's and my policy wrt publishing it? Then cool, your game is Powered by the Apocalypse. Get with us if you want to use the logo.

To answer one of the funnier questions posed to me at Gen Con, Meg and I (a) consider Apocalypse World to be significantly inspired by Apocalypse World, in that the game's design and text express the ideas that inspired them, and we (b) sought and acquired our own permission to publish our words. Thus, yes, Apocalypse World itself is Powered by the Apocalypse.

The directory here at apocalypse-world.com/pbta follows this definition and no other. For ambiguous cases, I've relied on explicit guidance from the creators, as in the cases of Blades in the Dark (included), The Bloody-Handed Name of Bronze (included), and Malandros (not included). If you "disagree with," or more properly don't understand, a given game's inclusion, I hope this clears it up for you.

Again, "Powered by the Apocalypse" isn't the name of a kind of game, set of game elements, or even the core design thrust of a coherent movement. (Ha! This last, the least so.) Its use in a game's trade dress signifies ONLY that the game was inspired by Apocalypse World in a way that the designer considers significant, and that it follows our policy wrt others' use of our creative work.

Meg and I are happy as always to answer questions about this, but aren't likely to entertain any arguments contradicting it. As far as we're concerned, this statement is definitive.

Thank you for your kind attention, and sincerely, your true friends and colleagues,

Meg and Vincent

P.S. From Vincent, a couple of personal notes:

1. After I first published Apocalypse World, I quickly understood that I had signed myself up for any number of confused and circular arguments about what "Powered by the Apocalypse" secretly really means. But friends, you didn't! And while I know that there will always be confused and circular-thinking people to bring those arguments to me, you don't have to be them, if you don't want to.

I'd encourage you instead, if you can, to take the above statement as straightforwardly final. Leave the confused and circular wrangling about what games are "really" PbtA and what PbtA "really" means to people who can't help it.

2. I understand at second- and third-hand that there are people out there who make it their business to shoulder in on other game creators' decisions about whether to use Meg's and my PbtA logo, or even to try to lead their judgments about whether their PbtA games are "really" PbtA. I can only see this as an illegitimate effort to manage and incorrectly enforce Meg's and my policy, in a manner materially hostile to Meg's and my interests. I am its enemy. Those people can please reign themselves in and knock it the heck off.

Love, truly, Vincent

gradenko_2000 posted:

http://apocalypse-world.com/pbta/policy

dwarf74 posted:

What's the context, here?

Kestral posted:

I vaguely recall the distinction he made being that Blades is not PBTA, because it is sufficiently mechanically distinct, but is inspired by Apocalypse World. Blades is to AW as Chuubo's is to Nobilis 3e, or, if you want to push the comparison a bit, Blades:AW::Burning Wheel:Shadowrun 1e.

Cease to Hope posted:

baker is saying that anyone anywhere can call their own game pbta if they want, there are no rules or preconditions or barriers or boundaries

Cease to Hope posted:

baker is saying that anyone anywhere can call their own game pbta if they want, there are no rules or preconditions or barriers or boundaries