My crowdfunding "score" when it comes to roleplaying games is pretty low, but it's looking like it's more likely to become better in the next month or two, as a bunch of things have been inching toward printing and distribution. Of course I keep digging holes faster than creators can fill them. Here's some notes on the crowdfunding campaigns that are currently out there.
The one I'm really jazzed about is LotFP Free RPG Day 2014. This started off focused on Jim Raggi's 2014 Free RPG Day adventure but has turned into a stealth campaign for a module called "World of the Lost" by Rafael Chandler. It's a sandbox that is at least 48 pages but, if it sells 250 copies, will be substantially bigger and better. There's only 40 hours to sell another 100+ copies - but the reward is really great if we get it. The module promises to be a "lost world" style sandbox from the freakish imagination that brought us the Teratic Tome.
I'm a bit undecided on the Kickstarter for Scarlet Heroes by Kevin Crawford. I rather like what I have of Crawford's products - An Echo, Resounding, Red Tide and Spears of the Dawn - and I think that Scarlet Heroes will probably be good. It's just that the format of the Kickstarter is a turnoff for me, because it just gets you an "at cost" print on demand version. I would rather only pay once for the book, and as much as I think I'll like it that means I'm inclined to wait for it to be released officially, as I did with Crawford's other products.
Then there's Greg Gillespie's Barrowmaze Complete. I like Barrowmaze but I have both books, and I'm not terrifically inclined to shell out $80 for a bit more content. Again I'm inclined to pass and just pick up poster maps since the ones in the printed books are absolutely awful.
Is anything else going on? Any other thoughts folks have on these three campaigns?
There's a bunch of RPG Crowdfunding going on using Patreon these days. I know I'm blowing my own horn here, but instead I'll blow Epi's horn - check out Words without Master, a fiction and gaming zine he puts out using Patreon as his crowdfunding source.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.patreon.com/Epidiah
Also there are three different people putting out monsters using this form of funding.
http://www.patreon.com/johnstone
http://www.patreon.com/PDG
http://www.patreon.com/MonsterAMonth
And of course there are your friendly neighbourhood cartographers who are using this as a means of supplementing their income (or in my case, as a means of paying rent).
http://www.patreon.com/shaneknysh
http://www.patreon.com/msjackson
http://www.patreon.com/dysonlogos
And there are other gamers on Patreon too. I love Patreon because you aren't pre-paying for something, instead you pay after something is released which means that the creator can't just run off with your money and never release a product. Also, the basic model of Patreon is that the creators are releasing product for free, and you are rewarding them with a tip - so the product generally remains free for everyone and those who can and want to give money towards the production of said product can do so.
And hey, it pays my rent now.
I pay Dyson a dollar per map and of course endorse his posting above.
DeleteYou pay my rent and buy my booze. You are my hero, Wayne.
Deletehttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/270273121/ryubix-manor-madness-betrayal-murder-vengeance-fam
ReplyDeleteRaggi is not getting me again until he finishes delivering the Grand Campaign.
I signed on for Ryubix Manor, it seems from the preview like something cool and very much in the vein of Tegel Manor.
DeleteI totally disagree on LotFP and Raggi. The Grand Campaign was lunacy but it was bold lunacy, and the adventure writing is out of his hands. He showed with Seclusium that he is willing to deliver, and indeed to over-deliver, once the product is actually sent to him. (I'm critical of the content of Seclusium but the presentation is rather gorgeous.) I could understand holding out based on the 2013 Free RPG Day campaign bonus adventures, but not modules where he is waiting on authors who've been epic flakes.
Also, the adventure I'm pimping is Rafael Chandler's - the man is prolific and reliable, and I'm confident in this particular release date.
There is the Kickstarter for my next book. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/962794554/strange-brew-the-ultimate-witch-and-warlock
ReplyDeleteI would love to see it get funded!