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Wednesday, January 8, 2014

IF I Were to Do a Best of / Worst of Kickstarter 2013 Post, Which Projects Would Make the Cut?

Does "2013" mean completion date, project going live date, holy shit that is some fucked up bullshit date, failure date, etc?

I'm leaning towards "newsworthy date", such as "when did folks start talking about how great / fucked up / late / early / etc" the project was.

I'm leaning towards 2 posts - the "worst of the worst" and the "best of the best".

As always, I'm open to input.

29 comments:

  1. So... you need prizes. I know! The winner of "best" gets a live albatross. The winner of "worst" gets a dead albatross with a neck strap.

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    Replies
    1. lol!

      I'll be awarding infamous Marvel "NoPrizes" ;)

      Delete
  2. short list on those that delivered early, and delivered for the best of catagory

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  3. Despite what you may or may not think of the people and products produced, I think one would have to list the Fate Core and Numenera kickstarters as oustanding; both from the amount of push they got from the crowd, and from the level of professional organization and reliable delivery they actually kept to. Robin Laws' Hillfolk was also notable in my mind, but had more in the way of hiccups and delays.

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    Replies
    1. Second on Numenera. Even setting aside the product itself (which I think is very good, both material and artwork), the production values and simply the way the project was run from inception to completion was excellent.

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  4. Best: Any project having to do with Shadows of Esteren.

    Worst: Any project having to do with Myth & Magic.

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  5. Best: Dwarven Forge, Whisper and Venom.
    Worst: Hate to say it, but Modest Magic's Modular Terrain from 2012. People are still waiting for rewards and I got mine over a year ago.

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  6. I've been happy with the first Reaper and all of the FGG kickstarters

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  7. I've been happy with the first Reaper and all of the FGG kickstarters

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  8. Whisper & Venom should be top of the best list for 2013.

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  9. Best: RQ6 Hardback campaign. Produced a beautiful, quality product on time with very little elaboration or bells-&-whistles.

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  10. Character cards and the location cards followup are very nice.

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  11. For the best list, I nominate Lords of Gossamer & Shadow, hands down.

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  12. If I were picking Best of the Best in OSR related Kickstarters, I would definitely nominate Goblinoid Games's Majus project. The project ended in April with a promise of an August delivery date, only four months!, and when August came, my book was on the doorstep. Outstanding!

    Even quicker than that was the Codex Celtarum, delivered by Troll Lord Games in just three months, complete with stretch goals. Truly awesome!

    Admittedly these two projects were hosted by ringers, that is, established game companies, but still, it's definitely enough to keep your faith in Kickstarter.

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  13. Another Best: S&W making their core book free after reaching their kickstarter goals. This is OSR/Open Gaming at its best and most generous...

    http://swordsandwizardry.blogspot.com/2013/11/swords-wizardry-complete-rules-now-free.html

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  14. Worst: Once you account for the rip-offs and non-starters, undoubtedly Traveller 5, no? Versus expectations, seems to be a galactic disappointment.

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  15. Best: Goblinoind games has delivered amazingly with Majus and Labyrinth Lord Screen.

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  16. Torchbearer was run exceptionally well ... not really "feeling it" with respect to the rules, but there's no looking past how well Luke Crane and Thor Olavsrud ran their campaign and fulfilled their promises.

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    Replies
    1. I'll throw a vote in for Torchbearer as well. I've grabbed a few pieces from the rules for my HackMaster game. Also, good production and it was delivered as promised.

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    2. I think it was exceptionally well run, no delays, no drama.

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  17. 2013 Best: Spears of Dawn, Torchbearer, Sorcerer (Annotated)

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  18. Best: Fate Core. The amount of outstanding material produced for a very modest digital buy-in is overwhelming. Providing the FATE Core, Fate Accelerated Edition, and FATE System Toolkit PDFs for PWYW is amazing.

    Worst: T5. What a colossal mess! The system is impossible, the book is organized as if the editor were a drunken, syphilitic bonobo with one arm. Totally unusable. Glad I avoided it. My LBB and GURPS Traveller books will suffice (especially GURPS Interstellar Wars).

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  19. Found something interesting on a sort of gaming "news/blog" called ICv2 that I have begun to look in on. They came out with a list of the "Top 10 Tabletop Game Kickstarters." I get the impression this is more of a running total than an annual review. The only criteria to be in their Top 10 is total amount raised. Anyhoo... the list is linked below for anyone who wants to look.

    http://www.icv2.com/articles/markets/27565.html

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  20. These were minimal hassle projects I backed. I got what I paid for without much trouble or noticeable delay (or the minor delay was accounted for with communication). Stuff showed up in my inbox or at my door, no drama, sometimes faster than expected.

    *Good Kickstarter 2013 Experiences:
    Numenera (Monte Cook Games)
    Reaper Bones I (Reaper Minis)
    S&W Complete (Frog God Games
    Tenra Bansho Zero (Kodama Heavy Industries)
    Shadows of Esteren: Travels (Agate Editions)
    Fate Core (Evil Hat Productions)
    Sorcerer Annotated (Adept Press)
    Ehdrigohr (Council of Fools)
    Razor Coast (Frog God Games)
    Lords of Gossamer and Shadow (Rite Publishing)
    Majus (Goblinoid Games)
    Torchbearer (Burning Wheel)

    The clear winner in terms of flawless fulfillment is Fate Core due to pulling off the sheer amount of books and material in the amount of time they gave themselves and being entirely open about the process.

    The runner up is Numenera, similarly complexity, plus design, playtest, art, layout, production all a year before 5E, which Monte started after exiting from the 5E design team.

    ---

    *Poor KS Experiences:
    Far West (Adamant)
    Dwimmermount (Autarch)
    Axes and Allies (Nystul)
    Cairn (Nystul)
    Myth & Magic (New Haven)

    It's the usual suspects. I gave Far West the benefit of a doubt for a long time, but gave up after two years and the umpteenth promise of impending completion.

    What's the deal with Dwimmermount anyway, the supposed salvation is taking as long as the problematic phase of the project.

    And the rest we've been over a dozen times.

    "Winner" is Myth & Magic for having a deceptive person behind it (still no book, despite his claims of shipping them to everyone).

    Runner up is Mike Nystul for being Nystulian.

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  21. From those I have participated in:
    Best: Spears of the Dawn by Kevin Crawford
    Worst: Champions of Zed by Daniel Boggs

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  22. Melior Via's Accursed needs a nomination for the best.

    On-time. Transparent. Frequent updates.

    They really knocked it out of the park.

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  23. Best: Bones Kickstarter & James Raggi's Monolith adventure
    Worst: Appendix N & Angels, Daemons, and Beings Between.

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  24. Worst: Odin's Ravens. (Took the money and ran.)
    Best: ? I've had a number of really good experiences... Torchbearer, Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls, Kobolds Ate My Baby (in colour). These had good updates and quality product.

    ReplyDelete

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