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Friday, July 17, 2020

Far West - Obligatory Annual Update on Gareth the Hut



On July, 15th, Gareth Skarka made the following update on the Far West Kickstarter (funded way back in 2011 - note, my commentary will be in ORANGE)
For those of you that haven't seen this already via social media, the following update appears on my personal blog and the FAR WEST website (not Twitter? I'm surprised):

I've been quiet recently, I know. (but not on Twitter. NEVER quiet on Twitter. If only Far West could be written 256 characters at a time)
First things first:  Far West is NOT dead (please, bring out your dead). I only have one chapter remaining to assemble from the earlier drafts (and I have this bridge in Brooklyn to sell really cheap).  Things are moving slowly, and I figure that I owed you an explanation. (I think we are owed a new explanation)
It's no secret that among the many trials and tribulations that have plagued this project, my depression and anxiety have been at the forefront.  I have been my own worst enemy. (strangly enough, it hasn't stopped Gareth from working on other projects, which we'll detail below)
Well, a few months ago, my family convinced me to finally seek treatment. 
So I've done that. 
The initial stages of the process, where, among other things, we were trying to zero in on the right combination of prescriptions and correct dosages, made it very difficult to get anything done.  I just couldn't focus on anything other than my mental health. 
Now that we are further along, and I've begun to feel the effects, I'm coming back into myself, in a way.  And that includes finishing Far West. (so close, yet so far...)
So that's what I'm going to do. 
I appreciate the patience of so many people who have given far more than I could have ever asked. "Thank you" seems terribly inadequate, given the circumstances. (i think the last year you've given so many people a big FUCK YOU)
As a final administrative note:  All official updates will now appear on the Far West website (last update was THIS very update).  We have a forum there where I can be reached for questions. (last forum comment, not from Gareth was January 2 - Gareth's last was in 2015 - did i mention the forum hasnt taken new sign-ups in years?) The Kickstarter page will be used purely for delivery of texts, PDFs, etc. to backers. (so obviously the KS page hasn't been used)
Now, the home stretch.  Talk to you soon. (but only on Twitter)

Gareth-Michael Skarka
Lawrence, KS
July 15, 2019.
So, what else has Gareth written during the time frame he HASN'T completed Far West?

  • Axanar: Ships of the Four Years War for Squadron Strike! Troy, NY: Ad Astra Games, 2019.
  • Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game. Roseville, MN: Fantasy Flight Games, 2018.
  • Star Wars: Force and Destiny — Unlimited Power. Roseville, MN: Fantasy Flight Games, 2018.
  • Star Wars: Age of Rebellion — Cyphers And Masks. Roseville, MN: Fantasy Flight Games, 2018.
  • Star Trek Adventures: Beta Quadrant Sourcebook. London, UK: Modiphius Entertainment, 2018.
  • Star Trek Adventures: Core Rulebook. London, UK: Modiphius Entertainment, 2017.
  • Fiasco ’12: Fiasco Playset Anthology Vol 3. Chapel Hill, NC: Bully Pulpit Games, 2015.
  • Doctor Who: The Eighth Doctor Sourcebook. Oxford, UK: Cubicle 7 Entertainment, 2015.
  • Doctor Who: Adventures In Time And Space – Limited Edition Rulebook. Oxford, UK: Cubicle 7 Entertainment, 2014.
  • “Exit Visa”, Have Blaster Will Travel. Washington, NJ: Galileo Books, 2012
  • Defending The Earth: The UNIT Sourcebook. Oxford, UK: Cubicle 7 Entertainment, 2012.
  • Doctor Who: Adventures in Times and Space (Eleventh Doctor Edition). Oxford, UK: Cubicle 7 Entertainment, 2012.
Kind words said by those that weren't Far West backers:“[A] standout example […] of one of our newest professions: the e-book publisher.”

—The Associated Press. (Washington Post, December 2007)

“…a visionary in the electronic publishing field.”–Dominic McDowall-Thomas, Cubicle 7 Entertainment.

“A trail-blazer… an innovator… one of the inventors of ‘how it’s done’ in the ePublishing sector.”
–Sean Patrick Fannon, OneBookShelf, Inc.

“Gareth got the Inner Circle off of the ground and I couldn’t recommend a better person to take start-ups under his wing.”
–Jeffrey J. Visgaitis, The Inner Circle.

“A lot of publishers would benefit from [his] experience.”
–Steve Creech, DragonWing Games/Bastion Press.





13 comments:

  1. wait - wasn't that post from 2019?

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  2. But working on FW would cut into valuable Twitter time...

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  3. Well played Tenkar. Well played.

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  4. He wrote an article for Rolled & Told magazine, out of Canada. Issue # 10, June 2019. I picked it up at my local game store, before I checked the names in the table of contents. Otherwise I wouldn't have gotten it.

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  5. call a spade a spade, he was hard up for cash because he is not good at what he does or life in general and cashed in his good name and his backers good will for $49,324 minus fee's. He is on twitter all day because like most unemployed people with nothing to do they waste it on the internet chasing after conspiracy theories or bitching about the government.

    His entire life has been one excuse after another I can't imagine what this guys personal life is like. He must have borrowed money from so many people, friends and family to scrape by. I bet there is a long list of people him and his wife avoid in their lives because of the debt he is in with them. I am curious to know if he has taken any money from his kids as well and if so how much.

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    1. I can't defend the ridiculous delays and excuses on Far West, but the guy was a successful RPG writer and publisher before that, and clearly (whether we like it or not) RPG companies still find him a capable freelancer for small parts of a shared book. Therefore, I still can't believe that FW is a deliberate scam (as in, he went into it wanting the money and planning to produce nothing). It's a tragedy-turned-farce that has ruined his good name, but once upon a time it must have been a real project (and a serious personal dream, considering all the plans for multimedia expansion he originally envisioned).

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  6. A lot of people (employed and recently unemployed) are not happy with the govt response to Covid, but I do wonder how he gets away with this for so long. FTC? BBB? DOJ? Private/class action lawsuits? Does Kickstarter throw up an effective wall against all these. . .?

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    1. its $49,324 divided by 717 backers. that is an average cost of $68.79 per backer.

      The loudest and angriest got refunded when they asked.

      Everyone else is sheep, No one knows how to do a credit card charge back or they like being taken advantage of. I can show you a kickstarter that took in 845k and delivered nothing and people just accept it or they just keep posting every few days that they "invoke their rights under kickstarters terms of use" and its fucking sad.

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    2. Credit card charge backs are only available for a matter of days/months, I'm not sure anyone would have known in time to do a charge back on this one.

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  7. I was not a backer, I did become interested when he posted he was going to use the Mini Six rules. Guess, I will have to make my own version.

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