Kickstarter and other crowdfunding platforms

[Smoove_B]

If you do an image search, you might recall seeing them as part of the 1/6 riots at the Capitol, but I'm pretty sure they've also been part of any number of similar events where the usual idiots show up en masse.

[hepcat]

I’m sure it gives the intended audience a thrill to see their little secret jokes in the media and other venues. Thankfully I’m not a part of that audience.

[hepcat]

The designer posted a longer response to the situation. It seems reasonable enough.

Hello everyone. First of all, let me make it clearly that I stand in complete opposition to fascism and alt-right ideology and want to apologize for the mistake of adding this card to the game. I really meant to remove it after the initial contact with reality.

As hard as it might be to believe, when we were developing the new edition of Doomrock many years ago, I had no idea of the meaning of KEK other than an alternative to LOL from the videogame Starcraft and World of Warcraft, which is where I first heard it over 20 years ago.

So not knowing at all that KEK had taken on a new and terrible meaning, when I stumbled across a KEKistan flag, I thought it was a funny image and the equivalent of saying LOListan and actually making fun of nazis, since I found it to be a parody of a nazi flag. Perhaps not a humor for everyone, but I had no ill intentions. Since Doomrock has always focused on silly humor, I included it in the game.

None of my development partners knew the modern meaning of the phrase and so it went unnoticed until I was told about it on Discord. At first I couldn’t believe that such an innocent phrase I had known for so long could be problematic, but when I researched deeper I realized what it really means now, and so I immediately took steps to have it removed from the game before we went to print. Fortunately, it was successfully removed from the German language edition, but unfortunately due to an error it is still included in the English version because of a plain human error.

I want to apologize to anyone who sees this and is upset or disappointed in us. I am disappointed too and extremely annoyed at myself from letting this card slip back into the game. I should have been more careful and I will be in the future. I hope you can understand the mistake that was made and the steps taken to try to fix it. I hope that it can be understood that I had no ill intentions and players will not be able to destroy the card in order to properly enjoy the game

Got my copy today finally. Started sorting it out and was more disappointed to see the female side of the Rogue character card is spelled “Rouge”.

[Malificent]

The designer posted a longer response to the situation. It seems reasonable enough.

Hello everyone. First of all, let me make it clearly that I stand in complete opposition to fascism and alt-right ideology and want to apologize for the mistake of adding this card to the game. I really meant to remove it after the initial contact with reality.

As hard as it might be to believe, when we were developing the new edition of Doomrock many years ago, I had no idea of the meaning of KEK other than an alternative to LOL from the videogame Starcraft and World of Warcraft, which is where I first heard it over 20 years ago.

So not knowing at all that KEK had taken on a new and terrible meaning, when I stumbled across a KEKistan flag, I thought it was a funny image and the equivalent of saying LOListan and actually making fun of nazis, since I found it to be a parody of a nazi flag. Perhaps not a humor for everyone, but I had no ill intentions. Since Doomrock has always focused on silly humor, I included it in the game.

None of my development partners knew the modern meaning of the phrase and so it went unnoticed until I was told about it on Discord. At first I couldn’t believe that such an innocent phrase I had known for so long could be problematic, but when I researched deeper I realized what it really means now, and so I immediately took steps to have it removed from the game before we went to print. Fortunately, it was successfully removed from the German language edition, but unfortunately due to an error it is still included in the English version because of a plain human error.

I want to apologize to anyone who sees this and is upset or disappointed in us. I am disappointed too and extremely annoyed at myself from letting this card slip back into the game. I should have been more careful and I will be in the future. I hope you can understand the mistake that was made and the steps taken to try to fix it. I hope that it can be understood that I had no ill intentions and players will not be able to destroy the card in order to properly enjoy the game

Got my copy today finally. Started sorting it out and was more disappointed to see the female side of the Rogue character card is spelled “Rouge”.

That seems to be deliberate and in line with the general “humor” in the game.

[Daveman]

My copy of Doomrock arrived the day after Christmas and we've given it a couple plays. I don't do much crowdfunding but was always interested in this game.

There's certainly a ton of content (I didn't even back the Roguelike expansion) and it's taken these few attempts to wrap my head around it. It's certainly as difficult as promised, but we've been playing the base game without any of the optional stuff which looks like they actually make the game easier?

I didn't recognize the "Kekistan" flag, or even know that's a thing but will discard it.

[hepcat]

I’ll probably keep the card but view it with the original intent of its inclusion. I refuse to let jackholes co-opt things and change their intended meaning, if possible. Time to start claiming stuff back, I say.

[Daehawk]

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/mc ... s/mcdm-rpg

Matt Colville's indie RPG, a direct challenge to D&D's jack-of-all-trades fumbling, has earned nearly $4 million on BackerKit

https://www.pcgamer.com/matt-colvilles- ... ckstarter/

[Blackhawk]

https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/mc ... s/mcdm-rpg

Matt Colville's indie RPG, a direct challenge to D&D's jack-of-all-trades fumbling, has earned nearly $4 million on BackerKit

https://www.pcgamer.com/matt-colvilles- ... ckstarter/

I'd heard of that. I'm a long-term fan of Matt Coville for GMing advice. There are some things that I've seen that have me shying away, however (I'm not a fan of MMOs that have 'taunt' mechanics - they're a video game design feature, and just don't make sense in a more organic game.)

[Smoove_B]

I read through a lot of PnP RPG news and I actually hadn't heard of that (which kinda surprises me). Shadowdark had a KS delivery for me last week and I haven't even started going through it. I was surprised then to see it mentioned in those links.

[hepcat]

Yup, Assault on Doomrock is STILL freaking hard to win. Time to rethink my strategy. It is a blast though.

[AWS260]

Carolingi is really tempting me. I keep telling myself I don't need any more games...

[raydude]

I forgot to mention that I received ISS Vanguard as part of their second wave shipping. It came as part of the second wave since I ordered the sundrop painted miniatures, dice tower, and personnel files expansion. It also came with the "Lost Fleet" stretch goal expansion. The box was huge and heavy (20 pounds if I remember correctly).

I'm slowly spending my time setting up the game which requires setting up 2 card trays and organizing the cards into different categories.

[TheMix]

Got a UPS notice. Something is being delivered on Friday. But I'm not sure what. My most recent emails were from Dungeon Universalis. But then, I also haven't gotten ISS Vanguard yet. So I guess I'll see.

[hepcat]

You backed the Dungeon Universalis expansion? Or the base game (with or without the expansion)? I got my expansion stuff quite some time ago.

[TheMix]

Base game. The email said ... ah. It said that I should LTR: "finishing packages and procedures for shipment to port". So it's probably ISS Vanguard.

[hepcat]

Ah, got it. I didn't realize that the base game was lagging a bit behind the expansion stuff.

[Blackhawk]

Not lagging - the shipping is all over the place. Part of it has been in the US forever, with some backers already being fulfilled, while other parts (the core, mainl) still haven't left the factory. I don't expect mine (core plus expansions plus miscellaneous) before spring.

[Blackhawk]

Base game. The email said ... ah. It said that I should LTR: "finishing packages and procedures for shipment to port". So it's probably ISS Vanguard.

May be DU. That's exactly what's going on with the core sets right now. Packaging, then port, then ship, then customs, then warehouse, then us.

If things go perfectly, maybe March. More realistically April or May.

[hepcat]

I wasn't aware you'd backed DU. I look forward to hearing what you think of it. It's old school, that's for sure.

[Blackhawk]

OO talked me into it, although I've questioned the decision a few times. It was the last 'big' unplanned Kickstarter that I backed before my situation changed (I've since backed one other big one - Maladum - but I'd been putting money back toward it since they'd first mentioned it would be coming.) Almost everything else since then has been low-price projects, and very few of those.

[hepcat]

I think you’ll like it. As I said, it’s old school RPG goodness. The rules just make sense once you start playing. And there’s just so much content in the base game alone. Make sure you go to the app website for it.. It will help if you want to play solo or without a GM. If you do play as a GM, it even has a good old fashioned dungeon master screen you can use.

[Blackhawk]

Thanks, I'll bookmark that.

I did a fair amount of research before I backed it (I always research games), and wouldn't have ordered it if I hadn't thought it a good match. I got the core plus the expansions, so I've no doubt that it will keep me busy. I did go with the standees rather than the minis just to keep the price down.

[hepcat]

You have a lot of miniatures already, so just use those. The game is made for people like you in that regard. I ordered the standees for the expansion though, just in case. But I've been pretty successful in just using minis from Drunagor and other dungeon crawlers I have.

[baelthazar]

Got a UPS notice. Something is being delivered on Friday. But I'm not sure what. My most recent emails were from Dungeon Universalis. But then, I also haven't gotten ISS Vanguard yet. So I guess I'll see.

I got one for some Middara items that should come today if the snow doesn't prevent it (basically the updated pack and updated manuals).

ISS Vanguard sent me an address confirmation, so something must be prepping soon on that too. I wish I liked the game... Trying to sell it and ship it will be a bear.

[TheMix]

I did get another email telling me it was for ISS Vanguard. From the shipper. After the UPS email.

[hepcat]

And I finally have my copy of The Plum Island Horror. Somewhere out there my doppelgänger owes me a thank you.

[YellowKing]

Looking forward to your impressions, hep. That one is still pretty high on my wish list.

[Smoove_B]

And I finally have my copy of The Plum Island Horror. Somewhere out there my doppelgänger owes me a thank you.

Imma just casually drop this here.

[hepcat]

I wonder if that bling would help bring setup down from 9 hours to 2?

Just finished setting up my first game. I don’t have it in me to start the actual game just yet though. I’ll save that for later this week.

Dawn of the Zeds 3rd edition has spoiled me when it comes to quality. All I could think of while setting up Plum Island was how I missed that high quality.

But if the game is fun, that will help ease that misgiving.

[Smoove_B]

I'm going to do my best to try and get over the board being in the wrong direction for solo play. Not sure if I'm gonna make it though.

[hepcat]

They should have gone with a landscape board like Zeds, but I’m able to fit it in portrait orientation on my dining room table with just a few inches of overlap.

[AWS260]

Carolingi is really tempting me. I keep telling myself I don't need any more games...

I ended up not backing Carolingi, but it didn't matter because A) the campaign didn't fund; and B) they're producing the game anyway. Hopefully someone in my regular group eventually picks up a copy.

[Smoove_B]

I guess backers likely already know, but apparently Mythic just sold HEL: The Last Saga and Anastyr to CMON while actively still trying to deliver them on Kickstarter:

We are pleased to announce the acquisition of the HEL: The Last Saga and Anastyr brands from current publisher Mythic Games. Each IP had previously been featured in its own crowdfunding campaign, however neither project was ultimately delivered to backers. CMON is currently re-working base games for both titles, including extensive changes and development, which will be offered in pre-orders coming in the not too distant future.

When these crowdfunding campaigns debuted, we were excited by the worlds they revealed, and the potential each title had. While it was disappointing those iterations of the games never came to fruition, we're happy that we have the opportunity to keep these deep and unique settings alive. Our team is working hard on new versions of these games that we hope will appeal not only to the Mythic Backers, but also to a whole new audience of gamers.

I'm thinking Mythic is not long for this world.

[YellowKing]

Got a new update on Freedom Five where they unsurprisingly delayed shipping again (I backed it in November 2020).

The good news is that the game is done and they're saying April/May fulfillment is now on the books. At this point I had generally written it off so news of *any* sort of fulfillment was a welcome surprise. Knowing I only went in for the $60 base standee version greatly helped my patience over the years.

[baelthazar]

In other bad Kickstarter news, I just received my Homeworld: Fleet Command box, which was done by Modiphius. Not only did they have a delay from August 2023 to January 2024, the moment they started shipping out they revealed that there are seven pages of errata for the game, including major errata on the actual cards for the units. Which means, functionally, you can't even play the game correctly without consulting all of the card and rule errata for all of your units. That goes beyond a minor annoyance, since some of the errata significantly change unit powers, and either you alter your cards or you just try to remember.

They intend to print errata packs for backers, but it is unclear when that will happen and how it will get to backers (or if they will cost). This is already coming after Modiphius reported a number of their European stock was damaged by a catastrophic collapse of the pallets during freight.

At this point, the game is delivered, but may be dead in the water. Part of me thinks I should just try to offload the game without opening it, but at the price point and with the review bombing, that may be difficult. Instead, at least I have a metric ton of space ship minis that I could use for other space games.

[Punisher]

I guess backers likely already know, but apparently Mythic just sold HEL: The Last Saga and Anastyr to CMON while actively still trying to deliver them on Kickstarter:

We are pleased to announce the acquisition of the HEL: The Last Saga and Anastyr brands from current publisher Mythic Games. Each IP had previously been featured in its own crowdfunding campaign, however neither project was ultimately delivered to backers. CMON is currently re-working base games for both titles, including extensive changes and development, which will be offered in pre-orders coming in the not too distant future.

When these crowdfunding campaigns debuted, we were excited by the worlds they revealed, and the potential each title had. While it was disappointing those iterations of the games never came to fruition, we're happy that we have the opportunity to keep these deep and unique settings alive. Our team is working hard on new versions of these games that we hope will appeal not only to the Mythic Backers, but also to a whole new audience of gamers.

I'm thinking Mythic is not long for this world.

I recently got an address verification notice for 6 Siege.
Looks like only 1 container, for Asia is actually ready though.
I'll be lucky if I see it by the end of the year.
I also wouldn't be surprised if we got another surprise oopps something went wrong email.
I can't see them surviving for long after R6 is done. They, burnt bridges then, nuked and salted the surrounding land in regards to their customers too many times.

[hepcat]

I'm also waiting for Freedom Five. My Robinson Crusoe deluxe edition and the 7th Citadel are also at or beyond the 2 years late mark at this point. As for Dire Alliance and the Street Masters expansions? I expect to have them by 2087.

[Fardaza]

After waiting for over 2 years, I had to cancel my Robinson Crusoe order. I hated to do it, but I couldn't trust them with my money anymore.

[hepcat]

I’m sure they’ll ship it. Portal doesn’t have a history of scamming folks. I think they just bit off more than they could chew in the time they allotted themselves. It’s supposed to start shipping soon though.

[Fardaza]

I know. It just left a bad taste in my mouth after 2 years. I couldn't give them the benefit of the doubt any longer.