The Great Kingdom Mess

Earlier today, I posted an update about the Great Kingdom D&D Documentary Kickstarter, along with an update on all my outstanding Kickstarters.

The first documentary to fund on Kickstarter was Dungeons & Dragons A Documantary. They also have a Facebook page, but it hasn’t been updated since June.

I missed backing this one, and their KS page is still active. However, their last backer update is from January. They do have some active comments. A comment from November 9, 2016 said, “I think it was said early that, at least with The Great Kingdom, the money is in escrow and if they lose all the backers get that money back, since the money wasn’t transferred from KS to the defendants.”

That is good news, and if true, makes me wonder why the only response to my inquiries didn’t get that answer.

My only concern, is that the credit card I used is expired, and the account number changed. How will KS get the money to me?

MY DESIRE

I don’t care what conflicts these people had amongst themselves. Grow up and make a movie so we get it.

I plan to get my money back somehow. When I do, I will add it to the RPG History Project by Pat Kilbane. Here’s the article I wrote on Multiverse. I’ve also written about it on this blog here, and here. Fair warning, I like what Pat has done, and will be the biggest cheerleader I can for his efforts. If he gets enough support to speed the process, he could deliver his documentary before the courts settle the dispute between the others.

There is also the Eye of the Beholder: The Art of Dungeons & Dragons. I did not find a Kicstarter for this. I assume they have all the financial backing they need, as I have not seen any mention of crowdfunding for them. I don’t see any mention of a release date.

And the Secrets of Blackmoor movie project. Also on Facebook. I assume they also have all the financial backing they need, as I have not seen any mention of crowdfunding for them. I don’t see any mention of a release date.

THE EMAIL CHAIN

On October 1st, I sent the following email to the Great Kingdom people. It took a while to find a way to contact them. When Kickstarter pulls things down, the only way to contact the creator is through the KS messaging system. I did try sending messages via Kickstarter, but never got an answer.

I don’t remember what google searches I had to use to find the movie’s website. It was there that I found their email address. Since it is so hard to find a way to contact them, I don’t feel that I need to obscure their email address. This will avoid me fielding all the emails asking how to contact them.

To

TheMostEpicGame@gmail.com

To Whom It May Concern,

I sent a message via Kickstarter asking about a refund on October 1, 2017 and have had no response.

I found this email via the internet archive in an attempt to contact you.

I pledged $50.00 and would like my money back ASAP.

Please either refund my money or deliver my pledged reward as indicated in the email below that I received when the project funded and I was charged.

The original ruling by the court, https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=8P/vidy_PLUS_U4yq5ACBctSZVw==, does not mention anything preventing you from issuing refunds or communicating to your backers.

If you have been barred by the court from issuing refunds, then please communicate this fact, with a link to the court ruling.

If you have been barred by the court from communicating with your backers, then please communicate this fact, with a link to the court ruling.

[My Signature Text.]

—– Forwarded Message —–
From: Kickstarter <no-reply@kickstarter.com>
To: Me
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2014 11:30 PM
Subject: Thanks to you, The Great Kingdom by The Great Kingdom has been successfully funded!

Congratulations!

Thanks to you and 890 other backers, The Great Kingdom has been successfully funded. We will now charge your credit card.

Pledge Summary
Amount pledged: $50.00 USD
Reward: DVD/BluRay + Pre-Release HD Download – You get the Digital Download before everyone else does, plus you get something you can treasure and keep. Think of it as an heirloom to give to your descendants. That is unless DVD/Blu-Ray become obsolete…which will probably never happen. And to sweeten the deal, your name will be listed on our website under the heading “Even More Awesomer People That Helped Get This Movie Made”. $15 extra for International Shipping. (Sorry, International People…we wish it was less expensive).
Estimated delivery: Jul 2015
Shipping:

When your reward is ready, The Great Kingdom will send you a survey via email to request any info needed to deliver your reward (mailing address, T-shirt size, etc).

If you’d like to visit the project page, click here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/720223857/the-great-kingdom?ref=email

I had to send another email before I got a response:

To

TheMostEpicGame@gmail.com

To Whom It May Concern,

I sent a message via Kickstarter asking about a refund on October 1, 2017 and have had no response.

I found this email via the internet archive in an attempt to contact you.

I pledged $50.00 and would like my money back ASAP.

Please either refund my money or deliver my pledged reward as indicated in the email below that I received when the project funded and I was charged.

If you have been barred by the court from issuing refunds, then please communicate this fact, with a link to the court ruling.

If you have been barred by the court from communicating with your backers, then please communicate this fact, with a link to the court ruling.

[My Signature Text.]

This is he response I got back from Andrew Pascal:

FROM: TheMostEpicGame <themostepicgame@gmail.com>

hi larry –

apologies for the delay in responding. we had no intention of cutting off communication with our backers. we are still unfortunately in the middle of fighting the legal case brought against us. until we can move forward, the sever [sic] legal restrictions prevent us from being able to work on the project at all. [Emphasis mine: This does NOT answer my question about refunds and a court ruling preventing them.]

our adversaries in the lawsuit are relentless in their willingness to keep production of THE GREAT KINGDOM mired in a legal battle that has cost both sides extensive money and effort, which could have been put to finishing both films by now. we were and have been hoping for a swift end to the legal issues, but there does not seem to be any hope in that. we feel strongly about our case and will defend ourselves accordingly.

unfortunately, the people who are affected by this are our backers like yourselves. we want nothing more than to finish this film and send to everyone what we owe through the kickstarter campaign. once these issues are resolved, we are eagerly looking forward to finishing THE GREAT KINGDOM. when that may happen is unfortunately not up to us.

if there are unseen forces that prevent us from completing the film, we will absolutely refund everyone’s money. unfortunately, for now, there’s not much to do other than to keep the faith. we want to finish this movie as much as you guys want to see it. hopefully we will see a resolution to the legal issues soon. [Emphasis mine: No refunds even if you want one….]

thank you for reaching out.

– andrew pascal

So there it is, a nebulous answer that things will happen after the legal issues are settled. But we KNOW that already. If the money is in escrow and we’ll get it back, then just SAY that. It shouldn’t be that hard to get a clear answer that avoids admissions of guilt or going against a court order.

If you want to make a movie, then please do. You have my permission and that of hundreds, if not thousands of D&D fans.

12 thoughts on “The Great Kingdom Mess”

Ryan Wynne says:

March 29, 2018 at 10:16 am

Was there ever any update on this or did this just die and they ran away with our money?
admin says:

March 29, 2018 at 1:38 pm

They can’t run away with money, in my understanding. If I recall correctly, the judge froze things and required Kickstarter to disable their access to Kickstarter, except for the ability to deal with messages. I’m only in for $50 and don’t have the time to keep tracking them down. I thought things would have settled by now, but I haven’t seen anything, nor have I really looked.

I’m not sure if they ever got the money from Kickstarter, it’s been so long. If the account is frozen pending the outcome of the law, there’s nothing we can do.

I don’t know when I’ll have time to do more googling. If you want to google on the case, please update me with what you find.
Ryan Wynne says:

March 29, 2018 at 1:51 pm

Just a heads up- I emailed them about refunding my money and they replied that they had just cleared a legal hurdle and it should be released soon.

They are going to send out a survey to make sure if peoples addresses have changed (like mine has) what their new address is so they can get the kickstarter rewards shipped. This is progress.
admin says:

March 29, 2018 at 1:58 pm

Thanks for the heads up! I’ll be making the time to find word of the case resolution.
admin says:

March 29, 2018 at 2:29 pm

I found the case online, but nothing that indicates a total resolution between the parties. Maybe it hasn’t been posted to the court site yet. No press on it that I can find either. If it will actually come together, I will make time to post an update.

Thanks again for bringing this to my attention!
Ryan Wynne says:

March 30, 2018 at 9:02 am

No problem. I contacted them after I posted the comment to you and got the information. When I saw you replied I thought you would want to know.

That was my first kickstarter and after it ended up like it did, I haven’t done a kickstarter since
admin says:

March 30, 2018 at 9:11 am

Thanks! I very much appreciate this. I’ll have to see what I can dig up on this for an article. I’m getting ready for the local game con, Marmalade Dog, which starts today. Otherwise I could get an article together. I’ve got a few hours, if I can pull it all together, I’ll try to post an article. At least I’ll get a draft done.
Secrets of Blackmoor says:

July 25, 2018 at 12:52 am

Secrets of Blackmoor is the turtle in the movie race.

We aren’t into being stars, we’re just sitting at computers making a movie.

We don’t want your money YET, since movies take years to make.

We’re within several months of being done with the first Installment of the film series.

Thanks 🙂

Find us on facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/blackmoorsecrets/
admin says:

July 25, 2018 at 8:07 am

I’m sure it will. There’s others out there that will also soon be reality. Good luck!
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Secrets of Blackmoor says:

May 13, 2020 at 3:05 am

And the turtle wins.

You can see it now on several rental websites.

https://www.secretsofblackmoor.com/

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12 thoughts on “The Great Kingdom Mess”

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Ramblings of an Old Gamer