A well publicized Kickstarter funded well over a year ago and had a lot of drama during the leading up to, during, and following GenCon.

I won’t will name the Kickstarters, but and will point out that it’s their failings should be a lesson to all who are running or plan to run a Kickstarter.

• Be realistic
• Plan for the unexpected
  • Review all the points that massive failure can happen. That is, anything that is out of your control, such as suppliers and other third parties.
• Kickstarter is a use of technology. Use technology to keep track of stuff.
  • There is no excuse for not having a timeline your whole team can follow, or lists of backers and their reward levels.
  • At least use a spreadsheet to keep track of things. Kickstarter and other companies have some sort of tools to help with this, as I understand it.
• Don’t spend the money without a budget/spending plan.
  • This should be prepared BEFORE launch.
• Don’t use the money for things not associated with the Kickstarter.
  • The incentive for you to get rich off Kickstarter is to do it well, on time, and under budget. Take your share AFTER the Kickstarter is fulfilled, i.e. EVERY item is shipped.
• Make shipping costs in addition to the initial pledge.
  • Too many have failed due to their own success and not accounting for all the various shipping costs.
• Don’t whine about all the reasons you can’t.
  • Keep it simple, be honest (always and should go without saying).
  • If there’s a problem, don’t wait, let the backers know.
  • I’ve made mistakes in my job, but I always admit when I make them right away, and I call my boss before the customer calls my boss. I drop everything and fix the mess I made so that it does not grow and compound and make even more work.
    • If you have ever ran an SQL statement on a live database and left out a phrase to limit it to the desired data, you know what I’m talking about.
• Regular updates are key.
  • If you must launch the week of GenCon, don’t let the Kickstarter languish and lose momentum.
    • Yes, I’m talking about the Metamorphosis Alpha: Epsilon City Kickstarter. It launched the same day as the Ernest Gary Gygax Jr.’s Marmoreal Tomb Campaign Starter. I think they both funded about the same time, but Benoist and Ernie have kept up the momentum on social media.
    • I think the MA Kickstarter should be at least double the goal. I hope that the amount Jim Ward gets increases with the value of the Kickstarter. If not, then I will throw more at his medical GoFundMe than boost ad-ons I may not want.
• For books/rules have the text ready before launch. Don’t wait to start when the funds are released. Do the work first. If it is worth others giving their hard-earned money, it is worth you doing your part before holding out your hand.
  • This messed up the City State of the Invincible Overlord Kickstarter.
• Under promise and over deliver. Pad your public timeline, so that you know you can make it. You can have a private timeline for delivery, if you want.
• If it is a team effort, make sure you have the right members on our team.
  • If you sign up to do something for a Kickstarter project, don’t string your colleagues along then at the last minute before your deadline, admit you did nothing, leaving the team holding the bag and trying to pick up the pieces.
    • This messed up the City State of the Invincible Overlord Kickstarter.
• As much public accountability of things as needed to reassure backers. If you leave room for doubt, show the actual books to people.
  • If you are not an accountant, not good with money, don’t know Excel, get someone on your team to do this. You will have to pay them.
  • Pay your taxes off the top. A simple rule of thumb, at least 30% needs to be held out for taxes. If you don’t know how to handle the Social Security, Medicare, federal, state, and local taxes, get a tax adviser. Most small towns have one.
• If it is a total failure, refund the money instead of stringing people along.
  • If you blew the money, be ready for anger and unhelpful comments from the backlash, and lose the trust that anyone in the RPG field had in you.
• Don’t add on stupid crap that just makes it harder to deliver.
  • Some Kickstarters get lost in their own success and let themselves lose self control and add on anything that comes into their head.
    • I like what Benoist and Ernie did with the Marmoreal Tomb. It appears to me that they made a list of small goals that could easily be added on and contracted out without delaying delivery. Any goals they add to that, all appear to fit and follow the same pattern.
• Add-ons should be relevant and add value.
• Don’t get people lined up to do the work and not pay them.
  • Pay your artists and other what you agreed. Have a written contract so their is no ambiguity about who gets what.
  • If someone is an employee, make it clear that they are an employee and working for the specified hourly wage or salary.
• I have not heard of anyone dying before they could deliver a Kickstarter, but I read that the Symbaroun RPG translation Indiegogo had a team member die. It slowed them down, but they are still moving forward.
  • This should fall under planning for the worst. All the more reason to have as much done before launch.
  • Everyone dies and no one knows when it is their time. We are adults, be as responsible for fulfillment as if you were preparing for the worst for your family.
  • I bet you could find some insurance company that offers Kickstarter insurance, or at the very least have your main talent take out a term life policy until everything is ready to ship, or shipped.
• As for advice from others who have done Kickstarter to make sure you haven’t left out anything.
• If you only have one idea worthy of Kickstarter, it might be better to get someone with experience with Kickstarter to help you do it.
  • If you have lots of ideas, make the first one small and make sure it is manageable to make sure it is a success. If it funds, you should line up everything, so that once the funds are released you can roll with it.

A lot of these things apply to lots of Kickstarters that have been horror stories. The latest horror story was KotDT: LAS, which others have gone into more dept than I. What a train wreck. I used to be an EMT, so I’ve had my share or traffic accidents, I’m not curious to rubber neck on a real accident. But this whole fiasco was something else. I hope the guy comes through instead of stringing people along. I also hope it is his last success at cheating people. I haven’t followed up lately, but it seems like he’s going to jail.

I watch Kickstarters and am careful. The first Kickstarter I was burned was the CSIO re-print. Thankfully, it is just late, and I don’t have a lot of use for miniatures. The other is the Great Kingdom D&D movie that is in legal limbo. I have $50.00 tied up in that. Since Kickstarter froze it, there is no word from that team on what is going on. I have probably lost my money, but I hope one of them makes a movie and I get to see it.

It is easy to armchair quarterback, not having done a Kickstarter myself. I don’t have any ideas at this point, that are worthy of a Kickstarter. However, I think it is obvious, if you have backed multiple Kickstarters, and read of the experiences of others, to get a clue of what does and does not work. I might have an idea or two worthy of a PDF on DriveThruRPG/RPGNow, but those are fairly easy to do well as one person projects.