RPGs

The Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor – Reprint

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I received a review copy of The Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor, a softcover reprint of the Judges Guild module, including printings 1-4 and some new material. This is a portion of the Judge’s Guild Deluxe Colector’s Edition. The deluxe edition will be a hardcover over sized book, but the various parts can be purchased separately in softcover. You can get a PDF of the original here.

This reprint uses the same cover as the first printing, and a sample of the cover for each printing is on the inside back cover.

I must confess that back in the day, my brother and I judge the products from Judges Guild unfavorably, and for not good reasons. We judged the books by their covers, and not the quality of their information. Thus, until the internet showed me what helpful information and tables Judges Guild had, I was ignorant of many of their good ideas.

One major example is Ready Ref Sheets. It has many helpful tables for assisting a DM with various aspects of game prep.

Fortress Badabaskor is a town, fortress, and four level dungeon. It has a backstory, intrigue and can easily fit into an existing campaign. This town could prove to be a base of operations for adventurers even after they had delved the depths beneath Badabakor. In the 40 pages of this mini setting/module are 8 maps showing the surrounding area, the town, and the dungeon levels with a side-view of the elevation.

Judges Guild uses a stat block that I could figure out easily, except for one thing. CLASS, ALIGN, LVL, HTK, AC, SL, S, I, W, CON, DEX, CHAR, WPN. On my first skim through, HTK had me scratching my head until I started over and read it. An earlier NPC spelled out Hits To Kill, which is used instead of Hit Points/HP. Why, I am not sure. I am sure there are those out there who can comment and enlighten the rest of us. Thus remains the bit I don’t understand, SL. I managed to find this link via a google search, and SL is Social Level. It is an interaction mechanic for encounters. That is something that would be good to define in a re-print that can stand alone. If not for the internet, I would have to find someone with the answer to what this is. Now how does this mechanic work? Which book explains that?

[EDIT: Thanks to +Guy Fullerton for pointing out that a list of these abbreviations and their definitions are at the bottom of the table of contents page.]

Before the room descriptions for level one, is this note, and thus a key to what Old School was/is. “Note that each dungeon chamber has a recommended description and some alternate descriptions have been provided to assist the designing judge. Please alter these to suit you campaign!” [emphasis added]

The “designing judge”. That is a helpful turn of phrase. To me, it implies that this setting/module is just an outline for an idea that the GM can modify in whole or in part to suit the campaign. Too many people get on the path of “this is he way it must be”, and lose site of the ability to improvise and shape it to meet the situation.

I really like the alternate descriptions that one can choose to use in place of the ones already there. In some ways, one can mix and match the descriptions in a lot of old school dungeons and not impact much how they play.

Between the town description and the dungeon levels is a table for generating random traps. Like a lot of similar tables from Judge’s Guild, like Ready Ref Sheets, there is a percentile roll to determine the type and then a series of 1d6 tables to further define that trap. There are lots of sub-categories used to flesh out various aspects of traps that get one to think about the depth of such tables, and not just a large number of one line traps. This is a concept akin to story dice that give you words and phrases that you can use to build a description of a trap.

The final eleven pages are a supplement added by Goodman Games, by Michael Curtis. It goes into more detail about some things on level three, and presents some factions for level 4.

Since this is designed with D&D in mind, it is generic enough within that mold to work with little or no modification for various clones. It could even be used for ideas for use with different genres.

The last four pages are re-prints of the ads for various Judges Guild products and sending in S.A.S.E.’s and your money to have it mailed right back to you. That brings up memories and gives a taste to the younger generations how things were before about 15 or 20 years ago.

One thing I soon noticed, on an earlier page halflings are mentioned, and later it mentions hobbits. Seems like the Tolkien estate may not have gone after Judges Guild as stridently as it did TSR over the use of hobbit.

This volume is of much heavier stock than the original such, as I remember them. The pages and cover and slick and shiny. The shininess makes certain angles in some light wash out the test, but otherwise it is very legible.

This is $19.99 from Goodman Games, a PDF of the third printing is on DriveThruRPG/RPGNow for $3.99, which does not have the new material. If $20.00 plus shipping is too much for you, and you can use the PDF, you have options. There are also periodic sales and so forth that can make it easier to dive in.

I have some ideas for how I might use this. Mashed potatoes and aliens anyone?

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RPGs

Metamorphosis Alpha GM Screen

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I picked up a GM screen for Metamorphosis Alpha from +Roy Snyder at MichiCon.

While I like the art from the original cover, and all the tables are just what you need to run a game, the card stock is very light. It is not what I am used to from the first DM screen I ever had for AD&D.

I need to run a game to make sure that all the most used tables are included, but the content and layout appears to be spot on. I just wish the card stock used was a bit heavier. The only benefit to being this thin is that it takes up less space.

I suspect that it would get knocked over easily because it is so light. Due to its light weight, I might use it more as a quick reference. However, I tested it, and while it might get nudged and moved more easily than my AD&D screens, it seems fairly resistant to getting knocked over.

It seems like it would be a challenge to keep this screen from getting bent up. The original AD&D DM screens could double as a clipboard and could take a lot of punishment.

I guess that’s what makes us Grognards. We remember when things were done right. However, I know that not every original product from the beginning was of the most resilient manufacture. Some items were of the thinnest newsprint and did not bear up well. So it is relative. However, my first experience with a DM screen set the bar for what I want.

For $10 I want something sturdier than the material used for a free GM screen, like the one for DCC and FreeRPG Day 2015. My druthers for such light card stock would be to have them as inserts for one of the models that can take inserts, such as those from OBS. I ordered the portrait screen for something else. It should arrive next week or so. I will have a review once it arrives.

OneBookShelf GM Screens:

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Board Games

Lords of Waterdeep

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+Jared Randall, his wife Karen, and their five kids hosted a housewarming/tabletop game party at their new house Saturday.

It was a fun time!

I played a board game I had heard of but not seen or played before, Lords of Waterdeep. Waterdeep being one of the cities in Forgotten Realms.

It looks complex for all the various cards and pieces, but is fairly simple once you understand. I do not recall the man’s name and his son who showed Jared’s oldest daughter and I how to play. But he said that by the third turn you will understand it. He was right.

There are enough options to it that a beginning player can do well against seasoned players. Yet there is enough complexity and depth that one could play a lot of games and not grow bored. Shuffling of decks and drawing random cards that define how to focus your play make each game unique.

Both the quick play and full rules are available in PDF from WotC. WotC has a quick start video and also links to Wil Wheaton’s Table Top episode where they played the game.

At the end of eight turns, a final tally is made and the person with the high score wins.

It says for ages 12+. I think some younger players that get it could do well at this game.

There are a couple of expansions for it, but I can’t see running out of options unless you played this game all the time.

I liked it and had fun. If I thought I would play it even a few times a year, I would get it. It is fairly fast to play. With four players, my guess is that it took an hour, but I wasn’t timing it, and did not check start and stop times.

It is not an introduction to RPG’s as there is no role playing and no characters. There is no way for players to operate outside the rules as written, since it is  within the realm of a “standard” board game.

$49.99 suggested retail price seems a bit steep, but it is not as simple or straightforward as the old standbys, like Monopoly or Scrabble, that you can get at the major chain store for $9.99. If you play it often, it can soon seem like a bargain. With a cost like that, I can understand if you want to see it played, or better yet play it yourself, before buying. There’s nothing worse than getting a board game, getting it home, and it being either too complex, or too simple, or something that you wouldn’t get had you only known.

I don’t have a lot of board games, and don’t play them often. Most are designed for two or more people, so when you live alone, they gather dust on the shelf. Are there any single/solo player board games?

If your family likes board games, they might want to give this one a try. I can see a marathon weekend series being an option, if I were still in high school, with no responsibilities.

Side note: There were a couple of kids,none of them Jared’s, there who did not know how to shuffle cards. It makes total sense why this is: computers and solitaire. Not many kids play card games anymore, unless they are in a household that plays them. I was younger than these kids when I was halfway competent at card shuffling. My suggestions for teaching them were not accepted. Oh, well, kids these days…. I wonder how long until the skill of shuffling cards is lost to all but the dealers at casinos.

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RPGs

Michicon Follow Up

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Last Saturday I went to Michicon. It starts on Friday, but I was not able to get the day off. Note to self – Alert social secretary to be more on the ball next time. Oh, wait, that’s me….

I had heard of Michicon last year, but this is the first year I attended.

It was held at Oakland University on the NW side of the Detroit metro area. I had a late start and there was road construction that made it a challenge to get there, but I finally made it about 2:30 or so.

I found +Roy Snyder with his booth and spent money on a few items. I got a second pristine Tramp cover AD&D Player’s Handbook, and another Player’s Handbook with the Wizard cover for the table. I went ahead and got Legends and Lore. I realize it is the same content as the Dieties & Demigods – without Cthulhu & Melnibone, but I didn’t have one. I already had the PDF of Legends & Lore.

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I also picked up Oriental Adventures. That is one that I keep thinking I have, but don’t. I lost my original with the water leak incident. I have it in PDF. I now have all of my original AD&D manuals from back in the 1980’s re-built. I know I said that before when I wrote about getting two Chulhu/Melnibone mythos Dieties & Demigods on the same day.

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I have items I added to my PDF collection of manuals that I did not have back in the day. I have a hard copy of all the ones I have in PDF, except Manual of the Planes. I don’t need it, but want it for “completeness.” While I have Greyhawk Adventures in PDF and hard cover, I am not interested in the book for Forgotten Realms or others they may have.

Now the only D&D item I don’t have from my original collection is the Greyhawk Gazeteer. I was glad to get it in PDF, but I miss those gorgeous maps. Maybe someday.

I also got a GM screen for Metamorphosis Alpha, I finally gave it a through reading and I like what I see. One less excuse to not run a game.

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The con was not well marked. The center where it was held was having remodeling and there was no food available on site. There were only vending machines for drinks. I chatted with Roy and bought stuff from him and got directions from Roy to the registration table. It turns out I came in the back entrance. It wrapped around and I came up the stairs that led to the game room, I just went in the door closest to the stairs – on the left. No outside signs and no inside signs. It is $10 for the day. Not a bad amount.

The big open room had maybe a half dozen vendors along two walls. The tables were numbered on the sign up sheet, but there were no numbers on the tables. Thankfully, I was there to play DCC, and +Jared Randal was running an open game 0 level funnel next to Roy’s tables. I dropped in and played all the way until the con closed. Jared ran a great game. The module was Sailors of the Starless Sea. I only lost one of my original five 0-levels. I ended with a full compliment of five, since we divvied up the characters of players who could not play the whole time. I had not played that one before. We used a d200 table of “special” items that each character got, and we had a blast using them in creative ways.

Finally, I won a door prize, a still sealed dice game of Walking Dead. I don’t play a lot of board games, so if I can’t sell it I plan to keep it sealed and see what I can get out of it in a few years.

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All of the Axes

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For some reason, I was doubting myself on the plural of axis. I confirmed my recollection via googling that axes is the spelling of the plural of ax, axe, and axis, although the pronunciation of the plural is different.

Oddly enough, my topic is including each axis, of X, Y, and Z, still three items. My brain makes connections most others don’t, but I think of an axis of axes, AKA using an ax to represent an axis.  But that is a rabbit trail distracting from the intent of this post.

Yesterday, I wrote a review of +Jason Paul McCartan’s The Graveyard at Lus, for White Star. In that PDF, he briefly mentions position in space. While reading about the graveyard creation concept, I had an idea for determining the X, Y, and Z axis of a ship in a hex in space. I’m not sure what the three dimensional hexagon would look like. For example, a square in three dimensions is a cube. From this site I googled, it appears that a soccer ball or buckminsterfullerene is the closest thing.

Anyone who has watched Wrath of Khan will know why the Z axis is important.

My idea is to use 3d6, one for each of the X, Y, and Z axes. Ideally, a different colored die, or based on their position when they land.

The X axis is left to right, the Y axis is top to bottom, and we have two dimensions on a page or screen covered. The Z axis adds the bit that raises above or sinks below the page, or the things that appear to fly out at you in a 3-D movie.

If using dice of different colors, specify which is which before the roll. If using position, for example the one most to the left is X, most to the top is Y, and the remaining is Z, or designate the position to your liking. A third alternative is to roll one die three times, specifying which die is which axis, but that slows things way down.

Since we will be using 2-D maps on paper or screen, X will be running right to left on the page, Y will run top to bottom, and Z will rise above the page or sink below it.

Each die will use 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6 for 3 options for each. There’s no mechanic in this for dead center, but say if all three die come up 3 it means dead center. Or if they do come up all 3’s, roll a control die and if it comes up 3, or the designated number, it means dead center. That would be more for placement of a single item in a hex. This mechanic would work better for relative positions of one ship encountering another.

For the X axis:

  • 1-2 = to the left (For example 1 could be far left, 2 middle left.)
  • 3-4 = to the center (For example 3 could be left of center and 4 right of center.)
  • 5-6 = to the right (For example 5 could be middle right and 6 could be far right.)

For the Y axis:

  • 1-2 = to the top
  • 3-4 = to the center
  • 5-6 = to the bottom

For the Z axis:

  • 1-2 = higher in the hex
  • 3-4 = to the center
  • 5-6 = lower in the hex

The above only allows for rough approximations, and is probably good enough for a fast-paced game. Use another roll to determine distance, etc.

If more precision is wanted for more exact placement of an item in a space hex, determine the size of the hex and divide it into increments and pick an appropriate die to roll. For example, figure out how to divide the size of the hex by 100 and roll three percentile dice, i.e. 3d%, one for each axis. You may narrow a million cubic miles down to 10,000 cubic miles of space, and then repeat the process to narrow down to the 100 cubic miles, and once again, for where in that 100 cubic miles is the one cubic mile of space with the object in question. If the item is large enough, perhaps you don’t need to keep rolling, but what if it is a lost wedding ring? You’ll be rolling a long time. I think it would be good to just have the approximate location with the 3d6 method and just use roleplay and skill checks/challenge rolls to find the item.

The cool thing about the 3d6 for three axes positioning works for air travel/combat, and for elevation above or below ground, or above or below water, etc.

One could also take the teleport spell from AD&D and the percentage change to teleport high or low, but that does not allow for X and Y.

How would this work? Let’s take the example of two ships in White Star one with the players, the other a random encounter. Roll 3d6 for relative position of each, and determine approximate distance that each detects the other. The Graveyard at Lus has suggestions for how to handle distance with scanners. Generally, the GM’s will have an idea of what scale they are using, and will have an idea of what dice to use to determine distance.

There are a lot of variables for determining distance, including damaged scanners, cloaking devices, etc. I think rules for encounters and pursuit and evasion of pursuit have enough ideas to cover determining distance, so I won’t come up with something new at this point.

This is a bit of crunchiness in RPG’s that you can use as desired; meaning use it, modify it, or don’t use at all.

If this was helpful to you, please comment!

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RPGs

The Graveyard At Lus – Review

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+Jason Paul McCartan, AKA The Badger, and editor/layout guru for White Star, has a new supplement for it – The Graveyard at Lus, just $4.99.

This interesting supplement is a way to generate an area of space that is a spaceship graveyard due to combat.

Developing the graveyard can be as simple as rolling up opposing forces and determining winners, etc. and which ships were left behind, due to being disabled or destroyed.

Degrees of damage and destruction can be determined and potential survivors or the presence of other scavengers, or the arrival of various others.

This booklet reads like the combat ended not long ago, and looters, rescue teams and others are just now showing up. It is a trivial matter to come up with an age of the graveyard, resent or years, decades, centuries, millenia, or eons old.

What I liked:

  • If you buy the PDF and want the POD, when it is available, the cost of the PDF is knocked off the top!
  • I like this idea. It is a simple plug and play add on that the GM can use in whole or in part. Ideas and options are presented that I had not thought of, and I like that!
    • I like things that get me to coming up with my own ideas.
  • He presents two options for combat, cinematic and realistic, depending on how much time you have or how much crunch you want in it. This idea of a mini game is quite interesting. (For example, I could get out my copy of Imperium and use the chits for ships to keep track of it all.)
  • I assume by app he means something for a cellphone or tablet, and not a webapp, but that isn’t clear. An app to do all this generation is in the works.
  • New races, new creatures, and some tweaks to existing races from White Star.
  • This idea of a ship graveyard could easily be applied to an aquatic navy, or even a battlefield. This would cross genres from ancient to modern, from steam punk to fantasy.
  • The final section is running the scenario to build the Graveyard at Lus for your own use. The reader is walked through how to do it.

What I didn’t like:

  • A few typos, grammar, spelling errors and an awkward sentence that slowed me down while I figured it out. I am sure if I put something like this together I would have the same issue. A reminder for us all to get another set of eyes on these things. I probably didn’t catch all of them in this post.
  • I can’t think of anything else I didn’t like, other than, I wish I’d thought of this!
  • I don’t have time to step through this right now.

What I’d like to see:

  • A few pages of the collected tables in one place with reference back to the page numbers of details. There are several steps involved in this method, and having all the tables in one location would speed things up.
    • It is easy enough withe the PDF to make your own collected tables.
  • A page or two in the PDF with chits with his proposed ship outlines that we could print out. I’d be good with just outlines that I could color in by hand, since I don’t use a color printer. Those who can afford colored ink may want them in full color.
  • Why is there a graveyard here? War, border skirmish, race to control a resource, such as a strategic planet, alien artifact, natural jump gate, etc.
  • Other reasons for there to be a graveyard besides combat. Ancient technology, mysterious space anomaly, etc.

I can see using this at my table for more than just White Star.

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OSR/RPG Mudslinging

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I didn’t attend GenCon, but I watched some blogs going nuts with different bloggers complaining about other bloggers. Why can’t we play nice and turn on our brains and manners?

There were claims of misogyny in gaming, unworthy products winning Ennies, and lots of tearing down.

Here’s my take on RPG’s. There are some RPG’s that I know I won’t like, it is a genre thing. Some genres just don’t appeal to me. That doesn’t mean I hate or despise people who play those games, just those games aren’t for me. For some of those genres, if I played them with a familiar group that I felt comfortable with, I might have a good time, but wouldn’t find that at the top of my list to play.

I agree that it is good to get more people involved in gaming. People includes women. I like women. They make good friends and they see the world differently than I do. I will admit in the awkward teenage days, there were no women in our gaming group. I did not play RPG’s with women until college. I went to a university where women were in the minority, so the women were still a minority in games. I experienced my first male player with a female character in college. While I have never had a female character, I had not thought of running one until I experienced it. Nothing against women, I just never imagine myself pretending to be one. I am sure there are women who feel the same way about pretending to be a man in an RPG. As a DM, I have NPC’s that are women, but that is somehow different, since the DM is everybody and thing other than the PC’s.

That’s my clumsy attempt to say I like gaming with women. At Marmalade Dog back in February, we had one memorable woman gamer and she was a lot of fun to play with in RPG’s. There were two other women at Marmalade Dog in two different sessions of Homlet I ran. They were with their boyfriends, and were just as involved as the guys. One woman was way more into it than her boyfriend, and they were with the same regular weekly group they play with. I think the right environment and the right group of people make the situation more appealing to women. I am sure the GM has a big influence too. I have never played in an RPG ran by a woman. There has never been an opportunity. I know that one of the women I played with at Marmalade Dog will be GMing for the first time at UCon in November, so if her game doesn’t fill up too fast, I will sign up. However, just like with men, not everyone who is excellent at playing a character has the desired, motivation, and ability to be a competent GM. Until you try running a game and see what is involved, if you have played with skilled GM’s they can make it look easy. To a point it is easy, but the prep time and grasp of the material and scenario, and engagement of the players go a long way to making a good GM.

Side Note: Most of my hobbies are mostly followed by men, so it’s not a good place to meet single women. What women are involved tend to be girlfriends and wives of the guys. Sometimes they met through the hobby, or one or the other of them introduced the other to the hobby. Generally, it is the men who introduce the women to male dominated hobbies, but there are women who introduce men to it as well. I’m old enough that RPG’s were for boys and men, and Barbies and dolls were for girls. I’m not saying it was right or wrong, only the way it was. Women either need to jump in and do RPG’s, or be willing to participate when their boyfriends and husbands invite them to join in. Common courtesy should prevail. Don’t treat women like a piece of meat. If some players have poor social skills and so forth, the group should help that person along. Remember, it is a game, and it is supposed to be FUN!

As to the Ennies, I didn’t know what products were nominated until the blogs were buzzing about it during GenCon. To make Ad Hominem attacks against winners and throw public tantrums because someone won an award you don’t think they should have won is ridiculous.

If you don’t like the outcome of an award contest, don’t show your ass to the world. You don’t like someone’s profession, so you equate that with the quality of their award winning entry, that doesn’t make sense. Judge the entry by it’s own merits. Is the person a jerk to people online? Well, I don’t know him, and don’t follow all the drama. Just because he may or may not be a jerk to some people does not mean his product is crap. Is it a product that does not interest you, OK, that’s fine. You have a constructive criticism of the product. By constructive, I mean a comment that will add value to the discussion. I don’t have the product, I haven’t seen the product, I just know what I have read from others. Thus, I have no opinion on the product. NOTE: I know that some consider the art to be adult/pornographic.  If that’s your problem with this game, you better get busy and get all the magazines out of gas stations and stores, and movies and pictures off the internet. Those have a far wider audience than this game.

Sometimes the RPG blog community reminds me of high school, or in some cases preschool. Grow up and get a life. If you spent less time complaining about how bad things are with this or that person, RPG, supplement, etc. and put that energy into either making your own product, or playing more RPG’s then you would be happier.

The older I get, the more I realize that all these kerfuffles are just so much horse $&!#. They stink and some people throw it around like a monkey in a cage. Step out of your cage and look around. If you don’t have a cellphone, computer, or other internet active device, does anyone care that you don’t like something? People like that are the ones whose parents didn’t teach them good manners and the movie theaters have to spend all this time reminding people to turn off their devices so they don’t bother others. You are not the only person in the theater! The world does not revolve around you! What happened to common courtesy?

I think this is true of the world in general. With the internet we can make rapid posts of whatever is on our minds and blast people for not being in lockstep with our desires and beliefs. I know that if everyone was like me, the world would be a boring place. It takes all kinds. Live and let live. As long as someone is not trying to come into your house or on your personal page(s) on the internet and tell you how to live your life, why do you care?

The whole “outrage brigade” thing is a tempest in a teapot. Get over it. Will it matter when you are laying on your deathbed? When you are laying there taking your last breath, if you are still thinking about some dumb argument online, then you have a very small and lonely life. I know that I am working to have a great relationship with my sons and my granddaughter so that whenever I die, they will miss me, rather than be glad I’m gone.

I shouldn’t be surprised and amazed at how stupid, petty, and narrow minded people can be. It is part of the human condition. I don’t know any of these people, I just had this on my mind. I don’t have to post it, but I will. My hope is that someone will see this and realize that they are doing more to hurt others and the RPG hobby than they are to help.

If you think that the only way that the RPG hobby will be wonderful and grow is to only do things the way you think it should be, then you are leaving out a large segment of the population. There are games and genres I have no interest in. If RPG’s were done based on my interests, there wouldn’t be very many to choose from compared to how many there actually are. Is that the kind of reality you think the RPG hobby should have?

For crying out loud, we’re talking about a GAME! It is supposed to be FUN. Not everyone thinks the same things are fun. No problem, don’t do those things! END OF PROBLEM. No need to whine and complain and waste others’ time telling us how miserable your life is because you gave someone you don’t even know in real life the power to control your happiness. SMH. The only one responsible for your happiness and satisfaction in this life is you. The sooner you learn that, the sooner you will find happiness.

/EOL


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Kickstarter Chaos

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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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.


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Jim Ward

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As many already know, Jim Ward has been in the hospital for over a month and looks to be there much longer. As a freelance writer/game designer from the original TSR, if he can’t work, he doesn’t make money.

He had a hand in D&D and developed the first science fiction RPG – Metamorphosis Alpha, and others.

I encourage everyone to back the latest Metamorphosis Alpha Kickstarter. It has funded, but is no as well publicized as the rapidly growing Marmoreal Tomb Kickstarter that launched the same day. That would be great moral support.

There is also a GoFundMe drive to help with medical expenses, and was nearly at the initial 8,000 goal last night. This morning it is at $8,600 with a new goal of $15,000. With the costs of today’s hospital stays, this is a drop in the bucket. For some reason, in the days of the Affordable Care Act, his insurance is being unhelpful, so anything you can do will help.

You can also leave him a note of encouragement if you use Facebook. Use the money that you might spend on a stamp and postage to help. If you can’t do both the Kickstarter and the GoFundMe, please give what you can to the GoFundMe campaign.

Several other OSR Bloggers are holding raffles for items of interest to benefit Jim. If you can afford to give and want a chance at some cool stuff consider the following:

Tenkar & Matching Funds

James Spahn – White Star Proofs Raffle

Taylor Frank – The Dungeon Lord – Multiple Raffles [Edited September 20, 2016 to use Web Archive link as blog removed from Blogger.]

Tim at Gothridge Manor and other OSR bloggers with patreons are donating a portion of their proceeds.

Johua De Santo has made an RPG Bundle of his offerings on RPGNow, and has invited other content creators to join or make their own bundles.

As for me, I have backed the Metamorphosis Alpha and Marmoreal Tomb Kickstarters, and when I get paid tomorrow, I will give to the GoFundMe. If 1,000 people could give $5 it would go a long way. So far 180 people have gotten the GoFundMe to $8690. At least 30% of that will need to go towards Social Security, Medicare, Federal, and State taxes, so we need to give a lot to maximize how much actually go to medical bills.


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I Failed My Save Vs. Kickstarter

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You may have noticed that I ended my streak of publishing an article a day, my last post was for July 28. I thought I might finish out July with the daily run, but I did not try to come up with any ideas. When I quit trying, I soon had ideas for several posts. So, I will make notes on my ideas, and publish them as I get them finished. No rush. I found that I was spending more effort trying to maintain a daily post that I had little time for other RPG related stuff. So, I will publish something when I have an idea. I will spread them out, so the ideas I have on the back burner don’t all come at once.

So on to my giving in and supporting not one, not two, but three new Kickstarters. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was going to say no to new Kickstarters.

The first Kickstarter I gave into is the Remix Mini, Android based PC. I don’t really need another computer, but for the price, I can set up a PC in a different room, and use it for my entertainment PC, so I don’t have to sit in my office chair to watch movies. Not RPG related, but a neat project. This one has the biggest possibility to flop, due to its own success. $50 won’t break the bank, so why not?

Next is the new Metamorphosis Alpha Kickstarter, Epsilon City. I’ve been kicking myself since I talked myself out of the MA re-print Kickstarter last year, $80 seemed a bit much. For $65 I am getting Epsilon City and a softcover of the MA re-print. It would be cool if they had the GM screen as an add on. It is well past its funding goal with 30 days to go.

Finally, the Marmoreal Tomb Campaign Starter by  Ernest Gary Gygax, Jr. with Benoist Poiré. It funded in the first day, and has hit four of the initial seven stretch goals. I was happy that they got the Jeff Easley cover option. The goal just unlocked is for James Spahn to do a Science Fiction conversion. I hear that James knows something about science fiction RPGs. [I keed, I keed.] It has 30 days to go, so it could easily unlock all the goals, and perhaps add additional ones.

I don’t know if any other “must have” RPG kickstarters are coming. Knowing my luck, I am sure there are. I have resisted other cool Kickstarters, so I know I am mostly safe.

Of the four outstanding Kickstarters I am waiting on, the Grimtooth’s Traps just announced an update to the PDF and softcover copies of the printed book, so it is nearing completion.

The City State Kickstarter is aiming for a November fulfillment of the book. I believe that makes it a year late. They are still working on the miniatures, for those that ordered them.

The other Kickstarter only recently funded, and is on track.

The one I don’t expect movement is the documentary, due to the legal wrangling.

There was a lot of kerfuffle about rogue Kickstarters in the lead up to GenCon, but I won’t go into that here.

The thing to remember about backing a Kickstarter is to know who is running it and if they can handle it.


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Ramblings of an Old Gamer