Are We Looking At A New RPG Kickstarter Record?

Mouseferatu · Feb 11, 2018

mattcolville said:
You are not the only one. It comes up every time I've seen anyone talk about this kind of product over the last 20 years. There's definitely a fantasy of "I want to BUILD my stronghold, gimme some graph paper!"

I hope these players find what they want. But me? I want general, more abstract rules. I want rules to aid in the actual RP of running a domain, not brick-by-brick prices or economic tables with a thousand-and-one modifiers. I want tips on how to run characters at political/nation-shaping/domain-founding levels, and how to build stories around them, not on the minutiae of the numbers.

There's a reason this is the first Kickstarter I've backed in... may be coming up on a year now.

R_Chance · Feb 11, 2018

pogre said:
It's a great idea for a supplement.

I'm probably the only one who wishes it did have prices for 10' walls and doors.

I really enjoy stronghold style play, but I usually have players who are not very interested.

No, you're not the only one

I think one (of many) reasons this product is doing so well at Kickstarter is the number of older players (I avoided the "G" word) who remember that fondly. I think 5E has brought a lot of those people back and they can't wait to build their castle / temple / tower / guild. I've always included this in m game and it's usually popular with my players.

And, uh, I already have those prices down...

Shasarak · Feb 11, 2018

pogre said:
It's a great idea for a supplement.

I'm probably the only one who wishes it did have prices for 10' walls and doors.

I really enjoy stronghold style play, but I usually have players who are not very interested.

Ha, yeah I remember that list from the old ADnD Dungeon Masters Guide. Still lets see what Matt came up with.

Zardnaar · Feb 11, 2018

R_Chance said:
No, you're not the only one

I think one (of many) reasons this product is doing so well at Kickstarter is the number of older players (I avoided the "G" word) who remember that fondly. I think 5E has brought a lot of those people back and they can't wait to build their castle / temple / tower / guild. I've always included this in m game and it's usually popular with my players.

And, uh, I already have those prices down...

I have been slowly adding it back into the game and its a goal the players like. In the old days I usually had players who would draw up strongholds, shipyards etc.

Last 2E game a goal was to use the fighters followers to conquer the Island of Dread and colonise it.

Morrus · Feb 11, 2018

pogre said:
It's a great idea for a supplement.

I'm probably the only one who wishes it did have prices for 10' walls and doors.

I really enjoy stronghold style play, but I usually have players who are not very interested.

Not to try to hijack Matt with some self promotion, but you should totally check out the stronghold building rules in my own O.L.D. It has all that good stuff!

pedr · Feb 11, 2018

mattcolville said:
By the way we're looking into the "I get charged another $20 by my government" thing. I'll be back when we have an answer.

It seems to me there is no perfect way to do shipping for Kickstarters. As Fred Hicks and Evil Hat have noted, including shipping costs in the KS pledge artificially inflates the total raised (and, as the costs are variable, doesn’t do so predictably). It also puts the risk of postage cost increases on the project in ways which have been disastrous for some in the past. Asking backers to pay later adds uncertainty particularly for those outside the US - so I don’t back US based projects which use that approach.

EU friendly shipping means finding a trusted partner of some kind (and it seems that some board game producers have found themselves tied to fulfilment companies which perform poorly and leave the project dealing with dissatisfied backers). That means the project needs to pay the VAT due on importing the product (0% for books imported to the UK making it a good choice while we’re still in the EU; 20% for everything else) and pay the fees charged by the partner.

For smaller projects, local print on demand makes sense - but the per-unit cost is considerably more than printing thousands of books in one offset process in the US (or China).

Morrus · Feb 11, 2018

pedr said:
For smaller projects, local print on demand makes sense - but the per-unit cost is considerably more than printing thousands of books in one offset process in the US (or China).

That’s what we do. It works OK, and the cost isn’t bad on the individual scale and saves a ton in shipping and hassle.

guachi · Feb 11, 2018

I don't have access to any potential Kickstarter answers to this question and if Mr. Coville is still here answering questions:

How does this Kickstarter compare/contrast with the 2e supplement Castle Guide DMGR2?

I didn't get that when it first came out but picked it up from eBay a few years ago and that scratched my itch for a book about building a castle.

prosfilaes · Feb 12, 2018

mattcolville said:
One thing I'm noticing is that most people don't know how shipping works. Which shouldn't surprise me, there's no reason they SHOULD know!

Most people have some idea how much it costs to mail something somewhere. They go to the Post Office or UPS or whatever and they get an amount, ok.

Well, we also have that amount. But we're also paying to warehouse the product, and paying the people who are boxing it all up and printing 8,000 labels and then managing everyone's customer service. And all that costs money. But it also means it gets done in a timely and organized manner.

When a product is advertised at some low price plus S/H, where all the profit is hidden in the S/H hidden in the fine print, I feel that ranges from sleazy to outright fraudulent. Here's the thing; I'm paying for the book. When I walk into a bookstore or game store, I pay whatever the price is for the book. I don't care about how much it cost to store and display the product or pay the cashiers or handle returns; it should all be in the price on the book. If I'm in a situation where I can't carry the product out, and have to have it delivered or mailed, then I'll pay for delivery or shipping, but the two costs should be as separate as possible.

Parmandur · Feb 12, 2018

prosfilaes said:
When a product is advertised at some low price plus S/H, where all the profit is hidden in the S/H hidden in the fine print, I feel that ranges from sleazy to outright fraudulent. Here's the thing; I'm paying for the book. When I walk into a bookstore or game store, I pay whatever the price is for the book. I don't care about how much it cost to store and display the product or pay the cashiers or handle returns; it should all be in the price on the book. If I'm in a situation where I can't carry the product out, and have to have it delivered or mailed, then I'll pay for delivery or shipping, but the two costs should be as separate as possible.

Ain't nobody hiding anything "profit" in s&h, except the Fulfillment companies.

Are We Looking At A New RPG Kickstarter Record?

Mouseferatu

Hero

R_Chance

Hero

Shasarak

Banned

Zardnaar

Legend

Morrus

Well, that was fun

pedr

Explorer

Morrus

Well, that was fun

guachi

Hero

prosfilaes

Adventurer

Parmandur

Book-Friend

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