Frank Mentzer's Worlds of Empyrea Kickstarter to be Rebooted!

The Kickstarter for Frank Mentzer's Worlds of Empyrea was ambitious, and sadly it didn't seem to gain the traction it needed to raise the $250K it was asking for. Indeed, Kicktraq is currently predicting it won't make its funding goal; so far it has raised just over a fifth of its target. However, all is not lost - because it's being rebooted! (thanks to Terradave for the scoop).

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The reboot, which will take place on Monday, October 16th, will have a much lower funding goal, quicker delivery time, and expanded PDF offerings. Frank posted the following update:

Greetings all.

We're rebooting the Empyrea Kickstarter.

In my first-ever KS I made several miscalculations, so we're fixing them. The Team have discussed options and we're all set. Here are the highlights:

• Realistic (lower) goal, carefully analyzed for maximum quality and cost-efficiency (alernate printing sources, etc.)
• Realistic delivery time (next Fall, not Summer)
• Expanded Living Campaign online at all levels (not just Nobles)
• Expanded PDF benefits and options for all

Sorry about that, but now we know how to do this right. Thanks again for your support.

So here are some details from the Team.

—Frank

This was followed by an update from Mike Myler, who is handing the social media aspect of the campaign.

Hello everybody! It’s Mike!

In the rush of his lifelong campaign setting being fully realized and shared with the world, Frank’s zeal to make Empyrea have a massive print run with a huge impact got the better of him and bowled me right over. Rightly so—I’ve gotten to sit in on his weekly game, I’ve read the internal documents for it, and it’s a really fantastic place ripe for adventure especially with the huge scope involved. In addition to that a lot of amazing people from the industry came out of the woods to get on board with the project as soon as they got wind of it and did so right up to the night before launch. In the mix of Empyrea being finalized and a widening roster of contributors, the full breadth of Frank’s vision was shadowed by the needs of firming up work agreements and other business concerns.

This last week we’ve worked hard to refine the focus on things and make sure everyone clearly understands the expansive, involved, and frankly ground-breaking gaming phenomenon that Frank has laid out here. It is still a complicated affair—a box set fantasy setting with multiple books and compatibility with 10 RPGs, a medieval campaign world that’s approachable but still filled with fantastic underpinnings he’s spent 40 years refining, all done by an epic team from the industry’s history, an expansive online campaign simultaneously played by citizens and nobles from across the globe—but we’re hoping that it’s clearly presented now and that we can exceed our revised, smaller print run goal to realize Frank’s larger dream.

So, October 16th is the date.

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[Vicente]

The first round it looked rushed, and this second round it looks rushed again I don't understand this when they have in theory so much talent on the team...

 

[Mike Myler]

Heyo folks! We're trying to squeeze more setting information into the Kickstarter page, but unlike other RPG projects Empyrea has essential elements aside from the actual setting itself and making the whole thing easily understood is a challenge.
In order to satisfy that (totally justified) curiosity about the setting we've got hyperlinks throughout the KS pages taking you to areas of the website with more details, but properly conveying everything at work--the crazy roster of contributors, the Empyrea Online Living World campaign, providing rules for 10 RPG systems, the fact it's a box set (so the contents are beyond one or two books), and then the actual setting itself--without creating a super long and unusable project page is tough.
We're still working to further improve the KS page today so keep the feedback coming!


To clarify: There is one version of the Empyrea Core Book, one version of the Empyrea Player's Handbook, and one version each of the 3 Little Brown Books. There are 10 versions of the System Books with RPG rules inside them. There are not 10 version of the core book.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

You can easily put in more detail about the actual setting. In the end, that's what is going to convince people to pledge or not.

 

[havard]

I am a backer and will back the new one. I like how Aquaria ties with some of Frank's previous work such as the BECMI series. Also I think Aquaria's relationship to technology, druids, elemental planar connections and the idea of a young nation of human settlers surrounded by more powerful demihumans does sound interesting.

Fingers crossed for the new Kickstarter!

-Havard

 

[Lord_Blacksteel]

Heyo folks! We're trying to squeeze more setting information into the Kickstarter page, but unlike other RPG projects Empyrea has essential elements aside from the actual setting itself and making the whole thing easily understood is a challenge.

This is exactly what some people are talking about. Please stop acting as if there is something unique about this project that makes it more difficult to describe in words! It's a setting, primarily for D&D, that has been in use for 40 years we are told - repeatedly! There should be a lengthy stream of anecdotes from play sessions, snippets about legendary locations, tales about major characters in the setting, and reports of significant events - not just available to hunt down via other links but front and center on the Kickstarter page!

Additionally, please stop acting as if there's an NDA in place that keeps everyone from talking about "Empyrea" while simultaneously asking for money! I would like to hear from some of Frank's long-time players talk or write about what they enjoyed about the game. I'd like to hear from some of the people signed up to write for the project about what has them excited about it. I'd like to hear some specifics about the settings compared to other fantasy settings - "In Empyrea magic is different because ...". "Elves are different because ...", "we don't have monks because ..." - none of this should be difficult. In fact it's pretty basic to any RPG Kickstarter.

In order to satisfy that (totally justified) curiosity about the setting we've got hyperlinks throughout the KS pages taking you to areas of the website with more details, but properly conveying everything at work--the crazy roster of contributors, the Empyrea Online Living World campaign, providing rules for 10 RPG systems, the fact it's a box set (so the contents are beyond one or two books), and then the actual setting itself--without creating a super long and unusable project page is tough.
We're still working to further improve the KS page today so keep the feedback coming!

It really shouldn't be that tough if there's a clear vision of what this is and a detailed plan to make it happen. Maybe the team should consider bringing in someone with extensive, successful Kickstarter experience to manage this campaign. There are a lot of people out there with this kind of knowledge. Right now I have to say seeing a first-timers Kickstarter attempting this kind of scale and complexity is not confidence-building, and the lack of detail on the meat of the product does not help.

 

[Mike Myler]

Notes added to my Reboot Improvements document. Thanks Lord_Blacksteel and pickin_grinnin!

Having a plan to do something very complicated and succinctly explaining that plan in the span of time required to effectively net someone's interest on the internet (less than 9 seconds as of late) are two different things. I think we're getting better though.

There is an NDA signed by everyone working on Empyrea (had to mail two copies and everything) and there is someone with successful Kickstarter experience, but the person deciding what goes onto the page and how much of the world is revealed is the project creator: Frank.

I'll definitely push for more setting reveals. That's definitely moved up to #1 in the feedback pool over the weekend!

 

[Xaelvaen]

There is an NDA signed by everyone working on Empyrea (had to mail two copies and everything)

That is a bit of what I suspected with the limitation of information available. I can definitely get how some people want more before they pour money into it, but Frank got my support based on his name and the direct tie to Greyhawk; to me, even if it was just an 'extension' to Greyhawk, I'd still be there. Backed before, and will back again with the reboot - keep at it, Mike (and company)!

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

To clarify: There is one version of the Empyrea Core Book, one version of the Empyrea Player's Handbook, and one version each of the 3 Little Brown Books. There are 10 versions of the System Books with RPG rules inside them. There are not 10 version of the core book.

I made this comment/suggestion in a previous thread about this, but since it was probably not seen by anyone connected to this project, I will say it again here.

You really should consider not putting a system-specific book in the box at all and instead sell the crunch books separately. That way you will not be saddled with a bunch of sets for systems that do not sell as well as you had hoped. Plus it is also easier, and cheaper, to print out more of a specific crunch book that sells better than expected, than to have to produce more complete box sets for that system. This would also help people on a budget buy just one box set and then maybe get three or four different system books, either in print or pdf.

 

[Mike Myler]

Note added to the Reboot Improvements document and although that makes good sense, Frank is set on what he wants people to pull out of their box sets and he's been a hard sell on that angle (which I did see and ask about last week when the team met to discuss the reboot). Solid suggestion though so I'll bring it up again today.

 

[Ath-kethin]

I no longer back any rpg Kickstarters if the majority of the book hasn't already been written and if there's not a lot of specific information about the game setting on the Kickstarter page.

I am also on this train. I backed Dragon Kings due to faith in Tim Brown and found the final product unusable (not to mention the cheap-out dice that bore little resemblance to those I upped my pledge for). I backed The Lost Citadel and it shocked me that the creators seemed amazed that people interested in a roleplaying supplement wanted examples of what was going to be there for the roleplaying game, not fiction snippets. I loves me some Ari Marmell, but I expect the final book to be a pretty-looking paperweight. And I very much doubt it will be done by its promised ship date.

Give me examples or firm explanations of what new and interesting stuff will be in the final product, and preferably excerpts from said final product, or I'm not backing. If you don't have the bulk of the work done already, and can provide examples and excerpts so I am certain of what is coming, I a) have no faith that it will be what I want, b) have no faith that it will be done on time (this is honestly a little less important as long as I'm getting exactly what I expect), and c) have no faith that the people involved even know what they're doing.

Needing to "reboot" a campaign about for a product about which everyone is very tight lipped a week in certainly adds no confidence to any of the above.

Sorry, guys: Frank's awesome beyond question, Mike has had some cool ideas, etc., but I'm sitting this one out. Call me when the stuff is written. Better yet, show me snippets of the new options/mechanics/ideas to prove it.