It’s August and that means that the annual #RPGaDAY ‘question a day’ is here to celebrate “everything cool, memorable and amazing about our hobby.” This year we’ve decided to join in the fun and will be canvassing answers from the ENWorld crew, columnists and friends in the industry to bring you some of our answers. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too… So, without further ado, here’s Day 29 of #RPGaDAY 2017!
#RPGaDAY Question 29: What has been the best-run Kickstarter you have backed?
Angus Abranson: I really liked Oliver Shead/Immersion Studios campaign for their Infected RPG. There have been a ton of fantastic well run Kickstarters though – additional shout-outs to the Coriolis and Polaris campaigns among many others.
Michael J Tresca: Dwarven Forge knows how to run a great Kickstarter!
Sean Patrick Fannon: Probably the last two Bones we participated in.
Mike Lafferty (BAMF Podcast; Fainting Goat Games): Fate Core is sort of legendary in this regard.
I’d like to call out Steve Kenson for running a very tight ship for ICONS Assembled Edition. It was not only a well run KS, but it helped restore fans’ collective faith in the future of the system.
Simon Brake (Stygian Fox): I’d have to go with 7th Sea. I never played the first edition game, although I was aware of it, and really felt I’d missed out in later years. The 2nd edition had a lot of love behind it, and John Wick showed a lot of appreciation for that. It felt like the game was already a living breathing full colour thing by the time the Kickstarter kicked off, and the gradual delivery of beautiful looking PDFs - and a continual exploration of a fascinating world that resembles our own - has been great.
Martin Greening (Azure Keep, Ruma: Dawn of Empire): This is a tough question for me since I back so many RPG campaigns. Fragged Empire by Wade Dyer stands out. I recall the campaign page was well laid-out, nice artwork, and clear pledge levels. Had a nice FAQ, plenty of updates, and a healthy number of comments. Having run one Kickstarter campaign myself since then, I certainly see how much goes into a successful campaign. It can be quite daunting. If anyone is considering running a Kickstarter campaign, do your homework. Take a look at campaigns like Fragged Empire, and blogs like Jamey Stegmaier’s. Learn from them before you hit launch.
Andrew Peregrine (Doctor Who, Victoriana, Cabal): I back a lot of these, an awful lot. To be fair, most these days are run really well. Onyx Path continues to do really well even with a few hold ups and I backed many of the late Stewart Wieck’s projects which were always well presented and intriguing. I’m also really looking forward to Bluebeard’s Bride and Invisible Sun as well as more 7th Sea. But for this one I’m going to pick Shadows of Esteren who have consistently used Kickstarter to build their product line with good presentation and delivery. I backed the Corebook because it looked cool but upped my pledge to a limited copy mainly as they were running things so well and I wanted to offer more support (and it looked really nice!).
Dave Chapman (Doctor Who RPG; Conspiracy X 2.0): The one that has had the best communication, and the best value for money has to be either FATE Core, or probably Cubicle 7's "Cthulhu Britannica: London". Both were brilliantly executed, and provides years of gaming resources.
Kevin Watson (Dark Naga Adventures): Either of the projects from Lesser Gnome. They are the model I follow and have led me to success three times so far. Zach has a lot of logistics expertise and is more organized than most organizational coaches.
Federico Sohns (Nibiru RPG): The Symbaroum translation has been done very well, partly thanks to the very effective promotion of the game and the fact that it was an already finished product that just needed to be migrated into the English-speaking market.
Darren Pearce (EN Publishing; Savage Mojo): 7th Sea 2 without a shadow of a doubt. I missed out on Shadow of the Demon Lord, and I regret that to this day!
Hans Cummings (ENnie Awards; VFF Publishing): Do miniatures count as an RPG Kickstarter? If so, then I'm going to go with Ryan Wolfe's map posters & miniature Kickstarters for space ship and space stations. I've backed at least half-a-dozen of these so far and for my pledge, I get a miniature-scale ship/station poster map (with PDFs) and a highly detailed resin miniature and base. Not only that, but in each and every case, the rewards have shipped no later than a week after the funding period completed. I've pre-ordered products from Amazon with longer turn-around time than that.
You may be thinking "Hey! Miniatures are RPG-related products and this question is about RPGs!" OK, fine. If I have to pick an RPG Kickstarter than I would say was the best run, it's a toss-up between the various Cypher System Kickstarters run by Monte Cook Games and Goodman Games's Kickstarters. I've backed several projects from both of these companies and neither have failed to impress me with their communication, quality, and timeliness. That's not to say I haven't received products late from either of them, but their communication was open enough that the delay wasn't unexpected and I never felt taken advantage of. Plus, working in publishing myself, the delays were within what I would consider reasonable given the nature of publishing and printing. They are both companies I have absolute confidence will deliver a quality product in a timely manner and I don't hesitate to back their Kickstarters if they're offering a product in which I am interested.
Marc Langworthy (Modiphius; Red Scar): There have been a few, but I’d like to give this honour to the late Stewart Wieck’s Scarred Lands kickstarter.
Ken Spencer (Rocket Age; Why Not Games): John Wick's 7th Sea has been excellent with providing information, keeping updates flowing, and dealing with production problems. Great game, love to play it some time.
Stephanie McAlea (Stygian Fox Publishing, The Things We Leave Behind): Symbaroum or Tales from the Loop.
Eran Aviram (Up to Four Players; City of Mist): Probably Conan: Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of. Modiphius is REALLY GOOD at keeping the backers updated, and keeping to their schedule. I got tons of excellent stuff, for a fair price, and all on time.
****
Originally created by Dave Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space; Conspiracy X) #RPGaDAY os now being caretakered by the crew over at RPGBrigade. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too!
#RPGaDAY Question 29: What has been the best-run Kickstarter you have backed?
Angus Abranson: I really liked Oliver Shead/Immersion Studios campaign for their Infected RPG. There have been a ton of fantastic well run Kickstarters though – additional shout-outs to the Coriolis and Polaris campaigns among many others.
Michael J Tresca: Dwarven Forge knows how to run a great Kickstarter!
Sean Patrick Fannon: Probably the last two Bones we participated in.
Mike Lafferty (BAMF Podcast; Fainting Goat Games): Fate Core is sort of legendary in this regard.
I’d like to call out Steve Kenson for running a very tight ship for ICONS Assembled Edition. It was not only a well run KS, but it helped restore fans’ collective faith in the future of the system.
Simon Brake (Stygian Fox): I’d have to go with 7th Sea. I never played the first edition game, although I was aware of it, and really felt I’d missed out in later years. The 2nd edition had a lot of love behind it, and John Wick showed a lot of appreciation for that. It felt like the game was already a living breathing full colour thing by the time the Kickstarter kicked off, and the gradual delivery of beautiful looking PDFs - and a continual exploration of a fascinating world that resembles our own - has been great.
Martin Greening (Azure Keep, Ruma: Dawn of Empire): This is a tough question for me since I back so many RPG campaigns. Fragged Empire by Wade Dyer stands out. I recall the campaign page was well laid-out, nice artwork, and clear pledge levels. Had a nice FAQ, plenty of updates, and a healthy number of comments. Having run one Kickstarter campaign myself since then, I certainly see how much goes into a successful campaign. It can be quite daunting. If anyone is considering running a Kickstarter campaign, do your homework. Take a look at campaigns like Fragged Empire, and blogs like Jamey Stegmaier’s. Learn from them before you hit launch.
Andrew Peregrine (Doctor Who, Victoriana, Cabal): I back a lot of these, an awful lot. To be fair, most these days are run really well. Onyx Path continues to do really well even with a few hold ups and I backed many of the late Stewart Wieck’s projects which were always well presented and intriguing. I’m also really looking forward to Bluebeard’s Bride and Invisible Sun as well as more 7th Sea. But for this one I’m going to pick Shadows of Esteren who have consistently used Kickstarter to build their product line with good presentation and delivery. I backed the Corebook because it looked cool but upped my pledge to a limited copy mainly as they were running things so well and I wanted to offer more support (and it looked really nice!).
Dave Chapman (Doctor Who RPG; Conspiracy X 2.0): The one that has had the best communication, and the best value for money has to be either FATE Core, or probably Cubicle 7's "Cthulhu Britannica: London". Both were brilliantly executed, and provides years of gaming resources.
Kevin Watson (Dark Naga Adventures): Either of the projects from Lesser Gnome. They are the model I follow and have led me to success three times so far. Zach has a lot of logistics expertise and is more organized than most organizational coaches.
Federico Sohns (Nibiru RPG): The Symbaroum translation has been done very well, partly thanks to the very effective promotion of the game and the fact that it was an already finished product that just needed to be migrated into the English-speaking market.
Darren Pearce (EN Publishing; Savage Mojo): 7th Sea 2 without a shadow of a doubt. I missed out on Shadow of the Demon Lord, and I regret that to this day!
Hans Cummings (ENnie Awards; VFF Publishing): Do miniatures count as an RPG Kickstarter? If so, then I'm going to go with Ryan Wolfe's map posters & miniature Kickstarters for space ship and space stations. I've backed at least half-a-dozen of these so far and for my pledge, I get a miniature-scale ship/station poster map (with PDFs) and a highly detailed resin miniature and base. Not only that, but in each and every case, the rewards have shipped no later than a week after the funding period completed. I've pre-ordered products from Amazon with longer turn-around time than that.
You may be thinking "Hey! Miniatures are RPG-related products and this question is about RPGs!" OK, fine. If I have to pick an RPG Kickstarter than I would say was the best run, it's a toss-up between the various Cypher System Kickstarters run by Monte Cook Games and Goodman Games's Kickstarters. I've backed several projects from both of these companies and neither have failed to impress me with their communication, quality, and timeliness. That's not to say I haven't received products late from either of them, but their communication was open enough that the delay wasn't unexpected and I never felt taken advantage of. Plus, working in publishing myself, the delays were within what I would consider reasonable given the nature of publishing and printing. They are both companies I have absolute confidence will deliver a quality product in a timely manner and I don't hesitate to back their Kickstarters if they're offering a product in which I am interested.
Marc Langworthy (Modiphius; Red Scar): There have been a few, but I’d like to give this honour to the late Stewart Wieck’s Scarred Lands kickstarter.
Ken Spencer (Rocket Age; Why Not Games): John Wick's 7th Sea has been excellent with providing information, keeping updates flowing, and dealing with production problems. Great game, love to play it some time.
Stephanie McAlea (Stygian Fox Publishing, The Things We Leave Behind): Symbaroum or Tales from the Loop.
Eran Aviram (Up to Four Players; City of Mist): Probably Conan: Adventures In An Age Undreamed Of. Modiphius is REALLY GOOD at keeping the backers updated, and keeping to their schedule. I got tons of excellent stuff, for a fair price, and all on time.
****
Originally created by Dave Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space; Conspiracy X) #RPGaDAY os now being caretakered by the crew over at RPGBrigade. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too!
