The Museum of Dungeons & Dragons Is A Go! Funding Begins

[Mark CMG]

Some draws for Lake Geneva -

A five year and counting Old School game convention in LG - http://www.garycon.com/

A 30+ year game store, possibly one of the top five in the country about an hour south of LG and fifteen minutes from O'Hare - http://www.games-plus.com/

There are many other local gaming convention in Rockford, Milwaukee, Madison, and other places in Wisconsin and Northern Illinois that happen almost every week if someone had the time and money to go to them all. And it's not all that far from the MN twin cities.

Gencon happens every year and will for quite some time and I don't doubt there are some other gamedays within driving distance but probably not every weekend year round. Plus, even if you stay open 24 hours for five or six days around Gencon, how many people can you really accommodate?

Setting up in someplace like NYC might mean more traffic of even non-gamers but I wonder if the overhead would negate that benefit.

Just some thoughts and keep up the good work for the museum, Huntons!

 

[Jester David]

Hey, we're open to ideas. The perks can be edited and added to along the way.

And don't forget, the book will list the name of every backer, and the artwork will be specifically signed thanking you for supporting the museum. So, although you might be able to get those later (or through other means), the one you get through the fundraiser will be special and unique.

A nice easy - and thus almost mandatory - perk are custom dice. Or even just a d20 or d6 with the museum logo. (Of course, dice are also something I'd also expect in a museum gift store in a museum dedicated to D&D.)

Discounted museum admission might also be a nice mid-level reward. Instead of one-time free access it might offer regular half-price admissions. Alternatively, this might be a regular membership offering one-person free for every full-price admission. Being able to bring your potentially non-gamer Significant Other along for free might be nice rather than having to pay for them to enter.
This is nice as it potentially encourages repeat visits.

And the thank-you letter. To me that says boring "form letter". Even if it's a positive form letter it's still a form letter. But if it was letter with, say, a certificate or some other token element it's suddenly more interesting. It says it's something to be proud of not "welcome to our mailing list".

 

[Mark CMG]

Adding a game room (or several conference-like game rooms) that can be booked in advance for a fee/donation with the option to have some volunteer DMs run games for the patrons for possibly an added fee/donation might be an additional revenue source. This might be particularly useful when trying to draw folks who would make the museum their only reason for traveling to the area where it winds up located.

 

[dhunton]

And the thank-you letter. To me that says boring "form letter". Even if it's a positive form letter it's still a form letter. But if it was letter with, say, a certificate or some other token element it's suddenly more interesting. It says it's something to be proud of not "welcome to our mailing list".

Good point. The wording on this will be changing, as it was definitely always going to be a very nice, hand-calligraphied, personalized scroll, suitable for framing. Sometimes, we know what we're talking about, and it just doesn't carry across well.


Jim and Debbie Hunton
Curators, Museum of Dungeons & Dragons

Email: MuseumofDnD@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MuseumOfDnD
IndieGoGo: http://bit.ly/ZQIdu6
Blog: http://museumofdnd.blog.com/
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal. “ - Albert Pike

 

[frankthedm]

What happens if they miss their goal?

More importantly, if they make their goal...

• How much of this, IF any, can one claim as a tax write off?
• Doesn't being given any gift from the museum NEGATE the option to use the donation as a tax write off?
• Since the museum doesn't yet exist, is the paperwork even done so contributions can be legally claimed as a tax write off?

If they are asking funding for a museum they should provide much more information. What is their current collection? What do they plan to acquire? What kind of business plan do they have? They aren't publishing a book, but they want to organize a long-term activity.

Agree.

 

[Renion]

Seriously reconsider your location. This museum needs to be in a place people actually go, not the middle of nowhere; even if the hobby started there.

Boston, Seattle, Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York or Chicago.

 

[dhunton]

Seriously reconsider your location. This museum needs to be in a place people actually go, not the middle of nowhere; even if the hobby started there.

Boston, Seattle, Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York or Chicago.

The location has not been chosen - it will be decided by the supporters of the museum.

The four locations currently expected to be on the list are:

Lake Geneva, WI: Where it all started, and where many of the artists and game designers who worked for TSR still reside. This area is rich with D&D gaming history. Also, it is fairly centrally located in the US.

Orlando, FL: Dave Arneson taught game design in this area for many years. In addition, it is an area where most people will travel at least once in their lives (Disney World is located there, after all). It would be the most likely to allow international fans of D&D to visit the museum.

Indianapolis, IN: Where GenCon (where D&D became a smash hit) is currently being held. Tens of thousands of gaming fans flock to this area every summer.

Renton, WA: Where Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons since 1997, is headquartered.


Jim and Debbie Hunton
Curators, Museum of Dungeons & Dragons

Email: MuseumofDnD@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MuseumOfDnD
IndieGoGo: http://bit.ly/ZQIdu6
Blog: http://museumofdnd.blog.com/
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal. “ - Albert Pike

 

[dhunton]

What happens if they miss their goal?

More importantly, if they make their goal... <O</O

• How much of this, IF any, can one claim as a tax write off? <O></O>
• Doesn't being given any gift from the museum NEGATE the option to use the donation as a tax write off? <O></O>
• Since the museum doesn't yet exist, is the paperwork even done so contributions can be legally claimed as a tax write off?

<O</OWe are getting detailed answers to these questions from our accountant, and will post as soon as we can.
<O</O

Jim and Debbie Hunton
Curators, Museum of Dungeons & Dragons

Email: MuseumofDnD@gmail.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MuseumOfDnD
IndieGoGo: http://bit.ly/ZQIdu6
Blog: http://museumofdnd.blog.com
“What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal. “ - Albert Pike<O></O>

 

[KarinsDad]

Seriously reconsider your location. This museum needs to be in a place people actually go, not the middle of nowhere; even if the hobby started there.

Boston, Seattle, Austin, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York or Chicago.

Las Vegas might not be a terrible choice since a LOT of people go there. 36 million visitors a year is a lot of tourists. Unfortunately, many of the tourists going to Las Vegas probably aren't interested in D&D.

But, Boston, Seattle, and Austin are small cities (relative to the larger cities). Combined, they are smaller than Chicago, let alone Los Angeles or New York. Houston or Dallas would probably be better choices than Austin, but still nowhere near the top 3, the top 2 of which combined are nowhere near New York.

New York City (not including outlying areas like New Jersey) has 8.2 million people. It has 47 million visitors every year. I wouldn't necessarily put it in NYC, but there's a ton of places in NY or NJ where it would draw a goodly number of people on a weekly basis.

 

[Obryn]

I dunno if I'd bank on Gen Con always being in Indy, though...