D&D General I am so done with kickstarter

[JarooAshstaff]

The younglings hate Amazon. But I love Amazon. Because whatever I order, it arrives tomorrow.

Kickstarter seemed like a cool way to support creators.

But it doesn't seem cool any more, with their cash grab towards blockchain so the world can be destroyed faster by climate change.

But what really bothers me, is how long you have to wait for kickstarter products to arrive.

It is almost a year ago when I backed Dungeons of Drakkenheim, still no sign, no idea if it will even come this year.

I have no interest in it now.

 

[Morrus]

But what really bothers me, is how long you have to wait for kickstarter products to arrive.

That’s totally dependent on the creator. We have a campaign ending tonight and the PDFs will go out immediately with the physical books in 2 weeks.

 

[kenada]

I have one Kickstarter that hasn’t delivered all the extras that were promised, and it’s been about a decade. I wouldn’t back anything from that person again. I’ve also had several outright fail due to naïveté or mismanagement. Anymore, I try to stick projects that are nearly complete or are being launched by people with a reputation for delivery.

 

[Endroren]

Dungeons of Drakkenheim was set to deliver by the end of April 2022. They're currently only 9 days late and according to the Kickstarter page shipping containers should arrive on May 19th in the US. With all the delays from COVID, supply chain, and more, that SEEMS pretty darn good. Have they failed in some other way? How could they have done a better job for you?

 

[delericho]

Yeah, I'll only consider a Kickstarter from someone with an existing track record of success at this point. And the EN Publishing ones get a special mention here - I very much appreciate the immediate fulfilment!

 

[eyeheartawk]

I still use it from time to time, but I would advise judging all potential campaigns with a critical eye.

Many Kickstarters now rely on communal hype to sort of obfuscate the fact that you aren't really getting all that much. Alot of the time, you might as well be pre-ordering directly from the publisher in a conventional way, as they'll charge you MSRP plus shipping. This can be offset by exclusive loot or other added bonuses, hence the critical eye.

But, in alot of cases, that's not really true, what you're getting is more or less what you could get at retail. In which case, you'd wait roughly the same time give or take an extra month or two, but depending on where you shop, save alot of money.

 

[Yora]

I remember there once being a phrase "Kickstarter is not a store."

 

[Professor Murder]

I do think that, due to Covid, I am going to be more careful about games I back for kickstarter. Small publishers often have no leverage to aid them when manufacturing delays hit. I do feel "Kickstarter is not a store" cuts both ways, with creators needing to know that they are going to draw a great deal of ehat on promises they can't deliver on. Best advice is to avoid projects with dozens of add-ons. Add-ons sink fulfillment imo.

 

[JarooAshstaff]

How could they have done a better job for you?

Have the thing near ready when they do the kick starter I guess, so its not so long.

Its the same with Montes Planebreaker, I was super excited for it, but again just waiting almost a year for it is just a drag, life changes during that time, and I'm getting a little fed up with 5e and I can't say I'm excited about a 5.5e which is just going to be the same product but dumbed down more.

 

[MNblockhead]

I've been backing projects on Kickstarter since 2012. In that time there were a few that failed completely but only one where I lost a meaningful amount of money (for mean that's several hundred dollars). In the earlier days, it was much more about helping fund cool ideas and most backers seemed well aware of the risks. As Kickstarter gained traction, it increasingly began to be used by more established creators to ensure a certain amount of guaranteed orders to reduce the risk of manufacturing/printing items for which there wasn't sufficient demand. That attracted backers who had lower risk thresholds and began to see it more like a preorder site.

When backing a cool idea, I am pretty forgiving with projects dragging out far longer than estimated. S**t happens and I backed the project to support the creators and many of the creators may not have a lot of professional project-management experience, logistics, etc.

That said, when it comes to backing games (TTRPG and board games), I have used Kickstarter a bit like an early pre-order and when I do, I tend to gravitate to creators with good track records. But, increasingly, for more successful projects, I'll often just wait until the product has been funded, has had reviews written for it, and is available for regular purchase. Generally, I'm not interested in all the swag from higher pledge levels, and rarely is there anything I feel I can't wait for.

I'm back to being more interested in funding a game from a small, new company or individual creator with a cool idea than another project by Monte Cook, MCDM, etc. And that means a far greater risk of delayed gratification, a disappointing product, or losing my money. But more often than not, it helps provide a means for an indie designer to create something new and cool and those have been some of my favorite games.