Tell your overdue Kickstarter story

[Morrus]

I'm putting together a potential piece on overdue (or failed!) Kickstarters (or other crowdfunders).

[Edit -- TTRPG Kickstarters only, please!)]

So, tell me your story. Which crowdfunders are overdue, and by how much? What was the original estimated delivery date?

I'm going to set a 1-year limit on this--to keep this down to a reasonable list, only crowdfunders which are a year or more overdue, please! That's a year or more past the estimated delievery date listed on the crowdfunding page.

(You can include historical examples which eventually got fulfilled, but please be clear in your post if the campaign was fulfilled).

 

[dbm]

double post

 

[dbm]

My worst examples are software related, and now I am very reluctant to fund development projects.

Project Phoenix - over $1m in funds, currently 10 years late (Nov 2014), no updates for five years.
Unsung Story - $660k funded, currently nine years late (July 2015). Abandoned by original developers, picked up by a second developer but stalled again.

My poorest performing RPG Kickstarter is Chronicles of Future Earth, which raised £22k and is currently five years late (April 2019). The main dev was hit by some bad life events which earns some slack, however I think a lot of the good will has run out based on backer comments. I personally have written it off which is a shame as the world sounded cool. It has delivered some aspects of what was promised, in terms of a player’s guide but there is no sign of the GM’s book which has been promised and comms have dried up.

 

[Morrus]

My worst examples are software related, and now I am very reluctant to fund development projects.

Yeah, sorry--to be specific, TTRPG Kickstarters.

 

[Alzrius]

I've pledged to several Kickstarters that succeeded on their funding goals but couldn't deliver on the promised project. Some owned up to it honorably, and returned everyone's money. But some others just went silent and kept the pledges.

The most infamous of the latter has to be the Throne of Night Kickstarter, which is now approaching eleven years overdue as the estimated delivery date was March of 2014. The last update was October 29th, 2015.

 

[The Soloist]

In 2010, e20 System Evolved RPG, the evolution of d20 by Gary M Sarli*, was never delivered. In 2014, in the last update, he claimed he had succumbed to mental illness due to a misdiagnosis. Looking at his social media activity, he is fully recovered and bans anyone who asks about the project.

*He worked on Star Wars SAGA and leveraged that for the KS.

 

[Kromanjon]

Broken World by James "Cheapshot" Claus-Nesbitt.

Funded 2 Oct 2014.
Estimated delivery April 2015
Last Update 30 March 2018

 

[R_J_K75]

by James "Cheapshot" Claus-Nesbitt

Anyone with the nickname "Cheapshot" should've been the first sign...

 

[CandyLaser]

Relic by the now-defunct Bandit Camp is a failed Kickstarter; its creator has left the gaming space after some personal issues. Urban Shadows 2e is finally being delivered, but 3-4 years late, with the people who pledged for the limited edition getting hurt the worst by delays.

The one I'm most upset by is Project: Dark by Will Hindmarch, mainly because it looks like Hindmarch took the money and ran despite the fact that he's continued to work in TTRPGs.

 

[Ath'kethin]

It's not uncommon IME for projects to run a month or two late, but typically the creators at least stay in touch through the process. I have a few TTRPG-adjacent projects (soaps in the shape of dice, miniatures, etc) that are really late, like by years, but in terms of actual TTRPGs I've been forutnate.

That said, the Swordsfall/Welcome to Tikor hardcover had an expected delivery date of March 2020. The creator delivered a PDF in March of this year (the last update prior to that was November 2021) but no word since and even the March update had no word at all on the actual physical book.