Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Broken Compass, which had two really successfully Kickstarter campaigns, only recently got a distributor, as I recall, and it's still not widely available to anyone other than backers yet.
Dear crowdfunding publishers: Chill out with the content stretch goals
In my case one of the stretch goals was a deck of cards. They had trouble printing the cards and card boxes, and are waiting to ship the books until they can include the cards. So it's about 8 months late at this point
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
That would have been a great thing to have as a separate add-on, so folks who didn't want the cards didn't have to wait on them.
Well that's just mismanagement. Stretch goals should never delay the core deliverable. Rookie error.
Willie the Duck
Hero
I mean, that would be the fear. I don't mind if they* get an extra X0,000 dollars and have to figure out how to deliver Y,000 GM's screens on top of their game booklet. What I worry about is them writing a book on the setting gods or extra player build choices or some in-world fiction before actually making a good and cohesive primary product. Or conversely keeping something vital to the game experience out of the main books (which the $50 backers** won't get); and yet conversely if they don't keep anything vital out of the main books, exactly what pocket lint and toenail clippings are we putting in the secondary product?
*the hypothetical kickstarting entity I'm considering patronizing.
**whose experience I still care about, even if I almost always pay more.
Yeah, but having to ship two rounds of physical goods, instead of one, can jack up the shipping costs immensely.
For the past couple of years, holding shipping issues against kickstarters seems... ill-targeted critique.
So don’t let stretch goals affect your core deliverable.
A problem I’ve adeptly avoided by taking my own advice. Don’t let stretch goals affect your core deliverable.
I know how this works. There are few things in the world I’m a leading expert on, but this, specifically, is one.
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
Yeah, gewgaws (minis, dice, tokens, etc.) are one thing, but when it's "we're going to write this whole new book," that adds so much more effort and logisitics, and potentially takes away from the work on the main deliverable. For a lot of good RPG Kickstarters, the writing on the main book is already done or nearly so at the time of launch, but that's not always the case.
Ath-kethin
Elder Thing
So if you don't mind answering a logistical question, how does that work? Let's say that as a stretch goal we offer a custom miniature (or a tarot deck or whatever). We wrote the book, we work with the printer, we can handle shipping etc, but we have to outsource physically creating the miniature/cards.
What is your strategy for not letting that stretch goal hold up the main product in such a situation? Do you just not offer bits that you and your team doesn't create itself? I'm having trouble seeing how delays can be avoided in any area where parts of the rewards are outsourced, especially if you want to keep costs down by making one shipment instead of several.
Am I looking at it the wrong way, or asking the wrong question here? As someone in the early stages of planning a crowdfunding campaign, I'm grateful for any pointers you have.
The answer is don't do it. If your stretch goals are goig to delay the core deliverable, don't do it. Find stretch goals which don't delay our core deliverable. For example, in our current Kickstarter, the tretch goals are for a digitial random dungeon generator. They don't affect the core deleverable at all.
If you want to add extra physical stuff, make sure to budget for separate shipping and calculate your stretch goals appropriately. That might make those stetch goals unviable... in which case don't do it.
The general theme of this thread is -- stretch goals delay delivery. Don't do it.
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