How Often Do You Lose Interest in Pre-Orders/KS By the Time They Arrive?

[Retreater]

Maybe it's a sign that I've pre-ordered too much or backed too many Kickstarters, but I'm finding that by the time I receive most of them, I'm not even interested in playing them.
Yesterday, I just got a new expansion to Savage Rifts, a system that I don't expect I'll ever run again. I'm still waiting on the last two books in The Enemy Within campaign for WFRP - again, another campaign that has already come and gone. Once the package comes in, the books will be opened, given a cursory glance, and put on the shelf with the others. Necropolis is sitting on my shelf. The Savage Pathfinder boxed sets too. The Altar Quest Board Game (once I fully painted it), has been put in storage in my attic after maybe two game sessions.
Anybody else have this issue? Do you sell them for pennies on the dollar at the local pawn store/FLGS? Store them until maybe the mood hits or your gaming situation changes? But I'm not finding that I want to interact with the hobby "just to do it" - if I'm not going to run the game, I'm not overly interested in reading it for the sake of reading it.

 

[jdrakeh]

I've sold a lot of RPG stuff I backed on Kickstarter via Facebook. Usually at a profit (there are people who collect KS exclusive stuff). I don't back Kickstarters anymore, though. I just get too few games to the table these days (and KS doesn't accept PayPal as a payment option) so, instead, I buy stuff after wide release in PDF when the option avails itself to me (some stuff I buy physical + PDF, then sell the physical component).

 

[MGibster]

I don't think I've ever lost interest in anything I've Kickstarted before it arrived. I lost interest in Savage Rifts after I actually ran a campaign though. I ended up selling quite a lot of my Zombicide exclusive Kickstarter content for about $600 for stuff I think I paid $200 for. So that was nice.

 

[R_J_K75]

Not so much that I lose interest more than I forget I even backed them. I got 5E Kobold Press' Tome of Heroes not long ago, looked at for maybe 2 minutes and put it on my bookshelf. So, I guess yeah, I do lose interest by the time they come. I've probably only backed 5-7 ever and I'm definitely going to be more selective going forward. I've lost interest in KS as it takes so long to get your hard copies, and it seems more and more everything is being Kickstarted. I almost had a heart attack when I found out Edge Studios Midnight: Legacy of Darkness for 5E was released without it.

 

[Fenris-77]

I sometimes completely forget they're coming. At that point it feels like Christmas.

 

[John R Davis]

I did when I got the pdfs very early. Now I just wait for the physical stuff so still fresh and hyped.

 

[dbm]

I’ve backed 90 Kickstarters up to now, and about 80%+ have been for RPG related stuff. I would group those into two broad categories - additional support for games I already play often, and new games which I am interested in.

Stuff in the first category is always welcome when it arrives, but I would say most of my speculative backing has been a bit flat. One to two years is far too long to sustain excitement about a new game. I have significantly scaled back my Kickstarter support, now, because of this.

 

[Mezuka]

Every single time, except once.

The exception was a new edition for a superhero skirmish wargame called Pulp City. My friends and I painted miniatures and scenery during the wait. When the book finally arrived we had a blast with full paint crews and terrain!

Pulp City

Pulp City. 2,136 likes. Pulp City SE - the Blockbuster Skirmish Action game!

www.facebook.com

 

[Umbran]

I sometimes completely forget they're coming. At that point it feels like Christmas.

Yeah, this happens to me, too. It is fun to have a thing show up unexpectedly

I have never had the issue of losing interest, but then I don't back Kickstarters for specific use. I back them because I like their concepts in general, and that usually doesn't fade with time.

 

[Morrus]

I've lost interest in KS as it takes so long to get your hard copies, and it seems more and more everything is being Kickstarted.

You're only interested in rarely-used outlets?

 

[payn]

I'm always a little shocked at just how many projects some folks back. I'm pretty picky about things I will actually use enthusiastically. Which, comes down to about 2 projects a year. If I grabbed everything I had even a tinkle of interest in, I'd likely lose interest too.

 

[Jer]

Pretty much never. I don't back that many projects and I have the attention span of a monkey on a Skittles diet these days anyway, so I enjoy the PDF when I initially back a project and then I get new enjoyment when the book finally actually shows up.

Sometimes the arrival of the actual book will prod me into trying to actually use it, so in those cases it's kind of the opposite.

 

[R_J_K75]

You're only interested in rarely-used outlets?

I don't understand what you mean. I'm less and less inclined to back something that Im not going to see for most likely 12-24 months anymore.

 

[Morrus]

I don't understand what you mean. I'm less and less inclined to back something that Im not going to see for most likely 12-24 months anymore.

One of the reasons you gave for losing interest in Kickstarter was “it seems more and more everything is being Kickstarted.” I just found it odd that that would be a factor.

 

[Retreater]

I'm always a little shocked at just how many projects some folks back. I'm pretty picky about things I will actually use enthusiastically. Which, comes down to about 2 projects a year. If I grabbed everything I had even a tinkle of interest in, I'd likely lose interest too.

I'm still searching for that perfect system.
For dungeon crawling board games, for example, I purchased many in an attempt to find something like the original HeroQuest from my youth (Altar Quest, Descent, Massive Darkness, Imperial Assault, Doom, Shadows of Brimstone, every D&D Adventure System product, etc.) Nothing worked the way I wanted and I spent a lot of time/money/enthusiasm in the pursuit. Now that the original HeroQuest has been reissued, I'm actually satisfied with dungeon crawling board games - I could get rid of all the others and never care (I guess, except that I like the minis and have painted them).
So far I've found that no TTRPG has "it." I was able to really define what I enjoyed about HeroQuest over other dungeon crawlers. I'm not having the same luck with TTRPGs.

 

[payn]

I'm still searching for that perfect system.
For dungeon crawling board games, for example, I purchased many in an attempt to find something like the original HeroQuest from my youth (Altar Quest, Descent, Massive Darkness, Imperial Assault, Doom, Shadows of Brimstone, every D&D Adventure System product, etc.) Nothing worked the way I wanted and I spent a lot of time/money/enthusiasm in the pursuit. Now that the original HeroQuest has been reissued, I'm actually satisfied with dungeon crawling board games - I could get rid of all the others and never care (I guess, except that I like the minis and have painted them).
So far I've found that no TTRPG has "it." I was able to really define what I enjoyed about HeroQuest over other dungeon crawlers. I'm not having the same luck with TTRPGs.

I think Dungeon Crawling board game is a pretty specific thing. There are, of course, many ways to do it as you mention. Though, I also think HeroQuest is the one in this product type. With TTRPGs, however, I think there are many genres and systems that do different things. For me, there is one fantasy RPG, one Sci-Fi, and one x,y,z. By one I mean my absolute favorite and if I have a say its what I'm using. Im still open to other systems, but I let other people back them and convince me to play once they get them. YMMV.

 

[Retreater]

For me, there is one fantasy RPG, one Sci-Fi, and one x,y,z.

For me, I can't even limit it to one fantasy RPG, one Sci-Fi, one horror, etc.
I am, however, at least starting to define what I definitely don't like from certain categories.

 

[payn]

For me, I can't even limit it to one fantasy RPG, one Sci-Fi, one horror, etc.
I am, however, at least starting to define what I definitely don't like from certain categories.

By one, I mean my favorite game, the one I invest in, the one I want to run. I'll certainly paly others, and sometimes my one changes based on those plays. Though, my investment in products and KS usually sits with my favs and not just piling up stuff.

 

[Crusadius]

I often find my interest wanes when the product delivery is far later than originally promised. A kickstarter that delivers years later than first estimated are the main culprits.

I understand regarding the example above about the last books from WFRP 4E’s The Enemy Within Campaign, but the PDFs were out as soon as you could pre-order so by the time the physical books arrive you’ve likely finished using the product so will just shelve them without much of a glance.

But this also brings to mind a time long past when I was in a Mage The Ascension 2E game that finished, and a friend complained that The Order of Hermes Tradition splatbook having been just published afterwards but could not be used anymore (just shelved and eventually forgotten, most likely not even used as interests changed).

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

So far it hasn't, but my turnaround time from wanting to try a new game to actually getting to is so long I haven't really gotten to move on from anything either-- so for instance, I kickstarted Mummy the Curse, and Hunter the Vigil, but I've yet to play any COFD, as much as I love reading the books. I'm a little wary of Avatar, because I have a tumultous (but not entirely negative) relationship with Masks, I might love it especially since it has some better support for framing fight scenes, I might even go back to Masks with the right group and end up loving that as well-- but I also might not, at least there's a lot of neat Avatar paraphanelia in that one.

Battlezoo is great because I can just add it immediately to my PF2e game, and we've been happy with our dragons; the monster parts lite table is a super great source of supplemental cash for my West Marchesthat hasn't defined the game (its less efficient than finding treasure caches) but a nice consolation for the time spent fighting. I'm def kickstarting their upcoming Eldamon book, and the new Ancestries for PF2e.

The bigger risk is kickstarting something and then never getting to use it even though I'm still interested in it because of time, circumstances, and players who are recalcitrant toward trying new games.