Some of the posts are a little off topic, and people are still mad about the CSM debacle, which is totally understandable. A black eye is a black eye, and there's no avoiding it. Frog God Games hates the way the CSM thing turned out as much as anybody and watched in horror as it fell apart especially after (as has been correctly noted) getting behind it publicly and thinking it was a going to be a good thing. No avoiding that on our part, and everyone affected has every right to be upset at whomever they want to. No blame dodging here. However, there are a few inaccuracies that need to be cleared up.
1. Necromancer Games didn't "sneak one by" the WotC team. They received permission from WotC to publish the Tome of Horrors and the older monsters it contained but that had not been updated to 3e or released by WotC. Necro had a good relationship with Ryan Dancey and was able to obtain that permission. No sneaking; just asking.
2. Frog God Games did "waive their licensing fee" as it's being called to allow the sculptors to sell their sculpts and get whatever they can for their work. FGG wants them to be able to recoup whatever they can for their work and has publicly stated they will not stand in their way to do so.
3. CSM came to FGG about the licensing of the Tome of Horrors monsters for sculpts, not the other way around. We've never claimed ownership over those OGL monsters, only the Tome images that were used in the sculpts. If you've read the contract we had with CSM (that we have publicly posted), you'll notice that the wording is a nightmare of absurdity and specifically says something to the affect of the opposite. It was our first foray (and last foray) into that kind of deal and was a terribly crafted document. That did not, in and of itself, affect the failure of CSM's Kickstarter, but it is a thing that we have revealed publicly and further illustrates our general ineptitude in the thing. No excuses, just shame. But, as you have correctly noted, we do not own those monsters nor have we ever claimed to, only the art from our own book. Despite the pathetic wording, that's all that was licensed, and that has not prevented the sculptors from trying to recoup what they can and did not in any way affect the deal presented by Mortal Arrow. There are no licensing fees issues standing in the way of anyone salvaging the CSM project.
4. We didn't block the deal with Mortal Arrow, nor did we intend to screw the backers. Mortal Arrow presented his deal to us, and he wanted us to pay him to pick up CSM's project so he could produce it and then charge the backers to cover the rest of the cost. We refused to play ball and write him a check based on this plan that in no way made the backers whole and was from a guy that we knew nothing about and who used some not-so veiled threats of PR consequences if we didn't go along with his plan, because he wouldn't be fulfilling the backers orders anyway. His deal was just to get the minis made off of the existing sculpts and then he would try to sell them through his own venues, and he wanted us to fund it from the partial licensing fee that we had previously collected from CSM. This has been a huge piece of misinformation that has been floating around. We don't dislike or have any personal beef with Mortal Arrow. We didn't like how we perceived his offer to be worded (he may disagree in regards to his intended effect, and I can't argue with him, that's just how it looked to us).
There is no doubt that CSM's failure to deliver on the minis screwed over a ton of backers. And FGG hates it too. Yes, FGG did collect a licensing fee off of the first CSM KS (we did not ever receive it off of the second, however) to the tune of something over $12,000 after KS took it's share (don't have the exact figures in front of me). Because FGG did not outright own the rights to the Tome of Horrors art (it had originally been a Necromancer Games book) we had to pay our own fees to parties that held an ownership interest in that book leaving FGG with something over $8,000 from the licensing fee that we collected. Some people have argued that we charged too much for the fee (since it was a percentage of the money raised in the KS) or that we didn't charge enough or that we should have waited until after fulfillment to collect or whatever. No arguments there. I don't know if what we charged for the licensing fee was too much, too little, or just right. It is what it is and was just what was agreed to between us and CSM as a fee. I have no idea how to objectively value such a thing beyond what the parties involved agree will be paid. It seemed like the right amount at the time. In hindsight we obviously should have waited until after fulfillment to collect though. I can guarantee you that $8,000 is in no way worth the heartache and bad feelings that have developed as a result of this mess.
We did refuse to turn that money over to Mortal Arrow, but he was not proposing to us that he would make the backers whole, just that he would produce the minis and then sell them - to the backers and anyone else. We had just gotten burned in a big way by an unproven mini maker and now another was demanding we pay him money and going about it in what we thought was a pretty unfriendly way. We refused to enter into Mortal Arrow's deal, it is true. We have never refused any way to try and make the backers and sculptors whole and have publicly released any interest we had in those sculpts to them. If someone comes along with a viable plan to indemnify the backers and sculptors they will receive no interference from us, and if the sculptors can do something with them to receive the sculpting fees they were never paid by CSM, then we hope they are successful.
Going from memory, the two CSM Kickstarters raised something in the range of $200,000. FGG has somewhere around $8,000. We know of no way to use that $8,000 and equitably make the backers whole. We've stated if someone comes up with a viable solution we're willing to support it. And if there's a way we could write a $8,000 check and make everybody good we would. But giving that $8,000 to Mortal Arrow would not have done so, and then everybody would still be mad plus be able to accuse us of giving their money to some previously uninvolved third party. From the beginining the proposal just wasn't a workable deal to solve the problem for the backers who had been burned.
People are mad about the CSM failures, and I don't blame them. We're mad too. Legally we were not/are not liable for CSM's actions nor had any control over his business practices or access to his books, but we were enthusiastic about the KS and know how it makes us look. And we know that people trusted us when we got excited about it too. If people want to be mad at FGG/NG about it, they have every right to be. We did profit off of the debacle to the tune of $8,000 and would happily wash our hands of that money to help the backers. But we can't just refund money to a random $8,000 worth of the $200,000 backers to make some whole and not others. And writing all the backers (whose info we don't even have, by the way) a check for 4 cents on the dollar doesn't really make anyone whole either. So we're all ears on how to go about it. We haven't spent that money and don't intend to in hopes of being able to put it towards some way to make it right someday. We just don't see what that way is.
If in their righteous anger about being burned on the CSM Kickstarter, folks want to be angry at us too, they certainly can do so. We won't argue with you other than to lay out facts about what we did or didn't do just so the full story is out there. Each individual will have to be his or her own judge of the events anyway. We look like fools on the deal, and we know it. We're not against the project ever being a success, but a way to actually make the backers whole has never truly been proposed to my knowledge. Only an attempt for a third party to pick up the reins and sell the product himself with us partially funding his investment. But we certainly don't blame anyone for feeling the way they feel. For what it's worth, this has taught a very clear lesson to us to stay out of minis manufacture (which we clearly and unfortunately know nothing about) and stick with book production where we've got a good track record and some actual expertise. If the bitterness is such for some and they can't/won't do business with us ever again, we obviously regret that but again can't really blame you. It was a bad deal all around and left a lot of people burned.
Not trying to stifle anyone's voice on the issue or tell anyone not to post stuff about it. Nor am I attempting to debate anyone over it. If you were burned on the CSM Kickstarters, you certainly have the right to vent about it wherever you want. We made the mistake of getting involved with CSM and have no one to blame but ourselves. We have and will continue to sincerely apologize to anyone that we influenced in any way to back those Kickstarters. Incidentally, one change we have made as a company (in addition to not doing minis or backing Kickstarters just because we think it looks like a really cool idea) is that we don't Kickstart a book ourselves until we have a completed manuscript in hand to ensure there will be no chance of backers getting burned. We probably should have always done it that way, but we've obviously been very naive in some ways as a fledgling company over the last few years. While we benefit from association with the prior Necromancer Games company, we do not possess their full infrastructure and personnel resources and have had to relearn a lot of stuff on our own. We warehouse out of Bill's farm and consist of a handful of people spread all across the U.S. It's as close to a garage company as you can be and still do most of the work virtually, and unfortunately sometimes we very much look like it. The CSM thing being a glaring example of course.
Anyway, I just want to make sure the info is out there on the CSM stuff so folks don't leave with the wrong idea about our motives or position. We'd love if you'd give our books a chance, but if you can't in good conscience because of the CSM mess or any other reason, we regret it but fully understand. Apologies again to everyone harmed by the CSM thing and rest assured we don't see it as some kind of a financial windfall on our part either. We hope for a resolution someday if one can be found.
Please resume you're previously scheduled posting - positive or negative. These forums are yours to be heard. I'm glad people feel comfortable to come here and speak their piece.
Greg Vaughan
Pathfinder Creative Director
Frog God Games
