Top Ten most infamous RPG Kickstarter Failures, by Shannon Appelcline.

[Mezuka]

In 2010, e20 Evolved was supposed to be the successor of d20 Modern. Promoted by Gary M Sarli who was involved in the design of Star Wars Saga.

"The e20 System is a new roleplaying game system for all genres, built using grass-roots game design and inspired by the best of the Open Game License."

It was never delivered. He promised a full hardcover rule book for GenCon 2010 with only 15,000$ in pledges. He did work very hard at the beginning but quickly discovered he had been naive about the timeline, amount of work and cost. After GenCon, he kept working on the pdf version. Updates started arriving at a slower pace. In 2014 he invoked mental illness misdiagnosed by his psychiatrist. In the adventure, he also lost the online gaming store he had been running prior to the KS.

Game Design: "e20: System Evolved" Roleplaying Game

The e20 System is a new roleplaying game system for all genres, built using grass-roots game design and inspired by the best of the Open Game License.

www.kickstarter.com

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I have backed -- don't tell my wife -- more than 50 campaigns, most of them RPG, and never had any of them outright failed. (A few of them sucked, but that's a much better ratio than buying stuff in other ways, honestly.)

I am fascinated by how many people seem to repeatedly throw money at doomed campaigns. I do not think of myself as particularly wise or savvy. Other than not trusting anyone without a track record of creating products or campaigns with too many stretch goals that will clearly complicate matters, I don't know what I'm picking up on. Maybe it's just luck.

 

[Aeson]

I backed the Nystul one. I backed the Pathfinder Online one also. At least I got the rewards for that one. Recently I back two projects from Blacklist Games. Sadly, it doesn't look like I'll see anything from them. One is stuck in shipping limbo, the other is in development limbo.

 

[Ryujin]

I have backed -- don't tell my wife -- more than 50 campaigns, most of them RPG, and never had any of them outright failed. (A few of them sucked, but that's a much better ratio than buying stuff in other ways, honestly.)

I am fascinated by how many people seem to repeatedly throw money at doomed campaigns. I do not think of myself as particularly wise or savvy. Other than not trusting anyone without a track record of creating products or campaigns with too many stretch goals that will clearly complicate matters, I don't know what I'm picking up on. Maybe it's just luck.

I've backed 102 projects on Kickstarter, most of them films/shorts. Maybe only 4 or 5 on Indiegogo, because I don't like the "flexible funding" option. A couple more on Seed&Spark (both film projects). Of those, 19 failed to fund. Of the ones that successfully funded I've been burnt twice. Once was an interactive 3D production that doesn't seem to have ever been produced. The other was for the web series "Space Janitors." I eventually received all three seasons on DVD, not signed as promised, and on what appeared to be home burnt DVDs. I have a feeling that I wouldn't have received even that, except that I "off-handedly" mentioned that I lived about a 10 minute drive from the Director's front door, in the Kickstarter updates comments. Many who pledged never received anything. I have often wondered if there wasn't some shenaniganery with Geek & Sundry going on because backers were supposed to get first view but the show ended up on that Youtube channel first, instead.

 

[Haplo781]

This one.

Dark Sun spiritual successor Red Dawn presents a new wasteland setting for D&D 5E with old problems

Upcoming D&D 5E supplement fails to address bioessentialist and racist implications of popular '90s release.

www.dicebreaker.com

Is that the one Wizards sued into oblivion?

 

[Morrus]

This one.

Dark Sun spiritual successor Red Dawn presents a new wasteland setting for D&D 5E with old problems

Upcoming D&D 5E supplement fails to address bioessentialist and racist implications of popular '90s release.

www.dicebreaker.com

That one was cancelled. It didn't fail to fulfill, which is what the article is about.

 

[Morrus]

Is that the one Wizards sued into oblivion?

Nobody got sued.

 

[darjr]

That one was cancelled. It didn't fail to fulfill, which is what the article is about.

I think originally it was about infamous failed kickstarters. Not just failed fulfillment. Mine was a response to a question before the article was written.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I'd heard of the first couple of those.

While I've backed a lot of Kickstarters, a very small number has failed to fulfill. I've had a handful that were really bad, and another handful where the product I had in my head is different enough from what I got that I regret it, but I don't think the ratio has been bad. It probably doesn't hurt that as soon as I see pricey looking add-ons or tier bonuses, I back quickly away.

(Now my much smaller steps into computer game Kickstarters have been a much more mixed bag, mostly in terms of them being horrendously late).