Voltron RPG on Kickstarter

[TwoSix]

You are exactly right.

I backed a card game from them. When I got it, It was missing parts (tokens used to keep track of a resource) and their way of fixing it was “print your own off this PDF” and “here is discount off our webstore”.

Swore I’d never back something of theirs again.

But yes I’ve heard of some of their older kickstarters not even fully delivering.

Catalyst is known for their quality assurance booboos.

I have a 1st print run of their 6th Ed Shadowrun book (got it when it came out from GenCon) and it has more errata then any RPG I have ever owned.

Thanks for the heads-up. I like Voltron, but I dislike nonreputable Kickstarters more.

 

[Deset Gled]

Previous thread, for reference: There's A VOLTRON RPG Coming!

 

[stadi]

You do you, but I'd wait and buy it off the shelf or from Amazon or Ebay later on just to be safe.

I've backed it, but I can (and probably will) unback it. Unless they give a shipping estimate, confirm that shipping will be EU friendly (delivery duties paid), and they give information about whether a campaign is included. Currently they are saying on Facebook that they cannot tell us whether a campaign is included or not, because something hasn't been approved yet. A yes, there will be a campaign, but it has not been approved yet, or no, there will be no campaign would be enough. And on the other hand, why even start a crowdfunding campaign until everything has been approved by the license owner?

 

[Cergorach]

To be honest, Catalyst isn't the best, but it isn't the worst either. There have been many scandals and controversies at Catalyst, but those have also been at WotC and I'm not really seeing people stop buying D&D and MtG products... I also think that Catalyst depends on the brand. I've only been backing the two Battletech kickstarters and especially with the last one put a huge chunk of money in there. So I was always expecting a hefty shipping price + VAT + import taxes addon. I've completely suppressed how much I spend on that, I really don't want to look either...

And yes, if you live in the EU, you know these US centric companies are often horrible at fulfilling their KS cheaply (shipping), late, etc. But with the first BT KS, I got everything I ordered and was perfectly happy with it (as far as I remember). I also expect that when eventually the 2nd BT KS shows up, I'll also be perfectly happy with it. But it's late, not as late as some, but later then initially indicated, even so far as that some KS product has already shown up in stores...

But I've heard horror stories about some of the Shadowrun KS projects... Which I didn't back. But my issue isn't with a Catalyst KS, it's with non Battletech and Shadowrun RPGs made by Catalyst in general. I wouldn't say they suck, they tend to be uninteresting and their staying power (or lack thereof) clearly shows that. The same is true is for most of their board/card games, even their spinoff BT/SR games. I would even go so far as to say that the direction of BT and especially SR doesn't interest me anymore. I have almost all the FASA era BT/SR stuff, but very little Catalyst era stuff beyond the core BT books/boxes. In the BT KS I'm after the minis, the faction swag, the hex mats, and the big art/universe book. For the rest I've bought decades of books in pdf for cheap via Humble Bundles and Bags of holding.

Especially with licensed stuff, the license is going to run out sooner or later and then just before things go on heavy sale. I picked up Transformers RPG, the G.I. Joe RPG, and the Power Rangers RPG for cheap in pdf via a Humble Bundle. Space is limited in my collection, so it needs to be really special to be added to it, and this just isn't it. Not even backing for a pdf.

 

[Kannik]

Putting aside Catalyst's past Kickstarter performance, I downloaded the quickstart rules and gave them a read through. Overall, colour me not that impressed. The system to me seems at the same time bland, inelegant, and sometimes convoluted all for not much benefit. Plus it has no narrative design/mechanics that this kind of setting/genre would benefit from. Most disappointingly, there's not that much there in terms of when you've formed Voltron, nothing special or noted for determining how to share control between players, instead relying on gatekeeping Voltron's signature abilities behind a few combo rolls of highest party attribute + lowest party attribute. It's not exactly scintillating or providing any impetus to use this as a system.

I'd prefer to run a Voltron campaign under something like Cortex Prime, and I can already think of a few ways to do so that would provide more both mechanical and narrative oomph than what was presented in the quickstart rules.

As an aside, they have two separate versions of the game, one for the 'classic' anime and one for the Netflix reboot universe. So you need to buy both if you want both (there is a discount for doing so). There's also a board game... though the details about it are very vague.

 

[aramis erak]

Catalyst is known for their quality assurance booboos.

Like banning accounts for no reason and then refusing to tell you why...

To be honest, Catalyst isn't the best, but it isn't the worst either. There have been many scandals and controversies at Catalyst, but those have also been at WotC and I'm not really seeing people stop buying D&D and MtG products...

HasBro is in hurting shape, and Wizards isn't making up for it like they did in 2020-2023... to the point that there's a class action starting against them for deception in their information to shareholders and lack of profits...
which strongly implies there has been SOME reduction in brand loyalty.

Lost Money on Hasbro, Inc.(HAS)? Join Class Action Suit Seeking Recovery – Contact The Gross Law Firm

NEW YORK, Dec. 04, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Gross Law Firm issues the following notice to shareholders of Hasbro, Inc. (NASDAQ: HAS). Shareholders...

www.globenewswire.com

And then Elon Musk offhandedly asking how much HasBro is worth after ranting about their disrespect of Gary and Dave...