Quote from: Justin Alexander;583611You make a good point here. I think that's something we can all agree on at this point.

So how's your attempt at fulfilling your promises for your crowd funding going?

Are your hands all clean?

IRWS

Quote from: Spinachcat;583635Sounds good to me!!

Except that Kickstarter has a contract that lays out the rights and responsibilities for the backers and the creators. There is nothing in their agreement about delivering on time, just that the creator is expected to do his best and keep his backers informed.

True, however, you can ask for a refund, and it has to be honored:

QuoteAre creators legally obligated to fulfill the promises of their projects?

Yes. Kickstarter's Terms of Use require creators to fulfill all rewards of their project or refund any backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill. (This is what creators see before they launch.) We crafted these terms to create a legal requirement for creators to follow through on their projects, and to give backers a recourse if they don't. We hope that backers will consider using this provision only in cases where they feel that a creator has not made a good faith effort to complete the project and fulfill.

Source: http://www.kickstarter.com/help/faq/kickstarter%20basics#Acco

All you have to do is ask. In the case of Dwimmerfail, with the goal posts sliding as much as they have, and up until recently, lack of effective communications, backers can ask for a refund. We'll never know how many have asked for one, but I suspect it is more than we might know.

QuoteHoly cock dick cunt Batman! I am shocked at Guild of Blades, but also that "female poster" (its the internet so who knows) sounds nuts too.

Yup. Some gamers are just awesome aren't they?

IRWS

Quote from: Fiasco;583636At the very least Jmal has been misleading with his statements of the completion of Dwimmermount leading into the Kickstarter and Tavis and co fell for it hook, line and sinker. I can't really blame them, they presumably thought Jmal was a honorable guy who actually had what he lead people to believe. You can bet your bottom dollar this is the last co-op between Autarch and Grognardia.

In terms of taking responsibility for the delays and communicating with irate backers James has been nothing short of cowardly, leaving Tavis to take all the heat. Censoring unpleasant questions from the Grogtardia blog is more than pathetic. Man up for Christ's sake!

It reminds me very strongly of the Rob Kuntz fiascos where poor Alan Grogh killed himself trying to force Kuntz to make some semblance of delivering on his promises (also after he had pocketed the money and the blamed non delivery on bad health).

You are so right. The only reason Tavis is involved is because Jim has been a coward. It is so easy to pontificate about Ares magazine, but when the actual work needs to be done, and the fallout from your con is happening, it is much easier to tuck your tail between your legs.

I am not heartless, and I do feel for Tavis, but he was set up from the start. The fact that he drops this nugget as his proof Jim is trustworthy still makes me laugh:

Quote from: TavisI think that "one draft of a level every two weeks" is a plausible answer to "how in the hell is he going to do this", especially given the previous history of completed projects. Getting the money first and fulfilling the rewards later is the basic premise of Kickstarter, which means it has to function on trust. Maintaining that trust is very important to me and I do want to be more upfront in future,

Source: http://www.autarch.co/comment/8754#comment-8754

So the only due diligence he did was look up his list of credits on RPG.net. I will not bother to quote my response to this, but I will give you a summary:

1. Last published project as a freelance 2006
2. As for the Rogue Games releases, everyone who follows that company knows he had a hand in creating their rule set. Everyone knows Colonial Gothic is someone else's, and SS&S was worked on more by the other guy. Fuck, is it any wonder that he took his stupid Cursed Chateau and Thousand Suns with him to Grognarida Games? Why's that?
3. Fourth Millennium no show. At least the revised version Rogue Games was going to do. (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?319002-Whatever-happend-to-Fourth-Millennium)
4. No support of his one true love Thousand Suns, short of the revised rulebook and rereleasing Starships.

And the granddaddy of them all:

5. Petty Gods. This is the biggest scam. He has all the art and writing. He says as much on his blog. It has been two years, and still nothing. Why not? He has no problems begging for free game goods on his blog. Free art. Free writing. Why the not beg for some fucking free layout help?

6. All branding on the Kickstarter is Autarch (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/autarch/dwimmermount). No mention of Grognardia Games, Grognadia Games' logo, or even Jim's name. This is the one thing that really cracks me up. Jim was able to get all the money, but shift all the risks on too Autarch.

So there you go.

Oh, and do you want to know the one thing that everyone is over looking?

Quote from: Tavis...and second by the fact that our contract with Grognardia Games had us manage the Kickstarter process and then turn over all of the funds collected and the responsibility for fulfilling the backer rewards.

Source: http://www.autarch.co/comment/8743#comment-8743

Did you notice it? Let me highlight it for you:

Quote from: Tavis...and second by the fact that our contract with Grognardia Games had us manage the Kickstarter process and then turn over all of the funds collected and the responsibility for fulfilling the backer rewards.

Jim is responsible to fulfilling the rewards. Doesn't that make you feel better?

Jim, the one who cannot even finish a dungeon that depending on what you read was ready to go in October 2011, or was ready to go as soon as the Kickstarter ended. Jim. The one who is too much of a coward to answer any questions as to his willingness to honor the Kickstarter.

If he cannot find time to work on the project, how is he going to find time to mail all that out, from Canada?

Unless he has help, but getting information out of him, or even Tavis, is like finding teeth on a hen.

This project is doomed to fail. There are far too many variables and no one is going to see anything.

IRWS

I really don't understand why Autarch would have entered into such a contract.

Regardless of whatever contract they have with Maliszewski to deliver the product, that doesn't absolve them of the contract they have with Kickstarter and the project backers to deliver the product or refund the money.

Maliszewski could give Autarch the finger and the Kickstarter backers have zero legal recourse against him as they never worked a deal with him.

Quote from: kythri;583653I really don't understand why Autarch would have entered into such a contract.

Regardless of whatever contract they have with Maliszewski to deliver the product, that doesn't absolve them of the contract they have with Kickstarter and the project backers to deliver the product or refund the money.

Maliszewski could give Autarch the finger and the Kickstarter backers have zero legal recourse against him as they never worked a deal with him.

You are right. Hell, think of it this way. What if something happened to Jim? Seriously he gets hit by a car. They are on the hook for this. If Jim has the money, they get left holding the bag.

You know, this is what kills me. Rather than attack me, or wish for sunshine and lollipops, those who are so vehemently denouncing me, need to stop and think about how bad this looks. This whole thing was set up to fail from the start.

IRWS

Quote from: kythri;583653I really don't understand why Autarch would have entered into such a contract.

Regardless of whatever contract they have with Maliszewski to deliver the product, that doesn't absolve them of the contract they have with Kickstarter and the project backers to deliver the product or refund the money.

Maliszewski could give Autarch the finger and the Kickstarter backers have zero legal recourse against him as they never worked a deal with him.

Yeah, it doesn't really make any sense. Even if Maliszewski is using Autarch for print fulfilment, they didn't need to run the Kickstarter for him. Very odd decision, and it's very hard to see what Autarch get out of it.

Quote from: Grymbok;583660Yeah, it doesn't really make any sense. Even if Maliszewski is using Autarch for print fulfilment, they didn't need to run the Kickstarter for him. Very odd decision, and it's very hard to see what Autarch get out of it.

The claim "We're the publishers of the legendary megadungeon Dwimmermount by James Maliszewski of Internets Blog fame!"

Except, really, they wouldn't be, would they?  Because if they turned over all the cash and the responsibility for fulfillment to Maliszewski, it would seem he'd be coordinating the printing through another party.

I now DO get it all!

JM is like the Ted McGinley of RPGs!

...came in for a little stint in TN:E...boom! GDW went belly up
...went late into WW territory...boom! undead niche right there...
...tehn GURPS: Traveller...SHAZZAM it went away...
...Exalted, probably the same...
...D20 Modern, anybody heard about that in the last five years?...
...Stargate RPG never even took off meaningfully...
...OSR, obviously...

also look at the state of his FAVORITE RPG == GearKrieg if I am inclined to believe BGG.

and his blog seems to be the analogon to Dancing with the Stars?!

When JM writes for something, it has jumped the shark a week before, the harbinger of the end times, that is what he is.

Quote from: Grymbok;583660Yeah, it doesn't really make any sense. Even if Maliszewski is using Autarch for print fulfilment, they didn't need to run the Kickstarter for him. Very odd decision, and it's very hard to see what Autarch get out of it.

There was an option available to backers to receive the dungeon using ACK's rules (as opposed to LL's). Tavis, it seems, was using Jim's dungeon and followers to bring awareness to his ACKs system.

Quote from: I run with scissors;5836525. Petty Gods. This is the biggest scam. He has all the art and writing. He says as much on his blog. It has been two years, and still nothing. Why not? He has no problems begging for free game goods on his blog. Free art. Free writing. Why the not beg for some fucking free layout help?

On this one I really believe the hold-up must be that he's uncomfortable with some of the changes going on in his hero Jaquays' life. The official excuse will probably be that the rights to "Build Your Own Religion" shifted somehow when Barker died so all those plug-and-play fan submissions now need "reworked."

Either way, the "it's fun to emulate Judges Guild" boat has sailed. Iceberg!

Quote from: Jacob Marley;583680There was an option available to backers to receive the dungeon using ACK's rules (as opposed to LL's). Tavis, it seems, was using Jim's dungeon and followers to bring awareness to his ACKs system.

How do you think that is working out for him?

In all it just seems like typical gamer behavior.

1. Gamer decides to strike out own.
2. Gamer get's stars in their eyes.
3. Gamer learns that running a business is just that a business.

As soon as they brought in that much money, Dwimmermount stops being a hobby and it becomes a job.

IRWS

Quote from: samovar;583683On this one I really believe the hold-up must be that he's uncomfortable with some of the changes going on in his hero Jaquays' life. The official excuse will probably be that the rights to "Build Your Own Religion" shifted somehow when Barker died so all those plug-and-play fan submissions now need "reworked."

Either way, the "it's fun to emulate Judges Guild" boat has sailed. Iceberg!

Good point. If that is the case, you would think that he could provide some sort of update. He even blocks comments on his blog when asking about that.

It's easy to say you want to run a game company, but when it comes to running it, that is a different story.

IRWS

Seems like there's a lot of censoring going on at his blog. Are only fanboys allowed to comment?

I take some satisfaction seeing my predictions that the decline of professional publishing would not herald a happy new world of amateur content are coming true. You're seeing the same issue with kickstarter boardgame projects: starry-eyed fan thinks it's a piece of piss to publish a professional-quality game/book/rpg, and learns to his dismay that those nasty, greedy companies actually serve a purpose. Namely, experience, expertise, project management, quality control, and all the un-fun labour like laying out, proofing, editing, dealing with printers, etc.

Quote from: I run with scissors;583684How do you think that is working out for him?

Nearly everyone I know who has discussed ACKs has done so in a very positive light. Even those who are upset with Jim still appear to be giving Tavis the benefit of doubt.

Quote from: I run with scissors;583684In all it just seems like typical gamer behavior.

1. Gamer decides to strike out own.
2. Gamer get's stars in their eyes.
3. Gamer learns that running a business is just that a business.

I am not sure why you think this is exclusive to gamers? I spent a number of years in commerical banking and I can assure you that this is fairly common of people of all stripes.

Quote from: I run with scissors;583684As soon as they brought in that much money, Dwimmermount stops being a hobby and it becomes a job.

This I agree with.