I highly recommend this article for all backers of Kickstarters, and for anyone who is thinking about backing a project. Its an analysis of the success, failure and delay of projects - mostly focused on high tech stuff, but still a valuable analysis.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2407379,00.asp

Quote from: I run with scissors;582491Another question that has not been answered: why no finished manuscript before taking money?

That's not uncommon, but did the Kickstarter page give the impression that the manuscript was finished or near completion?

Quote from: I run with scissors;582493I have no faith in James. He cannot finish anything he has started:

Were you aware of the issues with Fourth Millennium and Petty Gods before you backed Dwimmermount?

If so, why did you back his project?

Quote from: kythri;582728I'm not a backer of this project, but, I am a backer of a couple of other RPG projects where similar issues have occurred (the project creator failing to deliver and disappearing)

Kythri, it would be awesome for you to start a different thread discussing your experience with RPG kickstarters (good, bad & ugly). It would interesting for people to chip in their experiences too.

Quote from: kythri;582728In a day and age when a few taps of the screen on your freakin' telephone can send such an update, there's absolutely no excuse for such poor treatment of your customers.

I am consulting several legal cases right now (I'm career switching) and I am stunned by how few attorneys can get back to their own clients, let alone opposing counsel, in any timely fashion.

I have clients who regularly wait a week or more to get emails from their own attorneys and one case is now 7 weeks behind trying to get feedback from the respondent's lawyer.

Quote from: Exploderwizard;582782If the kickstarter money is being used for living expenses and the project is taking much longer than expected, where will the money to get the printing done actually come from?

This was a problem in the Renaissance too with the patronage model. Artists and poets aren't good investments. When you are depending on the Muse for inspiration, its quite possible for much time to slip by.

Creative endeavors rarely turn out well when forced to a business timetable. Some (not all) of Hollywood's costliest overruns and most delayed projects have turned into major successes and classic films.

Quote from: Fiasco;582737People bought into a storied dungeon with a long history and extensive gaming.

That sounds like a weird expectation, given that we know the dungeon is only three years old and has only seen a few dozen sessions of play at most.

I was little bit disappointed when I saw the "original key" the product was being based on was mostly filled with entries like "8 skeletons" and "1 gargoyle", but it wasn't particularly far off from what I was expecting based on Maliszewski's blog posts.

Quote from: Endless Flight;582845If one post takes a half-hour to prep, that's one half-hour less he's spending getting his project out on time.

I can't speak for James, but I know that -- as a writer -- the type of time I put into a blog post is really different from the time I put into prepping an adventure, writing advertising copy, or doing game design.

And I mean that qualitatively, not quantitatively: If I refrained from writing a blog post, that wouldn't mean I'd be working on my latest professional project. It would mean that I would be taking a break from that project in a different way.

Quote from: Planet Algol;582838I'm laughing at the idea that James' blog posts are somehow taking time away from Dwimmermount.

I think it's more the fact that the guy apparently has time to post on his blog about useless crap instead of taking a few seconds to communicate with the people he took money from.

The blog receives attention, his customers get ignored.  That's just awesome.

Quote from: Fiasco;582737Runs With Scissors has clearly written off his investment. 'Gentle words' for the person responsible are clearly not on his agenda and fair enough. As a backer I would be genuinely concerned that James will be cranking out any old shit just to fulfill his obligations (up to a year late).

People bought into a storied dungeon with a long history and extensive gaming. What they might now get, eventually, is half the dungeon cranked out like so much spaghetti with maybe 1 2hr session in google+ as the only interaction with real life gaming.

I missed this kickstarter and was kicking myself for the lost opportunity. I dodged a bullet there. The contrast between Dwimmermount and the Frog God people is stark.

This guy is a year late? :O

Heck, compare this with Adamant Entertainment's vapor ware Warlords of the Apocalypse.  I asked for a refund early and Gareth sent my money bck. Not sure how many other people got stuck for his one.

Quote from: Fiasco;582737I missed this kickstarter and was kicking myself for the lost opportunity. I dodged a bullet there. The contrast between Dwimmermount and the Frog God people is stark.

That's an interesting observation. Personally, my experience with Sleeping Tsar was so poor that it directly impacted my decision to not back any of Frog God's Kickstarter projects.

Quote from: Imaginos;582951Heck, compare this with Adamant Entertainment's vapor ware Warlords of the Apocalypse.  I asked for a refund early and Gareth sent my money bck. Not sure how many other people got stuck for his one.

Wow, I missed that one, probably because I was more or less ignoring Pathfinder at the time.  That's even worse than the pre-order / no-show for Icons Team Up.

Happily, of both the Dwimmermount and Far West kickstarters, I"m only in each for $10, and the Dwimmermount kickstarter at least provided me with *something*... and of the two, 'Far West' is the older.  Basically - don't buy Adamant products unless it's on the freaking shelf.

Quote from: Justin Alexander;582954That's an interesting observation. Personally, my experience with Sleeping Tsar was so poor that it directly impacted my decision to not back any of Frog God's Kickstarter projects.

What happened there?  I don't recall any issues with my pre-order...

Quote from: Spinachcat;582869Kythri, it would be awesome for you to start a different thread discussing your experience with RPG kickstarters (good, bad & ugly). It would interesting for people to chip in their experiences too.

Here you go.

I never do kickstarters, that way I have no disappointments.

Quote from: Endless Flight;582845If one post takes a half-hour to prep, that's one half-hour less he's spending getting his project out on time.

It's a different sort of writing, though - writing isn't like a tap, you can't just turn it on and make the right words come out. Magazine summaries aren't really creative writing, like the Dwimmermount project would be.

Of course, it's Jeff that should be telling people this, because he's the one who asked for funding.

(For the record, I am not a Dwimmermount backer, and have no actual investment, fiscal, emotional or otherwise, at all in the project.)

Yeah, but didn't James have copious notes to refine the final product from? It's not like he's pulling the final draft from thin air. Hasn't Dwimmermount been in his brain for twenty years (not really sure when he started it)?

Most of us know the creative process is subject to inspiration, but refining a rough draft and doing retrospectives on Ares magazine aren't that far removed from each other.

If he's got any ADD type issues, he probably does his best work by writing, then breaking to do something on an unrelated issue, then going back to his writing, and repeat.  The blog may just be the something on an unrelated issue.

Though, as people say, he should tell people that.

Quote from: Exploderwizard;582782I am patient and can afford to wait. Delays pop up .That isn't an issue. The only issue that I am concerned with is this: If the kickstarter money is being used for living expenses and the project is taking much longer than expected, where will the money to get the printing done actually come from?

What reason do you have to believe that the money is being used for living expenses in lieu of the printing costs?

Quote from: flyingcircus;582964I never do kickstarters, that way I have no disappointments.

I've done alot of kickstarters. I have no disappointments.

Even the most mired project I've ever seen, which ran into all sorts of problems and roadblocks and the creator misjudging how much money he'd need to manifest his promises still ended up coming through in the end. It just took a while.