I still haven't done a Kickstarter. Almost everyone in the indie RPG communities have done at least one Kickstarter, right? And I have had some visibility with Black Pudding and other ventures, so it seems natural I would do a Kickstarter. Why haven't I?
Mainly it's because I dislike committing to something on a grand scale. There, I said it.
I want my freedom to do whatever in the holy fuck I want to do in the moment. If I ever do a KS, I will complete the project before going live. But then you gotta have stretch goals, right? What happens if I have 10 stretch goals that all fund? Suddenly I'm committed to doing 10 more things? Yeah... that's when my dumbass psyche kicks in and says "Don't wanna".
Ah, it's not all that bad. I'm exaggerating. If I was as flighty and random as I claim to be I would not have any finished books. And yet I have several. And I have a slew of commissioned works present in a slew of indie publications. I'm active. Not prolific, but active. I ain't dead yet.
So will I ever do a Kickstarter? The answer is maybe. A solid, unmitigated maybe. But it will only happen when I have some idea in mind that truly requires funds. Like... if I wanna do a fancy sewn-binding hardback. Then I'll do a Kickstarter.
All that being said, I love the shit out of KS. My shelves ache under the weight of so many delicious books thanks to KS. The old era of RPGs never gave us nearly this much awesome shit. Even the slickest, coolest TSR package is just not as slick and cool as many of the great things produced today and largely funded through KS. May lord Satan bless Kickstarter and it's many wonders.
What are your favourite things you've pick up through KS?
ReplyDeleteGood question. MCC RPG for sure. I went all the way with that one. Black Hack 2. Mutant World. Old School Essentials. Come to think of it there are a few I backed and can't remember ever getting. There was a game published on something like an LP sleeve... what happened with that one?
DeleteI picked up the combined hard cover of OSE. I haven't decided if I like it or not. I have a soft spot for the originals and always use them instead. I got burned by a couple of kickstarters a few years ago and generally steer clear of them now.
ReplyDeleteOSE is incredible. The layout is delicious, the art is fantastic. It's all good. I also have great love for the original and tend to use it a lot. But I started using the OSE books at the table last year and they are super helpful. When you can just toss the spells book to your party's wizard it is a big benefit.
DeletePrince signed a contract where he had to produce so many albums for ten years and found his creativity dried up entirely. That's where the Artist formally known as Prince thing came from. I think Grognardia also ran into something similar. Some folks thrive under such pressure, some find it one more albatross around their neck. It's a great thing to recognized where you stand before commitments are made.
ReplyDeleteBut Kickstarter can be a great way to get the word out. You might consider using Kickstarter to turn a recently completed project into hardcopy. Something like that might take advantage of the advertising aspect of kickstarter without the negatives of having the entire project ahead of you.
Solid advice. thanks.
DeleteI like the idea of doing short, small KS campaigns for little projects too. Like something that is finished and I want to see if I can muster the funds to do a nice print version.