crowdfunding help

[Hasimir]

So I finally put out a complete version of my Dreamwake game.
You can read about it, and freely download it, at my website unPlayable_Games.

It's an ugly (but readable) gDocs-to-PDF porting of the rules' text.
But it is complete and playtested ... right now the only changes that can be expected are some minor point adjustments and some equally minor text clarifications, or the addition of tangential stuff like pre-gen characters.
So yeah... it is done.

Here I am asking for feedback about my I dead for a crowdfunding campaign, and suggestions on how to best make it.

First of all, my project is to rise money to pay for professional editing and layout.
Then, the money will go to professional illustrators... and I will need LOTS of pretty pictures.
You see, the game works in a way that allows players to create an original setting on the fly while playing, but this very structure also allows for players to stick to a pre-existant canonical setting with no need to previously know/study it.
It only takes a few supporting elements:
- Setting Seed
- Crunchy Bits
- World Deck

Thus, in my game, I offer my very own and original "Dreamwake" setting.
The Setting Seed is a very brief and very focused text that has to be read aloud.
Got it.
Crunchy Bits are bits of the standard game rules, pre-coocked by me to shape the active play in a setting-specific way ... they both inform players about how canon material IS, and how canon-like material CAN BE ... they are meant as practical examples, basic building blocks to kickstart everything else.
Got them.
A World Deck is a deck of cards that, in a very similar way to the Crunchy Bits, offer you targeted examples of how the setting IS, so that you can then explore it in a free and creative (yet canon-adherent) way.
It is basically a sourcebook you don't need to study.
Just start the game and either browse the cards for inspiration, or pick them randomly for insta-ideas about setting-specific Places, People, Things, Events, Creatures, etc.

And that is the tricky part.

The Dreamwake World Deck is not yet ready, so you won't find in the downloadable files.
I'm working on it.
The idea is to have each card show an ILLUSTRATION on one side, and a brief text descriprion on the other.
The text should avoid any "visual" information too, as they are already provided by the pretty picture on the other side :P

THAT takes a lot of illustrations, thus, a lot of money.
So I need the crowdfunding to pay for it.

The end product I envision will be a drop dead gorgeous thing made of a slim and professional rulebook and an awe inspiring deck of cards.

All in a digital only edition.
I don't want any printing and shipping shenanigans.
My game will be digital only ... on my part.
I may organize something with a high-quality and trusted PoD service, but that is something buyers will deal with separately.
The funds are meant to produce the digital edition.

And to this end, I also want the digital edition to be as usable as possible.
For example, the latest Shadowrun5 pdf is a high-quality full-color beast... but damn it loads fast even on my tiny netbook!
Apocalypse World, being b&w and with minimal graphics, loads slower o_O
Money will pay for THAT kind of pdf.

Also, has anyone seen the Nova Praxis "augmented pdf" ?
See a demo on YouTube.
It is basically a veeery interactive pdf with its own in-built navigation system, very usable from both desktop and tablet... it helps a lot in USING the book as a quick reference.
Money will pay for THAT kind of pdf.

I'm also working on a specially designed online dice-roller, fillable character sheets, and maybe an offline mobile-app version of both.
Funds will help this too.

- - -

So (after an accurate estimation of the costs needed to do all I need) I'm basically gonna ask for money in exchange for a digital-only release.
And a finger pointing to a good PoD service.

You think it can make sense?
Have any advise to help me do it succesfully?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Alessandro!

It does make sense ... but the question is whether the RPG crowdfunding social-commercial culture makes enough sense to see the sense. the past five years have produced a culture which is absolutely convinced that RPG kickstarts exist solely as order catalogues.

The only solution that I can see at present is to get your "ugly" version into an attractive version with elegant, simple graphics - and make it available for play for free or a small cost not associated with kickstarting at all, and promote the hell out of that. In other words, not to crowdfund new product but rather a new look for a product people already like.

Unfortunately, since the primary mode of promotion these days is to ... guess ... crowdfund!, there's a grey area which is currently not well developed. People like you and me are trying to map it and survive in it. It's an overlap zone between promotion of a good game and being able to afford a new look and feel for that game. And since furthermore, the RPG culture is accustomed to being impressed with the look and feel first, and only then considering whether it's a good game, the area gets every greyer, even without crowdfunding involved.

The main advice I can give is this: provide rewards for the backers (i) which are not the product, (ii)which are very cool, and (iii) cost you nothing after an initial investment. That way people can avoid the trap of saying, "why should I 'pay' $40 for a fucking PDF?"- it keeps your goal funded by their contributions and lets them (actually) pay for getting something.

The sooner RPG backers stop thinking of their crowdfunding contributions as payment for product the better off everyone will be. But five years of entrenched reinforcement of this toxic idea have landed us with a very filthy stable to clean.

Best, Ron

[Dan Maruschak]

I don't have any first-hand experience with it, but I wouldn't be surprised if you could work some kind of coupon-code system with a POD company like DriveThruCards so that what people would be "buying" from you in the kickstarter would be a coupon for a "free (just pay shipping)" game from the POD supplier.

Also, this may be a lot of work and therefore impractical, but have you considered the possibility of creating another setting that would work with public domain art or cheap stock photography? This could theoretically let you produce a "pretty" product on a more modest budget because it wouldn't require commissioning custom artwork, and you could keep your original plan in reserve until you've got the budget for it.

[Hasimir]

Thanks a lot Ron, and Dan too :)
I've also read a bunch of articles regarding e-books, ePub, webApps and the possible developments of digital publishing.
It made me re-think my production model...

I think I'll put the Art-Kickstarter on hold untill I have at least a minimum of player base.
In the meantime I've though of producing the digital version of the book as a free web-app ... basically a truly easy-to-use and interactive website meant to be browsed OFFLINE from any device.
It should make the "augmented PDF" of Nova Praxis blush with shame (I used it, and it is kind of heavy and slow and on Linux only properly works with Acrobat Reader).

This web-app should also offer a fillable character sheet, and a dedicated dice roller (Dreamwake rolls dice in a strange way, normal rollers are almost useless).

And it should all be free.
Money should come from donations... and from selling printed copies (through a PoD or some other kind of fulfillment service).