[S/Lay w/Me Kickstart] First draft at Kickstart site

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Em, Hi Julie!

Since the rewards aren't actually identified until after the Kickstart's over, it'll be impossible to limit the number pledging for any particular one of them. Perhaps I need to revise the nature of that reward ... or maybe the geographic limit is best kept in order to keep the numbers down, while allowing for on-line play with the app. (It seems wrong to offer a reward limited to playing in person when the whole point of the Kickstart is to promote the on-line play as being good!)

H'mmmm ... tricky, though. I think this is something I could well bring up to the others who've volunteered or accepted the invitation, to see what they think.

Best, Ron

[Steve Hickey]

Ron, have you given any further thought to Troy's suggestion? Having lower level pledge tiers ($1, $5, $10, or whatever) would give people who are interested in the Kickstarter but not the rewards the opportunity to pledge.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Steve,

I've seen all the arguments for the minimal pledge tiers, and I have no doubt they are always sincerely spoken and felt. However, I've concluded that they are mostly boilerplate in content. The Sorcerer Kickstart proceeded well without these tiers, and it is clearly a higher priority for me to "bump up" those who might donate $25 instead of $1, rather than "bump down" those who might donate $1 instead of $25.

I don't see the point in efforts toward attracting the mythical beasts who would donate $1 but nothing else, and who would feel "bad" (or something) if they don't see the tier. For the Sorcerer kickstart, not a single person complained about its absence, and believe me, if backers or potential backers have something to complain about, they will. Even if such backers aren't entirely mythical, I don't think they would offer a benefit except in astounding numbers.

This kind of pledge tier would also potentially force a distinction between those backers who get the basic PDF and those who don't, and I am seeking to drop the qualitative, non-firewalled backer distinctions on my end down to zero.

Finally, it would distract from the laser-like focus I'm bringing to this kickstart on exactly what the goal is and exactly what a reward is.

Best, Ron

[Joshua Bearden]

Been meaning to ask this for a while, its the one question that, in my mind at least, resolves any angst about shipping costs.  If one can pledge now and choose a reward later, can the backer not wait to see what shipping costs will be before committing to a reward the requires shipping?

[Ron Edwards]

Yeah, I'm following Nathan's advice on that one. If you follow the link in the relevant rewards, you go to an Adept page which summarizes shipping costs for the book, a package with one figure, and a package with both figures from their points of departure to a large number of destinations. I won't put in actual values until just before the kickstart in order to keep them as current as possible. I'm stipulating that I can't be more precise than that (e.g. if you live in some remote Australian town instead of Sydney), and that the reader needs to add in a few dollars more for the packaging and handling cost.
Best, Ron

[Steve Hickey]

That makes sense, Ron. The project's looking in really good shape to me, now.

One other thing: Each of the reward levels mentions getting the original game in .pdf, right away. The list of rewards you can choose mentions the new twice-as-big .pdf version of the game.

It might be worth emphasising just a touch more that these are two separate items. For instance, under "Rewards", you could say:

"Every backer receives a PDF of the original rules - perfectly functional, but not as spiffy as the *new version* you can pledge for *(it's the first item in the list below)*."

[Ron Edwards]

Done! I added a mysterious & interesting reward too that popped into my head. I'm certainly open to suggestions for more of them, which is the current topic at the Story Games thread. Which seems to have gained a frightening view count all of a sudden ... I hope it's not solely about "Ron shot off his mouth about Call of Cthulhu and was wrong-wrong-wrong," but it probably is.
Best, Ron

Adding this in: I think I'll keep the "open for suggestions" list item in the rewards during the kickstart itself. Why close it off to further good ideas tossed my way?

[Steve Hickey]

Hopefully not too controversial a question, but why the term 'reconciling' in the post-Forge/OSR reward? I'm curious about the goal for this G+ circle, and I don't quite get it at the moment.

[Christoph]

Hello Ron

There's a typo where you describe Google Hangouts: "currently the easiest method for one-line face-to-face interaction."

Also, I don't get what "(OBJ, but if you want the physical item, this is how)" is supposed to mean. Also, how am I supposed to understand the splattering of capitals/countries in the Real books & Miniatures page, especially since the same list is there three times, with just a different heading?

[Ron Edwards]

OBJ is a file type, so I'll indicate that with a period and perhaps a short phrase - think of it as PDF for minis. If you don't pay the extra for handling & postage, then you will get an electronic file which you can take to a casting service (I'll provide some suggestions in the next edit). If you want one or two little miniatures in a box in your mail, then you need to pay extra. So it's exactly like the book.

I'm sorry to learn that the shipping file isn't clear ...

Shipping a book and shipping a miniature are two different packages, handled and fulfilled by two different companies, sent from different places, so that means different amounts of money. There is no way that the minis and books can be sent in a single package, whereas a mini or minis (if you get two) are sent in a single package.

Therefore, the three headings indicate three kinds of packages. If you order the physical book, then you will have to pay a certain amount of money in addition to your pledge. The various cities will each have a dollar amount listed with each one, to provide an approximate cost to ship there.

If you order, say, one miniature, you'll have to pay a certain amount of money, in addition to your pledge ... and so on, just as above.

If you were to get the physical book and one or both miniatures, you'd pay handling + postage for two packages: one for the book (and you'd look at some listed capital in the book list to get an idea of how much you'd be paying) and one for the minis (and you'd look at some listed capital in either the one-mini or the two-minis list for the same reason).

The amounts aren't listed yet because (i) it'll mean talking to the printer and the caster to get their estimates and (ii) I'd like to wait until just before launch to be more sure about the postal rates.

If anyone could provide a good way to phrase this that does not look like a wargamer manual from 1970, I would appreciate it. The hell of it is that the concept is actually extremely easy.

Best, Ron

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Steve ... "finding common ground," is a better term for the reward description as such, so I'll use that. Unfortunately it's better because it's vaguer, not because it's more accurate. There's a lot to reconcile, if anyone were interested, and I think "finding common ground" is less accurate because there's nothing but common ground. But using "reconcile" means the reader starts looking all around for a fight, and given various gamer/geek fallacies, and their interesting manifestation in this case, simply acknowledging the existence of conflicts is grounds for all manner of suspicious and aversive responses. So I'll go with the euphemism.

Best, Ron

[Troy_Costisick]

Ron,

It looks like you've eliminated the "Play With ___________" and "I'll playtest your game" rewards from this Kickstart.  Is that correct?  Or did I just miss them?

Peace,

-Troy

[Ron Edwards]

They're gone. The "play with" ones kept confusing people about logistics, I couldn't figure out a way to organize them properly, and then finally I realized that their very existence were antithetical to a project goal whose point is that anyone can play with anyone.

I was sad to take down the playtesting one, but ... well, immodestly, I'd like to monetize my playtesting more consistently, perhaps even make it a general practice, and it needs to be priced higher than $25. People paid ten times that in the Sorcerer Kickstart; it's dumb to fling it out free by the handful in this one. Also, one of my ideas for a later Kickstart is all about playtesting fantasy RPGs. I was getting a little bit ahead of myself.

Best, Ron