It's indeed very cool.

Well. Looks like there will be no refunds after all. From update #50 on the kickstarter page:

QuoteIn the last update, it seemed that we wouldn't be able to fulfill one version of the rewards despite our best efforts. Autarch's responsibility as a Kickstarter creator led me to offer refunds, as per their page on accountability: "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."

Now that we are in a position where we can fulfill all rewards and have a schedule for their delivery, we're no longer required to offer refunds. Although I'd like to continue doing so, my first responsibility has to be to deliver the cool stuff you pledged for. We gauged how much cool stuff we could produce based on the pledges we received, and an ongoing refund policy would threaten our ability to do so. To make up for the delays to date, Autarch will be providing backers with coupons for twice the value of your pledge and fulfilling the additional Domains at War bonus goal. We're confident that we won't incur any further delay and can meet the Gen Con and Christmas schedule announced in this update.

Because I also have a responsibility to live up to my word, refund requests received up to now will still be honored even though the circumstances no longer apply. Kickstarter's refund policy says "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," and in the interest of protecting our ability to make the cool stuff we promised, that's my hope as well.

Yours,

Tavis

Mike Nystul has one-upped JMal.

The updates are entertaining reading.  Between this one and two other funded Kickstarters, the guy raised almost $80k and blew it all before producing his game.

Damn!  I was seriously looking forward to Axes and Anvils.

Quote from: KenHR;642502Mike Nystul has one-upped JMal.

The updates are entertaining reading.  Between this one and two other funded Kickstarters, the guy raised almost $80k and blew it all before producing his game.

Apparently he's been receiving credit for being the origin of Nystul's Magic Aura (as seen on wikipedia), which Tim Kask denies vigorously (on a public post on FB).

QuoteI am repeatedly amazed and confounded by some of the claims made by people peripheral to the hobby and further amazed when they are not called on it.
A recent instance was brought to my attention by several people asking me if I knew an individual apparently involved in some very late Kickstarter projects.
It seems that this individual has been making a lot out of having worked at TSR for less than a year, and further makes a dubious and very likely specious claim to have had AD&D spells named after him (his real name, not a character name).
For this to have been true, that would have made him about 11 when Gary and I worked out the framework of AD&D. I don’t recall any 11 year-old contributors.
Gary has been quoted as saying he got the idea for the spell from a stage magician with the same name. I also think he may have gotten the name from a character by Clark Ashton Smith. (30 year old memories can be sketchy, as I have learned.) He did not get it from an 11 year old, and it is time for that individual to stop allowing others to give him false credit.
I realize that as the last creative person from that time period at TSR, it becomes my word against anyone else’s. But I WAS there, and I say the claim is undeserved.

Quote from: Benoist;642499Well. Looks like there will be no refunds after all. From update #50 on the kickstarter page:

Eh, that's not the impression that I got.  What I get from the text is that they'll honor refund requests if you have them, but they hope that if your refund was because you wouldn't be getting the LL version, or because it looked like the project just wasn't going to happen, that you'ld reconsider and wait a bit longer because now the project is moving forward again.

Not that it matters to me - I'm still interested in getting the pdf anyway.

Between reading the updates on Axes and Anvils and Cairn it seems to me that Nystul is, to put it mildly, an utter incompetent. He may be able to write good wordstuff but he seems to have constantly kept piling on more and more obligations (one suspects he's been using the funds of Kickstarters to fulfil the promises of previous Kickstarters) and showing bizarre failures of planning - for instance, his megadungeon project apparently requires 30 pieces of art he didn't plan on having, and wuh? How do you space on that? And even if you do space on it, how do you not say "You know, it'd be nice to have art there but since I haven't budgeted for it and the project really needs to get done anyway I'll forego it".

It seems that every time he's been called on to budget something or plan something he's spent too much money and taken too long to do it. Doesn't inspire confidence. People in the comments and on his Facebook (linked because that's where he was posting updates for a while) are talking about doing credit card chargebacks on him so I hope he's ready for a fat dose of poverty.

I want one of these failed Kickstarters to actually spend the money on hookers and blow, and to upload a YouTube video of them doing so.  Let's see The Hangover end-credits moments for that money, not this bullshit whine and then silence.

http://youtu.be/5rKeYtmR7rw

Quote from: Mistwell;642540I want one of these failed Kickstarters to actually spend the money on hookers and blow, and to upload a YouTube video of them doing so.  Let's see The Hangover end-credits moments for that money, not this bullshit whine and then silence.

http://youtu.be/5rKeYtmR7rw

What we should do is go to indiegogo, and set up a campaign to raise money for hookers and blow, and then waste the money on producing a roleplaying game.

If the campaign was funny/crazy enough, I'm sure one could raise money for hookers and blow on kickstarter.

Quote from: jcfiala;642543What we should do is go to indiegogo, and set up a campaign to raise money for hookers and blow, and then waste the money on producing a roleplaying game.

Brilliant!

Quote from: jcfiala;642543What we should do is go to indiegogo, and set up a campaign to raise money for hookers and blow, and then waste the money on producing a roleplaying game.

That's heading into performance art territory.

Quote from: jcfiala;642543What we should do is go to indiegogo, and set up a campaign to raise money for hookers and blow, and then waste the money on producing a roleplaying game.

Even better, make the game one where the players run scams on victims, collect the money, and get XP for what they squander on hookers & blow!!


Kickstarter the RPG!!

Quote from: jcfiala;642543What we should do is go to indiegogo, and set up a campaign to raise money for hookers and blow, and then waste the money on producing a roleplaying game.

A cunning plan, as cunning as a fox who's just been made Professor of Cunning at Oxford University.

This is reminding me of the board game Junta, where the goal is to be the one corrupt banana republic politician who steals the most foreign aid money for his Swiss bank account before the aid money dries up.  In the game, one hides from assassination attempts by fellow players in such places as "The Mistresses House" and "Nightclub".