Quote from: danbuter;636788I am assuming JMal will never finish Dwimmermount. He's pretty much given up, from what I can see here. I figure that money is gone.

Well, that's the puzzling thing though - Dwimmermount is finished as a manuscript, it's just not in book form.

Even if he had blown through most the money, he could have worked out a deal to sell his copyright in it towards the liabilities to the artists and such, and used lulu or something to print it (it's like $10 to do so)

My guess is that he's had a sheltered life somewhat, and this could be the first really tough thing he's gone through, and he didn't handle it well. But who knows?

And honestly, I think the coupon thing from Autarch is kind of sneaky. Big companies did that all the time when they had defective products, instead of getting a refund, you'd get coupons that essentially were less than the profit margin a company made on an item. So they'd still be making money.

In this case, you get $10 off a product you'd probably wouldn't buy in the first place. So Autarch is still making money it wouldn't.  Only getting $5 instead of $15.

Quote from: Zachary The First;636778Dwimmermount's creator James Maliszewski signed a contract with Autarch...

Quote from: The Traveller;636785And the moral of the story is, never ever do business with someone based on trust, handshake deals, or verbal contracts. Especially if they aren't in the same jurisdiction.

And the moral of THIS story?

Quote from: Mistwell;636896And the moral of THIS story?

Be prepared to do your own enforcement.  Business is not a clean thing for a reason.

Quote from: Zachary The First;636778If it turns out we've got nothing on the shelves or on the slate that interests you, you'll be able to trade or sell your coupons to other people looking to get a good deal on Autarch's current and future catalog.

Using these coupons in no way affects your right to receive the Dwimmermount rewards you pledged for.

Quote from: JeremyR;636851And honestly, I think the coupon thing from Autarch is kind of sneaky. Big companies did that all the time when they had defective products, instead of getting a refund, you'd get coupons that essentially were less than the profit margin a company made on an item. So they'd still be making money.

In this case, you get $10 off a product you'd probably wouldn't buy in the first place. So Autarch is still making money it wouldn't.  Only getting $5 instead of $15.

Uh, given you can sell it to someone who does want an Autarch product, AND you can still get your rewards from the Kickstarter, I fail to see how this is "sneaky".  You're not forced to use the coupon, it's just a nice gesture that WILL coast Autarch some profits on products that have nothing to do with this project, for something that was not heir fault.

Quote from: Bradford C. Walker;636900Be prepared to do your own enforcement.  Business is not a clean thing for a reason.

Funny I thought it was "read the thread before commenting on it".

Quote from: Black Vulmea;636825it was Autarch's incredibly bad business decisions that put them in this circumstance

A written contract with a well known and established freelance publisher who had a history of having coming through on some prior projects, including with some of the other freelancers involved with this project, is an "incredibly bad business decision"?  Certainly there is room for criticism, but I think you're engaging in a bit of hyperbole here.  Tons of similar such agreements never come to fault.

Quoteand that what they're offering is their own brand of discounted birdcage liner to make up for it.

What else could they offer, given they do not have the money?  I am sure they are open to your suggestions.

Quote from: Mistwell;636902Funny I thought it was "read the thread before commenting on it".

Been there, done that, commenting as intended.

Quote from: Mistwell;636904A written contract with a well known and established freelance publisher who had a history of having coming through on some prior projects, including with some of the other freelancers involved with this project, is an "incredibly bad business decision"?

Wait for it . . .

Quote from: Mistwell;636904What else could they offer, given they do not have the money?

Turning over ALL of the money to Malszewski?

THAT incredibly bad business decision.

Quote from: JeremyR;636851And honestly, I think the coupon thing from Autarch is kind of sneaky. Big companies did that all the time when they had defective products, instead of getting a refund, you'd get coupons that essentially were less than the profit margin a company made on an item. So they'd still be making money.

In this case, you get $10 off a product you'd probably wouldn't buy in the first place. So Autarch is still making money it wouldn't.

*ding-ding!*

Well, I was wrong by thinking it was gross incompetence, and those who said James had absconded with the money were right. Kudos to you guys who called it early.

Still got my ten bucks worth of entertainment out of this, although I might as well have gotten most of it free. :rolleyes:

Quote from: Warthur;636847Reread the update, first section: Autarch had a written contract with James from the get-go. He still's still left them high and dry.

Oh right, I must have picked that up somewhere else.

Quote from: Mistwell;636902Funny I thought it was "read the thread before commenting on it".

Feh, this is the internet, I'm just here for the pictures and maybe the odd car analogy.

Out of all this new info, the thing that pisses me off more than anything is the freelancers James hired not getting paid for thier efforts.

Thats lower than low and James should be gutted for that. What a fucking tool.

This whole bloody deal has become so sordid it makes Dr. Strangelove seem like an innocent romantic comedy for girls in comparison.

I wish it all just fell out of collective consciousness and stopped souring conversation, but it's not going to happen.

This Dwimmermount deal is a real mess.  I'm not a backer, but I have been a reader of JMal's blog for several years and one thing I have no doubt about is the fact that he truly enjoys this hobby.  His knowledge of the history of rpging as well as his contributions to the hobby in the form of material on th eblog as well as several previous published works leave no doubt about that.  

That being the case I find it difficult to believe he would simply make off with the KS funds.  That would essentially mean going underground and relinguishing his public involvment with the hobby and I can't see him doing that.  I suspect the explanation for what has happened with Dwimmermount is a bit more nuanced than that.  

JMal has a history of producing stuff in the past.  He's got a couple published adventures and a full game (Thousand Suns) to his credit.  However, unless I'm mistaken I think those previous items were produced solely of his own volition according to his own time table.  There was nobody holding him to any specific production schedule.  It sounds to me like Dwimmermount became something much more "professional" than that.  I know for myself, as soon as something becomes "work" I start procrastinating.  Due dates suddenly become "the day when I need to really get down to work on that project thats been due for 2 months."  I was a poor student.    That may have contributed to JMal's problems...

Also, I think I read somewhere that JMal's dad had substance abuse issues.  If that was the case, its pretty possible he had no health insurance.  I could see a terrible situation where JM's dad is in the hospital room in terrible pain and the doctor says that can be alleviated but it'll cost 5 grand a week and James starts writing cheques.  It wouldn't take long to burn through $40,000 in medical expenses.  

None of the above absolves JMal of repsonsibility or blame of course, but it might cast the situation in a slightly different moral light.  I could at least sort of understand the situation under those circumstances as opposed to the idea that a guy who'd spent years taking part in a community and had developed a pretty substantial "name" in that community would just take off with 40 grand...

Quote from: JeremyR;636851And honestly, I think the coupon thing from Autarch is kind of sneaky. Big companies did that all the time when they had defective products, instead of getting a refund, you'd get coupons that essentially were less than the profit margin a company made on an item. So they'd still be making money.

In this case, you get $10 off a product you'd probably wouldn't buy in the first place. So Autarch is still making money it wouldn't.  Only getting $5 instead of $15.

I don't see this as sneaky. Its an attempt to pick up a ball that someone else dropped. I have been interested in checking out ACKS and now I will.

I will get something for my Dwimmermount investment and Autarch may get a new ACKS fan out of the deal. I'm ok with the offer and don't hold any bad feelings against Autarch for making it, nor do I put them on so high a pedestal that I won't claim it.

They are making the best out of a deal gone to shit that they can.