Games you failed your saving throw against

[Acmegamer]

I've had three bad experiences with kickstarters, and two of them were with Italian companies, which makes me wonder if this is something to do with their work culture?

One project was much delayed, and when I asked about it they said it's been shipped off so the delay must be with the local delivery service... but it turned out they haven't shipped it off and just lied. When confronted, they refused to admit or apologise.

Another one unilaterally decided after campaign ended to greatly expand the books, which resulted in a (so far) two years delay to delivery. All the while with minimal communication. The backers are all so tired of it that at their last update promising (finally) delivery there were zero comments.

I will admit that my experiences with them have made me a bit leery about backing a few other recent Italian origin Kickstarter projects that caught my eye. Also based on how Italian government protections work or don't work.

 

[Kobayashi]

Numenera - I was really hyped for this but in the end it didn't work for me (Cypher system does nothing for me and the world was a bit too "when everything's weird nothing really is").
Mutant Chronicles - first iteration of the 2d20 system, clunky as hell (you could hit with a machine gun and still do 0 damage). The "full cartoony" mood wasn't to my taste but that's personal. I'd tweak the Dragonbane rules to run it nowadays. Or be lazy and use CY_BORG for a one-shot.
Conan 2d20 - see above. There's a picture somewhere on the Pub of my almost full Conan 2d20 set. Apart from two adventures I sold the rest.
Trinity Continuum - especially Aeon as I had good memories of the original game... And it didn't click with me. I didn't care anymore for the setting or the rules. Nothing wrong with the game to be honest, more of a "don't date an old flame again" kind of thing

 

[Rich H]

I've had three bad experiences with kickstarters, and two of them were with Italian companies, which makes me wonder if this is something to do with their work culture?

It wouldn't surprise me. In addition, our Post Office owner has told me in no uncertain terms to not post to Italy, even with tracked and signed. Stuff just disappears far too often and there's little comeback barring a very drawn out insurance claim which often fails as signatures are produced but with no connection to a traceable individual. Bent as fuck.

 

[AsenRG]

It wouldn't surprise me. In addition, our Post Office owner has told me in no uncertain terms to not post to Italy, even with tracked and signed. Stuff just disappears far too often and there's little comeback barring a very drawn out insurance claim which often fails as signatures are produced but with no connection to a traceable individual. Bent as fuck.

It's alas a common problem that's not mentioned - when ordering to my country, I always use freight forwarders.

 

[Torque2100]

Coriolis.
As soon as I read up on this game and it's Mercy of the Icons campaign, I bought all of the books.

I'm a sucker for epic, multi-part published adventure trilogies that totally reshape the campaign setting.

Slightly off topic since I actually love Coriolis.

 

[chuckdee]

I'm on that Dias Ex and have just started ignoring it. He's always delivered before, so I'm just waiting until it's sorted so as it won't ruffle my feathers.

 

[Malckuss]

Coriolis.
As soon as I read up on this game and it's Mercy of the Icons campaign, I bought all of the books.

I'm a sucker for epic, multi-part published adventure trilogies that totally reshape the campaign setting.

Slightly off topic since I actually love Coriolis.

How do you feel about the most recent crowdfunder for Coriolis?

 

[Acmegamer]

I'm on that Dias Ex and have just started ignoring it. He's always delivered before, so I'm just waiting until it's sorted so as it won't ruffle my feathers.

Yep, that's what I was trying to do. I just need to ignore emails from him when he updates and wait for a shipping notice and then dig through everything in the folder of digital files. It's without a doubt the messiest project I've backed in that regard. He's got to stop fiddling, I don't trust a word he says until after it all ships.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I’d have to say Rifts.

My group was the right age when Rifts was coming out, and we weren’t discerning enough to realize how shitty the system was. Not only did I purchase way more books than I ever needed, I also picked up other Palladium games so we could convert characters from them to Rifts. So heroes Unlimited, Beyond the Supernatural, and Nightspawn were added to the collection and never actually played.

I still have all those books. They just sit in a box in my shed.

 

[Torque2100]

How do you feel about the most recent crowdfunder for Coriolis?

I like that it's a different setting. Having read the Coriolis supplements for the Third Horizon, and the Mercy of the Icons trilogy, the Third Horizon is pretty much cooked by the end. The world of the Third Horizon has been fundamentally altered. I really like that Free League was willing to take that kind of a risk.

I enjoy that the Great Dark is focused on a different part of this expansive universe. I am super stoked for The Great Dark.

 

[Triumvir]

In terms of money spent on books vs actual playtime, I would say Traveller. Hoping to remedy that one day soon. Although I will never be able to use all the stuff I collected (looks guiltily at computer folder of masses of MGT1e pdf's, and at the T5 slipcase on shelf).

Similarly, Call of Cthulhu. I have a shelf of dark forbidden tomes.

A few years ago, I backed a kickstarter at pdf level for a French RPG called Polaris, a sort of scifi-horror-postapoc game with an underwater setting. No idea why at this point - I don't even do kickstarters very often. The system looks fairly clunky and complex, and the setting is a bit daft, so there is no way I am ever going to play it.

I must admit I enjoyed re-reading the books again recently. (All in English translation by the way.) I get the sense the author loves his setting and the energy comes through. So, what's the issue with spending the price of a cinema ticket and a few pints on a book I enjoy.

I've saved vs RQ:G despite a love of the BRP family because I read it's inextricable from Glorantha, and for some reason that setting has never appealed to me. If the authors have been slagging off RQ3, then that's another reason not to waste my money on it.

 

[Skarg]

Hugely disappointing (practically unusable by me) RPG purchases I remember:

~1980:
D&D (white box)
Gamma World

~1984:
Starleader: Assault! (at least it only cost like $4)

~1990:
Talisanta (on sale at book store)

~1994:
Mage: The [whatever. . . Ascension?]
Some Ars Magica module I forget.

~1997:
Star Frontiers (someone's old collection at a thrift store)


(This is a more exclusive list than the list of RPG's I've bought but haven't played, but have some minor degree of interest in, or the various RPG things I've got for free or with near-zero expectations of being interesting.)

 

[PencilBoy99]

You can put me down for Cortex Prime, actually. I backed it. What I got was... not what I hoped for. If I'm going to spend that much time configuring and hacking a system, I want to be able to distribute it wherever I want, maybe make a little dough on it. I still get these regular emails about content they release for it, like I'm going to log on there all the time to get other people's content.

Agreed. I think Cam did his usual workmanlike job (I mean that in a good way, you give that guy a thing and he turns it into a better version of the thing) but it still seems to heavy for me to use.

 

[Acmegamer]

Hugely disappointing (practically unusable by me) RPG purchases I remember:

~1980:
D&D (white box)
Gamma World

~1984:
Starleader: Assault! (at least it only cost like $4)

~1990:
Talisanta (on sale at book store)

~1994:
Mage: The [whatever. . . Ascension?]
Some Ars Magica module I forget.

~1997:
Star Frontiers (someone's old collection at a thrift store)


(This is a more exclusive list than the list of RPG's I've bought but haven't played, but have some minor degree of interest in, or the various RPG things I've got for free or with near-zero expectations of being interesting.)

That's cause for you, your soul belongs to... taking the Trip!


*Ad from Dragon #39 1980.

 

[StonemountainG]

The game that has apparently cured me of Kickstarter weakness was called Unity RPG. I liked the idea of 2d10 core mechanics. The art looked slick and professional. The big, impressive, hardback book delivered in time, if I recall. I dove in and started reading it, but it just didn’t connect with me. I’m not entirely sure why. I think the setting was trying to cover too much ground, from fantasy to sci-fi. The races/classes were obviously thinly-veiled D&D to the point that I assumed the whole thing was based on a homebrew D&D campaign and then the system was bolted on later. Meanwhile, the compressed 2d10 scale didn’t distinguish the sample characters…. So, I only read half of the book and traded it for something else a few months later.

The Strange/Cypher System was a similar, earlier experience. Gack! Now I don’t much interest in buying any more big books based on shiny online presentations.

 

[Vargold]

I'll piss off the cultists here, but for me its Runequest. I really thought I had missed out by not being exposed to the system when I was younger, I bought all in on the posts and reviews, bought RQ:G slipcase and the (admittedly beautiful) Guide to Glorantha...and then didn't mesh with any of it at all. Ugh. Sold the RQ:Q standalone book, but the slipcase version of GtG still sit on my shelf...looking lovely, I guess?

I did the KS for 13th Age Glorantha, and the books are literally still in the box they were shipped in, and that box is still sealed.

 

[AsenRG]

Now I don’t much interest in buying any more big books based on shiny online presentations.

You're lucky to have got this lesson just based on two KS!

I mean, I know people (off this site, of course) who keep running into this same trap...

I did the KS for 13th Age Glorantha, and the books are literally still in the box they were shipped in, and that box is still sealed.

...at least do an unpacking video for your YouTube channel?

Also, Ebay is an option. Just sayin', is all...

 

[Endless Flight]

Ascendant.

Unnecessary complexity. I takes a lot for my eyes to glaze over when reading a rulebook but this one did that.

 

[Vargold]

You're lucky to have got this lesson just based on two KS!

I mean, I know people (off this site, of course) who keep running into this same trap...

...at least do an unpacking video for your YouTube channel?

Also, Ebay is an option. Just sayin', is all...

I think three things happened:

1. I had the books shipped to my building at work and not my house. So they went in my office and promptly got buried under all sorts of papers. Out of sight, out of mind.

2. Pandemic happened. Wasn't in the office for over a year.

3. Got into other games than 13th Age.

I will definitely get the box tomorrow and open it.

 

[Imaginos]

MongTrav2E - sitting here with so many of the books and thinking of getting rid of it all

 

[bleys21]

I did the KS for 13th Age Glorantha, and the books are literally still in the box they were shipped in, and that box is still sealed.

I kinda wish I had done that with the RQ:G slipcase. I had no reason to open it, really, but I did. It'd be a lot easier to sell as "new in shrinkwrap" vs. "pretty much new, except I opened it, looked at the books, then put them back..."

 

[Acmegamer]

MongTrav2E - sitting here with so many of the books and thinking of getting rid of it all

Just not a fan of Mongoose. They appear to learn lessons slowly and the quality of their books are always iffy, lots of errors, previous editions not having things like indexes. Their books from the ought's that I've gotten my hands on were even worse for previous mentioned. I feel that they use their customer base to pay for their (Mongoose) mistakes, repeatedly.

I have two companies that are basically on my "try not to buy from them" who have licenses of IP's I love. Mongoose for Traveller and Catalyst Games for BattleTech & ShadowRun. Both appear to have similar issues I mentioned already. They basically disgust me and piss me off.

 

[robb]

Just not a fan of Mongoose.

I had a lot of fun with Mgt1e. I think it is key that I only bought the core book and one other.
Many of their releases are meh. All of them are expensive. I recently got the Humble bundle of 2e.
I find it relatively easy to not give them money. Mind you I am more likely to run CT so yeah.

 

[Acmegamer]

I had a lot of fun with Mgt1e. I think it is key that I only bought the core book and one other.
Many of their releases are meh. All of them are expensive. I recently got the Humble bundle of 2e.
I find it relatively easy to not give them money. Mind you I am more likely to run CT so yeah.

Yup, more recently I've gotten the pdfs with Humble Bundle and I tend towards Cepheus or CT myself as well.

 

[Chris Brady]

Actually, I DO have something I fell for. Super Dungeon Explore: Legends by Ninja Division. A friend and I went in at about the 200USD level and nothing ever came of it. Since then, I don't do big KS. He reminded me about it today.

 

[Vargold]

Well, I opened the 13A Glorantha box ... and discovered that both the rulebook and the Glorantha Sourcebook had visible compression damage and creasing at their upper right corners. Which would have really pissed me off if I had encountered it in 2018 when they were packed and shipped.

 

[Vargold]

I'm inclined to sell these books off at a sizable discount ...

 

[NinjaWeasel]

Actually, I DO have something I fell for. Super Dungeon Explore: Legends by Ninja Division. A friend and I went in at about the 200USD level and nothing ever came of it. Since then, I don't do big KS. He reminded me about it today.

I sank £300 into that. Loved their earlier Super Dungeon stuff and remain gutted that it never delivered. Looking back it had all the hallmarks of being a disaster but I was blinded by the awesome miniatures!

 

[Imaginos]

I'm inclined to sell these books off at a sizable discount ...

If I hadn’t just purchased 2 copies of the 13A core I’d be jumping at this.

 

[Malckuss]

Ninja Division are the folks mainly responsible for the Robotech Tactics debacle, too. They only ever finished Wave 1 of the KS campaign, to my knowledge.

 

[Chris Brady]

Ninja Division are the folks mainly responsible for the Robotech Tactics debacle, too. They only ever finished Wave 1 of the KS campaign, to my knowledge.

Did not know this...

 

[remial]

for me it is Starfinder
I hate Pathfinder. loath it.
but I have all the Pathfinder books that aren't adventure path books in hardcopy sitting on my shelf. I have everything in PDF. I have the Starfinder society stuff. (I don't do third party, and if I ever run the game I won't allow it in all likelyhood)
HOWEVER
I've never played the game.
never run the game
don't currently have a group, so even if I wanted to run the game I can't.

 

[Triumvir]

for me it is Starfinder
I hate Pathfinder. loath it.
but I have all the Pathfinder books that aren't adventure path books in hardcopy sitting on my shelf. I have everything in PDF. I have the Starfinder society stuff. (I don't do third party, and if I ever run the game I won't allow it in all likelyhood)
HOWEVER
I've never played the game.
never run the game
don't currently have a group, so even if I wanted to run the game I can't.

Forgive me for asking, but how come you bought them?

Was it a case of buying a set of books in a rush of enthusiasm and then have the horrible sinking feeling of realising you hated it? I could certainly understand that - I have a collector streak a mile wide.

Oh and while I'm here - I think I might be about to fail vs Legend of the Five Rings. Anyone got any tips for fending off the urge??

 

[Telok]

I've never played the game.
never run the game
don't currently have a group, so even if I wanted to run the game I can't.

Last time I played (about 3 years ago now?) it was lots of "ignore all logic to make rule X not break your brain". Like the walrus space pirate operator who could... run? gallop? wiggle?... faster that people with jetpacks could fly. Not an anthro-walrus with legs, literally a flippers-and-blubber walrus with hands. There's pictures in the books.

Mostly its fantasy in "space" with guns and some pseudo technobabble on stuff. The constant gear treadmill is a bit dull and annoying. PCs need to specialize and lean into the class relevant stats & skills to keep up with the leveled dcs. Vehicles are an issue that wasn't well handled last time I checked. And a common hack is to drop all the spaceship stuff (its almost completely disconnected from regular play anyways) to use your preferred space fight boardgame or other rpg's space rules.

I dis it because I prefer something harder than cough syrup on the sf Mohs hardness scale, it plays a lot like standard d&d/pf, and the adventures we ran were tepid speed-of-plot railroads with terrible plot holes and logic fails we kept stumbling on. But it works really well for some people, its popular enough to stay printed, and the books are pretty.

 

[3rik]

The recent Hellboy RPG, including the GM screen. I went in knowing it was going to be shit. They're still in the shrinkwrap.

 

[AsenRG]

Last time I played (about 3 years ago now?) it was lots of "ignore all logic to make rule X not break your brain". Like the walrus space pirate operator who could... run? gallop? wiggle?... faster that people with jetpacks could fly. Not an anthro-walrus with legs, literally a flippers-and-blubber walrus with hands. There's pictures in the books.

Mostly its fantasy in "space" with guns and some pseudo technobabble on stuff. The constant gear treadmill is a bit dull and annoying. PCs need to specialize and lean into the class relevant stats & skills to keep up with the leveled dcs. Vehicles are an issue that wasn't well handled last time I checked. And a common hack is to drop all the spaceship stuff (its almost completely disconnected from regular play anyways) to use your preferred space fight boardgame or other rpg's space rules.

I dis it because I prefer something harder than cough syrup on the sf Mohs hardness scale, it plays a lot like standard d&d/pf, and the adventures we ran were tepid speed-of-plot railroads with terrible plot holes and logic fails we kept stumbling on. But it works really well for some people, its popular enough to stay printed, and the books are pretty.

...then why anyone buys it, is beyond me!

 

[Telok]

Is it a happy pony frolicking in the meadow, or is it a hideous abomination that'll run you down to suck out your brains?


Most people I know bought it as "science fiction using a familiar system". The pony turned out to be a zombie. And its still pretty.

 

[AsenRG]

Is it a happy pony frolicking in the meadow, or is it a hideous abomination that'll run you down to suck out your brains?

View attachment 81701
Most people I know bought it as "science fiction using a familiar system". The pony turned out to be a zombie. And its still pretty.

...OK, fair enough, I guess.

Though a part of me wonders whether you'd keep paying the pony because it's pretty.

 

[Telok]

...OK, fair enough, I guess.

Though a part of me wonders whether you'd keep paying the pony because it's pretty.

Pretty and popular equal good right?

Yeah yeah. I mean, I've got almost all of Classic Traveller and the Apollo 47 game in dead tree format. Love them. Probably I'll never get to run them straight, and certainly never going to get to play them. They aren't pretty, the hot new thing, or advertised all over the place, so people think they aren't any good.

 

[AsenRG]

Pretty and popular equal good right?

No.

Yeah yeah. I mean, I've got almost all of Classic Traveller and the Apollo 47 game in dead tree format. Love them. Probably I'll never get to run them straight, and certainly never going to get to play them.

...the last part really amazes me!

I can only wish you to be proven wrong. I mean, lots of young people understand "retro games"...

They aren't pretty, the hot new thing, or advertised all over the place, so people think they aren't any good.

Those people are just wrong!