Kickstarter has now added a feature where you can mark delivery of projects you have backed, so I’m going through my list and verifying delivery. Since I’ve backed 400+ projects, this will take a while, and I’ll update this post as I go. Along the way, I discovered some projects with…oh…let’s call them “unreasonable delays”. I thought I’d mention them here for posterity.

I should start by mentioning that, at its core, Kickstarter is a risk transfer machine. The financial uncertainty of a project traditionally borne by the creator (or, perhaps, a publisher) is moved to the backers. This works because a) the meet-your-goal-or-get-nothing approach protects the backer from projects that can’t gather enough interest to be viable and b) because most of the time the creator delivers. (Given the number of projects I’ve backed, it should be obvious that I like this system quite a bit.)

The flip side is that, should the creator not deliver, the backers are left holding the bag and, realistically, there isn’t much they can do about it. Oh, you might entertain fantasies of some sort of legal suit, or punching the guy in the face or something, but neither is really viable. You know this going in. That’s why it’s called “risk”. I’ve not come across any cases of genuine fraud; usually a failed creator had the best of intentions, but couldn’t see them through. But the creator runs a risk as well, not financial, but of reputation. No one backs a failed creator twice.

Which brings us to the following projects (note: the “prognosis” section are my own opinions, not official project statements):

e20 System Evolved

Creator Gary M. Sarli
Funded 16 Mar 2010
Category Role-playing game
History Based on the strength of Star Wars Saga Edition, I backed this heavily. I even lobbied for it on my blog, which I almost never do. The project’s last update is from 27 Dec 2011. The creator’s last update to his own forum was 4 Dec 2011.
Prognosis This project will never be delivered. The creator had some sort of a financial/mental breakdown and has more or less vanished.

Aruneus

Creator Ben Gerber
Funded 23 Aug 2010
Category Role-playing game
History Last update made on 10 May 2012, releasing a supplement to the product not yet completed. Prior updates mention problems, including shoulder reconstruction.
Prognosis This may still deliver, but I’m not holding my breath. The same creator has since run another Kickstarter which already delivered.

Powerchords

Creator Phil Brucato
Funded 1 Oct 2010
Category Role-playing game
History While updates have been constant (and overly abundant), they haven’t consisted of much other than mentions of endless tinkering with the text.
Prognosis This project has become the poster child for flaky role-playing projects (and has led to a good rule of thumb for such projects: only back projects that have already been written). It may ship eventually, but I’m past the point of caring.

PeriodicTable of Elements Dice

Creator Andrew Inaba
Funded 28 Mar 2011
Category Dice
History According to updates, the dice were produced, but most were destroyed during shipping. Refunds were promised, but never delivered. The creator’s web site no longer exists.
Prognosis It’s possible this was just all bad luck, but it smells more like fraud. Either way, no dice.

Wreck Age

Creator Hyacinth Games
Funded 28 Dec 2011
Category Role-playing game
History Last update on 28 Feb 2013, still talking about completing a few chapters.
Prognosis This smells like it will probably ship eventually, but not in a hurry.

Quantum Roleplaying Game

Creator Joshua Frost
Funded 30 Dec 2011
Category Role-playing game
History Last update on 6 May 2014, calling the project “dead”.
Prognosis Creator used the project funds as venture capital or his roleplaying company (and, possibly, to pay rent and such). The text of the project may see the light of day, as it was largely completed.

Warren C. Norwood’s Double Spiral War RPG (Savage Worlds)

Creator Battlefield Press, Inc.
Funded 31 Jan 2012
Category Role-playing game
History Though it ran into a number of delays, this book was apparently done by the end of 2012. Then it looks like the licensor hated it and went all prima donna. It has been revised for her approval, but none has been forthcoming. In the meantime, the creator has run six other Kickstarters, including this same setting for a different system (Traveller).
Prognosis Since it appears that the licensor doesn’t really know what she is doing, I’ll be stunned if this ever gets released, even though the creators seem good.

RISUS Free Adventure Project 2012

Creator S. John Ross
Funded 1 Apr 2012
Category Role-playing game
History What started as a pitch for a single adventure for RISUS has been basically sabotaged by feature creep. First by stretch goals that turned one adventure into five. Then by the creator using the adventures as a springboard for creating a new edition of the entire game, plus supplements, and insisting on finishing them prior to finishing the adventures.
Prognosis Since all this looks like it will be released for free fairly soon, its hard to get hugely bent out of shape about it, and, it probably really will be awesome whenever it is done. Still, probably good object lessons in here someplace.

Dwimmermount

Creator Autarch
Funded 14 Apr 2012
Category Role-playing game
History Update from 13 Mar 2013: “Dwimmermount’s creator James Maliszewski signed a contract with Autarch that transferred the money we raised on Kickstarter and the responsibility for delivering the promised rewards to him. We understand that James is grieving for his father, but we have to confront the fact that he is currently not living up to this responsibility”. Since then others have taken over, with updates coming progressively less frequent.
Prognosis I’m guessing this will eventually deliver, but not until the very end of 2014, at least.

Nystul’s Infinite Dungeon

Creator Mike Nystul
Funded 3 Jun 2012
Category Role-playing game
History About a year after funding, the creator handed over the responsibility to produce this product to someone else. They seem in no hurry to release it.
Prognosis This will likely ship eventually, but not by any predictable time.

Auror’s Tale

Creator Leo Kei Angelos
Funded 6 Jul 2012
Category Web video series
History One episode of this three-episode series was produced, then all updating stops. Given the creator moved and the series may possibly (reading between the lines) have had some legal trouble with Warner Brothers…
Prognosis This reads very much like the creator just didn’t know what he was doing, mostly in terms of fulfillment. The rest of these episodes will never be created.

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