without a doubt there will be some kickstarters (even rpg ones) that will fail to deliver.. I think there is one rpg that is 2 years old now and still no product.. a lot of this will be down to experience.. ie people that have none.. haveing no idea the process involved in getting an "acceptable" product to market.. the time, the money.. and I hate to say it but the little if any monetary gain in making RPG products .. of course you are unlikly to "loose" money on people that are know and/or already have a finished product..

If you want to follow RPG product croundfunding (not just kickstarter but indigogo and a couple (small) others).. I'd recomend following this thread

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?575 ... ccessories

I've been posting to it, and one or two other dedicated posters keeps it mostly up to date.. it is solely for RPG's.. everthing else gets erased pretty fast, ie a novel based on a RPG won't cut it.. It has just about every cround funding product posted not long after it starts.. some of the guys asking for funding will post there also.. some are long term members etc so you can PM them or ask em questions outright.. also at the moment "Sleeper" is posting 2 full updates a month, the start and the middle of all current cround funding rpg's..

I've funded 90 odd rpgs.. here is my kickstarter page.. http://www.kickstarter.com/profiles/524 ... ked?page=1 .. out of the 77 kickstarters, 10 are still fundng, 8 I have product for, 4 didn't fund.. and the rest I'm waiting on.. prob at least another 6 montsh for most of them.. maybe even more..

Brette:)

(edit.. having said that Raggi still owes me that first module that he advertised waaaaaayyyy back when.. emailed him about it since I remembered)

davidc wrote:I was a bit surprised for an established publisher like TLG to go the Kickstarter route

Why?  It's a fantastic way to estimate the potential market.

Maybe there are some products that companies are less certain about.  Those would be good KS candidates.

Presumably whatever KS takes (I think it's in the 10% range) is a lot less than the discount they'd have to give a distributor.  Direct sales = more profit.

davidc wrote:

TheHistorian wrote:
Why?  It's a fantastic way to estimate the potential market.

I suppose... I guess I was surprised because I figure a company like TLG would have a pretty good idea of their market... and they own a press so they can re-print as required more economically than most, and I don't know what the KS commission is, but it's not free.  Plus they have distribution thru game stores too.  I'm not 'shocked', just, well, surprised

Good on them though, like I said it must be working out ok.  If it brings more gaming goodies out to market, then I'm for it.  I'll mention that I probably did spend a bit more than I would have buying from, say, their on-line store... easy to pledge a round number on a package with the extras that get 'thrown in'  8)

The bgi rpg publishers can do a kickstarter-like system. They have their own web-sites and can already handle transactions online. They have no need to join in with smaller companies who perhaps need kickstarter to advertise and handle the pledge collecting (I'm thinking of WotC but also Paizo).

I think you mean amazon.