Kickstarter

[Adunaphel]

So,

I was looking through the trade adds, and I noticed some deals for kickstarter games. Before the other day, I vaguely knew about kickstarter.

What I would like to know is how well it has worked for the "investors", ie gamers?

Do most of the games actually get off the ground?

What is up with the HUGE markups on here and ebay for kickstarter sets?
I guess I can see the whole, "hey, I get in early and now if you want this stuff you are going to have to pay a LOT of money". But, it seems to be very inflated.

Is there a way to track which games have gone through kickstarter. Kickstarter's search engine isn't so good. So, I was wondering if there is another website that tracks games better than they do.

Lastly, what games have come through kickstarter that you were interested in. I think there was one of the space battle miniature games that I was interested in (but I forgot the name of it) and Sedition Wars looks pretty cool. Zombicide seems to get good ratings.

Thanks for any answers or insight. Sorry for so many questions, but it intrigues me, and like usual, I am late to the party.

Karl

[s_o_r_r_o_w]

I bought Zombicide (backed by Cool Mini), the Reaper Bones KS, and the DragonForge Knight titans.

The Zombicide stuff arrived in good order. I am waiting on Reaper and DF.

I think the inflated prices are because to the special/limited/exclusive content that is offered as an incentive with the KS for backers.

Anything I've bought has been a great deal--so keep your eye on them in the future.

[MagickalMemories]

[Moved from Bartertown Information forum to Discussion forum]

The higher prices are for the extra content. I bought Zombicide expecting to use it. I realized after getting it that I had almost nobody to play it with. Rather than just sit on it unnecessarily, I sold it on feebay.
I got over $200 for it (that's more than double what I paid). I can absolutely see why I'd do it.

I also supported the Blackwater Gulch Kickstarters (both of them). My first set is on the way (address screw up with Game Salute caused the delay). I would have supported the Reaper one, if I'd had the spare bones at the time (no pun intended, for those who see the reference).

I do know that some of the highly anticipated games are being delayed (OGRE comes to mind).

Myself, I don't see the prices as inflated. I spend around $100 for the Zombicide game, IIRC, and got the MSRP $90 game and a ton of extras. Seems like a deal to me. Now, granted, I could get that $90 game for 25 to 30% off all day long at some online retailers, but I wouldn't have had the extras...and I've already shown the value some people place on those KS extras.

..Speaking of which, MAN, I'd love to get my hands on one of those creepy dolls from the Malifaux RPG Kickstarter for my daughter.

Eric

[Adunaphel]

Thanks for the answers. I think it was Dropzone Commander was the game that was on Kickstarter. Am I right?

It's interesting. I really like the idea of it, but there doesn't seem to be too much on there right now that fits into the "I buy it for $100.00 and sell it for $250ish".
I would think that it would make sense to go in for two copies and keep one and sell the other for the cost of both.

So far, Sedition Wars, Zombicide, and Dropzone Commander look like winners. The Steampunk rules for Pathfinder seem cool also.

I will have to keep an eye on it. My problem right now is that everything that is cool is over...

I like the mini's for Rivet Wars, but the game itself looks like it might not be all that great. The mini's have a lot of character though.

Karl

[Bahamut_Dragonlord]

I think all the CoolMiniorNot games have been well supported and the models all look amazing. Rivet Wars looks really cool. I didn't look to far into the game play since the price-point for the game was a bit out of reach for me at the moment.

[porkuslime]

I have gotten into the Blackwater Gulch kickstarters, Reaper Bones (in a 4 person split), Guilds of Cadwallon (CMON) and Mantic's Dreadball.

So far.. Dreadball showed up when promised, and is a very cool game. I like the miniatures, but in hand, they are "truescale 28mm" which makes me feel they are fiddly small. My BWG stuff got delayed because of how the distributor handled it, but was not horribly outrageous.

I have committed to the second BWG kickstarter, but, at the moment, I have no real ideas on what else I may care to support.

I do keep an eye out for other board game kickstarts, as my local board game group has 2 games that rock from other kickstarters. (I don't recall the names though).

-P

[warlordgarou]

I'm currently tapped out on Kickstarters - between the Reaper Bones, the Relic Knights, Traveller and Ogre, I have had to take a break. Otherwise, yeah - the Rivets, Blackwater Gulch and Dreadball all would have gotten something from me.

IME, most of them arrive late, but I'm looking at it as a very advance pre-order. I probably won't be doing any until the spring, however, in order to give my bank account some time to recover.

[jul]

i did the Relic Knights one as i was already lurking on the models before. At that point, i did it only for the models.
Sedition wars got my intention, but not sure if i would have play the game and at the end, although the models are of great quality and finesse, the setting wasn't that appealing to me.

Zombicide, i caught up too late.

Rivets wars seems fun, like Dust-fun and maybe a good start for my son (he played all missions of Dust and Space Hulk so far), i probably going to get one set.

Kickstarter is a good way to develop products that would otherwise ask for too much resources. Obviously the goal is set quite low and under the real cost to attract the most participants and that's the idea (i.e. Reaver got loads of financing that way).

the mark up for ebay is also due that most of the models available through the kickstarter won't be available at the initial release and/or with a higher price tag. One Shot for Relic knights is already a 50$ model, with the saviour pledge, you got 20-25 models for 100$

i will certainly continue to check what's there, but only invest in what is really appealing to me, got too many unplayed games at home already...

J

[Adunaphel]

i will certainly continue to check what's there, but only invest in what is really appealing to me, got too many unplayed games at home already...

I know the feeling. Now that I have completely given up on GW, I have found that I have money for all kinds of interesting games. I missed the boat on Sedition Wars and Zombicide (which looks VERY cool). I will probably end up picking up a copy of both, as I like the figures and the games look to be top notch. So, I can still have my modeling fun without spending $100's and $100's on just one army.

Unfortunately, right now there is not too much that interests me on Kickstarter. The Rick Priestly game (Gates of Antarra or whatever) looks kind of cool, but I hate the idea of buying into a particular army without knowing what it is going to look like. Rivet Wars looks cool and 12 Realms looks like one that my family would like, but they have big price tags and not too much in the way of stretch goals to make it appealing to my investor side (in case I decide to sell the set and try to recoup money).

Karl

[MEDEVL]

Good lord! I just saw the Reaper Bones Kickstarter and it was awesome!! Wish I'd know about that one sooner. I don't even play RPG but to have that amount of minis for that price is to good to be true!

[MagickalMemories]

Yeah. Funds were nonexistent at that time, or I'd have gotten in. It was an incredible deal.
I REALLY wanted some of the extra add-ons, too.

Le Sigh.

Eric

[kturock]

I looked at Dreadball alot.. I talked to the local gamers but no one was interested. They thought Bloodbowl was enough if they ever wanted to play again.
I wasn't about to drop $$$ to be the only player.

[Notsure3k]

You can make your money back on these if you buy two and sell one or just buy one to sell. The problem is you are giving someone $200 - $600 ( I am looking at you Kingdom Death) to hold that money for 6-12 months before you even get the first part of the shipment.

[mardaddy601]

You definately need to do your research on the sponsors/designers/folks involved with the lesser-known offerings.

Established and reputable designers and retailers like those mentioned so far in this thread are fine, but I've read some warnings on TMP about the reputations of some designers/companies making Kickstarter offerings. I don't know enough about Kickstarter to know if the format is ripe for fraud or taking advantage of people, but thought I'd bring up the obvious: Do your due diligence, and buyer beware.

[LunaticDreams]

i did both blackwater gulchs, the deepwars one, a couple europe 15mm scifi ones, the pathfinder mmo uo like one and currently in on one for blackhat minis. so far ive never had any problems.