Kickstarter Status Update

Because I haven't done a full Kickstarter update since ... January. Apparently. So I'm not probably going to touch on everything - just the standouts in terms of speed and/or quality.  And it's crazy-long.

Here's where I stand on Kickstarter:

Currently Live:
Gattai Bushido: Fusion - This has about a week to go, and has hit its goal.  The project creator successfully fulfilled his previous game (and it's good), and he's someone that I have (in the meantime) gotten to know personally. And he is a fantastic human being who deserves your money.

That ... that can't be right.  That's the only project I'm currently backing.

Huh.

Fulfilled:
I'm going to do this in reverse order of funding date, because that is how my spreadsheet is organized.

13th Age Coins and Tokens - Funded 5/27. Delivered 8/29.  It's by the Campaign Coins folks, so the quality was never a question. Neither was their ability to deliver. I was still surprised at the speed.

Polaris - this is a French-translated RPG that I've been excited about since I first encountered it about a decade ago. French games tend to have production values that are crazy-high, and this game is gorgeous. Well worth the money spent, and it delivered two full-size hardcover books and a smaller hardcover in three months.

7th Sea - The core book delivered in four months. Now there are about a billion stretch goal PDFs to follow - but I have faith that they'll make it.

World Wide Wrestling: International Incident - I enjoyed the core book, and couldn't resist backing this one, either. Six months from funding to delivery.

Street Kings - I'll write more about this once I've played it a bit more. But I know some of the folks behind the project, so backing was a no-brainer. As an interesting bonus, they included a link to this blog in their rulebook - not something I paid for or asked for or even mentioned.

Burning Wheel Codex - I love The Burning Wheel.  I really do. But the fact that the core book kept telling me to refer to long out-of-print books that are selling for stupid amounts of money was annoying (even though I had those books). This fixed that.  I backed this, then the crazy wizard language they used in the project annoyed me enough that I un-backed.  And then backed again.  Six months funding-to-delivery.

Mana Surge - a small, fairly light card game that a friend of mine wrote. I actually got to play a playtest version of this one a few times. A couple of playtest versions, actually.  A fun game, and I'm glad I backed it.

Epic - this game, from the Star Realms team is gathering dust on my shelf. I haven't even looked at the rulebook.  I have a hunch it'll be good, but ... I don't know.

Mare Nostrum: Empires - I have the original Mare Nostrum (and its expansion). But the new edition called to me.  And it's really good. It's a drier trading-themed game with some combat, so it won't be to everyone's liking, though.

Grimtooth's Traps - they did a collected/deluxe edition. It collects all of the originals and adds a few more. Grimtooth has always been good for a laugh.

Esteren: Occultism - I think that Shadows of Esteren is one of the more thematic games out there. It's quite good, and all of its supporting material has been equally as good. Another of those French-translated games with crazy-good production values.

Riders: A Game About Cheating Doomsday - I've written this before, and I'll say it again: Buy this game.

Demon  Hunters - I'm a fan of the films that this is based on. They're cheesy and low-budget and very funny. From the same team that did The Gamers. And I have the old Cortex-based version of this game.  This new edition threw out that rule set and created its own - and it's fantastic.

TimeWatch - this Gumshoe-system game funded in February of 2014 and delivered in August. It's ... good. There are some really neat things in here. But I don't know if it's "two-years-late" good.  Of course, I'm still reading.

A Bit Late
Blue Rose was due in August. It looks like the PDFs are due this month. So late, but not enough to worry about.

Starting To Get Annoyed
Short Order Heroes: Theme Packs - These were due in September of 2015. I have faith that I'll eventually get them, but I'd like more and more regular updates. I've REALLY loved the Short Order Heroes line of products so far.

13th Age in Glorantha - Due July 2015. Very infrequent updates. It's another where I know I'm eventually going to get it, but the constant delays are annoying.

Tales From the Floating Vagabond - Due April 2014. Lee has had some serious medical issues - and he's given refunds to several folks who have asked. So I'm gonna tough this one out, but it's getting frustrating.

Alas, Vegas - I knew when I backed this that it was going to be late. James Wallis has always been late with his delivery, even when he was Hogshead. But that was fine, because his lateness usually equated to high quality. But this is reaching the point of crazy.

Starting to Worry
Fae Nightmares - I got the PDF for this in September of 2014. And it's still not available for general sale. And the print edition still has yet to appear.  UPDATE: Between the time I wrote this entry and the time it published, Fae Nightmares went live on DTRPG. Not at its final price, yet, but still theoretically available.

Seriously: Where is My Stuff?
Synnibarr - I'm glad I'm not behind the scenes on this. I backed for three print books, and I have received one PDF.  Twice, because at one point they deleted it (and killed it from folks' libraries) and re-issued instead of just updating the PDF.

Far West - About a month ago, he promised to start releasing "beta" versions of the work "next week."  I had to go to my Attorney General to get a partial refund on this. But I'm still in for $10. And if you ask Gareth, it'll be out "real soon now." You know: Just like he's said for the last five years.

Powerchords - Goalposts moved. And moved. And moved. In May, we were told it was in editing. And was nearly done. But Phil does respond to e-mail. He has just stopped updating backers.