Crowdfunding a Three-Ring Circus?

[Mach Front]

Considering the popularity of LL, and the success of the recent Swords & Wizardry Complete Kickstarter, I think it's high time for a LL core hardback Kickstart.

Over the years, I've bought many Lulu hardbacks.
Once, very few (perhaps 1 in 10) would have an issue with the pages being lumpy and crinkly when flipping through the book or turning the individual pages.
(I recall I read that this is a result of the glue being made to dry too quickly, thus 'drawing up' the pages that had otherwise been set in just fine an' dandy.)
Over the last year and a half, this issue has been (IME at least) apparent in every hardback I've ordered.
I've long wanted to get the Revised Core hardback with the corrected errata, but have been loathe to pull the trigger on the over 30 buck hardback since I know it won't be the great quality of my old Lulu purple book, the later purple book or my first (now unrepentantly battered) copy of the Revised.
I'm not fond of perfect bound softcovers, so getting the better quality softcover is not something I seriously consider.


tl;dr - I want a hardback option. The Lulu option has begun to be a great big suck. PLEASE consider a Kickstarter for a LL Core hardback!
Thank you and goodnight.

[jasmith]

tl;dr - I want a hardback option. The Lulu option has begun to be a great big suck. PLEASE consider a Kickstarter for a LL Core hardback!
Thank you and goodnight.

What Mach Front said!

[Goblinoid Games]

I could do something like that, for LL and AEC, but I would have to be upfront at the start that I probably wouldn't be able to do stretch goals. It would have to be a straight-up specialty preorder for hardbacks with another printer. Stretch goals are great but they eat time and I think are partly responsible for a lot of delays that happen with delivering kickstarter stuff. Also, they drain money. It's awesome to provide a stretch goal if you go 2000 above what you thought you would get in preorders...until the "bonus" item costs that 2000 to produce and ship. Also people forget that if you go above the initial goal you also have additional expenses to print and ship the extra books, so you might actually lose money with a stretch goal. I want to keep things simple and straight forward, if you get my drift. . With other things going on this would have to wait until 2013. I don't want to rush it if I do this so that I can account for errata and fix it across the board with the POD books as well. I might even need some help in compiling everything (Colin if you're reading this sorry I didn't reply to your email about the errata you compiled on the boards...been swamped and haven't looked at it yet). So I wouldn't want to even give a tentative time frame.

[Mach Front]

I'd better agree. You're makin' a lotta sense.

[smiler]

...To be honest, most of these projects just seem overpriced to me. I'd never pay $100 or whatever for ANY gaming product...

This is pretty much how I feel. I often see Kickstarters I'm interested in but when the "in" for a physical copy is $60+ before it's shipped to the UK it's just not an option, specially as my hobby budget is 0 at the moment.

A hardback LL would be really good and Kickstarter may be a good way of funding it, though I'm wary of the longevity of these projects. If the funding just covers the initial production what are the long term chances for a company using Kickstarter? Are they going to have to keep coming back to Kickstarter in order to fund all their projects? It doesn't seem sustainable, it's only a matter of time until someone fails to deliver and backers get cold feet.

[jasonmartin]

Of the several projects I've backed I don't believe I've once upped my pledge because of a stretch goal. As it is a couple of times I've found myself pledging more for an item than I would've normally paid, but I've done so willingly because I want to support the publisher.

[John Adams]

Honestly, I really like the way you ran your S&S crowdfunding, Dan. If I do another someday, that is exactly the way I would do it.

But I would help support a LL hardback (okay ANY LL) crowdfunding project too.

[Mark]

I would support it as well. As I've said previously, I'm not a big fan of stretch goals that deviate from the core project. However, peripheral things such as signed art prints, signed copies, extra copies, etc. that are directly part of the key project process occasionally raise my interest.

[Blood axe]

Free PDF adventures as stretch goals wouldnt cost you much. Probably just art costs.

[elf23]

So when's the kickstarter for this promised three-ring circus gonna start then? It sounds awesome, my money is down for it!