A Kickstarter can only generate more funds if either 1) it causes significantly more people to buy the product than otherwise would, or 2) it causes buyers to pay significantly more per copy than they otherwise would. It's not clear to me how either of those would work. Aside from those things, it just moves more of the sales up front instead of later on. Often it does that by offering a discount, which is counter to purpose #2. Also, it costs money to run, and Kickstarter takes part of the proceeds, so it's got to do so by a large margin to be a net gain at all. I don't see how that would have worked, even ignoring the question about who is doing the work.

Kickstarters consistently generate extra sales. First of all, Kickstarter is its own network. There are literally thousands of RPG players on there that just browse around, looking for projects to back. Second, it tends to inspire a heave-ho, let's do this vibe. So if you get all the existing fans to say, heck yeah, let's get a version with better art, you can get a lot of people to commit to purchasing, because there is both a perceived benefit, and a perceived sense of urgency. Third, Kickstarter campaigns catch a lot of eyeballs. They get shared around on social media, on forums, etc.

In the case of RPG projects, PDF sales have virtually no overhead, so structuring the price structure of the project to be mostly PDFs all but guarantees profitability. In the case of hard copies, you can right-size your print run to maximize your savings on printing costs.

But to me the first question is: why not more stock art? You would probably need a custom piece for the blue people and for the hawk people, but most of the stuff in these books is pretty generic. If cost is an issue, why not just get a Dean Spencer prescription, or pick up some of Eric Lofgren's not-quite-as-overused options? All you really need is a catchy piece of cover art; if you can't find something you like, that isn't already over-used, spend your budget on that.

I've seen plenty of books with smaller audiences with more investment in the art. Rolemaster is a classic game with an existing audience. I don't understand how it went to print with such an uneven, unprofessional appearance.

GMs wanted to run Rolemaster and HARP demo games.

Is there any route to apply for this?

Quote from: Cory Magel on April 24, 2024, 12:06:19 AM

And, I'm sure, to a degree it literally is (actual cost) as there are no material costs involved and you can try as many times as you want to make something that looks cool. Sure, you have to pay for the program and your computer, but after that it's all simply your time - which is worth something, but not in the same way that $1000 is.

Sounds like creating digital imagery is about the same as being a writer/game designer, all you need is a cheap but functional computer and enough time on your hands to try and hit the right combination of keys to make up a product that someone else has to correct before publishing. 

I actually largely agree with that.  Many years ago, at a author panel at GenCon, I was asked how you 'get into' being an RPG writer.  My first response was that there were likely plenty of people in the audience that could come up with enough good RPG material to at least put out an expansion book and that the most difficult part of it was for the person to actually sit down and do it.  You just need good ideas and time.  But most people can't/won't dedicate the time needed.  It amazes me how many freelancers who actually do get hired for a project still don't deliver in the end.

I almost said it earlier, but when it comes to digital art I'd paint a very similar picture (ha! See what I did there?) with photography these days.  Professional photographers were concerned that digital cameras would start costing them business.  Because once film development was no longer a cost barrier everyone was going to become their own 'photographer'.  I mean, if you take a 1000 pictures odds are you're going to get lucky once in a while.  I have a good amount of photography gear (enough to consider an insurance rider) and I'd likely put myself, at best, on the middle-low end of an amateur photographer.  I took 10,000 pictures on a month long trip to the UK using the first ever Digital SLR camera and I got a lot of really cool pictures.  But I have many more that are duplicates (cause I was taking the same pic multiple times to make sure I got a good one) or just crap.  Yeah, maybe professionals do that too, but I couldn't make a living on it.  Couldn't consistently crank out quality photo's at a level where I'd consider myself worthy of charging someone to reliably shoot their wedding.

It should be 1 round per level.

I think there should be a Kickstarter for Rolemaster Unified: Better Art Version.

ICE's official statement is to not do kickstarters.