Jaded Gamer Diary Kult fecal factor

It simply keeps getting deeper and deeper the more I look at the Kult Divinity Lost Kickstarter.  Seriously it does. 

Apparently they also don't want to hear from their backers about the system unless they spend $176 or over.  Because at that level you get:

* Access to the KULT Collector’s Forum, with previews, discussions, and early playtest access to the game before release."

So feedback and playtesting is restricted to those willing to drop more cash.  Which falls right into some thoughts on why they are being so hush hush on the rules.  They want people to back at these high levels so afterwards they can be the ones to actually see the rules. 

Really it seems like a blatant cash grab from fans no matter how you look at it.  Now let's see what other nuggets I can find.

What is the Player's Guide, exactly?
Exactly, we don’t know yet. We have a general idea, and it will be easy-to-access info that the players need at character generation and during actual play. Also, equipment stats, condensed versions of basic rules, etc.

The Players Guide is something they are offering as an add-on and they don't know what is going to be in it.  Yeah great planning there folks.

Will the KULT Bible,KULT Screen and similar add-ons be available once the Kickstarter concludes?
At this moment in time, the only confirmed items in this Kickstarter campaign that will be available after it is finished is the ILLUSION EDITION, the ENLIGHTENED EDITION, and the ELYSIUM EDITION

So in this world of print on demand they may not make the GM Screen or the bible available except to those who back the Kickstarter.  This smells like they only have plans to do what they have for this Kickstarter and then be done with the game if you ask me.

Now as for the rules all we are getting is the same example from their Facebook post only worded a little bit different.  PbtA fans are saying it looks like PbtA while some of the people running the Kickstarter are saying it's roots are in PbtA but it's not.  So far the only real changes they have mentioned are they are using D10's as the dice and the GM determine bad outcomes.

Last but not least I have to ask.

Why the fuck are people backing this sight unseen?  All they have given are some pretty pictures, promises and vague badly worded examples. 

Jaded Gamer Diary - People love to hate

People love to hate.  This is true of just about any group of people.  Anything negative and they will go all apeshit and response with more negativity causing even more to be created in it's process.  Although I have noticed to groups who love to wallow in the hate more than any other.  Those who are 'devoutly' religious and those who are gamers. 

Case in point, my Jaded Gamer Diary entries get more traffic than anything positive I've done.  Same with my Be A Better Player articles which are filled with snark and even the very short lived Rules For Asshole GM's got a lot of hits (I really need to restart that one). 

But a really nice showing of this happened recently.  Just a few scant weeks before John Wick blew the fucking roof off the mother with his 7th Sea second edition Kickstarter he wrote up an article that pissed off so many people.  I mean folks were downright angry over it.  But he also wrote a follow up article that was almost universally ignored. 

First he posted up "The Worst Adventure of All Times" in which he named 'Tomb of Horrors' the winner of that title.  Then he posted up "The Best Adventure of All Times" right after with the original 'Ravenloft' adventure getting the call.

Worst Adventure got 13k+ facebook shares, shitloads of comments, counter articles and people gnashing at the teeth over it  Best Adventure got 392 facebook shares, 13 comments (some of them still bitching about the Worst Adventure) and almost zero reaction.  It's all about the hate.

So next time you find yourself bitching about somebody being negative towards something about the gaming hobby you happen to like think for a moment.  Wouldn't it be more constructive to point out something positive?  Maybe add something to the hobby?  Well the answer is NO, it wouldn't amount to anything more than a small turd in a sewage plant because nobody really fucking cares about the positive things.

Hell why do you think I keep writing these things.

Oh you can find John Wicks articles over at his site: http://johnwickpresents.com/

Now go bitch at somebody about how much of a dick I am.

Jaded Gamer Diary Kult Divinities Joke

 

 

Well the new edition of Kult (aka Kult Divinity Lost) has me laughing even more now.  Originally I was staying the hell away from it because of the system they have decided to use.  Not to mention their claims of how the system 'fades' and all that.  See one of my previous Jaded Gamer Diary entries to read what I said earlier.  But now I have something more to laugh at.

Variant cover editions. 

Okay first off they are doing a standard game store copy version.  Then a copy of that won't be of game stores with the same covers except the woman on the cover has her breasts exposed.  Yes that's right there is a nipple edition.  Then a pure white cover edition, a red cover limited edition and then a blue limited edition.  THEN two other really limited editions (10 copies of each) with each copy being unique in some way.  THEN two one of a kind editions (only one copy of each) with exclusive material in each one. 

Talk about trying to bleed your fans dry.  What the fuck is this the comic industry in the nineties?  Waiting for the announcement of a trigate fold embossed holofoil edition now.  Can we get them polybagged with one of twelve different chase cards inserted randomly into each one?  If I order ten do I get a alternate art cover?  Shit, shouldn't be giving them any ideas there.

Then there is the absolute kicker here.  The price announced so far. 

"Price levels are not yet finalized, but the Illusion and Enlightened editions will be around $80, given the high quality production values.."

Just so you know the 'Illusion' edition is the regular store version while the 'Enlightened' edition is the nipple version.  Don't even want to think about how much those limited editions are going to cost.  But yeah eighty bucks for a RPG core book.  I think some others summed it up quite nicely.

"wow! 80$ is 60% more than Eclipse Phase Core rulebook with 400 pages..."

"Recognizing a KS has inherent project risk that can only be mitigated so much, $80 USD for a RPG game hardcover is too much for me. I really didn't expect this cost tier. I expected something like $50."

"$80 for one hardcover rulebook. Wow."

"80$ for actual play book...
How much will cost the pdf pledge?"

Yeah so some displeasure among fans over the estimated price point.  Especially for a fan base that has a habit of trying to collect everything for a game.  Personally it sounds to me like trying to milk a fanbase for every cent you can right off the bat. 

I was nope before on the game system they were going to use.  I am full on 'fuck that shit' now over the purchase cost and idiotic amount of variants they are doing.

Jaded Gamer Diary A third edition nope.

When do you need to make a special slipcase edition of a game?  Maybe after it's sold a certain amount of copies or achieved some sort of milestone I would think.  But how about releasing that as the basic regular release version?  Yeah that doesn't make sense to me either.  So when looking around for information about the upcoming third edition of Unknown Armies I came across a discussion taking place over at rpg.net and got involved a bit.  Now my excitement for this new edition has me thinking it won't be on my shopping list anytime soon.

"Our goal is a three-volume set in a slipcase that's also a GM screen with a magnetic clasp (slipcase unwraps to serve as screen)."

A three book core set.  What is this Dungeons and Dragons?  Honestly I was never one to fall into the multi-core book way of thinking.  I always like having one core book to run the game and then some sourcebooks so you could add in whatever you wanted along the way.  But if you want to run the game you have to have all three according to what we are hearing.  As a player you may only need one  BUT you may  have to buy all three to get it.

"Can you play the game with only one book? Yes, as a player. As the GM? Nope. You need the whole set. I don't know if we'll sell books individually in print, much of that rests on how our Kickstarter goes. So sign up and harden some notches in anticipation!"

But don't worry it's the same as a single book?

"The three-volume-slipcase thing is essentially the same as a single book only we're splitting it into three separate volumes. It'll be sold as a single unit. We're exploring options such as selling the PDFs as separate units or perhaps printing additional player's books, but generally you would want to pick up the core set as a single thing."

More like 'generally Atlas Games would like you to shell out for the core set as a single thing' because I'm not sure why a player would need the other two books and the fold out slipcase/GM Screen. 

This led to me finally asking a question that was hinted at by a few other posters as well.   I just asked it outright: "Is there a rough idea as to how much this core slipcase is going to cost yet?"  To which the answer I received was:

"We haven't finalized a retail price or any KS pricing details yet. But I would say cheaper than a Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual all thrown together for D&D."

So all they are saying is that it will be less than a hundred and fifty bucks.  So one can simply assume that this means it will be expensive.  The higher the cost the less likely people are going to be buying it because I'm sorry this isn't Dungeons and Dragons and Unknown Armies has never been a huge seller.  Meaning less sales which goes back to something else said earlier in the whole thing.

"As with all of our games from now on, supplements and additional product will depend on how well the game performs in the market and how much value we think we can add with more books."

Now for those of us who like to buy into games that have a chance of additional support coming out in the future this is a bit disheartening.  Also the promises of support is one of the things that helps encourage high initial buy in costs.  Every company that has produced Dungeons and Dragons knows this. 

So currently my backing or support of the new edition is down to 'nope'.  Much like Kult I already have all the previous material and this one isn't promising anything that would make me want to buy another new version.  Hell the way they are doing things it's making me not want to.  If it was one core book at a decent price point then I would be in but alas it is not so.

Be A Better Player 18 Sometimes you die

GM - “Well you failed your saving throw therefore your character takes full damage from the Magic Users attack. Which is (rolls dice) thirteen points.”

Player 1 - “What... wait... I don't have that many.”

Player 2 - “Don't worry man we'll avenge you, the rest of us will take him out in your name.”

GM - “Yeah I'm sorry but that does mean you have died from the attack.”

Player 1 - “But I loved this character!”

Player 3 - “That sucks man but we'll make sure you are honored for your sacrifice afterwards. Besides I'm sure your new character will be just as good.”

Player 1 - “I don't want a new character. I want this one. Can't you just say he's knocked out or something?”

GM - “I told you when we started this character death is final and we are going by the rules, it's more smash mouth, you said you liked the idea.”

Player 1 - “Yeah but that was before my character died!”

We've all been there unless you've been coddled your entire life as a RPG player. You get attached to your character, emotionally invested in it and then suddenly he takes his last paper breath as the dice do not go in your favor. All your goals that you set, all the ideas and all that times seems like it just went out the window.

It's how you handle it when this happens that is important.

First off, suck it up buttercup, shit happens and don't cry about it. That is part of the risk, the excitement and suspense of a lot of roleplaying games. You just never know if you will make it or not. It is what keeps people from going completely gonzo in the middle of a game and throwing away all caution. If you can't die then what the hell do you need to follow the rules for. Knowing that you can lose that character keeps you from walking up to the Ork King at level one and flicking him in the nose.

Second off, everyone else has probably lost a character before also. Stop acting like the unique snowflake you think you are. Nobody singled you out (except for maybe yourself by your choices) and there is likely no conspiracy among players and the GM against you (if there is then find another group). Sometimes you just don't rescue the princess and end up in a bloody pool. Look around at other gamers they'll tell you some of the same stories of how their characters died.

Third, use the opportunity to make a newer improved character. All the character generation choices you messed up on, the skills you wish you had, all that sort of stuff. Now is your chance to make a better character, or at least one that is just as good. Something new is also part of the excitement of roleplaying.

Fourth and finally, now you have a story to tell. “Remember that time my thief died while trying to sneak up behind the Magic User? That was so messed up!”.