Jaded Gamer Diary - Daruma, Sla Industries, Nightfall Games....

Well that all went to hell rather quickly.  Okay so it took a couple years.  But now the Cannibal Sector 1 game for Sla Industries is all up in the air, legal actions are being threatened and all sorts of shady dealing are starting to come forth.

First up what was posted recently on the CS1 Kickstarter:

As of 22/06/2018 Nightfall Games Ltd (NFG) have terminated the license agreement with Daruma Productions Ltd for use of SLA material. Going forward NFG will work in association with Word Forge Games (WFG) to look at how best to complete and fulfill the Kickstarter. Be advised that at this time the SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1 Kickstarter campaign has no available funds. As such, fulfillment will be as a result of further investment from NFG and WFG. Drauma Productions Ltd is the company that still owns the Kickstarter debt, and although we have tried to purchase that debt, it has not been possible.

That’s the formal statement... but what does that mean to you, the backer? Well simply put, things have not worked out as planned. The Kickstarter dream that Daruma Productions Ltd pushed for was not realised. Exactly how and what went wrong we really can’t say at this point, but we at Nightfall Games recognise that SLA Industries needs to come out on top… and the game needs to be in your hands. As such, Nightfall Games has revoked the license that allowed the SLA Industries world and setting to be used by Daruma Productions Ltd and has formed a new relationship with Word Forge Games. WFG have a huge amount of experience in producing miniatures and miniature games and are working alongside us to consolidate what already exists for SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1, what is possible to finish off and what we can do get the game into your hands.

As you’ve probably seen on Facebook, work on the book, the main focus of the Kickstarter, has been ongoing in spite of setbacks. WFG has obtained the majority of the Daruma Productions Ltd SLA Industries stock (in lieu of payment for unpaid debt) and we are in a good place to resume the work on the Kickstarter once all of the legal crossed Ts and dotted Is have been dealt with.  

WFG will be completing a stock take during the next 2 weeks and once we know exactly what there is, we will share with you all and explain our plans in further detail. We are also in discussions over certain assets, which we expect resolution of in the same period.
We know you have not been treated as you (or we) would like to have been and we know this situation is far from ideal (believe us when we say, we wish this had played out differently), but please bear with us while we work out the details and figure out how best to do right by all of you awesome people that supported the campaign. We shall keep you updated as much as we can going forward – expect frequent updates and lots of work by the Nightfall team.

Our heartfelt thanks, apologies and respect,
Nightfall Games

Now that's all interesting.  BUT... now we get a post from Daruma on their Facebook page:

 Time to come clean - we have a big issue with fulfilling the Kickstarter, and also with being able to move forward in any meaningful way. The Kickstarter update which went out this evening was not from Daruma. Please let me be very clear and specific on this - that was not a Daruma update, it was made illegally by Mark Rapson of Wordforge - he was already informed not to use the Kickstarter logins that he'd been given and claimed to not have them, clearly a lie (he has also, against Kickstarter regulations, changed the passwords). The Nightfall team are desparate to save the Kickstarter, which we fully understand but unfortunately Dave and Jared have resigned from Daruma and given the Kickstarter logins to Word Forge Games, that they have taken this step is understandable but also, unfortunately.. illegal in several ways - ways that they were fully informed of prior to taking this action.

As all other 3 Directors resigned from Daruma before i became fully aware of just how difficult the situation was - i am, currently, last man standing as they clearly knew more than I did and jumped ship first. As there are a great many other debts owed by Daruma i have a legal obligation to follow a certain path.. a path which i will be following with some no small degree of sadness and reluctance and could not, until this point even discuss. Unfortunately.. this means that the stock which Nightfall has had transferred to Wordforge doesn't belong to them.. it still belongs to Daruma, even though i acknowledge Word Forge as a debt. And as such, any attempt to distribute or dispose of it will be illegal - as Daruma is about to commence down a path toward Liquidation.. we cannot and have not in any way shape or form agreed to a transfer of these goods, as Daruma doesn't actually own them at this point. Please let me reiterate that, for very relevant legal reasons - the other Creditors are all fully entitled to a share of any and all remaining assets that Daruma possess, every single one of those Creditors has the very same legal claim to those goods that Mark Rapson and Wordforge has and this action is in no way a Daruma action nor has been sanctioned by Daruma.
It is also the case that although Mark is now a Director with Nightfall and has the SLA IP, the CS1 IP is derivitive and belonged to Daruma as well, and we have not agreed to transfer that IP under any circumstances, and indeed i'm not sure we could do so given the current circumstance.

It may well be that there was a way to perhaps move forward with this regardless, and i was attempting to explore this avenue recently, with little success I might add as Mark Rapsons offer was simply not one i could accept, legally. As it stands, Mark has attacked me directly, personally, acted illegally and has seized, with Nightfalls support, a load of goods that i keep explaining to them.. they cannot take and cannot legally dispose of. If any of you have experience of the liquidation process then you understand the difficult situation in which i find myself - and why i'm taking this extraordinary step in revealing that i have been in discussion with the liquidators before the are "officially" called in. I know how bad this news is, and this is an update that i really wish i never had to make.. but unfortunately Nightfalls new association with Word Forge Games and the illegal actions they are taking have forced my hand - if any other Creditors are reading this, this is not a Daruma sanctioned action and has been taken as the results of some illegal and very dodgy backroom dealing. I'm so sorry.. but i think that these actions have brought an end to any possibility of moving forward and i will be informing the liquidators of this first thing on Monday Morning.

So now this all gets very interesting.  Now I feel rather justified in telling people not to back that Kickstarter in the first place.  Especially after some of the flak I caught over it.  Also justified for one of my older Jaded Gamer Diary posts in which I criticize the way Daruma does business. 

Time to get some popcorn and see where it all falls down now.