DnD Starter Set not an RPG

Well according to the WPN page over on the Wizards site the Dungeons and Dragons Starter Set is no longer an introductory set to the roleplaying game. In that short little description they refer to it as a board game twice. Even calling it the "ultimate Dungeons and Dragons-inspired board game". 

This really says all you need to know about the direction that Hasbro is wanting the game to go. But I guess they don't know that Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying went this direction for a while as well. All pieces and parts with the least amount of roleplay as possible. That version was ultimately scrapped and they went back to a standard ttrpg design.

So with this being the new Starter Set and it not being a RPG I'm not sure what to recommend to folks who want to dip their toes into the DnD hobby. Guess some other starter for another game line. 

List of artists Midjourney scraped

 

Well it appears that things aren't going well for the Midjourney AI art generator folks right at the moment. They've been made to release a list of artists and sources they trained their AI with. 

You can find that list RIGHT THERE.

So many folks on there. Elmore, Easley, Brom, Frazetta, Kirby, Steranko, Foglio... the list just goes on and on. They even went and used Studio Ghibli imagery, stuff from video game companies, just anywhere they wanted. Don't see Midjourney being around for much longer as the lawsuits are probably going to start getting really heavy here soon.

Buy the Hobby Shop Museum

So you want to buy a museum? One that's dedicated to the roleplaying game hobbies roots and where it's gone from there? Well look no further you can buy one right now! That's right the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum that some folks have been raving about (I mean twenty people or so...) is now up for sale!

All for the ultra affordable price of just five million dollars. 

That's right I said five fucking million dollars. 

LeNassa must be high if he thinks anyone will pay this. Probably still think WotC will buy it off of him just like he knew they were going to settle with him out of court with him being on the plus side. But the grifter has bills to pay, like lots and lots of legal bills. Along with a lot more legal bills coming. Not five million worth but he's just trying to get enough so he can not do anything for the rest of life.

I would say some of this would probably go to help pay for the medical expenses of Ernie Gygax but I highly doubt that. LeNassa would vanish into the night just as soon as the money hit his bank account. 

So here is the full real estate listing for the property:

https://www.atproperties.com/1857630/723-williams-st-lake-geneva-wisconsin-53147-swi

There is a nice gallery to look through. The place doesn't look to bad. The big TSR in the tiles of the driveway are a neat touch. All in all pretty damned sweet. Not 5 million dollars of sweet though.

What I would like point out is that at the end of the gallery is the membership rates for sponsoring the place. Along with all the benefits endowed to the people who pay. Which means one would likely still have to honor all of those folks if you were to buy this turkey... I mean, buy this museum and try to keep it open just as it was. You would get none of what they have paid in, that's already in the black hole that is LaNassa's wallet, and you would have to give folks free drinks, coffee, donuts, food and all sorts of other things.

What the hell really?

Hopefully nobody is suckered into buying this place.

Jaded Gamer Diary - Scumbag alert

 

Alright folks here's a scumbag alert for a person that several TTRPG folks seem to be following over on Twitter. An account going by the name of "The Krackening Games" has come out full bigot and anti LGBT, even calling them terrorists. First off here are the receipts. 

As you can tell this guy is a full on shit stain. I always advise blocking assholes like this. Now as to why so many folks in the tabletop roleplaying games area follow him I don't know. He's mainly a CCG box opening guy from what I can tell. His YouTube is at https://www.youtube.com/@thekrakeninggames if you are interested in check that out. I think his full on douchebag behavior started recently as there are LGBT folks and allies following him. Along with a bunch of anti LGBT MAGA shitheads. 

Now as an added interesting fact I tracked down his Facebook page as well (https://www.facebook.com/JusticeEshu/). Here he goes by a couple different names. But the scumbaggery is still there. Also he keeps posting that he has moved but Facebook itself still shows him living in Russia. Either way. Still worth the block. Oh and here are some Facebook receipts. 

So just getting the word out so people can block this person away in his own little echo chamber with the MAGA pricks who love their Russians. 

A Twitter Story in three parts

 A Twitter Story, in three parts. Or "How to over react to advice you don't like" is another title I thought about. Have to say this little interaction left me laughing. I figured since I got blocked for so little that I may as well get some mileage out of the whole thing and put up a cheap grab for a post on my blog with it. 

Such a little bit of a fragile shell that one has. Guess the response was supposed to be us following him without question or something. Ah well. Tried to offer up a little bit of advice and I'll get some blog hits off of it. 

Another sad troll on Facebook

The dumbasses I run into. Sometimes on Facebook you get that person that just tries really hard to troll you. But the attempt is so pathetic that all I can do is laugh at them. I mean really this particular case just has me wondering if I'm being ridiculed by somebody who is lacking in their mental facilities.

But I figure why not use them to get a few more hits on my blog. I mean that's all this person is really good for right? This particular person goes by the name of John H Dunleavy and yes that is a link to his Facebook page.

Now for you all to see just how pathetic of a troll this guy really is. Feel free to share this around. Actually please share this around maybe even drop by his page and let him know just how sad this attempt is. I've been dealing with troll online for over two decades and this guy is bottom of the barrel worthless as one.

Jaded Gamer - Sunk Cost Fallacy Bullshit

Sunk Cost Fallacy:
"the idea that a company or organization is more likely to continue with a project if they have already invested a lot of money, time, or effort in it, even when continuing is not the best thing to do"

I've seen this term used against gamers who don't want to invest into another game other than the one they are currently playing. Usually when the game they are playing is one version of Dungeons and Dragons or another. When somebody else suggests to a group that they try something else or buy into a new game and the group declines stating they are having fun with what they have, are invested in their characters stories and have invested plenty into what they are using. Many times I also see them say they don't have a lot of money to put into another game, especially one they may or may not like. That is when they are accused of making a Sunk Cost Fallacy.

This is complete bullshit.

Those making the accusations completely ignore one part of definition in particular. The "even when continuing is not the best thing to do" is the part. Who the hell says that a group choosing to keep playing a game they like and enjoy is the wrong thing to do? Who says that switching to something different is the right thing to do (game publishers who have new games to sell will tell you hands down it's the right thing to do but they have something to gain)?

Another thing they completely seem to forget is that Sunk Cost Fallacy is normally harmful to, as the definition says, a company or organization. Not an individual or group of friends. I believe it is up to them to decide if it's a good thing to continue on their way or to switch paths. But some folks sure want to shame them into one direction over another.

Normally they want to send them in the direction of spending more money for their product or a product they support. Which leads us to my final observation on the use of the term in the gaming hobby. It is yet another tactic to push poor people in the hobby out. If you can't afford to switch to new games or buy new products often then you are a problem. This is the line they are feeding under adapted corporate speak and layers of bullshit.

Do not be pressured into changing what you enjoy because somebody tries to convince you that you are wrong. Instead tell them to hit the fucking road and continue along your merry way.

Jaded Gamers - Sla stupidity continues.

Let's get ready to get dumb. Are you ready? Here we go.

Nightfall, a company ran by people who don't want you to remember that they were also in charge of Daruma and screwed their Kickstarter up so bad they had to reform their company AND get another to go in with them to get it rolling again, made an announcement on their KS page.

As Nightfall Games finalise the new publication – SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1, we have taken a good look at the contents of the various source materials published to date. As many of you know, a number of these books were produced with little or no input from the creators of SLA Industries and as such do not represent the image, ideals, nor stories of The World of Progress. Additionally, a number of the books have been directly superseded (in whole or part) by the writing in the new book. With this in mind, only the following source books and supplements should be now be considered canon (the official vision of The World of Progress):  

• SLA Industries Main Rulebook (including all reprints) (ISBN 1 899749 23 3)  
• Karma (ISBN 1 880992 56 6)  
• Hunter Sheets Issue 1 (ISBN 978 0 9555423 1 2)  
• Hunter Sheets Issue 2 (ISBN 978 0 9556497 1 2)  
• “Klick’s End” Data Packet  
• “Momic 0.1” Data Packet  
• "The Dream" Data Packet  
• "Threat Analysis: Hominid" Data Packet  
• "Hunters Sheets: Red Alert" Data Packet  
• SLA Industries GM Screen  

The publications listed below are no longer considered to be an official part of the SLA Industries canon.  

• Mort Sourcebook (ISBN 0 9522176 6 X)  
• The Key of Delhyread (ISBN 978-1-899749-24-9)  
• The Contract Directory (ISBN 978-1-899749-29-4)  
• Cannibal Sector 1 (ISBN 978 0 9555423 0 5)  
• “Ursa Carrien” Data Packet  

As such we will be removing these books from sale on DriveThruRPG on the 31st January 2019.

Not only is the a bit of a slap in the face to loyal fans who have been supportive of the game for years on end through broken promises, false starts and a never stopping stream of bullshit. But it also makes no sense from a business sense as it takes five products out of the picture financially.  I understand that they won't be cannon with the new stuff changing things.  But a simple blurb on the cover or a subsection on the Drivethru page labelled 'non-canon' and that's all it would take.

BUT one big thing they are missing out on is that people will still seek these books out to read them.  New fans will want to take a look at all the old stuff. Now instead of having any sort of normal way to acquire them they will go looking for places that offer pirate copies.  Sites that will most likely have pirate copies of their other stuff available for free. Increasing the chances of those fans deciding to save a few bucks and just snag up a free copy of the latest book. They are driving potential fans towards pirating sites. Yeah... not smart.

In the comments sections they Nightfall says:

Also bear in mind that 2nd Edition is in the pipeline now, and it's important that we take steps to set the scene for that, which involves reworking elements of the history of the World of Progress to better suit what the game has become.

Yeah now excuse me while I laugh at the idea of a second edition coming out anytime before my retirement age.  But after that it makes you wonder even more why they are pulling the other books out of the sales slots. How many other games have made previous editions completely obsolete with a 2nd or 3rd edition but still at least have the original material available online for sale.

Then over on RPG dot net I mention the fact that Dave Allsop has said that much of the new setting material won't be available outside of the Cannibal Sector One miniature skirmish game. So if you want all this new updated material you are forced to by a miniature game you may have absolutely zero interest in.  Their reply is:

 Firstly, the new book is 7/8th RPG and 1/8th Miniature.

This is quite a bit different ratio from previous claims and sources. If this is true either that book is going to be huge or the skirmish rules are ultra rules light. Which they aren't, I've seen them playtested at a local shop a couple years back. They also said this about the original CS1 books material:

 The contents of CD, like the rest of Mort will see reimagining in new books.

Again I try to keep from laughing but I can't.  Anytime I see talk of new books for Sla Industries I just roll my eyes.  They have produced so very little and promised so very much over years.  The ONLY time there was hope for a steady stream of releases was when Cubicle 7 took over the property and was moving it forward. But that was killed when Dave Allsop decided to take his ball and go home because they weren't kicking it around the way he thought it should be kicked around.

Also finally I complained about his on Twitter and got this as one response from Nightfall.

Also, please bear in mind that 2nd Edition will be upon us soon, this rendering all 1st Edition books defunct. New period in time. New rules. Lots of new. Really sorry you walked away from the game. I hope you check it out again one day.

Now I wonder if the all the NEW mentioned will be out before or after I hit retirement age?


Like what you see here, found out how to support this blog.

If you still want to check out what Nightfall does have up then check out Sla Industries on DrivethruRPG.

Jaded Gamer Diary - She Bleeds books pulped

As many of you saw a few days ago there were reports of a book titled "She Bleeds" by Elizabeth Chaipraditkul being destroyed by a warehouse.  The evident reason was that the people running the warehouse found the book to be 'disgusting'.  People were upset over this, understandably so given the current climate of the gaming hobby.  There were discussions of the legality of it, calls for the name of the company warehousing the book and questions on if it happened or if somebody was trolling the LotFP folks.

Well now there's been an official announcement on the LofFP Facebook page:

Quick update on 'She Bleeds' for you all:  

James finished up his holiday in London and got information back about what happened. Turns out a distributor purchased 36 copies, then destroyed their own property. Other than being an incomprehensibly foolish business decision, it was their property to do with as they please.
It's still infuriating to hear about any books anywhere being destroyed for their content, and the author - Elizabeth Chaipraditkul - is handling the emotional burden of seeing a piece of work she put herself into being recklessly destroyed by dudes who presumably have no problem with blood so long as it doesn't come from a vagina.
Like many LotFP authors, Liz is paid via profit sharing rather than a flat per-word payment. That means you can support her by continuing to buy her work wherever it's available.
From us, you can get the She Bleeds PDF on DTRPG here:
She Bleeds on DrivethruRPG
As for hard copies, the remaining Gen Con books went to Impressions post-Gen Con, which means there are still hard copies out there at mail order retailers and FLGSs who are getting them from their distributors. If you know of a place you can find it online, do please link in the comments below to help folks purchase the book.

You can see the actual announcement on their page RIGHT HERE.

So evidently it did happen but luckily was only a small number of copies and they were legally owned by the distributor so they could do with them as they please.  I'm still not happy with the idea of them destroying the books rather than contacting the publisher and asking for possible 'buy back' or something along those lines.

Also in the comments they are unwilling to name the distributor because they don't want anymore drama to come up from all of this.  Which is also understandable.  But damned if I still wish I knew who it was so I could avoid any business with them in the future.

Jaded Gamer Diary - The Vampire 5th ed shit show continues

Well as the shit show known as Vampire the Masquerade 5th edition rolls on it may be coming to a bit of a close as well.  Well let us start at some of the newer droppings today.

Remember the part about Chechnya in the Camarilla book that people were pissed off about.  Well apparently the Chechen people are pissed off about a different spin from the same section. They seem to hate the implied idea that their country is a vampire controlled state ruled over by a Sultan.

Chechens complain on American game that depicts them as cruel vampires with Ramzan as their ‘Sultan’

The we pop over to the Anarchs book and find something new.  But not unexpected when you think about it.  When you get edgy shitlords to run the company then you will also get their fucked up idea that suicide is how the weak are culled from the strong. 

Yeah that looks really good White Wolf.  Really good.

But now it also looks like White Wolf as a production company will be going the way of the DoDo... again... for reals this time.  Paradox Interactive is going to do what they do best with IPs they purchase.  Pull them inside, stop all internal support and just license it all out. Basically just managing the approval process of whatever is submitted to them by the licensee.  I suppose the WW logo may appear on approved material but probably not for long.  Honestly you don't see the Target Games logo on the new Kult material do you?

A message from White Wolf (aka goodbye)

So the end is apparently in sight for White Wolf as a publishing house, even as a branch of a larger tree.  But the people they put in charge, the lack of oversight and the overall approach to sensitive real life issues sunk the ship.

You hear people say "Get woke, go broke", well now it looks more like "Get edgy, get ended".

Vampire 5th continues to be a shit show.

Vampire 5th edition, maybe it should be filth edition... continues to be an ongoing shit show.

I'll copy paste what has been said along with posting a screenshot of the text from a new V5 book.  At the bottom I'll link to the original post that I saw.

----------------------------------

"Joseph D. Carriker

4 hrs

(Please note this is public, so it can be shared. Interact with it accordingly, folks.)
So, filing this under "Second Verse Same As The First": the excerpt bel...ow is from the upcoming Camarilla book for Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition.

In it, it describes a vampire-dominated Chechnya. Even setting aside the gross implications of that design decision - and there are plenty of them - it also turns the internment of queer people into literal death camps into what amounts to a distraction.

 

This text literally refers to the "controversy" (which is such a weighted word in this context, quite frankly, carrying with it connotations of mountains being made of mole-hills) over queer internment and murder as "clever media manipulation." This text literally turns the ending of queer lives into a throw-away feint that hides vampires. Which is a monstrous reframing of that real-world thing STILL GOING ON.

 

This is egregiously vile. It's not okay. Our lives are constantly being *ended* for straight peoples' prejudices in real life, but also in fiction and media for straight peoples' fucking entertainment, and all of this is just "second verse same as the first."

 

This isn't avant garde. This is 100% the typical, tired, cliched treatment that queer people constantly receive in overculture's media about us. This is yet more Tragedy Porn, and not only is it distasteful in the extreme, but it's wildly unacceptable.

 

I've already spoken about this with Martin Ericsson, and quite honestly I find his framing of the issue to be callous, while hiding behind performative allyship. But I will let him show up and speak to that: he has asked that I not publish his response, pending approval from his bosses, and I'm find by that, for now. But *something* needs to be said, and in the larger framework, something needs to be *done* about the attitudes in the current iteration of White Wolf that makes this kind of seething horseshit not just acceptable, but desirable.

 

This is not a good fucking look, White Wolf. Not in the least."

 

Here is the link to the original facebook post:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156065148713379&set=a.136931398378&type=3

 

All I can say is I'm quite happy to not have bought into V5 in the least and never plan on doing so.

 

 

 

Jaded Gamer Diary - well I will remember.

Well over the many years I've been online I've made a lot of friends.  Many of them have went on to produce their own stuff online and put it up for sale.  So many times I have retweeted, blogged, signal boosted and tried to help promote their stuff.  Just because I'm a friend trying to help out a friend. 

Now that I have started to release my own material for sale... well lets just say there is cricket noises from those I've tried to help in the past.  Oh over on Twitter the DrivethruRPG account retweets my products tweets and I am grateful for that.  Even John Nephew whom I've never met or talked with retweeted me.  Other than that... cricket noises. Facebook, G+, etc same thing.  Nadda. 

So I will remember this. I've got my own back. But I will also rethink my relationship towards some people that I thought were more than just names on a social network.

Jaded Gamer Diary - Bullshit assualt reports from GenCon

Saw people talking about a fight at GenCon that occured and that the Con wasn't going to do anything about it. Claiming some sort of political reasoning behind it because WotC doesn't like the person who got assualted.

THEN I discover that the alleged assualt occured at one in the morning at a bar not on the convention property. That the person assualted had been stirring up lots of shit while attending the con with other attendees. There is no positive identification on the person who punched him just somebody saying it resembled somebody who was also at the con. That the 'victim' immediately started rolling this into a big PR scheme to get more followers on his youtube channel and some sort of patreon set up. Also no police report from the bar in which the 'victim' claimed a window was broken because of this incident.  The only police report is evidently from a day later which goes against the story that the 'victim' told. Also the 'victim' is now removing everything he can referring to the story from his channel, blogs, whatever.

I'm smelling some heavy BS here from the original story. Sounds like dirtbag youtuber trying to get some fast bucks from a made up story along with riling up the usual assholes into a mob. What gets  me is that so many on the side of the liar are saying GenCon should do something about it.  But they fail to acknowledge that it took place off the convention property at a bar that they have nothing to do with.

Seriously the hashtag #JeremyHamblyIsAFuckingLiar should be a thing now.

Jaded Gamer Diary - You two don't mean shit.

Okay I just want to say a few things to the OSR and Storygamer crowd out there.  Actually I want to say it to those who think they are the big guns of these movements... the movers, the shakers... oh and the assholes. 

Nobody fucking cares.  Really I want to say that nicely but it's pretty true.  At the local shops around here nobody knows, much less cares, about either movement.  One person runs Fantasy Roleplaying, one.  Can get in on a DnD 5ed game easily though or if you want to GM you can have a line of folks wanting in. 

A couple of the local cons I've been to.  Nobody spoke of either movement.  I've seen one game of Dungeon World being ran.  Again you want some DnD though, they got you covered.  Maybe some Palladium stuff, Sla Industries or even some AFMBE.  People know those games.

So before you get on some soapbox about how the other movement is trying to 'change gaming as we know it' or 'trying to keep any progression from ever happening' think about this.  Nobody gives a shit except for your own little round about group of fans online.  Most gamers out there it seems never heard of you, they may have heard of a couple of the 'big' games each side has produced.  But the movements?  Nope. 

So go huddle with your John Tarnowskis, Zak Smiths, Vincent Bakers and whoever the hell else loves to think they stride above the rest of the world.  Most gamers couldn't give a fig about you.

Now before anybody jumps up backing John and Zak about how they were consultants on the new version of DnD I want to remind you all of one thing.  Nobody outside of those two has said anything about the supposed influence they had.  It's almost like the security guard saying the big bosses listen to him at the factory he 'protects'.  Nobody ever says anything about not listening to him but they also never mention him at any other time either.  It's easy to say you were all sorts of involved when you are the only one talking. But hey, one didn't even know Monte Cook was leaving the development team until he was already gone, even though he claimed to be in daily contact with him.  Sort of puts things in perspective of who seems to have an exaggerated claim doesn't it?

Jaded Gamer Diary the Industry Insider bullshit

Some people really piss me off you know?  Currently it's the bunch of jackasses who are all bitching about the 'Industry Insider' panel at GenCon.  What is sad is they are so pathetic they are making up bullshit excuses as to why they are really pissed off.  Right now they are claiming it is because some of the people on there aren't 'qualified' to be 'insiders'.  This is a lie.

They are pissed because the majority of the people on that panel are women.

Never before have I seen an uproar over on who is on this panel.  I've looked back at some of the lists of people who have been up there.  Some are way less experienced then some of the women on this years panel.  Yet there was no uproar, no bitching, no complaining.

They are pissed because the majority of the people on that panel are women.

One of these losers who only started up a blog in an attempt to move the pathetic puppies moving into tabletop gaming even tried to look like he researched them.  Then later in the comments on his very post when he is countered with evidence supporting a person on the list he admits to only using one site to do his 'research' on the people.

They are pissed because the majority of the people on that panel are women.

One man on the list they said deserved to be there because of his work on the game Firefly.  Then discounted the woman on the list who happened to be the person who hired that person to work on the game in the first place. 

They are pissed because the majority of the people on that panel are women.

Every claim they make can be countered.  Or they can't explain why they only suddenly started giving a damn about the panel this year.  Many have deep connections with the pathetic puppies who are trying to dismantle the Hugo Awards over women and minorities getting to many nominations. 

So it all comes down to one basic undeniable fact. 

They are pissed because the majority of the people on that panel are women.  They are claiming this will be the downfall and eventual nail that seals the coffin on GenCon.

I say they are a bunch of crybaby losers who hate that women are doing more than they could ever hope to accomplish in their pathetic lives.

Numenera so now I'm a liar

Well so now I'm a fucking liar.  That's just great....

From Tammie at MCG.

"In a previous email you indicated that you had responded to the backer survey and were surprised that your name wasn't listed in Numenera (corebook) as a backer, and I'm sorry to be the bearer of sad news, but I'm afraid you are mistaken. You did not respond to the survey in October 2012, which is the survey from which the names were downloaded."

Like I've said before.  Last penny of mine they well ever see.

Numenera finally an announcement

First off there is evidently a bit of a misunderstanding about something I said on my last blog post:

"As a final note it appears that Shanna Germain is the only person from Monte Cook Games that is even trying to do any sort of damage control or PR about this whole thing.  Probably not an easy task right now but if books don't start showing up soon overseas it's not going to be getting any easier."

Shanna evidently took that as "only doing PR".  Not sure how she took only that away from what I said.  I was trying to point out how she has been the ONLY person to step up and try to communicate with fans and backers about the problems going on.  You go and find a Numenera fan community online and chances are you will find her there as well.

Do I have a bad attitude and very unlikely to trust others?  I'll admit to that.  When I get aggravated about something my attitude goes to hell rather quickly.  I've also been screwed over and lied to by a few game companies out there (7th Circle comes to mind immediately) so I'm hesitant to trust any of them.  And yes most of them appeared to be all about the best of intentions and sincerely caring.

Now on to Numenera fulfillment updates.

Finally a press release from Monte Cook Games about it.  Here is a quick link:

http://www.montecookgames.com/kickstarter-fulfillment/

Things I find interesting here.  The fact that retailers, distributors, game shops and even Amazon got their books a couple of weeks ahead of the backers is referred to as a hiccup that occurred in the fulfillment process.  341 orders with no address, mine better not be in that pile because I was told they had my address over two weeks ago.  That there will be more Kickstarters for other games from MCG... no thanks I'll wait and get it cheaper from Amazon if its something that I really want.

Other notes,

More folks overseas are talking about getting their books finally.  Now if only the fulfillment company could figure out where Missouri is.

A 'Your Welcome' to the backers who have contacted and thanked me from making some noise on this issue.

I did not do these blog posts with the intent of doing some sort of damage to MCG as one person suggested.  I doubt anything I say could have much affect on their bottom line.  IF I was doing that then why haven't I linked to these blog posts in the various Numenera communities?  I only linked back to this from my own G+, Twitter and Facebook accounts.  The only community I mentioned them in was the Kickstarter one on G+ that I moderate and now co-own.

Now then hopefully my book will actually reach me.  Then I can trade it off for something I want because currently I have nothing but a bad taste in my mouth because of it.

Numenera updates

Well here is a batch of updates regarding the fulfillment fiasco of Numenera.

First off I've apparently attracted some attention to myself... which was actually part of my goal with this.  Now Shanna Germain has responded both on a G+ Kickstarter community I co-own and on facebook as well.  Here is her response on G+:

"Peter: We don't know why you didn't get your book yet, but we are very sorry that's it taken so long. We are Fed-Exing you a new one on Tuesday. If your original book reaches you, please keep it with our compliments and gratitude for your support.

As a side note: I wish I could give you some small idea of how hard we are all busting our asses to get these products out to everyone despite the hurdles of shipping, processing, creating a product, and being the largest RPG Kickstarter to deliver so far. So while I agree that we didn't do a perfect job, it is not for lack of desire or attempt. We are already holding planning sessions on what went wrong and how to fix it for the delivery of the rest of the products. Backers are our first priority and always will be. We just need to get the shipping companies and delivery systems to be on board with that philosophy in the future as well. "

So a copy is supposed to be in the mail to me for sure this Tuesday.  The original book has still not reached my PO box as of today either.  I'm rather sure it never went out the door from their fulfillment company seeing how long ago it was supposed to have been shipped. 

Then right below that another backer in the US spoke up and said he's still waiting on his book as well.  Along with his name not being in the book either because the 'internet glitch' that apparently ate my survey must have ate his as well.  There has been no response to him unless it was via email or private message.

Then over to the Kickstarter comments section we start to see the overseas backers starting to get even more agitated about their lack of a book.  They have also started pointing out something that I said earlier on.  It doesn't take this long to ship overseas.  Having bought sold and traded games with people overseas for over a decade I've always laughed at how long people claim it takes for overseas shipping.

As a final note it appears that Shanna Germain is the only person from Monte Cook Games that is even trying to do any sort of damage control or PR about this whole thing.  Probably not an easy task right now but if books don't start showing up soon overseas it's not going to be getting any easier.

Numenera waiting continues...

Another bit from the comments section of the Kickstarter:

"I understand that living in Australia I have to wait longer than usual, but this is another kickstarter I have paid top dollar for only to see the product I helped come to market become available in local stores before I received anything."

But evidently we see them caring more about their future sales then they do about taking care of the problems they have right now:

"A big focus of the MCG summit is to resolve the shipping issues for future products."

"We are working hard to ensure your next fulfillment experience from MCG, which for many of you will be the awesomely creepy 96-page adventure, The Devil’s Spine, goes smoothly."


But hey they have a MCG summit and apparently can't respond to emails on time right now and will be behind on them when they come back.  So the summit is someplace with no internet access and none of them have iPads or smart phones?

Also the people who backed the Torment video game were getting theirs as early as the 3rd of September.  Twelve days ago.  Which is plenty of enough time for somebody to ship a book overseas.  Trust me I know, I've sold and bought books from people overseas before.  Either the fulfillment company is not telling MCG what is really going on or there is something MCG isn't telling it's backers.

Also I've had a few backers jump up to defend MCG.  They are all backers who have received their copies by the way.  Like this guy who has had his for weeks now:

"I'm happy to get this product produced... That's why I backed it. Getting it first, getting extras etc are all very nice but it was on Kickstarter to get it going at all.
It's a bummer getting things late but because of us there is a line of other products already in the works. I'll take that over treating this like a pre-order. It would probably be smart of all gaming kickstarter warn about things like this though.
I'm not trying to put down people disappointed by the shipping issues, we all are in that boat. Just trying to remind people of what we did help get going here."


Seems Australia backers are really unimpressed.  Here's a comment from the updates section of the kickstarter:

"I received my copy of Numenera today (10 SEP). But NOT from you, from AMAZON, whom I ordered from as I wanted a second copy, they shipped it on 31 AUG by Standard (NOT Expedited) shipping. The books have been available on sale here in Australia since a few days before that. I don't know whether this is because of the one week delay resulting from your miscommunication with the shippers or because the shippers are merely incompetent, or because you have chosen to use incompetent couriers (I won't use Amazon Expedited Shipping because, though it might arrive *somewhere* in Australia quicker than Standard Shipping, it is rarely in the same state as I am when it does and they then use the most incompetent couriers possible - who deliver to a similar street address in another state, or the wrong street and number in the same suburb, or who claim to have made delivery attempts and left notes when they haven't and then want me to travel to their depot on the other side of the city to pick it up and do their job for them). Whatever reason, I am not impressed. I hope it will arrive soon, and I hope that the next items that I paid for IN ADVANCE will actually get to me at least around the same time as they appear in stores here in Sydney."


Here is some more of the 'Getting them to the stores is our main goal' type of dialogue.  I mean they'll apparently bend over backwards for a retailer but backers are told that 'it's out of our hands' or 'wait a little longer' etc.:

"We've heard a couple of people mention online that they went to their local game store and were told they couldn't get a copy of Numenera for a number of reasons, such as the distributor not being able to get them, that they're out of stock, etc.
We've talking with our distributors about this (we really, really want you to be able to get books!) and they said the best way to fix this was to get specific examples of where the books aren't available so they can help make that happen. We're also hoping that this kind of dialogue will ensure that the future products will be available in stores when you want them to be there."

Numenera aggrivation

It's been a month from release date now and I'm still waiting on my backer copy of Numenera.  Since the 14th of last month ANYBODY could order a copy of the game (at a deep discount) off of Amazon and get it in a couple of days.  Those of us who invested our money into the project were left waiting.  Within a day or two after Gencon retail stores in the US and overseas had copies on the shelves.  Again those of us who invested were left waiting.

From everything I've heard the books didn't start shipping to backers until around the 20th.  AFTER all distributors, game shops and online retailers had received their copies.  Folks in the UK are still waiting for their books as I haven't seen a single backer there say they have gotten theirs.  People who backed the Numenera video game kickstarter at a high enough level have already started getting their books while many of us who helped pay for those books to get published are still waiting.

My name isn't even in the backer list in the back of the book evidently due to an 'internet glitch'.  I even redownloaded the latest pdf version and they haven't even bothered to correct it there.

Now they are telling those of us still waiting to.... wait a few more days.  What are we waiting for now?  A second printing?  Did they sell out of the initial run to retailers instead of setting enough aside for their backers?

Also I've seen a person on their staff keep bringing up how many pdfs we will eventually be getting and the value of them.  Excuse me... I'm not a big pdf reader for big books.  PLUS I backed early on before most of those were ever even attached to my backer level.  I backed the kickstarter for the book from the get go.  If all I wanted were the pdfs there was a cheaper level for that.  I wanted the book from day one.

Now.... I don't want the book anymore.  All my enthusiasm for the game is completely gone, my excitement is now aggravation.  It all went away as I watched online as people were talking about picking it up from the stores, Amazon and online retailers.  The book, when I get it, will either be traded off as soon as possible for something I may actually use OR it will be setting on my shelf gathering dust until it turns to dust.  I have no desire to even crack it open now. 

We backers have really gotten the short end of the stick on this.  All we are getting in return is a bunch of lines on how they are going to make it right.  Which means they'll eventually ship the book out and go "See we're all good now right?".  That's not going to make it all fine and dandy.  I will NEVER back another Monte Cook project again because chances are everybody else will get it before I will.  IF he ever does something I really want again I'll just wait and pick it up from Amazon at that deep discount because I'll be getting it sooner and cheaper than his backers will.