My First Kickstarter Experience

In the Beginning

I started this in January of 2020. Kickstarter promoted their 2nd annual Zine Quest. I remember reading about the first one, but didn't get my shit together quick enough to take advantage of it. I mean Zine Quest is built specifically for someone like myself. A small game publisher with help from friends with little to no money having a time of it. I'd never attempted a Kickstarter. I'm always looking for different ways to share my stuff. But Kickstarter was intimidating. It had brought larger and more popular publishers to their knees. I'm not talking about the scammers, the folks that honestly wanted to write a gaming book and get it out into the public. I told Ivy what I planned and she helped me get my head wrapped around the process. 

The Concept

I dug up a concept I wanted to develop a few years back, Hunters in Death. I wanted to flesh out a hex crawl with an array of adventures that were discovered more then hooked into. Because these adventures shared an area with the other adventures there were connections. Also, during travels there were hints, some subtle, some obvious, of a nasty evil that lurked in the Komor Forest. The idea of the big bad was present through out, but not fully realized until their source was discovered. 

Getting My Art Guy

When Zine Quest 2 reared its head I jumped in with with the idea of Hunters in Death. I already had the setting mostly written. I'll come back to this later. I contacted Jim Magnusson for one of his killer pieces. I wanted to start with a killer cover. Jim delivered. His cover was a huge part of the success of the campaign. I hired Jim to do all the art for the zine to keep a cohesive theme. Jim thankfully agreed. Check out the cover and back cover. I thought the quote from Ernest Hemingway was perfect for the zine's concept. 

Still love it even after looking at it constantly for the last nine months. 

The Write Up for Hunters in Death

First off, I needed to write the information about Hunters and Death and what it was about. The concept. Sometimes I write things as if the reader is supposed to know what I'm talking about. And they don't. Ivy kept nudging me to rewrite it. It didn't sound like me. I hate when she says that. First, because that means I needed to rewrite it again. Second, because she's right. After doing as much as I could do with it, Joethelawyer volunteered to give it a much needed edit. Not only did he clean it up, he injected it with a big dose of steroids. His help was also a huge part of the success of Hunters in Death.

Figuring Out Pledge Levels and Pricing

I wanted to keep it simple. A pledge level for the PDF. A pledge level for both the print copy and PDF. Done. I get annoyed at multiple pledge levels. They confuse the shit out of me. But then there was the matter of pricing. Here was my math with no science or research involved. 

I figured I'd get 50 to 100 people to pledge. So I averaged it at 75 who'd take an interest in my zine. I went back and forth on my goal. I started thinking I should have a $1000 pledge level. So that meant the average pledge needed to be at $13.33. That wasn't going to happen. I finally settled on my PDFs at $4 and Print copies w/PDF at $8. In my head I figured a third would want PDF only and two-thirds print. So using my mind bending logic...

From PDFs I estimated: $100

From print I estimated: $400

Boom! Done. I set my goal at $500. I felt comfortable that I could hit that. And like Ivy said, if you don't reach your goal you'll still do it. She was right. Again. 

The Launch

There was some discussion before hand of when to launch. Zine Quest is run in February and could run for 14 days. Some took the strategy of waiting, to allow some of the deluge of zines to subside. I wanted to get involve as soon as I could. And I am glad I did. It seemed as the month went on more zines kept coming in. Plus, people's wallets aren't endless so I wanted to be in the front of the zine mall. Not in the back.

I was in the first batch of zines in Zine Quest 2. Not only that, Kickstarter selected me as one of their favorites. So my campaign spent a significant time one the front page. 

1st Day

The first day of the launch was on a Sunday. I was glad because if it was Monday, I would have missed a lot of the excitement. My expectations were shattered before the first day was over. It...was...fantastic. I whooshed passed my goal by a bunch.

The Campaign

It was a hell of a ride. While I was at work friends were texting me when I'd hit a pledge or backer milestone. By the end of the campaign I had nearly 600 backers and nearly $5300. While of course seeing the money is good to see, I admit I was more interested in the number of backers. Wow.

What I Didn't Know

When I created my pledges I had people pay for their postage. A $2 mailing charge for US backers and $4 for the rest of the world. When Kickstarter collected their pledge they counted the shipping into the pledge total. I wouldn't do it like that again. It makes sense that Kickstarter would want this to happen. First, it increases the chances of campaigns to fund and second, they get a bigger slice. But knowing this now. Yeah, I won't include shipping in pledges.

Realization

I decided at the beginning I was going to print all the zines at home. I have a Patreon where I print about 60 to 120 zines a month. To put it in perspective though those are usually one page, folded zines. 

Hunters in Death is a cover and 8 pages. With contributor copies and backers I needed to print 450 copies. And I wanted to print an extra 50 for those damaged during mailing and selling for those who missed the Kickstarter. That's 4500 pages that needed printing. Without mistakes. 

I needed to order more paper...and a lot more ink.

Don't Go For Cheap Ink

I'd been using this cheaper ink on Amazon for a while. I had a single Epson cartridge left. It looked so much better. So no cheap ink. I think we burned through eighteen cartridges. I lost count. It was worth it. Made the zine look much better.

Editor

Back to Joe. My editor for this project. After figuring out details Joe really helped hone Hunters in Death. He was quick to get back to me. He was as enthusiastic about the project as I was. His contribution was invaluable. And he tried to sneak in his character as much as possible. A little Easter egg, you'll find Joe's guy in there twice. A big thanks to Joe.

Ivy

Ivy supported me through the entire process, but she really got this project done. First of all she is the one who made me do read thrus when I didn't want to. And each damn time I'd find something I could tweak to make better. "Yes, this is good, but you can make it better." And we did. 

She took over the entire production process. I was struggling with getting the zine to print properly. I have been using MS Publisher for a long time. And it was dropping pictures randomly. I'd print ten copies and the last two would have a picture missing. Or drop the last sentences in text cells. Frustrating me to the point I was ready to punch my printer into pieces. I am not exaggerating about this part. She came up with another way to do the printing process and we switch programs to Affinity Publisher. No more problems with pictures or sentences coming up missing. She pulled all-nighters printing and assembling the zines. 

Then she helped organize the mailing. Much better than I ever would have. At the end I ended up getting sick (I know, a Kickstarter creator cliche), and she got the postage taken care of the delivered it to the post. 

Amazing lady.

Aftermath

440 some copies of Hunters in Death are now spread across the globe to 33 different countries. I still have about five people I don't have addresses for. I'll try one last time to reach out to get them their zine. I'm taking a break from it for a while. Then I'll put the PDF for sale on RPGDriveThru and offer the print copies I have left for those who missed the Kickstarter. 

Conclusion 

I have nothing to complain about. I learned a ton from the process. I'm glad I did Zine Quest and will probably do it again and do Kickstarters in general again. So many people were supportive and their excitement helped me get it done. So you'll see future projects from me, but not right now. A little time to breathe.

A Letter About XP to My Players

Attached you will find the XP reward for session one.  It is broken down in 5 sections.  Most are obvious.  The Role-Playing category is one you get for just showing up.  However, I do give a bonus XP to who pleases me the most.  Muhaha.  Or whoever I think was the catalyst for that session.  And finally, you will all be able to gain more XP by doing a write up of the session on your blog.  Dan you could do on on Google+ if you want.  If you do a write up you'll get a 10% XP bonus.  None of that 13+ strength or being human will get you a bonus.  Lazy bastards.  You'll have to work for this bonus.  If you have any question please let me know.

I stole the 10% XP bonus thing from Tenkar.  I feel no shame for doing it.  I admit it.  I would do it again.  The RP bonus I like, I hope it gives the players a little more motivation to move the adventure forward.  The Miscellaneous category is my catch all.  Ken's guy was at death's door and was revived by a very strange acolyte of a death god and marked.  I figure that was worth a few XP. 

Also at the end of the session I do a quick calculation of encounters with folks.  There future reaction rolls can be alter by a session.  The range is thus:
 +2 Very Positive Reaction
+1 Positive Reaction
0  No Reaction
-1 Negative Reaction
-2 Very Negative Reaction

For example: Chris's guy, Malcolm had the following adjustments.

• -2 Reaction for Fenton, failed to follow simple plans.  Will have a hard time trusting him.
• -1 Reaction for Torp, Torp is disappointed in Malcolm.  He expected more, but understands he is young and he will learn.
• +1 Reaction for Guard Kevin (forgot what I did call him), He had a great time.  He got drunk, won an epic battle with a bush and never realized he almost died twice.  Thumbs up from Kevin.

Death of Comment XP

The title of the post is more dramatic than this post.  Some of you may have noticed that my comment experience points list to the right is gone.  Gone, gone.

I thought it was a cool idea to keep track of comments and it was.  But it became a lot more work than I expected.  I didn't realize the number of different people that commented.  And with the addition of Google+ even more could do a drive-by +1ing.  So although I hate to see it go I'm okay with its passing.

I want to put more time into my projects.  Waiting on a last few things for the first issue of The Manor.  Then edit it.  Then sell a few copies and start stapling.  Tomorrow I'll go into more detail about the zine.  I'll share what it cost per zine.  My price point.  Contents.  And my expectations of this project.

It's Saturday night, St. Patrick's day.  I'm not much of an Irishman, even though I'm only 2nd generation removed.  I don't drink.  But I will keep my Underdog Glass filled with ice tea and work on the last part of the zine.  Enjoy your celebration tonight and be safe.

Participant Experience Points

I've been a big fan of the Digital Orc blog and now I am going to blatantly rip off an idea from his blog.  Experience points for those who comment.  A running total for the year along the left side.  Why?  Because I like the idea of it and when I do give-a ways, that is something I would like to do more of, or contests or whatever, maybe those with the higher scores get some kind of bonus.  I have no idea.  But I like the idea.

I can't be any more difficult than keeping a running total for the year.

XP Call Out

We finished our first session of the AD&D campaign last night.  It was a blast.  I had a lot of fun DMing it and I think the guys were exciting to go back to old grounds and stomp around.  After the session I awarded XP.  For monster XP it is straight out of the back of the DMG and is divided among the party.  Magic XP is straight out of the DMG, this is given to the player who uses the item.  And then I am adding some bonus XP for exploration.  They found the goblin cave so they each earned a 100xp.  I also am giving class bonus XP.  At first level, every time a fighter scores a critical hit, 50xp.  The thief successfully had a backstab and unlocked a lock 50xp each.  Clerics will be a little trickier, their XP bonuses will be determined by the philosophy of their chosen god.  But the one Rusty is playing, he will get 10xp for every hit point he heals.

What I am looking for is some of the systems others use out there.  If you have a blog that you wrote about it please link it in the comments.  I would like to gather everything about experience points I can.  I know I've written and pretty much every one out there has written one, two or ten blogs about the subject.  If you have the time, please let me know where I can find it.

Big thanks ahead of time.  I have the day off so I am going to the bookstore to drink expensive coffee, have a killer oatmeal raisin cookie, draw some maps, write a small adventure and draw dirty pictures on the napkins and hand them to Whisk to see if I can make her turn red.

Experience for Death

On pages 85-86 of the 1st edition DMG under the heading of Special Bonus Award to Experience Points there is a small notation about a character who dies and is brought back to life earns 1000xp. I mentioned the rule to Rob last night during our game after one of our members was reduced to a burnt piece of toast and he never had heard of it.

I always liked the idea for these types of weird one time experience point awards. Repeating the same event will yield no addition experience. Here is a short list that I can think of while I am still blurry eyed.

- returning from the dead: 1000xp
- exploration of a site: variable lower
- unusual magic item*: variable higher
- overcoming obstacles such as traps or locked doors or puzzles: variable lower
- researching or learning about a culture: variable lower

* for magic items I only give experience points to unusual items that have some sort of special power. There is not xp for +1 or +2 weapons, especially in a high magic campaign. If the sword be a +2 troll slayer than xp will be awarded. With weapons at +3 and above xp is awarded. Potions only provide xp, like the weapons, if some extraordinary potion is found.

Mostly I wing it at the time. Mostly if it feels like the situation or item should earn experience than I pull a number out of my wazoo.

I would be interested to hear from others if they award this type of experience and if so what they give it for.

Henchmen Advancement

A player will often times gain a henchman or two along their adventuring career. These henchmen often get frozen in time. Although they will get hand me down equipment from the adventurers, their level often remains the same. What are a player and GM to do?

I like Hackmaster’s system of allowing the player to ‘give’ their experience. The henchmen doesn’t need to be present for this to happen, but can absorb it through a player’s retelling. At other least this way a henchman can advance, but at the sacrifice of the fan of the player, which I am not a fan. But it is an interesting alternative and I am sure someone more inventive than me can figure out to get this to work.

Another way for henchmen to advance is to do an hourly study or training system. This many hours of training equals this many experience points. This allows the professional type henchmen to advance their skills without having to risk their necks fighting trolls. A simple math formula can be created (plus a gp cost).

The other way is have the henchmen do dungeon delving with you. When players do this I usually give the henchmen one share of the experience. If there is a party of six characters that have a small group of henchmen go with them I split the experience seven ways and then the henchmen experience is divided equally among them. It’s a slow advancement, but at least they are making progress.

If you have any systems you use or suggestions please let me know.

Yes, Another Blog About Experience Points

For the longest time and the current campaign my group is in is GURPS so experience points for treasure, monsters, gold or exploration isn't really factored it. To tell you the truth there is very little thought put into handing out experience points. For the current campaign four experience points are given at the end of each session. Sometimes a power gained during play can be given shooting up your character point total, but the four xp rate is standard. This fits our group for the time being.

For the past year I have been exploring all the systems and seem to gravitate toward Castles & Crusades and my new fondness for HackMaster. These are level based systems which makes the awarding of experience points more interesting. Now there is a number for magic items found, monsters slain, loot and exploration. Here are some of my theories on how I think experience points should be awarded. Any GM should explain their system of awarding experience points to his players before play begins. We all have our quirks.

1. I don't believe experience points should be given at the end of each session. It should be given at the end of a trip, dungeon delve, or an interesting time in the character's development. These may last one session, but could last several sessions. The GM can award the xp when there is a conclusion to an experience the players are having.

2. Experience points for magic items is awarded only to the character who can use that item and only gets that experience once. Joe Basher get his hands on a +2 Axe of Whoop Ass he will get the 2500xp for it, but Ricky Firehands won't get one drop since he can't use it. If Joe Basher finds another +2 Axe of Whoop Ass he will gain no experience since he already had that experience of using one.

3. I am not a fan of 1gp = 1xp. I never understood that math or the reason. I don't give any experience point for a pile of gold. I see that pile of gold as the funding/opportunity to continue onto other places to gain even more experience.

4. After reading Jeff Rients blog on exploration xp I am completely on board with that. I guess the only adjustment I would make is the players would need to interact with the place. Finding the Mines of Moria is great. Taking pictures of your buddies in front of the door will get you a big goose egg for experience. The players will need to get dirty. Some others who dislike the xp for exploration because they believe their players will go on a grand tour, but I think this is short sighted. If the GM is awarding xp for site seeing then yes this will probably get abused. But make the players interact and this is no longer a problem. Again, like with the magic items, the experience points are given once. This total is not split among the players, but each one is given the entire amount. So when Joe Basher and Ricky Firehands explore the Caves of Chaos they will both be awarded 250xp.

5. Monster experience points are divided among the players that were somehow involved with the interaction. This doesn't have to be the death of the monster. Depending on the situation different levels of experience points could be given. For unique critters, I will award xp just for seeing them. Like if Joe Basher was camping by Loch Ness and Nessie came up and took his bait. I would award xp just for seeing the creature.

6. Experience points for henchmen or followers or lackeys or can't find a job cousins. First off, I don't keep track of their experience points. If the players have a significant follow than they can keep track. When the players defeat a monster and Joe and Rickey have three followers with them I divide the experience in three shares, the followers all share one share. Giving a follower magic items will gain them only 10% of the xp value and this holds true for the exploration xp value. This is due to their secondary nature to the game and interactions. But this does allow a follower to gain in levels and become more useful as the character rises in power.

This is how I plan to award experience points to my players the upcoming campaign early next year. Of course I will discuss my plans with my players and see what input or changes they would like. As a GM I am flexible with my rules and I always like to see what the players want and often they come up with an idea that was so obvious that I whack myself in the head for not thinking of it. The one thing I strive for is being consistent. The same rule/system applies the same one the first adventure as the last.

Welcome to Gothridge Manor

Welcome to Gothridge Manor. My place on the Web to talk about gaming old and new, good and bad and a whole lot of in between. I've been plundering dungeons and razing cities since the winter of '80.

I am placing the blame on my friend Dwayne for causing my 30 year fascination with orcs, liches, experience points and gold pieces. Dwayne brought home this ugly purple little booklet called B2 The Keep on the Borderlands. He didn't know how to play, but seemed really excited to give it a try. We raided the Yatzee game for dice (that's what we called them back then before we knew they were 6ds) and made up rules as we went along. I can't remember how we made characters, but I remember we used the Charisma attribute, rolled a d6 and that was how many followers we got.

On to the gameplay. Since we had nothing but B2 and a handful of six siders we decided that if a 1 was rolled that was a death. If a 6 was rolled that was a wound. Two wounds in one battle and you were dead. This is why all those followers were important. So for the next weeks we were happy throwing six siders. Experience points, what were they? Hit points, didn't need them. Miniatures were tiny candy bars. We had a blast. One night Dwayne would DM, the next night I would DM. Then the guy who he borrowed B2 from wanted it back. Crap.

We found two places in town that sold D&D stuff. The first place I went the guy behind the counter kicked me out of the store because I brought my book bag into the store and didn't leave it by the door. I didn't know. So the next place I went, I crept in and asked the lady if it was okay to come in. She said absolutely and showed me where all the gaming stuff was, which was limited to one shelf on the bottom at the back of the store. It was a hobby store and had a ton of airplane and train stuff. I'd never seen miniatures before. Lead figures with swords and bows, clerics with their arms raised and magic-users with staves taller than them. Oh, and the monsters were very cool even though I had no clue what most of them were. This instantly became my place. I bought my first set of D&D dice here and still have most of them to this day (except for my 12d which vanished in study hall one day).

I had money to buy one thing so I picked out the coolest looking module they had. I ran home to show Dwayne. He was excited also. He'd gone to the other store and had better luck than I did getting in. We showed each other our spoils of the day. Both of us had bought the same module S1 Tomb of Horrors. So for the next few months we took turns DMing the Tomb of Horrors. After that we made a pact to tell the other what they were going to buy.

So began my journey in gaming. Thanks for taking a look around. You're welcome to anything in the fridge, snacks are in the cupboard and the only rule is the last Coke is always mine.