Well hello everyone
Let me try to reply to as many of the new posts as possible. I will copy them all here so I can go through them one by one, if I miss anything just repost it and I will address it later. Of, course I will skip over anything I have already addressed previously, so here goes.
glitterboy2098:
what scale were you planning for the miniatures?
Kevin has been posting them as 28mm but they are actually closer to 32mm and in true scale - so no deformed hands or heads.would the rules be cross compatible with the RPG, allowing people to play out bigger battles in their campaigns using the miniatures and create their personal characters in the board game?
I am primarily concerned with making a fun, well-oiled board game, but I am open to his if people ask for it during the ks, but it would take a lot of additional resources to accomplish.even if there are no rules for adapting your RPG chars, are there rules for creating new chars for the game, that would allow players to expand their games using non-rifts figures (for example, if the game is in 25-32mm scale you have figures from Warhammer and 40K, Infinity, Stargrunt, and a multitude of others you could draw on, fantasy, modern, and scifi. rifts being diverse enough to accommodate all of them. most scales can boast this to varying degrees.)
While you could use other minis, the game is card-driven, so simply throwing down other minis will not be that easy. It is designed to allow you to play on a variety of square-grid maps, like those produced by Savage Worlds, Paizo, etc.how are the maps going to be set up? hexgrid? square grids? will they large fixed layout maps or an assortment of smaller tiles you mix and match to build your own layouts?
The game will use square-grid maps with set-on tiles that represent the objective buildings and scenarios you will encounter in the game, that way you can vary the maps without waiting for me to publish new ones.wilycoyote:
From your earlier comments you seem to say this is a hybrid board/mins game and so for instance is it to be scenario driven or freeform? Are you looking at fixed maps or something more on the lines of Mantic's Deadzone were physical terrain pieces are used.
The game will be of the standard "dudes on a map" type, but using a grid map (see above), the game will be scenario driven (with campaign scenarios and one-offs), but you will also be able to play one on one skirmishes, like in Imperial Assault or other similar games.I wonder if more detail may drum up more interest pre KS, especially if you have a prototype version to show off say on You Tube
I definately play on making game play videos for the KS, and might show it off before the KS if there is a demand for it.Steve President George W. Bush:
1) You've said you, "...purchased the IP rights" - I can only assume that this actually translates to you're paying to license the Rifts IP for the board game. What is the periodicity of the license, meaning when will the license expire/require renewing? While the amount could probably be eventually expressed mathematically once the KS has a goal, I imagine that the existing license was a flat rate - will it be a flat rate to renew, or will it be a percentage of the KS funding/distribution?
Steve, you have it basically correct, but they don't get a percentage of the KS, just their IP royalties and eventual renew fees. I cannot tell you the periodicity of the license as that and the amounts involved are covered by the NDA.2) Will shipping be coordinated out of the Rogue Heroes address, and how will that be arranged?
I am Canadian, based out of Ontario, so I do not want to ship out of here. I am looking at various third party shipping companies (Ship Naked currently) but that still has to be finalized. Shipping is one of the primary problems many KS have, so it's one of the things I am most concerned about handling correctly.3) Is the intention of the KS to create a production run to make it into distribution, or solely to fulfill the KS pledges? Assuming the first, what will the break-even numbers for various print runs?
It is pointless to do KS just to fulfill the KS pledges alone. Without post-KS distribution, there is no point in doing a KS at all. A game needs to have a life after the KS is over.4) What is the pool size of playtesters for the game?
It's been a closed playtester group so far, as I have been working in private to complete the game and get everything needed finished. During the KS I want to put up an open playtest download for the backers to demo the game and provide any feedback they desire. Along with a contest to name the actual game as it's not going to be called just the "Rifts: Board Game." But that is all for during the KS, of course, I will continue to playtest and will bring in an additional group of closed playtesters during this run up to the KS. 5) How many production samples of the miniatures have been acquired, and has a manufacturer been decided upon?
I still have the final few 3-D sculpts to get done, but the game is nearing the finish stages as far as components go, rules are continuing to be worked on. I am in talks with manufacturers now, but that must be complete before I will launch the KS. I want to have nearly everything finished before I go to KS. My best example of how a KS should be run is Cool-Mini-or-Not and they always have all their ducks in a row before they launch their KS. That is the example I want to follow.6) Have the various timeline goalposts been identified (e.g. artwork finalized, miniature molds completed, packaging at distribution site)? Will those be shared with backers?
I definitely will. I am an active KS backer and my favorite KS are the ones that give me continual updates on the state of the game and its goals for completion.7) How will game errata be addressed? Will the rules for the game be provided to backers prior to being finalized?
I want to post a beta version of the rules to all backers during the KS and an alpha version to a few select backers even before that. The idea is to address as much errata as possible before the game book is printed and to include an errata page for anything that might be missed, as I dislike it when I am pointed to a website the minute I open a rulebook to correct all the mistakes that should have been caught before publication.8.) Have potentially-friendly reviewers been identified and contacted about review copies of the game? Here I'm talking about game reviewers that have generally favorable views for this style of game, and thus might be best able to speak to its strengths, not necessarily reviewers that will provide solely positive reviews.
This honestly will be a challenge, not because I don't think its worth doing, but because so much of my available cash as gone into development. But I am hoping that the reviewers I have spoken to will give it a shot using paper stand-ins for the minis. This is one of the hurdles I still have to deal with, but I am sure I will figure something out.Prysus:
I'm not big on mini games, and I don't recognize any of the games you mention as an example (a good indicator this won't be my type of thing). If this is a simple board game I can pull out and play with friends who have no familiarity with Rifts and complete (realistically) in 30 minutes or even an hour, I might consider it. As examples of games my friends and I do play: Zombiecide (board game), Oregon Trail (card game), Red Dragon Inn (card game), and (once in a blue moon) board games such as Risk. Most of them tend to be relatively easy to learn and play, and then take varying times of play (but the longer standard play is, the less and less likely we are to play it). We often play while waiting for other players to show on game day (group is D&D 3.5, since I'm a player and not a G.M.).
The game is of the same type of "dudes on a map" as Zombiecide, but is driven by a small deck of cards for each of your heroes, with the "Mission Director" having a similar (but larger) deck of cards for the Coalition opponents. Their will be a number of shorter missions, as well as longer campain missions, since I offen fall into the same category as you, quick games before our RPG starts.With that out of the way, I will address the actual reason I'm posting here. I'm going to be a bit more critical, and I'll bring up both RTT and Savage Rifts (but these will only be used to address your company and comparisons). As we can see, many people won't support this Kickstarter. RTT has left a bad test in many people's mouths. With that said, many people still participated in the Savage Rifts Kickstarter and, if I recall correctly, it did better than any other Savage Worlds Kickstarter before to the point they had to keep making changes to how they did things to accommodate. But RTT will continue to be an obstacle, and you'll need to work around it. So how do you do that?
I agree that it will be an obstacle. There will be a specific group of players that will NEVER back my KS because of it and there is nothing I can do to prevent that, but Rifts is an IP I love and I will still go through with the KS. Indeed I am using Kickstarter, because if it fails to reach its funding goal, no one is charged and no backer is out his money. If it does fund, then I am off to the races and get to make the game I have always wanted to play. The Savage Rifts KS has boosted my belief that I can have a successful KS even with the RTT baggage. You need to establish yourself as an independent company. I know, you've said here how you have a small company, and how Palladium's advertisement is free, and how you wanted to talk to Rifts fans before setting up a Facebook page. I get it, but in my opinion this is a bad move (at least in part). Why? Right now there's a rumor going around that you're nothing but a shell company for Palladium, a way for them to keep officially hands off while this really all still them. I know you're going to say that's not true, but you're not trying to convince me and words don't always mean much. You want proof, and right now you don't seem to have any. Kevin is doing your advertising, your discussing it only on their forums (from what I can tell), and people who search for your company find NOTHING. You're a friend of Palladium and everything we know about your company has basically come from Palladium. Until you can give yourself some distance, you will be effectively viewed AS PALLADIUM.
Yes being viewed as PALLADIUM or a shill for them is a problem, that is why I am trying to be open and honest about the project to everyone who wants to know about it before the KS begins. I am first posting here for an obvious reason (or at least I thought so), if I first started a Facebook page and put everything up there, none of you would have seen it. I am first posting here for exposure and so that everyone knows what is going on. Next weekend is when I planned on launching the Facebook page, that gives everyone 10 days to know what's up and to head over to the Facebook then. After that goes up I will not be posting here and will move the discussion over there. This was just a necessary painful first step.As far as finding nothing for ROGUE HEROES that was intentional. I am a one mand band - with assistance - who still works a normal 8 to 4 job and I was trying to keep things under wrap so that I could concentrate on getting everything completed for the game acording to my schedual. I will eventually build my own website, but first I want all the work for the game to be done so I can launch the KS. I also do design work for Upper Deck Entertainment and have deadlines to meet for them, so I carefully budget my time and a website is simply not in the picture - yet!Let's look at Savage Rifts. Savage Worlds was an established company with a good track record. That helped people to look passed the RTT issues. You don't have that luxury. Sean Patrick Fannon (did I spell and get that name right?) posted on these forums a few times during the collaboration, but in the end he directed people to the Savage Worlds forums for more discussion. That allowed them to direct people to them for questions and answers, and as such helped create further separation. So my advice to you is ...
Stop procrastinating and setup that Facebook page... You need to develop an independence. Kevin is your friend, and that's great. But this is also business. As a business, you need separation. Right now you're just Kevin's friend and you appear attached at the hip. If you want a chance to get passed RTT holding you back, then you need to show you're a different entity and not just Palladium with a different name.
I agree wholeheartedly and the Facebook page will be up on the 5th of Feburary as planned and I hope everyone will come over and discus the game with me there when I do. I am also hoping that responces like this will help everyone see that I do want to run a KS the right way and to build a great game that you can support even if you do not want to be part of the KS itself. I want a game that lives on beyond the term of the KS that gives it life! And that means including everyone.Caelen:
With the success of Savage Rifts, the market is primed for updated, quality, affordable miniatures for the setting. I realize you're looking to make a game, but I imagine many of us are looking at possibly supporting the KS primarily for the minis.
I know that may of the supporters of the game will be doing so for the minis, as such I am trying to make a design where everything (minis, maps, set on tile pieces, and even the dice) aside from the cards and rulebook should be usable during your RPG sessions, regardless of whether you play the original Rifts or Savage Rifts.That's part of the problem - the track record to date with miniatures Kick Starters using Palladium IP is working against you. Deserved or not, and this is not intended as support of either position, Palladium is about as negative a name as you can get in that niche market. Due to that, the closer you associate your company and game with them, the heavier the anchor you'll be attaching to yourself. Prysus is right - you need to create distance between your company and Palladium. Show that you are, in fact, a separate company and not a shell. Show that you are the primary driver of the project, not Palladium.
Well there has only been on KS with minis and Palladium IP, the RTT, so at the moment it's one isolated case that was handled poorly and needs Palladium's attention. That being said lots of other companies have had bad first outings on KS, while the RTT is not strictly speaking MY baby, it is a great example of what NOT to do. Although I do believe Palladium with come through in the end (my opinion obviously). All that aside, I definitely intend to show that Rogue Heroes is creating this game, not Palladium. This post is just a first step. But I will not suddenly bad mouth them either just to gain supporters since I don't believe in BS like that and I think you guys don't either. I will however show you guys that I am Rogue Heroes, not Palladium.Wraithcannon:
I am disgruntled backer of PB's previous crowdfunding effort and I will not participate because after 3 years they have not yet fulfilled their obligations of delivery.
I also backed the RTT, but the Rifts: Board Game is being created by Rogue Heroes, not Palladium Books, and I have nothing to do with the RTT KS campaign. But I understand if you or anyone does not want to back my KS because of fears about it, that is your decision. I although I would say that I backed a Cthulhu Mythos campaign by another company over 4 years ago and have just received my Cthulhu model last week, so I would not give up the ship on the RTT just because they are late on wave 2. That said it's your decision.You may claim that this is a separate and individual effort, but I find that hard to believe considering that this conversation is being held on PB's forum rather than a Rogue Hero's website forum.
Like I said above, I am here for exposure and your post shows that I am getting the word out. If I when straight to posting the Facebook page, I don't believe you or anyone else would have seen it. So again this is just my first step. The Facebook page goes up on the 5th so please follow me over to it once it goes up.WOW - that was a lot to respond to. Hope I cleared up as much as possible. I will be back on here briefly tomorrow and will post another pic from the game then.
Again thank you to everyone who has taken the time to post here and I look forward to hearing from you all in the future.
Thanks Carmen
