Realo Foxtrot's page

Heh. your joke made me chuckle.

Although I don't get where you are coming from with not likely to get ranged agile weapons. The Overwhelming Assault Feat in the Fieldtest does mention them specifically

-snip-

I was waffling a bit there, but my position is largely that:

1. I would prefer stamina, but I would like it to be a smooth experience for my players coming from Pathfinder.
2. My issue with optional rules is more that they get abandoned by writers of later books. I know Variants are supposed to be designed to be self contained with generic language, but do they really work when newer books come along?

I'm not sure that's the actual intention, to be honest. Like based on the field test data, a level 1 Rotolaser actually does less damage on a shot per shot basis than the PF2 Arquebus (they're both d8, but the latter has Fatal d12.) The advantages the future guns have is more "you don't have to constnatly reload the thing, and it's capable of automatic fire" since "I'm going to put a hole in you where you don't want one was pretty dangerous in every era.

When it comes to that Arquebus, I would argue that it's specifically a weapon from a book that was designed to place overpowered items in players hands,

We haven't had any details on what the attack action will be in Starfinder, but assuming it's going to be the same as in pathfinder:
The base level Rotolaser can fire three times per round, or can fire at everyone in a cone plus another time. Even with fatal, that's already averaging well over double the damage.

Just looking at those weapons, the playtest for Starfinder will be able to dish out somewhat more damage than Pathfinder can, but also the monsters seem to have damage mitigation built in.

Doesn't really have anything to do with Stamina though.
Guess could tie it to my last point about, taking mortal wounds if you loose all your stamina/hitpoints, but would still need to be counted by such stamina/HP having easier ways to heal it than PF2e

You know, I remember Fragged Empire being similar to Starfinder but better, but I can't remember how it goes exactly..

Fragged Empire, your starship is basically your home base and a lot of your resources are part of it, but starship combat is more for feel rather than mechanics. you're doing skill checks not miniature combat skills.

However, having a skim though, it seems like it's largely just slightly more streamlined than SF1e was

The way I am reading this. it does look like Starfinder Classes are quite a lot more powerful than Pathfinder classes

With Starfinder 2 being announced, is there any more news about if what we got is everything we're going to or are we still getting Waves 2 and 3 for the others?

On similar notes, I have realized that one of the models only came with one when it was supposed to be a pack with three skittermanders and two Skittermander Whelps (although I apreciate the Skittermander Whelps weren't ready

I'm on the other side and really didn't like Energy and Kinetic AC.
This is something that Paizo has trouble with a lot anyhow, but the definition of what was Energy and what was Kinectic was one small paragraph in the book with no idea where to look it up.

Maybe Weapons could have a more generic damage type extension, so it would be 1D8 E (F) for Fire or 1D6 K (P) for bullet but that wouldn't be as compatible with PF2e. They do seem to have "Groups" which could work?

In practice though, I'd much rather just take their attack, see if it hits, and then see if the armour absorbs part of it.

.... maybe armour could have "bonus vs group" stats? that could cause complications with PF2e yet again though, cause if you have "bonus vs Laser & projectile" Pathfinder has Bow, Firearm, Sling, etc

Is there any news about when group 2 is coming?

Yeah.... nearly been a year since they announced they were actually shipping some of the minis and no news since about if the rest of the minis are ever going to exist.

No. Archon contact has been fairly awful. I opened 3 support cases and did their "change address" thing four times, only for it to still be sent to my old address.

Well, after the long time it has taken to track down where the parcel went (I'm in England, It went to Wales), I now have the parcel and have finally been able to put together the minis.

Honestly, they're not bad. and despite the extra construction effort, I think overall the plastic is better than the Resin that was going to be originally used and that the wizkids ones use.

However, I agree. I've paid for the All In package and am still wanting to know what futures this is having

Okay.

I have been informed that the package is suddenly being shipped.

And despite me having numerous support emails saying "my address has changed" and using the online form. They have still sent it to the old address

To be honest, I don't know who to contact.
Archon claimed they would be contacting EU backers "Shortly" but it's been almost 3 months since this announcement.

Is there an update? Are there more delays?
On kickstarter, there is someone who claims Archon told them "They are shipping two other projects first" which.... wait, what? Why not tell us then?

Silence is causing the aggravation that is only going to happen more now as we approach the fourth month since you said "You're getting your first wave now!"

Additionally to this. I have yet to have a clear response to "How have you updated my address?" on the EU Form.
They don't ask what my old address was or what my associated email or account name was.
You just say "yes" and then "Enter new Address"

Okay.

I finally got confirmation that backers on GameOnTabletop who weren't Kickstarter Backers are indeed with Archon.

That said, also seems like EU Backers aren't going out yet?

Realo Foxtrot wrote:

Has anything come of this?

I am in Europe, but I am also a gameontabletop backer and have heard nothing about a shipment being sent

I got a response for this from Archon:

Archon Support Email wrote:

In a few weeks, we will make the survey for all EU-based backers, and you will get a notification about it. Paizo made a list for the non-EU; we are looking after the EU backers. Once you fill out the list, we will have your address and start with shipping. Please wait for more information.

Have EU people been sent stuff? Cause it's been a month now

Has anything come of this?

I am in Europe, but I am also a gameontabletop backer and have heard nothing about a shipment being sent

I got a response for this from Archon:

In a few weeks, we will make the survey for all EU-based backers, and you will get a notification about it. Paizo made a list for the non-EU; we are looking after the EU backers. Once you fill out the list, we will have your address and start with shipping. Please wait for more information.

Has anything come of this?
I am in Europe, but I am also a gameontabletop backer and have heard nothing about a shipment being sent

So it does look like the tech issue was due to Ninja Division. huh.

At least Ninja Division's misappropriation of funds that has lead to paizo needing to set up a new system for paying for a delivery credit, which had tech problems that needed to be solved..... which... were not solved.

I wonder which blog post has the highest comments?
This one must be top three at least, right?

But yeah. The February Announcement has now had it's technical difficulties solved. Paizocon is solved. the day off is over. So
Announcement today? This Week? June?

I've been trying to wonder what technical issue this could be as it seems like Archon are in a fairly good position at the moment. Heck, their latest kickstarter seems to be able to already deliver some of their items.

Then I remembered Ninja Division are in charge of distribution to the US (I'm in Europe)

Well, I guess I'll ask again.

Did anything come from that question about if people can update their GameOnTabletop and that will be the address they are sent to?

It turns out, that after all this time, I am going to move for a second time

Okay, Six months sicne I last checked on this news and.....

What happened to the announcement back in February?

Would you have advice for people who didn't back on Kickstater but instead are backed through the Game On Tabletop Pledge Manager?

I'm one of those people, and am hoping my details were passed to whoever is in control of this. Updating on kickstarter isn't something I can do

Cypher1 wrote:

So can a player not preview the pregens without purchasing the scenario?

Not without having connections to someone who does own the scenario (like the GM), no.

This is a bit weird as the other One Shots have pregen PDFs linked

I had my happen just over the bridge leading into the welcome walk, with Ot waiting for them by one of the struts in the walk.

I made it so that Ot is a touch showmanlike, with the rain not falling on him, and the magical symbols appearing in a pleasing manner.

When he walked away, the rain started down hard again, leading into the Esi scene.

While a more mechanical game would require him casting specific spells, I've taken the custom spells to mean that magic can be invented at this school, so some of the spells the NPCs do aren't going to be ones found in the book.

(am now wondering if SoM will include custom spell making..)

I received an email saying that they had updated the pdf with bookmarks, but when I download it, it's the same as it was, still ends at the group interview. Has anyone been able to actually download the corrected pdf?

Edited: Ok, you have to download the file per chapter zip, and the full pdf is in there, updated with the new bookmarks.

I got it to work by pressing "Problem with this download" and it personalized a new one. Otherwise I was just getting the one I already had personalized

Is it just me or is the Map inconsistent?

In the blog posts and the Nantambu section of the expanse guide, Magaambya should be all stone and slate and silk in its construction.

However, the map in the front of the book (and used as the main map in the Roll20 version) is very... Thatch?

It's a little annoying because I'll be showing that map a lot, and the aesthetic feels off

Good news for Roll20 VTT players! We heard it directly from them that they are working on the Strength of Thousands AP, trying to hit our Wednesday, August 5 release date.

Is there any update on this?

Kinda wanted to mention to those wondering why it's just Primal and Arcane rather than any of the others.

Reading the early blurb section, it seems like it's thematic. Magaambya is quite a spirital place. you get masks of your spirit animal, and they consider personality traits as being more important than pure knowledge.

There's also a section in the Halcyon Speaker which mentions about while the founder's beliefs are that all magic is magic, Magaabya has developed a culture of Primal meets Arcane

So it seems like the core experience of this Adventure Path is Primal meets Arcane for it's location culture, so that's why we are limited to those two.

If your GM is fine with opening up extra options for the free archetype, then fine. but it might be worth either getting the Mwangi Expanse book, or waiting until the actual book is in your GMs hands before making that call

Apologies, but is this today's Blog post or is there another one due?

I thought there would be news about Adventure Paths today from one of the product comments..

So, as my players are going to be spending a lot of time in the Portal Room, or at least are going to be coming back a lot, I took a page out of MSAbaddon's book and made something in DungeonFog (although just with free assets)

Portal Vaults

the tiles are 70dpi and 18x18 tiles. it's ready to drop right into roll20

I've not decorated the alcoves because I plan on using Animated Portals, specifically this pack: ASV2 Portals

I had been looking into this before and posted a message that was saying that Archon wouldn't be the people who made the US minis https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2umu4&page=23?Miniatures-Kickstarter-Ninja -Division#1108

Seems to be continuing in that fashion now

Ninja Division seems to be focusing on Super Dungeon Explorers and Relic Knights again.... no idea when they'll get to Starfinder stuff, but doesn't seem like we're the priority.

instead, they're focusing on..... I have no idea. the big mistake project it seems https://ninjadivision.com/blogs/news/masterclass-success

Okay, so keeping an eye on what various people are saying, there is this:

If you are in America, Archon will not have made your miniatures (probably)

ND's recent post stated that the initial aim was reduce debt with US based Manufacturers.
Archon is based in Poland, with a parent company in the UK.
the parent company has offices in the US, but Archon themselves are EU based and likely were contacted to reduce shipping costs.

with this in mind, there must be other manufacturers that ND have been working with to create miniatures that are US based as well.

in contrast, Rail Raiders Infinite was entirely produced in China, and had to be shipped from China to US, and then EU

edit: wow. [bigger] is a lot more imposing than i thought

Is... Archon even producing Minis for anywhere outside Europe?

ND's main production seemed to be in China, which was then Shipped to the US. I wondered if Archon (who are based in Poland) produced the minis to avoid shipping costs and import tax for EU Countries

I've spent the past few hours reading through various publicly available sources to try and bring as complete a story of what has been going on, summarised as to not be too long.

This post is still very long, but It should be informative to those who are confused:

November 2015 - a little over 3 years ago

Ninja Division fund Super Dungeon Explorers

They get $1.2m (1500% of their goal) and set out to make the product they advertised. This consists of:
Super Dungeon: Legends - a story-building game based off their brand
Super Dungeon: Explore: 2nd Edition - an update to their first successful game
3 expansions to Super Dungeon Explorers

===========================================

April 2016 - a little under 3 years ago

Ninja Division fund Rail Raiders Infinite

Due to the way Ninja Division run their company, several other games are being pitched for Kickstarting. Rail Raiders Infinite is the first of these. They make use of similar stretch goals, but this time make $340k-ish (about 1000% their goal)

This is the point where Super Dungeon Explorers Decides to remake itself, which you can read the statement here

In short. They decide that the additions the expansion promised break the game, and decide to start again, now the product is split into 3 or 4 products:
Super Dungeon: Explore - sometimes called Classic, akin to just the dungeon crawl of a tabletop RPG
Super Dungeon: Arcade - adjusted rulesets so that the game can be played without a game master
Super Dungeon: Legends - re-using the existing products to be more akin to a true tabletop RPG
Super Dungeon: Pvp Arena - a different version that allows people to play against each other.

Over the next 17 months, Rail Raiders Infinite is Produced and shipped. majority of people get full order (not everyone, but nearly everyone)

===================================================

July 2016 - about 2 and a half years ago

Super Dungeon Explorers is in a bit of trouble

Since April, they have been working with backers to make this new, better version of the game. Except they now realise, it was bad. They've promised the moon, and now have too much workload. They hire on new designers full time and expand themselves as a company

Extrapolation: at this point, they've basically scrapped everything they promised originally, and can't deliver now. Their choice to expand is not a financially viable choice, but they are still passionate about the product and genuinely want to get it into the fans hands. One of their employees seems to know this, and has posted that they should have stuck to a smaller product before making an RPG, but at this point, they think they can do it still, as Rail Raiders has broadly been a success

On the side of Rail Raiders Infinite, things are apparently on schedule and they are wrapping up Pledge Manager for numbers of what product for who.

================================================

October 2016 - a little over 2 years ago

Rise of the third Kickstarter

After a wobble where they fail to fund Way Of The fighters, Ninja Division decide that people weren't spending due to the US Elections happening, and relaunch. This time Way Of The Fighters is successful with $90k (450% of asking)

over the course of 12 months, they ship the base game, but the miniatures cause problems

Extrapolation: ND have employees doing nothing, but they also need money quick. I can only assume that there are outside deals going on

During this time, backers of Super Dungeon Explorers and Rail Raiders Infinite are starting to loose faith, and are getting impatient.

Super Dungeon: Explore has been through more redesigning and redesigning, despite promises that it's nearly done new core elements are being added such as a change to the main objective of the game. We've gone from 1.4 to 1.9, with pretty significant changes.

Rail Raiders Infinite have sent off print files and scuplts to a manufacturer in China. Due to the distance, communication regarding print tests takes an exceptionally long time, They've missed their estimate window, but it does appear things are proceeding.

It appears that ND are currently NOT dealing with Archon, who are based in Poland, and themselves owned by a company in the UK. However, I haven't been able to find out much about them

======================================

March 2017 - about 2 years ago

The fourth concurrent kickstarter

Relic Knights 2nd Edition is successfully funded with $365K (770% asked for).
Relic Knights is a sad story, as it'd fall behind other commitments. It's a reprise of the SDE story, but this time created by the Rail Raiders team. So far, nothing has materialised for backers, although it is likely that production of materials is done as of the present.

Lets start with SDE again:

Super Dungeon: Explore (the classic version) seems to be broadly done. in terms of design, and a beta version of Super Dungeon: Arcade goes though several versions, along with playtests for the expansion ruleset involving pets. No news about Super Dungeon: Legends or PVP yet. Nothing has been manufactured at all yet.

Rail Raiders Infinite have been continuing back and forth with their unnamed production company in China, having production proofs being shipped slowly. some updates show off "blue" enemies with grey bases. It seems ND are seeking to avoid spending too much, as the grey bases are the same for the hero models. ND do explain why the project is off target for delay but does seem to be making progress. As the team who would be working on Gameplay and Sculpts have no part for this process, they have moved to working on creating Relic Knights 2nd

Way Of The Fighter Is producing quickly. They send gameplay proofs off, while other members continue to sculpt the miniatures.

================================

September 2017 - about a year and a half ago

Before our Humble Starfinder tale

Okay, so before we start the story that involves the people in this thread, lets wrap up what is currently happening.

Ninja Division has 4 kickstaters with nothing for backers to see. A fair amount of backers aren't aware of the others existence, but the comments in all four of them are showing that people are strained and impatient. GenCon 2017 also has copies of at least Rail Raiders being sold before Backers have received their copies, leading to more animosity.

Super Dungeon Explorers A news post talking about Super Dungeon: Legends has shown that behind closed doors, SDE has been becoming even more ambitious, not less. SD:L is now a Multi-book fully fledged tabletop RPG.
The post also goes into how Ninja Division works. Multiple teams all work independently from each other, and money is not transferred between projects.

Extrapolation: the questions are answers to the backers demanding to know where SDE is, and why are other kickstarters being made if SDE isn't finished. I am inclined to believe these answers. at least at this point. However, thanks to evidence from this year, it seems 2017 is when that $1.2m(+whatever else) was exhausted from bad business decisions

Rail Raiders Infinite is actually finished and shipping directly to backers. It takes a long time, but most backers do get their products. However, some backers have received broken or missing parts. These backers weren't able get replacements, although the number of such people seems to be rather low.
By now. it's about 64 weeks over estimate, but it is actually successfully finished.

Unverified extrapolation: Now, recent news says that Archon were involved with production of these miniatures. I have no idea what level of involvement they have, as all news given continues to direct to an unnamed Chinese manufacturer, but I can imagine Archon took up the load as Ninja Division wanted to manufacture more in a shorter time.

Way Of The Fighter Due to the way they sent the core game off early, the game is actually ready to be shipped. (the core game had cardboard cutouts, or you could pay for a version with Miniatures) What is not ready, are the miniatures. Apparently working with the same production company as Rail Raiders, WotF miniatures are only now being sent for production proofs.

Relic Knights 2nd is not ready. Unlike the past Kickstarters, where the product was basically done and the crowdfunding was mostly for finalising and production, Relic Knights 2nd Edition is funding to start work.

I'm not actually sure what happened here, but it seems like it was advertised as being a minor upgrade to the original game, but in the end, Relic Knights 2nd has turned into a massive project which needs too much money to make a reality (my own experience of game dev makes out that $1m about right for the promised content)

A final word. At this point, Ninja Division have been unreliable and shown that they make a lot of mistakes, but everything up until now shows they genuinely care about getting these projects into people's hands.
However. They have no money right now. It's been eaten by all the mistakes and problems caused from these projects.
What they need now is a guaranteed hit which they can start putting the profits from back into the other projects.

===========================

October 2017 - About a year and a half ago still

Enter Paizo

Up until now, All the information has been taken from the Kickstarter News Posts. Now, I need to make use of information from all over the place, a lot of this is hearsay from people in comments

lets start with Humble Bundle.

From what I can gather from reading comments, Paizo have wanted to start up a Miniature Line for a long while, but their previous partnerships were fully loaded up with work, and unable to fullfil the intended order size.

Ninja Division on the other hand came up, ready to go.

I will not pretend to know what the actual deal was

There could be any number of possible reasons, but NDA means we will not know the details.

What we do know is what was produced.

Ninja Division would be responsible for providing the miniature side of the $45+, consisting of 5 minis including one Starfinder Iconic Envoy.

It has also been stated many times that the Iconic Miniatures were produced as a separate order from before the Starfinder Kickstarter.

So As of this time, Ninja Division has these projects:

Super Dungeon Explore 2nd Edition + things
Way of the Fighter Miniature Edition
Relic Knights
Humble Bundle Worldscape Miniatures
Starfinder Iconic Miniatures
Starfinder Masterclass Miniatures

SDE Backers are upset at this, and try to warn Paizo that Ninja Division have a history of being unable to deliver projects. But the response was That Paizo had trust in Ninja Division.

Extrapolation: with everything I've said so far. These Miniatures should have been a sure thing. Except... Ninja Division doesn't have the money at this point, and they are promising a lot of deliverables.

==============================================

March 2018 - About a year ago

Where is XXXX, Ninja Division?

At this point, 6 different projects are awaiting orders to be filled:

Super Dungeon: Explore starts off with an apology, basically saying they messed up again. while Super Dungeon Explore game is now massively over estimate, it's basically now ready to start production, and enters the proofing stage. However "Production Problems" lead to them requiring they change their manufacturer. Legends, however, is a massive mess and no sign of being fixed without yet another expensive rework.

Way Of The Fighter is still trying to produce miniatures, potentially adding to the production problems.

Relic Knights 2nd while the game itself needs designers to work on it, the model parts are actually coming along pretty well. apparently the 2-player starter set and the Cartels are already in production.

Humble Worldscape is behind schedule as well. Paizo CCO states that they are waiting on ND to produce them, but are aware of Problems with their original manufacturer, so have been looking for a new one.

Starfinder Iconic Miniatures Pre-orders for these minis are due now, but are no where to be seen.

Starfinder Masterclass Miniatures has mostly been going through Ninja Division working closely with Paizo to make sure the sculpts are good enough for the starfinder licence, and they begin the first batch of models to be Produced.

At this point, we are not aware of what potential problems are with Manufacturing, but goodwill towards Ninja Division is crashing and burning right now.

===============================

November 2018 - a few months ago

Radio Silence

By this point, Ninja Division has stopped communicating on their kickstarters. most of them had a last post in Aug/Sept before no warning lack of information.

It's revealed that Justin, aka the Designer for Super Dungeon: Explore, has left the company, followed rapidly by Ninja Scott, aka the main contact for Starfinder Masterclass.

It is also revealed via a separate kickstarter from Archon the following:

"It won't be an official statement as we need to wait until Thursday when CEO of Archon will be holding a meeting with Ninja Division about this situation.

However, the fact is that we are on hold with all Ninja Division projects due to lack of payment (Starfider, Relic Knights as well as Humble Bundle - Paizo is still not paid). This should not, however, affect what we are doing, as external contracts are about 15% of total Archons turnover. The worst-case scenario is that Archon will have to cover all the manufacturing losses, and this could mean that some of our FUTURE internal projects could be delayed, but that's nothing major. Anyway, please wait for an official statement. We are all hoping that ND will find some solution. Thanks."

The status of the 6 projects before updates stop:

Super Dungeon Explore Gave several updates talking about various characters and characters from the game

Way Of The Fighter Showed off the status of the Miniatures as they were being produced and shipped to ND

Relic Knights 2nd has changed focus and completed the 2-player starter set. This version is now the core set of Relic Knights 2nd and it's ready to be sent out to people. Most of this is left in production at Archon, however.

Humble Worldscape Humble order is at long last fulfilled.

Starfinder Iconic Miniatures Appears to be done in full now.

Starfinder Masterclass Miniatures had several updates claiming that more miniatures are being produced, and they are slowly being shipped out as they arrive.

Comments on every post are hostile now. Most people want refunds, many people are looking to sue. Rumours are flying all over the place.

IDW games announced a partnership where Ninja Division would provide 5 miniatures for a Men in Black/Ghost Busters crossover. This has since been changed

===============================================

February 2019 - Now

Legal troubles

I will be linking mostly to the Idaho Statesman for this section, as they have been the biggest reference when it comes to the legal issues that have arisen.

The lack of answers to why these projects have been delayed have not helped calm backers. Some backers worked to file a criminal charges complete against ninja division.

Ninja Divisions response was that they hadn't enacted in a Ponzi scheme, but had genuinely just messed up development scope.
This was accepted by the Idaho Attorney General.

And finally, at long last, we arrive at the most recent post, where Ninja Division try to explain what they can on each of the remaining projects.

In short, between these two documents, the current situation summed up is:

Ninja Division has let everyone except company owners go.
Ninja Division needs way more money than it has to finish the projects.
The owners haven't taken the money and run, they are still trying to get the projects finished.

==============================================

I have tried to keep this mostly factual, with some hopefully educated guesses clearly marked out.

About me: I backed RailRaiders at the "Raider" complete level, and Starfinder as a Late pledge for All In

I feel like I want to mention my own reasons for backing, as I've seen a fair few comments which have said people who backed didn't do research, as Ninja Division were obviously "shady"

Around the time of the kickstarter, I had received my backer rewards for another Ninja Division project, specifically the Rail Raiders Infinite board game.

Now, here are some images from the time when i got them Imgur Gallery

(Please excuse my painting skills, I hadn't painted for about 10 years before these)

Now, other than one model having a bent gun, I was very much impressed by these. They were plastic and shorter than you might see elsewhere, but I ended up using these models for starfinder and other scifi RPGs.

Now, Ninja Division did not do a great job of the kickstarter. They were around 52 weeks late from the estimate, but it did finally arrive and was appreciated. I predicted a similar level of things to go wrong, and maybe around this time I'd be receiving the first package (as a UK backer).

I'm not saying I approve of how they are apparently doing their business, and I do hope that someone is able to step in, buy out Ninja Division's debt and finish the obligations to the backers, but I would like to point out that they have successfully delivered in the past.