I know this has been hashed out again and again, but what caused this whole mess to happen?
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
I know this has been hashed out again and again, but what caused this whole mess to happen?
\
Good question. And we'd all love to know the answer to it. I don't think any of us actually know why things went down as they did.It's been a while so I'm hoping I remember everything. Someone feel free to correct anything missing or wrong.
-Gary did the Creature Cards Kickstarter. It barely made its money. People complained they weren't getting a hold of Gary, etc. Even today people are commenting about never having gotten anything. I made an announcement on there for everyone to read regarding Gary's disappearance.
-Gary did the dwarf/drow Kickstarter, but was essentially ignoring the other people posting on his previous KS, making those people less inclined to help with the second one. Some gave it a shot anyhow because of blind faith.
-KS 2 is fully funded with extras, and Book 1 comes out. Gary announces on the FMG Facebook page he'll be away for a while because he and his wife are going to celebrate their anniversary with a safari trip to Africa, and teases Book 2 pics, as well as Book 7 Way of the Wicked pics.
-Gary disappears for a year. Everyone assumes the worst has happened during the African safari.
-Gary pulls a Jesus and apologies for his being away. Doesn't explain why. Releases Book 2.
-Goes silent again, comes back and apologies again, and releases WotW Book 7.
-Goes silent once more, and people start putting up a pool on how long he'll be silent this time, as well as venting their frustrations.
-We start contacting Mike, the artist, and he apologies and says he's been in contact with Gary.
-Gary periodically appears and disappears, each time teasing art for books we might never see.
-Gary resurfaces one last time to give summaries and art for each of the remaining books, minus the extra book regarding the demigod.
-Mike comes to the forums and apologies again for Gary's behavior. At this time we learn that Mike has been paid in full, so we at least know that Mike didn't get ripped off.
-FMG website is closed and Mike is released from his duties as artist for the company. No official word from Gary on what's happening.
-Gary remains silent, but has currently backed 305 projects.
I think that about sums it up.
I know this has been hashed out again and again, but what caused this whole mess to happen?\
Good question. And we'd all love to know the answer to it. I don't think any of us actually know why things went down as they did.It's been a while so I'm hoping I remember everything. Someone feel free to correct anything missing or wrong. ** spoiler omitted **...
That sounds -- odd. I was wondering if he or his family had severe health issues but that sounds like he just wandered off.
|
|
That sounds -- odd. I was wondering if he or his family had severe health issues but that sounds like he just wandered off.I know this has been hashed out again and again, but what caused this whole mess to happen?\
Good question. And we'd all love to know the answer to it. I don't think any of us actually know why things went down as they did.It's been a while so I'm hoping I remember everything. Someone feel free to correct anything missing or wrong. ** spoiler omitted **...
Not gonna lie, the thought had occurred to me as well. More so when one of the "Wicked" anniversaries passed by and Gary released an exclusive discount in honour of his daughter's birthday. Not exactly something that'd happened before.
But, we'll see what happens in the next 25-26 hours.
|
|
Hi,
Basically, if I'm reading you all right, you can sue a KS after a certain number of anniversaries without the rewards ?
Can anyone expand on this ? (I am not planning to sue this one, but I have someone else in mind).
Yes, you absolutely can. On th KS website it says that you can take legal action 5 years after the initial funding date, so long as the creator no longer tries to make contact with the consumers. If they are still in communication, you’re supposed to wait 5 years after the promised release date. However, it’s noted that if the creator is without money, you probably can’t get paid back and be out the lawyer fee.
Oh come on people. Don´t tell me you really fall for the "I wonder if he has health problems" or "I wonder if he has real serious problems in the family" BS. Don´t sell yerself short like that.
I can tell you from personal experience that people with serious health issues or serious family problems DO NOT spend time scouring kickstarter for projects to back nor do they back 300+ projects in 3 years. They got other things on their mind, believe me.
No, the answer to the question why McBride has ripped us off is far easier to come by. I would write it down but paizo will only put the censorship pin on me again....
|
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Oh come on people. Don´t tell me you really fall for the "I wonder if he has health problems" or "I wonder if he has real serious problems in the family" BS. Don´t sell yerself short like that.
I can tell you from personal experience that people with serious health issues or serious family problems DO NOT spend time scouring kickstarter for projects to back nor do they back 300+ projects in 3 years. They got other things on their mind, believe me.
No, the answer to the question why McBride has ripped us off is far easier to come by. I would write it down but paizo will only put the censorship pin on me again....
Only at the beginning did I think that. Then I wondered about depression. I know I've been at a point where I literally couldn't do anything except escape on the internet and do nothing but surf the web. Being under that much stress wouldn't be healthy, especially if you suddenly developed writer's block, and oh boy is that ever not what you want to experience when you've already got the world on your shoulders. But I was told numerous times that no, he's got this. It's handled. Just give him time. Just have faith. That I would see. That others were in contact. So I passed that message along. That was the first two years. Then I stopped getting those messages until this past year saying once again that he's got this. It's nearing completion. But even then, those that told me weren't as convinced themselves and even they were apologizing when Gary wasn't.
Didn't help that KS wanted nothing to do with this either. They had their money. They didn't care.
No, this has gone on long enough and now court action is finally available. Gary will never see it, but I sent him one last message regarding my disappointment.
And after the constant defending and naive blind faith I had. To tell so many people to be patient. To not track him down. That they were all better than that. I feel the fool. Especially at the end. I hoped he would be responsible in some way.
Probably the worst part of this whole thing is it's killed my initial fire to write and likely will continue doing so until I move past this. They say you should never meet your heroes. I'm glad I never did. It'd have just been that much worse.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
You're a better writer then Gary, you shouldn't dwell on this. :-)
You're a better writer then Gary, you shouldn't dwell on this. :-)I appreciate that.
Yeah man, don´t let that keep you from writing. Yer stuff is of fine quality so that´d really be a waste.
|
|
Yeah man, don´t let that keep you from writing. Yer stuff is of fine quality so that´d really be a waste.You're a better writer then Gary, you shouldn't dwell on this. :-)I appreciate that.
It's not so much not writing, as much as the whole thing kills your enthusiasm and fire. The passion's not as strong. And it's not just this project. Having PF 2.0 around the corner, and each 3PP doing their own variation to 1.0 or revising the rules and making their own system, you're not sure of your place anymore.
What really sucks is I was REALLY hoping to have this adventure ran for my group. We had the perfect set up. In the campaign we're currently in, one of the characters just unlocked his bloodline and found out that he's both the rightful prince of both the elves and the dwarves. While we can't do anything for his current character, his son (our next campaign) can attempt to take up the throne. While Kingmaker works, Throne of Night would have been so much better.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I know this has been hashed out again and again, but what caused this whole mess to happen?\
Good question. And we'd all love to know the answer to it. I don't think any of us actually know why things went down as they did.It's been a while so I'm hoping I remember everything. Someone feel free to correct anything missing or wrong. ** spoiler omitted **...
Going through Google and looking to Gary, I came across something I'd completely forgotten. Not only had he gone dark about this project, but Ogre: Nightfall as well. Another company had to pick up the slack and deliver the goods. This was back in 2014. Steve Jackson Games even went after him for what happened.
|
|
Believe me. We all want answers to those questions. The main problem we’re looking at is finances for court, and Americans willing to take him to court. Most of the backers live outside the jurisdiction, and KS rules stipulate that cases must go through a court in New York. Don’t know why that is though. Given that Oregon and New York are not the same state, I’m curious how someone is to get him to show up.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
For anyone who’s interested, a blog post was created on EN World regarding our situation here. If you’d like to vent and tell your side, you’re welcome to join.
|
|
As a non-backer, one thing I find a biggest point against the behavior of Fire Mountain Games is the apparent failure to send out Way of the Wicked stuff to people who ordered sets of that.
My understanding (<- I could be wrong) is that they were all pretty much available. When Book 7 was done, all copies for that stuff should've been sent out. Instead, some backers apparently didn't even get the stuff they ordered that was available, 100% finished and ready to print-on-demand. There's really no defense for that, I think.
Gary's reasoning at the time was that he planned on cleaning up and doing a revision of the pdfs because of all the vast spelling mistakes and other errors myself and others had found and pointed out to him. Version 2 would be made available and then printed off. That did not happen. Worse, even the pdfs that were available weren't sent to the backers. So it was a lose-lose.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I just realized there was a promised exclusive adventure called Palace of the Half-God. Did that get sent out to the backers?Nope.
I kind of meant to do this before when I replied, but kind of just let it go what with the fiasco of what's happening, and the lack of caring starting to kick in at this point. Anyway, wanted to bring up again that I made my version of what I was going to do for that boss encounter. From the picture you can tell he was going for a lich, but we don't want something that's so mundane as a human lich, again.
Instead, I made mine was a cunning aasimar dread lich godling. Probably a little too high for a CR to go into that particular scenario, but whatevs. I think Gary was going for something more in the CR 13-14 range.
Kickstarter is based out of Brooklyn, NY, I believe. NYC for sure.
That's probably why it needs to go through the NY courts.
|
|
Kickstarter is based out of Brooklyn, NY, I believe. NYC for sure.
That's probably why it needs to go through the NY courts.
Makes sense.
Was on KS earlier tonight and saw that four of the comments were removed. Not sure whose comments were taken down or by whom, but it's something that should be made apparent.
|
|
That's a good question. Wish I had an answer.
I see we have to be careful what we say about Gary now. Someone posted on every one of the FMG book links about what happened and their opinion, and every single post was removed by staff. There were no threats of any kind, just someone warning off others and to not support the nonexistent company. That was enough though.
|
I noticed that. I think - though I'm not sure - that they prefer to have people keep the focus on the products themselves, rather than the creators. Otherwise, at what point does it stop? If one group is considered "fair game" for people to hate on, that can easily spread, and that can lead to way more toxicity in a community than there really should be.
I don't necessarily disagree with the posts that got removed (I saw them), but I understand why a company might want to remove them, and I wasn't surprised when it happened.
Also when your entire forum section is suddenly filled with products all repeating that one exact thing it does come across as pretty spammy.
|
|
I don't necessarily disagree with the posts that got removed (I saw them), but I understand why a company might want to remove them, and I wasn't surprised when it happened.
Agreed, a company must remain neutral on these things. And I wasn't the least bit surprised either.
@Kevin Mack -- That's fair too.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Any suggestions for how I can improve things?
The Technology Guide, Kobolds of Golarion, and Heroes of the Darklands have some radiation related posts. Mainly the spells detect radiation and radiation ward, a radiation trap/hazard, and the Radiation subdomain for Earth. Radiation itself is discussed on page 55 of the Technology Guide (and on the Prd), but I'm sure you've got that info already. Finally, there's the amulet of radiation absorption that your players might want to eventually build (in the Heroes book) and a radiation detector.
Other than that, templates. SO MANY TEMPLATES. Giant Creature, Calcified Creature, Chthonic Creature, Fleshwarped (mutation variety), Gnarled Creature, Primordial Creature... And that's just examples from Paizo's list on the d20pfsrd. There's so many 3PP ones that fit too like Two-Headed Creature, Element Infused Creature, Flesh Plant, Poisonous Creature, Apocalypse Swarm, etc, etc, etc. There's so much you can do.
In 3.5, Dragon Magazine 350 released a section on mutation templates. These included arcane-blood, corrupted, poisonous, and stoneboned. Each of these had their strengths and drawbacks. However, if you took the Evolved feat, also in that magazine, you could negate one or two of the drawbacks (additional benefits of the feat were listed in each template). The poisonous template you'd need to adjust as per the conversion guide.
Hope that helps.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Some other ideas could be:
- The radiation affected those near the constructs and merged them (3.5 called the half-constructs and was a template).
- 5th has a radiation domain already (probably homebrew) according to a Google search earlier. Maybe people actually worship that stuff.
- Mutant goblins are a thing in Pathfinder, maybe there's that in your game too.
- Intelligent oozes. There's templates for that in Pathfinder (also found in the d20pfsrd), and 3.5 called them Sentry oozes. The radiation could have evolved them.
- Blight from Batman Beyond. Someone got too close to the source, and now it's a radiation monster that you can see its bones through its skin and shoots blasts or irradiated energy.
- Creatures that subsist on radiation. Maybe they require the source as nourishment.
- The source becomes unstable and now the threat of a meltdown is imminent.
- A radiation dragon. It used to be a fire or magma dragon, but has since been mutated. Its breath weapon is radiation.
Just things off the top of my head.
|
|
This would be a lot easier with a map!:)
Oh, likely. About the only person that could give you that would be Michael Clarke. I'm wondering if he'd give it up to anyone if they asked super nice.
Other than that, I'd say just Google "dwarf city map", click on the Images tab, and choose one. I've seen a few good ones. One posted on reddit was even built over a lava flow.
My own version of Dammerhall is not yet fully fleshed out, but I kind of decided I would try and take some inspiration from Eberron's Sharn when it comes to the layout of the city. Districts could be named after kings of a past age (that are also represented by the statues seen in the picture of Dammerhall).
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
It's heartbreaking to finally get a Paizo newsletter for the first time in literal months (their server was doing terribly for so long) and see Book 2 and Book 7 of Way of the Wicked be in the Top 10, and know that Throne of Night could have been part of that too. But nope. We don't get to experience that, and neither does Gary.
Makes me wish I'd won the lottery this weekend so one way or another this could finally be behind us.
|
|
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
So learned something on KS the other day, and everyone who bought into the project should invoke their right to do so as well. Just post in the comments. Make your voice heard.
---------------------
https://www.kickstarter.com/terms-of-use/oct2012
"Project Creators are required to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill."
I demand a full refund for my pledge amount.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
So learned something on KS the other day, and everyone who bought into the project should invoke their right to do so as well. Just post in the comments. Make your voice heard.
---------------------
** spoiler omitted **
I didn't include the link, but just realized that not everyone will remember where on Kickstarter they'll need to go besides the comments section. So here.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Because I keep an eye out for these things, I've been to Michael's web page, and he uploaded a map for a mine. It's only the first level, but it's something. Pretty sure it's been shared before though, but I'm not going through 26 pages to try find it.
If that doesn't tickle your fancy, check out Tumblr's Crosshead. This person has a Patreon, and so far has done two of six releases for dwarven maps.
Part 1 of the maps
Part 2 of the maps
For those of you still working on this, I hope the new maps help.