Mantic's Kickstarter Project

[Blaker]

Howdy Yall,

Have any of you seen the Mantic's Kickstarter Project for their miniature range for Kings of War?

Is this something that would work for Pendraken to get all of our wish list minis sculpted and ready for sale?

What do yall think and does this look interesting to Leon 

[Leon]

I've seen it mentioned a few times on other websites, but I'm not aware of how the system works? 

[Squirrel]

Here you go Leon:
http://www.kickstarter.com/ hit the 'learn more' link.

Basically you cost a project, then people 'pledge' money towards it in return for getting a specified quantity of the finished product.

I've seen a few kickstarter projects discussed on other forums, but apart from one guy producing 28mm superhero miniatures I've not seen any come to fruition, despite their achieving funding ....

Cheers,

Kev

[hamsterking]

Eureka Miniatures have had a similar system (the 300 club)  in place for years. It has produced the odd figure range over the years that would not otherwise have been produced (some of which I have benefitted from) but has been a pretty frustrating exercise for many consumers. Pendraken's forum driven approach seems to produce a more responsive result with much less drama.

Dave Turner

[Fenton]

I think I read somewhere that you need an American Bank account for it to work as its an amercian incentive

[Syr Hobbs]

One difference between Kickstart and Eureka 300 is the company itself sets up a kickstarter program because they need capital to create a new game or a figure line that the business wants to see made.   I believe the Kickstarter group also take a % for making your dreams come true.  LOL 

Essentially the Eureka 300 Club that has already mentioned is kind of similar to the Pendraken Top Ten list that peeps vote on (I think).  But I see no reason why you can't create your own Pendraken Kickstarter program if there is a project you have in mind to do that needs a little capital to kick it into gear.  You have a great vehicle with your forum and all of the other social networks you have set up.  Another program I see many businesses do is to sell 'vouchers' that can be used in the future, like in six months or what ever.  At different levels of purchased vouchers you get a greater discount or free shipping or what ever.

Duane

ps (sorry if I over stepped my bounds for such noob on these boards. 

[Leon]

The idea of subscribing for ranges has been raised a few times on the Forum, but it's always something we've steered clear of, as often the timescales and expenses involved in bringing a range to market can fluctuate drastically, and we wouldn't want people who had paid up front for something waiting for months on end for something to appear. 

The current method of votes has seemed to work quite nicely so far, so we'll carry on with that for the time being I think.

[Squirrel]

Sensible decision I think Leon. All whilst the 'top ten request' system is coming up with viable and profitable ranges, and you can fund your self there would be little point in changing.

There is something about the 'kickstarter' scheme that makes me wary .... just a gut feeling.

Cheers,

Kev

[FierceKitty]

Those exclaiming how wonderful the vote system is are not the ones waiting year after year for Mexicans, Chinese, Koreans...

[Squirrel]

Those exclaiming how wonderful the vote system is are not the ones waiting year after year for Mexicans, Chinese, Koreans...

Somebody wants those? Really?



Cheers,

Kev

[i_am_win]

Maybe a similar thing could be done to create a pendraken brand ruleset/standalone by creating a pdf and getting it printed up via something like Lulu (self publishing website)
Maybe the effort could be a collaborative effort by the forum members & pendraken? I'm sure that theres lots of talented bods on here that could contribute to such a task, also it wouldn't cost anyting to create a decent pdf, just to get X amount printed (that could be funded by forum members who want a copy) so not much risk.
Also youve got plenty of good photographers here who could get some great shots of minis and such to use in it. As far as illustrations go, I am an artist by trade, and I would be willing to do some stuff for nowt for such a project (I do mainly Fantasy/scifi/horror, samples available on request..!) and Im sure given all the forum members on here, there would be others willing to do the same. Kickstarter is a good idea, but it isn't the be all and end all, and the best thing about the self publishing is you wouldnt need an american account to get it done as the only cost really is for the printing. After the initial first run and the publication was paid by the first pledgers, you guys at pendraken would hold the rights to do a print run whenever you would need some copies, or even a paid download, you could then charge full price for it as the hard bits had been done and you would have a finished product for minimal (hopefully) effort and cost.
Well thats the theory I agree that the top 10 system you use here is excellent and there doesnt seem a need for change with that.
I too hope I'm not overstepping the mark here me being a relative noob, but something like that would be a good marketing tool for you guys, as it gets you the chance to brand it with the pendraken name, show off your minis in full colour glory, and allows even for unashamed advertising of your stuff (you might even get a chance to make some cash off a few chosen wargames companies as advertisers) There are a lot of pros in favour (However given time there will be cons too!)

What do you reckon? do-able or not?  

[fred.]

Kickstarter seems a very good way of presenting an idea to a wide audience, who each only have to commit a small amount of money towards the final product. For companies such as Eureka or Pendraken who already have a good method of communicating with their customers then there is no need to involve a third party. But if you are a new company then this is a way of reaching out to potential customers. It is interesting that established companies like Steve Jackson Games have used Kickstarter to generate capital - it may be that they feel that the cost of kick-starter is worth it compared to the hassle of dealing with pre-orders.

As to a Pendraken rule-set. I think this could be a lot of work to get a basic set of rules together - especially as PD would need a ruleset that covers all sorts of eras to work with their figures. There are so many free sets of rules out there that I'm not sure what a PD ruleset would offer. What might be better (i.e. promote sales more) is to put together PDF based flyers that show Pendraken figures working with all sorts of different rule sets. As you say there are loads of photos of miniatures all based for different games systems, so promoting that PD figures work well for a particular rule set would seem more effective. It may seem obvious that Pendraken figures can be used with a set of rules - but in advertising it never hurts to re-state the obvious.

[i_am_win]

If not a ruleset, maybe a kind of compendium or annual? it could be filled with simple homebrew games and scenarios, articles on painting, gaming, pendraken figure showcase etc, collecting and terrain etc, the odd bit of fiction specific to genres (background fluff?) promo stuff, maybe a few 10mm cardstock bits and bobs?
What I meant by ruleset was a kind of simple homebrew type with a specific setting (like zombie wars type, or the dungeon crawl game that pendraken use etc) I realise that one system that fits all would be a mammoth task (not to mention the huge amounts of playtesting on top...)
A annual/compendium might be easier as collaboration on the end product would require it being made in sections or stanb alone articles, that would allow for anyone involved to work on thier own piece themselves, then all thats needed is to stick it all together and take it to print. I had a quick look at a few online publishing places, and got a quote for 50 A4 glossy cover, 95 pages (10 full colour the rest B&W) for £199GBP,(thats around £4 each so its really affordable) I used the 95 page template as I had a GW 6th ed warhammer army book on hand to use as a comparison. Even if its got less pages, it would be slightly cheaper and even easier to create.
I think something like that is achievable, but my question is, would anyone be willing to participate, and would we be able to get 50 to stump up the £4 to pay for the project (I'm fairly sure that wouldn't break anyones budget!)