Comments for Casting Shadows

Comment on Tempering the Man of Steel by Runeslinger

Runeslinger — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 21:59:42 +0000

I think there is a balance between appreciation of character, and of story. I wonder at the breakdown of preference among gamers for sticking with a bad story if they have a good character, and vice versa.

Comment on Tempering the Man of Steel by anarkeith

anarkeith — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 15:30:19 +0000

Nice review. I’ve read some complaints about the film, but those are focused on other aspects. Your observations have me thinking about the intent of the filmmakers, and whether the points you’ve made here are more what they intended it to be about.

That said, I also like the idea of looking for ways for our game stories to reveal things about our characters. I think one of the reasons I play RPGs is to share my character and learn about others.

Comment on A Project for the Morrow by Runeslinger

Runeslinger — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:10:25 +0000

Excellent advice, and it reinforces comments I dimly remember friends making long, long ago. I think I will implement your advice right from the beginning by making these motivations a part of character generation.

Comment on A Project for the Morrow by Matt

Matt — Wed, 29 May 2013 20:29:52 +0000

The biggest challenge I experienced in running The Morrow Project back in the day was matching the players to the game; the game is supposed to be about rebuilding society, helping folks on the road to recovery, and (ideally) exploring and reflecting on what certain words and concepts (like “modern” or “survival”) really mean. Yes, there’s a lot of tactical military-style combat as well, but even then the thematic goal should be an examination of “why we’re fighting.” Yet it is too easy for players to decide to just take over the world, instead. Even the groups who started out trying to “do it right” frequently fell into role of enlightened (or not) warlords. So the best bit of advice I can give is to stress the social contract of the game right at the beginning, and encourage the players to think less like “liberators of the oppressed” and more like the “Peace Corps Just With More Grenades”.

Comment on A Project for the Morrow by The Morrow Project Pre-Release: Character Generation | Casting Shadows

The Morrow Project Pre-Release: Character Generation | Casting Shadows — Sun, 19 May 2013 11:03:01 +0000

[…] A Project for the Morrow from Casting Shadows (runeslinger.wordpress.com) […]

Comment on Kicking my own tires as a Kickstarter backer by Runeslinger

Runeslinger — Sat, 11 May 2013 12:38:42 +0000

Thanks for commenting, Brian. It is nice to get some input from someone who has been on both sides of the pledge button, and to have someone from the YouTube RPG community leave a comment here.

I hear what you are saying about the lack of clarity from KS in terms of explaining to creators how things work, and am not surprised that Backer Kit and other solutions are more expensive than people expect. I also understand how the demands of business and the need for both cash flow and developing a reputation tend to impact on project completion all the way around. Part of that understanding is to develop the position that backers need to be more aware of things both on their own, and through demanding better/more accurate accounting of progress (or the lack thereof).

In the end, I suppose a whole community of sharing how to back and how to create through this company will need to be developed~

Comment on Kicking my own tires as a Kickstarter backer by Brian

Brian — Sat, 11 May 2013 12:28:24 +0000

What’s up casting shadows? Well, I can say that this is something I can speak to. As a backer and a co-creator the problems with kickstarter are varied. As much as they are with the creators. Our project was set up to do wat KS was originally meant to do. Assist a small business get off the ground. The project started out nicely and we did balloon a little, but not too far. We funded well and we had put out our “estimated” delivery date quite far. However what happened after it was over was a totally different story. Can you say “victim of our success” as we then had several independent miniature companies and artists calling to get our assistance in producing a model line. We did take on a few projects. To our detriment one of the clients had some pretty bad management of the release schedule and very poor communication. All of which led to the delay of our own project.

We have however communicated with our backers as to what is happening and where we are in the process of moving into a larger space. The response overall was very positive. Many were pleased with the product that was being turned out through other companies were are working with. It has been a big learning curve.

I would say this though. Kickstarter itself needs to do more to help creators in understanding the pledge fulfillment process. The pledge manager is very lackluster for dealing with complex pledge levels. This has given rise to several third party companies that deal with just that. Thus adding another expense for the creator that they had not originally planned for. Many of my projects that I have backed are doing just fine. An art book of miniature painting from Massive Voodoo is being shipped in the coming week. This was the only project I backed on Indiegogo. The James Wappel painting DVDs will not be coming for some time and neither will the Dwarven Forge dungeon tiles sets. Though I have faith in booth James and Stefan to produce a quality product.

I would also say that I have been hard pressed to support a truly small company as many have either not had a long enough track record. Funny coming from one myself, but we do have a history in the miniatures industry. The projects I have backed have been from medium to small companies or individuals that have been around for some time though. At least enough to research. Hope things are going well and your backed projects all come through.

Cheers,
Brian Gregory

Comment on The Missing Spherical Dice~ by Runeslinger

Runeslinger — Wed, 08 May 2013 13:11:38 +0000

These, I already have… in large number

Comment on The Missing Spherical Dice~ by BFWolfe

BFWolfe — Wed, 08 May 2013 06:22:52 +0000

Personally, I would demand a matching D2.