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Brian Fitzpatrick, aka Fitz. is a Gamer Lifestyle alumnus. He runs several RPG websites, including Game Knight Reviews, Lair of the Green Knight and Moebius Adventures Games. He also is a past contributer to Roleplaying Tips.

Let’s dive in to uncover the mindset of the Kickstarter Backer.

Brian, how many Kickstarter projects have you helped fund, and why do you do it?

I have funded 23 projects since August 2010, three of which are still active and only two of which didn’t achieve critical mass.

As for why, since discovering Kickstarter in 2010, I’ve seen some terrific projects come to light that may never have seen the light of day. Whether big or small, the people seeking funding (sometimes individuals, other times organizations) have big ideas that deserve some love.

If I can toss in a few bucks here and there, help these folks achieve their goals, and possibly get acknowledged as a backer or gain a copy of the product for myself, I think it’s a fun way to “Pay It Forward” whenever I can.

What Kickstarter projects are you funding right now that need more funders?

One of the open projects, Shroud of the Ancients from Dark Tavern Press, has nearly two weeks left to raise $4,000 to achieve their goal, so I’d encourage folks to check it out and toss some coin their way if possible. The setting looks gorgeous and I want to see where it leads!

What do you look for in a Kickstarter project before deciding to be a backer and supply funding out of your hard-earned cash?

Good question. Sometimes it’s merely the idea itself that sparks interest, like the Miskatonic University Prop Package project (go Cthulhu U!) which caught my eyes because I’m a Lovecraft fan.

Sometimes it’s an effort I want to back because it offers hope to the beleaguered arts programs in schools, like the Girls Making Comics project.

But mostly it’s because I see promise in what’s being proposed. The lion’s share of the projects I support wow me more with their description and images than with the video, usually. If it’s a gaming product, a bit of flavor text and some sample images proves that some thought went into the project before it went up at Kickstarter. A video is just icing on the cake.

Are there any types of pledge bonuses you prefer as a potential backer?

Most of what I review at Game Knight Reviews these days is PDFs, so printed copies of books are among my favorite rewards. There’s something about flipping through an actual paper copy that is very rewarding to me.

Beyond that, I’m a fan of acknowledgments as a reward to get my name and site out into the ether. So long as some attempt at backer appreciation is made, typically a project “has me at hello” to paraphrase the line from Jerry Maguire.

Would you say Kickstarter is a good option for Gamer Lifestylers looking to raise funds or get paid for their RPG work?

Yes and no. Success and failure of a Kickstarter project is as much about name recognition and successfully marketing your proposal to potential customers and backers as anything else. So if you’re not willing to pound the pavement and scare up support for your project around the gaming blogosphere, you’re probably not going to do very well.

And even when you are a known quantity, like Ben Gerber at Troll in the Corner, sometimes projects simply don’t catch on. I’m still scratching my head wondering why the amazingly creative Argyle & Crew game wasn’t successful as a KS project.

If you have a solid idea, some solid work done up front, and the will to mercilessly market your project until it’s funded, there’s a good chance you will succeed. But it’s a sales job from the time you kick off the project through however many days you have to find backers.

And here’s the kicker. The most successful projects are those that continue to communicate with backers after funding. Keep that conversation going and show your backers you’re making progress. That will put you in better stead going forward if you want to fund another project in the future.

Can you think of any KS projects that would be great examples to study for Gamer Lifestylers?

For small projects (which I recommend at first), I recommend:

• The One Page Dungeon Codex, Print Version
• Parefid’s Tomb: An Internally Consistent Adventure Model

For big projects, I recommend:

• The Night Parade of One Hundred Demons
• Far West: Western/Wuxia Mashup adventure game
• Creatures – the card game

Kickstarter lets you ask questions and hold conversation with project holders. Do you participate in this? What kind of questions do you typically ask?

I do ask questions occasionally, but really haven’t taken advantage of that capability all that much. Recently, I asked a project holder about future plans, wondering where a site would go after the initial push.

Usually I just pay attention to any correspondence coming from the project holder, which typically includes any checkpoints along the way to delivering the final product.

Any words of advice for people thinking about being a backer for a project?

If a project catches your eye and you have a few dollars, go for it. But be careful not to go hog wild and support every project you find unless you can afford it!

I went a little crazy initially and have dialed back (and set a budget) since then. If you have questions for the project holder, definitely send them along.

Most of the project leaders have been extremely responsive and forthcoming about their work, and they love to hear from backers who are interested!

Any words of advice for Gamer Lifestylers thinking of running a KS project?

Basically what I said earlier – do your homework, have a good start on what you’re hoping to accomplish, make sure you’re ready to do some hot and heavy salesmanship and start small.

If you already have a PDF product that you want to turn into a print product, I think that’s a great first step for Gamer Lifestylers. Temper that caution with some optimism however.

If you’re shooting for $500 or $1000 for a project, figure out what you’d do if you double it. What can you offer as far as incentives go to your backers? What will entice them to give more of their hard-earned cash and encourage others to do the same?

Shroud of the Ancients

Aiming to produce a PDF, hard cover and full color poster map of the world of Terrath, Dark Tavern Press talks with Gamer Lifestyle about running a Kickstarter project to raise funds for their business.

1. Overall, what has your Kickstarter experience been like so far?

So far, it has been a pleasure. The uniform layout is very clean and easy to follow, and the tools for communicating with backers are very easy to use.

2. Tell us a little about Dark Tavern Press.

We are in Central Florida, not far from Orlando. I have played RPGs since I was a teenager, back when TSR was an unstoppable juggernaut, and I have had the pleasure to have played dozens of systems over those many years. In fact, my first job was at a hobby and gaming store. That’s when I was bitten by the gaming bug.

I spent most of my earnings on D&D and Call of Cthulhu books and I would wait patiently for our Saturday afternoon games so I could show them off. I grew up and moved on, finding a niche for myself in retail management.

As far as my game writing experience goes, I didn’t start writing RPG material until about 8 years ago. Randy Miller and I co-wrote and published a handful of d20 adventures set in the Shroud of the Ancients campaign. But when the 4e SRD rolled out, we thought it would be best to create our own RPG and thus, Dark Tavern Press was born.

3. Why did you choose to run a Kickstarter project? How does it help you with your business goals?

Well, I have said it several times now, but I am so thankful that the folks at Kickstarter look at RPGs as the creative endeavor that they are.

We made the decision to run our first Kickstarter with two important concepts in mind. One, we wanted to pay our Art Designer and primary artist on the project, Albert Debnam, up front for his amazing work. He has stuck by us through thick and thin and we know he deserves it.

Two, we wanted to take the other aspects of printing a book and make them easier to manage. With today’s book market, just a few thousand can mean a great deal of value when it comes to the printing process.

Kickstarter has also gotten us a little bit of press as well, so that is a nice benefit.

4. What is your Kickstarter project about? What do funders receive?

Our Kickstarter is for the first full release for the Shroud of the Ancients D5 Role Playing Game entitled The Adventurer’s Guide to Terrath. This RPG is set in a fantasy world known as Terrath, but it’s not your father’s RPG, though we suspect he wouldn’t mind it either.

It has some cool twists we think you’ll like, plus it uses five-sided dice for all the mechanics resolution, which is consistent with much of the mechanics. We hope people are willing to give us a try.

With pledges running from $10 and up, there are numerous ways to support the release of this game. The best value is probably the $60 pledge. With it, you receive a signed hardcover of the book, plus a digital copy, a set of five D5 dice, a listing in the acknowledgements with the epithet of your choice, plus a commemorative t-shirt.

But there are higher pledges where we name a location or major character after you, so you can actually become part of the game. How meta is that?

5. How are you letting people know about your Kickstarter project? How are you bringing traffic to your Kickstarter page?

We began by reaching out to our fans via Facebook and Twitter, but also as press releases via several gaming sites. We also posted our Kickstarter video on YouTube, as well as other video sites.

6. Deciding the funding goal amount seems like it would be tricky. How did you calculate yours?

It is tricky. You don’t want to ask for too much, thereby making your goal unattainable. And you don’t want to ask for too little and accomplish nothing. You want to find an amount that will allow you to achieve your goals and satisfy your backers.

Setting ours at $5000 made sense. It would put us in a financial situation where we could pay for the artwork, printing, proof-reading and several other production costs.

7. The tough part of a project looks like deciding out the pledge levels and rewards. How did you figure all that out?

That was a bit easier. Our goal here was to provide a value to the backers. We figured that if they believed in us enough to support this release, we owed it to them to reward them for that support.

For instance, the $60 pledge we talked about earlier would a have a retail value of roughly $100. Who doesn’t want to save 40% on their gaming supplies?

8. What have been the most important things you’ve done to try to reach your funding goal on Kickstarter?

Keeping our fans and supporters updated so they know they are part of the process now. Whether they are investing money, time or enthusiasm, we want them to know they are part of the SOTA community.

9. The description area of a project page seems to be critical. Do you have any tips on how to create an effective pitch and presentation for your project?

My advice (as a Kickstarter novice, mind you) is to check out other Kickstarter projects and find out what’s working for them. Don’t copy them, but be inspired by them. Then let the infectious enthusiasm you have for your project flow onto the screen for everyone to enjoy.

10. What advice do you have for gamers looking to run their first Kickstarter project?

Focus on what makes your game different. When you really think about it, “It’s all been done,” so find the uniqueness that sets your game apart from the rest and embrace it. Your fans will too.

Website >>
Twitter >>
Facebook page >>
Kickstarter page >>

As a player, you must free the planet Titan from the evil clutches of the battle-mage Kaiser. The game offers a blend of RPG, card play and strategy.

We speak with Bryan today about his cool project. (Bold text is ours to highlight important points for Gamer Lifestylers.)

1. Overall, what has your Kickstarter experience been like so far?

The Kickstarter experience has been interesting, to say the least. I haven’t had to do fundraising in a long time, but there is one thing that Kickstarter has done for me.

It has made me reach out to a lot of people that I haven’t been in contact for awhile.

So all in all it has been a good experience.

2. Tell us a little about yourself.

I was born into a military family in 1980. I was able to travel the world at a young age due to my father being in the military. I lived most of my young life in Germany with my family. There I learned German and how much German blood flowed through my veins.

Once I was 18, I left for the United States to pursue a degree in Sequential Art at the Savannah College of Art and Design. I went on to graduate both undergrad and grad school with honors.

After graduating, I worked as a concept designer for an online video game company and did storyboards for an ad agency. Shortly after that I moved to Alexandria Virginia, where I started teaching at the Art Institute of Washington.

After two years of being a full-time professor for animation and game art, I became academic director for animation, game art, visual effects and motion graphics and visual game programming.

I am currently still working as academic director for the Art Institute of Washington. In addition, I also own and operate a production studio named Kaiser Studio Productions that creates comics, toys and table top games.

I likes to keep busy and love to share my knowledge of art.

3. Why did you choose to run a Kickstarter project?

Kickstarter is a great way to get more and more people interested in your product. Even if your Kickstarter goals aren’t met, you now have a wide audience and I think that will strengthen any business.

4. What is your Kickstarter project about? What do funders receive?

My project is a new strategy RPG CCG called Dark Legacy: The Rising. This game combines the best elements of Magic the Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons and Chess, while giving the player the ability to be a character within the game.

No longer is the player just a spell caster – they are war general. They can personalize their character with specific weapons, armor, enhancements and relics. All of these elements are wrapped up in a very in-depth story about an evil battle mage who is taking over the world of Titan by force.

Backers of this project get some cool things such as: signed decks, exclusive deck, Kickstarter only playing mats, original card art, limited edition prints, custom art from the creator and the ability to have one of their ideas put on a card or the first set.

5. How are you letting people know about your Kickstarter project? How are you bringing traffic to your Kickstarter page?

I am going through a couple of different avenues. I am posting on Facebook, Twitter and my blog. I am also going to gaming sites and posting the idea and where to find the Kickstarter site.

Lastly, I am doing online interviews on what my game is about and hoping that the followers of those sites will back the project.

6. Deciding the funding goal amount seems like it would be tricky. How did you calculate yours?

I was looking at some of the other games already on Kickstarter, what they were asking for and how much they got in the end.

I also looked at what it would cost to actually get the game printed, packed and shipped and calculated that all out.

7. The tough part of a project looks like deciding out the pledge levels and rewards. How did you figure all that out?

I asked a lot of my artist buddies to see if they thought what I was offering was good enough. Also, I looked at what I would be willing to pay for something and then add a lot more stuff on to that.

Everybody is on a budget and getting more stuff for less money is always a good thing.

8. What have been the most important things you’ve done to try to reach your funding goal on Kickstarter?

I would have to say staying in the public eye. I am trying to update at lease every couple of days on the Kickstarter site so people just looking for updates can see my projects keeps popping up. I update on Facebook everyday about the project.

9. The description area of a project page seems to be critical. Do you have any tips on how to create an effective pitch and presentation for your project?

This one was tricky for me as well. Give the reader a little bit more information than you did in the video. Whether that be with images, the rules, stretch goals, or anything they may not have gotten out of the video that you had to put with it.

Another thing would be to always be thankful. People are giving you money for a project they know nothing about except what you told them, so be nice.

10. What advice do you have for gamers looking to run their first Kickstarter project?

Don’t set your goals too high. Make sure you can reach them.

Get as many people as you can to look at your page and post it somewhere so that others will know about it.

Make sure that you love your project. If you don’t think your game is awesome, no one else will.

Visit Bryan’s website >>

Bryan on Twitter >>

Dark Legacy Facebook page >>

Dark Legacy: The Rising Kickstarter page >>

We talk with RJ Grady today about his fund raiser.

1. Overall, what has your Kickstarter experience been like so far?

Kickstarter has been empowering, bewildering, enriching and inspiring. So far I’ve been 0 for 1, but I wouldn’t trade the experience. Kickstarter is really about selling people on your dreams.

It’s hard not to feel excited when you’re in that process.

 2. Tell us a little about yourself.

I’ve lived here and about. Currently I’m living in Garland, TX, outside Dallas. I started gaming with the Red Box back in 1984. I’ve played three editions of DC Heroes, four editions of GURPS, Vampire, D&D and seemingly everything else.

My previous business experience involves a housecleaning business, which folded in six months; a CD store concept, which I shut down after my analysis suggested retail music was up against some difficult mathematical realities (which turned out to be more true than I knew); and a restaurant concept, which is on indefinite hold.

Lately, I run a very small RPG self-publishing operation called Tripod Machine.

 3. Why did you choose to run a Kickstarter project? How does it help you with your business goals?

I tried it because all the other cool kids were doing it. It was an eye-opening and refreshing experience.

The nature of Kickstarter brings a lot of energy, because of the input you get from fans, the recruitment and advertising process, and the influence on the creative and business side of things that comes about from holding up your ideas in broad daylight for 30 days.

Kickstarter is a way of gaining exposure, test-marketing brands and concepts, enlisting enthusiastic fans, and raising capital while minimizing risk.

4. What is your Kickstarter project about? What do funders receive?

I’m publishing a monster book for Mutants & Masterminds 3e called Fantastic Creatures Special. It draws on the classic SRD creatures, re-visualized for superheroes, super fantasy, urban fantasy or swords-and-sorcery.

Pledging just $1 brings someone into the playtesting process. $2 gets you a place in the Special Thanks section of the final book. $5 earns a PDF of the final book, $25 gets you a softcover.

From there, you can go up to autographed copies, T-shirts and even inserting a monster into the book and participating in the art direction for that critter.

5. How are you letting people know about your Kickstarter project? How are you bringing traffic to your Kickstarter page?

The first place I started were RPG forums, particularly Green Ronin’s Atomic Think Tank for M&M. Social media like G+ and Facebook is also key.

Word of mouth plays some role, and the Kickstarter community itself generates some traffic.

More boldly, I created a small giveaway product, Fantastic Heroes Special, to support and promote the book. It’s completely free.

6. Deciding the funding goal amount seems like it would be tricky. How did you calculate yours?

Simple math, based on my experiences working with freelancers in the past. $1500 should buy a cover and color art at least every four pages, plus a comfortable cushion for me. $2500 will put an illustration of every monster in the book.

7. The tough part of a project looks like deciding out the pledge levels and rewards. How to you figure all that out?

The $5 PDF reflects my pet theory about electronic sales. Although you can get more money in the short term, and perhaps even sales, “on the slice,” I think offering good value for money is the key to building a relationship with the customer.

I am amazed people will sell (and buy!) $5 PDFs with a single class, or a handful of monsters based on fantasy stockart. To calculate the price of a softcover, I compared my two most likely print options and calculated actual postage.

There is no formula that led me to the $50 autographed copy; mostly that reflects the need to mail the book twice, plus a comfortable additional amount toward the funding goal.

Every incremental reward needs to, in some fashion, build the available funds. It does no good to keep adding reward levels that end up costing you money!

The top level rewards are relative to the size of the project. At the top end, whatever that means for your project, I think you need to let your imagination run wild a bit.

Some other projects have offered really flamboyant prizes. My book is a small, modest project, and my top backer rewards reflect that. A pledge of $50 would be more than 3% of my entire budget.

8. What have been the most important things you’ve done to try to reach your funding goal on Kickstarter?

Do something every day. If one thing doesn’t work, try something else.

9. The description area of a project page seems to be critical. Do you have any tips on how to create an effective pitch and presentation for your project?

Be sure to emphasize your competence and previous successes. That’s a mistake I made with my first Kickstarter. A lot of people did not know who I was, and I didn’t tell them.

I wrote Fistful of Denarii and Unorthodox Barbarians (d20). A track record shows two things. First, it gives people an idea whether your projects are high quality. Second, it conveys trustworthiness by conveying the idea you are in it for the long haul. No one wants to give money, even hypothetical money, to someone they don’t know or trust.

10. What advice do you have for gamers looking to run their first Kickstarter project?

Build your brand. Don’t be boring. Shoot for the moon.

Visit the Kickstarter project >>

Visit RJ Grady’s website >>

Daniel Alan Burrow of Cracked Monacle steamrolled through his Kickstarter funding goal by 531%. And his project is a dream for many of us: producing a 300 page physical game book. Who hasn’t dreamt of seeing a thick spine of your own work on a game store shelf?

Daniel graciously agreed to our interrogation. (Bold text us ours, just to call out some important points Daniel makes)

By the way, his project is still open for funding. Check it out.

1. What has your Kickstarter experience been like?

Exhilarating. Creating the kickstarter was, by and large, a painless experience – it just took some time and a lot of typing.

Once that was done, it’s all been about making sure that everybody knows it’s there, and our community support has been overwhelming.

Everyone is positive and excited, and it’s infectious. I’ve been living on adrenaline since the night we posted the project.

2. Tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a university student living in San Marcos, Texas, a college town halfway between Austin and San Antonio. I’ve spent years now studying creative writing, political science and business administration (a selection of fields that, in hindsight, seem almost perfect for an RPG designer).

I’ve been gaming since I was a wee lad. I consumed the original Dragonlance trilogy in elementary school, then listened voraciously for rumors of people playing Dungeons and Dragons as I entered Middle School. I played two games of 2nd edition before 3rd edition dropped, and, having nobody else to run it, I started my own game in 7th grade. That was about 12 years ago, and I’ve been running games ever since.

I was weaned on D&D 3rd edition, though I’ve sampled numerous other RPGs and dissected a ton of systems. Of them all, my favorite gaming system is parliamentary procedure. (And you better believe it’s a roleplaying system!)

3. Why did you choose to run a Kickstarter project? How did it help you with your business goals?

Kickstarter has served two major goals for us. First, it’s given our community a way of pre-ordering the Tephra core rulebook, which is building us money to make a respectable print-run.

We needed some basic start-up costs covered to get the book going, and these pre-orders are going to go far in ensuring that Tephra has a great start.

Second, the Kickstarter is a grand form of marketing for us. The word of mouth and excitement surrounding the Kickstarter has ensured plenty of people are talking about Tephra and plenty of people know that Tephra’s going to be coming out in March.

For us to get retail support, we’re going to need people talking about us, good word of mouth, and good reviews.

This Kickstarter is helping to prove that people love our product and are willing to support it. And that means everything to us right now.

4. What is your Kickstarter project about? What do funders receive?

Tephra is a steampunk-flavored RPG book we’ve been developing and playtesting for over four years now, and we’re ready to get the final version out into people’s hands.

With the success of the Kickstarter, we’ll be able to cover the set-up fees for the printer and get a solid print-run of our books, which will be hardcover, 300+ page books.

Most of our funders (anyone pledging $30 or more) will receive a copy of the final book.

Beyond that, we have handmade dice bags (which will be filled with D12s, the only dice you need to play the game) and a booklet of adversaries that we’re making specifically for our backers (adversaries are our monsters, encounters and enemies).

One of our most popular pledges is our $150 mark, where you’re not only getting multiple books, dice and the adversary packet, we’re also going to turn you (or your alternate personality) into an adversary for our adversary booklet. There’s been a ton of buzz and excitement about that!

5. How are you letting people know about your Kickstarter project? How are you bringing traffic to your Kickstarter page?

So far, the vast majority of our promoting has been constrained to Facebook. The night that our Kickstarter went live, I sent over 200 customized messages to my friends, anybody who knew or had played Tephra.

They, in turn, helped promote it to their friends. The social networking obviously paid off: that first day, not only did we break our goal, but I had over 40 friends on Facebook who had shared our Kickstarter’s URL.

And the trend continued for several days to come. Some friends took it to Twitter and talked about it there. Others took it to Reddit. All in all, it’s just been a ton of community support. It’s all just snowballed, and I love it.

6. Deciding the funding goal amount seems like it would be tricky. How did you calculate yours?

We set our funding goal as low as possible. With Kickstarter, if you don’t make your goal, you don’t get any money. We needed to make our goal, so I set the goal low, at $1,000.

I had to break down the math on how much each book would cost me and how much my set-up fees would be with the printer. If we had only made the $1,000, we would have just enough to cover the set-up fees and fulfill our Kickstarter rewards.

Now that we’ve well exceeded that number, however, we can start planning for a larger book run.

7. The tough part of a project looks like deciding out the pledge levels and rewards. How to you figure all that out?

My development staff and I sat down one afternoon at lunch and looked at our skillsets.

What prizes could we guarantee? Well, we could definitely guarantee the book. We could make dicebags, and we had plenty of dice.

But the most exciting prize, so far, has definitely been the adversary packet and the “Make Yourself into an Adversary” reward. People love that, and it’s an exciting process for us. (It’s not much more difficult than making a character. We just have to format it differently, make it a bit fancier, and then make it as devious as the owner will let us!)

The personal touch has really kept people interested.

8. What have been the most important things you’ve done to try to reach your funding goal on Kickstarter?

This answer may sound ridiculous, but the most vital thing we’ve done is a solid 2 years of marketing and open playtesting.

We’ve been attending anime, comic, gaming and steampunk conventions across Texas, running games for people, introducing ourselves, and seeing how people like the game.

We’ve printed over 300 copies of the playtesting books and received tons of feedback on the game.

We’ve been running weekly open playtesting nights at our local gaming store, Dragon’s Lair, in Austin and San Antonio, for over a year and a half.

After all of that, we’ve ensured there are tons of people who are involved in this game, who want to see it do well, and who have been anxiously awaiting the finished project.

If we had never told any of our friends about Tephra and just posted the Kickstarter, we’d never be having this sort of success.

9. The description area of a project page seems to be critical. Do you have any tips on how to create an effective pitch and presentation for your project?

Kickstarter says that a video is almost essential to a project’s success. They’ve got a good point (I rarely get past the video on Kickstarter pages), but we didn’t have the time or the resources to do a video right now.

However, we commissioned our illustrator and colorist to create a banner for us, which is on the Kickstarter page, and looks pretty darned good, if I do say so myself.

The most important thing about the pitch is making sure that it’s full of realistic, concrete statements you and your players truly believe. I’ve spent hours talking about the good parts of Tephra with our many playtesters, and they give me great feedback about why they love the game.

Then, honestly, I just steal what they say. My players tell me that we have an awesome character creation system, so that’s what I plug. My players tell me that our crafting system keeps them coming back every week, so I mention that in our Kickstarter.

I love my game because it has gnomes in it. But my players, they don’t care so much about that, so I don’t really make a big deal about it. Talk to your players, get them psyched up, then steal everything they say that’s complimentary to your game.

10. What advice do you have for gamers looking to run their first Kickstarter project?

If you want to duplicate Tephra’s success, then there’s a pretty simple process involved.

Number 1: Know Your Product. Play it until it bleeds out your ears. Be honest about it; know why it’s awesome but also recognize where it fails.

Number 2: Gain a Following. Go playtest. Get your friends involved. Get them excited. You need people to be your voice and to carry your message.

Number 3: Appeal to Them. Once you’ve built that following, put your Kickstarter online. Get all of your friends who love your product to talk about it and network. Keep pushing it. Be confident in your product and be honest about it. Let your love for your game shine through, and, soon, everyone will love it.

* * *

Great info, Daniel! Thank so much for doing this interview. Congrats on running such a successful project.

Visit the game’s website

Catch Daniel on Twitter @CrackedMonocle

Visit their Facebook page

Check out their Kickstarter project

Louis Porter Jr. has an interesting Kickstarter project to support Free RPG Day. This prolific and long-standing RPG company has a $1000 funding goal to build a Pathfinder adventure with a cool name: Undying Legacy of the First Ones. (I’m always a sucker for cool names.)

We asked Louis to tell about his Kickstarter experience (bold text us ours, just to call out some important points Louis makes):

1. Overall, what has your Kickstarter experience been like?

So far, I have been very impressed with the whole process from a technical, business and personal side.

When you first hear about what kickstarter is doing, it sounds so obvious. Leveraging the contacts you have built over time is a great way to get your project out there and also expose other people to what you are doing.

It takes out a lot of the risk on making a product blindly and to make sure there will be an interest for it.

2. Tell us a little about yourself.

I am in the sunny state of Florida, down in the Ft. Lauderdale / Miami area. In my real life I am a graphic designer / web designer that I have been involved in over the last 20 years.

I have been involved in the RPG business for over a decade, specific on the PDF end of the market. Currently I have been working very hard creating products for the Pathfinder RPG. Paizo has been a great business partner to work on this with.

3. Why did you choose to run a Kickstarter project? How does it help you with your business goals?

After talking to successful kickstarters like Gareth Sarka, Daniel Solis and Steve Russell, they really gave me the confidence to attempt a kickstarter project for the second time.

My first experience with attempting a kickstarter project told me a lot of what I did right and better yet, what I was doing wrong.

But like with anything, there is a process to doing kickstarter correctly. If you follow the process, you should do well.

4. What is your Kickstarter project about? What do funders receive? (Summary of highlights here is great.)

We wanted to release a free RPG adventure for Free RPG Day called Undying Legacy of the First Ones for our Pathfinder RPG based setting called NeoExodus: A House Divided.

The Undying Legacy of the First Ones will serve as an introductory adventure and showcase of the NeoExodus: A House Divided campaign setting and its unique differences from all the other gaming campaigns on the market for Pathfinder.

This exceptional and unique adventure will only help draw interest to NeoExodus and in turn, help to support the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game created by Paizo Publishing.

We will provide specific patrons of this project with the ability to provide input and guidance on the Undying Legacy of the First Ones adventure on what works, what doesn’t and (most importantly) what things we may not have yet thought of.

Senior patrons will have particularly substantial influence. And we will experiment with different collaboration tools, such as group video chats using Google or Skype or meeting up at specific spring cons to talk in person, to find what works best for this project.

Becoming a patron on this project is a great way to gain a design credit on the book, which in turn is a great way to gain experience and build a resume for those interested in pursuing a career in game publishing!

5. How are you letting people know about your Kickstarter project? How are you bringing traffic to your Kickstarter page?

We have used Facebook, Twitter, Paizo.com, RPG.net and ENWorld message boards.

We have also placed advertisements in our free LPJ Design products to get the message of our kickstarter project out to the people.

But really it is the community building you’ve done before even announcing your project is where the real power of kickstarter lies. The more people that belong to your community and the more that like and trust you, the easier it is to ask for funding for a project and receive it. It really is that simple.

6. Deciding the funding goal amount seems like it would be tricky. How did you calculate yours?

The best advice I heard about this came from Daniel Solis who said you should ask for half the money you really need.

Because even if you get the amount you ask for, you will still need to place money to get it made. Basically this gives you “skin in the game” as the saying goes, and you just are not depending on others to get your work out there.

7. The tough part of a project looks like deciding on the pledge levels and rewards. How to you figure all that out?

I looked at other kickstarter projects as a good gauge of what seemed reasonable. From there I thought about things I would like to receive if I was on the other side of the table donating money.

The thing to most pay attention to when doing rewards is to make sure you calculate the price of the reward in the amount you are asking.

You might offer a great reward, but then you see that the cost of doing the rewards cuts into the amount you have raised. You might find yourself an additional 10% – 20% short of the money you need. Which means you will have to cover that with your own money.

8. What have been the most important things you’ve done to try to reach your funding goal on Kickstarter?

Keep the community involved in what you are doing from before you start your kickstarter project. This is the number one thing I can say to do.

9. The description area of a project page seems to be critical. Do you have any tips on how to create an effective pitch and presentation for your project?

Just two things that were worth their weight in gold to me with this whole process:

1) Read Daniel Solis’ blog about his kickstarter projects.

2) Make a GREAT video for your project.

10. What advice do you have for gamers looking to run their first Kickstarter project?

Don’t worry about the money side of it, focus on the building the community side of it. That is what will help you in the long run.

* * *

Thanks for all the great advice, Louis! And thanks for supporting Free RPG Day. I hope you reach your funding goal.

Visit the Free RPG Day NeoExodus Adventure Kickstarter project

Check out Louis Porter Jr. Design products

If you want to be a published author and to earn extra income from RPG, you are not alone.

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Enter RPG Superstar.

After reading that post, come back here.

Mike Bourke, my blogging partner at Campaign Mastery, initially sent me Fred’s post link. So I asked him what he thought it all meant.

Here is Mike’s analysis; an interesting read.

From Mike:

I analyse the sales pattern as consisting of three overlapping triangles:

1. A short, sharp, symmetrical one for the month of release (Orange)
2. A much shallower symmetrical one also starting at the time of release, but with the peak coming sometime after it stops overlapping the first triangle (Yellow)
3. A much shallower triangle, with a much longer longer tail (Green)

The effect of the RPGNow February Sale is shown as 2 additional triangles “on top” of the regular sales at that point.

With increased granularity, these triangles would be shown as curves, but with a lot more noise. Compare the monthly with the daily or weekly views of visitors to CampaignMastery.com to see what I mean.

Three stages of sales

Each of these represents a different customer group.

Three audiences

The first group are the immediate purchasers – people attracted mostly by the product alone, or people who will buy anything from this publisher, sight unseen. The height (peak sales) and width (duration) of this are controlled by pre-release buzz and initial marketing.

The second spike represents a delayed effect, a second spike, growing from reviews and word of mouth and post-release marketing. It is slower to mature because there are more steps involved. Its height is controlled by the perceived quality and desirability of the product, and by the broader awareness base that results from good reviews.

The third group is a relative trickle of latecomers – those who weren’t sufficiently motivated to make an immediate purchase, or who discovered the product later. These dispersed sales come in a steady and slowly-declining trickle over time.

The sale at RPGNow not only markets to an additional audience, it persuades some of those who otherwise might not buy through the discounting that takes place. And, once again, there will be a small percentage of people who still can’t afford it but who add it to wish lists for eventual later purchase, so an additional thin layer (red) gets added on top of the usual residual sales stream (green).

Each of these groups requires marketing to separately, though some efforts will overlap – that’s why the three initial triangles all start at the same zero point.

This same graph could be labeled “marketing activities” instead of sales. We have an initial blitz of publicity and announcement (orange) that rises to a quick peak and then drops just as quickly as we shift focus onto the second stream of marketing activity. This takes longer, but eventually winds down and settles into residual sales.

The effects of any further marketing activity follow the RPGNow Sale pattern – diminishing returns each time, but producing a small sales spike and a slight increase in residual sales.

Analysed in this way, a couple of key parameters become apparent but have to be quantified.

Keep marketing until you enter a new stage

For each phase of marketing activity there is a peak of effort and a winding down period (the peak of each triangle). These should be determined in some qualitative manner based on sales effects.

If, for example, one makes the rounds of the different gaming blogs, communities, and outlets (stage 2) and find when you have finished your list that the sales trend of peak #2 has not yet been reached, then you should go around the list again, or do a search for more, or both.

Only when the sales of peak two begin to decline should you begin winding down that phase of your marketing activities.

Know your market

For each phase of marketing activity there is an eventual shift of attention toward the next phase, occurring at the point where the boundaries of the triangle crosses the next. Again, you need some predetermined indicator of that shift.

Defining the market you are trying to address in this way permits targeting of the marketing activities of each stage of the process.

Last thoughts

Good stuff, Mike. If I understand you correctly, then what you are saying is:

• Have a marketing plan broken up into stages
• Stages are based in part on buying behaviours: early adopters, mass market, laggards
• Stages are also determined in part by your marketing activities
• Specific marketing activities eventually get you diminishing returns
• Figure out in advance what you can measure to determine when to adjust your marketing to suit entry into a new stage