So I'm a fan of The Order of the Stick (linked to my hands-down favorite strip). It's at least partly responsible for me keeping my appetite whetted for playing fantasy games. And for forcing me to learn D&D 3.x terminology to keep up with what spells were being cast. "Quickened Disintigrate? What the heck does that do . . . hmm . . . where is that SRD page . . .?"
If you haven't seen it, check out this amazing Kickstarter that Rich Burlew is doing. It's up to over $200K, from what I originally thought was a pretty lofty goal of about $57K. Hardly. People have shelled out $5K for a walk-on appearance by their D&D character in OOTS, over $1200 to get to choose a character for a special story, and more. Some fans clearly have deep pockets and a real love of the comic.
Me, I kicked in enough for a copy of an OOP print I never got a chance to read.
It makes me realize a bit of the scale involved in things - and just how popular OOTS is. That's not small change for re-printing books. And it puts some of the other gaming-related kickstarter projects I've seen into perspective. Even with Kickstarter's cut it isn't crazy to think he'll pull in a quarter-million dollars to fund the reprints.
I'm just really impressed.
And I can't wait for my OOP book to come out so I can finally read it. :)
So the great OOTS Drive is over. I think it's interesting that in your post, you said "it isn't crazy to think he'll pull in a quarter-million dollars" and yet he pulled in over one million MORE than that. Truly an impressive showing by OOTS fans, Kickstarter, the Internet in general, and the 21st century. Take that, traditional publishing houses!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if SJ Games would ever consider a Kickstarter drive to fund the reprint of GURPS books. And I wonder what kind of response they'd get...
Yeah, it's true, it raised a lot more than I expected - the again, Rich added a lot more rewards as it went so it's not a surprise that it kept growing.
DeleteI don't think SJG would benefit much from a Kickstarter. They're already reprinting (or e-releasing anyway) lots of old GURPS books. For new books, they already have an established channel for contracting authors, getting printing done, and so on. I don't see what a Kickstarter would get them - it would amount to pre-orders, really. They might figure out something to do with it, but on the other hand they've been publishing since the 1970s, continuously, and have been running a successful e-business for years, without it. Contrast that to Rich Burlew, who needs to fund a print run before he can recoup the costs. SJG just slots a book into production.