Failure

So, it should be pretty obvious by now: the Colonial Gothic Revolution Edition Kickstarter has gone bust.

Not funded.

Dead.

Expired.

Out of gas.

Possessing inefficient funds.

Experienced a failure to launch.

Failed.

Let me say that again: failed.

I should feel awful, angry even. A friend called, back in the old timey days people actually talked on the phone, but I digress.

Anyway she called and asked me if I was ok. In the past I would have taken something like this hard. I would have a dark cloud follow me. I would question life. Question what I did wrong. Basically, let the energy get to me.

I answered her simply: I'm good. Yeah, I am good.

I hear you in the back of the room yelling "How can I be 'good'?" Well, I can.

When you come from an abused childhood. When you suffer mental health crisis after crisis. When you are hospitalized during the height of COVID due to a bacterial infection that could have killed you. Suffer a heart attack. Get admitted to the psych ward on January 2, 2024, due to the fact that you almost killed yourself. Spend the entire year putting yourself back together, only to discover you have renal cancer on December 9 of that same year. Undergo two major surgeries to remove a tumor on each kidney in 2025. Discover six months later there are two small lumps, one on a kidney and one on the pancreas, that are too small to act on because you are still recovering from last year... Yeah, you tend to look at things differently.

Listen, I have bigger fish to fry. Experiencing a failure to launch is, well, no big deal.

However, there is a reason this had to happen. There are too many Kickstarter games. Too many companies using this platform for marketing when they do not need to. I picked a bad month to launch.

July 4 was a great kickoff day for Colonial Gothic Revolution Edition. It also seemed like the month before GenCon was a perfect month for everyone else too.

So, should I feel shitty? Should I shake my fists at the clouds and scream "Why God, why can't I see the schooner!" Sorry, I just watched Mallrats, so I think I got my example wrong.

Fuck no. The plan I had is still valid. I just think small.

The plan?

Yup, the plan.

Currently, I am sitting on four finished or nearly finished manuscripts:

• Colonial Gothic: Revolution Edition Rulebook
• Colonial Gothic: The Almanack
• Colonial Gothic: The Gazetteer, 2nd Edition
• Angels on the Hill

There is no way in hell I am going to let this hard work sit and not be used. So I think small.

2027 is the 20th anniversary of Rogue Games, and August 2027 is the 20th anniversary of Colonial Gothic. Instead of my original plan, I will release everything via POD.

Yeah, yeah, I know. POD. Some of you are upset. But the fact is, without a successful Kickstarter, none of this can be done as an offset print run. None of this can be printed the way I wanted it to. For now, it is POD. With it out there, and supported by the 4E version, this gives me a better build-up for a second attempt. This time, people will have seen it. The skeptics will see that, yeah, I was right all along. This game needs to be what I want it to be.

So, POD. Available everywhere, across the sales channels I have built and set up. This is the good thing about POD: it is far easier to get into bookstores. POD can still allow me to produce the books the way I want them, even in the formats I had planned.

Now, here is where it gets interesting.

On the Kickstarter page, I wrote this:

"Stretch Goals? That would be telling. Yes, there is one planned. Hit the funding level, it unlocks, and every tier gets it. Back hard enough and it upgrades too. That part is up to you."

That was the Gazetteer. Every backer, every tier, would have gotten it. Back hard enough and it upgraded.

What I never told you, what was never posted anywhere, were the real surprises.

Depending on the dollar amount hit, the Rulebook, Almanack, and the Gazetteer were going to be hardcover, with a dust jacket, and spot color. This would have been a Kickstarter-only edition. Outside of the campaign, both books would be B&W, with the Rulebook hardcover and the Almanack softcover. The Gazetteer would have been B&W softcover as well. The exclusive adventure? The same format as the available A Heart in a Jar.

Yeah. Cool. Yeah, that would have been really cool.

It will still happen. The color editions will be available on the soon-to-be-launched Rogue Games store. The B&W editions will be available everywhere else. The difference, and I knew that was going to be your next question, is where you can buy them. Only through my own Ingram account can I produce the versions I really want. Every other platform limits the options. Ingram does not.

As for the 12 degrees version: Book of Beasts is due this month. October/November, something is coming. Next year, Hell Hath No Fury: Hear the Drums of War, part one of the campaign, will be out. Also, if I can pull it off, The Book of War will be out as well. Yes, all POD, but all out.

What about Revolution Edition compatibility? Everything works together. I will go into this in another post, but rest assured: nothing is siloed.

Also, heads up. I have a backlog of smaller items that will be released through the Rogue Games store directly. No Patreon, no platform fees, just direct. Patreon has been slowing for games, and cutting out the middleman means more of your money goes where it belongs.

I can go on, but this is long enough as it is.

I will cross-post this on Rogue Notes, the just-launched Rogue Games blog. Everything dealing with the autopsy of what went wrong will live there, along with everything centering on what comes next. All of the updates I had planned post-Kickstarter will be posted there as well.

Listen. Don't worry about me. I am good. The game is good. I hope you can see there is a plan. It is doable. And to be honest, it is farther along than you think.

So, That is where we were. This is where we are. This is where we're going.

Questions? I know you have them. Ask away.

Thanks.