Thursday, April 12, 2012

Kickstarting OGRE 6e

Photo from Steve Jackson Games.
By now you've probably heard the news: Steve Jackson Games is using Kickstarter to get its long-delayed sixth edition of OGRE into production.  In the first day or so, the project has already tripled its funding goal of $20,000, meaning that in addition to ensuring publication of the game, the extra money will provide for added features (inside and outside the game box, depending on the stretch goals that are reached) for OGRE fans.

By the way, the weight of this box is now up to 14 pounds, and it's so big it dwarfs anything else on your game shelf.  Even though this game is expensive, you do get a lot for your money.

As a fan and player with lots of miniatures for this game, I'm happy to see it finally reach the market.  Evidently, so are a lot of other folks, who are pledging enough for one, two or even three copies of this game, which will retail for $100 (for details on what was going in the box prior to Kickstarter, go here).

Which brings me to my dilemma: Do I pledge the cash to the Kickstarter project and get all the extras promised to people who pledge to fund the project?  Or do I act local, and support my game store by purchasing the sixth edition of OGRE through them?

I can't afford to buy two copies (and I'm not sure I'd want to), so I have to decide.  So taking a page from Kickstarter, I'm gonna crowdsource my decision: Assuming you were willing to drop a Benjamin on this game, would you do it through Kickstarter or instead pick it up at the store that lets you game there?  What should I do?  Less than a month to make up my mind ...

7 comments:

MIK said...

I'd go through Kickstarter. I did that with the Gunship: First Strike! boardgame and ended up getting 200% more stuff for the same, one-game pledge price.

CounterFett said...

In what is a completely new experience for me (not sarcasm) I am going to disagree with Mik.

If you have a decent store near you that you can get it from, do it there. It's been years since I had a good brick & mortar store local to me, and they are worth way more tahn any extras you can get for OGRE. And you all know how huge of an OGRE fan I am.

Lasgunpacker said...

Kickstarter. What does your FLGS do for you? Probably not as much as your money does for SJG.

Were there no bonuses, then maybe your FLGS.

Jeffro said...

If your "FLGS" just caters to Magic and Warhammer fans and doesn't even supply a nice place to play games... they can stuff it. They probably won't be around in a couple of years while SJG still will be. Put your money into something that deserves it.

Desert Scribe said...

Actually, the local game store (Dragon's Lair in San Antonio) does supply a nice place to play games--lots of tables, even extra terrain. They allow the Lone Star Historical Miniatures group to hold its weekly game nights there, and they'll even let customers play games like Hordes of the Things or Full Thrust--not just products that they offer for sale.

BROODE said...

I would go with the FLGS. Dragon's Lair is one of those (very) rare stores that will let their customers play games they don't sell. I've seen so many FLGS come and go in the San Antonio area in the last 30 years because they just don't get it: Listen to your customers- give them a place to gather to play stuff other than "WartyForkhammerK" or "Tragic: The Slathering". Kickstarter might be tempting, but keeping Dragon's Lair around and in business is better all around.

Ben O. said...

Kickstarter, in this case.

Why? Because otherwise, Steve mentioned OGRE 6th would have been a limited run of 3000, with no more copies and no supplements after that.

They've since met their funding goal by a ton, thus guaranteeing OGRE as a solid line and not just a one-off. Still, as an indie developer myself who's about to rely on Kickstarter to finish the art for a major book, I support Kickstarter over FLGSes.