funded Reaper Bones 5: Enthusiasm and Commentary thread

[rubegon]

17 hours ago, YronimosW said:

 

There were backers complaining in the second week that Reaper lost momentum and thus were losing support.  I didn't see it then, and don't see it now, but maybe they were onto something that I just wasn't feeling - the Kickstarter seemed normal enough to me in pace, right up to the last day and a half, aside from what seemed an unusual amount of pessimism and complaining.  The last day and a half felt a lot like Reaper was throwing tons of cool stuff out there, but not getting as much of a reaction as they would have in previous Kickstarters.

 

I remember describing the potential risks and challenged this Kickstarter faced being, among other things, being a matter of the first few days getting front-loaded with backers who aren't inclined to raise their pledges by the end, leaving it with a slow conclusion, where (for example) Bones I seems to have started slow, and then skyrocketed at the end.  I didn't really expect to see anything like that, though.

 

I'm having trouble reading the charts and figures (it was never one of my strong points) - how much of this is just my perception, and how much of it really was a matter of being a relatively quiet ending compared to the last couple Kickstarters?

 

 

A slowdown after the first week is normal based on previous KS, but this one was relatively slower after the start.

 

Compared to the other Reaper Bones KS, Bones V raised the most money in the 1st 3 day, and the least money in the last 3 days.

 

It was still only slightly smaller than Bones 1 and a huge success, but it definitely got more of its support earlier.

 

I don’t think the pessimism seen in comments on the KS or here make a big difference.  Out of the over $18k backers, a very small %age of those pay attention to that stuff.  I think the big start/slow finish is more due to people knowing more about Reaper Bones now, and more people understanding how the PM works.  More of the backers know what they’re going to pledge earlier and do that, so there’s less deciding at the last minute.

 

The $ pledged per backer for Bones V is also the lowest.  Again I think this is because people plan to add more in PM later, and just pledged as much as they felt they needed to now to help the KS hit goals.

 

Maybe Reaper is ok with people not pledging more now and adding it in the PM later.  It seems like $3M is about the limit of what they can handle in a given KS cycle.  They can only add so many new products at once.  At some point, they’ll have molds for so many things that many of them are likely to not have much demand at retail.

 

Remember, for Reaper, the reason to do these is to get “free” molds to make figures that they can produce to sell at retail.  Their warehouse can only hold so many different products and their distributors/FLGS can only handle so many different products from Reaper.  They already have a huge product line that most stores carry only a small fraction of it.  From what I’ve seen, many stores have no idea what they should stock because there’s so much.

 

Im not sure how the wholesale side of the business works, but I feel like Reaper could benefit greatly from giving more guidance to shops on what they should carry and how to display it.

[aku-chan]

Ended up spending $79, more than I thought I would, but not as much as I would have liked to.

 

So far I'm in for:-

 

Kid Heroes,

Holloween Free-bees,

Storm Giant,

Rune Wights,

Bust Collection,

Sirens,

Shadows of Ravenhome.

 

I definitely want to add a set of Sophies Dice (I like dice), but then I get stuck, some stuff is obvious (Brinewind is a no go as all I want is the Doxies and a few Lady Pirates), but others not so much (with Deep Depths, between the Sea Giant, the Merrows, the Slithe, the Brine Goblins and the Fathom Tyrant, I'm easily reaching the $50 value, but it leaves me with a ton of fish to get rid of).

 

I guess I just need to sit down and carefully go over it all one day.

[turbocooler]

22 minutes ago, ksbsnowowl said:

I doubt there is one.  But many "intro starter sets" (such as the 3rd edition D&D Basic Game, and I'm sure the 5e one is similar) have a set of mis-matched dice of several different colors.  It's very handy when you are teaching someone completely new to the game.  Telling them "roll the orange die" is a lot easier than saying "roll the d8 for your longsword damage" ...and they stare confused for 10 seconds, then pick up the wrong one anyway, because they aren't familiar enough with the "weird dice" enough to recognize the dice type by shape.

 

Here's an illustration from the 3.5 DMG, for example:

 

Nope, I have a 5e starter set and have given many away for gifts to help others get started.  They are all the same color the color just happens to be random.  For example, all red, all blue, all white.  I have at least in my experience never seen a 5e starter with mixed dice.  The different colors does not bother me but I like the solid colors so I as a DM I know which belong to which player.

[ksbsnowowl]

4 minutes ago, aku-chan said:

with Deep Depths ... I'm easily reaching the $50 value, but it leaves me with a ton of fish to get rid of.

 

I guess I just need to sit down and carefully go over it all one day.

I don't know where you are located, but the fish would be a decent thing to throw into the Box of Goodwill, if you join in on that.  You could probably pick out some of the other pieces you wanted from it, too, I'd imagine.

 

(Obligatory "I'm new here, and only going off info others have mentioned.")

[Cyradis]

There were also people who were not fans of Kickstarter's policies who wanted to support Reaper, but not Kickstarter. I wonder how many of those decided to go for a $1 pledge and then add more in the PM. It doesn't help with unlocking things (maybe - perhaps Reaper will go "by the way...."), but it is still support. This sort of pledge would lower the average too.

 

Sir Cyr and I went in for ~1/2 of what we want, and will add the rest later. What we want adds up to roughly what we spent on Bones IV. Kinda a shame right now because there are a lot of items that we could absolutely use NOW in the D&D campaign. Alas... so it goes. Why didn't we go all in? 1) Limit on my Canadian credit card isn't actually that high, and I can't use the debit card online. 2) There are some limited edition releases of something else coming out soon that I'd like and I want to spread out my splurges a bit.

[Evilbookworm]

Wow!  I didnt expect all the replies! Thank you for those who took the time. I think my issue is my other main hobby is gaming, and with steam and humble bundle I'm used to extremely cheap entertainment, and slow burn purchases.  I get antsy spending more than 100 at any given time.  I do recognize the difference in KS and retail.  I would love a mal drakar or the artillery gun from earlier KS, but the retail price is more than I can afford... looking at the KS price makes me jealous.  (Didnt know bones existed till about bones 4 time).  For me, my wife and I are cheap dates, so the closest I could compare it to would be a cedar point trip.    I'll have to add slowly though, you guys are right on that.  I suppose compared to drugs and alcohol it's a good deal right?

 

I need to get some paints as well, I'm using delta cermacoat right now but apparently the dedicated model paints are much better.

 

Lastly, can someone let me in on the joke for buglips?  

[ksbsnowowl]

1 minute ago, turbocooler said:

 

Nope, I have a 5e starter set and have given many away for gifts to help others get started.  They are all the same color the color just happens to be random.  For example, all red, all blue, all white.  I have at least in my experience never seen a 5e starter with mixed dice.  The different colors does not bother me but I like the solid colors so I as a DM I know which belong to which player.

That's a shame.

 

The mis-matched dice used to bug me.  But now as a DM with years of experience teaching the game to new players, I have found the mismatched sets to be quite handy for new players, for the exact reason I mentioned.

 

I'm stoked for Sophie's Lucky Dice, because this KS should deliver (assuming it is on time) the same month my first kid turns 3.  They'll be great for teaching him how to play D&D.

[Doug Sundseth]

2 minutes ago, Evilbookworm said:

Lastly, can someone let me in on the joke for buglips?  

 

@buglips*the*goblin is a long-time active forum member and through ... shenanigans ... ended up as the official forum mascot and scape-goblin. The model represents his character here on the boards and came about because he has been a strong supporter of Reaper over the years.

[Cyradis]

@buglips*the*goblin is known for being super smelly and gross. He also might eat your paint.

[NebulousMissy]

I know I'm in for

 

1 Core set

1 Dark Depths

1 Greek Set

1 Brinewind

1 Fan Favorites

 

That's $320 right there.

 

I know I'm in for

 

Valfuryx

both paint sets

Yokai

Goroloth

Ildraedis

Charnel pit

hot demons and demonesses

Ravenhome

 

That's another $124 for a total of $444. Nice "round" number 

 

If I can, and I probably will, I'm also in for

 

Gallowgard

Yeti Shrine

Elementals

Krateryx

Troll Bridge

Angazarax

Townsfolk

maaaaybe Kalanzar

 

Yet another $130 for a potential total of $574. That's less than my "one pay check" rule so I'm good. I'm currently in for $400 so I've paid up front for most of my stuff. This also doesn't include anything else my partner demands I buy. Or what friends will want me to add onto my order for them.

 

There's also the stuff I forgot about 

 

Like the extra gem dragons

And the extra cat dragons? Maybe?

I dunnoooooo...  I'll figure it out in January when I finally open the PM 

Edited November 3, 2019 by NebulousMissy

[ksbsnowowl]

With all those last-afternoon adds to the Core set, has anyone done a recount of how many mini's actually ended up in Core?

[Cyradis]

Someone has, but it is lost in the depths of this thread and the black hole of Facebook.

[Sadhoodini]

5 minutes ago, ksbsnowowl said:

With all those last-afternoon adds to the Core set, has anyone done a recount of how many mini's actually ended up in Core?

I think about 152 if I counted correctly

[YronimosW]

1 minute ago, Argentee said:

See, this is where I think the 'chronoscope' expansions go wrong (stick with me here). Chronoscope is Reaper's 'everything not fantasy' line, and a lot was said about how it was the poorest selling expansion in Bones IV.

 

But Bones IV had Lost Valley.: Prehistoric figures, Not fantasy, therefore: Chronoscope. Bones 3 had Mythos expansion.. once again not fantasy, therefore: Chronoscope. But neither were lablled as Chronoscope, they were given names that described what was inside.  I can't help but wonder if the Bones IV Chronoscope had been a little more tightly themed and named 'Pulp Sci Fi' or 'drive in movie sci fi', would it have done better?

 

Bones V we're back to a scattershot Chronoscope expansion... even more so than Bones IV. And I'm wondering if it will help or hurt? If Mandapur pass had had a pulp adventurer instead of a dwarf, it would be Chronoscope... would a pulp adventurer sold more or less of them? Ravenhome would also be pulp if the adventurer held a gun. Would a set of modern zombies, rednecks, and trailer by itself as an encounter do better or worse than tossing them into the same expansion as steampunk, pulp, and post apocalyptic robots?

 

I'm disappointed that the teased encounter with a model A never happened. Having a pulp encounter (Model A, Mythos Monster, a half dozen humans, and maybe a few small terrain bits such as barrels of bootleg whiskey, piles of tires/crates, and a lamp post or larger bits of crumbling brick walls) and being able to compare how it sold with the Chronoscope expansion sales would be a useful data point.

 

I don't think you're wrong here! 

 

The only thing I'd disagree on is that this Chronoscope expansion was all that scatter-shot:  there are three clear major themes for the three parts:  steampunk/weird west, zombie apocalypse, and sci-fi, with just a smattering of oddball choices to it (Santa and a couple Mythos monsters, for example, which aren't quite so difficult for me to digest as dino-spacemen and a fistful of traffic cones and parking meters), and things are a little more cohesive within each of those major themes than the Bones IV sci-fi/modern Chronoscope was. 

 

For example, there might not be much storytelling behind the selection of steampunk/weird west characters, but I could pretty easily imagine any half-dozen of them hanging out on Mars in a not-Space: 1899 game with not-Deja Thoris (if only Reaper had carried that just a bit further!)

 

But, that's less important than what I agree with you on:  Reaper, I think, doesn't want to subject Chronoscope to very much guidance, lest, they break their "kitchen sink" philosophy for the line.  But, I don't think some direction and planning would be a bad thing for Chronoscope.  Take for example that Steam Punk Mars thing, and imagine a Chronoscope expansion in three parts based around that theme:

1. Some Pulp Mars-monsters that would be useful to both fantasy and pulp gamers (some Lovecraftian tentacle monsters             - say something modeled on H.G. Wells' martians, some not-Thoats and not-Calots, some not-Green Martians, etc.), some not-Red Martians (which are essentially indistinguishable from generic fantasy humans, except for the occasional raygun - see #837 in Bones V's Chronoscope set)...
2. That same group of steampunk/wild west adventurers...
3. Some Old Solar System Martian terrain:  a mechanical man or two, a Stargate-style portal perhaps (it's how our intrepid steampunk earthlings travel to Mars!), some weird Martian Monoliths, perhaps a vehicle like a land-yacht or airship of the sort that would be equally at home in a fantasy setting or a not-Star Wars setting as it would here, as well as being fun to paint for the non-gamers!

 

I don't know whether it would be enough to get anyone else down off the fence around Chronoscope or not, but there is something of an implied backstory in there and enough of a selection of minis to fit it and make a game of it, without getting too setting- or genre-specific... there's a pulp/sci-fi concept to it and perhaps one that can be adapted to more mainstream sci-fi games (Star Wars, for example, is a direct descendant of Burroughs' Mars/Barsoom setting), but one that mostly translates to fantasy as well (D&D, too, is a direct descendant of that setting), with some cross-over appeal for Mythos gamers as well (those tentacle monsters, the alien monoliths and portal....)

 

 

Anyway, I think the Bones V Chronoscope is an improvement over Bones IV's entry, but it seems like there's a higher level that they can get to, with just a little concession to storytelling and focus.

 

(As an aside, there apparently is a backstory to at least some of the Steampunk guys we got:  I remember one of the Reapers talking about how Chronoscope was its own setting in concept, with some of those Steampunk characters actually being time-and-alternate-dimension hopping adventurers and villains journeying through all the various seemingly unrelated genres in the form of other worlds....  That these characters seem to be here together and dressed/geared up in a similar style to each other helps make the steampunk part of this set feel - to me - pretty coherent compared to the random sci-fi characters from Bones IV!)

[redambrosia]

7 hours ago, Evilbookworm said:

So I have a problem.  Just went through, I want all 5 chromatics, the pirate ship, brinewind, fan favorites, the core set, the siege weapons, and a few other things.  That comes to about 600, I only did bones 4 beforehand and that hit 350. If I spend that much on miniatures, the adult half of my brain is going to torment me for months, even if I spread it out.  What's a guy to do?

Being an adult means that you pay all your bills and buy vegetables (to let them die in the fridge) and responsible stuff. After you’ve met your responsibilities, being an adult means you get to spend your funtimes monies on whatever you want. Including sugary cereal or minis. So anxious adult brain can stfu!

 

1 hour ago, CAVBOSS said:

While it does take some work by the end user to fix a bit... I don't think it qualifies for either of these. Just my opinion. 

I agree. Though, the most likely fate of the chicken house is getting it legs chopped off and added to a Halloween village.

 

1 hour ago, YronimosW said:

This Kickstarter was filled with understated and underrated minis, actually - for example, "Dungeon Dwellers" was full of them. 

 

The girl with the sword and laser in the Chronoscope expansion - sort of a not-Dejah-Thoris, Princess of Mars - stood out to me as a great new mini, and I think I would have liked to have seen a whole third of that expansion dedicated to similar characters plus some appropriate sword-and-raygun wielding aliens from the same sort of not-Barsoom planetary fantasy setting... sure, it's going to be a niche setting (sadly, since there's a HUGE amount of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom's DNA running through D&D), but for me it was sort of a tantalizing glimpse into what could have been, had Reaper done more than just put that one mini in the set; and, with all the other stuff going on there, almost nobody noticed her.... 

I’d looooooove more minis based on that gal. More of a ray guy sci fi feel. Gimme!

Edited November 3, 2019 by redambrosia