Elephant in the room.

[OldSoldier]

Ok folks, how about a status update for all things 7th Sea? I didn't take part in the Kickstarter project but, I see an incredible lack of updates on that page and this one as well. It seems Mr Wick has disappeared. (Except for his "Unreviews". Apparently, he has time to write those) Unfortunately this has fallen on Chaosium's deck and someone needs to come to muster.

What say you?

Edited January 21, 2020 by OldSoldier
Addition

[OldSoldier]

Anyone?

*crickets* *crickets*

[g33k]

On 1/19/2020 at 11:14 AM, OldSoldier said:

Ok folks, how about a status update for all things 7th Sea? I didn't take part in the Kickstarter project but, I see an incredible lack of updates on that page and this one as well. It seems Mr Wick has disappeared. (Except for his "Unreviews". Apparently, he has time to write those) Unfortunately this has fallen on Chaosium's deck and someone needs to come to muster.

What say you?

I'm a BRP grognard, myself, don't know the 7S fandom.  Is there maybe some other more active site, a FB group or something, where such things ARE known?

Or is this "the place"?  Given that it IS Chaosium's "official" forum space these days, maybe it's worth doing a summoning... @John Wick, is that you?  @MOB I do know that's you!  Should I @someone else?

@OldSoldier -- something I've found lately from Chaosium is that their policy seems to be, "give updates when there are updates to give" (i.e. news, changes, progress, setbacks... you know, a change in the status of a project).  If things are in the same status they were at last update (still getting art, still in layout, still at the printers... I dunno, what WAS the last status?)... then they don't really seem to see the point of "updating" with some weasely version of "nothing new to say" pretending to be news.

Or so it has seemed to me.  If they have another policy, I'm happy to be corrected.

Edit:  The OTHER thing I've gotta point out:  Chaosium is really good at this.  They may be slower than we fans would like, but I'll place long, l-o-n-g odds on them having first taken a good hard look at the 7th Sea product line, the sales history, the KS obligations, their own resources, and have a really solid footing & business-plan for the project.  It may not be the top priority, but I'm sure it IS progressing; that's just how they seem to operate.

Edit2 -- I think I do recall that John Wick is currently pursuing the "New Gamemaster Month" in support of 7th Sea; I'm betting that's where he's most active right now.

Edited January 29, 2020 by g33k
vote of confidence

[Lordabdul]

Yep, AFAICT, John Wick's 7th Sea work these days is mostly about promotion and marketing -- which is a good thing given that the 7th Sea line is pretty sizable and well stocked IMHO, so focusing a bit on growing the audience is not a bad idea. Besides New Gamemaster Month, John has done stuff like a Geek & Sundry's Starter Kit series, for instance, which is pretty enjoyable. I assume he's also busy working on other Chaosium IPs.

 

[OldSoldier]

It seems the two of you have put in more work in "updating" 7th Sea news than Mr Wick or Chaosium.

Congrats

Update: Well well, there's a January update on the Kickstarter page. Sometimes it's good to be wrong.

Edited February 3, 2020 by OldSoldier

[Grymm]

Sooooo...........I guess I'll pipe up on this thread as well. I DID back the Kickstarter, I was super thrilled and WAY more excited than I should have been to see that there was going to be a 2nd edition of one of my favorite systems. I jumped at the chance to back the project. I am sad to state that I kind of regret that now. The Kickstarter was held in the beginning of 2016, February - March if I remember correctly.  Personally, I spent more than I should have and got the $280 package AND added a sourcebook. As of the writing of this post. I have NOT received my addon book (Which had an estimated date of release in Feb. 2017, so 3 years ago.) Secret Societies. Yes, I realize that there have been a couple updates about that book...but the last thing I have heard is from JANUARY. (If there has been another update that I am not aware of I apologize and would appreciate being directed to where such updates are being released.) I am also still waiting on the six (6) 24" x 36" Full Color Maps (Théah, Ifri, The Crescent Empire, The New World/Aztlan, Acadia/Wabanahkik, and the World Map)

I fully understand that delays happen. I admit that I am still saddened that this project was 4389% funded, yet it has had so many issues being produced even 4 years after the fact. I have my own opinions about that...and will not go into them here. I will close this post with 2 things:

 

First: Updates are amazing, if they are simply placebos. So if anyone know where the updates are going, please let me.....and everyone else....know. We'd really appreciate it.

Second: This Kickstarter has taught me to be VERY VERY selective about what projects I decide to back. I advise Caution to anyone wanting to back a Kickstarter project.

[Ian Absentia]

18 hours ago, Grymm said:

This Kickstarter has taught me to be VERY VERY selective about what projects I decide to back. I advise Caution to anyone wanting to back a Kickstarter project.

Beware the pitfalls of the too-successful Kickstarter campaign.  And that's more a caution to the host than to the backer.

I'm aware of the power of public discussion, but have you contacted the Kickstarter host directly?  I'm not sure if Chaosium has taken up the responsibility for product fulfillment for 7th Sea as they did with the ill-fated CoC Kickstarter.

!i!

Edited April 29, 2020 by Ian Absentia

[g33k]

2 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

Beware the pitfalls of the too-successful Kickstarter campaign.  And that's more a caution to the host than to the backer.

I'm aware of the power of public discussion, but have you contacted the Kickstarter host directly?  I'm not sure if Chaosium has taken up the responsibility for product fulfillment for 7th Sea as they did with the ill-fated CoC Kickstarter.

!i!

https://www.chaosium.com/blogjohn-wick-joins-chaosium/

I don't know how many KS projects JWP had going, but Chaosium explicitly promises to fulfill at least two projects (7S 2e, and Khitai).

 

[Grymm]

 

3 hours ago, Ian Absentia said:

Beware the pitfalls of the too-successful Kickstarter campaign.  And that's more a caution to the host than to the backer.

@Ian Absentia So noted. Sadly, I backed it early...before it had reached it's goal. I know that I had tried contacting through the Kickstarter host along with several others to no real avail. There are several others still commenting in the project comments on Kickstarter asking for some kind of update, but truth be told they are getting rather jaded and seem to all but have given up hope. I just reached out here to spread the net and HOPEFULLY get more info that I could relay there.

[Ian Absentia]

To be clear, I generally support Kickstarter/crowdfunding campaigns for creative projects.  They're like an advance on a publishing contract, or pre-orders on sales.  Capital where it's needed, up-front.  However, I'm careful to look for explicit statements of "This thing is already finished and ready to go into production" before I pitch in.  And I'm not impressed by -- I'm even leery of -- stretch goals unless, again, they're explicitly production-ready.  And, to be frank, I get nervous when I see projects get funded to +1,000% of their goal for a commercial product.  That says to me that the creator underestimated the nature of their project and that it's too big for them to handle -- crowdfunding shouldn't take the place of a retail storefront.

All that said, I don't know the history of the 7th Sea Kickstarter campaign and how it was handled.  My comments are based on observations of several other projects, wildly over-funded and sheepishly under-delivered.  If only they'd hit the big, red button at 100% then figured out post-production marketing separately...

!i!

Edited April 30, 2020 by Ian Absentia