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Originally Posted by Drifter
What all that is saying that there is a pent up demand for RPGs out there, if customers are willing to pony up that much money on a product sight-unseen.
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I don't think that's what it means at all. I think what it actually means that if an RPG author with a big reputation puts up a kickstarter, then his fans will be falling over themselves to throw money at him. The exact same thing happened with Monte Cook (who had a big reputation from D&D).
What I observed from the kickstarter and the community while it was happening was that most of the people funding didn't even care what MM wrote or was producing, just that he was doing something and they wanted to help him along. In fact, after the first couple of days (after the base funding target was reached) it didn't even
matter what he was producing anymore, because it was then certain that the book was going to be published. Most of the kickstarter was spent just adding stretch goals (the vast majority of which didn't actually improve the final product in any significant way) or bigger pledges... and
still people were pledging. Most of them knew absolutely nothing about what T5 contained or what had already been done for it in the playtest - some even had no interest in knowing - and still the money poured in. It was quite fascinating to watch, in some ways.
I think what it really shows is that "the cult of personality is a powerful incentive for people with a lot of disposable income". Call me cynical, but I don't think it's inaccurate - it happens all the time in other media after all (people buying books or albums by authors or musicians unseen and regardless of quality, watching films by their favourite actors or directors for similar reasons, etc).
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I know I want a Travelleresque game, with SJGames production values. I don't know if I want a huge book of rules. I'm sure I'll be buying T5 in any case, unless the reviews are really bad (and I mean really, really bad). But a 600+ page book that is all rules is .. lets say "intimidating".
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Unless something has radically changed in its presentation, T5 is unlikely to have SJG production values. I'm actually quite curious to see whether T5 has improved significantly (or even at all) from the playtest draft in its final presentation.