(no subject)
Aug. 12th, 2012 03:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingHow to do a Kickstarter right: Reaper Miniatures "Bones"
Reaper Minis makes, well, miniatures. For wargames, for RPGs, for Warhammer-alikes, or just for people who like painting teeny little things - and their Kickstarter is genius. How genius? Their reward structure has *me* pledging $100[1], and I don't even do minis painting, because I can get a crapload of neat stuff that looks like fun to try, and a complete starter's kit, and a storage/carrying case, AND enough minis that if I truly fuck up a few I can trash 'em and feel the painful loss of a cup of coffee.
(It helps that if I'm truly as terrible as I was the last time I tried this kind of thing, I have artistic friends and mini-loving friends and artistic mini-loving friends, so I can rehome 'em easily.)
But the Kickstarter itself is pure genius. You see,
1) all of the stretch goals are add-ons to the existing packages. Some free, some free to people who picked a certain level or above, some for a nominal additional fee.
2) all of the reward packages, except for the unique "one of a kind you keep the original model" ones, are completely modular. You can buy as many or as few as you want.
3) all of the stretch goal rewards are completely modular, you can buy as many or as few as you want, of each one. Even the "free" rewards? You can buy extras of those for a nominal fee.
Which is another way of saying: Every few days, they make the existing rewards better AND they provide a bunch new el cheapo additions for "just a few dollars more". And they've made damn sure that there's no choice paralysation: Their plan is explicitly to use Kickstarter to display the options, but use a post-Kickstarter survey to figure out exactly which options you wanted, and they are happy for you to say "Oh, I wanted the vampire, ten of the giant dragon, three sets of elves, and the succubus on the motorcycle".
Which, on one hand, mercenarily entices you to keep adding just a LIIIIIITLE more to your pledge. On the other, it lets you pick and choose from a ton of cool options, all at a good price - which means I don't even mind the blatant aspect.
Compare and contrast the Defense Grid 2 Kickstarter, where despite the awesomeness of the game and my vervent desire to play #2, I (and more than 50% of all backers) are sitting on the lowest $15 "please give me the game" reward tier, because there's NOTHING ABOVE IT WE WANT. The next few tiers up are all "Oh, and also give us the first game's DLC, which we almost certainly already own because we're here at the Kickstarter" and even that ate up another 20% of pledges.
(If you want an AMD video card for cheap, or a Razer Naga mouse for cheap, though, you might want to pledge in the next 48 hours even if you don't care about the game, because they're giving away the psycho gaming mice of doom for sub-retail. And the original game (which you get for pledging) is great and the project to make the expansion has been successfully funded.)
[1]: "Ghast Level" for a horde of goblins and kobolds and rats, one each of the starter paint sets, Orcstravaganza for 20 $1.25 orc minis, and the carrying case, plus shipping. 51 minis, paints, case, and shipping, $100. I'm strongly tempted to go completely nuts and pay $80 more for the "Vampire" level, adding another 111 minis (as of right now - Vampire is one of the ones that keeps getting bigger). I'm holding off on that because, well, I'm a LOUSY PAINTER. Completely terrible. And while this is a great deal for someone in the hobby or who wants to get in in a big way, I'm not that. I dont' think. And yet, so tempted....
Reaper Minis makes, well, miniatures. For wargames, for RPGs, for Warhammer-alikes, or just for people who like painting teeny little things - and their Kickstarter is genius. How genius? Their reward structure has *me* pledging $100[1], and I don't even do minis painting, because I can get a crapload of neat stuff that looks like fun to try, and a complete starter's kit, and a storage/carrying case, AND enough minis that if I truly fuck up a few I can trash 'em and feel the painful loss of a cup of coffee.
(It helps that if I'm truly as terrible as I was the last time I tried this kind of thing, I have artistic friends and mini-loving friends and artistic mini-loving friends, so I can rehome 'em easily.)
But the Kickstarter itself is pure genius. You see,
1) all of the stretch goals are add-ons to the existing packages. Some free, some free to people who picked a certain level or above, some for a nominal additional fee.
2) all of the reward packages, except for the unique "one of a kind you keep the original model" ones, are completely modular. You can buy as many or as few as you want.
3) all of the stretch goal rewards are completely modular, you can buy as many or as few as you want, of each one. Even the "free" rewards? You can buy extras of those for a nominal fee.
Which is another way of saying: Every few days, they make the existing rewards better AND they provide a bunch new el cheapo additions for "just a few dollars more". And they've made damn sure that there's no choice paralysation: Their plan is explicitly to use Kickstarter to display the options, but use a post-Kickstarter survey to figure out exactly which options you wanted, and they are happy for you to say "Oh, I wanted the vampire, ten of the giant dragon, three sets of elves, and the succubus on the motorcycle".
Which, on one hand, mercenarily entices you to keep adding just a LIIIIIITLE more to your pledge. On the other, it lets you pick and choose from a ton of cool options, all at a good price - which means I don't even mind the blatant aspect.
Compare and contrast the Defense Grid 2 Kickstarter, where despite the awesomeness of the game and my vervent desire to play #2, I (and more than 50% of all backers) are sitting on the lowest $15 "please give me the game" reward tier, because there's NOTHING ABOVE IT WE WANT. The next few tiers up are all "Oh, and also give us the first game's DLC, which we almost certainly already own because we're here at the Kickstarter" and even that ate up another 20% of pledges.
(If you want an AMD video card for cheap, or a Razer Naga mouse for cheap, though, you might want to pledge in the next 48 hours even if you don't care about the game, because they're giving away the psycho gaming mice of doom for sub-retail. And the original game (which you get for pledging) is great and the project to make the expansion has been successfully funded.)
[1]: "Ghast Level" for a horde of goblins and kobolds and rats, one each of the starter paint sets, Orcstravaganza for 20 $1.25 orc minis, and the carrying case, plus shipping. 51 minis, paints, case, and shipping, $100. I'm strongly tempted to go completely nuts and pay $80 more for the "Vampire" level, adding another 111 minis (as of right now - Vampire is one of the ones that keeps getting bigger). I'm holding off on that because, well, I'm a LOUSY PAINTER. Completely terrible. And while this is a great deal for someone in the hobby or who wants to get in in a big way, I'm not that. I dont' think. And yet, so tempted....
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 07:37 pm (UTC)The Reaper guys and gals must be shitting themselves with glee. That's an amazing return on their kickstarter.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 07:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 08:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 08:52 pm (UTC)::sighs and goes to get out the calculator::
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 09:00 pm (UTC)(I mean, they might be!)
But yeah- for $30 Shadow Dragon, $30 Fire Dragon, and $70 Ebonwrath, you can get $100 Vampire Pack + $10 Ebonwrath + $15 Shadow And Fire Dragons. For a net DISCOUNT.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 09:17 pm (UTC)"Why do I see some of these miniatures already for sale on your website?
Most of our existing miniatures lines are produced in metal, and many of the miniatures pictured here are drawn from those product lines. This Bones Kickstarter is designed to produce both existing and new miniatures in plastic. The models that are pictured in the Kickstarter are the models you will receive in Bones plastic."
From my reading, everything except the Biker Babe is plastic, and she's metal.
And now that I've figured out what options I want, time to go sign up for a kickstarter account. Yay tons of minis!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 09:32 pm (UTC)But still, I'm a completely crap mini-painter. So I'm happy to go with the El Cheapo options.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 09:40 pm (UTC)FWIW, I don't think plastic is necessarily worse. I'm told that the plastic minis are often more detailed than metal can be, and they are easier to mod (exact quote there was 'if I want to cut stuff off, I can'). Supposedly the plastic they are making these new minis out of requires no priming, as well, so that's handy!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-13 02:34 am (UTC)Also, IME, lightweight figures don't seem to suffer as much wear-and-tear on the paintwork. Plastic is lighter, which means the forces involved in being dropped/bouncing around in a case/etc are less, which means less damage. (Somebody recently dropped a trayful of some of my better-painted metal miniatures, which left me Very Sad...)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-13 12:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-13 01:01 pm (UTC)(And then the magnets come unglued and the figure bounces around... but because it's light, no damage done. And I grumble and re-glue.)
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 08:52 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 09:00 pm (UTC)If you *really* fuck up the minis, a soak in Simple Green or some other solvents will make it easy enough to strip off the paint layers...
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 10:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 10:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 10:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-12 10:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-13 12:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-13 01:09 am (UTC)I'm glad you like how we're running things!
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-13 01:28 am (UTC)But yeah: I'm completely not your target audience, and you've got me giving money because it's a great as a starter set. I would have given money earlier, had the "ton of cheap minis and the paint sets" been sooner.
And the way you've structured your Kickstarter is a lesson to everyone else in the field.
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-13 12:45 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-13 12:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-13 02:35 am (UTC)