[Sorcerer Kickstart] Quick help with images

[Justice Platt]

You know that many drink recipes?  (Just sayin-it wouldn't surprise me much to see you needing to come up with 100+ tequila drinks.  I figure you can get books together no problem, but hundreds of different ways of masking, er, enhancing agave flavor seems pretty tough).

Maybe also lead off the main video with testimonials?  The first minute is all lots of people are likely to watch, in my experience, and so you may as well give them the sense that they're getting a BIG DEAL among RPGs.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Justice,

I'm actually inventing the drinks as part of the project. When I say "original," I mean it. Brand new cocktails, by me. In fact, just last night, I pulled out some mixers, liquors, and fruit, to noodle around with small portions, finding unusual blends that work, and which might be good with tequila. Maybe I'll clarify that in the Kickstart text.

Now, granted, I don't think I can come up with 100 of them, so maybe I should limit it to 25 or so. Again, my level of optimism seems to be a full order of magnitude below everyone else's, so I had no expectation of so many people pledging in the first place.

Best, Ron

[Hans Chung-Otterson]

Hans, with the additions I mentioned - sample art, Sorcerer info/promo video - do you think this is looking ready? If it comes together fast, then I am thinking of sharing the preview at Story Games and editing a bit more based on feedback.

Definitely looking ready, from my experience backing 20 or so Kickstarter projects. I'd just make sure that info/promo video is clearly labeled, probably with the label above it to catch the casual glancer's eye. Something like, "What is Sorcerer All About"? Most folks will probably expect more of that info in the main video, so clearly labeling it will help.

[Ron Edwards]

After an extensive and very useful Story Games thread (thanks everyone!), the new preview is ready. I've effectively gone all the way back to my very first inclination, to ignore Kickstarter as a culture very politely, and to ask for only and exactly what I want. I've upped the goals, though, because I will need money for all that printing and postage. The only kitsch left is the drink menu.

Best, Ron

[Eero Tuovinen]

I like it more without the unrelated kitch, and appreciate the more natural opportunity to donate money without encouraging your tequila habit.

I would still start the explanation by introducing Sorcerer in text form, all this talk about the revised edition PDFs is ancillary to the issue of whether any given audience member is or should be interested in Sorcerer to begin with. I'm text-biased, though, so maybe the audience will be happy with the promo video. Don't forget to put some pictures of the old edition of Sorcerer and the supplements in the video, new people'll want to see what sort of aesthetic and production quality one might expect from you.

That's a minor issue, though, in the context of your overall goals. I would expect this to serve well as a pre-ordering mechanism.

[Ron Edwards]

One little coda to all this preparation is that I ran into some weirdness with the Amazon registration. (Registering as a business to give and accept Kickstarter payments is different from ordinary Amazon customer registration.) On the 24th, I received an email telling me that my EIN (employer identification number) hadn't been confirmed, so I had to fax them a copy of the original IRS letter giving me the number. Which is really annoying, because I have been through more physical hassles concerning old Sorcerer and Adept stuff than anyone can imagine. I found the folders with my old business registration with Illinois, but not from the IRS. One rep told me that they'd accept a copy of my recent tax return (which is about as thorough a confirmation that the IRS knows your EIN as you can find), but also, unfortunately confirmed that they could only handle faxes, not electronic files.

Anyway, I was pretty much in despair at this point, but yesterday, I received a phone call from an Amazon rep from the "scary money desk" sector. The conversation went through three stages.

1. She informs me nicely but firmly that they want what they want, nothing else, in the way they want, and in no other way. Everyone else does it, so I can too.
2. I remainly barely on this side of civil and recount my trials to her, with occasional cries to God to witness my suffering. None of it insincere.
3. She decides to investigate why my EIN was held up in the first place, asks me to wait ... and then returns to inform me that all of my submitted material had been 100% acceptable from the start, and that it was ridiculous that I'd been subjected to this. And that she was - one moment, click-click - confirming my Amazon registration de facto.

So that problem got solved!

By the way, as of this writing, I only need a brief break from family and holiday moments to make the promotional video, and as soon as that's posted, the project goes live. On the plus side, that could be within the next 12 hours. On the minus side, one of my kids just demonstrated a stomach complaint in no uncertain terms, so the next 12 hours could be very different. We shall see.

Best, Ron