What's the best way to get in touch with Marc Miller/FFE? I've sent two emails to farfuture@gmail.com and have yet to get a reply.
Post here if you got your T5 book.
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BadgerLord
SOC-5
That's another way of saying "CCGs beat the crap out of us".
The uptake and vast VAST amounts of money pouring in to MtG and CCGs were staggering. Anybody who wasn't producing a CCG, or, more bluntly, WotC, was "overproducing". CCGs were a Black Swan event that hit the conventional gaming industry at the time.
Always wondered what "Striker: the Collectible Card Game" would have looked like.
Keep in mind, WotC started out as an RPG company, but when Magic hit they quickly got out of making Talislanta and the other RPG titles they had.
That is the best way I know of to contact him. Please be patient, he is pretty busy.
I was one of those. I looked at it, threw up in my mouth a little bit, and didn't buy another GDW product until FFE produced the CT reprints.
Also try different email accounts, as his has a tendancy to catch some emails in a spam filter.
Also, if you are sending an email with a lot of quoted material in it, that seems to get caught in his spam filters. Try sending a clean message without the quoted stuff - that worked for me, anyway.
Supplement Four
SOC-14 5K
I went a different route. I still bought it, but I tried to convert it to CT.
Kickstarter projects are a crap shoot and people forget that. First it may not get funded, second, there there is no guarantee that product will be delivered. Finally, the dates are predictions.
You aren't buying products, you are backing projects. Not all projects are successes and even those that are rarely deliver on their original schedule.
Maybe my years in high tech start ups give me a different perspective.
You aren't buying products, you are backing projects. Not all projects are successes and even those that are rarely deliver on their original schedule.
Maybe my years in high tech start ups give me a different perspective.
I didn't back on Kickstarter, I purchased from a web store. This means I'm even more annoyed at the lack of communication or explanation. They can't be trading like a shop then acting like it's okay to go in the dark. That's not how business works.
madmike
SOC-12
I am going to defend Marc here. I understand your concerns, but Marc is essentially a one man band now. He does not have assistance from a plethora of staff like he had back in GDW days, having to call in his wife and those friends and associates who have offered to help.
He HAS to mail out all the backers books first. They were the ones who made T5 a reality, not the orders that came after.
Web orders and subsequent orders will come next and I am sure it will not be too long.
He HAS to mail out all the backers books first. They were the ones who made T5 a reality, not the orders that came after.
Web orders and subsequent orders will come next and I am sure it will not be too long.
What web store did you buy from?
The Traveler5.net used to have a disclaimer on the home page that shipments wouldn't start until after all the Kickstarter shipments went out (listed as end of March), but this disclaimer doesn't seem to be there anymore. Last update on Kickstarter mentions shipments should begin soon (hopefully in about one week), and should take approximately one week to finish, but that may be overly optimistic (my opinion).
Spaceresearcher
SOC-12
WHAT'S THE HURRY!!!!
Surely everyone winging here, must have seen the photos by now. If not, a truck load of gorgeous hard covers has arrived, ready for dispatch. The Dice sets are finalised and other products are trickling through. Myself I was a Kickstarter backer and I also can't wait to check out the new edition of Traveller, but I for one applaud Marc and co for there efforts and don't mind waiting a couple more weeks if it means a touch less stress and a lot more enjoyment.
For the record, in case some of those people complaining are not aware, RPG games are no longer mass sellers. This first Kickstarter has assured the future of Traveller as far as I'm concerned and I would certainly hope die hard fans continue to support this great SciFi game. I'll be fascinated to see how quickly these same people complaining are to respond declaring they have read it all cover to cover. What's the hurry?
In short, there's not long left to wait and no reason why the books are not far away.
Each and every order I have ever placed with Far Future Enterprises has always been treated with great care and respect. That goes for all my friends who have also purchased from FFE and backed this project on Kickstarter ladies and gentleman.
Before you go winging, think about how you would go processing a few thousand orders in a couple of weeks, complete with customized cards, signing and attention to detail to ensure each and every order is looked after.
If you placed an order after the Kickstarter, good for you, but don't expect to jump the que.
In all fairness to T5, it's not long at all to wait. For example it took almost 14 months for one company over here, to get my Twilight Imperium expansions to me. (Printing delays from Fantasy Flight games and there a much larger outfit than FFE).
So calm down, take a read of the massive backlog of Traveller products, JTAS and the terrific free online JTAS and get back to having adventuring fun instead of wasting time winging about the speed of order processing(it may come as a shock but most of the world is not like your computer. Events will not happen instantly at the drop of a mouse click). It all takes time and in life, nothing good comes easy. A couple of weeks or even a couple of months, big deal. As long as it happens, that's all that matters.
As for Traveller Kickstarters, I'm all for them. It's a way to get new material happening now as opposed to proving to a publishing house that your work has a market. Before declaring that all Kickstarters are a waste and discouraging others from backing projects, think about how that looks to a publishing house when they fail. If they start to see great potential for Traveller material that can change and perhaps solid print runs of Traveller products can become more prolific. It's all a mind set, your either for the support of great things, or a negative skeptic with nothing. The choice is yours.
Surely everyone winging here, must have seen the photos by now. If not, a truck load of gorgeous hard covers has arrived, ready for dispatch. The Dice sets are finalised and other products are trickling through. Myself I was a Kickstarter backer and I also can't wait to check out the new edition of Traveller, but I for one applaud Marc and co for there efforts and don't mind waiting a couple more weeks if it means a touch less stress and a lot more enjoyment.
For the record, in case some of those people complaining are not aware, RPG games are no longer mass sellers. This first Kickstarter has assured the future of Traveller as far as I'm concerned and I would certainly hope die hard fans continue to support this great SciFi game. I'll be fascinated to see how quickly these same people complaining are to respond declaring they have read it all cover to cover. What's the hurry?
In short, there's not long left to wait and no reason why the books are not far away.
Each and every order I have ever placed with Far Future Enterprises has always been treated with great care and respect. That goes for all my friends who have also purchased from FFE and backed this project on Kickstarter ladies and gentleman.
Before you go winging, think about how you would go processing a few thousand orders in a couple of weeks, complete with customized cards, signing and attention to detail to ensure each and every order is looked after.
If you placed an order after the Kickstarter, good for you, but don't expect to jump the que.
In all fairness to T5, it's not long at all to wait. For example it took almost 14 months for one company over here, to get my Twilight Imperium expansions to me. (Printing delays from Fantasy Flight games and there a much larger outfit than FFE).
So calm down, take a read of the massive backlog of Traveller products, JTAS and the terrific free online JTAS and get back to having adventuring fun instead of wasting time winging about the speed of order processing(it may come as a shock but most of the world is not like your computer. Events will not happen instantly at the drop of a mouse click). It all takes time and in life, nothing good comes easy. A couple of weeks or even a couple of months, big deal. As long as it happens, that's all that matters.
As for Traveller Kickstarters, I'm all for them. It's a way to get new material happening now as opposed to proving to a publishing house that your work has a market. Before declaring that all Kickstarters are a waste and discouraging others from backing projects, think about how that looks to a publishing house when they fail. If they start to see great potential for Traveller material that can change and perhaps solid print runs of Traveller products can become more prolific. It's all a mind set, your either for the support of great things, or a negative skeptic with nothing. The choice is yours.
Tekrat04
SOC-11
I agree.
While I have been patient, everyone's patience has limits. 80%, or something close, of Kickstarter projects are late. The most common reason is the demand is bigger than anticipated leading to a change in distribution or production. While a delay of 4 months and counting isn't a horrible delay, it seems like the community has to become a group of dentists in order to obtain updated information, which wears on patience much quicker than reasonable delays with timely updates. You are correct that the books arrived on 2/13. So, what we are waiting for is not the books but less important frills. There are two ways for any business to take care of or prevent this type of situation. Order everything in advance to make sure the frills are not the cause of the delay, or ship out the product in two batches and give out the frills in the second batch. There already has to be two shipments because of the other delayed product (deck plans), it is only a matter of how long a delay, so money shouldn't be a concern here.
We are effectively waiting on TAS and knighthood cards. This can be done on card stock as a modified business card format and paper product done up in an officious looking format. There are a number of companies out there that can do this with little turnaround time, the delay will be in wanting it done under a particular price point. This is the sticking point as the book, CD, knighthood and TAS card are available for general order for the same price as the Kickstarter product that gives more stuff than this. Either Marc has anticipated and accepted much tighter margins for the Kickstarter backers, or he overextended himself financially and is going for the most economical options instead of timely ones.
My biggest complaint is not the delays but how they are handled. Information should be posted before the delay comes to pass and not wait until there are numerous posts and e-mails sent asking for an update, with the recent example occurring when the 3/1 ship date came and went with no information leading me to optimistically start this post in hopes that people had started receiving their books without any fanfare.
But I guess 4 months is not much of a delay when you consider the original announced release date was, according to at least one site, June 2007. But then again, no one had given any money on preorders, Kickstarter funds, etc.
In response to using other Traveller products, I don't have any. I came up with an interesting hard science fiction campaign idea and started looking for a good game system to run it under. I found information about the "soon" to be released Traveller5 and decided to support the project knowing that I had a lot of ground work to do in building a civilization from the ground into space. While I have incorporated some elements of Traveller fluff, such as the Aslan and travel mechanics, the history, politics and worlds are my own. When a more official ship date was announced I got a group together and I distributed a timeline, major manufacturing companies, political information, etc and we started working on character concepts. I have a rough outline for an adventure chain, including taking into account possible adventure outcomes. I have the first adventure fully mapped out and just need to add mechanics to the antagonists and determine an adequate challenge for an opening campaign. I have personalities, past achievements and looks figured out for the major and reoccurring NPCs that the PCs will be working with.
Now all we need are the delayed rules. More information equals less frustration for the group and I.
We are effectively waiting on TAS and knighthood cards. This can be done on card stock as a modified business card format and paper product done up in an officious looking format. There are a number of companies out there that can do this with little turnaround time, the delay will be in wanting it done under a particular price point. This is the sticking point as the book, CD, knighthood and TAS card are available for general order for the same price as the Kickstarter product that gives more stuff than this. Either Marc has anticipated and accepted much tighter margins for the Kickstarter backers, or he overextended himself financially and is going for the most economical options instead of timely ones.
My biggest complaint is not the delays but how they are handled. Information should be posted before the delay comes to pass and not wait until there are numerous posts and e-mails sent asking for an update, with the recent example occurring when the 3/1 ship date came and went with no information leading me to optimistically start this post in hopes that people had started receiving their books without any fanfare.
But I guess 4 months is not much of a delay when you consider the original announced release date was, according to at least one site, June 2007. But then again, no one had given any money on preorders, Kickstarter funds, etc.
In response to using other Traveller products, I don't have any. I came up with an interesting hard science fiction campaign idea and started looking for a good game system to run it under. I found information about the "soon" to be released Traveller5 and decided to support the project knowing that I had a lot of ground work to do in building a civilization from the ground into space. While I have incorporated some elements of Traveller fluff, such as the Aslan and travel mechanics, the history, politics and worlds are my own. When a more official ship date was announced I got a group together and I distributed a timeline, major manufacturing companies, political information, etc and we started working on character concepts. I have a rough outline for an adventure chain, including taking into account possible adventure outcomes. I have the first adventure fully mapped out and just need to add mechanics to the antagonists and determine an adequate challenge for an opening campaign. I have personalities, past achievements and looks figured out for the major and reoccurring NPCs that the PCs will be working with.
Now all we need are the delayed rules. More information equals less frustration for the group and I.
SmilingKnight
SOC-6
Pretty sure the cards are made of plastic, like credit cards. This makes it more dependant on the specific manufacture's time table. These aren't things Marc waited to order until he had the books and is trying to find a decent price for. I'm pretty sure one of the kickstarter updates mentioned that these had been ordered around the same time as the dice
Turn around time from the second company on a Google search (the first one didn't have that information without submitting for a quote) was 5-10 business days. If he used that company and ordered at the same time as the dice, then he'd have the plastic cards by now. Heck if he ordered them when he got the Traveller dice, then he would have had them around the time the books arrived. That's standard production time (with 2-3 days shipping time, not included). You can rush the production and shipping, for a significant fee.
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