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General ACKS Forums Dwimmermount
21

I’m with Brandonshire on this.

I’d rather Dwimmermount was late and good than rushed and bad. I’ve made my investment - heck I’ve made 3 investments with Autarch now, and I’m hoping that they all pan out as well as the first. 1 out of 3 so far, and it’s a good quality product that made me happy to invest in Dwimmermount and the Players Companion.

Some of the criticisms are reasonable, communication could sometimes be better, but you’re a small company with, I’m assuming, day jobs and you’ve got the Players Companion, Domains at War, and whatever other supplements you’re working on to um… work on… I’m not going to hold quiet periods against you. You’re trying to set our expectations, and that’s good.

22

While I admit I’m a bit miffed at the delays, I don’t find them unreasonable.

The whole point of Kickstarter is to allow projects to see the light of day that would not otherwise. To imagine that those projects are 100% finished and ready to go but for lack of funds is going against the point of Kickstarter (and against the very nature of Non-Fiction publishing in its entirety).

If I wanted a publishing house to publish a fiction work, then I write my novel and shop the thing all over the place until, if I’m very very lucky, I get a bit and they decide to gut my work, make me rewrite it from scratch, and then possibly publish it.

If I want to publish a Non-Fiction work, like a game book or a gardening guide, then I write up a prospectus and shop that. If they like the idea of it, they pay me the advance and THEN I write it. I do not spend the time doing the research and work upfront.

That’s how publishing works. That’s how Kickstarter works (except in a few small cases where they’ve said upfront, this product is finished but…).

Further, I know few game companies that manage to stick to their release schedule (WOTC being a possible exception). I mean, White Wolf, one of the other industry leaders for years, was notorious for projects coming out 6 months to a year after their projected dates. Small press companies have an even worse track record. This is nothing new and to imagine that it would be different in this case is, well, being highly optimistic to say the least.

I did think it was closer to completion than it was because of the projected date. However, the fact that we still get updates and still get new levels indicates the project is still on-going. Calling it fraud is wrong. Imagining that the project is complete before the money is given is not backed either by gaming history, publishing history, or even the Kickstarter text (which never said that the project was complete).

So, I get being annoyed, but seriously this is absolutely par for the course for the vast majority of game companies. We have yet to see if Reaper will be able to deliver their miniatures on time, so it remains to be seen if they’ll meet the enormous demand they’ve created, regardless of how much cash they raised.

And Tavis…wow, you have some bad ass customer service skills!

23

Well, this thread is making me love the Tavis at least, and since the Kickstarter was promoted as “an Old School Megadungeon by Autarch,” I guess that’s the important thing here. If the writer’s life changes and he can no longer support his own brand goodwill, that’s his concern.

Couple quick comments and I hope I get the quote working…

This captures the Kickstarter model well from the content creator’s point of view, but is the compete opposite of how the transaction works for the content consumer, i.e., the backer. The backer is buying a product just as though he was going to a store, spending cash and coming out with a book. He is not an “investor” and I suspect that any KS framed in those terms would raise some regulatory eyebrows.

The only difference is the timing of the product delivery. The KS backer is pre-ordering a product he has been told will eventually be produced. Maybe his pre-order will help to capitalize the production process, but that’s none of his concern. All he needs to know is whether he trusts the producer enough to get it to him in a reasonable period of time and whether the track record of fulfillment is good enough to justify that trust.

Unfortunately for the backer, Kickstarter does not give refunds. Neither do investments, but investments are very tightly regulated to punish false claims. Kickstarter is not.

Now the Dwimmermount project was sold as an experience and not so much as a finished product. The terms of that experience were regular updates, participation, maybe some two-way interaction with creative. I imagined a kind of pay-for-play celebrity playtest. At the end of the playtest, the backers / participants were told they’d get their products. And that’s fine, too, as long as people thought / think they’re getting their money’s worth for that experience.

Unfortunately, we were told to believe the playtest would be relatively short and relatively intense, maybe a six-week “behind the scenes” campaign with James or something like that. Due to circumstances, it’s dragged on a lot longer than that and now the external timeline is still a little nebulous given prior claims. If people are happy with that, that’s okay. It’s definitely a learning experience.

I can see where scissors was coming from. James has allegedly been running this setting for the better part of a decade now for multiple groups of short- and long-term players. I’m surprised that time frame didn’t generate enough material to support a relatively ambitious release with maybe a month of clean-up and error catching. The dungeon as published may not have been “done,” but it should’ve been a nice hefty package and maybe even an appetizer for Dwimmermount II: None More Dwimmer in a year or so.

Unexpected circumstances could have blown out that revision timeline, but now there’s apparently a lot of construction on the fly going on. Were the levels not even sketched in April? Are they still not sketched now? Were there no wandering monster tables for these areas? For a legendary environment that’s allegedly seen years of high-profile play, it strikes me as odd. Maybe the uh “upper works” were very well detailed and definitely seem awesome. Why not promote and publish them in the initial release and then use that momentum to push through the lower zones?

To me this is especially disappointing because James was teasing us with fully laid out pages back in October. Where did that content go?

24

So much for quotes! One last bit of TLDR and then I’ll shut up again. If these levels are only now being sketched out, it’s fine. All freelancers work fast against the clock. But is this material that’s being pumped out now really part of any “legendary” long-running home campaign, or is it just being pumped out to fill pages?

Nothing against pumped-out content, which can be unexpectedly brilliant. And unforeseen circumstances definitely circumspire all the time. But the gap from “centerpiece of his home campaign” to “pumped out against the clock” raises new questions for me at least.

Everyone wants this product to come out. I hope reception will be good when it does!

25

Speaking of pumping out content…

Modest proposal here. I know a lot of backers signed onto this out of the proposition that Dwimmermount was some kind of primeval throwback to the golden age of graph paper, the first Castle Greyhawk or Citadel of Thunder or Rappan Athuk of the post-d20 era. They want the legends and the lore.

Okay. So now that we’re into September, why not give them that part to give them a thrill while they’re waiting for the dungeon levels to pop up every two weeks?

“James and his players will make the materials from their original Dwimmermount campaign, from hand-written dungeon maps and referee’s notes to character sheets and sketches made during gaming sessions, accessible to our backers and everyone interested in the history of roleplaying games and the common heritage of gamers past, present, and future.”

At the time, this stretch goal was more of an “attaboy” than the steak, but surely those files have already been collated and are ready to distribute to the people working to preserve key documents in the life of our hobby. If I were James, I’d be working intensely with them and probably cursing them now and then.

How about giving backers an early look at the early days of Dwimmermount so they can be wowed as the polished pages reveal the development process at work? Would it be possible to release the $20,000 stretch goal PDF in advance of the final product, since circumstances have changed and we’re already off the original plan? Thanks for reading.

26
Econobus wrote: So much for quotes!
Yeah, I just use blockquote tags, myself.
Econobus wrote: One last bit of TLDR and then I'll shut up again. If these levels are only now being sketched out, it's fine. All freelancers work fast against the clock. But is this material that's being pumped out now really part of any "legendary" long-running home campaign, or is it just being pumped out to fill pages?
Tavis commented that "The drafts of dungeon levels still weren't arriving at the rate James had predicted in the June update, which would imperil even the pushed-back release date."

A draft of a dungeon level suitable for publishing is not at all the same thing as a sketched-out dungeon level suitable for running one’s homebrew from. I would prefer to not buy, for example, a penciled in, hand-drawn, sometimes-illegibly-scribbled map with the occasional cryptic note in red ink that implies the Judge revised in play to better match expectations.

I don’t think Tavis ever implied that the levels coming in were anything but the former.

27

Tavis, you have the patience of a saint. Your responses here
should be in textbooks for how to deal with upset customers.
I for one have very much been appreciating the weekly messages
and the like. I actually feel a lot better about the state of the project
since those’ve started up. Please keep them up!

Bully for you. We only started getting weekly updates once a stink was raised. Look at the timeline:

Update 1 – 3/3/2012
Update 2 – 3/3/2012
Update 3 – 3/5/2012
Update 4 – 3/7/2012
Update 5 – 3/21/2012
Update 6 – 3/21/2012
Update 7 – 4/7/2012
Update 8 – 4/8/2012
Update 9 – 4/11/2012
Update 10 – 4/13/2012
Update 11 – 4/14/2012
Update 12 – 4/14/2012
Update 13 – 4/14/2012
Update 14 – 4/17/2012

Update 15 – 4/27/2012
Update 16 – 5/5/2012
Update 17 – 6/4/2012
Update 18 – 6/24/2012
Update 19 – 7/6/2012
Update 20 – 8/10/2012
Update 21 – 8/17/2012
Update 22 – 8/24/2012
Update 23 – 8/31/2012

So bullshit. What is interesting about all of this, is the dates. The Kickstarter ended on 4/17 and once 4/27 goes, Jim the Scam gets the money, and poof, he gone.

If it smells like Bullshit, it is Bullshit. Wait a minute that might be to strong for Jim (John Carter - Page 3 - Knights & Knaves Alehouse). Ah fuck it.

So the question remains, when did Jim the Scam take his money? Was it then, when fat with cash, did Jimmy say “Fuck it, I am done.”

I know how tough and unpredictable writing can be,

Fuck yeah. I mean it must suck when the fucking thing is not even written yet. Still summarizing Ares magazine and pontificating about fucking books no one cares about takes the top of the To Do List.

it doesn’t always go at the pace you would like it to,

Do you give your money to a hooker and then walk away without, you know, getting laid?

but I’d rather have a late, and well written (and inspired) Dwimmermount than something
forced that’s been pushed out just to get a certain word count.

You poor fool this is what you are getting anyway.

You notice Tavis never answer the simple question:

“Did you have a manuscript in hand before you went live with the Kickstarter?”

This is the essence of all of this. If all they had was Jim the Scam’s word of honor, which is fucking useless (cough Petty Gods cough), then Tavis and Co. are bigger fools then us!

I think one of the things people often misunderstand about Kickstarter is that
it’s not really a transaction like a store. It’s an investment. Sometimes investments
don’t work out, or they don’t work out the way you expected them to. If you
want a one for one transaction then wait for the Kickstarter to be over and for
the finished product to be available for sale.

Oh bullshit. From the start we were told the deadlines. From the fucking start we were told what to expcect, and we were led to belive that this fucking dusty dungeon was ready for publishing. The fucking thing is not even done. Don’t you get it. Nothing was written, and if it was, it was not much. This fucking thing is going to be even later, because Jim the Scam has not written this.

Anyway. Thank you again Tavis for all of your work on getting this thing back on
track and especially for all the communication!

Lol. Yeah, the great communicator. I hope you enjoyed the reach around.

28

I’d rather Dwimmermount was late and good than rushed and bad.

Um it is going to be just that. The fucking thing was not even done when they took the money.

Some of the criticisms are reasonable, communication could sometimes be better, but
you’re a small company with, I’m assuming, day jobs and you’ve got the Players
Companion, Domains at War, and whatever other supplements you’re working
on to um… work on… I’m not going to hold quiet periods against you.

BUZZZ. Wrong.

It is even more important for a small company to know what they are in for before the tackle a project such as this. Fuck man, their name is even on the fucking Kickstarter.

“Dwimmermount: An Old School Fantasy RPG Megadungeon by Autarch”

“Project by Autarch”

Company logo. Link to company website.

I will give Jim the Scam credit. He found a willing patsy for his exist strategy. He takes the money. Autarch takes the blame.

I am sorry. Remember this:

our contract with Grognardia Games had us manage the Kickstarter process and then turn over all of the funds collected and the responsibility for fulfilling the backer rewards. The project management role I’m doing now is unpaid and unplanned.

Jim the Scam gets the money, and Autarch gets left with a shit storm.

There was no fucking manuscript in the mother fucking house. That’s the key thing. Autarch knew that nothing was ready, and still went ahead with this fucking joke. Never once did they do any due diligence, short of looking something up on RPG.net. If they did, they would have easily known Jim is a lazy fuck.

cough Petty Gods cough
cough Megadungeon.net cough
cough Thousand Suns cough
cough Fourth Millennium cough

Oh and here’s a new one to add to the list:

Oh, and let’s throw this one in as well:

This one is great because he was asking for freebie here as well.

You’re trying to set our expectations, and that’s good.

And they failed.

29

Testing testing…

Thomas Weigel wrote: A draft of a dungeon level suitable for publishing is not at all the same thing as a sketched-out dungeon level suitable for running one's homebrew from. I would prefer to not buy, for example, a penciled in, hand-drawn, sometimes-illegibly-scribbled map with the occasional cryptic note in red ink that implies the Judge revised in play to better match expectations.

I hear you there. Presumably all the scribbles will show up in the archival PDF and all the draft levels now coming in will be fully fleshed out, plug-and-play adventure areas.

In a way it’s exciting to see just how much the levels evolve in a very short period. I doubt I could move from scribbles to something like the Hall of Lesser Secrets in two weeks, day job or no day job! That’s part of why I hope the archival PDF can be released a little early so backers can follow along.

30

Many of the original level notes are available for download to backers. See update #20 and #21 (August 17) for details; I'll work on getting them all in the backer download area. During our last conference call James said that the notes for level 8 were in the possession of one of the players from the original campaign, who moved out of town. He's pursuing that and also gathering up things like character sheets, player notes and maps, and other fragments of lore that'll be compiled for the bonus goal; I also have some cool documents of this kind from the Brooklyn Strategist games. 

31

Playtesting is still ongoing; there are details on how to get involved in James' games run on G+ update #21, posted 8/24. The goal is to generate more explorations of the lower levels. There isn't an "Upper Works" that isn't being shared, but levels closer to the surface like the Path of Mavors have seen a lot of use in play (most recently at OSRCon). There's also the player and GM roster to help organize other playtests on G+, and it might be worth sparking some new action there given that there's more material to work with.

My understanding from talking to James was that the wandering monster tables are something he had written up long ago but hadn't typed up yet. I don't think that that original writeup is in the manuscript scans we have so far, and will push to include it as well as part of the first bonus goal.

32

“The backer is buying a product just as though he was going to a store, spending cash and coming out with a book. He is not an “investor” and I suspect that any KS framed in those terms would raise some regulatory eyebrows.”

I hear what you’re saying. That’s how many people view it, and Kickstarter probably needs to do a better job of trying to manage that sort of expectation. But that’s not actually how one should view it. It IS an investment (or actually a donation form a legal standpoint I believe). The rewards are there to entice people, and to be the “return on investment” but really you’re giving someone some money in hopes that they will make a product. That’s it. That’s what Kickstarter is all about. Unfortunately, as I tried to point out, though maybe not strongly enough, that’s not how many people have come to see these campaigns, but that’s the truth of the matter. You are not actually buying a product. You’re giving some money to help get a product off the ground, and hopefully you’ll get the rewards for that investment in the timeframe they suggested, but there’s no guarantee of that though.

Again, whether people realize it or not going into it, it IS an investment, and investments are risky. There’s really no other way to say it.

All of that being said, I do understand the frustration! I share it. I was expecting to get the dungeon this summer and had plans to use it with several different RPG systems to test them out and to settle on a system for a possible campaign. But that didn’t happen, and honestly I wasn’t really surprised when it didn’t. I was backing the creation of a creative project. Stuff comes up, especially when you only have one author who’s life can be disrupted and knock the whole thing off track (and I never expected anything other than that James would be the sole or at least primary author) and as has been pointed out, this is pretty much par for the course with small publishers.

I see the progress that’s being made, I have the levels that have been released so far and I’ve very much enjoyed reading through them and such. I know things are in fact happening. I’m glad Tavis realized that communication was lacking and has really upped the level there. It’s been informative and helpful. Keep up the good work!

Yes, I understand the frustration of not having the finished work by the deadline, but none of this has been terribly surprising to me. I actually don’t think any Kickstarter I’ve backed has actually met all of it’s original deadlines (most haven’t even met most of their original deadlines). I have no reason to think this is an actual scam (I actually investigate actual scams and con artists in my day job). It’s just a delayed project. In the creative field that’s nothing to be surprised about.

The real lesson here for both Tavis and James is: in the future to set less ambitious deadlines from the start (and if you meet or beat them then you’ll delight everyone!) and to be clearer about what to expect from the start. Manage expectations, and communicate more from the start, not just when problems start to crop up (though you especially need to communicate often and regularly when they do crop up!).

Again, keep up the good work, keep talking. Most of us are frustrated, but most of us also knew that something like this might happen when we invested in a creative work. I appreciate all you’ve done to keep the lines of communication open (even if they may have been opened up a bit later than most of us would have liked). Keep on working and I look forward to the finished product when it does come out!

33

Expect this sort of thread to play out on a lot of Kickstarters in the future. Managing projects is hard even for people who’ve done it professionally for decades and predicting expenses and schedules is a crap shoot even for companies like Apple.

So many Kickstarters are going to fail to deliver. I hope crowdsourcing doesn’t get regulated into obscurity because of it. The good news though is unlike “normal” investing, you’re not out millions of dollars if the product falls flat on its face.

Sucks Tavis is caught up in this. But for him I’d just consider the time and money invested in this as an inexpensive lesson in business.

34

Tell me more about your day job! 

35

Check me out! Quoting!

Brandonshire wrote

You are not actually buying a product. You’re giving some money to help get a product off the ground, and hopefully you’ll get the rewards for that investment in the timeframe they suggested, but there’s no guarantee of that though.

Going to have to disagree strongly. From the Kickstarter terms of service:

Project Creators are required [emphasis mine] to fulfill all rewards of their successful fundraising campaigns or refund any Backer whose reward they do not or cannot fulfill.

This is not a donation or wishful thinking. There’s no “hopefully” about it. This is not friends and family funding. [My day job is on the investment side.]

You are buying a product. If the campaign funds and you don’t get the product in a timeframe that works for you, I suspect Kickstarter would be extremely interested in hearing about it.

I have confidence that Tavis will bring this product in, even if it’s by the scruff of the neck. (Thanks for the news on the notes, by the way, Tavis. Hope those will tide the crowd over!) But I would suggest that asking people to accept “hopefully” in their delivery or to treat this type of funding like some kind of vaporware Las Vegas is only asking people to be comfortable with getting, well, scammed. We don’t want that, do we?

36

Sorry, I tried to be clear that I wasn’t suggesting that you wouldn’t actually get the rewards (or be refunded for them). Simply that it may not be in the timeframe originally suggested.

From the FAQ on Kickstarters site (emphasis mine):

"I haven’t gotten my reward yet. What do I do?

The first step is checking the Estimated Delivery Date on the project page. Backing a project is a lot different than simply ordering a product online, and sometimes projects are in very early stages when they are funded.

If the Estimated Delivery Date has passed, check for Project Updates that may explain what happened. Sometimes creators hit unexpected roadblocks, or simply underestimate how much work it takes to complete a project. Creators are expected to communicate these setbacks should they happen.

If the creator hasn’t posted an update, send a direct message to request more information about their progress, or post a public comment on their project asking for a status update."

"Who is responsible for fulfilling the promises of a project?

It is the responsibility of the project creator to fulfill the promises of their project. Kickstarter reviews projects to ensure they do not violate the Project Guidelines, however Kickstarter does not investigate a creator’s ability to complete their project."

They do however have this bit which does at least somewhat support your view (and makes me feel better about funding kickstarters in general):

"If I am unable to complete my project as promised, what should I do?

If you realize that you will be unable to follow through on your project before funding has ended, you are expected to cancel it. If you realize that you will be unable to follow through on your project after it has been successfully funded, you must refund any backer whose reward you do not or cannot fulfill.

To avoid problems, don’t over-promise when creating your project. If issues arise, communicate immediately, openly, and honestly with your backers."

Funding a Kickstarter is simply not the same as buying a product from a store. The timelines are estimates at best. There is risk that the project will take a lot longer than expected and may not be the same as you expected it to be in the end.

Really I think the two of us probably agree more than we disagree on this project and Kickstarters in general. However, I do think anyone considering funding a Kickstarter project should realize that it’s not the same as buying a product from a store. There is some risk involved. You’re funding something, and hoping that it delivers the way, and in the timeframe, you expect. Honestly you should probably assume that any project you fund, especially any creative project, will take longer than the initial estimates (that’s been my experience with most so far). If they hit or beat their estimates then you’ll be pleasantly surprised, if they don’t, you won’t be too disappointed.

37

Huh. None of my html tagging seems to have “taken” so that whole “emphasis mine” thing didn’t really work out. Oh well. This conversation has probably run it’s course anyway.

Bottom line I just don’t see anything to make me think this is a scam. It’s just a creative project that’s (shockingly!) taken a bit longer than expected.

38

I should be the last person to complain when tagging doesn’t work out. Looks like we’re on the same page now that I get where that “hopefully” goes – on the timing, not on the delivery.

I guess people are nervous because the KS rules are so vague when it comes to how long the deadlines can flex. On Amazon I can pre-order and pre-pay for a book and if it ends up in pre-publish hell I can always cancel and get my money back. With KS it’s a lot less clear. On we go! Thanks for the talk…!

39

How Kickstarter handles delays and failures in fulfillment is definitely still coming into focus; see this piece on the Ouya console, for example. The language from the KS Terms of Service quoted upthread was added in a March update. When Autarch did our first Kickstarter, there wasn't much guidance about this at all for creators or backers.

I'm glad that this stuff is being better defined; the platform for crowdfunding is evolving hand in hand with the general levels of expertise among creators and the savviness of potential backers. But we've always operated on the assumption that it's not up to anyone but us to make good on our word, which is why maintaining trust is an important goal. 

On that tip, the reason I didn't address your issues about due diligence above, I run with scissors, isn't that I'm trying to dodge a bullet or avoid taking responsibility for my own mistakes. It's just that you frame the question as "why wasn't it obvious to you that this project was going to fail?" Since I'm committed to the opposite position, we don't have a shared premise on which further discussion could be based. 

40
On that tip, the reason I didn't address your issues about due diligence above, I run with scissors, isn't that I'm trying to dodge a bullet or avoid taking responsibility for my own mistakes. It's just that you frame the question as "why wasn't it obvious to you that this project was going to fail?" Since I'm committed to the opposite position, we don't have a shared premise on which further discussion could be based. [/quote]

The fuck?

Listen Tavis, strip away all my fucking position, and stance. There are two simple questions:

  1. Did you preform any form of due diligence before entering into a contract with anyone?

  2. Did you at least see a manuscript before you agreed to the terms?

This is basic business practice. There is no fucking room for sunshine and lollipops and good old fashion blind faith. Divorce Jim from this. If it was any one who came to you with the proposition of running a Kickstarter for them, would you not make sure to protect yourself? For fuck sake, any contract, any business enters into, has to preform some basic form of due diligence to make sure they are not walking into something like this.

You could have, and still believe, that Jim would fulfill his end of the margin – no matter how one sided it is – but you owe it to yourself to make sure you have some protection. For me, if I was going to do this, I would at least like to know if a manuscript is almost done.

You like to state, ad nauseam that this was all about about cooperative development. Look at the mother fucking timeline:

Launched: Mar 2, 2012

Update 1 — 3/3/2012
Update 2 — 3/3/2012
Update 3 — 3/5/2012
Update 4 — 3/7/2012
Update 5 — 3/21/2012
Update 6 — 3/21/2012
Update 7 — 4/7/2012
Update 8 — 4/8/2012
Update 9 — 4/11/2012
Update 10 — 4/13/2012
Update 11 — 4/14/2012
Update 12 — 4/14/2012
Update 13 — 4/14/2012

Funding ended: Apr 14, 2012

Update 14 — 4/17/2012
Update 15 — 4/27/2012
Update 16 — 5/5/2012

I am assuming sometime between 5/2 and 5/5 you paid Jim the Scam for the fucking.

Update 17 — 6/4/2012

The whore skipped your call:

Update 18 — 6/24/2012

The whore changed his number:

Update 19 — 7/6/2012

The whore took the money and ran.

You start realizing you been had:

Update 20 — 8/10/2012

You trying to save face:

Update 21 — 8/17/2012

You’re fucked:

Update 22 — 8/24/2012
Update 23 — 8/31/2012

Why nothing but the sound of silencer for those all important first fucking SIX WEEKS after the damn thing is closed?

Shouldn’t that have been the busy window when, we the fucking the backers are being shown this “legendary” snicker dungeon firm up from whatever notes Jim did not give to his former player in another town, somewhere, somewhen, or sometime?

More importantly, when the fuck were you planning on delivering:

…we need your feedback to make the finished product as responsive to your needs as a gamer as it possibly can be. As a backer, we'll strive to provide you with opportunities to experience Dwimmermount as a player. You'll get maps and legends you can use to run it for others. And you'll get each successive draft of the text, so you can watch how your experience of turning the written dungeon into a living realm of mystery and danger reflects James' reverse process of making his campaign notes into a form usable by others.

Source: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/autarch/dwimmermount?ref=live

Even more, the fucking PDF was supposedly going to be set in stone by June anyway, so June is not the time when you should say: Time to create the experience.

That’s the thing Tavis, you walked into this eyes mother fucking wide open. When you raised that much fucking money, you became a business and your business was no longer a hobby one, it was a serious game design endeavor, and your product was, and mother fucking still it, Dwimmermount. If this is not the case, why the hell, did you not put all of Jim’s branding on the damn thing?

You took a risk, and admirable one, but one that you owed it to yourself to protect yourself. I do not care if you went into business with the mothering fucking Dali Lami, any business that enters into a contract needs to ensure that their ass is covered. You did not protect yourself. Period.

Yes, you have done great with taking this turd Poutine you have been served, but fuck man, cannot you not see that this was doomed to go bad? Fuck my stance on Jim and his lack of commitment or willingness to stick to anything. What if he died, and nothing was fucking done? He had the fucking money? He had the fucking goods. You had nothing. You would be on the fucking hook.

Now do you see where I am coming from?