RJK's Bottle City updates
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Post Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:44 pm 
 

islestrike wrote:
Hmmm??? I think the guys at Necromancer, Kenzer, and Troll Lords would disagree and say it is the exact opposite.   He didn't have to run a business in those cases.  All he had to do was write and deliver the manuscripts and he couldn't do it.

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Well, I guess I put it wrong.  We KNOW Rob knows how to write, and CAN write. Writing something on a schedule and delivering it on time..that's a different story.  One of my suggestions was to have someone with authority over Rob that would allow a project to be finished by someone else if Rob can't meet a deadline.   Otherwise it's just the same old song second verse.  I often wonder if Rob himself realize just how close he is to absolute disaster at this point of his career.

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Post Posted: Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:46 pm 
 

bclarkie wrote:
In conjuction with no less than 4 different proclamations of, "The items are on the way!!11!!one!!1!!eleven!1!":

http://p085.ezboard.com/Note-on-Outstan ... =169.topic

http://p085.ezboard.com/Bottle-City-Fia ... =167.topic

http://p085.ezboard.com/fpiedpiperpubli ... 41&stop=58

http://p085.ezboard.com/fpiedpiperpubli ... 1&stop=100

http://p085.ezboard.com/fpiedpiperpubli ... 41&stop=48

Yet, guess what? A substanitally large protion of those orders still haven't been shipped yet including those who spent the most on it.   To make matters even worse, Noble Knight Games got a shit load of copies and sold and delivered them to their customers in some cases weeks before folks who bought directly from the source have recieved thiers.   You know outside of just disappearing completely off the map never to be seen or heard from again, I am not sure how it could have been much worse than it has been done.   :?   And again, this is coming from me who preached patience several months ago.


True nothing that Rob says can be trusted anymore. Which is why a spokesman for the "new" PPP is a must, and it has to be someone whose track record and rep are spotless. Otherwise nothing has changed.

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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:44 am 
 

Badmike wrote:Since you asked on the open forum instead of Pming you I'll lay it out for everyone to see:


Thanks, Mike:  I don't see how doing this in anything other than an out-in-the-open manner can work:  there's too many folks who are disappointed, angry, or extraordinarily pissed off for anything but an open "what can be done now" discussion to work.  

I'll collect the feedback from here and the other boards, and I'll talk about it with Rob next weekend at the latest (I'm assuming that I'll hear from him this week, before my trip to WI, but Sunday's it one way or the other), and it'll be up to Rob to report back with the action plan.  

Keep the suggestions coming, please:  you've collectively already hit on a few that I thought of, and several I hadn't.


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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:09 am 
 

If a multinational like ebay treated their customers like this.................Oh wait they do already :D  :roll: (j/k)


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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:24 am 
 

To start putting out the flames, Rob has to get all orders shipped immediately.  It's as simple as that.  It's beyond absurd and insulting that NKG received a bunch of copies to sell before the folks who preordered.

  


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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 1:48 am 
 

i'm not really upset.  i'm a little disappointed that i won't get a chance to see the product for some time (away from home for a long period due to work).  i just want to make sure that i WILL recieve the LE copy i paid for such a long, long time ago ;)


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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 2:15 am 
 

you won't get anyone change their minds, until everyone who has ordered BC, actually has it. i think you will find that no matter what, there will be some who won't ever have anything to do with it all again. depends on the individual.

i have a lot of time and respect for someone, who will come to you, face to face if you will, stare you down and tell you that they have f*cked up. simple as that. takes a lot of balls to do it, but i have time for that.

bur even then, you have to patch up what you have ruined.

i agree with mike. something for those who have suffered is a great idea and would go a way to repair some of what is lost. the rest may be repaired in time, depending on whether the "word" has been kept.

if the problem is repeated, you will end up back at square #1 - or even further back.

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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:48 am 
 

Just had a chance to sit down and look through it.  I'm really pleased with it!  Aside from being just the kind of adventure I prefer, the look and feel of the booklet itself are really nice.  The reproduction of the original hand-drawn maps was a great touch.  It gives the whole adventure a truly classic feel.  

Looking forward to running it for my kids!   :D


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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:47 am 
 

bombadil wrote:Just had a chance to sit down and look through it.  I'm really pleased with it!  Aside from being just the kind of adventure I prefer, the look and feel of the booklet itself are really nice.  The reproduction of the original hand-drawn maps was a great touch.  It gives the whole adventure a truly classic feel.  


So you rec'd a LE copy, Stephen?


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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:36 am 
 

I'm still waiting on my SE copy. I'm starting to doubt that I'll ever receive it. And here I thought I was helping someone out by pre-ordering...

As for the business models... I hate to say it but given the information made available from several sources it won't work with RJK. He is displaying some severe personality disorders that are going to keep popping up again and again as they have in the past. In fact placing more deadlines and oversight will probably drive him to even more excuse making.

I agree with badmike, Allan write your own stuff and stop holding up RJK. I'm sure they're are other folks out there as well to write equal or better stuff anyway. You've got to get tired of making excuses for this guy too. Best to move on...FWIW


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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 11:59 am 
 

grodog wrote:
So you rec'd a LE copy, Stephen?


I think so.  It's number 485/500, but I got it from NK.  Still waiting on my two copies from Rob.


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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 12:51 pm 
 

grodog wrote:
I'll collect the feedback from here and the other boards, and I'll talk about it with Rob next weekend at the latest (I'm assuming that I'll hear from him this week, before my trip to WI, but Sunday's it one way or the other), and it'll be up to Rob to report back with the action plan.  



Your words here tend to show he's still the same ole Robillar playing his man on the mountain routine so nothing is really changing here.  Why do you need to be the one to collect the feedback and talk to him about it?  He's plenty capable of signing onto forums and talking like the big daddy each time he starts anew so why is he so incapable of reading the situation for himself and doing something about it now?  And don't say he doesn't have an internet connection or its dialup or something.  You can't have it both ways and say you are a small press publisher that sells online and takes payplay and yet not have two coins to rub together to connect online and see what it going on.

He doesn't have to make things right by me though.  I bought cotsk and tob through NK because I never trusted ordering anything from PPP even when the books were out.  I was going to buy bc too but when I heard people who worked on it didn't get paid I said forget it.  Plus if he wants to sell through NK and places he should have financed the bloody thing with his own money.  I'm thinking any day now NK is going to get a resupply of bc before people get their pre-orders.  That's how low PPP has sunk on the totem for me.  Right now James at AGP is a good place to start if people want to support some good old style RPG work.  His past work speaks for itself and he is backing up his current adventure journal with a cancellation and money back policy.  There's also Expeditious Retreat and their OSRIC adventures.  They've put out 3 so far with great artwork by Stefen Poag and Brad McDevitt and a 4th module has just been released.  Here's the link:

http://www.xrpshop.citymax.com/page/page/3906568.htm

Pod Caverns of the Sinister Shroom was a great concept and better IMO as an underground cavern romp than cotsk.  Even if you don't think so it still compares well considering it was written by a relative unknown while D&D's first son as he calls himself gave us something not much different.  Read them both for yourselves and decide which has the cooler ideas!

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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:41 pm 
 

grodog wrote:Suggestions along those lines would be very appreciated:  what could Rob do to make things right (beyond the obvious of "apologize and the get the books in everyone's hands")?

Argh! Long response typed up, getting ready to post ... and the electrician who is here fixing some stuff turns off the main power!  8O  :?  :x  :evil:  8O

Allan, I guess I'll have to summarize ... I'm not typing all that stuff again:

1. RJK needs to ship those items today. Literally today. Not tomorrow. Right now.

2. Offer partial refunds. PayPal is wonderful for that sort of thing.

3. Abandon the pre-pay model now and forever. Admit publicly that it was one step removed from a pyramid scam that provided RJK with a steady source of "money for nothing."

4A. Stop enabling the man. He is about one-twentieth of the gaming legend he seems to think he is. The world will get along just fine without another vanity project from a minor name from the old-school days. RJK needs to be told, with no sugar-coating, that he is down to his absolute last chance ... and that with many people, he has already blown that chance.

4B. Going along with 4A, and echoing Mike from earlier, a system needs to be put into place whereby if RJK's car won't start, or he breaks another bone, or he is trapped by a freak July snowstorm, or he is abducted by aliens, or whatever, that someone — possibly yourself, Allan — will step in and do whatever writing, editing, or graphics are needed to meet the deadlines.

It's sad that you'd have to do that with a grown man in his 50s, but, hey, RJK has only himself to blame for the fact that many people would not trust him to carry their trash to the curb.

+++++

Allan, as always, thanks for keeping us updated ... and sorry that you seem to catch heat for stuff that's not your fault. If you really are going to work again with RJK, I just can't emphasize this enough: it's last-chance time. If it's not too late already. If RJK doesn't see that this is true, then he really is operating on his own individual plane of reality.

As for me, I'm off to mutter some more about the hired help switching off my frickin' power ...

+++++

Edit: clarity


Last edited by Xaxaxe on Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:53 pm 
 

Xaxie is right, with one exception: I think that the name of Pied Piper Publishing is forever ruined. I didn't prepay for anything, and I will not buy anything from any company that has anything to do with that scammer. I am sure I'm not the only one.


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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 3:54 pm 
 

Akkk!  8O I can't believe that people that invest in a computer don't pick up a UPSto avoid losing data with power "blips".

If you shop around they are not that expensive. Best Buy, Circuit City and Costco should have them. Hell, I think even Walmart carries them.


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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 4:01 pm 
 

jasonw1239 wrote:Hell, I think even Walmart carries them.

Far simpler, I think, to simply kill the electrician in his sleep. With a ballista.

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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 6:16 pm 
 

bclarkie wrote:The DF thread picked up some heat today(at least do in part to both John Stark and myself):

http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewt ... 8&start=30

I also wandered over to Rob's board today and surprisingly enough he hasn't posted anything there since February 25th.  :roll:   One thing I did find kind of disturbing was this little tidbit:

http://p085.ezboard.com/fpiedpiperpubli ... =100.topic


Well, might as well toss in this link as well, since things are getting heated a bit over at Pied Piper:

Still haven't got it

To see people over there still making excuses for Kuntz on this whole affair, and calling for "civility," is silly.  :roll:

  

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Post Posted: Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:12 pm 
 

islestrike wrote: Right now James at AGP is a good place to start if people want to support some good old style RPG work.  His past work speaks for itself and he is backing up his current adventure journal with a cancellation and money back policy.  


Hear, hear!  This whole Bottle City fiasco makes me appreciate AGP all the more.  Leaps and bounds better than PPP.


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