The limited edition was always really really limited.  

grodog wrote:News from Eric Shook, who dropped by to visit Rob just before the holidays:
http://p085.ezboard.com/fpiedpiperpubli ... =432.topic

Wow.  This is really awful news.
   Is there a point where someone who knows Rob can go by his house and pick up the orders of Acaeum members?  I would willingly give that person permission to pick up my order and hold it as long as it took for me to get it....or pay them to ship it to me.  It looks like that is the only way we'll ever see these items.
   I know this sounds redundant, as I have stated it before, but is Rob under the care of a physician?  I can't understand why someone in the condition he is in isn't at a hospital at this time.

Mike B.

Badmike wrote:Wow.  This is really awful news.

Mike, I agree that Rob's health doesn't sound good, but...

Badmike wrote:I guess at this time I'm just going to write off any hope of ever seeing the Bottle City stuff,  and I would advise anyone thinking of ordering from Pied Piper not to....reading between the lines, I don't think anything is going to ship out ever again.  Very unfortunate.

...I don't (personally) think that it's quite that bad (yet):  things may get to that point, but I don't think that we're there yet.  I hope that his health will have improved over the holidays, and that the new year will invigorate him further.  Time will tell.

Badmike wrote:Is there a point where someone who knows Rob can go by his house and pick up the orders of Acaeum members?  I would willingly give that person permission to pick up my order and hold it as long as it took for me to get it....or pay them to ship it to me.  It looks like that is the only way we'll ever see these items.

Like Deogolf I also offered to fly up there and to help with shipping, but Rob turned me down (for the nonce).  

Badmike wrote:I know this sounds redundant, as I have stated it before, but is Rob under the care of a physician?  I can't understand why someone in the condition he is in isn't at a hospital at this time.

Rob has seen a doctor for the pneumonia he likely had all summer long.  Beyond that I don't know what additional treatment, if any, he's receiving at the moment

Deogolf wrote:
I did offer my services and will probably help out in the future. But, when Rob is up to it and ready to tackle the other bits, it'll start moving. When I saw him a couple of weeks ago, he looked pretty bushed.

The module does exist - I have seen it!! Just a bit of collating, signing, and packaging to be done (which is actually quite a bit!).  So, I guess patience is the best medicine at the moment.

I really don't want to be the voice of unreason here...but is it completely out of the question that Rob CANT mail the items due to money problems?  I don't wonder if the items exist...obviously they do, as Grodog and others have attested to it...but perhaps Rob doesn't have money to mail them out?  I find it hard to believe that anyone, no matter how sick, cannot mail a single item in three months.  I'm sorry, that's not sickness, that's a near death experience and the individual needs hospitalization.  Being as Rob is not in a hospital, I cannot fathom someone no matter how sick having not one hour a month in three months to take care of business.  Sorry, it doesn't pass the smell test...

Several years ago I had one arm in a cast and the other in a sling, and managed to not only send out all my orders but to completely catch up on my shipping.  Sure it took an hour to package, address, and tape up a single order, but it got done, because I had customers who had paid me money awaiting their orders. The only explanation I can see, since Rob is NOT in a hospital hooked up to an IV, is that financial circumstances have led him to a spot where he has no money to pay for shipping. Nothing else really makes any sense at this point, and any evidence to the contrary (sorry, I've called in sick to work plenty of times, so someone saying your sick because they saw you acting sick, or you saying you are sick, doesn't mean very much...) is merely anecdotal.  What is a fact is that the product has been finished for three months and hasn't shipped.

While I feel bad for Rob's apparent financial difficulties, he is presumably a business man running a business, and owes his customers at least an honest accounting of his plight, instead of the utter lack of contact that he's shown so far.  I, or anyone else on this forum, would be hammered if I took money in advance and didn't ship items for three months after the items were available.  

The fact that Rob has turned down offers from Grodog and Deogolf to help him ship really, really raises suspicions in my mind.  I cannot imagine anyone turning down help in a time when it should not only be welcomed but solicited. If a similar illness downed me for a considerable length of time, I would shut down my ebay store (which Rob hasn't done; his website is still up and presumably soliciting business), contact my customers (which Rob hasn't done), and fill my orders to the best of my ability (Which Rob hasn't done), or find someone who would volunteer their time to fill the orders for me (which Rob hasn't done) in a similar situation arose.  Reluctantly, looking at the above information, I have to conclude Rob doesn't have the means to mail out the items, and the reason is obviously financial.  It's not a terrible knock on Rob; successful game designers are not necessarily financial genius's, people get behind on bills....

While I feel for Rob's plight as I would for anyone facing financial problems, I am also out money, not as much as some others that ordered a limited edition, but the circumstances are perhaps worse than the loss of money itself. .  I still think the "pay for publish" model can work in this industry, but I will definitely take a "wait and see" approach with any future game designers attempting this method.

Mike B.

Badmike wrote:I'm sorry, that's not sickness, that's a near death experience and the individual needs hospitalization.  Being as Rob is not in a hospital...

The only explanation I can see, since Rob is NOT in a hospital hooked up to an IV,

As I understand it, pneumonia is a near death experience.
Rob probably cannot afford the doctor care he needs.  

I don't doubt there is truth in much of what you say, Mike.  It is probably a combination of factors, including money.  (I have been in business before, for nearly a decade.  The scenario sounds very familiar.)

I didn't have money to purchase Bottle City when it was first offered.

I am waiting to see it actually shipped to someone else before I order one.


Best wishes to Rob, either way.

Mark

FormCritic wrote:
As I understand it, pneumonia is a near death experience.
Rob probably cannot afford the doctor care he needs.  

My father died of pneumonia. He was in a hospital for the last three months of his life hooked up to machines.  I am very familiar with the sickness.

If you have pneumonia, and you are not in the hospital, you are probably going to die.  There is very little outpatient care to be done in this case, besides massive doses of antibiotics.  If Rob is not in a hospital at this point, he is probably going to pass away. It's a sad fact, but true. My concerns at this point are if he is really this sick, and if he is, why he isn't under constant medical care.  I don't want to get into a discussion on the specifics of what Rob might or might not have. Suffice to say if it's STILL pneumonia, I cannot see any hope of recovery, because it damages your lungs to the extent you will never be able breathe without aid, particulary if you are fighting it this long.  I actually hope that's not the case and Rob is just having financial difficulties, because the alternative is that he won't be with us much longer.....

Mike B.

Deadlord39 wrote:Between the sarcoid and the pneumonia, I won't be running any marathons. Once your lungs get scarred, they stay that way.
If Rob is on the older side, and he hasn't kicked the pneumonia yet, he had best start getting his affairs in order.

What Deadlord said....

If Rob is still fighting pneumonia, it isnt a fight at this point.....it's over.  He'll never be able to function again, at his age, without medical assistance.

Mike B.

Being one of those who was persuaded by Pied Piper and some posters/members on this forum to invest in the Limited Edition of the Bottle City, I have been following this thread with a lot of interest, albeit silently.

Until now.

If Rob has a devastating illness as seems to be indicated above, then he should truly allow someone to help him get medical help. And if he refuses that, then at least allow someone to help him to get his affairs in order. Rob's persistence in not doing so; is simply unfathomable to me.

An earlier post indicated that at least one person known here has seen Rob and spoken with him in person, even if only for a very brief time. Perhaps nothing other than his illness was mentioned then.

But the question comes to my mind;
Why would ANYONE in his right mind refuse to accept help (medically)?

As stated above, pneumonia is NOT a small issue for young healthy folks, and is a far more serious condition for the elderly. Possibly deadly.

I am just about convinced now that my previous investment in Pied Piper was for naught; but if the BOOKS are made, and delivered into Rob's hands, as seems to be the position taken above, then why can't they be shipped by any of those who volunteered to help Rob out?

Is Rob the ONLY employee of Pied Piper?

IMO: This is most certainly a blight on the hobby.
I feel like one of the rats in the children's fable must have felt near the end; being led to a watery doom by the songs of the piper.

If delivery is being held up for mostly monetary reasons, then as much money as I have already dropped into the calamity named Bottle City, I would be willing (After obtaining some sort of assurances) to contribute another small amount to get my copies of the LIMITED Edition delivered to me.

I honesty wish only the best for Rob in his sickness. And I truly hope he gets well. But has he been sick for 6 months now? And if so, why are we just now finding out about it? And why would we not be informed by Pied Piper themselves, instead of through a collector web site?

That's how the site got my payment............ Via the web.
I have heard that the WEB can in fact work in BOTH directions.
Is Rob the ONLY employee of Pied Piper?
If so, then who was it that just shut the site down?

Jaybird216 wrote:DCS is the webmaster. If it was shut down on purpose, my money says it was him (though I'm sure at Rob's request). Logistically, Rob is the only employee of Pied Piper. Until recently, I was doing art & layout. DCS is the webmaster, and grodog is the editor and sanity-preserver. But Rob's the only one on-site in Milwaukee (to my knowledge). He does all of the fulfillment and holds the purse strings.

Thank you for the information.
I do appreciate your posting the info.
Still hoping for Rob to recover as fully as possible from his illness.

BTW: What (Or who) is a DCS?
Grodog is a very active member here (And on several other forums too) and I have visited his Web Site, so I think I kinda know who he is.
Obviously you are also a member here, though I do not recall reading any other posts made using your moniker.
I don't think that I have ever met or know you, though I suspect that jaybird216 is not your actual name.

Please forgive my ignorance, initials and on-line monikers mean little to those of us not in the loop.