Update:
So the Kickstarter fund raising portion has ended, and we raised $956 of the $500 we needed.
Thank you all for your tremendous support!
We fell a little short of the reach goals, but as I've mentioned
before, every dollar donated, (minus kickstarter fees) goes directly to
the sheet creator to add additional hours to the creation of the sheet
to expand functionality of the sheets. I've maintained all along that
this is a fan works project, no profit will be made from this, and
everything produced will be free to everyone regardless whether you've
pledged/donated or not.
That being said, a day before the kickstarter closed, Catalyst games
left a comment that commercial projects are in violation of their
licensing agreement. The implication that this kickstarter is a
commercial venture, which I've gone through painstaking efforts to
ensure that in no way can it be construed as a commercial venture. At
the start of the campaign I notified Catalyst of my intents, chatted
briefly with someone in their online game shop (who didn't think the
project would be a problem) and sent an official email notifying them of
the kickstarter campaign.
I have received no other correspondence from Catalyst other than the
comments. I requested a contact to discuss any issue they may have so
we can address and alleviate any concerns. I received direction to send
an email to an email address which I have done, explaining how I am
ensuring that this stays a fan based project, and not a commercial one. I
have not received any type of response.
At this point, I'm hoping that my email explanation is acceptable and
no more comes of this. But to review so its a matter of record, here
are the offered solutions:
#1) I've explained how no profit will come with from this, everything
produced is free public domain (sheets will be published on Github for
any and all to download) no donation, pledge or anything is necessary.
The use of the sheets within Roll20 is also 100% free to use.
#2) Every dollar raised is being documented. Richard Tran our
content creator's normal rate is $50/hrs. He has generously offered to
double the hours of anything raised. IE: his rate essentially becomes
$25/hrs. I've offered to forward a full accounting of the project to
Catalyst with regular updates to show how every dollar is being spent
including timecards from Richard. That being said, we raised $956
dollars (if we are able to collect from all pledges) minus the
anticipated kickstarter fees of $88.78 brings us to $867.22 for the
content creator. This translates to 35 hours of sheet programming time.
Richard also has agreed, if making everything we need to make the
sheets work correctly takes longer, he will do that at no additional
cost, so that we have fully working sheets.
#3) I have also asked Catalyst to confirm that they have the
licensing rights for this content, as these sheets are technically for
Mechwarrior 3e, and Battletech 4e. All produced by the now defunct FASA
games. I know they have the current rights, and have newer products
out, but that isn't what these sheets are designed for. (Although we
are building as much customization and compatibility in as possible so
hopefully they can be of use for other editions of the game, and/or
easily modifiable for other editions)
#4) Lastly, If all of this doesn't meet their satisfaction, and they
lodge a formal complaint, than I can change the format of the campaign,
and say we are raising money for Richard Tran's furthering education in
the design of character sheets for Roll20. The project he will use for
this furthering education will just happen to be Mechwarrior and
Battletech character sheets, and the results from his education that we
are funding will all be available free to everyone. If anyone where to
have an issue with how we change this format (if necessary) I would
refund 100% of their pledge amount.
Ok, now that all of that is out of the way, I'll give you an
additional preview of the sheets. Please keep in mind this is a work in
progress, and we are working on layout issues with the mech sheet.
Because of the sheer volume of information needed to manipulate within
the sheet, we are looking at dividing the sheet into two tabs (offense
and defense) Here is a sneak peak:
Again, please keep in mind this is a VERY EARLY version of the sheet,
and we are working through a few things for full functionality. This
could change dramatically in the final version. I did want to show
though that we are still making good progress though.
I'll continue to keep everyone posted, and hopefully we will receive
final payment from Kickstarter shortly and final sheets right after
that.
Thanks again for everyone's support