This post is roughly four months later than I’d intended it to be. In August last year I posted about a new Stargate RPG having completed it’s Kickstarter and being close to publishing the rulebook. PDF copies were available then, and actual books did start getting out to backers out Sept-Nov 2021, primarily in parts of the USA. Covid and the MGM – Amazon purchase caused a number of delays, especially with printing and shipping overseas. Overall, the project has gone really well, and I’ve seen worse delays in other Kickstarters, even some pre-Covid that never had that excuse.
Initially I’d hoped to have my book October – November, but like lots of other things around the world there were more delays. This was complicated by what sounds like Wyvern now needing approval from (MGM /) Amazon to do anything, including giving updates on what was happening.
Books actually arrived in Australia early Jan 2022, and I was thrilled when mine turned up later in the month. I’d heard Aetherworks (Sydney based) had a bad reputation as a KS distributor, but they got me the book fast and it was really well packed. Not so happy when I started flicking through it to find two sections of duplicated pages and other pages missing because of the repeats. This messed up a whole chapter on the worlds of Stargate and the Goa’uld. It’s taken four months for me to get a replacement. Aetherworks has their own website for selling stuff, and a single contact form – no address, no phone numbers, no assistance! I got a automatic response to creating a ticket that insisted “A support representative will be reviewing your request and will send you a personal response”.
That personal response took three & a half months! I’d updated the ticket twice with “what’s happening?”, and sent multiple emails to support. The response was “we’re sorry”, “we’ve made changes to customer support”, “it shouldn’t happen again”. No, it shouldn’t have happened AT ALL. They were selling copies online, so it wasn’t like they didn’t have spares.
I don’t fault Wyvern – they were great. They didn’t respond to every query (having multiple contact points is probably not so helpful), but I could email them (and had a Discord chat) and got responses that were friendly and helpful. I’m convinced they were doing what they could from the other side of the world to assist and push AW to act.
If there’s a good side to this all… it’s that I now have two books. The “bad” one has complete player & main rules sections, so that can be the book everyone passes around, and I have a full copy just for me as GM. My group learnt a long while ago that two copies of the main rules of any RPG are a requirement with 6+ people. I got a set of equipment cards which look great too, though a lighter background would have been better.
The book is great… 368 pages, well-bound, nice artwork (nearly all original), glossy pages, well set out and easy to read. Print could have been a little smaller and reduced the page count! It sounds like Wyvern really wants to do more with this while they have the license. A ‘companion’ soft-cover with more character options, feats & equipment would really help the case game. Lots of people want expansions that cover Atlantis, Universe and SG-1 seasons 7-10. I’d certainly buy another book.
I’ve nearly finished writing two one-session adventures using this – one for Stargate itself, and another based on Battlestar Galactica. I still need to make some maps. (You could do a Star Trek game easily with this too.)
I’m sorry for those who are still waiting their order/KS to arrive. Brexit seems to have completely screwed delivery from Europe to the UK (changes in taxes, freight, etc) and some other countries also still have problems. My enthusiasm for the game has gone up and down a lot over the past year, but I’m still glad I supported this.
Now its back to trying to finish painting this final Battletech mini!
Dragons of Lancasm 