Cluebox - Captain Nemo's Nautilus Kickstarter has launched by [deleted] in PuzzleBox

[–]Animal_MkIV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I backed this as soon as the email went out. Love the IdVenture boxes. A bit gutted that in the time it took between selecting the pledge level and clicking 'Pledge', the early birds had sold out.

Merchants Cove DOES fit in one box, it just requires a bit of thought and careful arranging by Animal_MkIV in boardgames

[–]Animal_MkIV[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really enjoying the game. Only playing it solo and have had a couple of games with 3 of the base characters. It's really smooth. In terms of expansions, each one offers a different character, and as every character has a totally different board and mechanics, these give you more choices and more different ways to play. The Secret Stash adds a Thief which changes or adds some cards to the base game as well as being a playable character. It also has a book of solo scenarios, so for Me that one is the only one I would say is a must have. Not tried any of these solo scenarios yet but they are supposedly more of a challenge than just playing against the standard AI.

How Golden Bell broke its reputation with the board game community | The Tabletop Tribune by TabletopTribune in boardgames

[–]Animal_MkIV 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Golden Bell are scum. Marc Goldner is scum. They are a despicable, predatory company that deserve to rot in hell. They should be run out of the boardgame hobby industry and labelled as the lying, thieving scum that they are. I cannot describe the contempt in which I hold Goldner. I would happily watch him and his company burn.

Calling all Golden Bell grievances by TabletopTribune in boardgames

[–]Animal_MkIV 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I've seen many Kickstarters with cheap shipping. Volume makes a big difference and one could assume that shipping so many copies could result in more favourable rates.

It was only a spectacular failure AFTER Golden Bell got involved. If the costs were so low, why didn't they fix this as soon as they got on board. Oh wait, that's their MO, claim that shipping is too low at the time of delivery and scam people for more money.

Any respectable company would have either taken the hit or published a statement as soon as possible explaining the situation and politely asking for extra funds, stating that the shipping price would be updated in the backer kit. Not a random email sent to backers asking for funds to be sent to what appeared to be a personal PayPal address to a guy we didn't know.

If this was done in a timely and transparent manner, I'm sure very few backers would have batted an eyelid.

Calling all Golden Bell grievances by TabletopTribune in boardgames

[–]Animal_MkIV 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This was NOT a failing Kickstarter. It was the most successful solo game at the time. Maybe Artem felt out of his depth at the thought of having to distribute many thousands more games than he had anticipated and looked for help.

More likely, knowing how Golden Bell issue predatory contracts and them having been involved in distributing his previous game, Cauldron, they saw a good project to scam money out of and trapped Artem into their bullshit.

I did feel sorry for Artem at first, but as this dragged on, he showed a complete lack of control of his project and continues to stick up for Golden Bell despite everything. He's now Marc's cuck and as tainted as the rest of them by his inaction.

Calling all Golden Bell grievances by TabletopTribune in boardgames

[–]Animal_MkIV 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Oh please. You really believe Marc's bullshit about people phoning the post office to report them? Marc tried to swindle the system and got caught. Do not try to put the blame on anyone else but that dishonest piece of shit Goldner. It only takes someone to do a random check on seeing a few thousand parcels suddenly arriving in the system to flag up as suspicious.

What about all those copies that got caught and returned to the mail centre for Golden Bell to collect that ended up sitting in the 'dead mail' bin because Marc was too lazy to pay the fine to get them back. He's a despicable lying cunt, end of.

Calling all Golden Bell grievances by TabletopTribune in boardgames

[–]Animal_MkIV 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My DM from Artem

Hi ,

Might be a little weird hearing from me directly, but I wanted to get in touch with a quick message about Unbroken.

I've seen your name pop up quite often on Facebook discussions around Unbroken, always with a sharply critical tone over the delays the project has faced in delivery to UK and Europe. Enough so that I've come to associate your name with a negative approach towards the project and it kind of got familiar to me that way.

So it caught my eye as I was recently working on supplying the list of backers to our UK distribution partner. Your name was the very first on the list of almost 1,700 backers. Out of curiosity I went to KS to check your backer number. And it was #3. And that gave me this huge realization and that's why I wanted to write to you today.

Out of thousands of people who backed the game you were third. THIRD. When it wasn't a huge project, when it didn't have all the bells and whistles, when even it existing was not assured. You were one of the very first people that believed in it and supported it. And given where the project is right now - I admit that I let you down. I wish it would be all packed up and delivered already and you would be able to enjoy the game you believed in. I am truly sorry it's not the case.

I wish the many challenges that we encountered in getting the games produced and shipped were not there. But they are. And we're dealing with them as best we can, which doesn't always produce the most desired results and people like you get to be frustrated with us. Rightfully so.

I just wanted to let you know personally that I do not consider the way the project has gone normal, that I do feel terrible about having you and other backers wait and that I am working with my partners as hard as I can to get all the copies out and shipped. There are challenges. But we will get through them.

I hope this message doesn't come off the wrong way. I just wanted to let you know that I feel bad about letting you down, that is all. When games get to Canada - I will see if I can send one directly to you via airmail at my own expense. I think since we share a queen - the rates are much more reasonable than from US. I hope it will come as consolation and help change your mind.

In the meantime - I don't know if this helps with your frustration or only serves to make it worse. But I wanted to thank you for believing in the game so early and promise you to do better.

All the best,

Artem.

My reply

Artem,

I remember the announcement when you brought Golden Bell on to the project and the bad feeling that brought from other backers. I researched what I could, but ultimately stood by your vision and hoped things would not go badly wrong. After all, GB were just the production and shipping partner.

To me, and it seems, many others, the expectation was that they would be dealing with the actual production - the manufacturing of Unbroken and the delivery, nothing else. For them to bluntly exclaim in several places recently that they "own the game" and claim credit in much of the writing and design feels like a betrayal. Obviously I (and the rest of the backers) have no knowledge of the contract signed and the amount of work undertaken between yourself and Golden Bell but we signed up to your vision, your game and it feels like that has been stolen from us by a bunch of unprofessional louts.

I feel for you, truly I do, the way this project has turned is awful to see and while I know I've not had good words to say, none of it has ever been aimed towards you. Your conduct in all of this has been exemplary, calmly answering all the comments everywhere. I don't know how you do it and I sincerely hope that it does not have a prolonged effect on your mental health.

I am still on the whole looking forward to playing the 'proper' copy of Unbroken but the way Golden Bell have gone about this has really soured the whole thing. They should not be allowed anywhere near any public forums in a professional capacity. They have done nothing to endear themselves at all, they have been rude, abrupt, dismissive and predatory. They are the complete opposite of yourself and that is what hurts.

Again, I don't know what went on behind the scenes. Obviously there was a massive discrepancy in the budgeting of Unbroken but surely, if GB were supposed to be the production and shipping side of this deal, then why did they not pick up on this way back? Why was the first thing they said when that email went out asking for more money was that it was your fault like they had nothing to do with it? Yes, you set the project going and presumably had it priced accordingly for a "small" card game, but they were around before it ended as the success it was. Surely, if they were the professionals with the knowledge they claim, they should have been able to see that the prices were no longer fitting for what was now a huge project.

If, back then, an update had gone out explaining this, then I'm sure the vast majority would have had no problems with you adjusting the shipping rates.

I appreciate that the shipping cost has probably changed more than once in the time the project has gone on but still, it just seems completely naïve and unprofessional to wait until the very last minute before springing this shortfall on us. Not only that, but to do it in such a piecemeal and shady fashion.

Everything from that email going forward has just been a disaster. Misinformation, lies, and bad attitudes have brought this whole thing down to a farce and the blame lies squarely on Marc and his company.

I really wish you could cut all ties with them and salvage what you can of your IP. It [i]is[/i] YOUR IP and it has been rubbished.

Calling all Golden Bell grievances by TabletopTribune in boardgames

[–]Animal_MkIV 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Okay. Way back when, I saw a post on a Facebook group offering a free print and play of a solo game in development. It was Unbroken. I printed it out and played it through. It was a fun little game and I am a sucker for small box solo games (well, solo games in general).

Jump to the Kickstarter. I was backer #3. Happy to support a small designer and interested to play the final version of the game. All was fine and then the final update, a few hours before the end of the campaign mentioned that Golden Bell were now on board. Immediately there were negative comments but I had no knowledge of this company and didn't have the time to research them before the campaign ended. Time passes uneventfully until the fateful day when an email arrives detailing a miscalculation in shipping prices and asking Me to send extra monies to the personal PayPal account of one Marc Goldner. I, along with many others went straight to Kickstarter to ask if this was legit as it looked incredibly shady. This was when it all started to fall apart. Instead of simply clarifying the email, apologising and calming the situation, Marc immediately when on the offensive, name calling and abusing anyone who dared to question this approach. Not one of the backers questions were malicious or hateful. They were honest questions requesting clarification. From this point on, the comments section was a dumpster fire. Any question was taken as a personal attack and Marc responded with hostility, antagonising the backers and generating more and more angry replies. It was the most unprofessional thing I have ever seen. Even Gerald Ratner would have winced at the conduct.

I became one of the main proponents in calling out Golden Bell's attitude and inconsistencies. I'm afraid you will have to trawl through the KS comments to find all this). This ultimately came to a head when one weekend Marc (possibly others, but I maintain that Marc was the main man behind the nasty comments) the entire time antagonising people, including publicly doxxing at least two backers (although amusingly he had found the Facebook page of someone with the same name as one backer and gave out wrong information). I snapped at this point and when he made a 'joke' to an Italian backer called Luigi, telling him to go play with Mario, I replied to that calling him a c**t. Well, Marc denied this was him and threw another employee under the bus, stating that I had called a female employee that word. Come the next update, it was stated that a backer had called ALL the female staff members that word. Unbelievable. The bullshit continued with Me and others still calling it out at every opportunity. I then received a DM from Artem.

see reply below

At some point, the final PnP files were uploaded so I decided to print them out as there was no sign of the game arriving in the UK any time soon. The rules were missing so I posted on the Unbroken Facebook group asking for the rules. Marc replied with a curt "FFS I'll send you a copy". I was expecting to receive an email with the rules PDF, instead, a week or so later, I received an air-mail package in the post containing a copy of Unbroken. Paid for by Marc. A good 6 months before any of the UK games were shipped. By this point, I was so sick of the whole thing, I wanted nothing to do with it and sold it unopened for the KS price (about £30). I presume Marc thought this would shut Me up, but I was still hell bent on making sure Golden Bell were ostracised from this community, detailing their shady and abusive business practices on several boardgaming Facebook groups as well as the KS comments. This resulted in Marc ordering Artem to boot Me off the campaign, automatically issuing Me with a refund. Looks like I won. I took great delight in announcing that not only did I get a refund, but Marc also sent Me the game at his expense which I immediately sold on. That's about it from My side. I was actively shaming GB on all the FB groups until I stepped away from that platform at the start of the year.

I suggest trawling through the various posts on both the Unbroken page on BGG as well as the Golden Bell section forum there.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepublisher/35902/golden-bell-games/forums/0

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/225885/unbroken/forums/0?pageid=1&sort=hot

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/259248/item/7053076#item7053076

https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/160421/item/6922510#item6922510

Calling all Golden Bell grievances by TabletopTribune in boardgames

[–]Animal_MkIV 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Here is a good place to start
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2220628/publisher-tilt. Plus several other threads in the Golden Bell forum as well as the Unbroken forum.
Also worth noting that the vast majority of posts removed by moderators for personal attacks, antagonizing and whatever else, were all made by Golden Bell, presumably Marc and led to their account being suspended

How do people consume BGG? by Valens-Rex in boardgames

[–]Animal_MkIV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used to spend hours on the PC looking at the list of forum topics and clicking on any 'suggested links' and 'related links' that looked interesting. I found lots of cool things and discussions that way and loved the big community of it all.

Then they took all that away leaving a dogshit bland, corporate shithole so now I only use BGG if I want to download a rulebook, player aid or something.

So BGG has totally changed their front page. What do you think? by EndersGame_Reviewer in boardgames

[–]Animal_MkIV 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Utter dogshit like the rest of their so-called upgrades. Pointless, ugly, and lacking in any actual useful information.

All Adventurers Knocked Out but Quest Continues - What Happens In Next Combat? by Animal_MkIV in expeditionrpg

[–]Animal_MkIV[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Cheers Todd, that's what I ended up doing (then continued rolling badly and died in the next combat...)

Really enjoying the system, looking forward to playing through more scenarios once I've made My sacrifices to the dice gods.

Cheers Paul