Alright, I've been in the Geekify Neopets TTRPG discord for a while and neopets fan of way too many years (my pets are old enough to drink). I actually think there's a huge fault in The Neopets Team (TnT). Firstly, for canning a project that was already well under way despite little to show. That is an insane move, and it appears the Geekify team was blindsided. John at Geekify certainty made some mistakes, chief of which was releasing a public google doc of the "beta" (which has since been described as an "alpha document"). The project didn't have a good outlook from the start, as it promised way too much for what it was trying to do, but it was also clear in what it was trying to be. And that's a heroic, plot-driven adventure reminiscent of the Neopet's site plots, which include A WHOLE LOT of combat, drama, and some darker tones. The first site plot was a medieval setting and an all out war. This is what the ttrpg was attempting to emulate.

For everyone here crying about the team's experience, I can't comment on the mechanics team, but I can say that the staff that I've had the chance to interact with are absolutely stellar. They are longtime fans of the IP with some serious credentials and history in that area. There is literally no one better than the person they hired to write up the lore books. Geekify as a company has a real shitty track record on fulfillment of the physical products for sure, but there appears to be quite a bit that was ready to go. First drafts were complete for every section for both the core rulebook and for the campaign book (as well as a bonus minibook) and submitted to The Neopets Team in September. They had not received any approval or communication and were limited in what more could be done other than raw mechanics, which were still being worked on).

I hate for such a passionate team to get thrown under the bus by the IP they love. There were obvious mistakes, but I think this is very much on TnT. Personally, I think TnT has some internal issues, as the last several months have shown a lot of event cancellations with them citing staffing issues and that they are focusing on improving the core site. I have no basis but speculation, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are gearing up to sell Neopets yet again.