KickStarter Mike Nystul (AKA Lord British's court mage) fails to deliver a bunch of Kickstarters, becomes a hobo

[Infinitron]

So, Mike Nystul. That's right, that Nystul.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Nystul

Back in 2012, he did a whole bunch of Kickstarters for producing various PnP RPG goods, gaining some $70,000. A look at the comments sections of those Kickstarters should tell you how they ended up.

http://nerdwerds.blogspot.com/2013/10/mike-nystul.html
http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2013/10/my-name-is-mike-nystul-and-ive-got.html

Earlier today on Facebook


Yesterday on the Axes & Anvils Kickstarter

Since then, things haven't been looking up for Mike...so now he's raising money again:

http://ultimacodex.com/2014/10/ultima-fans-help-mike-nystul-out-and-help-him-attend-the-hobloth/
http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-me-bounce-back/235831

Life is a struggle for everyone. It certainly has been for me. For years now a variety of bad turns resulted in me being penniless and briefly homeless. I hit bottom - hard (complete with a nigh spent sleeping omn a concrete bench).

Recently I started turning things around. I got a job, a place to live and started working on moving forward.

Two weeks ago I went to the ER because I was concerned about my high blood pressure. I have had a stroke before and was worried especially in the Austin heat. They admitted me. I spent two weeks learning I had another stroke without realizing it and that it had affected my vision.

At some point during my hospital stay my vision got really blurry from about a foot to about three feet away. Exactly where I need to see to do my job (I work for a tech support cal center).

I am in a bad spot. I had not been employed long enough to get far enough ahead of my bills to build a buffer so I was living hand to mouth. I wasn't working for the two weeks I was dealing with hospitals and clinics and I will be off for at least 2 to 4 more weeks hoping my vison clears. I can't cover that and I'm in danger of losing my momentum.

Because I am a contract worker I don't really qualify for anything like leave so it's just me. I want to stay the course and turn things around. I want my life back. To do that I need a little help. My medical bills from these visits and the ones years ago when I had my first stroke are well into the tens of thousands but all I need now is to have enough to keep going - to keep pushing so that I can come back strong.

Yikes. The moral of the story: Be careful, kids. Failing at Kickstarter will make you homeless.

Of course, it's quite possible that the reason he did all those Kickstarters in the first place was a last ditch effort at survival. One wonders how many bridges this guy has burned in his life to end up in this situation. What a clusterfuck.

 

[Scroo]

Woah, poor man

 

[Scruffy]

i never understood the use of nystul's magic aura.

 

[Alex]

i never understood the use of nystul's magic aura.

You disguise a non magical object as a magical one. Or make a magic item seem like another. It is mostly an excuse for DMs to mess with their players, but savvy players could use it to fool NPCs, sometimes.

I get the impression Nystul was trying to make a living of the games he liked so much, but maybe because he didn't know how to deal with the business side so well, ended up in a bust. Hopefully, he will be able to get on his feet yet.

 

[Infinitron]

Oh geez he was on Indiegogo too, trying to save his ass: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/build-the-castle

 

[Jools]

Sad story is sad.

 

[Scruffy]

i never understood the use of nystul's magic aura.

You disguise a non magical object as a magical one. Or make a magic item seem like another. It is mostly an excuse for DMs to mess with their players, but savvy players could use it to fool NPCs, sometimes.

I get the impression Nystul was trying to make a living of the games he liked so much, but maybe because he didn't know how to deal with the business side so well, ended up in a bust. Hopefully, he will be able to get on his feet yet.

yeah but (i might remember wrong, it's been years) doesn't identify tells you what the item actually is anyway?

 

[Alex]

i never understood the use of nystul's magic aura.

You disguise a non magical object as a magical one. Or make a magic item seem like another. It is mostly an excuse for DMs to mess with their players, but savvy players could use it to fool NPCs, sometimes.

I get the impression Nystul was trying to make a living of the games he liked so much, but maybe because he didn't know how to deal with the business side so well, ended up in a bust. Hopefully, he will be able to get on his feet yet.

yeah but (i might remember wrong, it's been years) doesn't identify tells you what the item actually is anyway?

Sure, but identify takes a long time to cast (I think it was 1 hour per magical property). It isn't something you can do easily while in a dungeon. Besides, identify doesn't work on some very powerful items, so if it fails, you might either have a dud or something incredibly powerful in your hands.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

This is sad and terrible, but it really does seem like Nystul made a promise he had no ability to deliver on. His behavior makes me suspect he probably has some sort of addiction problem (substance or psychological) coupled with some pretty severe depression. No real excuse for taking money from rubes, but it's still very sad to see a human being reduced to this.

Edit:typos

 

[Melan]

idonthavetimeforthiscrap: Basically a spell designed to sell fake magic items to gullible low level chumps hoping for a bargain.

Nystul's Magic Aura (Illusion/Phantasm)
Level: 1
Range: Touch
Duration: 1 day/level
Area of Effect: Special
Components: VSM
Casting Time: 1 round
Saving Throw: Special

Explanation/Description: By means of this spell any one item of a weight f 50 g.p. per level of experience of the spell caster can be given an aura which will be noticed if detection of magic is exercised upon the object. If the object bearing the Nystul's Magic Aura is actually held by the creature detecting for a dweomer, he, she or it is entitled to a saving throw versus magic, and if this throw is successful, the creature knows that the aura has been placed to mislead the unwary. Otherwise, the aura is simply magical, but no amount of testing will revel what the magic is. The component for this spell is a small square of silk which must be passed over the object to bear the aura.

He isn't the first "genuine true-blue old-school game designer looking for funding to make things awesome again" person to over-promise and under-deliver while struggling with (often self-inflicted) RL problems. Before there was Kickstarter, Rob Kuntz, the original Gygax groupie was pulling the same crap with three different small press publishers (Necromancer Games, Troll Lord Games and Kenzer & Co.), taking money, failing to deliver, then blaming them for his own failures. Then he set up his own company, and managed to screw his artists. Amazing imagination, amazing promises, terrible work ethic.

So, having seen several varieties of this story a few times over the last fifteen years, I feel sorry for him not having his things in order, but I have learned that it is kind of like pitching money into a well and hoping it will really make your wishes come true. There are a bunch of new people doing old school products, and they actually accomplish things.

But what do I know, I threw 100 bucks into Cleve's IndieGoGo because 16-years-old me would have thought Grimoire the Bestest Game Evar.

 

[Scruffy]

Troll Lord Games

that should have been sort of a clue

 

[Norfleet]

Sure, but identify takes a long time to cast (I think it was 1 hour per magical property). It isn't something you can do easily while in a dungeon. Besides, identify doesn't work on some very powerful items, so if it fails, you might either have a dud or something incredibly powerful in your hands.

Well, you don't need any of that to make the Head of Vecna.

 

[Infinitron]

Nystul gets with the times: https://www.patreon.com/nystul

Doesn't look like it's working, though. The Tenkar's Tavern blog wags its finger appropriately: http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2015/06/mike-drops-nystul-wandering-wizard.html

Joseph BlochJune 30, 2015 at 9:31 PM
I'm waiting for him to set up a second Patreon account to pay for the stuff promised to his patrons in the first.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Sad. But he made an error of not taking the kikestarter money to buy a lots of weapons and manifesting divinity.

 

[Peter_the_Bard]

Why doesn't one of his old bros in the 'industry' get him a job? Nothing too extravagant, but enough for him to survive and save for his retirement and get some health insurance.

 

[agris]

He's probably completely unreliable.

 

[nikolokolus]

Why doesn't one of his old bros in the 'industry' get him a job? Nothing too extravagant, but enough for him to survive and save for his retirement and get some health insurance.

I'd say it's telling that Gygax named a con-artist's spell after him.

 

[taxalot]

Doesn't he have a super rich friend that goes to space for fun ?

 

[Tzaero]

I'd say it's telling that Gygax named a con-artist's spell after him.

How many years ago?

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Doesn't he have a super rich friend that goes to space for fun ?

Sadly, apparently his super-rich friend believes in "fuck you, I got mine". So much for the alleged charity.

Lol, actually he's one of his patrons and the sum of 15 of his patrons is 47$ per game and game resource.
"Fuck you, I got mine".

He's probably completely unreliable.

Daily reminder that we're living in society that treats being unreliable worse than being a rapist or murderer - death penalty by sickness or starvation.

Hey, maybe he should try to get people to sue him and put him in prison.

 

[nikolokolus]

I'd say it's telling that Gygax named a con-artist's spell after him.

How many years ago?

1978. Maybe once a bullshitter, always a bullshitter?

 

[Harpsichord]

Fuck, he can come sleep on my floor if he's still in town.

 

[Max Stats]

Considering Ultima 7, life imitates art?

 

[J1M]

Sounds like someone who's had plenty of chances and fucked them all up. There are a number of codexers that given half the chances this guy had would be running Wizards of Coast instead of sleeping on a park bench.

 

[MRY]

I have this image of a scenario where Amanda Waller gathers up the creators of a bunch of failed Kickstarter projects and gives them one last chance to redeem themselves. Probably we'd end up with a Twine game though.