This, however leads to a problem. There are a ton of games on Kickstarter, in fact they make Kickstarter millions of dollars. And now Gamefound is in the mix and that is where all the Awaken Realms games are and they are getting a lot of other really big games. So how do you decide what to back.

Only So Much Budget

I did a series of articles on Kickstarter 101. You can find the first one there and then I went into more details about what I look for. I generally follow my guide when it comes to backing games or talking about them in my Back of Brick Series. But one thing I don’t talk about is budget, or at least I don’t talk about it much.

Right now that is my biggest issue in getting board games, which is a good thing in a lot of ways. If I didn’t have a budget I would just have my game room stacked up with even more board games and no where to actually play them. Plus, there is only so much time to play board games in my life right now. I’d love to play more, but I’m generally playing once a week with people and once a week while streaming.

But That Means Hard Choices

As the header says, that means that I have to make hard choices as to what I back. Early in the year I tend to be a bit more free. By that I mean, if it looks really cool, I’ll back it and not think about it. But now, in the middle of the year, my budget is drying up, and we are getting a lot of cool games on the different crowdfunding platforms.

Just what I know is coming up, there is Lords of Ragnarok from Awaken Realms, Divinus from Lucky Duck Games, Slay the Spire from Contention Games, and those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Plus there is Middara acts 2 & 3. There is a Dune game based off of the Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game system, not Kickstarter from what I know. Plus I could still late back Deliverance or Witcher: Old World, and I’m actively backing Valor & Villainy, the cooperative legacy version that is out there now.

So how do I go about picking? Do I keep backing Valor and Villainy because it’s a known game? Do I save for other things that are coming in later? How much do I care about the CMON Masters of the Universe Game?

So How Do I Pick?

Compare to the Collection

Firstly, I think it’s important to look at the games in a vacuum. Well, kind of a vacuum. I don’t want to look at everything I know is coming to Kickstarter or Gamefound. It’s hard to compare games that are active to games that are coming. If a game is active and it looks amazing except for one little thing, I won’t be able to accurately compare it to the ones that have almost no information on Kickstarter or little on Gamefound.

Instead, I should look at it compared to what I have in my collection. So with Valor and Villainy, it’s a campaign and a legacy game. I have two unplayed Legacy games, well, 3 actually with Pandemic Legacy Season 0 that I just remembered. And I probably have 6-10 unplayed campaign games counting what is currently backed on Kickstarter. So do I need more games of that type? But also, does this one look better than the games of that type I own?

Who Would I Play It With

Is this a game for a small group? My campaign group? The board game club group? The game night group? Me? Or is it a game for a group that doesn’t exist yet?

If it’s the latter, do I want to put the effort into finding a group or a person to play it with. Let’s look at some things I’ve backed, Project L and Tiny Tubro Cars are for the small group and game night group. Primal is for small group, board game club group, and campaign group. Aeon’s End Legacy might just be for me. But does a game fit into any of the groups. If not, I have to put in the effort to get it played, and will I do that?

Retails vs Crowdfunding

Another thing I consider is, can I get it later. A crowdfunded game is a little bit of a risk. I’ve gotten a few when they came in they weren’t as good as I had hoped. Lost Woods was a simple game that wasn’t what I was hoping. Bring Your Own Book is a cool idea but doesn’t work as well as it sounds. Now the only way to get Lost Woods was via Kickstarter, but Bring Your Own Book went to retail. So I could have waited, gotten an uglier copy that was the same thing, or waited for reviews.

But there’s more to that, I could have gotten Marvel United at retail, but I’m glad I didn’t. So it’s the flip of Bring Your Own Book. With Marvel United I got way more characters because I backed it on Kickstarter. And basically none of the expansions are going to retail, so I’d have missed out on all of that content. So, is the value there to take the risk on the game on the crowdfunding platform?

So What’s Coming Up?

Out of everything I talked about coming up, I am confident that I’ll back Lords of Ragnarok. I like Lords of Hellas a lot and Norse mythology. Slay the Spire is also likely because I love that video game. CMON’s Master’s of the Universe game, probably not, it’s not a theme that I love as much, though the minis look amazing. Divinus, probably, though Lucky Duck Games also do come to retail.

How do you balance what you back or don’t? Do you just ignore Kickstarter or Gamefound? Or do you do less retail because you get most of your games are coming in via Kickstarter?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

It’s kind of crazy to look at all of those games and this doesn’t include any RPG related stuff, gaming adjacent stuff, etc., these are just the games. So with that many games, plus panels and events, the odds of me getting to all of these games, there is now chance. So I wanted to talk about a couple of different things with the game count.

The first is super simple, set-up a budget, there are so many things that it would be possible to spend way too much. I have a budget of what I’m going to be able to spend on games. And I’ve been setting aside money basically the whole year for this, once I knew I was going, and I am sure there will be some things that seem kind of cool that I won’t get because I have a budget. Also, with budgeting go around and look, don’t just buy immediately, or use the Board Game Geek preview to help sort through what you might want to rush and get.

The other thing, and more important, that I just mentioned, is use the Board Game Geek list. The person I’m going with hadn’t looked at the list yet, and was surprised when he realized that there were 396 (at that time) new games to buy and demo. We’re actually going to hangout sometime so that we can go through the list and figure out what we really want to see and possibly demo.

That’s the big thing, demoing games is going to take time. While you can probably walk around and see almost everything or at least glance at almost everything, if you don’t look at the list, you’re going to have no idea what to demo or what you might want to track down early for demoing. You want to know where a game is going to be, and if you are willing to wait for a demo.

So, how do you use the list?

First off, if you are interested in board games, I would highly recommend using Board Game Geek and set-up an account. It’s a great way to keep track of your collection. It also helps you find games based off of what you like and I will probably do an article on Board Game Geek later.

The reason for setting this up is that once you have it, you can use the “must have” and “interested” or “not interested” options. I tend to think the “undecided” option is a bit weird, that just means that I wouldn’t have marked anything, and I actually don’t use the “not interested” option either, but it could be useful. This allows you to easily see what you’re interested in, and in fact, you can download a list of everything that you’ve selected and how interested you are in them. But it doesn’t just give you that, it also tells you the publisher, the location, the price. That’s great, because, again, going back to budgeting because you can see how much you’re interested in, though not every “for sale” game has an MSRP.

For example, how I’ve used it, I have 60 titles on my list (I think it’s missing a couple of them). Of those, I have 4 must haves. Of those 4, 3 of them are for sale. I can see what their booths are, and of all of those, I know that one of them costs $25. That means that I have 56 games that I’m interested in. Of those, 14 are demo games, and 42 are games that will likely be for sale there. I can see that 6 of them are at one booth (all expansions to Welcome To…). I can also use that, for when I’m there, to sort out what booths are near each other to make a plan of attack for visiting things on different days or in a certain order.

Now, that’s just what I’m doing to make things easier for myself when I’m there. I do plan on just wandering around the dealer floor and seeing what is there. I would definitely miss stuff if I only used the list. However, the list is helpful and I feel like the budget is a must.

What games are you looking forward to at GenCon? Have you looked through or used the GeekPreview before from Board Game Geek?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

But that doesn’t have to stop you from tackling it! Today, we’ll look at some ways to keep costs down while still enjoying your cosplay experience to the fullest. And since cosplaying on a budget is basically the only type I do, as I have not become rich and famous yet (ha!), hopefully some of the things I’ve picked up on the way will help you in your own costume-making ventures.

1. Start by setting a budget.

This step is crucial, as it helps you figure out what’s feasible. For example, you may be able to set a budget that gives you some wiggle room, but which precludes you from doing something like sewing yourself a Princess Peach ballgown from scratch. Though setting a firm budget does limit you, this can actually be a good thing — with the zillions of characters you could choose to cosplay, this is a great way to make the decision process easier.

2. Decide whether to make or buy each piece

It seems like it should almost always be cheaper to make something yourself than to buy it, right? Well, more often than not these days, that’s not the case.

To get the most bang for your buck in this respect, I suggest taking some time to plan out all of the different pieces you’ll need for your costume. Once you know what you’re looking for, you can decide whether it makes more sense to buy or make each piece. For example, you might be great at sewing and know where to get inexpensive fabric; if so, sewing the garments needed for your costume might be the way to go for you. If not, you’ll likely want to seek out a place you can buy them online.

And let’s face it; some stuff is just easier and less expensive to buy than to fabricate. For example, when I cosplayed as Rocket the Raccoon, I wanted to have a giant fake gun to carry around. I could have built one, but that would’ve required a lot more time and money than I was willing to sacrifice to the cause, so I decided buying a reasonably priced Super Soaker and spray-painting it black was a better bet in that case.

3. Use cheaper materials when you can

On that note — buying items for your costume may work well for some things, but many costumes will include components that just can’t be purchased. Captain America shields may be relatively easy to come by, but Harley Quinn hammers, on the other hand, are not.

When you’re faced with the need to fabricate a costume piece yourself, my advice is to do an internet search for others who have cosplayed as your character of choice — someone almost definitely has, and has likely even written about it — and take a look at how they went about crafting that particular piece. Even if you don’t follow their method exactly, this is usually a good way to get ideas for how you’ll do it yourself.

Fabrication is one aspect of cosplay that will test your creativity (which, obviously, is what makes it so great). But never underestimate what can be done with craft foam, hot glue, and thrifted clothes. If you’re willing to spend some time searching and strategizing, you can find all sorts of ways to create something using materials that won’t break the bank.

4. Know where to get what you need

So you’ve decided on what you’ll need to put this costume together — but where will you find all of it?

This is another place where the internet will come in handy. Places like Etsy are a fantastic resource for special costume items that aren’t readily available. Look for vintage items that could be repurposed as costume pieces, or see if you can find smaller hard-to-find pieces that are reasonably priced — it may take a little extra digging, but with some patience and the right search terms, you can find them.

Other great places include craft stores like Michaels, JoAnn’s and the like. And thrift stores like Savers or Goodwill can often be a gold mine for things that can be bought on the cheap and remade into the perfect costume piece.

5. Simple is best

Finally, one of the main things to keep in mind is that a costume doesn’t have to be complicated or super detailed to be awesome. A stylized or simplified version can cost way less than trying to incorporate every detail of the original, and it can look just as great and be just as much fun to wear. This is another great area to get creative — dream up a modernized version of an Assassin’s Creed character, go as a hipster Disney princess, or imagine what Robin’s street clothes would look like. With a little ingenuity, you’ll find that cosplaying on a budget can be as nuanced, innovative, and enjoyable as the more expensive variety — and often, even more so.

These are just some of the ways to enjoy cosplaying without going broke. What are your favorite tips and tricks for cosplaying on a budget? Share your ideas in the comments!

———————————
Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @Kefka73
Visit us on Facebook here.