Guys, Tectonic Craft Studios is going to be at the NoVA Open this year.  Don’t buy from these jerks.

Before you give them so much as a penny, be aware that they funded themselves via a Kickstarter that they have yet to fulfill.  They’re one of Those Guys who’ve run a scummy crowdfunding campaign that’s given the entire process a bad name.

And, of course, there’s the small matter of them taking money for product that they haven’t delivered.

Look: crowdfunding hardly ever ships on time. It’s a disappointing reality, but one I think we’ve all accepted.  Despite that acceptance, there’s a point where it’s clear that it’s not so much late as it is vaporware.  When NoVA hits, they will be over 15 months late on delivery.  That’s longer than the gestation period of a camel*.

The past year or so’s been an exercise in evasion and putting things off.  “Just a few more weeks.” “Done by next month.”  “I’ll have an update tomorrow.” 

Whatever.  I’m actually writing this a bit in advance (late July).  He sent out surveys a month ago, and nothing’s materialized. It was just another stalling tactic.  It’s telling that I’m writing this now, knowing that nothing will have changed in the next month and a half.

I don’t know what I’m going to do, myself: demand my money back, pick up the stuff he should have shipped to me a year ago, give him the finger, and walk out or what; I’m a pretty non-confrontational person, and it’s a lot easier to imagine screaming and flipping tables than it is to actually do it.  I’m not going to lay out some hard-man act that isn’t actually going to happen.

Whatever I do: you, reader, should know about them, their character, and their failed obligations before you give them either your time or money.

UPDATE: About to hit Publish on this.  The only developments since first writing this are 1) he sold stuff at GenCon and 2) he posted yesterday that his “ultimate goal is to get everything up to premium terrain packages out before 2014.”

Estimated Delivery is June 2012… but he’s hopin’ to get stuff out before 2014?

UPDATE 2: So, I talked to him at NoVA, and got my stuff. Some details can be found in my first post about the 2013 NoVA. This is a pretty negative post, so I wanted to make sure I noted the closure of the issue.

* Said gestated camel was found, spinal cord broken by promises of “next week,” “later this month,” and “soon.”