There is merit to having something along the lines of Dave's idea as part of a kickstarter campaign. The Deadzone game by Mantic currently running includes a limited number of [big dollar] pledges that allow for designing your own character & having a unique sculpt made for it. And some were bought up, even at something insane like $5000 per pledge!
These kinds of crazy options are definitely a must! I followed a recent "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit with two of the principals of Autarch (an RPG company and publisher of ACKS), which was during their Kickstarter campaign for their 3rd or 4th product release (which I pledged for), all of which were through Kickstarter. One of the questions was relevant here. Allow me to quote:
wmarshal 3 points 17 days ago
- What would you say are your top 3 "do"s and "don't"s for crowdsourcing?
apmacris 3 points 17 days ago- Do - have the majority of the product finished before you start the kickstarter - leave room to modify the product based on feedback from your backers - add some backer levels at tiers higher than you think anyone will go for
- Don't - forget to factor in the cost of shipping - pay yourself before the product is finished - offer a bonus goal you can't deliver
I think Dave is onto something, with the main difference being that these current examples are much more controlled in nature than Dave's extensive idea. I think a limited number of options/offers to design your own UNE unit to be used in game could be a big plus for a possible LoS re-lunch Kickstarter.
Like the Autarch guys mentioned, having those kinds of out-there pledge levels that get somone personally inserted are important. Also important, particularly for miniatures-based Kickstaters, are stretch goals that end up giving people more product. It's that extra thank you to people who are fronting you money for your project, and will often encourage people to significantly increase their pledges if the perceived value of those higher pledges is much better.
So, no matter what we offer, we have to get the word out.
If you check the history there are some kickstarter projects that had to try 2 to 3 times before they got funding.
Dave also brings up a really good point about some Kickstarters needing several attempts to hit their funding goal. LoS is as close to dead as a game can get, and there needs to be effort expended on revitalizing some interest in the game before attempting a Kickstarter. I've mentioned some ideas on these forums before, and Grendeljd has brought some up to me offline, too. It's an issue I wouldn't mind brainstorming a bit more.