...I was actually going to write this up for today, but thankfully you can get the bulk of the story there, which leaves me to focus my attention on a different aspect of this story.....expand upon it if I can.
I had actually already reached out to Sebastian Bergne via his website, hoping for some comment but instead it appeared he hopped onto twitter and spoke out to the world (followers) at large: "How's this for a copy? Pencil Dice as proposed on @kickstarter https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/d20e/pencil-dice … and our original in stock ?http://www.sebastianbergne.com/product/pencil-dice/ …"
The important link in Sebastian's tweet is from his website, "The simple addition of dice markings to a six sided pencil makes all the difference. Pencil dice is an essential addition to any brief case, pen cup or pencil case. A little something to help you pass the time, entertain the children or even make decisions."
Why is it important? Well because Ken Whitman's original tweet about the Pencil Dice begins, "The simple addition of dice markings to a six sided pencil makes all the difference." This is the day that he launched Pencil Dice!
I was poking into this because I knew about the connection between the two, but I was hoping for a bit more from Sebastian and hoping to find some certain text. One of my sources said that the similarity was pointed out to Ken Whitman early on and he had initially claimed to have never seen Sebastian's website/pencils, but added "mine have an eraser". Hard to point out a difference in a product you've never seen....
..but of course that is speculation because I cannot track down that source. At this point with the story "out there" I don't see the point.
The reason for this post is to build a bit off of the Don't Fund Ken Whitman or d20 Entertainment post. We know that Ken Whitman is a liar and definitely a fraud, but this later turn of events also proves that Ken Whitman clearly violated Kickstarter's rules by offering a prohibited item as a project: "Resale. All rewards must have been produced or designed by the project or one of its creators — no reselling things from elsewhere."
This additionally clearly violates Kickstarter's Terms of Service Rule #3:
"Don’t break the law. Don’t take any action that infringes or violates other people’s rights, violates the law, or breaches any contract or legal duty you have toward anyone."
"Don’t lie to people. Don’t post information you know is false, misleading, or inaccurate. Don’t do anything deceptive or fraudulent."
"Don’t offer prohibited items. Don’t offer any rewards that are illegal, violate any of Kickstarter’s policies, rules, or guidelines, or violate any applicable law, statute, ordinance, or regulation."
I don't think any amount of hemming and hawing is going to save you Ken Whitman....Chessex or any other reputable business isn't going to want to touch this with a 10' Pole. Since you've claimed to be such a fixture in the RPG industry for so long, you should understand that reference.....
2015.08.24 EDIT
A couple of anonymous emails sent in about this particular Pencil Dice Kickstarter, which appear to be a backer-only update (with a follow-on comment):
"As many of you may or may not have heard we are in negotiations to sell Pencil Dice to Chessex Dice Manufacturing, who will help us pack and ship the product to you guys.
With over 1325 orders this is a BIG undertaking. I will have color samples of the pencils from China in my hands early in the week, as our first batch were underwhelming.
We hope to have an official announcement within the week.
Take care,
Ken Whitman"
....and the follow-up comment:
"d20E has spent considerable amount of money on product and prototypes already. We are not going to go away, we are just slow. Sorry if we have worried you so, but we are moving forward on producing products. Thank you, and all the other backers, for your concern and patients.
and
Jason, Chessex is running the fulfillment side, then they will take over the line of dice.
As soon as we have a press release from Chessex we will post."
My question would be....hasn't Ken Whitman claimed to have had the samples several times over by now? The summation of the Pencil Dice Kickstarter comments would say "yes".
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