Ya, it won't be as straightforward as Kickstarter, but there's a lot of potential. Basically, this is the kind of thing where there is likely to be a minimum investment limit of like $1000 or more, because there is a ton of paperwork involved once you have real investors. However, since there's the potential for return on investment, people would be much more likely to chip in these larger amounts.

So anyway, kickstarter. Enjoying the shit out of Shadowrun returns.

All very true.   Kickstarter itself stresses the importance of putting the creator(s) at the front of the pitch - why is this your dream project, why are you the only person who can do it, etc.   It certainly does help if people are already familiar with you or your work.   An "ideal" Kickstarter is where backers don't care so much about the end result, they just want to help that nice person do that thing they so badly want to do. 

That's still selling, though - just selling the creator and not the creation.      From what I've seen, most successful projects have a blend of both.   

For example - if Warners had run a Kickstarter saying "hey if you give us 2 million we'll make that Veronica Mars movie you want" I suspect most people would have said "yeah right, piss off."  But since it was Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell doing the selling, people went for it.   

Despite their lofty goal of supporting artists, it's true that Kickstarter has also become a place for companies to pre-sell products.   In those cases it's just regular old selling - you just have to convince the buyer they want that particular thing.

Pick-up artists and the people who follow their advice are truly the scum of the earth. The good news is that almost all of those people are laughably pathetic and ineffectual.

Sometimes FiyH is just bitching about shit which isn't relevant in the wrong forum.