Good Idea? - The rules are free! You just have to pay for the boxset

Even if you have a Kickstarter, the rules of the game should be DOWNLOADABLE from the KS page!

If you want some kind of way of getting the game out in LIMITED quantities PRIOR to a Kickstarter, I suggest you explore "The Game Crafter" (TGC).

With TGC you can maybe tweak the price down to COST so it may cost only like $10.00 to purchase a PREVIEW version of the game. If you can keep the costs down, this might be a viable option for you...

Other options is limiting the contents of the game (less cards, less dice, less parts, etc.) like a subset of the game (if this is possible - for some games it is - like if your commercial version has 5 heroes, your limited edition could only have 3 for example).

I would look at those kinds of options for driving down the price of a Limited Edition PRIOR to a Kickstarter. It's also very good for playtesting... So you spend like $100.00 for 10 prototypes that you can mail out to different groups. Got to INVEST in your game - if you actually want it to be a SUCCESS!

But be certain to WARN people who DOWNLOAD it, that it still is a "Work-In-Progress"... That the downloadable version is NOT the FINAL version.

Only the FINAL version can be obtained by purchasing the game! ;)

Some marketing for you! :P

You also can post your rulebook on BGDF, if you want people to take a look and see if there are any errors, things which are unclear in the rules or the format of the rule and even things like typos.

You would be surprised how other designer can help you out! Just don't be afraid about making your game available to others. It's good other people will chime in and tell you if there are things that are unclear. The reason this is good is because your future BUYERS might also find things unclear - and you don't want to wait until that happens...

So you are right, having the rules (WIP) available for download is a good idea! Share it with the other BGDF designers for tips and feedback!

And explore TGC as a way of making cheaper prototypes. I invested over $500.00 in prototypes and it was well worth it. I have already gotten good feedback saying the boxes look professional (My Developer said the boxes look *HOT*) :D

It's a process that takes time & effort and some investment...

Note: If possible - try to reduce your COST for making "prototypes". Like I said be ready to invest at least $50.00 and have the game shipped around the USA (if you ship the game to 10 locations, that at least $100+). See if you can make contact with Gaming groups in various locations or partner with someone that can help you in that respect. I got some great feedback from a Gaming Group near the Boston area.