Tag Archives: kickstarter

What’s New in 2021?

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Hey, uh… so. I’ll dive right into it.

I’ve got some tabletop roleplaying games out in the world that people can check out!

First is Arium, and if you’ve been following along on social media, you know that Adept Icarus ran a crowdfunding campaign last Fall to get it into print. Now it’s available IN PRINT and digital formats over here on the Adept Icarus website! The game turned out really well if I do say so myself. Here are the two core books released so far (and some of the internal art).

A little about Arium: it’s a love letter to creating worlds and giving RPG groups more control over the story, places, and people in their games. I got to work closely with a team of incredible folks to put it together, and that experience alone is worth the effort.

Arium: Create is all about creating that world, and you’ll have fun doing it. As I’m fond of mentioning on Twitter, WORLDBUILDING IS PLAY (or at least it should be.) The crew that wrote, playtested, and ultimately published this book has ensured that it is a 100% true statement. Besides being fun, Create‘s rules will ensure that the entire group loves what they, uh, create. How do I know this? We’ve put it to the test with tons of game sessions with diverse groups. Without fail, gamers love the world they put together, and while the rules of the game enable this, they do it in the most natural way possible. Everyone jots down ideas quickly (it’s timed), and then they look for ways to combine those ideas to make them even more awesome. Finally, the group votes, and only the favorites of the entire group make it into the canon of the world. It’s fast, easy, and a total blast.

Arium: Discover brings streamlined and easy-to-follow rules for roleplaying that will work with pretty much anything a group can imagine. If your groups haven’t branched out much from 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, that’s just great! Discover won’t be a huge leap in terms of learning new ways to do things. If you’ve tried tons of different games, you’ll see some things that are familiar from games like The Great American Novel or FATE, but you’ll also see some of the typical patterns of old-school RPGs. The goal with Arium: Discover is to keep things streamlined and enable your group to tell the story they want to tell, in the world they want to tell it in. It’s streamed on many different Twitch, Youtube, and Facebook Live channels, and folks tend to love it!

So yeah. Check out Arium! Onward to the other big game that’s released both digitally and in print for quite some time. Yes, I’ve been neglecting this blog. It’s Zorro™: The Roleplaying Game by Gallant Knight Games. This game is, by far, the most ambitious project I’ve been a part of to date, and I was both a writer and a producer for the game. In many ways, Zorro™ prepared me for the work on Arium, and I owe GKG owners Alan and Erin Bahr a ton of appreciation for taking a chance to involve me heavily in the project. It was the experience I needed!

It was a privilege to work on a game from this iconic franchise about the first Latinx American hero. Not only that, he’s one who I’ve enjoyed watching on the small and large screens from my early youth to today. I got to write critters, quickstart characters, and even an adventure seed (and more) for this book, to say nothing of working with amazingly talented folks in the RPG industry. The writers, the editor, the layout, and of course the publisher were all top-notch, and I can’t say enough good things about them! Their skill and professionalism encouraged me to up my game (pun both intended and not intended) in ways I could scarcely have imagined prior.

All in all, it’s been an action-packed couple of years. If RPGs are your thing, check out Arium and Zorro™!

Coming up this year, I’ll continue to work and help deliver Arium crowdfunding stretch goals: Arium: Bridge, Arium: Flash, and Arcadia Planetary Amusement Recreation Kingdom. They are all in varying states of completion. You can follow along with the public Arium Kickstarter updates here, if you’re interested. Also, I’m adapting my old short story, Rue From Ruin, to an RPG ruleset called Wretched & Alone by Chris Bissette. For those who read any of Rue, you’ll know why I think it’s a perfect fit from name alone. Oh, and it will maybe, MAYBE have a soundtrack too. Keep an eye out for that someday!

The What and Why of Crowdfunding A Roleplaying Game

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Crowdfunding is new in the grand scheme of things, and completely new to many of my family/friends. I’m going to do my best to explain it, and why spreading the word to anyone you know who likes roleplaying games (RPGs) can be a huge help in our Zorro campaign.

Zorro: The Roleplaying Game is crowdfunded on Kickstarter (we get the money we need to make the game from people who want to see it made) AND funded (we have the minimum amount of money we need to publish the book). This is great! People love both Zorro and RPGs!

However, we have quite a few additional things we’d like to add to our game book if we had a little more money for economies of scale (printing books is considerably cheaper the more copies you make and we are making a gorgeous full-color hardbound 200-page book).

These crowdfunding campaigns fail or succeed based on the interest of a few people who want to see them made. Right now we have about 500 people backing for an eBook or hardcover copy. Every additional person who backs puts us that much closer to our stretch goals.

So, what would help?
Spreading the word to anyone you know who likes RPGs.
Being patient with my continuing crowdfunding posts for a few more days until we are done with the Zorro Kickstarter campaign.

For those playing the home game, here is a nice link you can share!

It’s Alive! Zorro Kickstarter

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Zorro: The Roleplaying Game Kickstarter
A swashbuckling and heroic roleplaying game using the
brand new West End Games D6 2nd Edition system!

I’ve been working with Alan Bahr and Gallant Knight Games on getting Zorro to Kickstarter for nearly a year. It’s there now. Thought I’d post here just in case anyone missed all my crazy blasting of every social media platform known to people on the planet earth.

In short:
I AM EXTREMELY EXCITED.
WE ARE FUNDED.
HAPPY DANCE.
EXCLAMATION POINTS.

Zorro funded on the first day, and we have TONS of awesome stretch goals lined up. If you know anyone who likes tabletop RPGs or Zorro, I’ll love you forever if you tell them about it. Who am I kidding? I’ll love you forever anyway. You’re wonderful people.

Here it is on Kickstarter.

Kickstarter – Zorro: The Roleplaying Game

Here’s the blog post I wrote about it, in case you missed it. Blogged – Zorro: the Roleplaying Game

Games I Need (AKA Kickstarting Now)

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I’ll be brief. After flirting with a couple of random Kickstarters back in the early days, I backed my first tabletop game (Planet Mercenary) in Spring 2015.

I’ve been racking up experience/victory points ever since.

At first, I went a bit crazy with it. I was backing all sorts of new games and related products by people who’d never Kickstarted anything before. I scrolled everything in funding state and backed anything that looked remotely interesting– and to her credit, my wife and I are still married. I’ve learned to be more selective to the benefit of the bank account and my sanity. These days I don’t take many risks with unknown companies and pledge for far fewer titles overall, but there are a few companies whose campaigns I never miss.

Two of my preferred creators have projects funding right now. I recommend checking them out:

Tiny Supers by Gallant Knight Games

Alan Bahr and Gallant Knight Games don’t miss deadlines. When they set a delivery date for a KS, it happens by that date if not earlier. Additionally, my love of the TinyD6 line for minimalist role-playing games is well-documented. Check the archives. This one looks like a blast and the current stretch goal is a comic with stats for the characters and an adventure at the end. These games are kid-friendly, but as the line goes, they are simple, not dumb. I’ve played plenty of TinyD6 games with kids and adults alike. If you like superheroes, don’t miss Tiny Supers.

escapeplan

Escape Plan by Eagle Griffon Games

EGG is a board game company I came across almost by accident. I backed Xenon Profiteer a couple of years back because it looked cool and wasn’t expensive. No other reason. Turns out it’s a great game and it was delivered fast. Now I also have Vinhos and Isaribi, and I’m waiting for The Scarlet Pimpernel to fulfill. Escape Plan looks simply amazing if you like a big crunchy board game and have people to play it with. I can’t wait to get it on my table.

If folks are interested in this kind of article, maybe I’ll write one occasionally. We’ll see how it goes. In the meantime, I’ll get back to work on the Zorro RPG.