As you probably know if you follow me on Twitter (@mforbeck), I’m a huge fan of Kickstarter, and not just because I’m using it to fund my 12 for ’12 plan. (Check out my latest for the Dangerous Games trilogy!) At last count, I’ve backed 66 projects myself, not all of which succeeded. I’d like to see what I can do to help up their percentages, so here are a few of the projects I’m currently backing. Go ahead and check them out.
Dice Chuckers is a documentary about roleplaying gamers being headed up Wes Kobernick, Joel Allen, and my pal Christian Lindke. Christian’s a longtime gamer, and you’re not going to find anyone who’s more passionate and articulate about RPGs and the entire hobby that surrounds them. They plan to interview all sorts of gamers for the film, including John Rogers, Cam Banks, Ashley Miller, Jeff Tidball, Keith Baker, Ken St. Andre, Steve Jackson, Wolfgang Baur, David Nett, and even me.
I’d love to see this one happen, and I’m willing to put in some time for that. If you back at the $200 level – and the project succeeds – you can get an autographed copy of Amortals, Vegas Knights, and Carpathia, plus have lunch with me at Gen Con. They’re running shy at the moment, so they’ll doubly appreciate anything you can do to help. We only have six days left on this one, so move quick.
Deadlands Noir, on the other hand, shattered its funding goal fast. This is a new Deadlands RPG setting from my pals Shane Hensley, John Goff, and Cheyenne Wright, the A-team of the Pinnacle mainstays. It’s set in the 1920s of the Deadlands world, which should be enough to sell you right there. Since the drive already topped 500% of its funding, with 23 days to go. I think a lot of people already agree.
Fat Kid Rules the World is an indie film by Matthew Lillard, best known as Shaggy from the Scooby Doo movies. It also stars the coolest actor in the world, Billy Campbell (The Rocketeer, The 4400, The Killing, Once and Again), who’s not only a longtime gamer but also was kind enough to give me a blurb for Amortals. It’s a great coming-of-age film about a fat kid who discovers punk rock and learns how friendships really work. It features some unique and cool rewards, like Lillard recording your outgoing voice mail message as Shaggy. It stands at 22% funded with 25 days to go.
Flame Wars is the second Kickstarter game from the folks at Fun to 11, headed up by my pal Luke Peterschmidt. It’s a card game about moderating internet forums, by the hyper-talented Andy Chambers, whose last job was being a creative lead for Starcraft II. It hit its funding goal and is reaching for stretch goals now, with 12 days left.
Amanda Palmer’s New Record, Art Book, and Tour is also being funded on Kickstarter. Amanda was the lead singer of the Dresden Dolls and recently married literature’s greatest rock start, Neil Gaiman. She rocks in several ways, and you can pick up the music for as little as $1, or you can grab one of the cool higher rewards too. She’s nearly at 800% funding with nine days left. I predict (hope!) she’ll crack $1 million.
Storybricks is a very cool MMO that gives you innovative tools for building your own stories inside it. It’s at under 10% with 10 days to go, but watch that pitch video and see what’s so cool about it. There’s little out there like it.
Comedy of Doom is a fun book filled with geek humor by comedian Joseph Scrimshaw, who performed on the last JoCoCruiseCrazy. He smashed his first goal and unlocked an audiobook as a stretch goal. Now he’s just shy of the next stretch goal, which adds illustrations by my friend Christopher Jones of Dr. Blink, The Batman Strikes, and Young Justice fame.
The Pathfinder Technology Demo is different in that you’re not backing a product but the Pathfinder MMORPG model, which will then be used to go out and find big investors for the full game. Despite that, it smashed through its funding goal in short order and still has 17 days left. It features some cool premium rewards, and the lower levels offer exclusive bits for your tabletop Pathfinder game.
Gen Con or Bust is author Patrick Stutzman’s effort to sell enough of his novels that he can afford a trip to Gen Con this summer. I actually met Patrick at Gen Con a couple years back, and I’d love to see him return. He only has 15 days left.
Haunts: The Manse Macabre is a turn-based horror video game by my friend Rick Dakan. He was one of the original guys behind City of Heroes, and back when I was the president of Pinnacle Entertainment Group, we hired him to write for us. He’s a sharp guy, and the game looks like fun. The project is 42% funded with 45 days to go.
