Yesterday, I wrote for Wired’s Geek Dad blog about how insane Reaper’s Bones Kickstarter has become. They started out asking for $30,000 for new molds for their line of plastic figures. As I write this, they’ve shattered that goal and hit $2,878,000.
Part of the reason for this is that they keep tossing in fantastic benefits for their backers when they hit a new stretch goal. The best deal comes at the $100 (Vampire) level. At the moment, that totals up to 229 figures and a free PDF of the Swords & Wizardry PDF, which you can use the miniatures with.
Late last night, as a way to help out the folks at Reaper Miniatures, I decided to make them an offer. If their backers can hit $3 million, I’ll give them each a free copy of Hard Times in Dragon City, the first in my Shotguns & Sorcery trilogy.
Mind you, this is not the autographed version my higher-level backers already received, and even my lower level backers should have a good head-start of a week or three on the Reaper fans. Still, it’s a good, fun novel that fits in as well as just about any fiction with Reaper’s mix of fantasy and modern figures. It’s a bit of a stretch, but hopefully the backers will enjoy it either way.
Why’d I do it? Because Reaper helped me get a start as a novelist, a story I told many times at Gen Con last weekend. Back when I wanted to break into writing tie-in novels for games, none of the editors would talk with me about it because I had yet to write an entire novel on anything. That’s despite the fact I’d written millions of words in gaming rulebooks, including lots of fiction.
It made sense because writing a novel is a whole different kind of work. Giving me a contract to write one would have been like asking a sprinter to go ahead and join the marathon about to start. It’s hard to believe it could work well without proof.
Still, Ed Pugh at Reaper took a chance on me. He hired me to write The Big Dance, a short novel based on Reaper’s C.A.V. game of giant, fighting mechs. I had a ball with it, and Ed overnighted me my check the moment the file for the book appeared in his email inbox. He’s exactly that classy.
I was then able to show that book to folks at Wizards of the Coast and Games Workshop, and they instantly started chatting with me about contracts. That directly led me to where I am now, writing my own things and having a ball at it.
So thanks Ed and Reaper! And best of luck with that Kickstarter, although you clearly don’t need it. And for the rest of you, if you like miniatures at all, head on over and grab them while they’re hot!
