Monster Academy Gets an A – So Far

Well, the Monster Academy Kickstarter drive now stands at [checks again] 92%, so that’s at least in the A bracket, if I remember the grading criteria correctly from back when I was in school. Seeing as how we have 10 more days to go, I’ll call that a great grade – so far. It puts us less than [counts on fingers] $800 from getting funded.

I’m confident we can crush that target, although I’d really like to hit our stretch goals on top of that. If you have any ideas for new and exciting stretch goals, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’m noodling around a couple myself.

I spent last weekend at the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago and had a wonderful time chatting with people, often about 12 for ’12. As you might imagine, lots of writers shake their heads at me when they hear about it. Or pat me on the shoulder with the kind of understanding nod you save for your crazy, old uncle.

Despite that – or maybe because of it – Monster Academy has gotten some good coverage over the past week. The folks at Zombie Orpheus, who are behind the Kickstarter for The Gamers: Hands of Fate, listed Monster Academy among their favorite projects. Over on Facebook, the team at Lone Shark Games did the same when they announced with projects they picked this month to back out of their Kickstarter fund.

(If you’re looking for fun Kickstarters, be sure to check out those posts, by the way. I’ve backed almost all of those projects myself.)

Meanwhile, the great guys at the Founding Fields interviewed me in depth about my process and my projects, including Monster Academy. I also took part in a couple other interviews, which should be posted soon, and next Tuesday, at 10:30 PM Central time, I’ll be a guest on Geekerati Radio with Christian Lindke. (It was supposed to be last night, but the Blog Talk Radio platform fell out from underneath us.)

Speaking of which, Christian just launched a Kickstarter of his own for Cthulhu Claus Greeting Cards by Jody Lindke and my pal Ken Hite. As he intimates in the write-up, I’ve agreed to help him out with one of his stretch goals, which would include some original artwork related to Monster Academy. That’s a ways off from happening right now, but go on over and give the cards a look.

As I write this, we only have 10 days to go on this final 12 for ’12 drive, which means the clock’s ticking louder every minute. I’d love to end it strong. Please spread the word as best you can, and let me thank you for all your fantastic support!

Back from World Con

I had a great time at World Con (the World Science Fiction Convention) this weekend. I only had a couple panels, and they went well, putting me at the same table with guys like Joe Haldeman (a legend) and Hugh Howey (who’s sold a stunning number of books on Amazon). I spent the vast majority of my time in bars and restaurants, catching up with friends, making new ones, and talking about books, books, books.

I stayed with my pal Ken Hite down at his place in Hyde Park and commuted back and forth. Fortunately, as Ken has mentioned before, our drinkadian rhythms match well, which meant I never had to ditch out on a party or a conversation early. The commute sadly also meant I left my phone in the cab on Friday night – entirely my fault – which proved to be the only damper on an otherwise excellent weekend.

I’d never been to a World Con before, but it felt like home right away. It seemed like I couldn’t move twenty feet sometimes without bumping into someone I knew, either in person or on Twitter. As I said then, it sometimes felt like the purpose of the con was to strip the “Twitter” qualifier off the phrase “Twitter friend” for so many of the people I met. I’d name them all, but it would seem like I was name dropping, and I’d be sure to leave someone dear to me off the list.

It started off strong with the Angry Robot bowling party, which had the highest density of fantastic people I wanted to meet that I’d ever seen. I had the highest bowling score at the end of the night, which really only tells you that writers and editors need to get out more. The surprise of the week, though, was running into Tobias Buckell at the Tor party the next evening, following the Random House party that had taken us on a three-hour boat ride up and down the Chicago River and out onto Lake Michigan too for a spectacular view of the city by night.

I don’t know when I’ll get back to a World Con again. I only finally went to this one because it was practically in my backyard. But I’m looking forward to the day it happens.

Meanwhile, hustle over to the blogs of superstars Chuck Wendig and Tobias Buckell, both of whom do a fantastic job of summing it all up. Tobias has a fantastic photo of the three of us at the Tor party that captures the weekend perfectly: three writers having a blast together and ready to take on the world.

 

More Monster Academy Press

The promotions for Monster Academy (my latest Kickstarter, for a trilogy of YA fantasy novels) roll on.

First, Michael Harrison – who’s covered every one of my Kickstarters for Wired’s Geek Dad blog – completes the circuit with an excellent article about the Monster Academy drive. The funniest part of the whole article, though, is a note from one of our intrepid editors:

[Editor’s note: Matt Forbeck is a Contributor to GeekDad. But we’d write about this anyway, because he’s nuts.]

Second, I had a great chat with Richard Bliss of Funding the Dream, a podcast about running a Kickstarter. I was Richard’s guest way back on his second-ever show, and he’s already up to Episode 76. That’s one busy podcaster! Richard pointed out that if this drive goes well, my Kickstarter backers will have given me north of $60k this year, which is enough for many people to live on, even with five kids to feed. That made me grin. Thanks again, my backers!

Third, Dan Davenport invited me to join an IRC chat he hosts regularly on the #rpgnet channel. We had a good number of people show up, and several excellent questions thrown out for me to juggle. If you missed the fun, you can still read the transcript in full.

We’re down to just 18 days until the campaign ends, so please help spread the word. Thanks for all your support!

Join Me for an IRC Event Tonight

Tonight at 7 PM Central, Dan Davenport is going to host an IRC (internet relay chat) event with me as the guest. As Dan writes:

To join, go to http://www.magicstar.net/chat2/, select your nick, log in, and type “/join #rpgnet”.

I’ll be open to chatting about any of my projects – past, present, and future – so please join me for the fun!

Two New Interviews

Yesterday, a couple friends of mine posted interviews with me. First up, Don Schlising – fellow Cheesehead and partner with Jesse Theiler at the brand-new Notting Hill Games – asked me about who I am, what I do, and how I write. He also says several kind things about me in his introduction that you’re free to ignore.

Next, Jennifer Brozek asked me a more pointed question. What do I love about Monster Academy, the trilogy of books I’m running a Kickstarter for right now? That’s one of those obvious questions that makes you think about something a lot more than maybe you had up until that point. My answer for Jenn kind of surprised me, but as I wrote it I realized how true it was.

Check them both out.

A Gen Con Roundup

I’ve had a lot of things happen lately that I haven’t slapped up here on the blog for lack of time. I’ve Tweeted/Facebooked about them because I can do that fast, but I tagged them for later additions here and never got around to them. Rather than dribble them out here a bit at a time, I’m going to correct this now in one fell swoop. I’ll start with the one convention I’ve attended so far this year.

Gen Con was fantastic. I had my wife and kids with me the entire five days of the show, and they were wonderful. Marty (my eldest) spent most of his time with me, while Ann wrangled the quads. Gen Con’s a fantastic time, but it’s hyperstimulating even for adults, so we let the kids have it in small doses.

I, of course, gorged myself on it and saw all sorts of wonderful people, old friends, new fans, and fun folks. Highlights of the show include:

  • The Diana Jones Award party, which I host, at which I rode a mechanical bull for the first time in my life. I set the record for the night at 41 seconds. My secret? Tip the bull operator well.
  • Playtesting Legendary: The Marvel Deck-Building Game with Marty and the designer, Devin Low. A great game with lots going on and plenty of depth, it’s supposed to come with something over 500 cards, which means you can play it forever.
  • Sitting on panels with the Industry Insider Guests of Honor and the Writer’s Symposium. I have lots of smart, talented friends, and it’s great to see them in their element like that.
  • The Tsuro of the Seas launch party, to which Ray Wehrs invited Marty and me. Ray’s a wonderful guy, and he and Calliope Games know all about fun.
  • Meeting Justin Gary and interviewing him about his Kickstarter for SolForge, a game he designed with Richard Garfield.
  • Being a Dream Date for the ENnies cocktail reception. Thanks to Ben McFarland for winning that auction. He’s an excellent designer and a strong supporter of the industry.
  • The showing of a rough cut of the InSpectres movie I co-wrote, co-produced, and acted in as a zombie, from Reactor 88 Studios.
  • The Reactor 88 Studios afterparty, after the film. We had a blast listening to two of my great friends spin tunes.
  • Playing in the Apples to Apples tournament with my entire family. We lost badly but had a great time with the family who shared the table with us.
  • Playing Munchkin Apocalypse with Andrew Hackard in the convention hall with all my kids on Sunday. He’s a gracious host, a great teacher of games, and wonderful with kids, not to mention one hell of an editor/designer/manager.
  • Delivering copies of the Brave New World Omnibus to several of my Kickstarter backers at Gen Con and chatting with many others. It’s so great to meet the people who make it possible for me to write those book this year.

All right, I lied. That was already enough for a single blog post. I’ll try to add more soon. It’s been one wild summer.

The Gamers Film Kickstarter Rolls On

As I mentioned last month, my pals over at Zombie Orpheus and Dead Gentlemen launched a Kickstarter for The Gamers: Hands of Fate, the third in their hilarious series of The Gamers movies. As a part of that, we’re integrating Hands of Fate and my upcoming Dangerous Games trilogy of novels together. There’s this character – Leo, who appeared in the second film – that wanders in and out of the movie at certain points. For fun, he’s going to wander into my books and then back onscreen.

I had a chance to chat with Matt Vancil and Ben Dobyns at Gen Con last week, and I suggested a couple of interstitial scenes for Leo to help frame the crossover. They managed to get them filmed the next day on a tight schedule, which impressed me to no end.

So, the Kickstarter drive is going along well. They’ve already raised more than $230,000! This still puts them a bit shy of their ambitious $320,000 goal, but they still have 12 days left in their campaign. With a big push coming up next weekend at both PAX and Dragon*Con, I have little doubt they’ll make it. Do yourself a favor and head on over to the Kickstarter page to get in on the fun before time runs out.

Reaper Minis Backers Could Get Hard Times

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!

My WorldCon Schedule

I’m going to be attending the World Science Fiction Convention this year for the first time. That’s mostly because it’s a traveling show and the host convention this year is Chicon 7, which puts the show in Chicago, within spitting distance of my home. Being able to run down there, crash at Ken Hite’s place, and meet so many fans and friends – including a slew of Angry Robot authors, editors, and staff – proved too tempting to resist.

Unlike at Gen Con, at which I’m woven into the convention’s fabric by means of time and affection, I’m a complete noob at WorldCon. Despite that, I’ve managed to wiggle my way onto a pair of panels, at which it’ll be easiest to find me.

Thursday, August 30, 6 PM:  “To Indie or Not to Indie.” This is something I know a bit about, and I’m eager to hear what the other panelists have to say, especially since I don’t know any of them. Columbus CD : Gold East

Saturday, September 1, 10:30 AM: “Media Tie-in Novels: Art or Commerce?” This one’s exciting in that it’s going to be video linked with a simultaneous panel at Dragon*Con. My fellow panelists in Chicago are my friends Tom Dowd and Richard Lee Byers, plus Joe Haldeman, who’s been one of my writing heroes ever since he spoke to a Science Fiction class I took at the University of Michigan. The Atlanta team consists of my pal Mike Stackpole and a couple guys named Peter David and David Gerrold. That’s some serious SF firepower there.

Sharp-eyed attendees might notice I’m listed as being on the “Marvel Comics: Superheroes from the ’60s” panel on Friday night as well. Unfortunately, I have a conflict with the time slot and have had to excuse myself from it, so don’t look for me there.

I suspect I’ll also be at the Hugo Awards on Sunday night, wearing my Geek Dad press badge. Unless, of course, my compatriots find a better way to lead me astray.

Otherwise, you can find me wandering around the convention, catching up with friends, and taking a much easier time of it than I did at Gen Con. If you want to reach me there, ping me on Twitter (@mforbeck), and if you spot me wandering about, be sure to say hi.

Diana Jones and Ennies Awards

I had a wonderful time at Gen Con last week, catching up with old friends and making new ones. I’m still recovering from all the fun, but I wanted to give a shout-out to some of the awards given out last week.

Last Wednesday, I hosted the Diana Jones Awards, as I’ve done for the past 11 years, and it was fantastic fun. Because our old venue (Jillian’s) closed, we had to find a new super-secret location, and that gave me a bit of worry, both because I didn’t know the new place at all and because I fretted about people being able to find it.

All that said, it went wonderfully. The place was packed, and everyone seemed to have a great time. I even rode a mechanical bull for the first time in my life and set the time record for the night at 41 long seconds. If you hunt for it on YouTube, you can bear witness to me clinging to it in a way that would have caused a real bull tremendous pain.

My secret? Tip the bull operator well.

The award went to the creators of the book Nordic Larp – by Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola, published by Fëa Livia – which chronicles the vibrant live-action roleplaying scene in the Nordic countries. It’s an inspiring book, and its win cements the fact that the Diana Jones Award committee is filled with an eclectic bunch of professionals interested in calling out excellence wherever they find it.

Emily Care Boss stood up and read a prepared acceptance speech from the authors, which I loved because it’s always better to actually hand the award to someone, even in proxy. Best of all, she offered to make sure the trophy got into their hands.

I want to thank all the sponsors of the party, but especially Lone Wolf – makers of the excellent Army Builder and Hero Lab, as well as the upcoming Realm Works. I was an idiot and left them off the list of sponsors at the party, and they were truly kind and understanding about it.

Later in the week, I joined Ben McFarland at the cocktail reception for the ENnies Awards. Ben bid on me as his Dream Date, with all proceeds going toward the awards. I often chat and drink with him throughout the show, so his bid is a real show of support for the awards, and I thank him for that.

I had to leave before the awards started so I could make it to the Reactor 88 Studios afterparty, but I found out later that the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, on which I worked as part of the concept team, grabbed three awards. It picked up silvers for Best Game and Best Product, plus a gold for Best Rules. The lion’s share of the kudos for that goes to Cam Banks, who did most of the heavy lifting on the development and especially with wrangling all the creatives on the project.

Congratulations to all the other ENnies winners, and to Nordic Larp. They’re all fantastic representatives of excellence in games.