Late Kickstarter Roundup, GIF Edition

Because I'm standing on the corner of bored and lazy, I'm going to use a gif to describe the status of each of each of my late Kickstarters, and/or how I feel about them.

Dwimmermount -

Myth and Magic -

Ogre - 

Champions of ZED - 

Appendix N Adventure Toolkits - 

Tales From the Fallen Empire - 

Hydra Dice - Necron

Mike Nystul's Projects

Purge: Sins of Science - 

Martin Wallace's Moongha Invaders - 

The Morrow Project - 

Creature & Encounter RPG Card Decks - 

Alas Vegas - 

Kickstarter Roundup

This seems to be a thing, so here goes:

Dwimmermount - Coming soon.

Myth and Magic - Seems less and less likely this will ever actualize.  The guy pops up once every few months to tell everyone how sorry he is for not communicating, then disappears again.  Most updates don't include any indication of movement on the game itself.  I've got the pdf of the Player's Guide, but the GM's Guide is, near as I can tell, vaporware, and while we've seen a picture of one book, I have no reason to believe that there is, in fact, an entire shipment of the book in existence, waiting to be shipped, as he claims.

Ogre - Finally have a delivery date, I live close enough to Austin that I can drive down for their launch party and pick up my copy in person.  October can't get here fast enough!

Recreating Jeff Dee's Rogues Gallery Art - Delivered.  A bit late, but worth the wait.

Champions of ZED - Almost a year late, and communication is sparse.  But, it does seem to be staggering towards the finish line.  I've got the pdf, so just waiting on the physical copy.

Appendix N Adventure Toolkit - Much like nuclear fusion, Appendix N are the modules of the future - and seem likely to always be so.  Maybe we'll get them at some point, maybe not.  I've got pdfs, and the most recent update says he's shipping now, but I'm pretty sure I've read that before.  Almost a year late, will likely be 1.5-2 years late if/when all rewards are sent.

 Tales From the Fallen Empire - Just got the art done, "Part 1" is apparently finished, while "Part 2" languishes in layout, seemingly interminably.  Six months late and counting.

The Future of Table Top Role Playing Games - An ambitious title, to be sure, but I was genuinely interested in this, a portable game surface that folds up, briefcase style.  Unfortunately, it didn't fund, and the creators, after promising to restart, have instead turned their attention to a dodgy RPG, dangling the prospect of a return to this project if they fund their game.  Sorry fellas.

Republishing, Synnibar: The Original SciFantasy RPG - The original, abortive attempt at getting this off the ground, where Raven c.s. McCracken asked for $50,000 and the gaming community replied with a resounding, "Meh."  Yeah, I backed it, call it morbid curiosity.

Hydra Dice: Necron - It's been somewhat interesting examining all the walls this guy has run into, from finding the right 3d printer to the right materials to designing the perfect cast.  He's now eight months late, and I'm starting to get ready for this tale to run its course, though.

Shadows of Esteren: A Medieval Horror RPG - I want to say they were maybe a month late in fulfillment.  I don't know, honestly - the book is beautiful, and I'm happy to own it.

Pitfalls & Penguins: First Printing - I was a bit alarmed at first when we weren't getting any updates following funding, but it turned out he did all his updates on Twitter, which seemed a bit odd, but maybe I'm the odd one that doesn't have Twitter?  Anyhow, it delivered... maybe a month or two late?  Looked good, but haven't played.

Axes and Anvils by Mike Nystul - Sigh.  I feel bad for the guy.  I met him at a con last year, and got to playtest the game.  It seemed like a fun game with some unique ideas, and Mike definitely had enthusiasm about the premise, so I was really looking forward to getting this.  Then came The Troubles.  I sincerely hope that he can find a way to turn this around, both for his sake and for mine - I do really want to play this.

Nocturnal Emissions Music Video Project - My wife and I are a big fan of Shilpa Ray, and some friends of mine gave us money to contribute to this project as a wedding gift so she would play our wedding reception.  It was awesome.

Myth & Magic Game Master's Guide and Collector's Complete - see above.

PURGE: Sins of Science- The 1st Real Time Strategy Card Game - Initial shipment came without incident, expansion set was scheduled for February but delayed until June, and no word since.  Almost halfway through June now, but waiting patiently.  Honestly, I had forgotten that I was supposed to receive it until I went to write this.

Shadows of Esteren - A Medieval Horror RPG: Prologue - While the first Kickstarter was run like a well oiled machine, this one... wasn't.  They hammered me with Updates throughout the Kickstarter, they kept coming up with new backer classes, new shipping classes, they had some map... thing... that was supposed to represent stretch goals, I think.  I just remember getting somewhat annoyed.  And now they're late.  Last update was a few months ago, saying everyone should have their books by late May, but....  At least they are communicating in the comments section, so that's good.

Hillfolk: DramaSystem Roleplaying by Robin D. Laws - Late.  A victim of their own success, to be sure, so a good kind of late.  Plus, it's in layout.  So hopefully, soon?

Spears of the Dawn - Kevin Crawford, the man, the myth, the legend!  They said it couldn't be done, but he proved them wrong!  Delivered, not just on time, but early!  No, seriously!

How to Make a Book Safe - I'm a big fan of Greg Stolze, going back to Unknown Armies and Demon: The Fallen, so I back his stuff whenever I can.  Bonus for this one was an actual hollowed out book safe and two linocuts done by the author himself.  Delivered on time, if I recall.

Boss Monster: the Dungeon-Building Card Game - They were late, but handled it the right way - not just apologies, but added value.  Hopefully we should see this in the coming month.

Adventures Dark and Deep Players Manual - Delivered quickly and professionally.  That Joseph Bloch guy, I like the cut of his jib.

Cairn - A Mike Nystul Production.  Sigh.

Martin Wallace's Moongha Invaders - Technically not late, it's due next month, but as the sculptors just started work on the pieces in May, I'm pretty doubtful that it'll ship on time.

The Morrow Project 4th. Edition - Late - it was due in January, but supposedly he's shipping now.  Hope to see it soon!

Cataclysm at the Acaeum - I meant to ask Bill Barsh about this when I was at NTRPGCon, but didn't.  He was really pushing for a May delivery, but it doesn't seem to have worked out.  There was supposed to be an update at the beginning of the month, but nothing yet.  Hopefully this can finish soon.

Das Horn: the Definitive Drinking Horn. - Ugh, what a disappointment.  Their initial design for the horn was awesome, so I backed.  Now months late and numerous design changes later, I'm much less interested in the final product, and not sure if I'll actually use it if/when I get it.

Creature & Encounter RPG Card Decks - Victim of scope creep, big time.  They started off making encounter cards, then decided to add three other types of cards, then couldn't decide which system to make them for, so they decided to make them for like six systems and now instead of a May delivery we have a, "Who Knows?".

Fate Core - The pdfs look great - I can't wait for the books!  Might even make it on time, too!

Republishing: The World of Synnibarr - I believe in Raven c.s. McCracken!  After blowing up my inbox for the first month or so after funding, he's gone (comparatively) quiet.  Hopefully that's a good thing.  He's got plenty of time yet, so no worries.

Guilds of Cadwallon - This just arrived recently - got it in May instead of March - no big deal.  Fun game, too!

Seattle Doomsday Map - completed, and it looks gorgeous!

Necrochrome - Another Greg Stolze joint. Just got my bookmark in the mail last week!

The following are still in production, and not late:

Sorcerer Upgrade

Dragons Hoard

LotFP 2013 Free RPG Day Adventure

ALAS VEGAS: an RPG of bad memories, bad luck & bad blood

KOBOLDS ATE MY BABY! IN COLOR!!!

"Mask of the Other" Audiobook

MAJUS: A Magic Noir Pacesetter Game

Domains at War: Battles, Campaigns, and Mass Combat

Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary

Adventure Maximus

Moby Dick, or, The Card Game

Finally, these are the Kickstarters that I am currently backing, and you should too!

Kingdom - I loved Microscope, and I'm really looking forward to this.

Cthulhu Wars - The price point is pretty high on this, but it looks absolutely gorgeous.  I'm calling it a birthday present to myself.

FtA: Once More, With Feeling

It's been awhile, eh?

It's been a busy time for me of late.  My wife and I are in the process of moving.  Well, we're in the process of finding a place to move to, to be exact.  Still in the same general area, but a bit more equidistant in regards to our jobs.  So, as you can imagine, I'm poking around empty houses in much of my spare time.

As if that weren't enough, I took a Statistics class this semester, and it has reminded me over and over again for the last few months how much I hate.  HATE.  Math.  I also took a Sociology class, but that's pretty easy - it's such a subjective course with such inexact parameters that it pretty much boils down to, "If it sounds good, it gets an A"

But yes - Statistics.  The bane of my existence, currently, has not only sucked up all of my free time, but much of my creative spirit.  Fortunately, my online gaming group is kind and patient and keeps inviting me, reminding me that soon, SOON Statistics will be over and I can think about fun things again.

My face to face gaming group dissolved as well, so no gaming for James these days.  I've been popping in on g+ when I have time, but the idea of blogging just has held no appeal to me.

Instead, I've been snatching up old pulps from my Half Price Books.  I breezed through Jack Vance's Demon Princes series in about a week, devoured the first few Earthsea books the next, then switched over to Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover series.  I got to The Bloody Sun, and had to take a break, so right now I'm reading Doc Savage and the Thousand Headed Man and good god, this book has some truly appalling descriptions of foreigners that would make Lovecraft shake his head in amazement.

So why now?

Well, as you can see, I've changed the header of the blog.  It's a brand new day, with a brand new header, designed by an artist that I hold in high esteem.  The header sits at the top of the completed cover for From the Ashes.  I'm going to withhold the name of the artist and the completed image for right now, as I still have a bit to do, but I'm at the point now where I can actually see the completion of this project, and start to work on ancillary stuff, like artwork.  It's kind of unreal.

Sooo, if you're an artist, or you know someone who is an artist, and you can palm off a fair forgery of some Post Apocalyptic Art, get in touch with me via my g+ account, which is linked to the right.  Be reasonable with your rates - I splurged on the cover, and this is a labor of love, funded by me.  I'm not Kickstarting anything, just getting it done by my lonesome, then putting it out there.  I expect to sell about two copies.

Anyhow, my Statistics Hell doesn't end until the beginning of next month, so hopefully shortly thereafter I'll have more to talk about, and can even get back into the blogging rhythm.

Three Days Remain!

No, this isn't a Mayan Apocalypse thing, there are only three days left in the Morrow Project Kickstarter!  One of the original post-apocalyptic RPGs,

I played this a few times when I was but a lad.  I'm not sure how much was the setting and how much was the GM, but it played like a cross between Gamma World, Twilight 2000 and Paranoia.  Even though my group only played it a handful of sessions before moving on, I've always held it in high regard.

Well, as I said above, they've got a Kickstarter on for a fourth edition of the game, and I've had the badge displayed prominently here on the blog for awhile now, but with only three days left, I figured I'd give it a final push.  It's fully funded at this point, and has hit the first two stretch goals, and the third is definitely doable with a strong push in the last few days, so if you haven't already, get on board!

Professionalism: a Rant

I'm a people person!

In what I affectionately refer to as "The Real World", I manage a product line for a company.  I have clients, both within the company, and the actual external clients that my company services.  I'm responsible for keeping the spice flowing, as well as making sure that everyone else who depends on the spice feels good about the way that it's flowing.

So let me preface this rant by saying, "I understand, I get it - customer service is a bitch."

You very rarely hear from happy customers, because they're off being happy with the product you've provided.  Unhappy customers, though, those sons of bitches will blow up your phone, hammer your IM, and email you back to back to back, over and over again.  Very often, there's nothing to be done about issues that they're unhappy about - shit just happens sometimes.  You can't tell them that, though, because they're your customer, and it's your responsibility to make them happy.

So yeah, I get it.  Customer service is the worst part of the work I do, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way.

But let me back up, and tie this into the point of this post.  Until recently, I did almost all of my shopping for RPGs at one a few different locations.  I'm lucky enough to live in an area that has over a dozen Half Price Books within driving distance, and their stock shuffles often enough that I can usually find something that strikes my fancy most of the time when I go there.  Other than that, eBay and Amazon.

Then came my introduction to the OSR, and small publishers.  Then came Kickstarter.  Then came the headaches.

Before I go further, let me be clear - I don't mind late product.  It's only late until it's delivered, and then it's there forever.  I would rather wait five years than get a half baked, crappy product that doesn't live up to the promises.

No, what drives me up a wall is lack of communication.

The first scenario that is currently driving me nuts is with not one but two projects being run by the same publisher.  Their Kickstarter's "Project By" lists a company, not a person.  You go to their website, and you find information about how the company was founded way back when, it's a professional looking website with a forum, etc.  You see, I do my research before backing a Kickstarter, and this one passed the smell test.  To my regret, I stopped at the smell test, and didn't proceed to investigate further.  So the first Kickstarter funds, and the owner releases a pdf of the rules, and all is well and good.  The books are on the way, he says.  Soon, he says.  In the meantime, he kicks off a second Kickstarter, for a companion book to the first one.  Fair enough, I think, I don't want half the game, let's get them both!  So I kick in for the second Kickstarter. The day before the end of the Kickstarter, the guy posts an update, announcing that a stretch goal has been reached.

And that's it.

The project funded the next day, and several weeks later, no-one has seen or heard from him.  Not so much as a "Hey we made it guys!" post on the second Kickstarter page, nothing.  I head over to the forum, where it appears he hasn't logged on for a month.

Now, we all want to give this guy the benefit of the doubt.  For one thing, he's got our money, so we don't want anything else to be true.  More to the point, though, I just try, as a rule, to give people the benefit of the doubt.  But we're confronted with a scenario where the best we can hope for is someone who doesn't understand their customer service obligations.  The worst case scenario... well, it's best not to think too hard about that one.

It's not endemic to Kickstarters, though.  I purchased a product from a publisher with a fairly large presence in the OSR.  I spent a not-inconsiderable amount of money on the product itself, as well as a good amount more on some supplementary items.  I received an email thanking me for the purchase, and that was it.  Shipping can be an issue where I live, so I always prefer tracking numbers when I order things (spoiled from my days of buying off of eBay/Amazon, I suppose).  I followed up with an email, asking if tracking was available, and offering to pay more if need be.  Several days passed, with no reply.  I sent a followup email, and after another couple of days, got a vague reply, stating that they thought they had mailed it out, and they would have to check with someone to see about tracking.  After another period of time passed without a followup, I sent another email, checking in.  To date, no reply (no product either, but it's only been 2 weeks since I bought it, so I'm not prepared to get antsy about it yet)

My point with all of this is that I really am a pretty understanding customer.  I don't mind waiting.  I don't mind delays.  I really don't.  I understand that most of these "companies" are just somebody working out of a spare bedroom in their house.  I get that they have lives and families and "real" jobs.  Hell, I wouldn't be happy, but I'd understand, if a project completely fell through due to unforeseen circumstances.  They wouldn't get my money a second time, but I'd understand - there's risk involved in any transaction, and the further removed the consumer is from the product, the greater the risk.

What I do not find acceptable is the notion that open communication is not an obligation of the publisher/designer/owner, and the right of the consumer.  In the case of an out and out purchase, you have my money, and until I have the product, you are in arrears.  In the case of Kickstarter, you have my money, and I am an investor.  Either way, communication is a necessity.

We need to expect and demand better from the people who are running the operations that we patronize.  When I went to the forum to inquire about the first issue described above, there were people on there saying, "Oh, he just does that sometimes - he's disappeared before.", like it was okay.  No, I'm sorry, but it's not okay.  If you're making something and giving it away for free, then absolutely, do it as you have time, at your own pace and communicate as you see fit.  But once you take peoples' money and say you'll have it by a certain date, you have entered into an agreement.  If you need to change the terms of the agreement, hey - you've got the product, and you've already got the money. Get it right, then get it to me.  But going dark, dropping off the grid, not responding to emails is unacceptable and unprofessional.

Dwimmermount is a perfect example.  Not long ago, people were calling for blood, until Tavis stepped up and started giving weekly honest appraisals of what was going on.  He was transparent, he was regular and timely in his communication, and (with some exceptions) the controversy surrounding Dwimmermount has subsided as we hunker down and wait for the finished product.  Tavis trusted in his product and in his audience, and at least in me, his trust has been rewarded - I will definitely trust Autarch with my money in the future.  He was open and honest, and more importantly professional, in his communication and he's gained a loyal customer.  Really, Tavis probably over-communicates a bit, to compensate for the lack of communication at the outset, but other projects and companies should take note - a little bit of communication goes a long way.  You don't need to write a novel for your backers ever day - like I said, I get it - you have jobs, you have families, you have things that come up in life.

But I have never, in my entire life, been so busy over an extended period of time, that I was unable to respond to urgent emails.

These folks want our money, we as a community need to make them earn it.

Barrowmaze II: Barrow Harder

Now that was fast!  Two days after receiving the email from Greg Gillespie letting me know that my order had shipped, it arrived today, safe and sound. I didn't spring for all the goodies that came with the Indiegogo campaign, but I did get a good amount of swag that accompanied it. 

The package contained:

• Barrowmaze II Hardcover
• Illustration Booklets for Barrowmaze I and II
• Barrowmaze Map in classic blue
• Three Exclusive Barrowmaze Dice
• A Certificate identifying me as the proud owner of number 59 of 200 in the first print run for Barrowmaze II

The Good:

I loved Barrowmaze the First,  with all of it's undead weirdness, and Barrowmaze II: Electric Boogaloo lives up to the reputation of it's predecessor, and surpasses it in some ways.  The inclusion of the poster map was key, for me at least.  As much as I love some of the megadungeons that are hitting the shelves these days, putting the maps page by page in the book itself makes it difficult to get a real sense of the place.  To me, it's closer to reading an excel spreadsheet than looking at an epic dungeon.  So yeah, big map = big plus.  I love Greg's personalized inscription on the book - a nice touch, very classy.  The Random Crypt Generator looks like a ton of fun, and something that could be used in or out of the campaign, and more new spells and magic items are always a good thing.  The integration of the new areas has been well handled, for instance room 122 in Barrowmaze I indicated that there had been a collapse, in Barrowmaze II: The Barrowmazening, that collapse has apparently been cleared, and there is now a doorway leading into the new areas.  Oh, and the art is lovely.  With the text as just as spare as its predecessors, the art fills in the gaps, giving the dungeon the breath of life.  The two illustration booklets in particular were worth the price of admission by themselves.

The Bad:

As I mentioned above, the in-book maps are a bit... well, not good.  In the first Barrowmaze, the maps were at a 90 degree angle compared to the rest of the  book, in small print, and had a bit of overlap from page to page, with some squares getting cut off by the page halfway through.  Barrowmaze II: Attack of the Clones has all of that except it's not as small print.  I mean, I guess you could photocopy all the pages, cut out the actual maps, line them up and then tape them to make your own map, but when I buy a pregen dungeon, I have an expectation that it be a bit more ready to play than that.  As I said above, the inclusion of the big map will be key to my enjoyment of the dungeon, so I'm glad that I don't have to rely on the in-book maps.  Barrowmaze II: Barrow of Doom suffers from additional problems, with what looks to be a formatting error that results in some of each page of the map spilling into the next page, with 3/4 of the page left blank.  BI was only 3 pages, BII is 11.  I wouldn't relish building that map.  The Random tables were nice again, although I was disappointed that there wasn't more original material, in the Dungeon Dressing table in particular.

The Ugly:

Getting into the nitpicking here, but the cover isn't terribly secure, on my copy at least.  The corners are a bit crumpled, with the cover art already separating from the cover itself.  Judging by how securely it was shipped, I can only assume this was a manufacturer's defect.  Oh, and my name was misspelled in the credits.  Ah well, I'll have to live in anonymity for another day.

Overall:

Any negatives are far outweighed by the vast amount of new material poured into Barrowmaze II: Barrow of Secrets, and I'll gladly sit it next to its predecessor on my shelf, ready to pounce upon unwary gamers at a moments notice!

Oh!  And hey!  That's my 3rd kickstarter type project that has fully fulfilled its obligations!  Great job good day!

 
Rejected:
Barrowmaze II: Wrath of the Barrow 
Barrowmaze II: The Two Barrows
Barrowmaze II: Dead Man's Barrow
Barrowmaze II: Barrowmaze Returns
Barrowmaze II: New Barrow
Barrowmaze II: BM2
The Lost World: Barrowmaze II
2Barrow2Maze
Barrowmaze II: Meet the Mazes
Barrowmaze II: Barrows Reloaded
Barrowmaze II: Lost in the Maze
Barrowmaze II: The Maze who Shagged Me
Barrowmaze II: The Maze Takes Manhattan
etc etc etc      
   

Playtest - Mike Nystul's Axes and Anvils

I recently backed the Kickstarter for Mike Nystul's Axes and Anvils.  When I saw that Mike was headed to Fencon and would be playtesting, I bought my ticket.  Unfortunately, I had to leave early, but I was able to get a good sense for the game, and I'm even more excited to get my copy now.

Before I get into the meat of the report, it's worth mentioning the fact that this is a fun game, and you can tell that Mike has had fun designing it.  The passion he has for this game was on full display as he ran us through the session.  If you doubt his commitment to this game, see the picture to the right, where the Stretch Goal-sponsored tattoo is on display.

Yeah, it's like that.

As far as the game itself went, it was simple, intuitive and fun.  There's an emphasis on the clannish nature of Dwarves that permeates the system mechanics in an organic sort of way.  The clan is in many ways as important as the characters themselves, and part of the character creation process includes the group creating the story of their clan in an interactive, communal process that was lots of fun.

As far as character creation goes, I was impressed - in less than an hour and a half, we had all the setting background  figured out, and characters in hand.  There's a good mix of character archetypes, and each character we ended up with had a good set of skills and abilities that gave each it's own unique flavor.  I ended up with a human sized Sorceror Dwarf who was Blessed by the Gods, but there were Berserkers, Scholars, Diplomats, all sorts of different shades of Dwarfdom were recognized. 

At one point, I was reminded of my brief, passionate love affair with Kobolds Ate My Baby.  When you score a critical hit, if you want to take advantage of the bonus associated with it, it is MANDATORY that at least half of the party hoist their flagons (shown to the right), and cheer, "HUZZAH!"  If that doesn't happen, the attack is as normal.

Combat is simple and intuitive but actiony, and we were able to bash through several giant spiders.  It wasn't easy, but had just about the right feel for the systems equivalent of 1st level characters.  The mechanics are very different from what you might be used to with Dungeons & Dragons, while capturing the freewheeling, rules-lite spirit of early editions.

I was disappointed that I had to leave early, we had just negotiated our way past an ogre and threw a pack animal down a hole (don't ask), and were on our way to track down a wayward clanmember who had been apparently fallen prey to a clan of goblins.  But alas, duty called and I had to abandon the party.

I'm definitely even more excited about this game than I was previously, though, so mission accomplished, Mike Nystul!   

Papa Needs Some Gwar Tix!

So this is unprecedented, my third post today.  The cause is just, though.  See, I really want to meet Dave Brockie, aka Oderus Urungus.  I've kicked Jim Raggi $75 so I can get 2 tickets to the Gwar show here in Dallas in October, the opportunity to meet Mr. Urungus, a tour t-shirt, a signed poster, oh, and some adventure or something.

Raggi has even said that if this one gets to $5000, he'll kick the last $1000 in to fund it!  Currently, it's a mere $620 away from $5000, but there is only six hours left!  So send me to Gwar!  Contribute to the Two Towers Indiegogo campaign!

Link Here

You Take the Good You Take the Bad

Today has been a rollercoaster of emotion for me and the Kickstarters I support.  Hydra Dice's Necron Dice are poised to be a smashing success, having collected, with six hours to go, $16,000, despite only looking for $1000.   I'm very much looking forward to seeing those puppies roll around my table, if you know what I mean.

On the other hand, it is with a heavy heart that I must report that, with only three hours remaining, Synnibarr has only collected $4500 of it's $55,000 goal.  I hope that Raven c.s. McCracken can find some other way to raise the funds for what would have surely been the game of the year.

Z World Detroit

http://www.indiegogo.com/zworlddetroit?a=498813

It's a shame this will probably not fund, I would totally go there!  There's still 30 days left, I suppose, but with only 5% of their goal raised so far, I think it's probably unlikely.

Still, hope springs eternal - donate!

Synnibarr Lives!!!!!

I had a whole blog post written up and ready to go, and I'll probably put that up tomorrow, but then I saw this.

My first reaction was to laugh - seriously?  Synnibarr??????  Well slap my ass and call me Shirley, Kickstarter has officially jumped the shark!

Then I read that author Raven c.s. McCracken (still don't really quite get that name) apparently suffered a house fire, which caused him (?) to lose his home, his pets and the artwork for the original book, and I felt bad for having laughed.  Then I started looking through the Kickstarter page, and hell - he's got an introduction from Dr. Richard Garfield, inventory of Magic: The Gathering!  And there's all kinds of other stuff being offered too!

And he's askign for $55,000 - I'm not sure how long it's been up and running, the first update was put up 4 days ago, so my guess is that it hasn't been too long, but there has only been just under $2,000 donated thus far.  To be honest, I'll be shocked if it makes it, but who knows?  Kickstarter is a magical place, where anything can happens, and people become rich beyond the dreams of avarice!  So what the hell, I threw some money at it.

So kick in, and help out!  According to Raven c.s. McCracken (LOVE that name!) there has been a "complete redesign and update", so what's the worst that can happen!

Only $53,000 left to go, so get to donating!!!

Kickstartin'

Ugh, a new way for me to throw my money away, yay!

It is nice to feel as though you're contributing to the production of quality RPGs, though, without a doubt. 

LotFP's Monolith Beyond Space and Time/The God That Crawls, Dwimmermount, and now a a 2e retroclone????

Yes please!  Any other worthy stuff out there?

Enquiring minds want to know!