Those who follow me on twitter or my facebook fan page, know that I've gotten into Kickstarter projects. Maybe that's not surprising, given the rise of crowdfunding over the past few years from sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. For various reasons, I wasn't in a position to jump in to some of the earliest projects that caught my interest, which was disappointing since I knew the people involved.
Instead, I tried to promote some of them here, especially those that were somewhat Star Wars related, either by game or by a past freelancer. Christopher West's maps that were Star Wars minis compatible, and Gary Sarli's e20 project come to mind, and even d20 Radio's Edition Wars. Well, in that vein, I've backed a new project that I think may appeal to fans of West End Games' d6 system.
Westward is a new steampunk sci-fi game based on Open d6, the open version of WEG's d6 system. The creator is also the group doing the free d6 Magazine. Perhaps most interesting to d6 Star Wars fans are the inclusion of Peter Schweighofer (former Star Wars Adventure Journal editor) and Deborah Teramis Christian (WEG freelancer) in the project and the recent announcement of popular WEG freelance artist Mike Vilardi's participation. There are just 4 days left, so I'm late to the party, as it were. On the plus side, they just broke $15,000 which adds some nice extras at the sweet spot of $35.To be honest, I probably would have gone for the basic $10 pdf given I haven't played the game, and I tend to run hot and cold on steampunk. Some I quite like, others, not at all. The setting description appealed to me, but the extras from the stretch goals pushed it over the edge for me to jump up a level.
Kickstarter/Indiegogo tips:
- The best bargain by the pledge/perk with the most backers/funders, is usually the best bang for the buck, especially if number is significantly higher than the other levels.
- Stretch goals are extra funding goals that are often added after a project becomes fully funded. Depending on the project and goal, they usually add more stuff to the existing pledge levels. They add more incentive for more people to join the project even after it is funded, and serve as rewards to the backers that qualify. Stretch goals also add to the fun when a project really takes off.
I was curious about Star Wars related kickstarter and indiegogo efforts, so I did a quick search. Most turned up various fan films, documentaries or collecting related projects.
For those who like RPGs, RPG Kickstarters tries to track all of the RPG related crowd funding project.
And, since I'm blatantly plugging things here, there are two other projects I've backed recently that are still in progress. Some might find these interesting.
- Romantically Apocolyptic Books of Captein - in progress - books from the awesome webcomic. Hint: Read the comic at the link, then go to the indiegogo link and watch their intro video, for a good....um...introduction.
- Space Command - in progress - a new sci-fi video series by several guys who have been heavily involved in major franchises like Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, etc. They have a great retro-take on their project, looking back to classic sci-fi influences in subject matter and style.
And, for my own work, I don't have anything like this going on, but my latest Dungeons and Dragons 4e adventure should drop this week in Dungeon over at Wizards.com.