At the moment, I’m tangentially involved in two different monster-themed Kickstarters: Cthulhu Claus Holiday Cards Wave 2 and Goblin Quest.
In the first, the talented Jody Lindke (who provided illustrations for Monster Academy: I Will Not Eat People) returns for a second round of holiday cards featuring the creepy yet merry Cthulhu Claus. These feature inscriptions from the master of all things Lovecraft, Ken Hite.
I backed the first set (of course), and the cards were just as excellent as you would expect. They’re almost too good to send out, but at the same time too much fun to keep to yourself.
I’ve been friends with Jody’s husband Christian for many years, which is how I wound up having Jody’s excellent artwork in my first Monster Academy book. For this drive, she’s offered to come up with illustrations for the second Monster Academy book as well–if the project funds.
That’s not “if we make it to a higher stretch goal.” It’s “if the project succeeds at all.”
That’s terribly generous of Jody, but the project does need some love. It’s just over 40% of the way funded at the moment, and there’s only three days left, so please check that one out fast.
Up second, game designer Grant Howitt has a hilarious tabletop roleplaying game called Goblin Quest up on Kickstarter right now too. This project has already raised more than five times as much as its initial funding goal of £2,000, and it still has nine days left.
Grant lined up a number of famous game designers to write sets of short adventure seeds for Goblin Quest. The pack I’m in already funded at the £10,000 level, so if you back the game, you’ll get some fun bits from me for sure. And there’s an excellent chance you’ll see more pieces from folks like Robin Laws, Rob Heinsoo, James Wallis, and even Ken Hite, who’s writing the Cthulhu Claus cards too.
While I have your attention, allow me to call out a few other drives I’ve backed with my own hard-earned cash.
- Girls on Games: A Look at the Fairer Side of the Industry: A book about women in tabletop games, edited by Elisa Teague and featuring friends like Nicole Lindroos, Peggy Brown, Tanis O’Connor, Gaby Weilding, Teeuwynn Woodruff, Jennifer Brozek, Carol Monahan, Jessica Blair, and Mike Selinker.
- Hero Happy Hour: On the Rocks: A graphic novel by Dan Taylor and Chris Fason. Funny stuff about superheroes and their favorite bar.
- Designers & Dragons: A history of the roleplaying game industry by Shannon Appelcline. I helped Shannon with a few facts for the excellent first edition, and this one promises to be even better.
- Mutiny of Dreamers: A book project about achieving your dreams, by Melissa Hawks, who used to live here in Beloit.
- Kaptain Brawe 2: A Space Travesty: An adventure video game written by Steven Ince.
