56 Hours to Go!

Earlier today, the Monster Academy Kickstarter cracked through the first stretch goal at $12,000! Thanks to Kent Wayson for knocking it over. We also broke 300 backers!

The drive comes to an end at midnight Eastern time on Sunday, September 16. As I write this, that means we only have 56 hours to go, maybe less by the time you read this. We’re heading into the final push.

That leaves us two remaining Respect the Streak stretch goals at $14k and $16k, which bring free ebooks to backers at the higher levels. There’s a good chance we’ll be able to crack those, and to reflect that, I’ve added a $75 level so that people who want to get in on the second stretch goal can bump their orders up to that.

Don’t forget, if you want printed books from the previous trilogies, you can add those onto your pledge now. All those dollars count toward breaking stretch goals here too.

Now hold on to your seats. I have a slew of new announcements for you.

Slipcases!

First up, I have a new add-on that many of my staunchest backers have been requesting: a handmade slipcase designed to hold all four 12 for ’12 omnibuses! Since they’re being fashioned individually, they can be made to fit the hardcovers or the softcovers as a set.

I’m working with brilliant bookhacker Sara Hindmarch (wife of my pal Will Hindmarch and a wonderful creator in her own right) to get these done. At the moment, I’m thinking of having them covered in black cloth with the 12 for ’12 logo splashed on the sides. If you have other suggestions, I’m open to them though.

Because these are handmade in a small lot, they are not cheap. The add-on cost is $75 for US orders. Add $10 for shipments to Canada and Mexico, or $15 for orders outside the US. That covers the slipcase, shipping, and the cut that Kickstarter takes, but not much more. Depending on how it shakes out, I might make or lose $5 per slipcase. This is not a profit center for me but a way to say thanks to my most loyal backers. I don’t expect to sell a lot of these treasures, but I know they’ll be given excellent homes.

Bookmarks!

Now, for stretch goals! If we hit $15k, I’ll produce a Monster Academy bookmark made to resemble a six-inch ruler from the Royal Academy of Habilitation. That will go out to all backers who order a printed Monster Academy book, and I’ll slip it in with your book when I send it to you.

If we crack 400 backers, I’ll produce a 12 for ’12 bookmark with the covers for all 12 books on it too. Again, this will go out all backers who order a printed Monster Academy book.

Plus a New Book!

Now for the big one. As well as the 12 for ’12 plan has gone, I just have to sit down and write about it, if only so that I have a place to point people who ask me about it. I plan on running a separate Kickstarter for it next year, after I’ve completed the 12 for ’12 project. However, if we hit $20k with this drive, I’ll send the ebook edition out to every backer for free as soon as it’s ready.

As part of this, I’ll list everyone who’s backed all four drives – a.k.a. the 12 for ’12 Hall of Fame – in the back of that book too.

Now, $20k is a looong way from where we stand now. I don’t know if we can hit it or not. If we do, I’ll be dancing-at-my-desk thrilled, and we’ll have ebooks for everyone. If not, well, you’ll all have a chance to get it next year instead. Sound good?

Once again, my deepest gratitude goes out to you all for your support. I could never have done any of this without your help, and I truly appreciate it. We still have 58 hours to go, so keep spreading the word, and don’t hesitate to get your pledge in – or up it if you like the new goals and add-ons.

Thanks!

Kickstarters for Your Consideration

I don’t just run Kickstarters like my Monster Academy drive, which just cracked $11k last night. I also back them too. In fact, I’ve backed more than a hundred Kickstarters in my time, not all of which funded, for which my bank account is grateful, even if I’m not. Here are a few (all right: several) amazing projects that I’m backing (or at least loving from afar) at the moment, arranged by the time they have left.

  • Deadlands: Raven: A graphic novel based on the Deadlands RPG, which I helped publish during my Pinnacle days. Greg LaRocque’s art looks sharp, and Chuck Sellner and Matt Cutter will bring a great story to it. Time left: 34 hours!
  • An E-Module That’s More Than a PDF: My friend Mike Bohlmann pushes the boundaries of what you can do with an iPad or ePub-formatted Pathfinder adventure. Can’t wait to see how well this works. Time left: 35 hours!
  • Megalopolis: An all-new graphic novel by Gail Simone and Jim Calafiore. When the city’s superheroes go on a killing spree, it’s time to put the town in your rear-view mirror – if you can. Time left: 49 hours!
  • Camden: A great tile-laying game designed by James Ernest, illustrated by John Kovalic, and published by Boyan Radakovich, all of whom I’m proud to count as friends. In it, you and the other players are shopkeepers in London’s market district, competing for the tourists’ cash. Time left: 50 hours!
  • Unexploded Cow: A classic Cheapass Game from my pal James Ernest. You heard mad cows into fields filled with unexploded ordnance from WWII. Even funnier than it sounds. Time left: 60 hours!
  • Perils of the Surface World: A set of adventures for Hollow Earth Expedition produced by my friend Jeff Combos. Great, pulpy tabletop RPG fun. Time left: 3 days!
  • Heroes of Metro City: I don’t know a lot about this game, but it’s a deckbuilder featuring superheroes, which is a double-bonus for me. Hopefully it could hold me over until Devin Low’s Marvel deckbuilding game comes out this winter. Time left: 3 days!
  • Dungeons & Dragons: A Documentary: A film about creation of D&D and the profound effect it’s had on our world. It had me at D&D. Time left: 4 days!
  • Tenra Bansho Zero: Jun’ichi Inoue’s tabletop fantasy RPG was a big hit in Japan. My friend Andy Kitowski’s bringing it over here, and it looks great. It’s smashing through its stretch goals too. Time left: 4 days!
  • Numenera: My pal (and fellow Alliterate) Monte Cook’s first brand-new RPG since D&D Third Edition features a science-fantasy setting placed a billion years in the future. Illustrated by the fantastic Kieran Yanner (also a friend), this already shattered the record for best-funded tabletop RPG ever. Time left: 5 days!
  • A Blossoming Honey Business: The cutest story of a girl here in Wisconsin who’s trying to raise money to expand her honey business. Sweet in many ways. Time left: 8 days.
  • 13 True Ways: An expansion book for 13 Ways, the upcoming fantasy RPG by my fiends Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet, both longtime D&D designers. I don’t even have the core book yet, and I want this. Time left: 10 days.
  • Gaming Paper Colors: My pal Erik Bauer makes the wonderful stuff he calls Gaming Paper, large sheets of gridded paper on which you can draw maps for your tabletop games. Now he wants to bring them to you in different colors. Time left: 11 days.
  • Are You a Werewolf? From my pals at Looney Labs comes an innovative version of the fantastic party game in which you use little plastic viewers to find out who you’re playing the game. Simple and brilliant. Time left: 11 days.
  • Invasion of the Saucer People: My pal (and fellow Alliterate) Lester Smith returns to game design with one he made for his grandson. It’s a light, fun card game with some cool stretch goals, including more games! Time left: 14 days.
  • Electric Velocipede: The award-winning speculative fiction magazine from my friend John Klima. Good reading on a regular basis. Time left: 14 days.
  • Burnt: An SF novel from fellow Geek Dan contributor Curtis Silver. It’s got a premise as sharp as Curtis’s tongue. Time left: 14 days.
  • Stay Alive – Not Undead: A zombie coloring and activity book from the talented and funny Dan Taylor. I’m looking forward to handing this to my kids. Time left: 16 days.
  • Tilt-Shift: A graphic novel written by Jose Torres-Cooban, reflecting his time serving as a combat photographer with a special operations team in Afghanistan. Time left: 16 days.
  • Transforming Collections: A book about all the unofficial Transformers toys and accessories out there, by my pal Phil Reed (of Steve Jackson Games fame). No one knows his toys better than Phil, and his passion shines through here. Time left: 18 days.
  • Dreadball: A minis game that comes off as sci-fi Blood Bowl. That’s enough to sell me right there. Time left: 18 days.
  • tremulus: A tabletop RPG of Lovecraftian horror from my friend Sean Preston with a brilliant design. I liked it so much, I gave Sean a blurb for it. Time left: 19 days.
  • Cthulhu Claus Greeting Cards: A set of Cthulhu-themed holiday cards illustrated by Jody Lindke and inscribed with words from my buddy Ken Hite. Fun for all ages. Time left: 23 days.
  • Art of Brom: Brom’s one of the greatest fantasy artists to emerge in the last 20 years, and his cover for Deadlands helped us sell a lot of copies of that tabletop RPG back in my days with Pinnacle. Here’s a gorgeous book filled with his best stuff. Time left: 23 days.
  • The Coriolis Defect: A fantastic time-travel tabletop RPG from Jay Little that, with some very cool mechanics, allows you to rewind time in your games. Right up my alley. Time left: 29 days.
My own Monster Academy Kickstarter is still going on too, of course. It ends this Sunday, so you have four clock-ticking days left to join in the fun. Take a look at these others while you’re at it. There’s a whole lot of cool going on there.
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Oh, plus a couple more I missed in that initial onslaught:
  • Geek Love: An anthology of geek-themed erotica in prose and pictures, edited by Shanna Germain. Features work by James Sutter, Jaym Gates, Lee Moyer, and many other talented folks. Time left: 15 days.
  • Skew: A SF anthology of weird stories on the Philip K. Dick scale, conceived by Ben Lehman and edited by Isabel Cooper Kunkle. Features stories by my pal Greg Stolze, among other entertainingly twisted souls. Time left: 21 days

And an IndieGoGo drive too:

  • Dry Spell: A romantic comedy film by Rockford, IL, native Travis Legge, about a woman trying to set up her soon-to-be-ex husband on dates. Looks like fun all around. Time left: 4 days.

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And another book suggested to me today:

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Plus more! I could probably do this all day:

  • Cheap Shot: A card game that combines rummy with taking cheap shots at your friends, by Lisa Bowman Steenson. Looks hilarious. Time left: 3 days.
  • Fallen City of Karez: A semi-coopertive fantasy board game by Elad Goldsteen. Time left: 24 days.
  • Low Life Miniatures: A line of metal figures based on my friend Andy Hopp’s gorgeously odd designs for his Low Life RPG. Time left: 10 days.
  • Wreck-Age: A stylish post-apocalyptic tabletop RPG and minis game. Time left: 3 days.

Geekerati Tonight! Google Hangout Thursday!

I’ll be on the Geekerati radio show tonight with hosts Christian Lindke and Shawna Benson. Listen live starting at 8:30 PM Pacific. If you can’t make that, don’t fret, the podcast version will get posted soon after that.

I’m also planning to self-host a Google Hangout on Thursday. Come watch me make a fool of myself and try to answer questions being shot at me through Google chat. Hopefully I’ll have figured the thing out ahead of then. Come ask me anything you like, and I’ll fake the answers as best I can.

12 for ’12 Add-Ons for Monster Academy Backers

The Monster Academy Kickstarter broke its funding goal late Friday night! That means every 12 for ’12 Kickstarter succeeded – four in a row. Thanks to all my backers on each one of my drives, including this one, for all your support!

One problem I’ve seen throughout the drives is that people who found out about the 12 for ’12 plan after the earlier drives ended wish they could have gotten in on the ground floor. I think I figured out a way to turn back the clock for them that still respects the support that so many fantastic people have given already.

During the remainder of the Monster Academy drive, backers can order printed books from the previous drives as add-ons to their pledges for this drive. These are the Kickstarter editions of the books, but they won’t be signed, and they won’t have the newcomers’ names in them as backers. That’s reserved for the people who backed the drives when they were live.

If you missed any of the drives, this is a great way to fill in the holes in your collection. See my latest Monster Academy update for details about our current add-on options and stretch goals. We only have six more days to go on this final drive, so get in on it while you still can. Thanks!

Monster Academy Is a GO!

Earlier tonight, the Monster Academy Kickstarter smashed through its funding goal and kept going strong! As I write this, we’re 101% funded, which means I’m going to start writing Monster Academy books this winter!

Thanks so much to each and every one of you for your support. It’s been one humbling year, for sure. When I started out with this idea, I had no idea it would go so well, and all of that success comes down to you.

I have some ideas for stretch goals beyond the Respect the Streak goals. I’m on the road at the moment, though, and I want to take the time to make sure I get everything write and explain it so it’s clear. I plan on having that up on Monday.

At the moment, we still have eight days to go on the project. That means there’s still plenty of time to get the word out so that more people can join in on the fun. For right now, though, I just want you to bask in the glow of getting this done. Four Kickstarters funding a full dozen novels. It just boggles the mind.

Thanks.

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.