Kickstarter Kicked

Back at the end of May, I wrote a long post about how the first two 12 for ’12 Kickstarters had gone. (Go back and read that first if you haven’t already.) The third one ended June 17, and it was another wild and yet very different ride. I’m still digesting a lot of the information, but here are my first thoughts on how it did and why.

As you might know, the Dangerous Games Kickstarter was a huge success. The Brave New World Kickstarter brought in the most money till then ($13,276), and the Shotguns & Sorcery Kickstarter had the highest number of backers (332). Dangerous Games topped both of them by far, with $18,001 and 389 backers. That’s a 35% increase in backing and a 17% increase in backers. Fantastic!

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Magic TPB Out Today!

The Magic: The Gathering trade paperback (TPB) hits stores today. This collects issues #1—4 of the Magic: The Gathering miniseries I wrote for IDW, with gorgeous art by Martín Cóccolo and handsome colors by J. Edwin Stevens. See below for a preview.

I had a fantastic time writing these comics, and I’ve had even more fun working on the next miniseries in the line, Magic: The Gathering: Spell Thief. I just saw the proofs for issue #2 of that, and it features one of my favorite moments in the series so far. It’s one of the most painful for Dack, the hero, but hey, he can take it.

Abhinav Jain (a.k.a. Shadowhawk) has a review of those first four issues over at the Founding Fields. As he says:

A fast-paced and thrilling ride that is a fantastic introduction to the world of Magic: The Gathering. Dack Fayden has arrived and he’s taking names! … Matt Forbeck’s Magic: The Gathering mini-series is a highly entertaining read on all levels, and I’d recommend it to everyone.

Anyhow, you should be able to find the book at your local comic shop or just about anywhere else that sells such things. Enjoy!

Dangerous Games Is Done!

The Dangerous Games Kickstarter came to a thunderous end tonight, and I’m still sitting here stunned. This morning, we had $15,298 and 349 backers, and I was thrilled with that. After all, we’d already beaten the records of both previous Kickstarters in the 12 for ’12 series on both counts, right?

My only hope was that we’d reach $16,000 so I could have a good excuse to write the Dangerous Games playset for Fiasco. I figured we had an excellent shot at it, but we’d had such a great run so far, I wondered if the drive might have tapped out early. And I would have been fine with that. 

But the numbers kept going up throughout the day. We cracked the $16,000 mark at 2 PM or so, and they didn’t stop. At the end of the night, just before the deadline, they took a sharp jump.

I was glued to my computer for the last hour or two, just hitting the refresh button and watching the numbers climb, texting and chatting with friends on Twitter who were watching with me. At the end of it all, we racked up 389 backers, and we actually cracked $18,001!

WOW! 

Thank you all so much. Whether you supported with a pledge or spreading the word or even just crossing your fingers for me, you have my gratitude. I’m honored, flattered, and honestly flat-out humbled by the support. I cannot wait to write these books, and I’m going to make them the most fun I can.

Good night!

Third Dangerous Games Stretch Goal Unlocked!

Just a little while ago, the Dangerous Games Kickstarter breached the $16,000 mark, which crashed through our third stretch goal! That means I’ll be producing a Gen Con-related playset for Fiasco! That will go out free to all backers first before being released to the public.

Woot!

We already broke the first two stretch goals, of course, which means that those who back at the $50+ level get a set of the Matt Forbeck’s Brave New World ebooks and those who back at the $75+ level get those plus a set of the Shotguns & Sorcery ebooks too. Plus all the regular backer rewards, of course!

Thanks to each and every one of you for making this happen. This has been the best of the three 12 for ’12 Kickstarters by miles, both in terms of backers and backing.

I have no more stretch goals after this. I’d still like to arrange a gathering at Gen Con, but I never much liked the idea of charging people to spend time with me. I’d rather just set up something informal and fun or simply chat with people throughout the show instead of setting a single time and place that some will inevitably have to miss.

We have about 8 hours to go till the end of this drive on this fantastic Father’s Day, so there’s still time for people to join us. I can’t wait to see how far this goes – and I’m even more eager to start writing these books! Thanks!

Last Day for Dangerous Games!

The Dangerous Games Kickstarter ends in just under 24 hours, at midnight Eastern Time on Father’s Day, June 17. It has been a smashing success so far, and I want to thank each and every one of my backers for all that they’ve done, both financially (pledges), morally (encouragement), and socially (getting the word out). Together, we smashed the 12 for ’12 records for both pledges and number of backers!

Honestly, I never dreamed it would go so well. I was a little nervous when I set the funding goal so high this time, but we not only shattered that but the first two Respect the Streak stretch goals too. As I write this, this is the #11 drive on Kickstarter’s all-time fiction list, and we’re only about $700 shy of the third stretch goal, at which point, I’ll produce a Gen Con-based playset for the Fiasco game – after I’m done jumping around for joy.

If you can spread the word and let people know that time is running out – or back the project if you haven’t already – I’d appreciate it. Just one last push here, and then it’s all over but the writing! Thanks so much!

New Dangerous Games Stretch Goal!

All right, I give up. I just can’t stop thinking about new stretch goals for the Dangerous Games Kickstarter. I finally figured out one that I thought would be both cool and fun. At $16k, I’ll produce a Dangerous Games playset for Fiasco!

For those that don’t know, Fiasco is Jason Morningstar’s excellent tabletop storytelling game of people with “powerful ambition and poor impulse control.” It’s so good that it won the Diana Jones Award last year (Jason’s second!), and Jason and his friends and fans have done a great job supporting the game with free playsets, short bits that allow you to play the game in different settings and eras.

Since I made my living exclusively as a game designer for many years, it only seemed natural to come up with a game or supplement for the books, and Fiasco fits the bill like a custom dice bag. Jason kindly offered to help me out with it as best our mutual schedules permit, and that sealed it for me.

I haven’t done much tabletop design over the past couple years, so this will be a fun chance to get back to my roots and support the books at the same time. Plus, the fact that Fiasco playsets tend to be short (about 12 pages) means this won’t cut murderously into my 12 for ’12 time.

So, if we reach $16k by the end of the drive – which is Sunday evening, only two days away! – I will produce a Dangerous Games playset for Fiasco. As is the tradition with Fiasco playsets, I’ll release it to the public as a free PDF, but I’ll send it to every one of my backers first! I’ll also slip it into the back of the omnibus print editions at no charge.

If you don’t have Fiasco, I urge you to check it out. It’s only $12 for the PDF, and you can get it bundled with the printed book for only $25. While you’re at it, check out Jason’s own Kickstarter for Durance, a new game in the Fiascovein.

Why am I shooting for $16k? Well, it seems natural after having the last two stretch goals at $12k and $14k. Also, if we break $16k, that would make this the #8 project on the all-time bestselling fiction list on Kickstarter. And that would be something we could all crow about.

2nd Dangerous Games Stretch Goal Unlocked!

We smashed through the second Dangerous Games stretch goal last night. This means that anyone who backs this drive at the $75+ level gets not only the regular reward but free standard ebook editions of the Matt Forbeck’s Brave New World and Shotguns & Sorcery trilogies. That’s a total of nine ebooks, plus a printed Dangerous Games omnibus!

Thanks to everyone who made this happen!

I don’t have any other stretch goals planned at the moment, as I’d rather spend the time writing and delivering the books than coming up with other incentives. If a great idea comes my way, I might leap on it, but I haven’t found it yet.

Meanwhile, though, I’m still hoping to get a group of friends to grab those Alpha Gamer rewards, which gets your entire gaming group in the book, so I decided to bump the benefit for them hard. Now each named player in your group (up to 10) gets the Game Designer package, which includes the autographed ebooks, an autographed hardcover omnibus, and early access to the manuscript. I’ll toss in shipping the books to a single address for free.

In addition to all that, I’ve been chatting up the 12 for ’12 plan at various venues. In particular:

  • I wrote my first post for Huffington Post Books, and it’s all about 12 for ’12, of course. It seems to have caught a lot of attention. The HuffPo reach is wide!
  • Check out the Crucible of Realms podcast released yesterday. In it, the hosts and I came up with a science-fantasy setting on the fly. Best of all, we released it under a Creative Commons license so anyone can use it for free.

Anyhow, we still have four days left, so don’t be shy of telling your friends about the great deal the higher packages have now become, and about the pumped-up Alpha Gamer package. Thanks for all your support!

12 for ’12 Record Smashed!

Yesterday evening, the Dangerous Games Kickstarter crossed the $13,276 mark set by the Brave New World trilogy, which officially makes this the best-funded of the three 12 for ’12 drives! We’re still a little shy of the number of backers the Shotguns & Sorcery trilogy had, but if we can add another 24 people in the next five days, we’ll snap that tape too.

As I write this, we’re a bit more than $500 away from cracking the $14k stretch goal, which unlocks the second Respect the Streak reward: free copies of the Shotguns & Sorcery ebooks for all backers at $75 or more. That totals up to nine ebooks and a print omnibus of the three Dangerous Games books too.

We have just five days left in this drive. It ends on Father’s Day, June 17, so don’t be shy about spreading the word. And if you have a dad in your life who might like a whole load of good reading, might I suggest a gift?

As always, thanks for your support. My backers are the best!

Dangerous Games Stretch Goal #1 Unlocked!

Yesterday, the Dangerous Games Kickstarter drive smashed through the $12,000 barrier, which unlocks the first Respect the Streak stretch goal! That means all pledges of $50 or more get free ebook copies of the Matt Forbeck’s Brave New World trilogy of novels. Since the first one is already out, I’ll send that to all the eligible backers as soon as this Kickstarter drive ends.

We’re already on the road to our second stretch goal at $14,000. At that point, all backers at the $75 or higher level get the Shotguns & Sorcery trilogy ebooks for free too. I just added a $75 backer level (Bargain Hunter) to make it easy for you to take advantage of that, should we unlock that goal. With 9 days to go, that looks like a real possibility.

Besides backing the project, the best thing you can do is help me spread the word. If you have a blog/website/podcast, etc., that would like to lend a hand by running an article, post, or interview, that would be fantastic. In the past few weeks:

Meanwhile, please tell your friends and neighbors on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, etc., about the project, and send them my way. That kind of word-of-mouth personal recommendation is the best kind of publicity I could hope for, especially coming from enthusiastic and articulate advocates like you.

Thanks again to each and every one of my backers for your support. I’m stunned, humbled, and happy. With 8 days left in the drive, we’re doing fantastic!

Falling Behind and Catching Up

As you might guess, if you’ve been following me on Twitter, I’m a bit behind. I had that horrible cold at the start of May that laid me out flat for a week, and it also ran through every member of my family. Since I work out of my house, a good bit of the responsibility for taking care of sick children falls to me, and that takes a chunk of writing time out of those days. At the end of May, my wife finally caught the virus too, and she wound up in bed for five out of ten days.

The good news is that she’s on the mend now, armed with a fistful of antibiotics, and the rest of us are too, with just a few lingering coughs circling about the place. To complicate matters, school ended this week, and my quadruplets turned 10 years old. (Which took up a bit of time, but woot!)

So, where does that leave us?

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