My Kickstarter is late.
Lessons in small scale testing.
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I'm late!
I'm late!
For a very important date!-The White Rabbit
My second Kickstarter, Lifted: Vault 01, will finish late. About 6 months so. My first one, By Aecer’s Light, was late too. Both are zines. I was small-scale testing in the Kickstarter RPG self-publishing space. Kickstarter’s zine event made it easy to try something in the self-publishing game space where I knew next to nothing. I learned enough to know I kind of like working here. I learned to do some layout work, some sketch work, some art direction. A lot about the writing and publishing process. Working with contractors and taxes!
Both projects I commissioned art for, I like this part. Talking with the artists about what’s in my head, writing up descriptors like:
Imagine a futuristic horror version of the Red Queen from Alice in Wonderland. Bring her to the modern superhero day via some dimensional accident and you have Dr. Clark. She is a non-human entity, appearing human. Running a BIG corporation that is diverse in it’s technologies, but focused to return her home...with resources. Red is more than just a color to her. She’s got classic 40s woman beauty, looks comfortable in anything. She’s a shark and ruthless, and in control.
Then getting rough sketches like:
And I loved it! That’s Dr. Clark for sure!
I ran over thirty sessions of Champions Now RPG for my last Kickstarter zine. I’d run thirty more, easy. I thought I’d be sooo done with this game. But I learned other applications for Champions Now beyond superhero comics without hacking the rules.
Schedules with other humans is a thing I gotta get better about. In the indie game space, this work is likely our side-hustle and folks have other swords they are juggling. I also know better about timelines and schedules. I’m a software engineer by trade, I know everything is on time until it ain’t. And we’ve got tips and tricks for coping with time estimates. I know better.
I miss having the human support when working on Clockwinders with Evil Hat. Sean checking in on everyone’s well-being. My editor was critical AND constructive as we worked through my drafts. That was good team stuff. Working solo, I’m never really certain if my editor is just being nice because I’m cutting them a check.🤷🏾♂️
I liked the collaboration with the different writers on a big project like Pathfinder’s Mwangi Expanse. A lot of ideas were thrown up to the brainstorming process, many becoming something amazing! Here at Mad Jay HQ, it’s me and two giant pups. They work for treats and are always down to play and nap.
I’m late, again. Yet, I hope the results are worth it. The kind words from backers and much love from the Burning Wheel HQ folks for the By Aecer’s Light zine tells me I didn’t let them down. It feels good.
A year out from Lifted: Vault 01 funding and I’m still amped up about this zine and the Champions Now RPG. I hope to entice folks to pick up Champions Now and play it. I hope I didn’t let any existing fans down. I also hope I pick up a metric ass-ton of new Lifted fans.
As this Kickstarter delivers and wraps I look forward to teaming up again with artists old and new, adding and working with collaborators on a new Lifted project…but that’s another post!
“I got a game plan
Takin' a shot, hoping it banks in” - I believed It, dvsn.
Love the commissioned sketch!