Friday 27 April 2012

Kickstarted

I love Kickstarter. I think that the model for supporting creative endeavours is great. I've supported a few projects since I really got taken with the concept last autumn, and two of them so far have been tabletop games. These games have both been funded now, and I'm waiting on the rewards. While I wait, let me share them with you!

Avarice Industries - project link - homepage
I really liked the concept of this, of industrial espionage, corporate villains and being able to manufacture anything that you can dream of. Sounds a little bit vague, right? Reading a sample of actual play clinched it for me and helped me to stump up the cash:
Tasha: She doesn’t have to be home for us to take back what’s rightfully ours. (Bridget, I reach into one of the many pockets on my tiered skirt and pull out my auto-pick.)
Luke: (Hah. I still love your “Skirt of Many Pockets.” I also still can’t believe you fit a crowbar in one of those things.)
Tasha: (It’s easy when each pocket is really a pocket dimension. I paid out of my nose for it though.)
...
Nelson: Oh come on! Everyone on this floor is going to hear a gunshot! Do you really want to pay off the police YET AGAIN?
Luke: (I pull out my ballpoint pen.)
Nelson: Oh… well… um… how’s a pen going to help us out?
Luke: (I take the pen and ruthlessly jam it into the lock.)
Bridget (GM): ….really?
It sounded like it would be right up my street (and that of the people I play with) in terms of providing opportunities to think really outside of the box. My rules pdf could arrive any time in the next week or so!

Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack - project link - homepage (eventually, just a holding pattern for now)
This one instantly appealed to me, partly because of the Vincent Baker connection, but mostly because you build mechs out of Lego and then fight other people. I mean, how cool is that??? It'll take me a little longer to get going with this, partly because it's not as simple as printing off some character sheets (buying Lego pieces and building mechs will take time), but it will be worth it I am sure. The game is based on Mechaton, which I already have - so in principle I could be giving that a go now - but is expanded from that with a whole setting and added rules. I have a dream that by the year's end I'll have had some people over for the afternoon, some pizza and some robot-destroying war action.

Honourary mention for Everything is Dolphins, which I almost supported and then forgot what day it was finishing. D'oh!

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