Kickstarter is apparently where it’s at for independent creatives everywhere these days, but I haven’t done a lot of digging around in their running campaigns up until now. But having been encouraged by recent Kickstarters by friends and folks I follow online, I’ve spent some time poking around the site and found a few things so far that I thought worthy of having my money tossed at them. I present them for your perusal, in order of time-remaining as of this post.
Combat Paper Program – Goal: $15,000; Current: $16,141; Time remaining: 5 days
A therapy program free for Combat veterans that uses art and community to help them cope with PTSD. Vets use old cammies to create hand-made paper, and are encouraged to write or screen print their thoughts, stories, drawings, etc onto the paper they’ve made. Backer incentives include postcards, small combat paper journals, tshirts, and prints. I backed this one because it helps mend the broken members of my extended family-at-arms, and because things that get people making art are great in general.
Building An Elder God – Goal: $9,500; Current: $10,688; Time remaining: 10 days
Campaign by an Atlanta game publishing company to raise the money for a Lovecraftian card game in which players compete to create their own horrors from beyond. The game has already been developed; the Kickstarter is for funds to produce the game professionally. Incentives include print-and-play copies of the game, promo art posters, copies of the final production version of the game, variant cards, tshirts, custom monster head cards, and there’s even a special funding incentive for retails stores. Backed because I <3 Lovecraftian horror, and games related to Lovecraftian horror (Arkham Horror, anyone?).
A Rosary of Stones and Thorns – Goal: $601; Current: $1,500; Time remaining: 18 days
A Rosary of Stones and Thorns is a novel by M.C.A. Hogarth that was originally presented to readers in serial-form. It’s available to read online for free, and now the author is ready to go to print with it! These are not happy squishy angels, and I’m pretty sure this is not your priest’s Lucifer, but the story is very entertaining. I can say from experience that her printed volumes are always lovely, elegantly laid out, with nice paperback covers. Incentives include copies of the e-book, cover art postcards with hand-written thank you notes, autographed copies of the book, angel pen doodles, and scented oil based on the scent of angel feathers from the book. Unfortunately, someone has already nabbed the one paper-puppet incentive, but you can see them in the project video (seriously, it’s adorable). Backed because the story’s great, and because MCAH is one of my favorite authors, and a great lady in general.
Artisanal Dice – Goal: $300; Current: $11,288; Time remaining: 22 days
Exactly what it says on the tin. d6 and Fudge dice carved from assorted gorgeous hardwoods that are left unstained, but hand polished to a high shine to show off the beauty of the wood. It started as a guy making dice for his gaming group and has turned into a craftsman starting his own business. Incentives include one or a set of 4d6/Fudge dice made from random woods, sets of 4d6/Fudge of your choice of wood (out of the 50 on their website), 4d6/Fudge made from certified Jack Daniel’s oak barrel staves, and at the highest (limited) level, 4d6/Fudge made from carbon-dated 5000-year old Irish bog oak. Backed because it’s one of the more original Kickstarters I’ve run across so far, and I’m a huge geek that’s willing to drop a little money for the chance to roll a handful of hundred- (or thousand!) year-old dice at my next game.