The Kickstarter campaign for The Frankenstein Wars has one day left to run. Jamie advised me, "Just sell it as zombies meet steampunk." He may very well have been right, but like James Wallis I incline to the doctrine of Madame Yevonde: "Be original or die." (James recently helped to raise $340,000 for a new edition of extended joke RPG Paranoia, which has never been to my taste, but good for him. It will help pay for James's own, much more original, projects.)
The Frankenstein Wars isn't about zombies. Nor is it really steampunk, unless steampunk now stands for "any Victorian or Regency setting with science fictional elements". What it is: a new generation of gamebook app with a richly imagined universe, a cast of fully rounded characters, and a premise that we can carry on into further chapters in both print and digital form. It's a very, very long way from an orc in a room with a riddle and a treasure chest.
The campaign has one day left to run and all you need to pledge to get the game is $4. On the Kickstarter page I describe it as "a dream project I've been waiting to do for over a decade" - and that pretty much sums it up. Now I get to see whether the gamebook projects that interest me these days can still find an audience! That awesome smoke-n-fury picture incidentally is by Rafa Teruel, and even if the campaign fails at least it's been a pleasure to see his visual genius bring the world of The Frankenstein Wars to life.
Only 700 euro to get the project funded - 10 hours left
ReplyDeleteSomebody else backed out, so now it needs slightly over 800 euros. A strange world, Kickstarter. If the project had been called Steampunk Zombies, it would have been funded five times over by now - yet how can anyone in the world feel they need more steampunk or more zombies?
DeleteAh well, that way madness lies. If this campaign fails and the Fabled Lands one succeeds, I'm tempted to shoot all the backers on general principle. (A Tarantino joke btw! Jeez...)
Congratulations! :-)
DeleteI didn't realise that kickstarters go to the wire like that....
ReplyDeleteYep. It's a lot more exciting than women's soccer.
DeleteBtw, before I'm hounded out of my UCL appointment by SJWs, I should just add that (1) I don't find men's soccer interesting either and (2) there was apparently an international contest of women's soccer last night. Topical innit?
DeleteYes, who would have though watching the amount pledged and time remaining would be so nail-biting. I literally was checking it every 10 minutes!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Dave. A dream project of your own should be worth the wait!
Thanks, Jonathan. It's really going to be Paul Gresty's hard work from this point - and we've got him doing the new Fabled Lands book, poor guy - but that story and world I created a decade ago will finally come to life, so I'm happy.
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