Who Makes Comics? She Makes Comics

Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation!  Today I am pleased to be joined by Patrick Meaney and Marisa Stotter from Sequart Research who are here to talk to us about their latest project She Makes Comics.  Thank you both for joining me.

Marisa: Thanks so much for having us!

Patrick: Thanks James!

Would you two be so kind as to tell us about She Makes Comics and what makes it such a special project for you both?

Marisa: She Makes Comics is a documentary tracing the history of women in comics - as writers, artists, editors, publishers, retailers, and fans. It’s a celebration of the contributions women have made and continue to make to the medium. When people think of comic books, they often think of mainstream superhero stories, which are largely about male characters, written by men, and sold to a male readership. We want to turn that stereotype on its head and point out that women have always been creating and reading comics, for as long as the medium has existed!

Patrick: Exactly, I’ve made several different projects about comics at this point, and they were all to some extent exploring stories that people were familiar with. Most comic readers know Grant Morrison or Warren Ellis’s work, if not their personality. But, I think people don’t realize the role that women played in the development of the medium. I’ve already learned a lot, and am excited to find out more.

Does it Matter where your Underwear Goes?

Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation!  Today I am joined by Manny Trembley who is here to tell us a very old and bad joke with Under Where?  (Just made you say underwear)  Thank you for joining us today Manny!

Glad to chat with you! And I have to say that i am particularly drawn to groan inducing jokes. It’s in my blood. And this one is no different. Call me simple but I love stupid puns or simple word play.  Alliteration.  It’s all gold to me.

Obviously you’re going for a bit of humor with your project, could you tell us about Under Where?  
Under Where? is a homage to classic super heroes.  The ones that proudly wore their undies over their tights and wore tiny “domino” masks to not hide their identity very well.  The story takes place in Jewel City where heroes and villains have heavily populated the area. And one of the prominent dividing lines is whether you wear underwear over or under your tights. Our story specifically follows two heroes.  Whip Wilson Jr. and Tulip Topps are the only children of their respective super heroic families. They’ve just arrived back in town to take up the mantle of primary crime fighter for their families and when they bump in to each other the attraction is evident but they soon realize that their affections are forbidden by their parents. Call it a superhero version of Romeo and Juliet but with less suicide at the end.

Get Spirited Away by the Whispering Road

Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation!  I am pleased to be joined by Brent Newhall who has brought a wonderful Miyazaki-inspired tabletop RPG to Kickstarter with The Whispering Road.  Thank you for joining us today Brent.

Thanks, James! It’s an honor to be interviewed. This has certainly been a surprise.

Glad I could give you a pleasant surprise! Let me start off by congratulating you for beating your initial goal seven times over already! Obviously you’ve found a willing audience for your project, could you tell us about The Whispering Road?  

Sure! The Whispering Road is a tabletop story game. Unlike traditional tabletop RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, The Whispering Road gives you a toolbox for characters and conflict that focuses on the characters’ personal desires and that rewards you for helping each other.

Now you point out this isn’t a licenced Studio Ghibli game, and that it is only inspired by Miyazaki’s work.  What made you create a game inspired by his films?  

I’ve been an anime fan for about 20 years now, and have been watching Hayao Miyazaki’s movies for years. I’ve been collecting his films since before many of them were released in America. I love his pacifist aesthetic, and how he brings a distinctive spin to standard growing-up stories like that of Kiki’s Delivery Service.

I had two main goals: describe a player’s character with words and no numbers, and reward the player for helping the other players’ characters. Most tabletop RPGs reward you for helping yourself, and I wanted to turn that on its head.

Now The Whispering Road totally sounds like the name of one of his films, but this game isn’t based on any one of his films?  Can you explain how the game plays out and how that fits into the Miyazaki framework?  

Thanks! The Whispering Road isn’t based directly on any of his films, though it’s closest in structure to Spirited Away. It’s also similar in structure to The Cat Returns, another Ghibli film.

The rules include a story framework. The story starts with the characters in their regular world, then the players invent some inciting incident that tosses their characters into a new world. Now, that world can be literally a magical fantasy world, or it can be more of a metaphor, like taking a vacation or moving to a new home.

The rules contain triggers for moving to each new act of the story: entering the new world, encountering the antagonists, encountering allies, going through a dark ordeal, and finally, resolving the main conflict.

Now, that’s traditional screenplay stuff. Here’s how this gets into Miyazaki territory: As the players resolve conflicts, they accumulate good karma if they’re helping out the other players, and bad karma if they’re only helping themselves. If that bad karma outweighs the good karma at the end of the game, the character can’t go home. The players are free to role-play that out however they like, because being unable to go home can work out in different ways.

One Hero Can Change Everything in Scarlet Heroes

Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation!  I am pleased to welcome independent game creator Kevin Crawford who is here to talk to us about his latest project: Scarlet Heroes.  Thank you for joining us today Kevin.

I'm glad to have the opportunity, James.

Scarlet Heroes at first glance just seems like a generic fantasy RPG, what is it about your system that has attracted so much attention?  

The fact that it's designed to support just one or two players plus a GM. Scarlet Heroes lets you run your favorite classic adventures or newer OSR materials without needing to edit the adventures, change the character, or wrap them up with a bodyguard of henchmen.

It works both as a stand-alone game and as an overlay you can drop over your own favorite old-school game. And for those occasions when you don't have time to get even one player or GM on hand, you can use the GM-less solo adventure system in the back to brew up your own game.

Being able to play with just one or two players plus a GM is a pretty big departure from standard roleplaying systems.  Beyond the old James Bond 007 RPG I can’t even think of one that was specifically designed for a low number of players.  What made you want to create a system with this in mind?  

A lot of us just don't have the time or opportunity to get four or five friends together for gaming the way we used to twenty or thirty years ago. Sometimes our schedules only mesh with one or two friends at a time. Aside from that, there are always spouses, kids, and curious bystanders who want to try out our hobby and deserve a personal introduction that's most easily handled one on one.

Beyond that, sometimes the most interesting and elaborate campaigns can come out of very small or singular player groups. The fewer players, the more time the GM has to focus on their choices, actions, and interests. It's almost always at least theoretically possible to do this with a given RPG, but it's a lot easier when the system itself is supportive of such small groups.

How important was it for you to have a beta version of the game ready to go before coming to Kickstarter?  Has it saved you from being asked lots of questions about the game system since you can just say, “Pledge a dollar and see for yourself?”

Having a beta version ready for distribution is mandatory, as far as I'm concerned. It's not so much about saving myself questions as minimizing every source of calamity possible before I pull the trigger on a Kickstarter.

Kickstarter offers a creator the wonderful opportunity to get everything possible finished before you ever expose yourself to risk. I can spend all the time I want writing, editing, doing layout, and preparing the details of the Kickstarter before I even set up the project on the site. Sure, there's a chance all this effort will be wasted if it turns out the public doesn't want the product, but even in the worst case situation there I'm only out the money and time I took to prep things. I don't sacrifice my reputation or incur any long-term obligations.

With a beta version complete, I can stop worrying about the writing process before I even start the Kickstarter. I can focus on the next step of development and put a floor under how bad things can get in the case of unexpected problems or sudden disasters. Even if I get hit by a truck tomorrow, my backers all have playable PDF versions in hand.

We are but Insects to Them

Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation!  I am joined by first time creator Adam Roeger who brings us On the Backs of Gods: A Pen and Paper RPG.  Thank you for joining us today Adam.

Thanks for having me James! I’m excited to be able to share this exciting world with people.

On the Backs of Gods is an intriguing premise for a game world, could you tell us about it?  

Sure thing. Basically it takes place in a world in which the surface is lush and beautiful, untouched by man, but filled with horrible and incredibly dangerous creatures. Mankind, (and elfkind, dwarfkind, and others) make out their livings instead on the backs of massive creatures the size of cities, known as World-Walkers. Through the use of airships and other technology, people trade with other Walkers, living in fear of the surface world and its denizens.

Where did the idea of living on the backs of giant creators come from?  

Well, it’s not an entirely new concept in and of itself, but I’m doing some different things with it. The original basis for the world as well as the name came from a rather imaginative thread on the /tg/ forum of 4chan. From there, I expanded the setting and the creatures inside of it, with inspiration from many different sources. One big source for me was the Mortal Engines series from author Phillip Reeve, about massive cities on wheels that wander around eating up smaller cities. But there was plenty of other inspiration, even for individual Walkers, as there is a little fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk, and other genres mixed in to the whole setting.

American Wine Story

Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation!  Today I’m joined by the fine folks over at Three Crows who are here to talk to us about their American Wine Story.  Thank you for joining us today.  

Thanks James! We appreciate your interest in our project. As indie film producers, we’re always looking for new ways to get word out about the film. We’ve collected some amazing stories from winemakers around the country, and we’re hoping to share them with as big of an audience as possible.

Like any good documentary you’ve discovered some interesting tales to tell, what is the story at the heart of American Wine Story?  Why should people be interested?  

The film follows people who’ve reinvented themselves in wine. They reached a certain point in their lives when they were suddenly bit by the wine bug and they decided they should risk everything to start from scratch in that business. In other parts of the world, winemakers come from families who’ve been doing this for generations. But here in the States, especially in the up-and-coming wine regions, everyone in the business started somewhere else. They were computer programmers, engineers, and, in the case of Drew Bledsoe, an NFL quarterback before becoming wine producers.

When folks think wine in America they tend to think Napa valley in California, yet you mention having to go to 7 different states in your video.  Where are all these wineries and why don’t more folks know about them?

American Wine Story is about people who are reinventing themselves halfway through their lives and becoming winemakers. But in truth, entire regions are doing that...reinventing themselves as wine regions. Oregon, where I’m from, only started becoming a serious player in the late ‘60s. Now it’s established as a world-class wine region. But other states, like Arizona and Virginia are also trying to prove themselves. And they’re serious about competing with places like Napa.

This drive to pioneer something new is typically American, especially when it comes to wine. Thomas Jefferson planted commercial vineyards in Virginia in the late 1700s. He never succeeded, but his original goal was to sell wine to the French. He dreamed of an American landscape covered with vineyards. Now, 200 years later, it’s finally coming true. We touch on this in our film and interview winemakers from Virgina and six other states, including California, which is best know for American wine.

We traveled to Washington, Oregon, California, Virginia, Arizona, Missouri and Kansas. If we had enough time and money, we could have visited wineries in all 50 states and Canada as well.

Zombies Meets Canterbury Tales in The Community

Welcome back to another Kickstarter Conversation!  Today I’m joined by Steve Randall who is here to talk to his comic Kickstarter The Community.  Thank you for joining us today Steve.

Thank you so much for having me, it's definitely my pleasure to speak about our project to a larger audience, and we appreciate your time.  

At first glance your project has to illicit an “oh no, not another zombie comic”  response; what makes The Community different?  What made you want to bring up the classic Canterbury Tales in reference to your work?

 I know right?  More Zombie stuff. Comicbooks, movies, television, the undead are practically everywhere one turns, but with everything I see out these days one part, in my opinion, was always sort of glanced over when it came to Zombies. Those first few moments of the outbreak were always way more exciting to me then the entire rest of the story.  Seeing how a character went from one moment pouring coffee to the next moment of splitting skulls and running for their life was just never covered enough, again in my opinion. Our collection sort of skips the middle and even the ending in a way, by knowing that each character survives to THE COMMUNITY  we take away some suspense, but we turn the focus and keep it at each characters first few moments of the initial outbreak. We see first hand as they tell their story about the first zombies they encountered and how they reacted. Having so many characters, over 30, presents a problem in the  narration in  how to keep everyone clear, and Chaucer's amazing Canterbury Tale's format I think was a great fit.  In it we see each character introduced by their former job, and then they individually relate their own story to the reader, much like the travelers did with Chaucer.