Kickstarters continue to resolve, but the entire process has become less appealing over time. This is mainly because of shipping charges, which have increased on their end and as a result the buyer invests in the Kickstarter, then faces a increased cost for shipping, which can reach up to half the original price as a surcharge. One of the end results is that suddenly brick-and-mortars and conventions are more viable markets for small-market books.
As always, these tend to be "first looks" as opposed to any in-depth response, and I will put the Gary Con swag at the end.
Wingspan (Elizabeth Hargrave, Stonemaier Games, Boxed Board Game) Every year, I get a board game for the Lovely Bride, either for Christmas or her birthday. This one has been out for a few years, and has been recommended. It is a card-and-layout game where you put a variety of birds into different environments. European-style game, which means victory is by points and there are a number of ways to score. We've played it a couple times, and it is pretty smooth. Recommended.
Pirate Borg (Luke Stratton, Limithron 166 page hardback) Kickstarter. Mork Borg (Dark Castle, which sounds more prosaic) was as heavy-doom-metal fantasy OSR release from a few years back, light on text, heavy on attitude. It won 8 Ennies, and has spawned a host of sub-lines for different genres. This one is about pirates. It follows a lot of Mork Borgian tropes - book-as-art-project, dramatic headings, lots of tables, but scrape a bit of that away and it doesn't fall TOO far from the D&D tree (classes, combat, dice, etc.) and looks pretty cool. It is art-school heavy, but there is a LOT here, particularly in ship descriptions, and the Kickstarter came with Dark Tides, a folio for hexcrawling (hexsailing) with your ship. Yeah, I want to try this one.
Flabbergasted: A Comedic Roleplaying Game ( Fluer and Chelsey Sciortino, Giga Mech Games/The Wanderer's Tome, 160 page hardcover) Kickstarter. Comedy is tough. OK, OK, INTENTIONAL comedy is tough. RPGs are wide-open for Monty Python silliness. But to set out to make something funny, or even vaguely amusing - yeah, that's tough). Flabbergasted is set in a PG Wodehouse 1920s, where the stakes are low but important - social status and relationships. Set in the seaside town of Peccadillo, the art reflects a bright, breezy south-of-France sort of vibe. This looks like a book for actors (who really want to direct). Also one I would take out for a test drive.
Airship Campaigns ( Benny McLennan et al, Arcane Minis, 224 page hardcover). Kickstarter. This one is interesting in that it harks back to the very early days of the hobby, in which rule sets existed primarily to sell miniatures. In this case, the miniatures are flying ships from Arcane Minis. This is an expanded and printed version of something that showed up on pdf a couple years back. Nice production values, and they go with the idea of treating ships as large creatures, which was done for Ghosts of Saltmarsh and is cool. The Kickstarter version came with a map of part of the world and map tiles for a Rassen Assault Frigate.
Blackvale - A Fantasy Pittsburgh Campaign Setting for TTRPGs (David Lasky30 page self-cover) Kickstarter, one of the ZineQuests from 2021. Fantasy but really post-apocalypse, this booklet would pair well with the 2nd Edition Gamma World, which used Pittsburgh as its setting. Definitely zine territory. A lot of local references - the good-aligned church is Saint Roger of the Neighborhood of Friendship. Some NSWF art connected with the Church of Ayn and the Self Made Man. Not too detailed, but a nice bit for the price (and shipping).
Wyst: Alastor 1716 (Jack Vance, Swordfish Islands edition, 282 page clothbound hardback) Purchased from publisher at Gary Con. I'm not a big fan of deluxe collector's editions, but the graphics and art is pretty cool, and it has gold foil on the cover. And it's a Vance story I haven't read before. Goes onto the TBR (To Be Read) pile.
The Plaguewood Spider (Darryl T. Jones, Splattered Ink Games, 24-page self-bound) gifted from designer. We were talking about art in games with the reference to the Mork Borgs above, and this one is art-heavy, but has a more unified, professional and traditional fantasy feel. It is an introductory adventure for Seeds of Decay, a campaign setting that was launched on Kickstarter, and should be fulfilling soon. Looks good.
Fifth Edition Fantasy #4 War-lock (Michael Curtis, Goodman Games, 48 page saddle-stitched) This was in the goodie bag given to the guests-of-honor at Gary Con, along with a miniature, buttons, and some appreciated fresh fruit. A nice solid-looking 5E adventure involving the players trying to defeat an immortal warrior and his troops. Which sounds ... a lot like an adventure I've been running for 40 years at conventions. But hey, it's a trope.
Hamel's House of Oddities (Jon and Brynn Hage, Sleeping Giant Gaming, Folder with separate sheets) Gary Con promotional for an upcoming Kickstarter. Yep, this isn't even on the docket for Kickstarter, but I've put myself onto the notifications list, and I never do that. And it is primarily the art that's attractive for that (and I realize that this particular write-up is talking a lot about that). What they have is an encounter that looks solid and and has visual backups. Yeah, this looks like it will be interesting.
Core - A chronicle of M'Gistryn (Anastasia M. Trekles, Halsbren Publishing, 300 page trade paperback) Gary Con, purchased from author. The author came to my book-signing at Gary Con and told me that one of her inspirations to write was Azure Bonds. I stopped by her booth later and picked up the first volume of her series. Self-published, san serif typeface, better map than I've seen in NYPublished fantasy books (I'm not calling anyone out). Putting it on my TBR pile.
Ath Cliath a 10th Century Vikings/Celtic City Role-Playing Game Overview Book, (Ed Greenwood and Andrew Valkauskas, Pendelhaven Press, 362 page hardback) Purchase at Gary Con. Written for the Fate of the Norns Ragnarok RPG by Andrew Valkauskas, but really system-neutral, this is a block-by-block description of the Viking-era Dublin. Ed's voice comes through in all of this as he describes every building and most of the inhabitants. Excellent browsing book and a springboard for city-based adventures.
The Wrath of Brotherhood, Book One in the Brethren of the Spanish Main Series (Ozgur K. Sahin, self-published, 410 page hardback) Gary Con, purchased from author. Encountered the author at his booth - he had some of Wizkids' constructable pirate ships on his table. We talked about writers of the Age of Sail - Forester, O'Brien, Kent, and other nautical authors, and I picked up the first book of his series. Pirate ship captain on a mission of vengeance. Sounds interesting. On to the TBR pile.
That's it for this lot - tune in in a couple months when another bunch piles up.
More later,
