FurStarter
Of Hexes and Foxes: Armello
An animated board and card game for tablet and PC, inspired by Dark Crystal, Red Wall, Talisman, and other fantasy favorites
Kickstarter ending 5/8/14
Occasionally, someone will say–of a favorite book, or game, or movie or whatever–that it “transcends genres.” This is rarely literally the case, and yet, here’s Armello, playtested for eight months as a board game before being coded for Ipad and PC.
And it’s so, so pretty.
Take the concepts of a Dutch-style board game–Settlers of Catan springs immediately to mind, mostly because of the hex-based map and the tile art. Take some of the concepts of a Magic: The Gathering/Pokémon “Vs” card game. Take a little of the inventory management and top-down look of a JRPG and some of the modular character building of a tabletop RPG. Throw them all into a genre blender and set to frappe.
It’s a tile-based board game where clouds drift overhead, where your playing piece looks across the kingdom and considers her course. It’s a card game where, just occasionally, the cards shimmer, wink, or drool, and the illustrations are as rich as anything put out by Wizards of the Coast or The Pathfinder Society.
Yeah, I’ve got a video game crush on this product. Apologies if I gush.
And not only is it pretty, Armello is intensely furry. Clans of bears, rats, weasels, a bunny with a Japanese umbrella. Backstabbing badgers. A mad lion king, allegorically and physically consumed by the same Rot that plagues the land and turns critters into monstrosities. As the king dies, other “loyal subjects” rise to take his place. Maybe they’re heroes, maybe they’re opportunists. Maybe there’s not any real difference.
At its heart, Armello is a complex card game ported to tablet and PC, so many of the graphics are cards, dice, board pieces, and so on. It’s a nicely-executed conceit. Sure, many of the same mechanics exist in any turn-based game, but recasting them as a deck of cards adds a warm sense of game-geek nostalgia and a sense that the game is something other than automated process. Cards are Items, Spells, and Trickery, with a bit of the feel of “Talisman” to them.
The “board” itself is procedurally generated, with seven tile types with different effects on the character, so positioning plays an aspect in the game’s tactics. The politics and quest change with play, so there’s a variety of experience to be had.
The inspirations for Armello read like a fantasy film festival, geekstravangza, and “best of” book display–Redwall, Game of Thrones, Magic the Gathering, Studio Ghibli (you can really see “Mononoke” in the lion king’s corruption), Civilization, Fable, Dark Crystal…it’s a list.
One thing that makes the Kickstarter page compelling, and then raises some irksome questions–the trailer videos (and there are at least three) uses some really nice animation–the style’s simple but moody and evocative, reminds me a bit of Samurai Jack in balancing “stylized” and “detailed.” They’re great to watch and go a long way toward establishing the world of the game, but are they part of the game? Can we hope for cut scenes of this quality? Yesno? The animation and illustration of the game itself is pretty high quality, but the trailers are, well, pretty watchable, but not sure how they intersect with the product itself except to establish mood. Neither here or there, I guess.
Rewards, stretch goals, nothing terribly out of the ordinary there. The magical price point seems to be $55, where the game download comes with a new set of heroes and characters. It looks like backers will also receive (already receive?) access to the Beta release, and there are a few game play videos floating around on youtube. so the buzz is out there and somebody’s played it. Maybe you can play that staff-wielding bear druid sooner than scheduled.
Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.
Of Hexes and Foxes: Armello
Furfunding Week in Review 4-6-14
This week’s illustration is from the Kickstarter campaign for the “Animalia” playing card set.
A bit of a slow week in the world of furry crowdfunding, no projects really jumped out, so I took a week off to work on reformatting furstarter.com with a new theme that actually shows all the projects (instead of a blank screen, argh) and will help show off Patreon pages. It’s definitely a work in progress, but you can see how Patreon stuff will show up here–broken down by category, of course.
New Projects
For a “complete” list of furry/fur-friendly crowdfunding projects, check out the Project Page and Patreon Page!
ArtRabbit Tarot (reprint) (Ends: 4/24/2014)
An illustrated, bunny-focused tarot, water color, very children’s fantasy style art.
Over goal!
Artworks for Plus Bodies (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Furry art and portraits with plus-sized (but not unrealistic) figures by Michael Tangherlini.
Tangherlini is also working on an apocalyptic fairy tale RPG over on WordPress, well worth seeing!
A Different Animal (Ends: 4/22/2014)
Animal-themed instrumental/synth pieces by Camkitsune
So many words :)
Cat Canyon (Ends: 5/4/2014)
Children’s book. Distracted, a child loses track of her family and ends up in a canyon of intelligent, internet-enabled cats.
That’s one serious wrong turn!
Sprocket! The Comic-Cat (Ends: 4/23/2014)
Sprocket, mascot of the Spokane Comicon, flies into action in his first comic!
Shonen King (Ends: 5/19/2014)
Shonen Jump manga parody featuring…puppies. So MANY puppies.
Lots of sample pages on their Kickstaterpage.
Costumes/Clothing
Eco-Friendly Vintage Tees (Ends: 4/30/2014)
B&W animal tees–the wolf and otter with guitars are particularly cute!
Zoo University (Ends: 4/22/2014)
Sort of an animated furry version of “Animal House”? Which is ironic. Drunken college humor.
…halfway to goal. Huh.
Catladies: The Musical (Ends: 4/25/2014)
Political parody and constitutional cat lady lawyers in this NYC off-broadway musical
Looks like a bit of a non-starter.
MONKEY! (Ends: 4/30/2014)
A puppet show about the Monkey King! Not everybody can get to the UK, but you can see their work on Youtube
Bear Hug (Ends: 5/2/2014)
Live Action/2D story of imaginary friends, growing up, and a bear.
If this succeeds, I’m going need a box of tissues, I’m a sucker for “growing up” films.
Animalia: Tails Imperium cards (Ends: 4/23/2014)
Sparkling playing cards featuring chibi-ish and manga animals in a variety of fantasy roles
Over goal and working on stretch goals!
Evil Ponies (Ends: 5/10/2014)
Pewter pony villainy and horror for your tabletop mini gaming, from the team that brought you Pewter Ponies
Flying Hamster II (Ends: 5/4/2014)
Newton the Hamster: swordfighter and dragon slayer! Sidescrolling RPG with a transforming, flying critter hero.
The Witch’s Kitchen (Ends: 5/14/2014): A cruelty-free cosmetics shop opening in Michigan, courtesy of Anastasia
…MehDogeCards (Ends: 5/4/2014): A kind of cute, kind of funny card game featuring memehound Doge and his transplanetary adventures. And cryptocurrency. Because nothing’s funnier than a product based on a meme.
…Coming SoonGriffin Ranger: The Novel (Coming Soon): Check out Rgibson’s Video for his upcoming Kickstarter, “Griffin Ranger.” Birds with guns!
…Just for funDancers of WAR (Ends: 4/30/2014): 3rd-person shooter featuring weaponized dance, the creator of Johnny Bravo and the founder of Depeche Mode and Erasure. There is nothing that isn’t awesome here, except for the long, slow climb to goal.
Site Under (Re)Construction
I’m updating furstarter.com with a more robust theme… I love the current template, but it has a habit of making features and indeed the entire page vanish when not scaled to the right browser size, which is a HUGE problem. So I’ll be switching over to a new theme, and spending the next few days seeing what breaks. Apologies for the inconvenience!
Furfunding Week in Review 3-23-14
This week’s illustration is from the IGG campaign for the “Wuffle the Big Nice Wolf” graphic novel.
Once again, I seem to have forgotten what happens when I skip a week, so there’s LOTS of new projects!
One minor apology for my artist friends, I’m having problems wrapping my head around how to handle Patreon pages. The way I’m doing it is work-intensive and not really very useful. In a few weeks I’m picking up a new WordPress theme and redoing those pages, but in the meantime, I won’t be updating the Patreon materials. Sorry about that! It’s just super-slow the way I was coding them. The website may be down, or fugly, for a few days while I convert the posts over to the new theme.
Reviews this…weeks…for the Battle Badges badgeable con game, a pair of graphic novels (The Oswald Chronicles and Hounds of Love), the latest Ironclaw project, and the epic “Anthrology” art collection.
Reviews
New Projects
For a “complete” list of furry/fur-friendly crowdfunding projects, check out the Project Page and Patreon Page!
Art
“My Little Demon” 2015 calendar (Ends: 4/17/2014)
A charming and/or horrid 16-month calendar by Heather V Kreiler
Anthrology Artbook (Ends: 5/18/2014)
40 artists get together for a huge, ambitious cross-section art anthology!
Kigai Holt’s Were Art (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Lycanthrope and furry art in markers and watercolor pencils by Kigai Holt.
Light of the White Bear (Ends: 4/9/2014)
“An animal epic about polar bears, science, faith, and man, set in the wilds of the Arctic.” Anthropathic animal story by the animal-fantasy author of “Firebringer.”
First Date (Ends: 4/30/2014)
A fairly cut-and-dried ‘first gay experience’ novella by Saila Yumako
This project is a little underwhelming, but so few furry writing projects in crowdfundingspace!
Ignis Fatuus (Ends: 4/11/2014)
A small-town supernatural mystery GN with art by Latex
Super-slow start on this one.
Hounds of Love (Ends: 5/1/2014)
Slice of life romance in a gently picasso-esque style by Julian Bynoe
Wuffle, The Big Nice Wolf: Year 2 (Ends: 5/15/2014)
Web-to-print graphic novel of Wuffle the Big Nice Wolf by Piti Yindee.
This is the perfect crossroad of old-school socute style anime and wolves.
Bad Furry (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Snark–but loving snark–from The Bad Furry. Not quite ready for prime time patreon page, but fun stuff.
There’s always the “is it funny?” factor with humor that’s down on furs, but this seems to actually be from a voice that enjoys the fandom unironically.
Crystal Mountain Pony Con 2.0 (Ends: 4/30/2014)
A funding relaunch for the Salt Lake City ponycon
Wolf Or-7 Expedition (Ends: 4/16/2014)
Documentary: a 1,200 mile expedition following the journey of a unique lone wolf.
“Ignite” (Ends: 4/30/2014)
A stop motion animation film about a knight on an epic quest to eat a dragon-roasted hot dog!
Slaughter Horse (NSFW-ish) (Ends: 5/16/2014)
A strange indie horror movie WIP featuring a man, a horse costume, barbed strap-on, and BLOOD.
I know at some point we went into this guy’s headspace in the strange world of “Fake Horse,” but I can’t find the blog post. Aw.
Mapena @ Mapchu (Ends: 5/18/2014)
Disturbingly cute little kittens and their animated short videos. They’re like gummi kittens with stars in them, really.
The Bedfellows (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
The furry world’s most dysfunctional gay couple–well, maybeprobably–hit the road on a fundraising campaign. Help the creator tell is day dob to “shove it!”
Battle Badges (Ends: 4/11/2014)
Customizable and wearable combat game/con badges by Skulldog and Bazil Remblai
Tabletop games? Toys? Art? Hard time categorizing this one!
Ironclaw: Book of Adventures (Ends: 4/17/2014)
Book of adventure modules and story hooks for the Ironclaw anthro tabletop RPG.
28mm Teddy Bear Tales (Ends: 4/20/2014)
Sturdy, stompy little teddy bear minis for all your teddy bear miniature wargaming needs, from the Teddy Bear Tales universe.
Creature Creations (Ends: 4/11/2014)
Poseable, unique, handmade art-doll totems by Rhiannon Easton
Given that this has been out for a few days and is sitting at $0, I think the author isn’t really working the system…
Alpaca Party (Ends: 4/8/2014)
A pet-ranching and collecting game featuring that rarest of animals, the Sparkle Alpaca. Turn on your Tibetian rave music now.
Bear Simulator (Ends: 4/17/2014)
A video game simulation that lets you live the dream. The bear dream. If you have that dream. Just enjoy your salmon.
Surpassed its $30K goal! Go bears!
The Epic Loads Bestiary (Offbeatr Voting Period)
A very, very gay look at fantasy monsters, with anthros, satyrs, and a tentacle penis demon. Lots of demons, really.
Not yet launched, but past its voting goal. Hello artist?
Cataclysm: A Post-Human Art Book (Ends: 4/5/2014): A photography book of miniatures focusing on the post-human world, by Zakorath
…Just for funFairy Tale Postcards (Ends: 4/11/2014): Elegent fairy tale/Anime-inspired postcards. The first one was Little Red Riding Hood, I was hooked.
Chibi Steampunky Cthulhu Mythos Minis (Ends: 4/24/2014): Chibi Cthulhu minis with big eyes and lots of tentacles. So much to love.
All Bunnies Eat Carrots (Ends: 4/26/2014): A silly and cute all-ages game about bunnies, carrots, and apparently, gators.
Anthrology: One-Stop Fox Shop
A cross section of furry talent with 40 up-and-coming artists…
Indiegogo ending 5/18/14
I’m a’gonna keep this short and sweet, because A) it’s amazing and I can’t do justice to it, B) I have misgivings about the project that make it challenging to be coherent about it, C) it’s pretty straightforward as an idea, or D) my mate wants to grab lunch and is whimpering at me, Pick one. Pick all four.
“Anthrology” is ambitious: a 150+ page color bound collection of art from 40 contributors. More than anything else, it looks like a cross-section of young and talented artists, the sort of thing that, 10 years later, you might look back and say “I knew her when…”
I hope I’m being condescending, it’s not intentional. On the surface, I don’t actually recognize any of these artists, but I’m not super “with it” on furry artists from the last five years or so, more my shortcoming than anything else. But as a way to give all these artists print exposure? Amazing! I’m strongly reminded of the old “American Journal of Anthropomorphics“–second callout to that title this week–where new artists, professional artists, the old guard and the young kits, brushed elbows in what was ostensibly a snapshot of the fandom in 1993, 1994, 1995. Neat stuff, if you can find a copy.
That being said, there’s some things about this IGG campaign that kind of bother me. I love that it’s “all-or-nothing” Kickstarter type funding, that’s awesome, and that it’s such a broad swath or art and styles. Excellent!
On the other paw, and I’d love to know more about this–who’s the publisher? Really, who are they? I can’t find anything about them on Google. What were the criteria for submission? What’s their ambition, their mission? Is there a goal beyond binding 150 or so pictures in a nice product?
The thing that most troubles me is the “now or never” nature of the IGG campaign. This is the only chance you’ll have to get this anthology, and I’m personally very tempted. But as a historical artifact, it’s only going out to the artists themselves and their personal fan bases, which makes it less of a “moment in the fandom, treasure it forever” and more like the old International Anthology of Modern Poetry contests, where the bound anthology of the book was offered for purchase to the 300 or so poets whose ONE print credit, EVER, was in the book.
Cynical, I know. I don’t actually think that, I’m really optimistic about the campaign and the IGG page is very sharp–so sharp that it should have been on Kickstarter–but it’s a spice in this dish that I can’t quite ignore.
Anyway! I can’t possibly do justice to this one, like I said. The video shows art from the 40 excellent artists involved, the IGG campaign is rich with commission oppos and “your character HERE” (where “here” is in the anthology itself) purchase points. Check the video, it says more than I ever could, and the math of “a picture is worth a thousand words” says this would be a 40,000-word post if I went too much further.
Ironclaw Adventures: *BE* The Weasel
A set of adventures and story hooks for the Ironclaw Pen and Paper anthropomorphic RPG…
Kickstarter ending 4/17/14 
Ironclaw, by Sanguine Games, is arguably the best-known Pen & Paper RPG (shared fantasy role-playing around a tabletop, like Dungeons & Dragons). It’s not the only furry P&P RPG one that’s had some sticking power–Albedo Anthropomorphics,a sci-fi RPG based on furry founding father Steve Gallaci‘s work, also spun off supplements and multiple editions (and is also, at this point, one of Sanguine’s games). It may not be the first, or the most successful (both of those honors–at least the former–likely go to Palladium’s 1985 “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness,” probably a success because of profound “right place right time” syndrome.) But so far as well-realized, well-supported, still-expanding, still-produced furry RPGs go, look no further.
Ironclaw is many furries’ introduction to P&P RPG. It’s a renaissance fantasy; the island/continent of Calabria is a toy four great noble houses struggle over (the game book says Calabria is the “crossroad of the known world.” I figure it’s like Australia in “RISK,” whoever gets it wins the game.) Some small number of the inhabitants of this world can throw magic around, but with the growth of new technologies, the power of the church and the four noble houses, the fantasy RPG staples of magic and monsters could almost fade into the background–Renaissance Europe is complicated and deadly enough without fireballs!
Oh, hey, there’s an online version too, I did not know that.
So far as expansions go, Sanguine recently launched a Kickstarter to bring their Asian “Jadeclaw” game up to date with their new rule edition, a version with a streamlined combat system, cleaner magic system, much-abbreviated skill list (overall, the game seems to have taken several big steps away from an unnecessarily rules-crunchy “spells & simulationism” game to a cleaner, combat-light storytelling game, which is probably a better place to be and more inline with the mainstream P&P RPG hobbistry. Overall, the new revision has been expanding at a modest pace, with the Asia-themed Book of Jade and the virtually contractually-required magical supplement expanding campaign options.
Sanguine Games’ newest Kickstarter, the Book of Adventures, expands the universe with classic and new Ironclaw mini-modules and story hooks. 
With the indie RPG industry moving to online/print-on-demand and crowdfunded launches as publishing models, Sanguine Games is well-placed–furries are, by and large, young and tech-savvy, and Ironclaw’s status as the preeminent furry RPG is a powerful asset for bootstrapping a small-press product. Indie RPGs seem to be trending toward a post-print economy, which might hurt a large company that makes its money from brick-and-mortar stores, but the Fandom has the resources and enthusiasm to sustain a primarily digital model. Anyway, the product! Six “Ironclaw” adventures, fleshed out with side-quests, characters, and storylines. Not sure of the page count (ahem, Sanguine?), but given the size of their original adventure modules (pocket-sized trade paperbacks with 60 or so pages), I think we could imagine a solid 180-page book.
Right now, “Adventures” features: a bleak game of war with “The Wolves of Winter”; luxury and pomp at the opera with “Wages of Envy”; noble intrigue with “Lost Heir of the Rinaldi”; uncovering the grim past with “Martyr of the Catacombs”; a journey into the untamed, savage (?) land of Phelan; A story of loyalty and the church in “Crisis of Faith”—and that’s the product as currently planned. Scanning over the stretch goals, another two adventures are in easy reach at the $3000 and $7000 goal, and if the Kickstarter reaches $18,000—possible with its loyal fan base, the book will be more than half again bigger, with at least four new adventures, and expanded art and content besides. Besides being, well, a solid collection of modules that might be helpful for an established Ironclaw campaign, pre-published adventures help realize the game world; they show how Ironclaw plays out in the minds of its creator, filling in the world, suggesting ways to play and expand your game, and generally taking the game master’s paw and saying “Someday, cub, all this will be yours.” Helpful stuff. 
As to the Kickstarter itself…hmm. It doesn’t really put on its best Sunday suit. The video is about a minute long, loaded with art, and nothing else, and the text description is, well, text, and nothing else. Given that most potential investors are going to glance over the campaign page for highlights and move on, this isn’t the best sales approach. And while the campaign is at double their original, probably somewhat understated, goal, there hasn’t been an update posted, and very few comments–and none at all from Sanguine itself. This is not a good way to build interest or community within the Kickstarter toolset, and the world hasn’t been exactly buzzing about it outside of the standard P&P RPG internal boards. So…we’ll see, but without some push from Sanguine, that $18K goal seems pretty distant on the horizon.
Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.
Brightly colored, stuffed with mice: Graphic Novels
There’s always a brisk trade in graphic novels and webcomics in crowdfundingspace, all exciting, stuffed with [pick one: A) magic, B) warm slice-of-life tableaux, C) foxes]. I didn’t want these two gems to slip by without at least a quick glance, they’re all neat projects and well worth a little tour!
So two mini-reviews: The Oswald Chronicles, the tales of a magical mouse; and Hounds of Love, a poodle-infested slice of life from Toronto by Julian Bynoe.
The Oswald Chronicles (Vol. 2)
Kickstarter ending 4/18/14
Part two of the ongoing stories of Oswald, a gentleman mouse possessed of magical abilities and an unfortunately adventure-prone, and mystery-fraught, life. Much of this mouse’s history is a mystery to him, where he came from, where he learned to communicate, where–and this is important–he picked up a knack for runic sorcery. But he’s ready to face adventure and inconvenience with curiosity and good manners. And a cute little bow tie.
There are other characters in this webcomic, but they aren’t adorable mice, so we won’t be discussing them, save to say they’re assorted and fey.
Volume 1 is available on Kindle, or as a perk at the $35 pledge level in the Volume 2 kickstarter. Of course, you can get caught up online, but the website is a bit clunky, so…seriously consider that pledge level!
Vol. 2 is a three-story anthology, with a range of artists, author J.D. Calderon, of course, who’s been working in comics for 20+ years, and works with his wife Daphne Lage on another ongoing joint project, Tall Tails. The third story in Oswald II is a prose piece illustrated by Lage, who has no shortage of furry cred of her own–Lage has been in and out of the furry fandom since the early 90s, and was featured in the 1993 American Journal of Anthropomorphics, a book which introduced me to the fandom (and, oddly, to my mate, but that’s a longer story). Other artists in Oswald II include Luigito Teurel and Jade Gonzalez.
The Kickstarter for Oswald II is packed with awesome sample pages, with nods to anime, 1970s fantasy illustration, and some of the oldest school furry art around, and well worth a look!
Hounds of Love
Kickstarter ending 5/1/14
We’ve seen Julian Bynoe’s work before; he runs an absolutely crazy number of ongoing stories, variously anthropomorphic and less so, from his “Snowleopard Arts” website, he launched a campaign for a fun, gently picassoesque art portfolio and comic “The Blanche Carte Project,” and did an adorable illustration for one of our December posts.
I really love a good slice of life comic, and it’s a place where anthro characters hold their own. Circles, Hepcats, Little Tales, and Associated Student Bodies (…maybe, I might have miscategorized a wacky porn romp there). It seems like escapism in mainstream comics is strange supernatural forces and supers in spandex–but a big chunk of furry escapism is just little moments of life, but with fuzzy ears and tails. Nothing wrong with that.
Bynoe’s particular slice of life is two canines, occasionally happily in love, more often tangled in circumstances (but still in love), and their cast of assorted characters, inconveniences, and exes. Bynoe’s artwork is light and friendly, very much in the “indie comix” mode. His characters are simply drawn, expressive and warm. The kickstarter’s funding for a 100-page B&W bound volume of Hounds of Love, collected from its occasional webcomic runs and biweekly appearances in community papers in Toronto.
It’s a sweet and frothy series, with a good story and a fun romance. It’s off to a slow start, but don’t be afraid of the Canadian Kickstarter–Visa and Mastercard dispense Canadian dollars as easily as US.
Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.
A Wild Badger Appears! Battle Badges
A semi-collectable card game of battling beasts and con-badge combat…
Kickstarter ending 4/11/14
[Edit: The game creator responded to this message with some clarifications and upcoming news, so make sure you scroll to the end if you're interested in this project!]
It seems like there’s a three-year cycle of a particular meme, it’s a bit of a hula hoop. I blame Pokémon. It’s the “let’s make game cards of our characters” meme.
After about 25 years of playing Dungeons and Dragons, I really can’t possibly say anything negative about this. Who DOESN’T want to stat out their little avatar and send it into glorious battle? Maybe your fennataur can finally pull out that magic wand she’s been hiding all these years and lob a decent “Flaming Hand of Fiery Doom” at someone. It’s a side of a fursona that doesn’t get to play often, and it’s a compelling little meme.
Artist Skulldog and gamer/game store owner Bazil Remblai have collaborated on a logical, and marketable, hybrid of the “stat my fox!” meme, collectible fighting card game, and ubiquitous con badge, to make “Battle Badges,” potentially a perfect microgame to play in the registration line at cons.
Here’s how it works. Some of this is guesswork, but it’s informed guesswork.
From a modest stable of critters–six at first in the starter kit, we see a badger, dragon, and a couple of canines, but the selection should expand over time–pick your critter, printed out on a glossy smoked acrylic and magnetic badge. Find a place to wear it. A shirt would be a good choice. Your boxers would not be a good choice, unless you’re playing “strip battle badges” and are going for a special bonus round. I don’t know, that may be in the advanced rules.
Each critter has some baseline stats–all of them have a score for brawling, ranged combat, and magic. Those numbers are concealed with magnet buttons. Blaster badger here is pretty good with his fists, GREAT with his gun, not so hot with the magic missiles. In a fundamentally “rock paper scissors” type contest, you pick one of these three stats, rochambeau it out (ranged beats brawling, brawling beats magic, magic beats ranged), and the winner gets a +3 boost to that particular stat score–compare stat scores for the winner. Three rounds is a match (I think–there’s a hit point system of heart tokens that might shuffle that up a bit.)
Simple enough! But for customizability, there’s a handful of special tokens (at least 16) that shake things up–special kinds of attacks, defenses, and effects that modify stat levels and game play, keeping things interesting and rounds unique. Not every character is equally effective with the various types of special tokens, so that’s another place where your choice of characters impacts play and strategy.
For a quick five-minute game, that seems pretty sound! An easy mechanic, easy game play, and just enough pieces to fill up an oversized badge, and not a lot more. No dice, none needed. It’d be good to see how the special tokens affect game play, that doesn’t seem fleshed out yet, but knowing how CCGs work, one can imagine the basic idea pretty clearly.
So, big thumbs up: an idea with an obvious and unexploited niche (short interactions in conspace), high visibility (badges are about as easy to spot as could possibly be), and super-plus-one, an invitation to interact with strangers in a game-time way. Neat! It’s a social tool as well as a game!
Conceptually, I like this product a lot, but there’s a few big obstacles.
First, saturation. For a social game like this to take off, it’s going to take some market penetration. This is the classic “video phone” problem (an obsolete example now, I guess, but it used to be valid). You could only use video phones if other people had them, so under a certain threshold, there was no point to owning them–a doomed technology, until Ipad broke it open again. If I never met any other players, there’d be no point in having a badge, and it doesn’t seem like a game that you could just buy and play with your friends at home. It’s reliant on conspace and not knowing your opponents.
Secondly, the starter pack seems to be a problem, and in part it’s tied to the customizability of the game. At $40, it’s a price point that I’d associate with a full set, not a starter pack–and nobody’s buying it yet. Of course, with stretch goals enabled in the Kickstarter that $40 could be more attractive, but still, it’s not the everything pack (and the team hasn’t mentioned the stretch goal levels yet, so I’m not sure how meaningful this is…play the system, guys, you’re missing an opportunity here!) Badges are representations of self, so you’d hope for something that was…well, kind of like you, right?
Maybe I’m overstating this. If the point of “Battle Badges” is the “Battle,” it doesn’t matter, just pick one that’s fun and fits your playstyle and personality. If the point is “badges,” having only a small harem of options is a problem. I suspect there’s an “in between” place that most participants would want.
At about 80% of goal after only three days or so, the campaign looks like a success, but in this case, I wonder if it truly is. Most of the funds have come from the top tier reward, dinner with the artist and–here’s the important thing–a custom, “your face here,” badge. The success of this kickstarter seems, at this time, to be tied to personal time with the artist and a unique representation of your character–prioritizing “badge” over “battle.” In a game needs a certain level of saturation to be playable, and assumes a certain level of genericization to keep play affordable, and indeed meaningful, to the players, this campaign may be able to succeed without actually being a success.
Time will tell.
Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.
Furfunding Week in Review 3-10-14
This week’s illustration is from the kickstarter for the pajama-enabled, twisty-flippy platformer The Land of Eyas.
Meanwhile, in crowdfundingland, spring seems to have thawed the frozen glacier of projects on Kickstarter, and Patreon–well, that was a sort of geyser thing that never really slowed down. Lots of new projects! If I’ve forgotten yours (particularly Patreon posters, they’re not as time-sensitive and for some reason Patreon lets me uncover incomplete projects…) my apologies, life is what it is.
One artist on Patreon that’s near and dear to my heart, literally, I’m wearing her work now–Foxloft, maker of the tribal-style tagua pendants that seem to be everywhere at the cons, just opened up a Patreon page! Patreons–ah, patrons–get access to a free video stream and chat (so you can lobby for your favorite critters), or “gimme” boxes of randomness from an artist that so many furries wear proudly.
Reviews this week (and there really should be more, but…RL…) include an overdue look at “Penguins vs. Possums,” and a charmingly weird or weirdly charming infernal romp with “Adopt a Demon,” a product of my home town, Austin!
Reviews
New Projects
For a “complete” list of furry/fur-friendly crowdfunding projects, check out the Project Page and Patreon Page!
ArtAdopt-a-Demon (Ends: 4/4/2014)
Sure, everybody’s accidentally summoned the hellspawn, but remember, a demon isn’t just for a séance, it’s for life. Beautiful and weird line-art demons.
I just have to say, I love my home town and the weird stuff it turns out.
Tiger Stripes (Ends: 3/25/2014)
A cute matching and math game for parents and kids. Help tiger cubs earn their stripes!
Wee Beasties (Ends: 4/6/2014)
An owlbear (and other classic Dungeons and Dragons monsters) get ready for bed in this easter-egg-intensive illustrated children’s book.
The Bold Tales of ‘Whiskers’ McFadden (Ends: 3/30/2014)
Action! Adventure! Hairballs! A “Hellboy”-esque pulp graphic novel.
Wolf and Man (Ends: 4/3/2014)
A graphic novel set in the paleolithic past, the “first boy-and-his-dog” story. More of a wolf though.
Midwinter Vol. 1 (Ends: 4/7/2014)
A very wolfy occult investigator teams up with a scientist in this modern fantasy. More on the artist’s DeviantArt.
Okay, I don’t *know* that he’s a werewolf, but if it howls like a duck…
The Oswald Chronicles (Ends: 4/18/2014)
A charming gentleman mouse and his adventures in a fantasy universe, web-to-print graphic novel.
Rat Rage webcomic (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Pngoing support for “Rat Rage,” Robaato‘s DeviantArt webcomic
“Fur-Piled” and “Perception” webcomic (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Patreon funding for Arthur Husky‘s “Perception” and “Fur-Piled” comics
Foxfeather Studios Tagua Tribal Art (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Foxfeather, whose tagua tribal totem pendants are ubiquitous in the fandom, opens her portfolio for previews and freebies on Patreon.
Dark Skyes (Ends: 4/5/2014)
A pony dating sim and RPG of epic scope (and pretty solid artwork!)
Kitten Dump (Ends: 4/6/2014)
Twitch/reflex VG. Only one thing stands between dogs catapulting innocent kittens into a ravine and…ah…a ravine. YOU! Move quick!
Design Unscripted (Ends: 4/21/2014): A fascinating collection of illustration and design by 25 artists (some furry, some fantasy, some of everything!)
Aim for their black soulless eyes!
A story of violence, love, prophecy, revenge, and violence in a timeless war that you probably weren’t informed of…
Kickstarter ending 3/21/14
Since the dawn of time–or at least since the supercontinent Pangea separated, marsupials became a “thing,” and penguins were shunted to the frozen south–they have waged a secret war. Two great houses, two great species.
Penguins.
Possums.
Choose a side.
Three visionaries come together to bring you this glorious indie comic tale of vengeful possums and flightless waterfowl most foul. John Bring and Lindsey Calhoon Bring are talent in their own right, TV and comic writers–John’s worked on the TV series “Supernatural”–but series creator Sebastian Kadlecik is one of those creepy polymaths that ruin it for the rest of us, a TV and stage actor, graphic artist, writer, apparently a ballroom dancer, and his résumé says he does a mean cockney accent, but I just had a heavy lunch and am not ready for that.
Deep down, you know the story to be true. Since the dawn of time, possums and penguins have been fighting their endless war. The possum’s ‘Chosen One’ comes soon, destined to overthrow the Penguin Emperor, or die in the effort. Until then, each species “struggles for the upper hand or paw or flipper” in this shadow war, and soon it will boil to the surface, and every human must choose his or her side in the war…and choose wisely, it will likely be the most important decision of their lives, and possibly the last.
Well, I assume that’s the case anyway, the actual “Possums Vs. Penguins” website has been down a while, and I can’t factcheck properly. Though there’s a heck of a lot of traffic and information on the PVP facebook page, previews and leaks and, well, penguins.
The PVP Kickstarter’s straightforward and a solid safe bet. Besides the fact that they’re past goal and into stretch goal territory at this point, most of the work’s already done. The first four issues of PVP are already out the door, and this fundraiser is for the bound print version of same. Still, there’s a future for the project beyond the big bound edition–issue #5 is out, and perhaps the future of penguinkind or possumkind may still be undecided. Every dollar counts. Just write “Possum” on that dollar.
Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.
Feathery, Leathery, Bent: Adopt a Demon
A collection of curious and strange demons, just looking for a home…
Kickstarter ending 4/4/2014
It happens, it happens all the time. One little seance, one ill-planned orgiastic ritual in the tunnels under the bell tower, and there they are: demons. One woman, Monica Knighton, has made it her mission to give them a home.
Now, she would like them out of her apartment. They tend to eat furniture, and when they widdle on the carpet it burns a hole into the house below. Won’t you please adopt one of these weird beasties?
Adopt a Demon is a quirky, tongue-in-cheek art project by Austin artist Monica Knighton. You can tour through her work in her art blog, which is loaded with all kinds of storybook illustrations (…kind of, her sense of humor bubbles up constantly turns pretty pastorals into strange commentaries on art expectations), but her brief pen-and-ink gallery has a lot of fuzzy animals, too. She also makes engraved jewelry, very pretty stuff.
The adopt-a-demon conceit–the artist has ended up with a houseful of demons and would like to share them–runs through the entire project, video, rewards, etc. The entire page is witty and readable, a rare thing in the dollar-desperate genre of crowdfunding pitches, and a pleasant change!
As for the demons, they’re impressive and varied. Some of them capture the dark and baroque imagery of a 16th century grimoire, sombre and studded with strange symbols. Others have the charming dumbness of a children’s easy-reader. In the late 15th century scholars logically extrapolated that there was something on the order of 666×6,666x6x66 demons in hell’s legion, and then set out to build a catalog of weird and distinct characters to fill the ranks. So you get these somewhat random monstrosities, pieces and parts strung together, weirdness for the sake of weird, and Knighton realizes them very well.
Yay, bored academics!
Knighton, in her time, has done a lot of work for the Central Texas SPCA, and it shows. Of course it comes through in the joke itself, “give a demon a home!” but in the backstory and inspiration for the project, too. I asked her for a few words on the inspiration for the project. Besides her obvious love of the occult,
[...]I guess the inspiration came from my working for the Central Texas SPCA. I ran the place for about eight years and it was crazy and messy and challenging. One of the things the long-term volunteers saw was how people would adopt the more attractive animals. But the ones we loved were the oddballs. The pitbulls with chewed-off ears, the one-eyed cats and elderly gray-faced mutts with cataracts. One of my favorite dogs, Toby, had this insane underbite–think ‘Princess Monster Truck’‘–and he was the sweetest dog ever.
And so many people would not adopt BLACK animals. I can’t say it was superstition…more like black animals were dull or invisible, and only ones with colorful or white coats stood out…We got in the habit of calling the ones that got passed over our little monsters, goblins, precious demons of the pit…”
So, on the kickstarter itself–besides its unusual and surprising readability–there’s some familiar rewards tied into the weird backstory of the campaign. At its heart, the project is about the Lost Key to Infernal Spirits of the New World, a modern demonomicon of cute, horrid, and horridly cute beasties. Sort of a field guide to the infernal realms. Knighton has also reached into her jewelry kit to create an infernal talisman, although its efficacy in demonic wardings is not guaranteed. But it might keep your newly-adopted hellspawn off the sofa. Higher level donors can get their own, unique demon, custom-tailored to haunt their dreams and scare the cat.
So how about it? Do you have room in your soul for one of these little guys? Give a demon a home.
Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.
Furfunding Week in Review 3-2-14
This week’s illustration is from the kickstarter for The Cursed And The Damned by David Sandoval.
Back from a little break and my local con, Texas Furry Fiesta! And had a nice time giving a talk on crowdfunding to a small, friendly group of people, the majority of which are regulars at our local Wednesday fur meetup, so clearly I’m not drinking enough of my own Kool-Aid on the self-promotion front. Next year!
Highlight of the week beyond the con: Sex writer, social activist, and advice columnist Dan Savage (who started the It Gets Better campaign) gave a signal boost to my review of the “Body Nommer” IRL vore project. Neat! In the pantheon of my internet gods, he’s in my dodecatheon.
Reviews this…weeks…a collection of recent Patreon pages for sci-fi webcomics, and, of course, the Body Nommer. I don’t know how I’ll ever beat 1,400 views on a single page.
Reviews
New Projects
For a “complete” list of furry/fur-friendly crowdfunding projects, check out the Project Page and Patreon Page!
ArtBRI Mercedes’ Children’s Illustrations (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Fairy tail and children’s art inspired illustrations by Bri Mercedes, peppered with cute artwork and big smiles!
My Little Po-Mo (Ends: 3/20/2014)
Print collection of a series of pony analysis essays covering season two and beyond!
Dozi the Alligator (Ends: 3/31/2014)
A sickeningly cute alligator escapes from Hoxwinder Hall for a romp in the swamp!
Penguins Vs Possums: Trade Paperback (Ends: 3/21/2014)
A graphic novel of the indy title “Penguins vs. Possums.” It’s a dangerous, dark world, being either a penguin or a possum.
The Cursed and the Damned (Ends: 4/9/2014)
Werewolves collide with zombies in this graphic novel horror. (Okay, yes, the zombie meme really peaked three years ago, but they’re good werewolves!!)
Nyx Kitty Shirts (Ends: 4/29/2014)
Cute and fresh animal designs on tees and tank tops
DerpyCon South 2014 (Ends: 3/19/2014)
September BronyCon entering its second year in New Orleans, LA
Grand Brony Gala II (Ends: 4/19/2014)
Crowdfunding the second year of a Tampa, FL bronycon, August 14-17
Off to a slow start :(
Britannia Bronies (Ends: 3/16/2014)
A short documentary look at broneys in the United Kingdom.
Dawg Dayz (Ends: 4/9/2014)
Absurd animated pilot launch, a lazy dog balancing life as a comedian with his job in a hot dog truck
You can definitely see the Ren and Stimpy in this one…
Cats! Playing Cards (Ends: 3/10/2014)
Cheeerful, stylized and abstract cats all over every card of this 54-card deck
Really, Kickstarter is only there to create card decks and ‘minimalist wallets.’ There is nothing else. These are cute though.
World of Twilight: Travels Through Anyaral (Ends: 3/30/2014)
A skirmishing miniatures game featuring anthro saurians in a fantasy world. So many lizards
Hungry Bunnies 3D (Ends: 3/28/2014)
First person scrambler based on whack-a-mole, an unhappy game of predator and prey
A long way from goal, this one’s a non-starter, but cute…
The Land of Eyas (Ends: 4/28/2014)
Cute little boy in a cat outfit deals with arbitrarily shifting gravity in this indie platformer
Very “Binding of Isaac” art style…
Bigger Badder Vore Toys! (Ends: 4/1/2014)
Bringing vore fantasy into real life, Snaz Dragomaw moves from the head-sized nommer to the full body nommer…
Ritt’s Adult Webcomics (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Adult anthro web comics covering a range of sins by Ritts’.
The colors on this page are amazing!
Papayakitty’s Kemono art (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Adult cutesy comics by PapayaKitty
Help Ryan the Lion Come Home! (Ends: 3/20/2014): I don’t go for “fund my life” stuff, but there’s a certain charm to Ryan the Bisexual Lion and his spandex lion “Sex with Animals” comedy show. Help him escape from Britain.
Super Mario Bros Stop Motion Pixel Art (Ends: 3/21/2014): Cute stop motion bead art and great accent on the pitch video! He’s already done Final Fantasy….
Skirmos: Open Source Laser Tag (Ends: 4/4/2014): A user-customizable laser tag game. So very glowey. So glowey.
Webcomics: It Came from Patreon
Illustration by Not-Fun, whose webcomic “Inhuman” is currently crowdfunding on Patreon.Thank you, Icarus!!
Greetings from Patreon! Land of trickle-funding and micropayments, where full digital art spreads bring in $3 and pony videos $550…if you have a nice British accent.
Joking aside, Patreon is proving to be a go-to source for content providers, a low-key and low-pressure fundraising tool for artists, who as a category seem to err on the side of low key and low pressure–fundraising without stress (and, frequently, without any sort of campaign, but let’s not go there just now.) It’s a good home for webcomics in particular, where ongoing plots and slow-growing fan bases can turn into a gentle stream of pennies. Here’s a few recent gems.
Inhuman by Icarus/Not-Fun
Patreon
“It’s about aliens and schizophrenics. You should read it!” – Not-fun
Icarus’s “Inhuman” is an elegant sci-fi world, a slow-building story in the distant future, with expressive humans and a wide range of aliens (the four-legged polar bear taur-esque Nikitak may be some sort of Progenitor experiment in weaponized cute). 
It’s been running for over a decade now, rolling out a tale of exploration and identity against the backdrop of a powerful religious state spreading its tendrils across the planets. It’s a mature and thoughtful web series, and while it’s thick with damnably adorable critters, Inhuman is, at heart, a story of what it means to be human.
Anthronauts by NixieSeal
Patreon
“…science fiction with both humor and horror, drama and adventure, and romance and redshirts getting eaten by space monsters.” – NixieSeal
On the other end of the “whimsical sci-fi romp” continuum, Anthronauts, a weeklyish webcomic, a bit sci-fi and a bit space-fantasy running a bit over a year, is a silly, Anime-inspired romp through furryspace, I’m still working my way through the series, but we’ve come across a few characters, somewhat “stock” but well-used–the bishonen unicorn captain (or space knight?), 
bookish and dedicated scientist. Unfortunately flipping through the comic is a bit of a trick, the web interface is just a bit buggy, but NixieSeal’s world is cheerfully perverse.
Page one: “Father, you look unwell. As much as I enjoy slicing your limbs off, I’m starting to worry about your health.” It gets weirder from there.
Poppy O’Possum by Morbi
Patreon
“.It’s a goofy fantasy story about a single mother with super strength and big thighs. Yep.” – Morbi
Interesting, I thought “Poppy” was a down-to-earth story about a swamp possum trying to survive the challenges of being a single mom and living, well, in a swamp. As it turns out, there’s a little bit of sci-fi in this one too, since Poppy’s on another planet, “Flora,” which is a bit of a hellhole (though the Fenneclands there sound supercute.) There’s touches of magic and fantasy in the series, but it’s still, at heart, a mom and her daughter against the world. 
Yeah, it’s a world with perverse and dotty cat-nuns and such. I do like the way the fantastic elements take a back seat to character development and loving mayhem. They’re there, lurking in the background–and Poppy herself seems to be the only nonmagical character in the series, with a certain increased mortality because of it. She’s an outsider, a charming brute in a somewhat fussier world, maybe a little more at home wrestling an alligator than dealing with tea and fine dresses, but Poppy’s a winning character throughout.
Myriad Quest: A Return to the Stars
This is a little more quick-and-dirty than my usual posts, with apologies to a great company, but I wanted to give a shoutout before their Kickstarter ended.
Furry tabletop gamers might be familiar with Sanguine Games. In fact, they might be familiar with it and not know it. SG is the company that publishes Ironclaw, one of the only furry tabletop RPG games to gain any long-term traction in game stores–Albedo would be the only other one I could think of, and while not the original publisher–that honor belongs to defunct “Thoughts & Images” and later Chessex Games–they have released Albedo: Platinum Catalyst, a more recent RPG based on the original comic. It doesn’t seem to be in print, but it’s good to see the intellectual property surviving!
Sanguine’s sci-fi title launched through Kickstarter last year: the atmospheric “New Wave” sci-fi game, Myriad Song. To paraphrase, Myriad Song is a little bit sci-fi, a little bit rock and roll, inspired by 80s classics like Heavy Metal, Dune, and more recent heavily stylized movies like “Fifth Element” and a host of prog rock album covers. In short, it’s probably less important to be factually accurate with the science in Myriad Song as to have the right soundtrack playing.
Now on Kickstarter, Sanguine is back for round two (fight!) with Myriad Quest, a graphic novel from the MS universe. the book follows two adventurers winging their space prog (it’s like space opera, but prog rock instead of opera. No, this is not a real term, I made it up) journey across Myriad Song.
The artist is Matt Howarth, whose history with the fandom intersects in several places–he’s been an on-again-off-again artist on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and his Konny & Czu were recurring characters in the Albedo furry comic anthology series. He also worked pretty heavily on Myriad Song, and his intro comic “Golden Chord” can be read on the Myriad Quest kickstarter updates.
The graphic novel project is worth a look around for fans of edgy and underground graphic novels and indie comix. Is it furry? Not really, there’s some overlap around the edges, and some more in the pledge points (particularly if you’re an Albedo fan).
However, I’m a tabletop gamer, have been for well over 25 years now, and Sanguine Games’s projects have brought lots of my furry friends into pencil-and-paper gaming, which is amazing in our video-game focused, high-energy fandom. For their huge contribution to that narrow little wedge on the Venn Diagram of fandoms that is furry tabletop gaming, I encourage y’all to take a look at this one. I got back from Furry Fiesta recently to learn that Sanguine will be taking something of a center stage next year, so I’m super excited to see what they bring to the conversation in 2015.
Enter the Dragon: The Body Nommer
Making all your “being ingested by a dragon” dreams come true since…uh…recently.
BTW: This post is somewhat more adult than usual, so make sure you’re older than 18 before clicking around the links here…
Dragomaw’s Body NommerOne thing that the Internets, and crowdfunding in particular, does very well is bring highly rarified, specific interests together. No matter how specific your need is, there’s at least a facebook community for it.
I can’t imagine anyone has benefited from this more than the greater Kinkdom. If you’re into sexbots, human furniture, or clowns, your support group awaits. However, it takes special dedication and a sort of weird-ass brilliance to bring the purely imaginary into the real world, and I am, unreservedly, impressed.
And so, without further prelude, I’d like to look at what may be one of the most fascinating projects I’ve ever seen on IndieGoGo, three steps beyond ALL of Offbeatr on the kinkometer: Dragomaw’s real-life vore toys.
Dragomaw started “small,” a soft, silicon-sheathed meaty chamber that’s big enough to comfortably–depending on your definition of the word–able to devour one head. This was their “head nommer,” complete with tongue, interesting glottal ridges, and saliva. The saliva is available in both scented and unscented. There are merits to both, but I’m pretty sure I’m not ready for this level of realism in my artificial dragon slobber, I can’t handle my dog’s morning breath. Overall the look is kind of like a fleshlight that can take a cantaloupe, and then drool all over it.
In a little under a year, Dragomaw has built a virtual store, and populated it with a wide array of soft silicon strangeness, and like their website says, this is probably the closet thing available to an actual vore experience. Check their demo video for some hint of the basic throat model in action. Their older video had the delightful phrase, “that’s why you have to lube your head up.” Well worth the price of admission.The new one is…ah…strangely fascinating, even if you’re not into the world’s biggest tonsils. It’s still hypnotic.
Dragomaw’s vore experience is pretty darn customizable, with some options for color, designs for some species options (like a star-shaped orca throat or a tighter squeeze–still safe, but a little snug, and a few different tongues–forked or flat, depending on taste.
Hah.
Oh, and a saliva pump, and all that customization is in the base package. There’s even some interesting add-ons, such as an uvula, or, depending on where you want to put your head, a butt, which leads me to the inescapable conclusion that sexuality is a richly complex and individual thing.
Anyway, back to the IGG campaign! Snaz Dragomaw, CEO of this company, has pretty much explored the dragon’s digestive tract to its logical conclusion, right? What else is there? To quote Mythbusters, let’s make it large.
Snaz’s campaign is a test for their awe-inspiring, life-sized vore experience: a snug, sleeping-bag sized medical silicon tour de throat, with detailed tongue, internal ridges, a five-foot belly, and, ultimately, a full-sized dragon head, with pointy teeth, to add that touch of “argh” to your special internalized moment. The price point may be high, at $3,500, but they’ve already sold out of the two $2500 models.
Not everybody’s cup of teeth, certainly. But a really good indication that niche market products can hold their own in the crowdfunding world, particularly if they fill a need that hasn’t been previously met…or didn’t actually seem possible to meet.
Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.
Furfunding Week in Review 2-16-14
This week’s illustration is from the kickstarter for Migration by Jeo Cannon
Patreon continues to be a popular destination for fandom content providers. At some point I need to redress how best to feature Patreon projects and pages, they’re getting to be a bit like tribbles, piling up everywhere! Ach :)
This week’s reviews: The all-minotaur tabletop RPG “The Clay that Woke” and steampunky goodness with “Brick Port Dogs.”
On an unrelated note, I’ll be giving the “Crowdfunding for furries” panel at Furry Fiesta this Saturday! Please stop by and say “hi” if you’re in the area! I’d also welcome the input of an experienced crowdfunder at the table :)
Reviews
New Projects
For a “complete” list of furry/fur-friendly crowdfunding projects, check out the Project Page and the Patreon Page!
ArtThe Hungry Wolves: An Illustrated Book (Ends: 3/12/2014)
A story told in haunting illustrations featuring dreamlike and frightening images of nature and animals (particularly wolves…)
Caribou Ink’s Comics and Art (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Art and webcomics by Caribou Ink
Freethinker’s Book of Fables (Ends: 3/4/2014)
A collection of illustrated fables grounded in modern reasoning and critical thinking
I need to call out the image of the squirrel prophet worshipping a statue of one of the Three Muskateers as particularly life-changing.
Poppy O’Possum (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
A biweekly webcomic recently started by Morbi and crowdfunding on Patreon.
Patreon: The “P” is also for “Possum.”
Animatics (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Awkward bromance and wolf-on-ungulate drama on DeviantArt
I can’t find the actual webcomic. It must exist somewhere. Anyone?
Anthronauts (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Quirky and colorful sci-fantasy webcomic by Nixieseal
Brick Port Dogs (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Webcomic and graphic novel work in progress set in a magic-touched, steampunk version of Portland, Maine, by Glowcat
Inhuman (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
The “Inhuman” sci-fi webcomic by Not-Fun
Naughty Pups (Ends: 3/8/2014)
Puppy play props, tees, wristbands, and toys
Hmm…it’s kind of like someone made a vaguely naughty fandom about dog-based leather play, and farmed the props out to Cafepress. I like the rainbow paw print tee though.
Medicine of the Wolf (Ends: 3/13/2014)
A beautifully-filmed documentary about our changing relationship to wolves
The Clay That Walks (Ends: 3/15/2014)
A moody and mythical tabletop RPG of a race of enslaved minotaurs in a Mesopotamiam wilderness
By the maker of “My Life With Master“, the “Igor, Bring me the Brain!” Indie RPG
Migration (Ends: 3/15/2014)
A board game of colonization and exploration in the “Settles” German board game mode
Face.Rig.US Fansite (Ends: 2/26/2014)
A fan-made forum for Facerig, with lots of custom characters.
Not affiliated with the original Facerig project, BTW!
Wolves of Portland: Brick Port Dogs
Gaslight adventure, humor, magic, romance, and the challenges of juggling business and anthropomorphism in Steampunk-era New England…
Open-ended project on Patreon
UPDATE 3/2/14: The Brickport web comic launches tomorrow!
I would never have stumbled across the artist Elizabeth “Glowcat” Malloy had I not seen her page on Patreon. And I’m so very glad I did–if you’re a Facebook user, visit her photostream gallery or look for Glowcat on DeviantArt and click randomly around. Her work is detailed, exciting, expressive, OMG werewolves, and her occasional “must have spent weeks on it” image is on par with any of the Great Old Masters on the convention circuit.
Her newest project, recently launched on Patreon, is a steampunky story set in coastal Maine, in the tiny fictional city of Brick Port, Maine. Mainers might recognize the occasional note of Portland, once Glowcat’s home town. It may be silly, but I’m excited about a Steampunk (or steampunk-inspired) story set in the United States, the dynamic ingenuity of mythical America seems like such an obvious fit for the technological playfulness of the genre, it’s surprising we don’t have a bit more native sons and daughters of Steampunk…but I digress.
The principle characters in Glowcat’s are Victoria and Cyote, the former a tattoo artist, the second a roguish jack-of-all-trades (I’m not saying that there’s a certain amount of “drawn from reality,” here, but Glowcat’s gallery has no shortage of tattoo work. Dr. Who fans might like her TARDIS design. I don’t follow Dr. Who personally, I assume there’s not supposed to be that much blood spattered on the windows :)
The series, at least from the notes Glowcat shared with me, seems to lead with a romance between the two characters, with threads of adventure woven in. In a world where Brick Port is a mote of civilization stranded in the wilderness, and there are goblins and other magical creatures hidden in the margins, there’s adventure to spare. Victoria develops through the series, both in her relationship with Cyote and on a winding, mystical path. The world is touched by magic, with hints of a magical world soaking into ours like paint into a canvas, and the realization of that mystic otherness is one of Brick Port Dogs’ long-term plot elements. That, and trying to run a business when your partner is a coyote. Good luck with that.
On the “furry” front, the characters of BPD run a continuum, from characters like Victoria with just a touch of the inhuman, through typical anthropomorphic fangy tail-waggers, to fully animal characters, driven more by instinct than the trends in the new Sears Catalog.
The world of BPD is a blend of Steampunk, touched with just a bit of the gothic (Glowcat mentions the Mordheim game as a source of artistic influence). Her world has the usual steam-powered automatons and the unusual anthro elements, but along with the magic comes goblins and likewise critters, soothsayers and healers, and Cyote himself has some magical elements that Glowcat hints at–we’ll see how those unfold. Glowcat says she’s found a lot of inspiration in the sepia-toned world of Lackadaisy, in its aesthetic treatment and nostalgic tone–I’m not sure I see it, although Cyote’s manic grin might have escaped from that world.
Now, about the funding model. Ultimately, Glowcat’s plan is to release the series in webcomic form, an ongoing promise that’s perfect for Patreon’s sustained funding model. A dollar, or $5, or whatever a month for something that brings me joy on a Monday morning? Don’t mind if I do. However, there’s a hybrid element at work that’s unusual–at the end of the day, BPD wants to be a graphic novel, a concrete, hold-in-your-hands tome. There’s a clash of ideals there, on some level, between the soft, ongoing funding model and the more Kickstartery project launch model. Both approaches are about creating community–a microfandom on the one hand, and angels for a big release event on the other. I hope to have a chance to talk with Elizabeth down the road to see how she’s merged these two models.
Strong Hands and Horns: The Clay that Woke
A steamy jungle strangling a civilization in vines and mystery, and nameless servants from an unknown past finding themselves…
The Clay that Woke: A Game About Minotaurs
The Kickstarter era has done good things to indie tabletop role-playing games, and to quirky little fandoms in general. Back in the day, the only way you’d ever be able to get your paws on an obscure TRPG is if you happened to bump into the author at a convention, or lived in the city where the thing was produced. On the plus side, you wouldn’t ever hear about it, so no harm, no foul. Now, with crowdfunding and print-on-demand/PDF sales enabled, authors can get the finances for their obscure projects, consumers can catch a copy of the latest and weirdness for their ebook reader, and just maybe your local game store might even get a few copies from the first print run. Hey, it could happen.
I’m blessed to have a big, BIG game shop in town, and they have a shelf full of those little, dark, artsy, and terribly readable little games. I’m pretty sure I even saw Paul Czege’s popular and clever game, My Life With Master (“[a game of] villainy, self-loathing, and unrequited love”) on the shelves next to Engine Hearts. Any game that lets you play Igor and has “self-loathing” as a character sheet stat is a gem.
Anyway…on to the furry content. The Clay That Woke is, like the book says, a game about minotaurs, and a new take on them, inspired more by the monster in the labyrinth than World of Warcraft’s Taurens.
It’s hard to know where to begin–and what these little games do best is settings and ideas, which just makes it harder! Imagine an ancient stone city, Maybe Roman, maybe Mesopotamian, maybe Conan. There are philosophers, open markets, gladiators. Imagine that it’s lost in a dense and mysterious jungle, isolated and alone, trapped by the wilderness and the powers of an unknown past.
Imagine that you are a laborer here, a second-class beast of burden. You have no name, but you do have a profound sense of your mission, your purpose in life. Maybe someday you’ll have a name. For now, names are for humans. Your breed was lifted from the mud of the Eternal River some thousands of years ago…but for what purpose? To serve man? To find their past? Realize the destiny they feel inside them? Ultimately, that’s the player’s quest to uncover.
Reviews of CTW suggest a moody, claustrophobic world, a city on the margins of the wilderness, hemmed in by trees and its unknowable history. And evidence suggests that Czege does mood and tone quite well. These may not be the minotaurs you know, though they feel ancient and mythical in tone. It seems like you could tell the same story with golems or, well, name your slave underclass. But classically minotaurs come from an ancient past, a joke played by cruel gods, creatures of violence, but of puzzles, imprisonment, claustrophobic labyrinths, lost islands, too. Maybe they’re the perfect trope for a game of exploration and meaning in a tiny, isolated world.
I can’t judge the game play aspects, and most of these little games just end up on my shelves as bundles of ideas instead of on the game table anyway, but the core mechanic makes me nervous–a bundle of icons on tokens and a cleverly-named pot, with a table to compare to for a list of set resolutions. There’s a lot of clever here, players can choose icons to pick their preferred resolutions and game masters can sculpt the terms of the challenge. The icons themselves become scarce commodities on their own–suddenly you’re out of, say, “mind” or “strength” or “patience” and have to go and restore that asset somehow. A mechanic like this can do a lot, but a part of me sees “consult Table XX for your results” and flashes back to the bad old days of color-coded colums and “FASERIP” charts. Perhaps that’s unfair, but having to run to a chart is limiting and awkward, in my experience.
The Kickstarter itself–well, it’s hard to argue with success, after three days or so Czege’s fan base has shoved him over goal and into his stretch goal territory. The reward categories are reasonably cut and dried, but there’s a little “precious” here and there that makes me twitch (“A TRUTH: Backers at this level receive a truth that’s unique to them…” and the video, which clocks in at almost ten long minutes, has the strange vibe of a college professor talking to a five-year-old, it’s really off-putting. But Czege’s niche seems to be challenging and intellectual RPGs, and that’s not a place for the humble.
The product’s got strong art by Nate Marcel, a strong indie pedigree, I don’t doubt for an instant that Czege’s a skilled writer, and it’s a rich bundle of ideas. And as crowdfunding goes, the fans have spoken. Take a look.
(PS: Rarely in an elevator pitch video does a fundraiser send me running for the dictionary. “Frondice”?)
Note: Images used above are included to promote the work of crowdfunding artists, and are owned by the original creator.
Furstarter Week in Review 2-9-14
This week’s illustration is from the kickstarter for the Dragon Scale playing card deck by Jessica Feinberg
A handful of new video games, several “fun and interesting but not actually relevant” projects. A bit of a slow week…
New Projects
For a “complete” list of furry/fur-friendly crowdfunding projects, check out the Project Page!
Books/PrintOn a Sunny Disney Afternoon (Ends: 4/3/2014)
A book exploring the first 20 years of Disney TV animation.
Lots of books on Disney animation, but they usually focus on feature films…
The Stellar Life of Jpeg the Robot Dog (Ends: 3/6/2014)
Quirky children’s book about a robot dog and his space adventures
Fur Isle Convention (Ends: 3/31/2014)
A new furry con to be held on Halloween on the Isle of Wight!
Edmonton Brony Expo (Ends: 4/2/2014)
Bronycon launching in Alberta, Canada
Mai Mai Miracle (Ends: 3/7/2014)
It’s not quite Studio Gibli, but some of the same talent, a sweet slice of life anime with a red panda somewhere in there. No, not really very furry. Still. Red panda.
Werewolf: Hunted ()
A werewolf movie told with a sympathetic view of the monster. Nice werewolf masks!
EvoCreo (Ends: 3/7/2014)
Monster collector/battle game with a cute anthro wolf sidekick
This seems really derivative, in graphics and game play, but the anthro wolfy thing’s pretty durn cute
F.A.R.M. (Ends: 3/21/2014)
Barnyard animals meet Call of Duty in this FPS
Slow start and awkward video, this seems like a no-starter, but amusing as a project
Legends of the Dragonlords (Ends: 3/8/2014): Animal companion RPG video game, kind of ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ meets Pokemon, but…there is nothing that is right about this kickstarter page, it screams “19 year old’s first project.”
…Also by FurriesAcrotomicFX’s Effects Makeup (Patreon Ongoing Funding): Makeup and appliance work by fursuit artist Curry Creimire
…Just For FunBukkake! The Card Game (Ends: 3/6/2014): Immature and absurd, style over substance and the style is “silly.” But fun to pull out at parties.
Menswear Dog Collection (Ends: 4/5/2014): Finally! If you’ve been LONGING for a chance to dress your shiba inu up as the eleventh Doctor, carpe that diem!
Furstarter Week in Review 2-3-14
This week’s illustration is from the kickstarter for Kombat Kittens by Large Animal Games
First, a moment of silence for Antilia,the furry MMORPG with a promising launch and whimper of an ending. What makes a project succeed or fail? This one seemed to have LOTS on the ball–strong visuals, the product well in development. Was it a victim of the commercial nature of crowdfunding at the large-project level? A glut of product in the Indie gaming industry or MMORPG product space? Too niche?
On the tabletop front, though, several new projects. I’m excited–again–by Terrene Odyssey, which had a strong launch but is now in the mid-campaign oceanic abyss that is the Kickstarter lifecycle. Here’s hoping for a few surges, the goal’s not distant, but one does not simply walk into…uh…successful funding.
A little microcallout for Fursday, a new curated furry news blog with hand-picked articles, and excellent taste in contributing writers. Good luck! This week’s reviews: Terrene Odyssey, Mob Town, and a cluster of mini-reviews of adult projects on Offbeatr and Kickstarter. Beware, here there be nudes.
Reviews
New Projects
For a “complete” list of furry/fur-friendly crowdfunding projects, check out the Project Page!
ArtFantasy and Dragon Paintings (Ends: 2/16/2014)
Cute delicate dragon postcards and paintings, and the occasional tiger girl
Da Bunny Trail Book Set (Ends: 2/28/2014)
Cute little bunny-PJ wearing Felipe slouches his way into your heart….
Monster Series (Ends: 3/3/2014)
Not SO furry, but cute and strange B&W art panels from mythology and fairy tails for cribs and mobiles
Kris Winter’s ‘Tears of Reality’ Webcomic (Patreon Ongoing Funding)
Manga style B&W fantasy webcomic with furry elements, funding on Patreon
BRONIE Power (Ends: 2/26/2014)
Special features and extended footage from Bronie: The movie.
Kombat Kittens: The Card Game (Ends: 2/20/2014)
Fighting photoshop kittens from a bizaare genre-blending dystopian future. The card game.
Terrene Odyssey (Ends: 2/26/2014)
Strategic card game based loosely on 90s Japanese turn-based skirmish video games…but with dragons!
Artwork and art direction by Megillakitty
Mob Town (Ends: 3/9/2014)
Weasels, rats, foxes, and pool sharks corrupt and take over small towns, mafia-style, in this family-friendly card game.
Project Rain World (Ends: 2/13/2014)
8-bit era platformer: in the ruins of an ancient alien civilization, a lonely slugcat tries to hunt and survive…
KinkyFur Collection #1 (Offbeatr Prevoting)
All-female kink portfolio, with lots of bondage and video game tropes tossed in for funsies. Art by Ligertits and Seinobyte.
PANTHEON: The True Story of the Egyptian Gods (Ends: 2/9/2014): A whimsical graphic novelization of the story of the Egyptian gods. The video is animated and absurd.
Creating Monkey Business (Ends: 2/27/2014): Wild and strange simian sculptures made of nails and metal
Maximalist Wallets and Card Hodors (Ends: 2/28/2014): Fandom-spanning hand-crafted leather wallets with nods to some famous video games, and Game of Thrones. Get it? Card hodors?