Inexpensive, stainless steel dice ring!

We've all seen those nifty spinning rings before, yes? And I think dice rings have actually been around a while. But these dudes have a cool stainless steel model for $15 through Kickstarter.

You can pay more and get more of course, but for that cheap--plus a few chuckles from their charmingly low-budget elevator pitch video--it's well worth it.

 Better move--there's less than 72 hours left in the Kickstarter!

Crowdfunder: Science Fiction Land--the REAL story behind ARGO

HEY KIRBY FANS! Have you seen Ben Affleck's film ARGO about how the CIA staged a filmmaking ruse for a nonexistent sci-fi film in order to rescue hostages from Iran? Well there's plenty about that story left to tell--but less than 2 days to raise the money to do it justice.

Filmmaker Judd Ehrlich is working on a documentary entitled "SCIENCE FICTION LAND" based on the real concept that inspired the CIA cover...a sci-fi theme park! The parks creators hired the King of Comics himself, Jack Kirby to design the look of the buildings. From the Kickstarter page:

In the mid-1970s, before STAR WARS, an enigmatic young inventor named Barry Ira Geller options the rights to Roger Zelazny’s award-winning novel Lord of Light, writes a screenplay and sets out to produce a sci-fi blockbuster and the world’s first science fiction theme park – Science Fiction Land. Geller dreams of inspiring the next generation of scientists and bringing the technology of the future to everyone.

A complete unknown, through his passion and determination Geller enlists an all-star team: "King of Comics" Jack Kirby; Hollywood makeup and special effects geniuses John Chambers & Maurice Stein; world-renowned architect Paolo Soleri, visionary author Ray Bradbury; and legendary futurist Buckminster Fuller.

On the verge of success, the project collapses amidst scandal, fraud, and mystery. Years later, Geller learns that his script and Kirby designs were used by CIA agent Tony Mendez as a cover during the Iran hostage crisis – his film's title changed from LORD OF LIGHT to ARGO. 

As of this writing, they're in the close-but-not-quite-there range of the $50k they need to finish the film. I pitch a little scratch their way because I'm dying to see what Kirby's designs would have looked like on a massive three-dimensional scale--and to hear one incredible real-life spy story.

There's all kinds of great swag of course, but if you're a MEGA Kirby fan, you'll can fund the film AND get yourself a Kirby Museum membership, which includes MORE Kirby swag. (I asked and they confirmed.) I seriously considered ponying up on that one.

Alas, for a mere $5 you can help out, for $25 you get a download of the film (that's what I kicked in). Not a bad entry fee for the ultimate never-never-was-land!

Check out the Kickstarter page for yourself!

Visit the official movie website!

Images: Judd Ehrlich/Flatbush Pictures 

I posted this at Exonauts as well. :)

Kickstart a collection of teen, homebrewed D&D modules from the 80s!

Now here's a crowdfunder for the ages! The Habitition of the Stone Giant Lord & Other Adventures is a new kickstarter compling homebrew D&D modules from ye "goode olde days".

The project aims to publish those long-lost adventures of kids from the 80s using their original, hand-drawn illustrations and maps and painstakingly typed text. Here's the gist of it, from the project's creator:

In 1981, 13-year-old Gaius Stern wrote and illustrated The Habitition of the Stone Giant Lord in imitation of TSR’s Dungeons and Dragons adventure modules. The Habitition is a true labor of love, typed and drawn as a DIY addition to the “Against the Giants” series of modules, part time capsule and part outsider art.

As art, its text and image show how a creative teen made his own contribution to the genre of roleplaying adventures, but where most such books were the work of a writer, a crew of play-testers, editors, and a stable of artists, Stern went it alone. As a time capsule, it provides a window on a particular way Dungeons & Dragons was played at a particular time.

PlaGMaDA and The Hutchingsonian Presents are putting together a collection of adventures written by young people in the 1980s. The focus is on game modules written by players, including their carefully made maps and painstaking illustrations, framing the sort of adventures we played back when we were kids. Help us print this full color book, it'll be great!

$10 gets you a PDF of the book, print copies are $30. This ain't no retro clone folks, this is the stuff of nerdly dreams brought back to life with a 21st century resurrection spell!

And YES, they're still looking for material for the book--so go get your Trapper Keeper from 1981 and start scanning those loose-leaf notes!