Couple O' Kickstarters

Two Kickstarters that have caught my eye in the last few weeks are Our Last Best Hope and No Security.

Our Last Best Hope has a really neat concept, and might possibly tie in to some of the ideas that I've been noodling around with in the background; players take the part of heroes trying to avert a terrible crisis or world-ending event, like in Sunshine or Deep Impact. There's no GM, and it sounds like some of the mechanics might be similar to those in Diaspora (with tokens which allow you to influence story direction). I'm intrigued to see what the game is like, and seeing as it is a potential one-shot game I just might be able to convince the regulars at games night to give it a go.

No Security is a set of resources for running horror games set during the Great Depression. I have never played a horror game before, but there is something very attractive to me about playing a game set in the 1920s. The $20 backing level, which includes a modern day "Great Recession" setting is also really intriguing. Obviously with a horror angle, players are "in the real world only not" unlike In A Wicked Age or Apocalypse World or LotFP; I am very interested in having a look at games which have "real people" in fantastical settings, unlike games I've played so far which explicitly have (to varying degrees) fantastical player characters, who have cyberarms or magic spells.

Kickstarted

I love Kickstarter. I think that the model for supporting creative endeavours is great. I've supported a few projects since I really got taken with the concept last autumn, and two of them so far have been tabletop games. These games have both been funded now, and I'm waiting on the rewards. While I wait, let me share them with you!

Avarice Industries - project link - homepage
I really liked the concept of this, of industrial espionage, corporate villains and being able to manufacture anything that you can dream of. Sounds a little bit vague, right? Reading a sample of actual play clinched it for me and helped me to stump up the cash:

Tasha: She doesn’t have to be home for us to take back what’s rightfully ours. (Bridget, I reach into one of the many pockets on my tiered skirt and pull out my auto-pick.)
Luke: (Hah. I still love your “Skirt of Many Pockets.” I also still can’t believe you fit a crowbar in one of those things.)
Tasha: (It’s easy when each pocket is really a pocket dimension. I paid out of my nose for it though.)
...
Nelson: Oh come on! Everyone on this floor is going to hear a gunshot! Do you really want to pay off the police YET AGAIN?
Luke: (I pull out my ballpoint pen.)
Nelson: Oh… well… um… how’s a pen going to help us out?
Luke: (I take the pen and ruthlessly jam it into the lock.)
Bridget (GM): ….really?

It sounded like it would be right up my street (and that of the people I play with) in terms of providing opportunities to think really outside of the box. My rules pdf could arrive any time in the next week or so!

Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack - project link - homepage (eventually, just a holding pattern for now)
This one instantly appealed to me, partly because of the Vincent Baker connection, but mostly because you build mechs out of Lego and then fight other people. I mean, how cool is that??? It'll take me a little longer to get going with this, partly because it's not as simple as printing off some character sheets (buying Lego pieces and building mechs will take time), but it will be worth it I am sure. The game is based on Mechaton, which I already have - so in principle I could be giving that a go now - but is expanded from that with a whole setting and added rules. I have a dream that by the year's end I'll have had some people over for the afternoon, some pizza and some robot-destroying war action.

Honourary mention for Everything is Dolphins, which I almost supported and then forgot what day it was finishing. D'oh!