Now that I have that song stuck in your head, let me excitedly inform you that this week is the last week of the Kickstarter for School Daze. I’ve been working to figure out how to continually promote this Kickstarter, and I think I might have over-done things on Twitter, and such, so I’ve been holding off on pushing things. However, this is the last week, and I would dearly love to see the funding hit the 7k mark.

I’ve Never Been This Way Before

Other than talking about the Kickstarter, the other thing that I’ve done a lot online is remind people that I’m new to all of this. And, it’s true. I’m sure that I’ve made missteps along the way, and that if I had done things properly, the Kickstarter would be doing even better now. However, no matter the second-guessing that I could be doing right now, I’m thrilled with where things are at. Would I be even more thrilled if we reach the 7k mark or higher? You bet your sweet boots, I would. But none of that changes what we’ve already accomplished here.

School Daze is going to get published. The rest is just tasty, tasty gravy.

Hoping Against Hope, and Wishing Against Wish

Tasty gravy is tasty. I would love to hand you guys the main course of School Daze, and have it slathered with a huge, molten pile of the Trowbridge High Student Handbook. I want to see you guys play with what I’ve made, and see where you take the games that are set both in “normal Trowbridge,” and in the alternate settings the Student Guide will present.

That won’t happen unless we hit 7k, though.

This is the week, and I hope very dearly that we will get to see that happen. It would take this already magical experience, and turn the volume up to eleven on it. There will be clowns, dancing bears, and fire-eating circus midgets. We will see fireworks in the sky, and young couples holding hands as they walk along explosion-lit beaches. It will be Christmas, New Year’s, and Crazy Larry’s Semi-Annual Halloween Party, all wrapped up into one giant ball of awesome.

Sure, all of that will be in my head, but you will be the one to make it happen.

So go do it.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted here. Student teaching will do that to you. If you get a chance sometime soon, thank a teacher for what they do. It will appreciated, trust me.

The reason for my post today is because I’ve uploaded all of my recorded School Daze sessions to be part of the Actual Play category over at The Gamer’s Haven. Ethan, Nathan, and Jeremy (as well as the rest of the crew over at GH) are good friends, and the session audio for all of my other games and campaigns gets posted at The Gamer’s Haven, so I figured why not School Daze?

Due to lack of foresight on my part, I’ve only recorded three sessions, even though there have been over twice as many as which have occurred. Still, it’s better than nothing, and the three sessions will give you a good taste of what School Daze is capable of. From now on, whenever I run a session of School Daze, I’ll be posting it at The Gamer’s Haven.

You can find all of the audio here.

Oh, and that Kickstarter thing is still going. We’re almost to our first stretch goal!

I know that it happened the day before yesterday, but I’ve needed a little bit of time to process what the funding of School Daze actually means for me. I’m (thankfully) moving past the point where I need constant validation to know that I’m doing good work, but seeing (as of the writing of this post) 90 backers raise over $3,700 in support of my game. That’s humbling, gratifying, and more than a little awesome. That means a lot to me.

The other thing that this means is that I’m doing this, for real. I am going to actually publish my own RPG. I’ve got some amazing art coming from Brian Patterson, I’ve got an amazing layout coming from Daniel Solis, and I’ve got my words being hammered into shape by Liz Bauman. I’ve got a dream team working with me to do this, and I get to do it properly, and pay them for their work. That’s a fantastic feeling.

It also means work. I’ve got a lot of ducks to get in a row before this project will be finished. That’s a good thing, because many ducks means I’m seeing to all of the little details, rather than doing this in a slap-dash manner. School Daze is going to be good. Really good. That makes me proud of the work that I’ve done.

The crazy thing is this: the Kickstarter drive still has 30 days left to go. Let me repeat that: 30. Days. People can still contribute funds, and I’ve set some excellent stretch goals for the campaign. I have no idea how big this is going to get, but I’m excited to see what the final results will be.

Finally, I have to thank you. None of this would have happened without people like you reading this site. So, even if you’ve not contributed to the Kickstarter, it matters not on bit to me. Thank you, all the same.

Click to head to Brian's website for the full-sized comic and his commentary

Words, for one of the first times in my life, are failing me. I knew School Daze was awesome. I wouldn’t have poured in as much attention and effort as I did if I didn’t believe that. But to see the support people have given the Kickstarter, in only the first day, well that’s a different brand of special. And, I got to see my game immortalized in webcomic form, which is what you see above. To see something you made used by someone else as a vehicle for their own creative works? That’s gratifying in a way that is difficult to quantify or describe.

Then there’s what Brian said in his post (which you’ll find by clicking on the image above). That’s some of the nicest stuff that I’ve ever heard anyone say about me. To think that I’ve inspired someone to that degree, and to be listen in such august company… well, it’s humbling. I am touched, thrilled, and rendered near-inchoate by the support that my game has garnered so far and it’s only a little over 24 hours since I launched the bloody Kickstarter!

[Insert string of righteous profanity and celebratory exclamations here]

The music is my head is veering back and forth between “Don’t You Forget About Me,” (because I totally feel like Judd Nelson at the end of The Breakfast Club), and “Dog Days are Over,” because that song just makes me groove. And I’ve really grooving right now.

I’m sure that there’s a ceiling on the amount of support that School Daze will get, but I’m also sure that I’m nowhere near that ceiling yet. There’s over a month left for funds to be contributed to this cause, and things are only going to get more awesome. Hang on folks, it’s going to be one wild ride.

At 7am EST today, I launched the Kickstarter campaign for School Daze. If I raise the funds I need, then I’ll be able to work with some amazing people, and produce the game in the form that it deserves. Check out the campaign, and back it if you think it’s worth it.

Even if you can’t afford to back the project (which I completely understand), please spread the word. Every person talking about the game is a good thing. Thanks!

No, this ins’t a post about an awesome-but-somewhat-nonsensical song. It’s an update to my previous post about the School Daze Kickstarter that’s going to be happening in a little less than a month. Last time, I posted what I thought a nice set of goals would be. Having thought through the various goals, and after considering what’s getting them fulfilled will take. As well, I’ve gotten some new information about what it might take to do print versions of the game, which is a really cool prospect.

So, without further preamble, here are my proposed, revised, Kickstarter goals. Give ‘em a look, and let me know what you think.

• $10 -FRESHMAN
  PDF copy of School Daze, and a supporter credit
• $20 – SOPHOMORE (EDIT: Changed $25 to $20)
  PDF Copy, and print copy of School Daze, supporter credit
• $50 – JUNIOR
  Three exclusive Group Projects to get your game going, plus all previous items
• $100 – SENIOR
  Signed, personalized print copy, and all previous items.
• $150 – TEACHER (Limited 5)
  An entierly hand-written copy of the book. You get to create an NPC for the game, who will appear in the final product. NPC character sketch by the artist for School Daze, plus all previous items (that means two copies, one regular, one hand-written)
• $250 – PRINCIPAL (Limited 5)
  A Back-to-School kit with pencils, Gold Stars, School Daze character sheets, and more goodies to make your game awesome. Custom Group Project, written by me, specifically for you, plus all previous items (including hand-written copy of the game).
• $1500 - SUPERINTENDENT (Limited 2 )
  Everything listed in the previous tiers, and I will come visit you anywhere in the continental 48 (or maybe Canada) to run a personalized session of School Daze for you and your group. After, we’ll go get some food and drink, and just hang out.

I feel pretty good about those tiers. I think that I’ll be able to handle the possibility of lots of signed copies, because I think that’s an awesome idea. So, what do you think? Take a look and let me know if anything can be punched up more. Also, the new goal is going to be $3,000, due to some recalculations of cost, and because I’m going to be getting some awesome people to work on the game. (More on that bit later.)

EDIT: I made a few changes to the wording, and to the second tier. I think this is looking good.

Today, I took what I think is a pretty big step for School Daze: I submitted it as a project to Kickstarter. It won’t be up and running for a while (a month or so, if all goes as planned), but I wanted to mention it here so I could get some feedback. I’ve been working through what I want to offer for the various tiers of funding, and I think I’ve got a decent idea. However, I know the power of asking for feedback, so I wanted to list everything out here and see what you all thought.

Tiers

$5 Thanks!
$10 PDF and Supporter Credit & Supporter Group Project
$25 All previous, and three Bonus Group Projects
$50 All previous, and a custom Group Project
$75 All previous, and Hand-designed print copies of the rules (x10)
$125 All previous, and a Back-to-School Kit (x5)
$200 All previous, and a Game session with me at con/online (x2)

I’m pretty comfortable with the finding levels, and with what I’m giving for each one. I know that means 17 hand-designed copies of the rules, but I’m out-sourcing some of that work to an awesome group of volunteers. The Back-to-School Kit isn’t too pricey, either, as it’s a backpack with notebooks, pencils, dice, etc.

The part that I’m a little worried about is all of the custom Group Projects. If I sell all of the top tiers, then that’s 17 custom adventure scenarios, let alone the possibility of selling whatever $50 slots I sell. I could just do the custom Group Projects for the $50 tier and leave them out of the others, but I don’t know if that’s appealing enough.  I’m considering maybe a custom d6, but I don’t have any pricing info for that.

If there’s any feedback you want to give, please do so here in the comments. I’m open to all reasonable suggestions.