1st FrankfortCon 2018

This year is the first FrankfortCon, Saturday July 14th.

I've been to many conventions over the years.  I'm please to announce that this will be my first convention where I'll be speaking on panel about self-publishing and crowdfunding.  I'm pretty excited about this.

As far as firsts go, this is a pretty big one for me.  Here's hoping I have at least one person show up to participate!

If you're at your at the convention you can find the panel happening at 1645 (local time).  This doesn't afford more than more than hour but I think its a great start for new 'Con. 

I'll be addressing things like: Mistakes I've made and how to avoid them, Misconceptions about crowdfunding, respecting your audience, and some 'how to' items. 

Who knows, maybe the next Charles Stross will be in the audience.

Have a great weekend everyone!

From the Godsfall Twitter feed: A podcast I've enjoyed

Built a little link into this image as blogger isn't liking the gofundme widget

Quick disclaimer:  I don't know these guys, but I think the podcast is cool.  I haven't listened to all of them but the ones I have listened to I liked.

*****

Okay, being homeless for any length of time sucks.  I know several of you who have read my blog have posted about overcoming homelessness yourselves and I've known first hand what sleeping in your car is like (enough about that). 

If you're a fan of these folks and can help by contributing, please do.  If you think people shouldn't have to sleep on the street or in their car but can't contribute, please do share this on social media channels to help raise awareness. 

Lets rally the community for one of our own, and help get Doug into a new place as soon as possible.

Thanks for your time everyone!!!

Sam

A little bloody book of Necromancy

I wrote a book on a new arcane tradition that involves the darkest rites of necromancy.  It is a book themed on evil practices, full of horrific rites, searing spells, poisons, and magic items of vile purpose.   It is my own little bloody book of necromancy, and I'm almost ready to unleash it upon the world.  That book is Whispers of Persephone.

This is a far different book than any I've done before. I want to make certain it is as cool as I think it is before I unleash it into my general play test teams.  To keep this book under wraps, I've kept it to only a handful of people.  Now I'm preparing to release it a select few game designers I'm acquainted with and an enlarged field of players/game masters.  One of the things I want to do first though, is format the book (without art, I'm not completely mad), to give these people an opportunity to comment as to the look and "feel" of it.

As with my previous works, this one is going to use KickStarter to fund the art included within.  The artist creating these commissions is none other than the remarkable Christian Martinez .   I'll be teasing out a little of the art for this book in the coming weeks.  I hope you'll enjoy it but be advised that this is content meant to adorn a book about horrid practices and bloody evil.  It is NOT intended for children nor is it suitable for work environments (you have been warned).

The KickStarter launch will be kicked off with a live stream event unlike any I've ever seen before.  I hope you'll turn out to participate.  The campaign will go live in August of 2018.  I'm working with several folks to coordinate the launch date.  This will be the "First Blood" event of the campaign and will launch with an early backer tier.  Come early and support the book to get a great deal.

What is in Whispers of Persephone???   

Inside a cover which hints at its contents, Whispers of Persephone contains dark rituals, searing spells, poisons, potions, alchemical agents, new feats, a new arcane tradition, and a selection of NPC data.  The book is uniquely created, with page art that is designed to make it look like the book has been bleeding from its spine, and the text is being colored to look as if it were penned in blood.  Have I gone too far in producing a book that brings darkness back to the dark arts?  We'll see...

I've been developing this book to bring a sense of purpose to characters who perform evil acts, and to bring darkness back to the dark arts.  I hope you'll find I have succeeded.


Who is going to use Whispers of Persephone???  

I imagine that Whispers of Persephone will see a lot of use from Game Masters who want their heroes to face horrific villains, as well as by players who are playing evil characters of the most wretched sort.  It is fun and disturbing, like a good horror movie.

This book is also created to resemble an evil tome. As such, I believe cosplayers will find the book useful as their grimoire.


What I'm doing about Whispers of Persephone right now ... 

While I am finishing up my formatting of The Steel Road, I'm working on Whispers of Persephone in those moments between tasks.  I've done work on the introduction (trying to polish it up a bit), the text accompanying the Stygian Necromancer arcane tradition,  working on narrative text for some of the NPC's that are named within (Kroalish and Ild being two of the most infamous), and following up with Christian Martinez (read that as harassing him about art).

I've been going over the stretch goal calculations for things I really want to add into the book (art, art and, oh yes, more art!).  These calculations must be done with care as you want to be certain that the different permutations of expense calculations all fit within your stretch goal figures.  I've been checking that over with great care and so far, everything looks great.  I've calculated stretch goals all the way out to $35000.

Preparations for the promotional campaign for this book are underway (I suppose this entry counts as promotion???).  I'm working hard to schedule the launch, and a special live stream event featuring some very special guests.   I'll be revealing more about the live stream event once all parties have agreed to the schedule.  Some other things I'll be doing for promoting this book include reaching out to yet more RPG blogs, podcasts, and YouTubers for interview opportunities.  Here's to a full schedule 😊.

Color matching:  This is a fun task for a grim purpose.  I'm working on picking the exact color for the text of the book.  This book will only release in full color (for several reasons) and I want this color to be, well, special (insert evil grin here). 


What rewards will be available in KickStarter campaign???  

For the first few days there will be the "First Blood" reward tiers that allow early backers to support the campaign at a lower rate.  This is being done in conjunction with the previously mentioned live stream event, sort of a "thank you" for all the people checking out that event and discovering the book through it.    During "First Blood" backers can get PDF and Print on Demand codes for Whispers of Persephone, as well as signed copies of the book at that reduced rate.

What else is available:

PDF copy of Whispers of Persephone as well as a PDF of a custom character folio designed for the 5th Edition for use by Necromancers.

Signed copies of the book!  If you've been following this blog, you know I love to sign books.

Fallen Hero reward ~ This is a limited reward where the backers get named as one of the heroes who have been struck down by the necromancer forces.  You also get a signed copy of the book and the digital rewards.

Acolyte of Death ~ This is another limited reward where the backers get named as one of the 13 Acolytes.  You get named in the book and get signed copy and digital rewards as well.

Surviving witness ~ A very limited number of backers can pledge at these levels for original paintings done for the book by Christian Martinez.  Each one is specified in the backer description.

The Necromancer ~ There is only one!  One backer will be named as the Necromancer and have his or her portrait painted for inclusion in the book (as the Necromancer).  Whispers of Persephone will be dedicated to that person.

Lord Hades & Queen Persephone ~ This one requires a little bit of an explanation... I saw a KickStarter campaign done by an RPG satirist and he had included a reward tier for someone to fund the entirety of the project.  There was a great deal of sarcasm in the that reward but I thought it amusing and decided to put my own version of that idea into practice.  If you want to fund the entire project, there are some neat rewards in that tier, but it literally funds the WHOLE book in one fell swoop, so maybe talk to your spouse before pledging it .... just a suggestion.

What you'll find when you see that campaign is that I am once again working to fund as much art as I would like to include in the book.  So you'll see some a lot of ways to get your hands on Whispers of Persephone, and I hope you'll take the opportunity to do so.

What to take away as a writer/self-publisher/game designer:

One thing I will point out is that I'm basically booked through the end of this year and well into 2019.  I would like to recommend that if you are also writing and developing quite a lot, that you may want to consider shorter KickStarter campaigns once you have a following large enough to support such.  Right now, I don't have enough people following me for a realistic expectation of 200 or more backers on a KickStarter campaign (though The Steel Road passed that milestone this morning). 

As discussed in numerous locations throughout this blog, build your audience by doing the best work you can and keeping your communication lanes open, and your dialogue honest and realistic.  I firmly believe it takes time to earn the trust of your audience.  I've been working for a year on building mine.  I've made mistakes, and owned up to them, and continue to work to improve.  I think that honest effort is the principle reason I've seen such a high rate of backer retention.  I hope you'll experience the same!

I would also like to point out that working toward small goals, crowdfunding small amounts for projects (such as adventure modules, comic books, etc) can give you invaluable experience in not only crowdfunding, but also in fulfillment processes.  Fulfillment is critically important, don't forget to plan for your fulfillment and to have fall back plans in case things go pear-shaped.

_______

Thank you for joining me once again on my adventure into writing, self-publishing and game design.  I hope this blog continues to prove useful as I chronicle my own experiences here. I'll make mistakes, I know, but I hope that by being open and honest about those missteps I can spare you the same.

The KickStarter campaign for The Steel Road is in its final hours, so if you haven't checked that out, please use the link in the "featured crowdfunding" spot above and to the right of the page to take a look.  Please do share that link with others to help spread the word before the campaign ends.

Until next time, have a wonderful time and I look forward to your comments and questions.

My 100th Blog entry: Thank you all for your support of The Steel Road!

Just wanted to say think you all for supporting my latest RPG book project
The Steel Road!

See you in the coming week!

Sam

Evil with a purpose : Three evil things and justifications

Art from: Tale of the Wizard's Eye
Artist: Brian Lee
All rights reserved

Evil.  Say it how you like, the word conjures a different imagery for each of us.  Many acts committed by people every day are evil.  Whether it be selling addictive poisons to our fellow man, murder, torture, or other heinous acts; human beings propagate evil every day.  Usually someone committing such an act can justify it within their own psychology.  Rarely do they do so with that justification being "because I'm evil".

In our role playing games we very often see players enjoying their evil characters, describing horrific acts, and yet when they are asked why they would do such a thing the common response is "because I'm evil".  This works well in a Justice League cartoon but is often a little lacking when you are looking for role immersion in your game.  Thankfully, it is often that the case that the people you play with don't have a framework for justifying such actions.  For your evil characters to be more believable, to seem more like characters in a book or movie, and to promote suspension of disbelief, it is a good idea to have a reason for the terrible things your character does.

Below are some examples of evil acts, and some justifications characters may have for committing them (Disclaimer:  I am not endorsing these actions.  Please do not torture, maim, or otherwise commit these acts against any living being.  This is a list propagated for use in RPG settings, not real life reasons to become a serial killer.).

Extortion:  The act of obtaining material gain through use or threat of force.  The primary motivation here is greed and, to a degree, laziness.  For characters who engage in this practice, it is easier, quicker, and more desirable to coerce hard working people into surrendering the product of their labors than it is for the extortionist to work to create that wealth him/herself.  Extortion is a quick way to round up a sizable amount of wealth in a short time, and works best in urban settings where one can target many victims.  Justifications for this range from a "might makes right" mentality, misguided visions of "sticking it to the man", and even delusions of protecting the common merchant from "criminals".  You may hear the extortionist claiming "It's the cost of doing business", "I'm providing protection from 'x'", or "they owe me after all they've done".

Art from: Tarot Adventures, Book One: The Draw of Glenfallow
Artist: Christian Martinez
All rights reserved

Torture:  The act of deliberately inflicting pain upon a person.  This may be done under the pretense of gathering information, as punishment, or simply because the torturer enjoys the screams of her/his victims.  Torturers ALWAYS have a reason, an excuse, for inflicting pain upon others.  You may hear a torturer claim "he had it coming after what he did", or "thousands of lives depend on the information he has", or "the sound of their suffering is music to my ears... hand me the dental instruments".  Torture is something a player needs to be wary of introducing to their game.  Tread carefully and with courtesy toward your fellow players (many of whom may have good reason to not want this evil introduced in-game).

Art from: Tarot Adventures, Book Two: Comet over Echo Rock
Artist: Kelsy Cowan
All rights reserved

Murder: The deliberate act of ending the life of another being.  Often clarified as a killing that was not done in self-defense or defense of others.  Murderers come in an array of types.  Assassins, hired thugs, jilted lovers, practitioners of ritual sacrifice, and serial killers are among the most notable and frequently encountered RPG murderer tropes.  Murders occur with great frequency in most RPG campaigns.  Whether a character kills an NPC in a brawl over a petty dispute, kills for an item or money, helps massacre a village at the command of the duke, or tears out the still-beating heart of a sacrificial victim for the glory of Shub-Niggurath; congratulations, you're playing a murderer.  Having a reason for ending a life unnecessarily is easy to come by: "I'm just following orders", "he called my mother a goat-herder", "I have searched my whole life for a hat as fancy as this", or "by blood my power grows as the master from the place apart receives this offering". 

Regardless of the reason for your evil acts, having a reason broadens the depth of your character conceptually.  Being evil "because I'm evil" is lazy role playing, you can do better than that.  Whether your character is a raving lunatic who listens to the cries of the damned as they demand more souls to keep them company, you like the feel of warm blood on your hands, or the boss is paying you so well that your moralistic views against killing just don't stand up to the cold hard cash; play to that justification.   Play as an evil character, but play an evil with purpose.

Art from: Tale of the Wizard's Eye
Artist: Zachary Viola
All rights reserved

Look for more on "evil with purpose" from my coming book "Whispers of Persephone" where I explore profoundly dark evil, necromancy, and provide a host of horrific role playing opportunities, and expand the scope of evil for 5th Edition game play.

*****

Contributing artists:

Brian Lee  (Tale of the Wizard's Eye, The Draw of Glenfallow, Comet over Echo Rock)
                  Appearing soon in:  A comic anthology being released in 2019 (title pending)

Christian Martinez (The Draw of Glenfallow, Comet over Echo Rock)
                               Appearing soon in:  Whispers of Persephone
                                                                A comic anthology being released in 2019 (title pending)
                                                                New product type from Sinopa Publishing LLC
                                                                (new product on KickStarter in January of 2019!)

Kelsy Cowan (Comet over Echo Rock)
                       Appearing soon in:  A comic anthology being released in 2019 (title pending)
                                                       Death comes to Glenfallow
                                                       (pending successful crowdfunding)

Zachary Viola (Tale of the Wizard's Eye, The Steel Road)
                        Appearing soon in:  A comic anthology being released in 2019
                                                        (title pending)
                                                     
Each of these artists are graduates of the prestigious Kubert School and are remarkable professionals whom I've contracted/commissioned for work in my books.  They are each reliable freelancers who produce quality work with attention to deadlines. So if you need art for your comic book, RPG, or children's book shoot any of them an email.

*****

Thank you all for once again joining me on my adventure in writing, self-publishing, and game design.  I hope this entry gives you some insight into incorporating evil characters into your own games and your own game designs.

I look forward to seeing you next time.

Note:  At the time of this writing, my KickStarter campaign for "The Steel Road" has a little more than one week remaining.  If you are looking for new weapons for your 5th Edition game (easily adapted to other mechanics) you can find 100 illustrated weapons within the book's pages.

Self-Publishing, planning ahead, things to come, and giving yourself a little pat on the back.

Art from: Tarot Adventures, Book One: The Draw of Glenfallow
Artist: Anthony Ojeda

Publishing your own material is a lot of fun and quite a bit of work.  Writing the book, editing, working with your play tester feedback, conducting final revisions and edits, then formatting the book involves a significant commitment of time and resources.  If you are crowdfunding your work in some capacity (such as I do to pay for the art I use), then you also find yourself working to promote your coming project, interacting with your audience (backers/supporters:  this is tremendous fun really), and managing a self-imposed deadline by virtue of the fulfillment project your create.    While this may sound like a lot of work, and can be, if you enjoy the genre you will find that there is a great amount of joy in holding those first run proof copies of your book and in knowing that your work is in use by others.

Self-publishing requires that you familiarize yourself with a number of things: copyrights, ISBN and Bar code sources,  distribution systems, and promoting your work.  Before releasing anything you write, do your research on these points.

*****

Art from: Tarot Adventures, Book One: The Draw of Glenfallow
Artist: Anthony Ojeda

Planning your titles in advance is critical if you're going to be crowdfunding.  Using a single platform, such as KickStarter, places a constraint on how many projects you can have launch at a time.   Use your time during your crowdfunding campaigns wisely!  Complete your project to the highest quality level you can produce.  You want your audience, your backers and supporters, to be thrilled with the items you produce.  This makes them more likely to support future products of yours.  Be mindful of your fulfillment projects.  Make realistic determinations on how long it will take to fulfill rewards, and work diligently to meet those deadlines.

When you are planning your project timetables, I recommend that you use a calendar.  I know this seems obvious, but its an important way to manage your time.  Set up your goals for task completion and indicate them on your calendar. Work to complete each task on time and you'll find that you reach completion of your projects in a timely manner and with less stress.  {Note: I also recommend that you copy all files and save those copies off your native system, either in a cloud service or a physical storage media}.

 *****

Cover Art:  47 Furious Tails, Issue One
Artist: Alexia Veldhuisen

For 2018 I have the following planned releases (fingers crossed on the crowdfunding!):

Fulfillment of The Steel Road is to be fulfilled by end of August... presently I expect fulfillment to be complete in July.    The KickStarter campaign for The Steel Road has been a huge success so far with the first stretch goal having already been reached and 10 days (at the time of this writing) remaining for us to reach the second.  You can check out the campaign by using the link below (art by: Zack Viola).



Launch of  "Whispers of Persephone" in August 2018.   This campaign will have a higher funding goal as I am attempting to wholly fund the art for this book via crowdfunding.  With all color art by Christian Martinez, this book is going to be darkly beautiful.  I hope it haunts collections of gamers all over the world.  You can find more information about Whispers of Persephone ~ HERE

I'll be closing out 2018 with two final projects:  Tarot Adventures, Book three:  Death comes to Glenfallow, and 47 Furious Tails Issue One!   With the remaining months in the year, my KickStarter calendar is quite full.  It will take careful planning and spot on execution to make all these projects release on time.  I'll be updating progress on each project as I go along.

*****

Be proud of what you've done.  Give yourself a little pat on the back.  Many people start working on projects and never finish them.  By working diligently you can release your own game, book, or other project to the world.  I hope you do, and I hope I get to enjoy it.

My best advice for anyone who wants to publish their own material:  Do your research, work tirelessly, and never give up.  Don't stop creating.

Thank you for joining me once again on my adventure into writing, self-publishing, and game design.
The art for this entry was done by:
Anthony Ojeda      Alexia Veldhuisen     Zachary Viola

Each is a remarkable talent and are among those 'Fantastic Freelancers' (TM) who have taken the risk and worked for Sinopa Publishing LLC (my company).  I want to thank them all for their contributions to the success of those projects they've worked on, and I look forward to years of mutual success to come.


I hope you'll join me next time, as the adventure continues.

Open letter of appreciation to some very important people ~ Comments welcome

I talk a LOT about building community, treating your audience well, and give some unasked for advise on how to respect your contributors/artists/and fellow creators.  My contention has been that by helping each other, promoting KickStarters your interested in, giving out some plugs about projects you've been made aware of, etc; you can help other creators gather a larger audience.  My experience has been that this is appreciated, and often reciprocated.

This post isn't about advice, or about The Steel Road, or about any glorious mistake I've made recently.  This post is about giving some credit to some fine people, some gifted creators, who have not only been doing great things but who have also helped others or inspired others.  Some of these people you may have heard of, some you may not have.  I'm going to be linking some project data for things they've done, some social media links, or otherwise just put the spotlight on these fine folks.  If I left you out, please don't take it personally, the list is long ... message me if you feel I've forgotten or left you out.

I want to express my gratitude, and in many cases my admiration to the following creators and social media personalities:

Archania ~ archaniaworkshop.com ~ one of the first creators I made contact with, you can find some fantastic setting pieces for your minis to interact with through him.  I've never had the talent to sculpt of do 3D models but check them out.  Thanks for sharing the links, introducing me to other people on Twitter, helping to spread the word about my KickStarter campaigns, and being incredibly cool to boot.

Ryan Burke ~ @ryanburkewriter (twitter) ~ The creator of the comic book Coronary, gifted creator, and fun guy to follow on Twitter.  Ryan, thanks for sharing my links around, for producing Coronary, and for showing me that KickStarter livestream can, and should, be a fun time with your backers.

Christopher Ducharme ~ Creatore of "The Tempest Moon" ~ Really cool and ambitious
Kickstarter creator. Thank you for sharing your vision with the world.  I look forward to your book coming out! There was a reason for your KickStarter campaign being featured in the crowdfunding campaign slot on this and my fan fiction blog.  Thank you for sharing the links to my own kickStarter campaign and for introducing people to The Steel Road!

James Vail ~ a name to conjure by, creator of Strain system and Xas Irkalla, brilliant game designer, artist, and outspoken supporter of horror ~  Thanks for giving the world Xas Irkalla! Thank you for your support and for sharing my work with others.  You're every bit the genius people say you are, even though you don't make any such claim yourself.  Thanks for everything and keep creating!

Adam Watson ~ Darkslinger Comics / Ghost Assassin / Comic books/ merchandise/ long term KickStarter creator/ Podcaster and all around great guy. ~ Thanks for showing a new guy the ropes, for being a community minded contributor, for promoting your artists well and leading them to new heights of success, for being great to your backers and setting a fine example of staying in communication with them throughout the creation and fulfillment process, and for really just being a great role model for other creators.  Congrats on your upcoming (redacted for privacy concerns) and thank you for having me on your show and for sharing my own kickstarter links!

Spilled Ale Studios ~ Check them out on twitter, they're fun!  ~ Thank you for helping to promote my kickstarter campaigns by sharing the links and for being so active and involved with your followers.  I learned a lot about interacting with people on Twitter from being a follower of yours.  These guys do a lot on the DM's Guild so if you haven't seen their stuff yet, check it out!

Gotham Underground Comic Shop ~ Ramsey New Jersey ~ Great people at a great shop with a keen eye for all things comic book related.  Really cool presence on social media platforms, though I've only linked their Twitter account in the shop name.  Check them out if you're ever in or near Ramsey New Jersey, its well worth the trip!  Thanks for all you do to keep comic books alive and for promoting reading in young people through comic books.

DBJ ~ Great guy, fantastic YouTube channel, and makes some great points about narrative in role playing games.  I follow his Youtube channel and he was, in fact, the first youtube channel I actually followed.  Thanks for making Youtube cool again.


Lock3239 ~ (Twitter ~ check him out folks) ~ Locke has been a fantastic supporter.  Locke, thanks for sharing the links and for reminding me of the reason I work as hard as I can, which is to bring a great product to the world for people to enjoy.

Terminally Nerdy ~ (Twitter ~ OMG follow his feed folks he's great)  I enjoy this feed and I appreciate your sharing of my KickStarter links.  Thanks for spreading the word.

Venture Maidens ~ a great podcast! ~ You ladies have done a lot to make lady gamers feel less odd and more the 'norm.  Lady gamers have always been a part of the community but were marginalized for FAR too long.  Love your show, looking forward to many years of exciting podcast goodness from you.  Link takes you to the Twitter page, follow them there, Instagram, and Facebook.  Check out the show and you'll love it!

Venger Satanis ~ I know many of you are surprised by this ~  Venger and I have very different material, but I would like to point out that he's been around longer, works diligently to promote his work, is prolific in the amount of content he produces, and is open and honest about the content he creates. He interacts with his fans directly and doesn't sugar coat things. He creates for his fan base and has done a remarkable job of it.  His KickStarter campaigns are really pretty cool.  I don't play Alpha Blue, but a LOT of people enjoy it and I think that says a lot about the quality of Venger's work.  He has a kickstarter campaign that is currently going on and you can see that at No One Warps For Free!  If you're interests intersect with his product line, you should definitely be looking at this guy.   Venger, thanks for being you, for being a great example of craftsmanship, and for producing work tailored to your audience.  Anyone looking to get into producing role playing game material, I recommend you take a long hard ☺(Venger, see what I did there for you)  look at his history of posts and products.  You can learn a lot from this man's diligence.  Venger thanks for producing the things you do, for keeping your genre going in style, and I hope you'll accept this entry for what it is, a genuine acknowledgement of your accomplishments and contributions to the role playing game community.

Sentient Beard Black Jotaro ~ Twitter @gunswordfist ~  Great Twitter feed, regularly calls attention to social issues (such as missing persons, so keep your eyes open).  Supports artists and has been known to help me out by sharing the link to my KickStarter campaign for The Steel Road.  Follow for raw real opinion, important information on missing children, and a lot of cool anime related material.

Horgar Ironside and the Lich Zoluan ~ Twitter @dndclerichorgar and @DnD_Lich respectively ~  These two have been a great help in sharing links to my own KickStarter campaigns, as well as being remarkably entertaining in their daily arguing back and forth in character.   Follow both, not one or the other, as following one just fuels the snickering back and forth over who has more mortals in thrall (Lich) or who has guided more noble souls (Horgar).  Always a fun time with these two in your feed.

Xael ~ Twitter  @XaelSerpent ~ Xael has a great Twitter feed and I forgot to add him to this list at first because I pay more attention to other things he puts up.  Thanks for sharing the links and pointing people to my projects.  I hope more people discover you.

Vince "The Evil DM" ~ host of D&D 5E podcast / Twitter @TheEvilDM ~ Where to start...  I found a lot of cool things because Vince Tweeted about them.  Check him out.  He also has retweeted a number of the entries from this blog, the ones I assume he found interesting I think.  If you're a RPG fan he is probably on the list of people you follow on social media, and if not add him today.

_____

This list would get insanely long if I listed all the backers and all the folks at EnWorld , Tessera Guild, Critical Role, and Nerdarchy who have supported so many of us small press creators... but I'm going to take a moment to thank two giants:

Egg Embry and Angus Abranson ~ These two fine gentlemen do more for the indie RPG community on any given day than most people do in a month.  With their articles, link sharing, and interviews for the Tessera guild and EnWorld they are directly responsible for untold thousands of backers across (no one knows how many) cool indie RPG products.  I applaud your commitment, I'm grateful for all the backers you've introduced to my own work and I owe you both a beer (or two) if we're ever at the same convention.

I invite every KickStarter and Indiegogo creator who ever had an article or link share from these two to give them a huge round of applause whenever they go to GenCon or any other 'Con for that matter.  This would become a tradition if I had my way.

_____

I know this isn't a completely comprehensive list, nor is this my usual fare for posts.  I think it is important that we acknowledge the people who have supported our efforts, that we strive to build each other up in this community of creators who, though we each do our own thing(s), are acting in the same hobbies and working to present our respective visions to the world.  I suggest we lend each other a helping hand when and where we can, and that we give each other an honest critique rather than the stoop to trolling one another.  Many people have tried and failed or given up when they've gone into producing role playing games and comic books.  Both are tough fields to break into, I know I've had struggles as I work to build my own audience.  I think most of you know that I make every effort I can to support creators who are producing things I think are cool and that should get some attention (though, honestly I should support successful efforts more than I do).

Keep creating, thank you each for your support, and I wish each of you more success than you expect.

W.S. "Sam" Quinton
Founder : Sinopa Publishing LLC

P.S.:  I hope to see you all next time as we continue my adventure into writing, self-publishing, and game design.   I ask that all of you who have been following my work take a moment to appreciate the people named above.  For all of you who I didn't mention, I apologize.  The list is longer than would easily fit and contains backers like Miguel, John (all 9 of you), James (all of you), Ryan (all three of you), Daniel, Susan, Chris (all 7 of you), Josh (all 11 of you), Eskimo, LadyV, Sandra, Bill, Doc, and others... but putting names of backers here seems like a bad idea as I don't want people spamming you.  Please know that I appreciate all of you for your support and I hope I continue to earn it.