There are some really neat things on KickStarter right now (Comics, Fiction and RPG) here are a few of them!

KickStarter is full of exciting Role Playing game, fiction and comic titles right now.
Check out some of these great campaigns!

From Dragon Knight Publishing:


Neat art, a good narrative in the video to help catch us up on what is going on.
Give it a look if you're like me and a fan of small press role playing productions.
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From Matthew Hanson:


I have to give Matthew respect.  He has come back to KickStarter to make this book happen and it looks really good to me.  Give it a peek, ask the man questions, and share this ambitious project around to help it see print.
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From Joshua Palmatier:


 A collection of anthologies.  This campaign has only a week left as of this writing and could use some help crossing the finish line.  This just looks really interesting to me and more than 400 people already agree.
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From Counterpoint Comics:


 The sample art on the page grabbed my attention. It is nicely done, but be advised there apparently is 'topless' content available.  Not judging, just want to make you aware. The cover art is beautifully depicted and the interior art samples look really nice as well.  Definitely worth checking out.
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From David Tramma:


We need more Starfinder content, fortunately creators on KickStarter are rising to the challenge.
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The RPG and Indie comic creator community have been successful thanks to the people who play their games, read their books and enjoy their comics.  Whether you can contribute money, share the links to their campaigns, or just talk about the campaigns with friends, each of these actions ripple through the community and help it to thrive as people help fund these great projects.

Take a look, explore KickStarter and the numerous creators making brilliant content.  Games grow, books see print, and comic heroes and villains leap from the imagination onto paper as crowdfunding brings new adventure to us all.
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Thank you for joining me on my continuing adventure in writing, game design and self publishing.

Today's entry is a great resource for seeing how people create their crowdfunding pages in a variety of styles.  When launching your own project on any crowdfunding platform be transparent, honest and responsible.  Your audience deserves your best effort, make certain you give it to them in the product you're creating and in the presentation of your campaign page.

I hope you'll join me again on the next entry in this continuing adventure!

Disclaimer:  None of the creators listed above have been interviewed by me.  I put this short list together after looking around on KickStarter and seeing some campaigns I thought were really interesting.  I do not accept money or product to post about crowdfunding campaigns (so don't offer).

Second Disclaimer:  My own campaign launched last night and is fixed in the featured crowdfunding slot. Please do check that out as well, share it with others and pledge if you can.  Your support is greatly appreciated at any level.

Cold Steel, Dark Arts, and comic books ~ a LOT of art in this entry~

Original painting (before digital enhancement) by Christian Martinez
From: Whispers of Persephone

It has been a very busy summer with me working to complete the formatting of The Steel Road, and getting the play test draft together for Whispers of Persephone.  I've also been coordinating work for a comic anthology project I'll be publishing in 2019 (once again we'll be using KickStarter to fund that printing).  So things have been very busy with me and Sinopa Publishing LLC lately!

The Steel Road:

Work on this project began more than a year ago and progressed nicely.  Things were going swimmingly and then my laptop died rather unexpectedly and in a fantastically thorough fashion. Long story short, I couldn't get my InDesign file to link to the image files again once I got a new computer system. This forced me to reformat the art for the book all over again (and YES, that cost me a lot of time).  I have been formatting text into the book for the last few weeks, and that has progressed nicely.  Presently, I have completed all but one region (the islands of the Pacific), and am very nearly done.  Great news is that The Steel Road is set to fulfill on time this August!

Lessons I've learned from this:  

1) Save the image files to your cloud after you've formatted them into your document so you can re-link them easily if your computer suddenly catches fire one day and you have to use a new machine.

2) Formatting text around an image and making it look good is a lot more time consuming than you might expect.  It is far easier to simply format blocks of text with reserved space allotted for your images.  That said, I think the text wrapping around the image looks far better.  So if you plan on doing this yourself, budget the time accordingly.


My thoughts on this project

The Steel Road was tremendously fun to research and write.  The KickStarter campaign was my most backed to date, and many of those backers have asked if I would be putting a second book with more weapons out.  I've spent a great deal of time formatting the text, revising the material and sweating the little things to create the best book I can for the backers and the RPG community at large.  I'm thrilled to put this book out and very grateful to Zachary Viola for all the fantastic sketch art he did to make the book possible.



Whispers of Persephone

I wrote this book's material by hand.  I'm hoping to format the complete play test file for the next round of play tests this weekend.  With Whispers of Persephone I'm going to send this file (which should have the page background art in it) to the entire play test group with just a little art in it.

Christian Martinez is doing fantastic work for this project, creating all original paintings (some of which will be available as backer rewards during the KickStarter campaign).  If you've seen his work in The Draw of Glenfallow or Comet over Echo Rock you're probably as excited as I am for this new art! 

Lessons I've learned from this project:

1) I took a different approach with regard to play test on this product.  I put the material in front of a handful of people rather than in front of the whole play test group.  This afforded me the opportunity to tweak a few points early on.

2) For Whispers of Persephone I want a LOT of art, but I had to calculate my art budget based on a smaller number of images.  I've decided to create stretch goals for additional art in the KickStarter campaign.  Content is key, after all, and art is incredibly important.  This project has been an excellent exercise in project budgeting.


My thoughts on this project

Whispers of Persephone was fun to write.  Presently I'm looking to the launch date for the KickStarter and working to coordinate the live stream event (more on that soon).  The book's mechanics and content are things I'm particularly proud of and I hope people will get much use and enjoyment out of this evil tome, this bloody little book of necromancy!  As I write this I'm plotting out the time line for the KickStarter launch.  This an incredibly exciting project that has been a long time in development (from the writing and design) and one that I am enjoying the thrill of receiving new art for!



Comic Books   

Yes, I blew the font up for this section.  I have some dramatic feelings on this topic, so stick with me. There are a lot of fantastic comic book creators working on titles I'll be releasing in 2019... check this out!

47 Furious Tails  

The first comic book I've ever written for publication.  Last year (2017) I tried and failed to fund this project through KickStarter.  This year (2018, if you're viewing this in the far future) I'll be relaunching this project, with more of the art done.  This first issue begins the retelling of the Ako incident in a unique way.  Alexia Veldhuisen has made tremendous efforts and I'm thrilled that she has continued to pursue this project with me.

Cover art by Alexia Veldhuisen
47 Furious Tails, Issue One

Untitled Comic Anthology project  

We're focusing on the book and will have a working development title in a few months.  Right now that's not the important part.  The IMPORTANT part, is the work going into this jewel of a book.

This book will have eight (8), yes EIGHT different contributing artists sharing their titles.  These are projects the artists and writers are very passionate about and it shows in the art they've produced so far.  Each of these contributors are producing eight pages of content to introduce everyone to the fine work they are doing.  I'm pleased to help bring the work of these talented professionals to the world. Art direction/edits by Alexia Veldhuisen.

I'll be launching a Kickstarter campaign in 2019 to fund the printing of this book. Below I have included samples of art from that project. I hope you'll enjoy it and look forward to that book.  Artists credited with the images, and most of them are available for commissions (follow the links in their biography pages for more information).

From the mind of Brian Lee
Art by Brian Lee

You can learn about Brian Lee and his art HERE!

From the mind of Colin Hartigan
Art by the legendary Christian Martinez

You can learn about Christian Martinez and his art HERE!

From the mind of Kelsy Cowan
Art by Kelsy Cowan

You can learn about Kelsy Cowan and her art HERE!

From the mind of Lotus Blair
Art by Lotus Blair

You can learn about Lotus Blair and her art HERE!

From the mind of Nick Caponi
Art by Nick Caponi

You can learn about Nick Caponi and his art HERE!

From the mind of Rebecca Coulthart
Art by: Rebecca Coulthart

You can learn about Rebecca Coulthart and her art HERE!

From the mind of Zachary Viola
Art by: Zachary Viola

You can learn about Zachary Viola and his art HERE!


We've assembled a great team for this project and I hope you will all look forward to some fantastic comic book material coming from these talented artists and writers!

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{Legal stuff:  All art included on this blog is copyright of their respective creators and are used with the express consent of those same individuals.  All rights are reserved.}
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So stick with me for more information on these and other titles that are presently in development.  2018 will continue to be busy as development for "Death comes to Glenfallow" is underway, and new titles will be seen coming out with more art from these artists and more!

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Thank you for continuing this adventure with me!  I hope you'll join me again next time for more information on artists I'm working with, projects I'm exploring, games I'm developing, and mistakes I learn from as I continue to publish.

See you next time!

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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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.