Blog – Page 122 – The Designer Monologues

September 23, 2011

Miss Out On FAR WEST?

Did you miss out on the FAR WEST Kickstarter? Would you like an opportunity to get a copy of the Limited Edition leatherbound hardcover when it’s released, while at the same time helping a British chef open a traditional fish-and-chips shop here in Lawrence, KS?

Here’s the deal. My friend Matt Poulton is opening Queen Lizzy’s Fish and Chips, and is currently running an IndieGoGo crowdfunding project to raise capital for some improvements in time for opening. I’d like to help, in the best way that I can.

The FAR WEST Kickstarter was an exclusive. The materials offered will not be made available again, and I know a lot of folks missed the chance, because I’m contacted daily with questions about how they might be able to get on board. However, I did promise the backers that their contributions would be rewarded by exclusive content, and I’m going to uphold that promise.

However, when we print the Limited Edition hardcover of the adventure game, there will be an overprint (there always is — we can secure a more affordable per-copy price by printing at the next highest quantity, for example, and all printers equipment usually results in an overprint of as much as 5% of total quantity), and from that overprint, I will be receiving my personal Author’s Copies.

So here’s what I’m willing to do: I will give away TEN of my Author’s Copies of the leatherbound FAR WEST Adventure Game Limited Edition. I will give these copies to the first ten people who donate $100 or more to the Queen Lizzy’s IndieGoGo project (linked above). Just send me your confirmation email as proof, I’ll confirm with Matt Poulton, and send you a copy when they’re printed and ship out to our Kickstarter backers.

You will not receive any of the bonus material from the Kickstarter (the Legends of the Far West supplement, the Tales of the Far West short story anthology, the PDF of the Town of Prosperity, the T-shirt, or the poster map). But you will receive a copy of the game itself, taken from my personal copies.

So, you if you want FAR WEST, here’s your chance! As they say on television, quantities are limited, and operators are standing by. Fund that Chippy and make this happen!

September 9, 2011

Queen Lizzy’s

A good friend of mine, Matt Poulton, is a British chef living here in the wilds of Kansas. (Love will do strange things to you, apparently — he’s married to a local.)

He’s getting read to launch a new restaurant here in Lawrence — a traditional English fish-and-chips joint (AKA a chippy). Fish, chips, bacon butty, battered sausage, doner kebab, curry, etc. — wonderful stuff. He’s got a space lined up, and is currently running an IndieGoGo project (similar to Kickstarter, which you’re quite aware of if you’re reading my blog) in order to give him a bit of a launch cushion — helping secure some new equipment, do a bit of renovation, etc.

I would VERY MUCH like to see this succeed. Please consider chucking a few dollars his way — he’s got some nice rewards, even if you’re not local to the area. Every little bit helps. (Full disclosure — I’m involved in this as well: I’m handling his graphic design (did his logo, for example) and consulting on marketing & operations.)

You can check out the project (including the promo video that I put together) by clicking here and visiting his page on IndieGoGo.

I WANT TASTY NOMS. MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

Er…I mean: please. (Must be polite. Must always be polite.)

August 26, 2011August 26, 2011

Friday Music

Hoping to get back onto a regular schedule with these, now that the madness of Summer is drawing to a close.

A couple of weekends back, I found myself listening to the local alternative radio station’s “Resurrection Sunday” broadcast: a four-hour block of “classic alternative” (i.e. what we used to call “new wave”, “punk”, and “college rock.”), which had me digging back through my collection, and has led me to a desire to do an 80s-themed Friday Music. I hope you bear with my sad, 40something nostalgia.

First up, my favorite track from Berlin’s Pleasure Victim album, almost always ignored in favor of the far more popular “Sex.” This song, though, remains not only my favorite from that album, but my favorite Berlin song, period (narrowly edging out “The Metro”). Berlin – “Masquerade.”

Spooky, ethereal, odd, and just plain KATE. Before “Who Let the Dogs Out”, she was pretty much one of the only folks who could get away with vocalizations of barking in a song… Kate Bush – “Hounds of Love.”

I discovered Shriekback through the Michael Mann movie “Manhunter.” This soon became my favorite song of theirs. “Priests and cannibals, prehistoric animals, everybody happy as the dead come home…” Shriekback – “Nemesis.”

The lead track on a mix tape given to me by my high school girlfriend. I knew it was The Church, and I knew the title of the song, but it took the invention of the Internet for me to track down the album. The Church – “Unguarded Moment.”

The first song I ever heard from Sinead O’Connor’s debut album The Lion and The Cobra, before she became mainstreamed, the butt of jokes, and villainized for being one of the first to protest the Catholic Church’s cover-up of the abuse of children. Her anger, her energy, her howl, it’s all in this first single. Sinead O’Connor – “Mandinka.”

One of my favorite pieces of music from Genesis, a little-known instrumental track from their Invisible Touch album, which I discovered when it was used with chilling effect as backing music to a scene in a Magnum, P.I. episode where he’s gone a bit off the deep end and is preparing to murder an old enemy. Genesis – “The Brazilian.”

I’ve always loved story songs. This odd bit of noir-ish narration from Robbie Robertson struck that chord in me, and I’ve always loved it as a result. Robbie Robertson – “Somewhere Down The Crazy River.”

There you go, kids — enjoy. Back with more next Friday.