Cory Doctorow at 9:06 am • 
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Wade sez, "Wolfgang Baur, roleplaying game designer and publisher of the late, lamented Kobold Quarterly magazine (successor to Dragon) has launched the Deep Magic Kickstarter bringing 300 new spells to Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Deep Magic smashed through its $10k funding goal in six hours and less than a week later is about to hit $50k. Deep Magic contributors include Forgotten Realms creator Ed Greenwood and Pathfinder creator Jason Bulmahn, along with an array of other award-winning game designers and developers."
$35 is the minimum pledge for your own copy (normal crowdfunding caveat applies: you may get nothing for your money, though this one looks like a good bet for completion, given its principals' publishing experience).
Deep Magic is the ultimate sourcebook for new and variant magic in any fantasy setting, offering a bare minimum of 112 full-color pages. They feature:
* At least 12 new schools and styles of magic, including blood magic, clockwork magic, diabolism, dragon magic, grudge magic, ink magic, ley line magic, star & shadow magic, and several more
* 12 magic colleges and academies, each home to a magical style or tradition
* More than 300 new spells, including new ones for every spellcasting class in the Pathfinder RPG
* New spellcasting archetypes and new mythic spells
* And much more!
Deep Magic: A Tome of New Spells for Pathfinder RPG
(Thanks, Wade!)
Cory Doctorow at 12:00 pm • •
Noah sez, "What goes together better than Alice in Wonderland and black-light posters?! I'm excited to be a part of this cool project that just launched on Kickstarter. Eight artists have worked together to create a set of 16 original black-light reactive screen printed posters inspired by characters and scenes from the classic Lewis Carroll stories. The best part is that each of the posters actually transforms in surprising ways in their black-light lit state. Now we just need your help to make them a reality!" $25 gets you a small print, $55 gets you a big one, $400 gets you the whole set of 16.
Black Alice: a screen printed, black-light poster series
(Thanks, Noah!)
Cory Doctorow at 8:07 pm • •
Alan sez, "Who wouldn't want their very own cyborg roach? And who wouldn't want to be able to control that cyborg from their mobile? Fund this Kickstarter and maybe you can.
The robo-roach - manufactured in a hackerspace, like you do - is intended to serve as a high school science experiment. However, if you think that's what most people are going to use it for then you have not met nearly as many fratboys and office pranksters as I have."
The backpack we invented communicates directly to the neurons via small electrical pulses. The cockroach undergoes a short surgery (under anesthesia) in which wires are placed inside the antenna. Once it recovers, a backpack is temporarily placed on it’s back.
When you send the command from your mobile phone, the backpack sends pulses to the antenna, which causes the neurons to fire, which causes the roach to think there is a wall on one side. The result? The roach turns! Microstimulation is the same neurotechnology that is used to treat Parkinson’s Disease and is also used in Cochlear Implants.
The RoboRoach: Control a living insect from your smartphone!
(Thanks, Alan!)
Cory Doctorow at 11:48 am • •
Carl sez, "Remember Digger, Ursula Vernon's Eisner award nominated/Hugo Award winning webcomic about a wombat searching for a way home? Publisher Sofa Wolf has launched a Kickstarter for an all-in-one omnibus edition. It's currently available in six individual volumes or free online, but this will put it all in one convenient book. Plus it's the first kickstarter to offer a wombat-sized pickaxe as a reward (in foam or metal)."
Digger Omnibus
(Thanks, Carl!)
Cory Doctorow at 2:01 am • •
Raging Heroes is a spectacularly successful new Kickstarter to produce 150 female warrior miniatures divided into three armies. They were looking for $12,000 and hit that in 30 seconds. Now they're over $300K and still rising, with over 1,400 backers. The minis are very beautiful, and the studio, based in France, has a textbook-example, perfectly structured KS. But 30 seconds. Wow.
Raging Heroes - The Toughest Girls of the Galaxy
(Thanks, Alice)
Read the rest
Cory Doctorow at 12:07 pm • •
Todd sez, "Check out this awesome LED strip lights controlled by a simple controller board. Matt Mets went through the Haxlr8r program and came out with this project, with the help of Marty McGuire and Max Henstell. Just a few days left to get in on it."
BlinkyTape is a one meter long, full-color light tape with 60 independent RGB LEDs controlled by our custom light processor. Power and communications are provided by a built-in micro-USB connector. An on-board button allows for simple interactions such as choosing between effects.
BlinkyTape is flexible, so you can easily integrate it into any shape your project needs. BlinkyTape also comes enclosed in weatherproof silicone, so it's suitable for outdoor use!
It's $50 minimum pledge for a meter of the tape (as with all Kickstarters: caveat emptor, you may get nothing).
BlinkyTape: The LED Strip Reinvented
(Thanks, Todd)
David Pescovitz at 11:22 am • •
Two years ago at the Treasure Island Music Festival, I was dazzled by the sight of glowing, otherworldly jellyfish floating above the crowd during the evening performances. I recently learned that those beautiful jellyfish are an art project called OMG Jellyfish by Patti Lord, Rob Lord (of Winamp fame), and their collaborators. The inflatable jellyfish are made from ripstop nylon, Tyvec, high-power white LEDs, and custom electronics. They fold up into a small travel bag and can be flying in less than 5 minutes. (To clarify, they don't "fly" like a kite but rather are hoisted aloft on collapsible poles.) Now, the creators are hoping to turn OMG Jellyfish into a product. They've launched a Kickstarter to fund further development. A pledge of $125 gets you one of the first OMG Jellyfish delivered to your door before summer's end. OMG Jellyfish
Cory Doctorow at 7:56 am • •
Paul sez,
MLE is a wonderful 'spy film with heart' an simultaneously an undercover tribute to the videogame Portal, based on a true story. It's about the unfortunately-named actor Julie Robert, stranded in a foreign country when her only gig evaporates, and who ends up spying as way to survive.
It is the second film (and first full-length comedy) written and directed by the Atom Egoyan-mentored Sarah Warren, who is fresh from films in Cannes and Toronto film festivals. Sarah's assembled an Oscar-nominated/BAFTA-winning crew and production team, including Simon Shore and the cinematographer Kristin Fieldhouse. Half the micro-budget has been raised from a Canadian investor, and now she's looking to Kickstarter for the remaining £17k. It also has the best Kickstarter fundraising film ever, starring a mischievous Makie doll. Perfect. The voice of the script is unique, and wonderfully fresh — imagine a feminist Woody Allen who's played too much Half Life and you're getting there.
MLE — a feature film
Cory Doctorow at 7:24 pm • •
Martin sez, "Rebel Technology launches a Kickstarter to fund the OWL reprogrammable effects pedal: an open hardware, open source effects stompbox with a potentially unlimited library of effects written in C++ and powered by a powerful ARM Cortex M4 processor. It allows musicians to load any available effect or effect chain from their computer onto the pedal.
Martin, Tom and Giom, the engineers behind the project, met each other at the London Hackspace in Hoxton. They all come from different backgrounds: Tom is a sound engineer and university lecturer, Giom a DSP engineer and musician, and Martin a software and hardware engineer. They have a shared passion for audio signal processing and hacking."
It's £165 and up to get your own fully assembled pedal (assuming they ship, as with all Kickstarters, caveat emptor).
OWL Programmable Effects Pedal
Cory Doctorow at 11:33 am • •
Nat Iwata sez, "I'm an author/illustrator and video game artist. I'm running a Kickstarter campaign for a deck of illustrated Elves (red suits) & Orcs (black suits) Bicycle brand playing cards. Last year I wrote and illustrated The Steampunk Alphabet and then later funded a deck of Steampunk Cthulhu Bicycle cards."
Elves & Orcs Bicycle Playing Card Deck
(Thanks, Nat!)
Cory Doctorow at 8:50 am • •
Artist Ilona Gaynor produced a piece called "Under Black Carpets" that took the form of detailed plans for robbing five banks near LA's One Wilshire building, simultaneously. Gaynor worked with the LAPD and the FBI to produce a collection of fictional forensic evidence from these robberies, which were then exhibited. Now, Gaynor's trying to raise £20,000 to take the exhibit to tour the show. £30 gets you a cool-looking book, and £40 gets you the book and a tee.
WAIT, ARE YOU REALLY GOING TO ROB THESE BANKS?
No. This is strictly a design / art project.
The exhibition of the work will be presented to the audience as a police investigation, detailing the remaining evidential material after the event has taken place, something that could be argued or challenged as material (evidence) in a court of law. The work itself will take form as sculptures, architectural models, technical drawings, films and photography. It will open as a solo exhibition (Special Project) at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale opening from Sep 12th - Dec 15th 2013.
Under Black Carpets, kickstart a bank heist.
(via Beyond the Beyond)
Bill sez, "Husband-and-wife Berkeley filmmakers Jason Cohn and Camille Servan-Schreiber won a Peabody award for their documentary about design pioneers Charles and Ray Eames, 'Eames: The Architect and the Painter.' Now they want to make a film about Jerry DeWitt, a former Pentecostal preacher who went public about his loss of faith, then lost his wife, yet remains in a town described by its mayor as 'the buckle of the Bible Belt.' Robert Worth profiled DeWitt's pain in the
Sunday NY Times Magazine last August - whereupon Jason and Camille headed to rural Louisiana to interview him. As
their Kickstarter page shows, they need to raise $30,000 in order to convince bigger funders that the project is viable. Sam 'End of Faith' Harris donated this week, and they're more than halfway to the goal."
— Cory
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Cory Doctorow at 9:24 am • •
Zack sez, "Jack 'King of Comics' Kirby's grandson is looking to raise funds for a coffee-table-sized book that will look at Kirby's life and times...along with a never-before-seen play by the master of comics. The book will include a wide variety of unpublished personal photographs and artwork from Kirby dating through the 1980s."
You have to pledge at least $50 to get a copy of the book, which is a lot, though the book sounds rather spectacular. Kirby's grandson doesn't list any publishing experience in his bio and doesn't list any helpers experienced in printing, layout, QA, or fulfillment, so caveat emptor.
Personal Look into the life of Jack Kirby The King Of Comics
(Thanks, Zack!)
Amy Seidenwurm at 7:35 am • •
I'm still mad that Young Knives' fantastic last record Ornaments from the Silver Arcade never got released in the U.S. (though we featured a song from it). They've been doing a lot of experimenting with ambient sound recording and have even created a custom synthesizer from all of the sounds they gathered. Their extremely entertaining Kickstarter campaign invites you to contribute towards the completion of their forthcoming album Sick Octave. You can get everything from a download of the record to one of the aforementioned custom synths for your contribution. Plus, you'll have the satisfaction of supporting true artists who are going it alone.
Cory Doctorow at 10:11 am • •
Daniel Wilson, whose novels Amped and Robopocalypse" were just terrific, is raising money on Kickstarter to complete a short film based on his short story The Nostalgist. The film has already been shot and the money is being raised for effects production. The cast are tremendous, the production team accomplished, and the story is beautiful, so this is a really good kind of project to find on Kickstarter.
In details your support will enable us to complete:
* CG character design, modelling, animation, texturing, lighting and final rendering
* Digital Set Extensions (matte paintings, digital environments, effects)
* Compositing: rotoscoping, green screen keying, plate clean up, CG implementation into live action footage
* Conforming and Grading
Furthermore, your contributions will help us cover the costs of:
* Post production Sound and Film Soundtrack
* Film Identity Design (Titles, Poster, General communication material)
* Deliverables (DVD/Blu-Ray masters, digital master, materials, legal documentation)
* Marketing and Publicity
* Festival submissions and Distribution costs
The Nostalgist - A sci-fi short film
