Friday, August 12, 2011

Arena of Heroes, my Kickstarter Project!

Dear Internet,

I hold a very special place in my heart for Kickstarter.com. To date, I've helped successfully fund thirteen different projects, ranging from board games and comic books, to card games and RPGs, to gadgets and design software. I love the "grassroots" feel as I watch the projects increase in funding, knowing people are screaming "I WANT THIS, YOUR IDEA IS WORTH MY MONEY!" I also have ideas; lots of ideas. Most are surrounding my 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons home-brew campaign, but everything can't be swords and magic and princesses.

As many of you that frequent my site know, another section has mysteriously materialized in the menu bar across the top: Board Games. There are two sub-links there for games I have designed to a point that they are ready to be released. Reversal of Fortune is a pirate themed card game that can be purchased through the spectacular print-on-demand service The Game Crafter. The other is a board game modeled in style from pop-culture hits as Gladiator or Sparticus, called Arena of Heroes.




Along with the talented help of Alex Melchor and Wesley K. Hall, I have been able to step up the "wow factor" with gorgeous artwork and game board layout. But...this isn't enough. Even the prettiest pearl is nothing if never seen.

With my affinity for Kickstarter and wanting to take Arena of Heroes to the next level, as of GenCon (don't worry, there's a HUGE post-GenCon article coming soon), I've launched my first Kickstarter project asking for $15,000 to do a large, professional print run of Arena of Heroes. I only set the project to run for 30 days, so with a September 3rd deadline looming in the not too far distance, I turn to you and hope my idea is worth your money. Please take a look at the Arena of Heroes Kickstarter Project Page and let me know what you think.

Edit: I've included a gameplay video on the Kickstarter page and thought I'd add it over here as well.


Thank you,
Jeremy Southard
Wastex Games

P.S. Here's what others are saying...
Sinister Forces: Pleas Support Arena of Heroes on Kickstarter
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Monday, August 1, 2011

Lost Artifacts: Skullshield of Kalenax

This entry was written by Aaron, for the June Contest: Lost Artifacts. He can also be found on RPG Musings and twitter under @wolfsamurai.

Entry
In life, Kalenax was an unholy terror. Even though he was not very old, this red dragon carved a path of destruction and violence across huge areas. His lust for violence and riches drew the attention of Tiamat, who blessed him with even more power. The devestation was incredible, but eventually even such a powerful creature might fall. And so Kalenax did, hunted and killed by a group of adventurers who died to the last in their effort to bring the dragon down.





But even in death, Kalenax was not finished with his rampage. Tiamat-worshipping kobolds of the Poison Scale tribe eventually found the broken and skeletal remains of Kalenax years later and immediately recognised, though signs and portents, that Kalenax had been divinely blessed by their own patron. Not ones to pass up a bounty, the kobolds broke down teh skeleton and fashioned tribal relics from the bones. Kalenax's skull was fashioned into a shield, banded with iron and blessed twice-over by Tiamat, for the chieftan to use.

The kobolds themselves ran afoul of adventurers later and so the Skullshield of Kalenax came to be in the world at large, where many fought over it. Consecrated with unholy power and still containing the whispering remnants of Kalenax's spirt, the shield is an artifact of incredible power. The ablility to blast white hot flames that can melt metal or stone and protect the user from the same is powerful enough, but the shield also grants the wearer the power to sense nearby magical items and perform certain rituals like a master. Dragonkin of all kind are instinctively unsettled before the sight of the shield, though followers of Bahamut may instead be enraged at being near a relic of their hated foe.