Funding My Future

As I near the completion of the Round 10 Core Rulebook (which is more or less on schedule, thankfully), I start to turn my eyes to the Zimildran Setting Module, the second Round 10 product that will be produced. I can't help but think back to when I thought Kickstarter would be a good idea to get this project off the ground. Countless other independent RPGs have been funded through Kickstarter, why not Round 10?

My goals were ambitious with the first Kickstarter project. $4,000 as the goal, it would go towards funding the Core Rulebook and the Zimildran Module as one singular book, and it came quite close to its goal. Only about $500 away or so. Since it was close but not complete, I decided to try again, this time with a slightly higher goal (partly because I wanted to get more artwork, but also partly because I'm an idiot) and put it up for another month.

This second time was abysmal compared to the first, and so I stepped away from Kickstarter and decided to fund it all personally. It slowed production time down considerably, but it also gave me the extra time I needed to really dig into the rules and what the Core book offered, and expand upon that.

As I start to think about the second book, Zimildran, I begin to consider going the route of Kickstarter again. Images of the Kickstarter Project Page with a name like "Zimildran: A Low-Fantasy Setting from Round 10 Role-Playing" pop into my head, and I get excited. I think about possible rewards I could set up for potential backers, such as prints of the original artwork, artwork posters, free role-playing books, and maybe even offering to run a game for their gaming group via Skype. There are a lot of options, and I feel it may be worth exploring again, once the Round 10 Core RPG is finished.

I just can't get ahead of myself, and should probably post a more realistic goal. If that works, then perhaps I'll look at a more professional, fully illustrated Deluxe Edition in the future, or something, a production more akin to what I would like to see. If my Kickstarter experience has taught me anything, it's "start small".