Our video is still in pre-production, awaiting a final game board printing, as well as cards. Then we will script, shoot and edit.
Still, the "STORY" part of our Kickstarter page is ready.
It is long... There's a lot to tell, a lot of details. But I make it clear at several points that most people won't need to read the entire thing. That's only for those who want to 'dive into the tall weeds.'
You and your crew have come across a derelict freighter in the cold of the Black, driven by the opportunity for salvage, you go aboard. Then things go to Hades.
Will you live to see the Cash Out Phase and count your Lootz? Or will you end up all bloated and corpsified?
GHOST SHIP is a boardgame based on a short-lived sci-fi TV series on FOX that featured six-guns and horses in space.
GHOST SHIP takes place on an abandoned spaceship in the black.
If funded to the Firefly Licensing Fund Goal, the game will include: The Lasiter, The Chain of Command, Vera, Firefly-style shuttles, Purple Belly Sector Rangers, and REAVERS.
The premis of GHOST SHIP is that you and your crew board an abandoned starliner that is seemingly dead-in-space, looking for booty we call "Lootz."
Ghost Ship would just be a simple squishy door-kicking boardgame (and you can still play it that way if you want to...GS's flexibility of play is its hallmark) but we added four different 'Aspects' to the base game. 'Aspects' add Crunchiness (complexity) to the 'Space Mobster Edition' (Deluxe set).
There is 'Trouble:' a group of issues that affect everyone on the ship (Reactor Meltdown, Alien Bughunt, Rampaging Robot, Ranger Danger, and more). The 'Event Horizontal' card starts 3 of these ALL AT ONCE!
'Side Missions' might also affect everyone, but they are often secret, they can turn crew into Traitors (I Spy, Red Rum, The Money Was Too Good, The Blaze, A Pirate's Thing, and more). Completing a Side Mission might end the game instantly (YOU WIN!) or might change the final scores in the Cash Out Phase.
Then there are 'Powers,' which allow you to advance your character by drawing a new Ability every time you advance to a new section of the Ghost Ship (GS has four sections).
Under 'Powers' you might change the game mechanics in your character's favor (get to re-roll all 1s, 'Explode' all 6s, get 'Advantage,' earn the Push Your Luck die Power). Or you might find a really cool weapon or tool only your character can use.
FINALLY, we have just added Achievements (the brainchild of Wizard Stephen). GHOST SHIP will come with 9 Achievement cards, before game start shuffle and break them into three stacks of three, FACE-UP on the sideboard. So three Achievements are visible at all times. They present challenges such as "Find a jewel Lootz of value 20" (that' s huge jewel, btw; Lootz range from 1-30), or "Defeat a Robot without assistance," and each has game-altering rewards for the Cash Out Phase.
Since every player can see each available Achievement, each knows what every other player is striving for, and that spikes the competitive tension. Maybe you take a shot at the Robot, even though Johnny doesn't want the help, only to prevent Johnny from getting the valuable Achievement. Or you might see Spike take the jewel Achievement, so now you know he has a very big jewel...and start planning to take it from him.
We have more Aspects in mind for Ghost Ship play...and these will be saved for the Ghost Master Expansionizm; or the upcoming sister-game Dirt-Side.
Such as: Motivations. Each character has some secret reason that drives him or her to risk exploring the seemingly dead Ghost Ship. These lend themselves to a deeper, more RPG-oriented play style...and help determine exactly what path you take on the Ghost Ship. This introduces the possibility that someone might be a traitor right from the start, though they will want to keep that secret...for a while.
GHOST SHIP Trouble cards include: Rampaging Robot, Xom-B virus, Event Horizontal, (alien) Bug Hunt, Reactor (meltdown), and Prepare To Be Boarded.
GHOST SHIP Side Mission cards include: Lie’n Bounty Hunter, I Spy (for the Alliance... or maybe for Mishka), Failed To Win (Independence War flare-up), Redrum, .
FEATURES OF THE BOARD GAME GHOST SHIP: Extreme flexibility.
CAN BUY the Hacker Edition (PnP edition, $11), BLOCKADE RUNNER (card-only edition, $16); SMUGGLER EDITION (rolled plastic mat, basic meeple pieces, $26); OR MOBSTER EDITION (beautiful box, laminated game board, custom plastic figures, metal dice, $69).
Backer Reward options such as Out Of Gas, The Message, Our Misses Reynolds, [Metal] Objects In Space, and Serenity.
Players can choose to play GHOST SHIP as a PvE CO-OPERATIVE, or as a PvP TRAITOR STYLE GAME (kill your friends, or be One Big Happy Crew).
Players can set GHOST SHIP'S difficulty to EASY, DEFAULT, or CHAOS DIFFICULTY MODE. Different Starting Scenarios change the game completely from play to play.
Expansionizm DIRTSIDE will add PLANET-SIDE, TOWN-BUILDING, PITCHED-BATTLES, and DUELS.
Expansionizm GHOST MASTER will add GAME-MASTER and RPG MODE PLAY.
Click Fund, or, if you really want to dive into the weeds of details, keep readn'
Are we as conceited as Badger in a Very Fine Hat to believe that we made one of the most flexible (and therefore re-playable) board games in the history of Earth That Was?
It can be a travel card game, a rolled mail-tube game, or a beautiful fully-featured board game. You can play Easy Mode for 30 minutes, Default for 90 minutes, or Chaos Mode for 10 minutes (‘cause yer all gonna die quick-like). Or with Ghost Master, you can make the dern thing a Role-Playin’ Game!
At the APP Fund Goal, we hire a phone App designer to make the single-player phone app version!
At the PC Fund Goal, we start the GBW Steampunk Division to create the SteamPowered version, as well as other games.
One game-shop owner described GHOST SHIP as, “Munchkin meets Betrayal, House on the Hill...in space!”
Unlike other Firefly-themed games (where you play a ship) within the GHOST SHIP, you BECOME a character in the Firefly ‘verse. YOU BECOME an (ex) Soldier, Thug, Mechanic, or Medic, each with unique and relevant Skills.
Soldiers specialize in ranged combat, and get attacks of opportunity at anything that moves in or through their weapon’s range; they can use a ranged weapon in each hand.
Thugs are melee specialists, and have permanent toughness (armor), can charge opponents and knock them out w/o killing them (useful for a bounty hunter).
Mechanics can disarm booby-traps, restore power, put-off game-ending reactor overloads, and have an advantage when fighting robots.
Medics can obviously heal, but can also revive fellow characters after death, if they reach them in time; they can also k/o characters (syringe them).
BASIC GAME-PLAY RUNDOWN: Board the GHOST SHIP. Search for Lootz. Cause Trouble. Deal with Trouble. Start Side Missions. Complete Side Missions. LIVE TO CASH-OUT PHASE. Count up Lootz. One with most Lootz (who is still alive) wins. Ties are allowed, and certain Side Missions allow for multiple winners.
(Card-Only version has simpler play mechanics.)
Number of Players: 1-8 players! ARE YOU SICK of board games that only support 4 or 6 players, all your friends can’t join in? GHOST SHIP supports up to 8 players. 9 with Ghost Master expansionizm.
Easy and PvE Modes: ages 12 and up. Default, Chaos, and PvP Modes: ages 16 and up.
Playtime: 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or 90 minutes. Or 2-4 HOURS with the clones option. Want a super-hard complex run-through but also want an all-afternoon-long game? Play with the Send-In-The-Clones house-rule... each player gets 6 clones of their character. Even dying multiple times won't end THIS version of the GHOST SHIP game before the Cash-Out Phase!
GHOST SHIP IS the most flexible board game ever written! Play short, play long. Play Easy, play complex. Play with 2, play with 8. Play 12 and up. Play co-op or play Traitor. It’s all up to you... and never gets old.
Random room, item, Trouble, Side Mission, and Scenario generation system ensures that no matter how many times the game is played, it will never be the same game twice.
GHOST SHIP Kickstarter is scheduled to launch AUGUST FIRST 2017. Please Send The Wave Onward.
We're only on about half-way down in the weeds, yet, but keep goin' if'n yer wantin' too.
I have been a member of Southern California Browncoats since nearly the very beginning, and a fan of Captain Tightpants since The Train Job first aired. Now I am sending a wave to Independents: action required; I do NOT need money from Browncoats...I need your depth and breadth of reach to create a trend, a meme, a landslide... I REALLY need the wholehearted support of the Browncoat community to make this board game project a success.
At the time of the Kickstarter launch, we (The Guild of Blue Wizards Games) will not have the funds to purchase a license to use the name Firefly, but if the KS campaign is successful enough, we will be able to purchase a license to do so. Then it will officially be a Firefly Boardgame.
I have attempted to get a response from licensing rights firms. I contacted Corbis Entertainment (a.k.a. Blue Sun), which arranges for rights licensing: but, once I told them that our business plan was to launch on Kickstarter...they never returned my email. I am sure they pressed delete while laughing at us.
**They miscomprehend the POWER of the Browncoat Community!**
Just consider: The card game Exploding Kittens raised nearly 9 million dollars in their KS campaign. They had no dedicated fan base to call upon to support their campaign.
With the help of the Browncoats (Unite For This!) we can outdo even that, and Corbis will be begging for us to use their rights securing service. (I will tell them, "You will accept my offer, and at one-third less than your asking price!") With the name Firefly on the box, its success is guaranteed...but we will need the Browncoat community to get us to the point we can afford the license.
Be a PART of CREATING the continuing future of the Firefly expanded universe!
Again, I do not ask for you to contribute (you'll buy the game because it's so cool no Browncoat will want to miss out on it) but I do ask, need, your support in making it a trending topic; make this Kickstarter a landslide.
If every Browncoat posts just once a day about the GHOST SHIP Kickstarter (Mon on Fb, Tue on Twitter, Wed on Pinterest, Thurs on Tumblr, Fri on their personal blog, Sat on someone else's blog; on Sun, tell a friend about it at your weekly game event) this mission will have no chance of failure.
WHAT'S UP WITH THE $9000.00 FUND GOAL IS THE MISSION IS TO GET 1-8 MILLION?
Good question. This project is designed from the outset to be a multi-tiered KS campaign, with the first Goal being very easy to reach, and most of the cool stuff (like the big-box board game) much lower down in the Stretch Goals.
This idea was recommended by a multiply-successful KS campaigner who did this on a smaller scale for a comic book project. She didn't have the Browncoat Meme-Force behind her, though.
If the meme Rabbits into the Black, passing 9k, we add the ability to buy (or upgrade) to the Card Version ($16).
At 25k we add the Stretch Goal to upgrade to the mail tube version ($26).
At 50k we add the option to upgrade to the boxed set ($69).
At 150k the box sets are funded, and the first Expansionizm is set into motion.
One piece of advice we received from pro KSers is to plan for extreme success...therefore:
At 500k the App version is commissioned.
At 1m we approach Corbis and negotiate for the Firefly license.
At 1.5 m we hire a PC game designer. (App and PC version will be a turn-based single player controlling 4 characters. We will also look into multiplayer options over SteamPowered.)
At 4m we launch the Guild of Blue Wizards as a fully-featured geek press enterprise, publishing (online and in print) game magazines, fiction, short story collections, novels, etc.
At 8m, we launch the GBW online film co., shooting sci-fi both serious and comedic. Series will be premiered on the web, and be pitched to Amazon and Netflix. Two series are already scripted.
"You got chutzpah, Captain Dagon, I'll give you that!"
Domestic shipping included in all reward tiers.
ALL INTERNATIONAL MAILINGS WILL BE CHARGED SEPARATELY THROUGH OUR FULFILMENT SERVICE AT THE SHIPPING AMOUNT CALCULATED BY STAMPS.COM.
Far too many campaigns -even entire companies- have been brought down by Kickstarter's unfortunate decision to count shipping as PART of the funding goal. Its nat part of the project funding capitol, it goes instead to shipping companies.
SO...WHAT IF WE ONLY REACH THE FIRST FUND GOAL?
In that case, we commission more art, assemble the PnP digital game version, and e-mail it out. Then we hit the campaign trail once again, and when it feels hot enough, re-launch for the 25,000 Fund Goal.
Lather, rinse, repeat until we have 8 mil+, a fully-featured publishing company (NOT just a game company), and a nice copy of Ghost Ship in the homes of literally MILLIONS of Browncoats!
We have Contributor Rewards that will allow you to name a character in the game, write a scenario, or expose your art to millions. You could even get your name on the outside of the box.
Also, you can get a Can Of Beans issued by Independent Command Supply. Be listed as a Big Damn Hero, a Browncoat, a Villain In A Very Fine Hat, or a Purplebelly!
Are you a geek (like me) who has finally found the perfect (ships) mate, and want to make the perfect geek proposal? Give him/her your personally ordered copy of the game-box, with a {Trash} ring and your proposal sealed inside!
There are lots of really fun ways to make this a great success!
Maximillian d'Erembourg
The Guild of Blue Wizards
"I think that they went as emissaries to distant regions, east and south, .... Missionaries to enemy-occupied lands as it were. ... and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and "magic" traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron." J.R.R. Tolkien on the Blue Wizards
HEADING OFF SOME POSSIBLE ARGUMENTS:
"You come from nowhere, and are trying to glean popularity from the good name of Wizards of the Coast"
WotC was incorporated in 1990 as a basement-run publisher of role-playing games. They were an upstart, at that time, too. BUT, we were already 4 years old in 1990. In 1986 I incorporated The Blue Wizards' Guild as a games publisher. (I still have the original 1986 business license.) In 1986-87 BWG published my PBM game CONQUEST.
In 2000 a business partner and I re-named the venture Xenologic Entertainment.
This year I re-established the brand as the Guild of Blue Wizards.
"You're overly (or underly) ambitious with your Fund Goals."
We have been studying both the advice and actual practices of pro game publishers and pro KSers. Some advise to aim low. To this end, our first Fund Goal is a really low 9k. Some advise to plan for unexpected success...so we conversely planned all the way out to Exploding Kittens level of success. I should say we have all possibilities covered with this innovative Tiered Campaign Strategy.
What's up with stupid misspelled or made-up words like "Lootz" and "Exansionizm?"
We find they add atmosphere just like the words "shiny," "ruttin'," "goram!," and "humped!" We also added funny words and funny items to the game specifically to lighten the dark horror aspect by adding levity. We want the game to be as thrilling as AD&D, but as funny as a well-GMed game of Paranoia. Everyone should have a good ruttin' time, even as their characters are being eviscerated by a rampaging robot or shot into vacuum by an EVA trap.
Risks and challenges:
We do not yet have the serious attention of a rights-fulfillment firm; an agency that works to secure licenses that creators might need to use another creator's trademark or copyrighted material (for instance, Lego licenses the right to make Star Wars toys from Lucasfilm and Disney). I am hoping to raise enough initial capital to get their serious attention. If Ghost Ship funds to the million dollar stretch goal, there is absolutely no need to worry on this front; Fox and Universal will welcome us into their extended universe, and the agencies that negotiate licensing contracts will be fighting each other to represent us. Being responsible and professional designers, however, we have been forced to create a version of the game which stands fully independent of anyone else's copyrighted universe...so we have. The first version of Ghost Ship (as you can see from the pictures) is set within its' own fully realized independent universe. In the event that we are not granted a Firefly license, this will still allow us to create the board game, re-branding the game as an independent sci-fi boardgame.
Maximillian d'Erembourg
Still, the "STORY" part of our Kickstarter page is ready.
It is long... There's a lot to tell, a lot of details. But I make it clear at several points that most people won't need to read the entire thing. That's only for those who want to 'dive into the tall weeds.'
You and your crew have come across a derelict freighter in the cold of the Black, driven by the opportunity for salvage, you go aboard. Then things go to Hades.
Will you live to see the Cash Out Phase and count your Lootz? Or will you end up all bloated and corpsified?
GHOST SHIP is a boardgame based on a short-lived sci-fi TV series on FOX that featured six-guns and horses in space.
GHOST SHIP takes place on an abandoned spaceship in the black.
If funded to the Firefly Licensing Fund Goal, the game will include: The Lasiter, The Chain of Command, Vera, Firefly-style shuttles, Purple Belly Sector Rangers, and REAVERS.
The premis of GHOST SHIP is that you and your crew board an abandoned starliner that is seemingly dead-in-space, looking for booty we call "Lootz."
Ghost Ship would just be a simple squishy door-kicking boardgame (and you can still play it that way if you want to...GS's flexibility of play is its hallmark) but we added four different 'Aspects' to the base game. 'Aspects' add Crunchiness (complexity) to the 'Space Mobster Edition' (Deluxe set).
There is 'Trouble:' a group of issues that affect everyone on the ship (Reactor Meltdown, Alien Bughunt, Rampaging Robot, Ranger Danger, and more). The 'Event Horizontal' card starts 3 of these ALL AT ONCE!
'Side Missions' might also affect everyone, but they are often secret, they can turn crew into Traitors (I Spy, Red Rum, The Money Was Too Good, The Blaze, A Pirate's Thing, and more). Completing a Side Mission might end the game instantly (YOU WIN!) or might change the final scores in the Cash Out Phase.
Then there are 'Powers,' which allow you to advance your character by drawing a new Ability every time you advance to a new section of the Ghost Ship (GS has four sections).
Under 'Powers' you might change the game mechanics in your character's favor (get to re-roll all 1s, 'Explode' all 6s, get 'Advantage,' earn the Push Your Luck die Power). Or you might find a really cool weapon or tool only your character can use.
FINALLY, we have just added Achievements (the brainchild of Wizard Stephen). GHOST SHIP will come with 9 Achievement cards, before game start shuffle and break them into three stacks of three, FACE-UP on the sideboard. So three Achievements are visible at all times. They present challenges such as "Find a jewel Lootz of value 20" (that' s huge jewel, btw; Lootz range from 1-30), or "Defeat a Robot without assistance," and each has game-altering rewards for the Cash Out Phase.
Since every player can see each available Achievement, each knows what every other player is striving for, and that spikes the competitive tension. Maybe you take a shot at the Robot, even though Johnny doesn't want the help, only to prevent Johnny from getting the valuable Achievement. Or you might see Spike take the jewel Achievement, so now you know he has a very big jewel...and start planning to take it from him.
We have more Aspects in mind for Ghost Ship play...and these will be saved for the Ghost Master Expansionizm; or the upcoming sister-game Dirt-Side.
Such as: Motivations. Each character has some secret reason that drives him or her to risk exploring the seemingly dead Ghost Ship. These lend themselves to a deeper, more RPG-oriented play style...and help determine exactly what path you take on the Ghost Ship. This introduces the possibility that someone might be a traitor right from the start, though they will want to keep that secret...for a while.
GHOST SHIP Trouble cards include: Rampaging Robot, Xom-B virus, Event Horizontal, (alien) Bug Hunt, Reactor (meltdown), and Prepare To Be Boarded.
GHOST SHIP Side Mission cards include: Lie’n Bounty Hunter, I Spy (for the Alliance... or maybe for Mishka), Failed To Win (Independence War flare-up), Redrum, .
FEATURES OF THE BOARD GAME GHOST SHIP: Extreme flexibility.
CAN BUY the Hacker Edition (PnP edition, $11), BLOCKADE RUNNER (card-only edition, $16); SMUGGLER EDITION (rolled plastic mat, basic meeple pieces, $26); OR MOBSTER EDITION (beautiful box, laminated game board, custom plastic figures, metal dice, $69).
Backer Reward options such as Out Of Gas, The Message, Our Misses Reynolds, [Metal] Objects In Space, and Serenity.
Players can choose to play GHOST SHIP as a PvE CO-OPERATIVE, or as a PvP TRAITOR STYLE GAME (kill your friends, or be One Big Happy Crew).
Players can set GHOST SHIP'S difficulty to EASY, DEFAULT, or CHAOS DIFFICULTY MODE. Different Starting Scenarios change the game completely from play to play.
Expansionizm DIRTSIDE will add PLANET-SIDE, TOWN-BUILDING, PITCHED-BATTLES, and DUELS.
Expansionizm GHOST MASTER will add GAME-MASTER and RPG MODE PLAY.
Click Fund, or, if you really want to dive into the weeds of details, keep readn'
Are we as conceited as Badger in a Very Fine Hat to believe that we made one of the most flexible (and therefore re-playable) board games in the history of Earth That Was?
It can be a travel card game, a rolled mail-tube game, or a beautiful fully-featured board game. You can play Easy Mode for 30 minutes, Default for 90 minutes, or Chaos Mode for 10 minutes (‘cause yer all gonna die quick-like). Or with Ghost Master, you can make the dern thing a Role-Playin’ Game!
At the APP Fund Goal, we hire a phone App designer to make the single-player phone app version!
At the PC Fund Goal, we start the GBW Steampunk Division to create the SteamPowered version, as well as other games.
One game-shop owner described GHOST SHIP as, “Munchkin meets Betrayal, House on the Hill...in space!”
Unlike other Firefly-themed games (where you play a ship) within the GHOST SHIP, you BECOME a character in the Firefly ‘verse. YOU BECOME an (ex) Soldier, Thug, Mechanic, or Medic, each with unique and relevant Skills.
Soldiers specialize in ranged combat, and get attacks of opportunity at anything that moves in or through their weapon’s range; they can use a ranged weapon in each hand.
Thugs are melee specialists, and have permanent toughness (armor), can charge opponents and knock them out w/o killing them (useful for a bounty hunter).
Mechanics can disarm booby-traps, restore power, put-off game-ending reactor overloads, and have an advantage when fighting robots.
Medics can obviously heal, but can also revive fellow characters after death, if they reach them in time; they can also k/o characters (syringe them).
BASIC GAME-PLAY RUNDOWN: Board the GHOST SHIP. Search for Lootz. Cause Trouble. Deal with Trouble. Start Side Missions. Complete Side Missions. LIVE TO CASH-OUT PHASE. Count up Lootz. One with most Lootz (who is still alive) wins. Ties are allowed, and certain Side Missions allow for multiple winners.
(Card-Only version has simpler play mechanics.)
Number of Players: 1-8 players! ARE YOU SICK of board games that only support 4 or 6 players, all your friends can’t join in? GHOST SHIP supports up to 8 players. 9 with Ghost Master expansionizm.
Easy and PvE Modes: ages 12 and up. Default, Chaos, and PvP Modes: ages 16 and up.
Playtime: 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or 90 minutes. Or 2-4 HOURS with the clones option. Want a super-hard complex run-through but also want an all-afternoon-long game? Play with the Send-In-The-Clones house-rule... each player gets 6 clones of their character. Even dying multiple times won't end THIS version of the GHOST SHIP game before the Cash-Out Phase!
GHOST SHIP IS the most flexible board game ever written! Play short, play long. Play Easy, play complex. Play with 2, play with 8. Play 12 and up. Play co-op or play Traitor. It’s all up to you... and never gets old.
Random room, item, Trouble, Side Mission, and Scenario generation system ensures that no matter how many times the game is played, it will never be the same game twice.
GHOST SHIP Kickstarter is scheduled to launch AUGUST FIRST 2017. Please Send The Wave Onward.
We're only on about half-way down in the weeds, yet, but keep goin' if'n yer wantin' too.
I have been a member of Southern California Browncoats since nearly the very beginning, and a fan of Captain Tightpants since The Train Job first aired. Now I am sending a wave to Independents: action required; I do NOT need money from Browncoats...I need your depth and breadth of reach to create a trend, a meme, a landslide... I REALLY need the wholehearted support of the Browncoat community to make this board game project a success.
At the time of the Kickstarter launch, we (The Guild of Blue Wizards Games) will not have the funds to purchase a license to use the name Firefly, but if the KS campaign is successful enough, we will be able to purchase a license to do so. Then it will officially be a Firefly Boardgame.
I have attempted to get a response from licensing rights firms. I contacted Corbis Entertainment (a.k.a. Blue Sun), which arranges for rights licensing: but, once I told them that our business plan was to launch on Kickstarter...they never returned my email. I am sure they pressed delete while laughing at us.
**They miscomprehend the POWER of the Browncoat Community!**
Just consider: The card game Exploding Kittens raised nearly 9 million dollars in their KS campaign. They had no dedicated fan base to call upon to support their campaign.
With the help of the Browncoats (Unite For This!) we can outdo even that, and Corbis will be begging for us to use their rights securing service. (I will tell them, "You will accept my offer, and at one-third less than your asking price!") With the name Firefly on the box, its success is guaranteed...but we will need the Browncoat community to get us to the point we can afford the license.
Be a PART of CREATING the continuing future of the Firefly expanded universe!
Again, I do not ask for you to contribute (you'll buy the game because it's so cool no Browncoat will want to miss out on it) but I do ask, need, your support in making it a trending topic; make this Kickstarter a landslide.
If every Browncoat posts just once a day about the GHOST SHIP Kickstarter (Mon on Fb, Tue on Twitter, Wed on Pinterest, Thurs on Tumblr, Fri on their personal blog, Sat on someone else's blog; on Sun, tell a friend about it at your weekly game event) this mission will have no chance of failure.
WHAT'S UP WITH THE $9000.00 FUND GOAL IS THE MISSION IS TO GET 1-8 MILLION?
Good question. This project is designed from the outset to be a multi-tiered KS campaign, with the first Goal being very easy to reach, and most of the cool stuff (like the big-box board game) much lower down in the Stretch Goals.
This idea was recommended by a multiply-successful KS campaigner who did this on a smaller scale for a comic book project. She didn't have the Browncoat Meme-Force behind her, though.
If the meme Rabbits into the Black, passing 9k, we add the ability to buy (or upgrade) to the Card Version ($16).
At 25k we add the Stretch Goal to upgrade to the mail tube version ($26).
At 50k we add the option to upgrade to the boxed set ($69).
At 150k the box sets are funded, and the first Expansionizm is set into motion.
One piece of advice we received from pro KSers is to plan for extreme success...therefore:
At 500k the App version is commissioned.
At 1m we approach Corbis and negotiate for the Firefly license.
At 1.5 m we hire a PC game designer. (App and PC version will be a turn-based single player controlling 4 characters. We will also look into multiplayer options over SteamPowered.)
At 4m we launch the Guild of Blue Wizards as a fully-featured geek press enterprise, publishing (online and in print) game magazines, fiction, short story collections, novels, etc.
At 8m, we launch the GBW online film co., shooting sci-fi both serious and comedic. Series will be premiered on the web, and be pitched to Amazon and Netflix. Two series are already scripted.
"You got chutzpah, Captain Dagon, I'll give you that!"
Domestic shipping included in all reward tiers.
ALL INTERNATIONAL MAILINGS WILL BE CHARGED SEPARATELY THROUGH OUR FULFILMENT SERVICE AT THE SHIPPING AMOUNT CALCULATED BY STAMPS.COM.
Far too many campaigns -even entire companies- have been brought down by Kickstarter's unfortunate decision to count shipping as PART of the funding goal. Its nat part of the project funding capitol, it goes instead to shipping companies.
SO...WHAT IF WE ONLY REACH THE FIRST FUND GOAL?
In that case, we commission more art, assemble the PnP digital game version, and e-mail it out. Then we hit the campaign trail once again, and when it feels hot enough, re-launch for the 25,000 Fund Goal.
Lather, rinse, repeat until we have 8 mil+, a fully-featured publishing company (NOT just a game company), and a nice copy of Ghost Ship in the homes of literally MILLIONS of Browncoats!
We have Contributor Rewards that will allow you to name a character in the game, write a scenario, or expose your art to millions. You could even get your name on the outside of the box.
Also, you can get a Can Of Beans issued by Independent Command Supply. Be listed as a Big Damn Hero, a Browncoat, a Villain In A Very Fine Hat, or a Purplebelly!
Are you a geek (like me) who has finally found the perfect (ships) mate, and want to make the perfect geek proposal? Give him/her your personally ordered copy of the game-box, with a {Trash} ring and your proposal sealed inside!
There are lots of really fun ways to make this a great success!
Maximillian d'Erembourg
The Guild of Blue Wizards
"I think that they went as emissaries to distant regions, east and south, .... Missionaries to enemy-occupied lands as it were. ... and I suspect they were founders or beginners of secret cults and "magic" traditions that outlasted the fall of Sauron." J.R.R. Tolkien on the Blue Wizards
HEADING OFF SOME POSSIBLE ARGUMENTS:
"You come from nowhere, and are trying to glean popularity from the good name of Wizards of the Coast"
WotC was incorporated in 1990 as a basement-run publisher of role-playing games. They were an upstart, at that time, too. BUT, we were already 4 years old in 1990. In 1986 I incorporated The Blue Wizards' Guild as a games publisher. (I still have the original 1986 business license.) In 1986-87 BWG published my PBM game CONQUEST.
In 2000 a business partner and I re-named the venture Xenologic Entertainment.
This year I re-established the brand as the Guild of Blue Wizards.
"You're overly (or underly) ambitious with your Fund Goals."
We have been studying both the advice and actual practices of pro game publishers and pro KSers. Some advise to aim low. To this end, our first Fund Goal is a really low 9k. Some advise to plan for unexpected success...so we conversely planned all the way out to Exploding Kittens level of success. I should say we have all possibilities covered with this innovative Tiered Campaign Strategy.
What's up with stupid misspelled or made-up words like "Lootz" and "Exansionizm?"
We find they add atmosphere just like the words "shiny," "ruttin'," "goram!," and "humped!" We also added funny words and funny items to the game specifically to lighten the dark horror aspect by adding levity. We want the game to be as thrilling as AD&D, but as funny as a well-GMed game of Paranoia. Everyone should have a good ruttin' time, even as their characters are being eviscerated by a rampaging robot or shot into vacuum by an EVA trap.
Risks and challenges:
We do not yet have the serious attention of a rights-fulfillment firm; an agency that works to secure licenses that creators might need to use another creator's trademark or copyrighted material (for instance, Lego licenses the right to make Star Wars toys from Lucasfilm and Disney). I am hoping to raise enough initial capital to get their serious attention. If Ghost Ship funds to the million dollar stretch goal, there is absolutely no need to worry on this front; Fox and Universal will welcome us into their extended universe, and the agencies that negotiate licensing contracts will be fighting each other to represent us. Being responsible and professional designers, however, we have been forced to create a version of the game which stands fully independent of anyone else's copyrighted universe...so we have. The first version of Ghost Ship (as you can see from the pictures) is set within its' own fully realized independent universe. In the event that we are not granted a Firefly license, this will still allow us to create the board game, re-branding the game as an independent sci-fi boardgame.
Maximillian d'Erembourg