Hi, all. Very exciting things happening at QT Games. Yes, yes, there’s the Kickstarter, but why I’m doing it and why you should care is worth taking an extra moment or two to unpack. Here’s the Kickstarter and here’s an overview . . .
There’s actually way more going on than the big pile of amazing goodies above, but that should whet your appetite. I’m doing the Kickstarter because a little over 40 years ago when I was just a young teenager, I started dreaming up 2 universes, and I’ve been writing stories and designing both rpgs and board games set in those universes ever since. Oh, sure, some of the early ideas were crude, but I’ve matured over the years, kept and polished the cream of the crop and replaced what wasn’t worth keeping.
Everything I created and continue to create is a thick blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Sometimes there’s even superheroes and other genres blended in where appropriate. The universes aren’t kitchen sinks. Countless hours went into lovingly crafting every detail. Being universes, they are herculean things that are really never complete, so I keep expanding and polishing and writing more stories.
I formed QT Games to publish these universes. We have 1 book on Amazon (The Shadow Reaper, another on some smaller sites that was written by 7 authors (Arcane Synthesis; I was the developmental editor and wrote 2 of the novellas). It’s heading to to Amazon shortly. My 3rd book, Sea of Worms only needs to be formatted and will be heading there shortly as well. You can read excerpts from all 3 books on my website: QT Games.
Of course that’s not all. Not by a very long shot. I’ve written other novels that I liked, but set aside to work on more important ones, and there are box loads of short stories and more than two dozen game designs, in addition to piles and piles of concept sketches I’ve done over the years for the different creatures, technology and magic items. And then there’s maps. Loads of maps. This isn’t pride—it’s just a list to give you a sense for why I’m spending time celebrating 2 universes you’ve probably never heard of if you aren’t a follower of this blog, my website or my other online hangouts.
Despite all these accomplishments, I can’t really be prideful because I don’t have much to show for it on the market. I only started publishing some of my work (and that of others I’ve brought on board at times) recently. Sure, there’s plenty of friends who have played my games over the decades, but with busy careers and building families, friends lose track of each other, and it’s difficult to get together for a drink, much less to squeeze a game in these days.
I’ve spent hundreds of hours researching how to get noticed, have spent an equal amount of time networking, making friends, hanging out at different websites, forums, etc., but it’s still very difficult to be discovered. It’s literally harder than anything else I’ve ever done.
Forty years. That’s a long time to do the same thing, but I have to tell you that I’m more excited than I’ve ever been, because I see the potential this body of work has. Then I’m also reminded that if people don’t take a chance on this Kickstarter, and on QT Games, it doesn’t matter how wonderful the goodies are (and I only use pro editors and pro artists), if people don’t take a chance and actually spend some time with my creations, they’ll never fall in love with them.
But why should I care?
Well, if you love great Science Fiction and Fantasy, if your heart starts pumping when you see gorgeous, blended-genre paintings, or get giddy over very cool, custom dice, or even love adorable monsters like these from our Toonaria universe:
Then you just might care very much! Check out our Kickstarter and let’s see if we can get it funded, and keep pushing forward, because we’ve got more than a few killer projects in the works!
As always, I’d love to hear from you all. Have an amazing rest of the week, friends. Cheers!
—Bob
