The Kickstarter for the MHI Employee Handbook and RPG is still moving right along.  We are now at $48,401 with 494 backers. We have hit our funding goal to launch the project, so now we want to make this as big as possible in order to give you guys more extra cool stuff.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/herogames/the-monster-hunter-international-employees-handboo

Kickstarters usually follow a pattern, where there is an initial big burst of excitement and a bunch of pledges during the first week, and then it usually tapers off for the middle part of the month, which is usually called the doldrums, and then it picks up again over the last few days while everybody who hesitated or wanted to see what the stretch goals are jumps in.  Luckily for us, we managed to fund pretty fast right out the gate, but we have definately entered the doldrums.

So to make it through the next couple of weeks, we will be announcing a couple of new things soon.

Right now we’ve got two stretch goals on the board. At $50,000 (which should be fairly soon) we are adding an extra book of 13 monsters and bad guys called the Devil’s Dozen, written by me and Steve Long. These are more villianous things from around the MH universe that want to eat your face, many of which you’ve never even heard of.

After that, when we hit $60,000 we are adding MHI logo dice. All of the higher tiers will get these thrown on their existing pledge for free, but anybody will be able to pledge a little extra and get a set. Personally, I am going to replace every d6 in every board game in my house with MHI dice, because MHI dice are MORE BETTER.

We’ve got some other things planned, but the key here is that the faster we reach the stretch goals, the faster we can reveal new ones.

We have been listening to comments and feedback as we go too. One of the things people have been asking about is the new, one time only, limited edition MH patch, that is only available on the higher tiers. We are working on a way to add more stuff for everyone, but still give that extra reward to the folks who were willing to pledge more. Details will be coming soon.

Because nothing says Colombus Day quite like a giant, angry, steampunk robot. Or, I got the day off so I did a ton of writing and then got to take the night off to paint something.  I still need to do some touch ups, clear coat, and add the basing, but right now I think he is looking pretty darn good.

I tried doing a little experiment for rust and damage. I think I’m going to go back and hit the rust with some oranger highlights, and them some darker spots in the middle of the big patches.

EDIT: And while I was waiting to download the new Mass Effect ending, I went ahead and based him with kitty litter, a rock, and some flocking. I wanted it to look like he was crashing through a dry stream bed.

EDIT: I modified this model because it had about the dumbest stance a steam powered robot could have. So it went from squatting to running. Rather pleased with my mad needle nose plier, Dremel tool, and super glue skillz. 🙂

Not too shabby considering part of that leg is what was left over from a spue.

Some Halbies. Done later, but stuck the photo here so I can post it to the Privateer Press page. 🙂

One sucky thing about being a writer is that it absolutely kills your available reading time. It doesn’t help that I’m a workaholic, so whenever I actually stop to read a book I feel guilty because I’m not writing. One of the good things about going on tour is I spend a lot of time on airplanes and trains, so I actually get to read a few things. (I know some authors can write on planes, but I’m 6’5″. I can’t open my laptop and have knees at the same time on an airplane seat).

Kevin J. Anderson gave me a copy of Death Warmed over at Book Expo in New York. He figured a monster story crossed with a hardboiled detective comedy would be right up my alley. I’ve been working on Grimnoir, which is fairly dark to write, so it was nice to read some comedy. I finally got to read it during tour, and I enjoyed it.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=monshuntnati-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=0758277342

Dan Chambeaux, or Shamble as everybody calls him, is a zombie detective in a world filled with vampires, werewolves, ghouls, and every other supernatural thing you can think of, all living in the Big Uneasy. A good detective doesn’t let a little thing like getting murdered slow him down, and I got a kick out of Shamble trying to solve a series of oddball cases, including his own. He’s the kind of zombie you want to root for, and his cases are good, light hearted fun.

It’s a pretty quick read, because he bounces around between a bunch of different cases. It’s campy and can be goofy, and there’s a little bit of adult content, but nothing too bad. I laughed at the goofy bits, but every now and then Kevin likes to remind you that he is really freaking good at this writing stuff, and he’d slip in some poignent bits.  For example, Shamble’s girlfriend is a ghost, and there are some great character bits in there about her.

The Monster Hunter International Employee Handbook and Roleplaying Game is 100% funded!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/herogames/the-monster-hunter-international-employees-handboo?ref=live

$45K was our break even, good to launch point. This project is a go. Now for the rest of the month we will be see how many stretch goals we can reach.

International shipping has been unlocked.

Up next we’re adding for free to all backers an extra PDF of 13 more monsters and villians. This is going to be sweet.

Then our next stretch goal will be for MHI logo dice. These are going to be sweet.

And we’ve got a lot more planned after that.

So please, continue to spread the word. Thanks for all of your help and support in making this happen.

We are now five days in to the Kickstarter for the MHI employee handbook.  We’re 97% funded to our original goal. 🙂

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/herogames/the-monster-hunter-international-employees-handboo?ref=live

We should be breaking 45K here pretty quick, and we have added our first stretch goals. We’re adding international shipping options, an additional book of monsters and bad guys, and then after that MHI logo dice!