Short Explanation: You can pledge as little as a dollar, and change your mind at any time up until the deadline. You only pay if we meet our goal of $9,500. If the project isn’t fully funded, no one will be charged. If you’ve ever purchased anything through Amazon.com, it will be a snap for you to make your pledge since Kickstarter uses Amazon’s payment system. And there is a list of cool rewards that you can choose from depending on the level of your pledge!

Click here to visit our Kickstarter project page!

It took a lot longer to get here than it should have, quite honestly. When I started Signal Fire Studios it was my goal to be a 21st century tabletop game publisher. I wanted to offer all of our products — even dice and card games — in a format so that people could download, view, print, and assemble our games for a reasonable price. I wanted to connect more directly with our customers and fans using social networking like Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. But I’ve been in the games business a while, and I realize I still have work to do to stop instinctively doing everything the Old Way. But I’m watching what others are doing, and I’ve been particularly inspired by the exceptional work and modern methods of Fred Hicks and Evil Hat Games.

My company is new on the scene, with only download and digital-press products currently available, and not a lot of start-up cash. So I had to take an honest look at my resources. They include …

Talent. While I like to think I bring some of it myself, I refer to the fact that I’m already working on multiple projects with people who are doing some incredible work. It is a treat to know and collaborate with these folks, and they inspire me to work harder and push myself on my own creative contributions. For Building An Elder God it has been the jaw-dropping work of Ben Mund.

Experience. I’ve been doing this a long time, now. I started working with publishing and commercial printing a few years before jumping into the game industry full time. Since then I’ve worked on RPGs, card games, board games—from small independently-produced ventures to some pretty big licensed products with big entertainment companies. My time serving on the GAMA board of directors has given me some big-picture insight into the industry I did not possess before. Believe me when I say some of my experience was hard-earned and through some pretty significant mistakes. I truly believe, though, that sometimes that experience can be the most important variety.

Relationships. Friends and colleagues have told me that my “super power” is the ability to forge and maintain relationships. I don’t think I’m quite ready to join the Justice League, but I’ve been tremendously blessed with an amazing network of family, friends, and supporters who’ve stuck with me both through the high times and those in which I fell flat on my face. If you’re reading this, it means that you are likely among them and you have my deepest thanks.

So how to translate these assets into working capital? I had a couple of options for loan or investment that could have gotten things started, but it dawned on me that the best course was to put our talent and experience out there on display for friends old and new, and give them the opportunity to vote with their dollars—while rewarding their support with some pretty cool rewards if our project is fully funded.

This is definitely a new way to raise money to fund a game publishing effort, but after seeing my friends and colleagues in the industry using it to great effect, I realized it would be foolish of me to continue to do things the Old Way. I’m hopeful and excited! While I’ve written this update, I got our first pledge before letting anyone know that our Kickstarter is live.

If we hit our goal with time to spare, Ben and I have already planned some cool additional rewards that we can add into the mix. We’ll be able to afford a higher print run and put some money toward the second card game he and I are working on together.  I’ve also given myself an amusing dare that I’ll go public with soon — something on-theme with the game and completely surrendering my dignity.

I’m going to continue to push myself toward being a true 21st century publisher. Communication, transparency, crowdfunding, social networking, and digital products are just part of that vision. I hope you’ll stick around and see our upcoming announcements!

Hardware

Cocktail Shaker / Strainer
Martini Glass

Software

Vodka (a middle-of-the-road vodka is usually just fine for a dirty martini, but use whatever brand you prefer)
Dry Vermouth
Pitted Olives (and brine from the jar!)
Bleu Cheese Crumbles
Ice

Instructions

This recipe isn’t fond of exact amounts. Play with your drink to find the exact proportions for your taste. Fill your cocktail shaker about halfway with ice, then drizzle in just a tiny bit of vermouth. Sloth around in the shaker and then strain out. (That’s right, you’re dumping it out. Only what sticks to the ice and coats to the side of the shaker will remain in the drink. This is the plan.) Pour in the vodka appropriate to your serving size and then enough brine from the olive jar to dirty it up to taste. (For me and my shaker this is just below ice-level in vodka and a quick two-count of drizzled olive brine.) Mix until the shaker is ice-cold to the touch, then strain into chilled martini glass. Garnish with bleu-cheese stuffed olives which further flavors the drink and gives you a nommy snack as you sip. Enjoy!

Dirty and cheesy pretty much sum me up, therefore they are the traits that make up the Jamietini. Enjoy responsibly!

1. A year ago I gave up drinking Coke or any other soda except on rare occasions — though my one cheat is that I MUST have a Coke to go with my popcorn when watching a movie.

2. Since we’re discussing beverages, I drink plenty of coffee and prefer to make it ridiculously strong and grind my own beans. My favorite grownup drink is a dry, dirty vodka martini with bleu cheese stuffed Olives. When it comes to wine I like dry reds–especially Chianti. Not much of a beer guy.

3. I have three children. Technically the oldest is my stepdaughter, but she’s MY daughter. I firmly believe it’s love that makes me a father–not genetics. And I loved Melanie before her sister and brother were ever born.

4. Speaking of genetics, I’m the first that I’m aware of in my family to have dimples. It was also the first of my features I was able to recognize in my daughter Elizabeth when she was only a few hours old. My son looks a LOT like me but somehow better-looking than I ever was, and he probably didn’t inherit the dimples because it would just been unfair to everyone else.

5. I started singing for performance was I was 14, and ended up in show choirs in both high school and college–originally entering school as a music major. Now I only use my voice to sing in the shower, the car, and at karaoke once a week.

6. I took a college History class from Newt Gingrich while he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

7. I have an Associates degree and a bachelor’s — English, with minors in both History and Religion.

8. I entered my first writing competition when I was 8 years old. (1st Place.) It was around the same time I started playing Dungeons & Dragons. I didn’t realize this was pretty much mapping out my professional life. I just knew the things I loved.

9. I’m on good terms with my ex-wife, ex-girlfriends, and even most women I’ve dated. I don’t believe in burning bridges just because relationships didn’t work, and if you care for someone it’s wrong to turn your back on them just because you cannot be together.

10. My White Knight tendencies to rush in and help a lady in need have led me to do some pretty foolish things, but I accept this is just who I am and I’m too set in my ways to change.

11. I vacillate between scornful cynicism and hopeless romanticism. But I drape humor over them both.

12. I have worked as a bouncer three times but only had to break up one brawl– but it was a doozy. Eight guys involved, police called, and the bar shut down. One guy ALMOST threw a punch at me and then changed his mind.

13. I wrote my first play when I was in sixth grade. My teacher decided that the class would perform it and also made me the director. Title: “The Bloodstone Knight.”

14. I never cooked until I started a family, but learned to my surprise that I really enjoy it and am pretty damn good at it. My favorite lunches are leftovers from last night’s dinner.

15. I used to play the piano, but it’s been a long time since it’s been a regular part of my life. I’d like to fix and tune my piano and really take it up again. The last thing I did was write an arrangement for my ex-wife’s favorite song at the time as a gift to her for Valentine’s Day.

16. When I was six years old an older girl spent time teasing me and shoving me down to the ground. I finally had enough and I punched her, bloodying her nose. I was proud of myself for standing up to someone bigger than me, but my father told me he was ashamed that I hit a girl and that there was no excuse for it, grounding me to my room and making me apologize to her. That was the last time I ever struck a female and to this day anyone who hits women or children gets me angrier than anything else.

17. I can’t write poetry to save my life. Verse is just not one of my gifts.

18. I come from a long line of handy men who could build and/or fix just about anything. But I can barely hammer a nail into a wall.

19. I fight against procrastination and poor time management tendencies. But when I’m in my productive mode I work FAST.

20. I can’t imagine the idea of “retiring” in the traditional sense. They’ll probably find me with my head resting on the keyboard.

21. My parents made sure I had a computer since I was in early grade school. First one was a Texas Instruments TI-994A with a speech synthesizer. These days I’m an Apple guy for my computers and now have both an old 1st gen iPhone and a brand-new Kindle Fire for my tablet needs.

22. I’ve been to Italy three times and hope that this year will be the fourth. I could spend weeks exploring Florence. I love lardo and fresh-shaved parmesan cheese and young wine from Bologna.

23. When I’m writing quickly I have a habit of dropping words. My fingers are trying to keep up with my brain so they just skip in places.

24. Bad habits, a changing metabolism, and health problems in my twenties shifted me from a skinny young man to a gargantuan 327 lb. when I was in my mid-twenties. Right now I’m 71 lb. lighter than that and hope to get down to 100 lb. down total from that point as my goal weight this year. I did pretty good last year and hopeful I can make it happen.

25. My father was hardly a perfect man, but I miss him deeply and wish I could be more like him in many ways. I never thought I was much like my mother but the older I get I realize I have a lot of her traits and they’ve served me very well.

26. I’m not a sports fanatic, but I enjoy baseball — football or hockey if they are live games. I’m not much for basketball.

27. I don’t mind flying, but as long as there is time I love road trips.

28. I’ve driven hundreds of miles in one day just to have lunch with a pretty girl.

29. I’m the oldest child in my family, with two younger sisters. I enjoy their company and consider them great friends. We try to hang out at least once a week if possible.

30. I like animals but I’m definitely more of a dog person. I still miss my furry best friend, a golden retriever named Vegas who sweetest and gentlest companion.