Two Weeks Left and We Still Need $5k More!

So far, we’ve only managed to raise just over 2k for our 5th Anniversary Issue. It’s hard to sell the hardcover on the merits of a cover by a famous and well-known artist when we don’t have the cover in hand, but some natural disasters in South America have led to some unfortunate delays. But rest-assured, the spring issue is happening and it’s happening with all three covers!

But why do we need the Kickstarter to succeed?

If the Kickstarter funds, we get the $7k RIGHT AWAY. That money will, of course, be used to fulfill physical copies to backers, but the art is all paid for already. The money that we have left over will be free to make 2022 acquisitions over the summer.

If we DON’T get the Kickstarter money, then we won’t see a dime from sales of this issue until July! Which means probably no open submissions. [If we got as many pre-orders and we get open submissions, this thing would fund in no time]. So, that would be that.

So, do us a solid: back the Kickstarter. If you’ve already backed the Kickstarter, get your friends to back the Kickstarter!

“D&D is Lord of the Rings: the Game”

Every once in awhile, you get someone who comes along and insists that despite all of the evidence to the contrary, Dungeons & Dragons is nothing more than Lord of the Rings: the Game–everything that is not taken from Tolkien is just window dressing that Gygax added because he was sued by Tolkien’s publisher to distract from the fact that D&D is just Lord of the Rings.

To these people, challenging this notion that Tolkien is the be-all, end-all of Dungeons & Dragons and “the basis of all fantasy” is the same as hating the man and denigrating his works.

It’s so very tiresome…

But what if D&D were “just” Lord of the Rings? How much of the window dressing would you have to strip away?

Well, we’ll start with the PCs:

Hobbits and Dwarves are in, naturally. I think we can keep them without any real changes.

Fighters? Yes! Fighters are very much a hallmark of Lord of the Rings, and you don’t see them in very many other fantasy works.

We’re off to a great start!

Now, Wizards and Magic Users… are out, because Wizards are actually a race and there are only like five of them, and they don’t really cast spells from the spell list. So, uh… NPC Wizards only.

Elves: this should be easy! I mean, we’ll have to give them all 6-12″ in extra height, but that’s no problem! But they’re all fighters except for the NPC elven kings and queens who have access to very subtle magics.

Thieves: these guys are pretty universal, but I don’t recall a lot of traps or locks that needed dealing with in Lord of the Rings.

Clerics are right out because there was no organized religion in Middle Earth since the second age, and there aren’t that many undead to turn, and since nobody has magic except for the Maiar and the eldest of the Elves, no humans, dwarves, or hobbits could be clerics. Maybe give 1st level cleric spells to NPC elven kings? Oof, this is starting to get not very D&D-like!

You’d probably have to roll Ranger’s woodcraft abilities into some kind of non-magic proficiencies, and without religion, no Paladins, either…

Um… let’s go to monsters! Maybe we’ll do better there!

  • Goblins – check
  • Orcs – check
  • Nazgul – check
  • Wights – check
  • Balrogs -check
  • Ents – Check
  • Wolves/Wargs – check
  • Giant Spiders – check
  • Trolls – well, they’re radically different from D&D trolls, but we’ll call this check
  • Dragons – no check…? There’s only one dragon left in the Third Age and if you’re playing a “Serious” Lord of the Rings game, he’ll probably have plot armor. You might find more if you play in a First or Second Age game, but that’s not “Lord of the Rings” is it?

Okay, you’ve got a decent basic monster list, but you’ll probably have to leave out the overwhelming majority of monsters D&D is best known for if you’re going to go with “D&D is just Lord of the Rings.”

Crowdfunding for Cirsova #6: Where is the Money Going?

Okay, so, we’re trying to raise $7,000 for the Spring issue. That’s a lot of money! So, where is it going?

Well, let’s first talk about how much did this issue cost to put together?

  • Cover Art: $1200 [Anton Oxenuk Cover + Genzoman Cover]
  • Interior Art: $700 [3 illustrations from Dark Filly and 1 illustration from Zobert Zoltan]
  • Fiction Content: $500
  • Comic: $500 [rights and digital cleanup]
  • Editing: $80
  • Proofs: ~$100
  • Contributor Copies: ~$70

So, that’s over $3,000 right there!

The rest is going towards fulfillment [~$10 per unit to print, ship and fulfill for softcovers]. We need to get about 300 backs. So, 6 times as many as we have now…

If you want Cirsova Magazine to keep on keeping on through 2021 and keep doing illustrations [something everyone has asked for but we’ve never done until now], then we REALLY NEED TO REACH OUR GOAL!

Critical Blast Interview with Michael Tierney, The Local Comic Shop Guys, and Wild Stars Art From DarkFilly

Friday night, Michael Tierney and I were on with R.J. Carter of Critical Blast talking about the new issue of Cirsova and The Artomique Paradigm.

Saturday, Michael also appeared on the regular Critical Blast feature round-table of comic shop owners.

Here’s a piece of the Red Queen of the Space Pirates of Corsairiana with Achilles Hister the Elder of the Artomiques by Dark Filly.

Be sure to back our kickstarter for our 5th Anniversary Issue!

What’s New for Mongoose and Meerkat?

The Spring issue of the magazine has Kat and Mangos embarking on their 8th adventure overall and the 3rd in what will be the second “volume” of Tales of the Mongoose and Meerkat.

In The Grain Merchant of Alomar, our pair of swords for hire are beginning to settle in. They’ve reached the city of Alomar, a cosmopolitan metropolis where anything (and anyone) can be bought and sold, and coin is king.

They’ve finally managed to save up some money (or Kat has, anyway–Mangos has squandered a lot of his on good food and drink and a replacement for the sword he lost back in Sword of the Mongoose) and are hoping that they’ve established a bit of a reputation as mercenary adventurers. Unfortunately, Alomar is a big city, and the Mongoose and Meerkat are still small time.

While they’re trying to get gigs lined up, they’re squatting in an unused wing of a manor owned by a wealthy merchant… who hires them without even knowing they’re living under his roof!

This will be the first time a Mongoose and Meerkat story will appear in Cirsova magazine with illustration [by the talented DarkFilly, who illustrated Volume 1].

Also, it’s still in production, but we’ve commissioned an audiobook edition of Pursuit Without Asking, which should be available by mid-spring. It’s read by Erin Michele Gabbard, who is not only a fantastic reader, she sounds just like we imagined Kat to sound like! More news on that soon, but in the meantime, please back the pre-order for our 5th Anniversary Issue!

On with Superversive + Sneak Peek at Badaxe!

I was on with Anthony Marchetta and Ben Wheeler of Superversive on Sunday. It was a pretty long podcast, but we had a lot of fun! Anthony in particular had a lot of great things to say about Teel James Glenn’s Tiger, Tiger, which was our Winter Cover Story.

As you ought to know by now, we’re taking pre-orders for our Spring 2021 issue. One of the features of 2021 is we’ll be reprinting Paul O’Connor’s epic Sword and Sorcery Comic, Badaxe, which has been digitally restored by Michael Tierney. Below is a sneak peek.

Want more? Back the Spring 2021 issue on Kickstarter now!