A little while back I read a post on RPG Bloggers by Doug from Temple Lion. Doug was talking about the patronage model popularised by Wolfgang Baur of Open Design and Kobold Quartlery. He linked to a site called Kickstarter where individuals, groups or companies can get people to pledge funds towards their projects. It can be used for anything that needs backers, and there are a few RPG projects on there at the moment. One of the biggest is the P20 Modern Roleplaying Game.

P20 Modern RPG will be developed by Super Genius Games and their goal is to revise and update the d20 Modern SRD, using Pathfinder as a guideline. The beauty of Kickstarter is that you can make a pledge and if their goal is not reached, you aren’t charged. Like any good patronage model, patrons can select from several different levels.

Chip in five bucks to help them out or put in $50 to become a full patron, get access to the design forums where you can provide feedback during the process, and get a PDF and hardback copy of the final book (as well as access to playtest versions) plus your name in the credits as a full patron.

You can also pledge even more and get your book signed, or even have one of the designers hand-deliver the final hardback to you and run an introductory game at your house!

Kickstarter seems like an excellent way to get projects off the ground, whether their big projects by professional game development companies or small indie projects that just need some funding and support.

P20 only has 30 days left to reach its goal of $70,000. So if you’re interested, head on over and get in on the ground floor. Check out the site for other cool gaming or rpg projects too, and if you’re thinking about starting a project consider using Kickstarter to gather funds, fans and support.

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