Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve gotten one of these done. Newborn children take up a lot of time. You spend three years with one kid and you forget how much trouble they were at the start. Anyway, I’ve been neglecting the crowdfunding scene, which is bad. The silver lining is that now there are a ton of worthy projects out there. This is only a sampling of what I’ve seen out there that I though was worthy. I apologize to other equally or nearly equally worthy projects that I just don’t have time to cover.

The first project this time is a zombie puppet musical called Misfit Heights. If you think that sounds weird, just watch the trailer. It actually looks pretty dang hilarious, if I do say so myself. The film is already done, and the campaign is to help them produce physical copies of the film and find digital distribution methods. They’ve already reached their goal, but you can still donate in order to get some of the goodies they’re offering.

Next is a short film being made by some British film students. It’s the story of a man named Sam searching a “post-zombie” world for a cure for his infected son. The test shoot is surprisingly powerful in conveying a sense of loneliness, so it would be great if they can keep that in the final product. They’re not asking for much. Just 300 pounds. So keep in mind, if you do donate and you’re not in the UK, there will be an exchange rate involved. Make sure you know how much you are donating beforehand.

Next up we have a card game called Zombie House Blitz. It’s a real-time card game of rescuing survivors in houses from being eaten by zombies. It’s meant to be easy enough for kids eight and up and also for casual game players.  If this sounds cool to you then you really should donate, because the creators say they’re only planning on printing enough copies for the Kickstarter campaign itself. Maybe they’ll print off some extras to sell at conventions and events, but not much more. So this is very much a case of get it while you still can.

Next up we have an independently created board game called Dead.scape. I’m not sure why it needs that superfluous period. Maybe to avoid copyright infringement, I don’t know and I’m too lazy to find out. The game itself does actually look intriguing, especially since it’s for 3-12 players. I don’t see too many games optimized for more than 6 or maybe 8 players. I wonder if they can really pull it off. They have a lofty goal of $50,000 dollars, and I also wonder if they’ll make it, since the pitch is, unfortunately, somewhat weak. However, the high goal actually makes me think that they have some idea of what they’re getting into, since most people don’t seem to realize that producing a board game is not a cheap endeavor at all. They could definitely use some help in the self-promotion department, but there are signs that they know what they’re doing when it comes to producing a board game. I wish them luck. I also hope that they hire an editor to polish up their rules book. (Psst! I offer inexpensive hourly rates, and your rules book probably wouldn’t take me too long. E-mail me if you get this funded.)

Hooo, boy. This is Zombicide, Season 2 and I saved this one for last because it’s kind of a beast, and I need to fill in some background. Zombicide is a board game that came out last year, and it was funded on Kickstarter. It’s published by a company called Cool Mini or Not, and WOW do they know how to run a Kickstarter campaign. Of the ten highest-funded board games on Kickstarter, they have four. Zombicide, season 2, has already become their fifth board game on that list. Let me tell you just how crazy this is. Their original goal was $25,000. They made that in 2 minutes. That’s 120 seconds. The first Zombicide game made over $780,000 and it took them a month to get that. In the first two days of season two they broke $500,000. yeah, if they don’t break a million dollars for this campaign I will eat my shorts. Seriously, I will eat a pair of my shorts. And I’m not talking any sissy nylon swimming trunks (or whatever they make swimming trunks out of, I’m not a sewing… person…) I’m talking heavy denim shorts. Anyway, I’m getting a bit off track. Zombicide is an action-packed zombie apocalypse-themed board game. You have your survivors and you need to complete various objectives on somewhat modular boards and kill lots of zombies along the way. The more zombies you kill, the more zombies that show up but the more skills your survivors have to kill the zombies with. It can get pretty intense later in the game. I actually own a copy of this game, and I really need to get around to reviewing it, especially in light of this… If you want my review, then pester me about it on Twitter or something.
Anyways, one of the things that made the campaign so successful is the stretch goals. The more people who buy in to the campaign and the more money they make, the more stuff they keep adding on. In the first campaign everyone who paid $100 or more got the base game, half again as many zombie figures as the game comes with, additional survivors, and zombie counterparts to the survivors, (the zombie counterparts can’t even be used yet, the rules for them are coming out in the expansion set in this new campaign,) extra dice, a t-shirt, and more.
This time around it looks like much the same thing is going to happen, although instead of a single game, they’re producing an expansion set, and “expandalone” set (a set that can be played by itself or as an expansion) and some zombie dog figures. You can get just the expandalone and the dogs for the $100 level, and most of the extras, though if you want the expansion with everything else including ALL of the extras (so far it looks like only a few extras won’t be included at the $100 level) you’ll need to hit the $150 level. If you don’t have the first Zombicide you can hit the $220 level and get all the new stuff as well as the first game too (though none of the extras from the first Kickstarter campaign).  It’s a lot of money, but a lot of people seem to like this game. I… actually haven’t played enough of it to have gotten my money’s worth yet, or even get a solid opinion of my own, so I should probably fix that. (Again, bother me on Twitter if you want my review sooner rather than not-as-sooner.)
In the end, this is going to be a hugely popular campaign, but I urge caution. You’ve still got well over three weeks to mull over it and see if this is what you really want, and like I said, it’s a lot of money. Give some consideration to the other campaigns mentioned above, especially the indie game developers. Ultimately, if you honestly feel that this is going to be a game you want and you have the money for it, then go ahead and get in on the Kickstarter campaign at at least at the $100 level if not higher, because there will be so many extras included that you’d be a fool not to.
But again, I urge caution. Sleep on it before spending that much money on a game.  (Unless you’re super-rich and a hundred to two hundred bucks is chump change to you. Then go ahead, but most of us don’t have that luxury in this economy.)

Disclaimer: As always, any endorsements (real or perceived) are those of the author and not BuyZombie.com. Please remember that no crowdsourced project is guaranteed. Please familiarize yourself with exactly how Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and any other crowdsourcing sites works so you can donate your money knowing what risks are inherent when donating.