I love heroic fantasy. There’s just something about the quintessential “hero’s journey,” set in worlds inhabited by various races, where good stands against evil on an epic and magical scale.

I also love shared-world anthologies. Not only are they a great way to find new authors, but they’re also an excellent avenue for gaining a broader understanding of the particular fantasy setting. When I stumbled across the Kickstarter campaign for Champions of Aetaltis, created by Marc Tassin, it didn’t take me long to realize the potential for the stories set in this new fantastical land, or all of the fascinating world-building possibilities.

Already having successfully funded phase one of the world of Aetaltis — a 44 page Pathfinder compatible RPG called The Temple of Modren — Tassin has gathered a group of 17 highly accomplished authors to tackle the Champions of Aetaltis anthology. With the likes of Mel Odom, Larry Correia, Elizabeth Vaughan, Ed Greenwood, and Bill Willingham involved, this is likely to be an amazing collection! Continue below for more info and to watch the Kickstarter video.

After the closing of BioShock developer Irrational Games the people who worked there dissipated, as you’d expected, many of them going on to start new game development studios that looked to the booming crowdfunding craze to make their new games a reality instead of having to rely on a publisher who might mess with their work. We spotlighted a pair of projects from two examples of this back in October of last year, The Black Glove and The Flame in the Flood—one of which succeeded and the other unfortunately failing to reach its goal.

Another studio consisting of a talented group of gamemakers who worked on BioShock, BioShock Infinite, and other games as well, called The Deep End Games, has a new project and they too are taking to Kickstarter in hopes of raising the necessary funds to make a game called Perception. The game is a first-person horror game, and in it you play as a blind girl named Cassie exploring an abandoned mansion in Gloucester, MA. Intrigued? Please do continue on below to find out more and watch a trailer for the game.

When composing an obituary, it is customary to include life accomplishments, surviving relations, and generally create a bubble in which to compress a person’s entire life, so that the reader gets a synopsis of who the real person was beneath it all. I am choosing to walk a different path today, while I talk to you about Seth Kushner. Seth was a great photographer and a spectacular writer/creator, make no mistake about that. His peers and his friends have been properly forthcoming on his Facebook page, and in other social media. But what struck me most about this amazing guy was his genuine love of his family, and of life itself.

Ack, Ack, Ack!

Just the mention of this Kickstarter for Mars Attacks: Occupation Trading Cards made me drag out the DVD from 1996. You know, just to set the mood. Well, anyway, this Kickstarter Spotlight is a lot different than most of the ones I’ve done in the past. The project was created by The Topps Company, and trust me when I say they know a thing or two about cards in general and these cards in particular.

Originally created in 1962, Mars Attacks! was a trading card collection before ever becoming a comic, movie, or merchandise franchise. It revived in the eighties, and again with the movie release. Well, it seems it’s time to breathe new life into it again. So read on to hear more about how you can help make this happen and to see the Kickstarter campaign video.

Whether it’s through popular songs like Foo Fighters’ “Learn To Fly” or Leonardo DaVinci’s prototype aviation machines, mankind has been enamored with flight. We have watched birds take to the air for millennia and we have attempted to mimic them for almost as long. Even mythology speaks of Icarus and his ill fated flight to freedom. Many fictional characters throughout the years have, through gadgets or superpowers, taken to the blue skies for one reason or another.

But what if the majority of people, rather than a few, gained just such an ability? What if, instead of walking, you could fly across the room? This is the scenario that Bizarre New World is bringing to the masses. At least that’s the plan, provided the good citizens of this planet help its Kickstarter campaign get off the ground. See what I did there? Yeah, I probably only amuse myself. *sigh*

Continue below for more info and to see the Kickstarter video.