Tag Archives: Kickstarter

New Year, new whatever?

It’s 2017.

Happy new Year!

Or at least I hope it will be happy and have lots of good stuff in store for everyone…
I mean after all that stuff happening in 2016, we are in for a treat, right?
Let’s do a headcount:
It was the first complete year with just Dad and me. Lots of ups and downs on that front, but that’s family for you. Still miss her a lot. Don’t think that’ll ever change.
It was the year the house I live in was renovated and my flat decided to take a bath. I still haven’t completely settled in again…
And of course it was the year that took away many incredible people and gave us some quite frightening things to look forward to. Though the people-part is arguable. With a celebrity-focused media like we have today it’s not really surprising that they talk about so many celebrities that have died this year, it’s what they do, but I’m fairly certain that before all this there would still be a time where the famous people you loved growing up or in your adulthood would still die at some point, because that’s life. It just wasn’t as broadly discussed as it is nowadays. Everyone knows the major players in popular culture, so of course we all have our own stories when they face their untimely demise. And with cancer and heart attacks being common disease spread across nations, why would they stop before people like them? Just saying…

But it wasn’t really that bad a year…

at least not for me.
I might only have been on one Concert (Van Canto as far as I can remember) and one Festival (Rockharz), but I’ve been to a couple of other just as interesting things.
I spent nearly two fascinating weeks in London with Janzy. A long overdue visit that couldn’t have been better. I’m pretty sure I’ll tell you about it one day.
I had a pretty fun (and exhausting) weekend of Convention-hopping with Schmusi and AnnaTao when we went from the German Comic Con Berlin to the TimeLash in Kassel (Review 2015) on the same weekend. I got to see James Marsters live in concert and panel and talk to two Doctors and Ace, so that was worth it. And we rounded the whole thing up with a visit to the incredible Wind Mill Museum in Gifhorn.
Two of my stories were good enough to be published on other sites (you’ve read about it during my Advent Calendar). A few others where published here and at DFPP Entertainment. A third story also won a minor writing competition again.
It was a great year for movies, Deadpool, Ghostbusters, Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange, to name a few, and I got to catch up with some other movies and series I haven’t had the chance of watching before. I also read more than my usual average of books and even dived into a few comics I haven’t read before.
I wrote a couple of often read posts including my review about Mara and the Firebringer and The Gamers that were (recently) shared by their creators, though the most read ones are still my old ones somehow…(apparently WordPress didn’t do statistics like they did the years before so I can’t link you to an overview here, sorry…)
I also helped fund different projects on Kickstarter, including Nichtlustig-cartoons, Attacking the Darkness post-production and JourneyQuest Season 3. For the latter two I also helped create the German subtitles, which was an interesting experience altogether. Oh, and I also got to coin the Orcish words for „whimper(ing)“ – bawulai(/-lon) and „war drum“ – sabatam (based on „Bawling Baby“ and Sabaton – the band – respectively). 😉 And helped a few artists on Patreon…
Anyway…

What will 2017 bring?

Honestly? I don’t know.
I want to to finally finish a few stories that have been lying around all year while I either finished other stuff or was not in the mood to write at all. There are also a few stories that have a basic outline that I want to complete for a different project to be published with three stories I already prepared for it last year (including The Quest for Ore and A new Day 😉 ) and of course many other story ideas that are still floating around in my head.
Last year (that still sounds weird…) I made good on my self-imposed schedule for a while but then dropped it again after a couple of weeks, so I guess I’ll give it another try at some point…
But right now I’ll enjoy my last vacation days and next week I might be celebrating my birthday (unfortunately not in Dublin at a Sabaton concert 🙁 ) with a couple of friends, we’ll see.

All the best for the New Year!

PoiSonPaiNter

JourneyQuest: The Epic you never expected to find

My Nerd-Week is long over and the next one isn’t approaching any time soon, but I feel the need to tell you a bit about this web series I already – indirectly – mentioned back then.

What is it about?

Poster for Season one showing the Characters
Season 1 Cover

JourneyQuest by Zombie Orpheus Entertainment tells the story of a group of adventurers consisting of the Priest Carrow, the Warrior Glorion, the Rouge Nara and the dyslexic Wizard Perf on their quest to find the Sword of Fighting.

It also tells the story of Bard-Apprentice Wren trying to become a real Bard through writing down the story of the adventurers as her very own first Epic. As Bard she has to stay neutral and not interfere with the Quest itself and can only gather information from the side lines.

Needless to say neither the groups‘ nor the Bards‘ plans go as they expected…

The watching experience

JourneyQuest currently consists of two Seasons with seven and ten ~10 minute episodes each, that can be found on YouTube and other sites.

The shortness of the episode makes it a fast watch, but it also makes you yearn for more, as you really want to know how the well written story will continue. It occasionally feels like the story isn’t moving forward because of it, but I guess that’s to be expected from a serial that is completely fan-funded and therefore limited in budget and resources.

Yet, that does not meant that they don’t put effort into it. Quite the contrary.
There are scenic shots of forests, castles, dungeons, there are interesting costume and make-up choices for both the main cast and additional characters/creatures like Gargoyles, Orcs and Zombie’s that look quite natural, even if still quite phantastic.
They even added an Orcish language and other additional things like spells and potions that sometimes aren’t that common in normal adventures (e.g. taking a potions to understand a different language instead of mastering the skill for it).

They use several questing tropes throughout the story (lying Gargoyles, talking Swords, spell-mishaps, … ), but they are incorporated well enough to not make them seem simple and dull.

All in all a great – if short – watch, where you just can sit back and enjoy the story.

The characters

The characters are as unique as they come, even if they follow some stereotypes as well.
Dyslexic (and therefore nearly entirely useless) wizard Perf certainly reminds me of Rincewind from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, but he is far less cynical and way more adorable and dorky. His antics are highlighted by his interactions with other characters like the single/simple-minded Glorion or clever/snarky Nara, who both hold their own in their respective fields.

Just as Wren’s struggle to complete her Epic is just as interesting as Carrows inner conflict with a certain predicament he was put into.

Though that doesn’t mean these sides are all the characters have. They are surprisingly versatile and have a few funny/interesting surprises up their sleeves. 😉

But not just the main cast is well thought through, the side characters all seem to have their own story that lingers behind their short appearances in the main storyline.

With the stereotypes you’re presented, you expect a few things, but it feels like the characters often don’t care about that and do something entirely different and that’s what I really like about them.
They’re just so unpredictable, funny and great.

General Opinion

I’ve known JourneyQuest for quite some time now, thoughI have no idea how I discovered it, but I’m glad I did.
The characters are great, different and just as much fun as the guys from The Gamers (which incidentally are partly played by the same actors, especially in the later movies).

It’s just a lot of fun to watch and follow the stories of these characters or in other words:

Go watch it! 😀

Stuff I’d like to add

They’re currently running a Kickstarter campaign. So if I piqued your interest make sure to check it out and support the production of Season 3!
I’m certain it will be as much fun as the previous Seasons.

Onwa~rd!

PoiSonPaiNter

© For the Cover belongs to its rightful owner.