(When I got some pizza and a can of Coke, I jokingly asked John where the rum was. What kind of a pirate party has no rum? So John showed me the bottle of run he brought–Captain Morgan, of course. And yes, I had a shot of it in my Coke. So did he.)

I have amazing friends. I hope you can all say that, but most of you are not going to have the same level of amazing that I have. This blog isn’t about me. It’s about my friend John Wick who has just finished a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign to publish a new second edition of his 7th Sea role-playing game.

On Feb. 9, 2016 John started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to do a new edition of the 7th Sea rpg. On March 13, 2016 that campaign ended, and in the month and 4 days he raised over 1.3 million dollars–the most ever raised for an rpg on Kickstarter. In the process, he broke every previous funding record for this type of game.

I had the pleasure to attend his victory party last night at Imperial Outpost. I went as a participant, not a reporter, so I didn’t get a lot of photos. But I thought it might be fun to share with you all the ones that I did get.  The party started at 7 p.m. and ended at  10 p.m. It took place at Imperial Outpost, Darren Johnson’s game store on West Thunderbird Avenue at 49th Avenue. There was pizza and chips and soda pop and a chocolate covered peanut brittle for all. Half the attendees came in costume as pirates or other 17th century types. We gamed, and we schmoozed, and we ate, and we drank, and we all had a great time. John stood up on a table and told us a “trick the devil story”.  I have to tell you that he is a great storyteller, and that was the high point of the evening for me.

The man in red, waving to us, is Darren Johnson. It’s his game store–Imperial Outpost. It is the biggest and best game store in the Phoenix area located in northern Glendale at 49th Ave. and Thunderbird road.

Don’t all parties look kind of like this?

Mark and John showing off the grand total their KS brought in. They joked that if you took the 1 off the front of the number you’d see what they thought they were likely to get.

The other man in the photo is Mark Diaz Truman, a game creator in his own right, and the man who orchestrated John’s successful Kickstarter project. Much of the credit for this accomplishment should go to Mark, and I tip my trollish hat to him. I got them to ham it up a little bit when the kickstarter closed. Were they happy? Yeah, I think so.

Here are the final totals. 11, 483 backers. (Yes, I’m one of them.) $1,316,813 raised for the project which includes 11 new sourcebooks and maps and other goodies.

No, I didn’t pledge $130. That was Darren’s pledge. I’m in at a rather basic level for $65.

Excellent party! Stupendous project! Now comes the fun part, actually creating all the game material promised.  Good luck, John and Mark!

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If you attended this party, or other kickstarter funding parties, why not leave a comment?

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