TimeWatch RPG Blasts Through Kickstarter Goals En Route To Time Machine

[Karloff]

TimeWatch RPG Blasts Through Kickstarter Goals En Route To Time Machine

[kickstarter=kevinkulp/timewatch-gumshoe-investigative-time-travel-rpg]

It's not even been 24 hours and already GUMSHOE's latest has made much more than its nut.

OK, some Kickstarter projects go well, and some go insanely well, but you have to hand it to TimeWatch, the investigative time travel tabletop RPG. It launched just 24 hours ago with one humble goal: $4,000. Where is it now? It's 577% funded, that's where it is now. At time of writing it's sitting at a little over $23,000 bucks, and has already made most of its stretch goals.

Bet the team's hoping it doesn't make its final stretch goal. Theoretically if it reaches $1 billion, publisher Pelgrane Press promises to invent an actual time machine. "Once invented, we'll give chronal tours to all pledgers at the $25 level and up," says Pelgrane. "Pet dinosaur thrown in for free. We're awesome like that." Yep, awesome's one word for it, but right about now someone out there's beginning to wonder. 'Could we? Nooo, it's a silly idea. But could we?'

GUMSHOE, for those not familiar with the series, is an investigative, player-facing story-focused RPG system, known best for Trail of Cthulhu and vampire espionage setting Night's Black Agents. TimeWatch takes that idea to anywhen, with alternate histories, aliens, parallel universes, psychic dinosaurs, and other time-bending good things.

Speaking as a confirmed Pelgrane nut and Trail of Cthulhu fan, bonne chance author Kevin Kulp, and all the Pelgrane team! Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a Kickstarter I want to donate to. That pet dinosaur MUST BE MINE [http://www.dorktower.com/2009/10/09/dork-tower-friday-october-9-2009-whats-mine-is/]!

Source: TimeWatch Kickstarter [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kevinkulp/timewatch-gumshoe-investigative-time-travel-rpg?ref=live]




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[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Those folks better be careful what they "promise" unless somewhere hidden under legalese the final stretch goal is a joke. Pepsi tried that once, back in the day by offering a harrier jet for a shitload of "Pepsi Points" in a TV ad even though they never intended to do it as it was A. Not legal at all, and B. Just plain ludicrous.
That is until someone mailed in a check for $700,000 for Pepsi Points since you could do that instead of y'know drinking yourself into a diabetic coma trying to raise the amount the "right way". Pepsi was promptly sued and now you get those TV ads with disclaimers like "Car cannot actually fly" and shit like that.
So these guys best be delivering on a time machine if they hit $1,000,000.00 or have a clause in there preventing the need.
Best to note the dude didn't win the lawsuit, but it did cost a lot of money and time and probably headaches for Pepsi.

 

[Kevin Kulp]

Technically that's $1 billion, not $1 million, for the actual time machine. Thank goodness. Otherwise I'd be watching Primer 20 times and obsessively taking notes.

And thanks! I am both grateful and incredibly humbled by the response. I think it helps that the Jurassic Edition (playtest docs) are available for a $1 pledge; with most of the game written and tested, I'm a huge fan of letting people see how it reads and runs. We've unlocked 8 stretch goals so far with lots more to go -- I think there's another four or five campaign styles, for instance, letting you play everything from an X-Files-ish conspiracy game, to a game where time travel is exchanged for infinite parallel realities, to a campaign style that evokes everything I love best about shows like Doctor Who. It'll be fun to see where we end up!

- Kevin Kulp (TimeWatch's author)

 

[Trekkie]

was this not also the premise of the game, "Darkest of Days"?

 

[Kevin Kulp]

Same concept, Trekkie. Darkest of Days is a FPS, TimeWatch is a tabletop RPG (like Dungeons & Dragons and the like.) Some of the best ideas here date back to Poul Anderson's "Time Patrol" stories. Good stuff.