Standard disclaimer that I can quit Kickstarter anytime. Generic assurance that it is not an addiction, and that I don’t have a problem. Boisterous invitation to peruse the latest offerings.

Invisible Sun – Okay, this is the big one, and it has turned out to be surprisingly divisive. It seems that many folks were not only dismayed at the $197 buy-in, but were actively angry about it. Angry to the point of posting long screeds and the like. And I sort of get it. The game is so very beautiful looking (and beautiful sounding, based on the backer updates) that I can understand some gamers being upset that they can’t afford its price point. But as I pointed out to a friend the day it came out, being a gamer is a lot like being a scotch drinker; you can be quite happy drinking $30-50 bottles of scotch, but if you want the really good stuff you have to be prepared to pay. That doesn’t make the less expensive scotch (games) worse in any way, but special costs. And as Monte Cook himself has pointed out in numerous posts and interviews, this is a game which could be bought by a gaming group as a whole. Given the average group is 4-5 people, that drops the cost down to $40-50 per person, which is what each person would pay if your group were getting the books for a new game anyway. And this is not a game you want to buy and not play, so knowing you’ve got a literally invested group of players is a good thing.

Villains & Vigilantes 3.0: The Mighty Protectors – After a tedious legal battle to regain the rights to the game they created, Jeff Dee and Jack Herman are Kickstarting to launch the third edition of the iconic superhero game. V&V was hands-down my favourite superhero game in the Eighties, and I’ve owned several copies of the 2nd edition over the years (each mysteriously going missing after lending it out). I’m excited to see what the third edition will bring, and get a look at the Mighty Protectors Universe, one of the early settings for the game. It’s already blown through a bunch of stretch goals as well, so there’s a bunch of additional material coming with the main rules.

Dragonlock 2: Fantasy Village Terrain for 3D Printers – I don’t yet own a 3D printer, but with the price coming down and quality going up on consumer models, I likely will in the next year. Against that day, I am excited to get my hands on a bunch of files for printing 3D terrain for my tabletop gaming. I see this as an investment in where I think 3D terrain building is going to go. And besides all that, the terrain looks gorgeous and well-designed. I know, I shouldn’t be distracted by pretty. But damn it’s pretty! And I don’t even have to wait for a printer of my own for this stuff; my local library has 3D printers available for public use for a very nominal fee. If you have a similar resource where you are, or own a 3D printer of your own, you want to get on-board with this now.

Those are my Kickstarter picks for September. What have you got your eye on these days? Let me know in the comments below.