Good Morning! (it's still morning in LA as I write this.)
So, that was awesome. In less than 24 hours we blasted through funding and over-doubled what was needed for this project to be funded. 150 (and counting) of you made this happen, **heart** emojis all-around. I can't express how amazing it feels to be supported by the DCC RPG community. It's been a crazy few weeks, and I never thought it would happen. This edition of Crawl! had been scratching at me for while now as it was originally supposed to launch a long time ago. I started the backerkit page-thing and it was stuck in DRAFT for TWO YEARS. I kept getting emails from BackerKit saying, "Your launch date has passed, let us know if you need any help". I would stare at that email, but I didn't feel ready. The past year had been even crazier because of the political climate and being in LA in general is really tough. It didn't help when in last June some armed masked goons invaded our city and wreaked havok to my community. I found myself volunteering with a local community self-defense coalition to provide support and mutual aid for vulnerable members of my community. This coalition was led by local chapters of the Los Angeles Tenants Union. Learn more about them here: https://latenantsunion.org/en/
I had two ambitious pledge levels, The Collector for $150 and The Mega-Collector for $660. Thanks to three generous supporters, both tiers have been sold out. These limited tiers include copies of First Prints of two major editions of Crawl! The first original run (2012), and the first updated "Special Edition" (2014). As part of the 2012 run, I also made a super limited run of 56 Black-on-Black covers to mimic the original Limited Edition of the first prints of the Gold-Foil on Black "leather" edition of the DCC RPG rulebook. This black on black edition proved to be a hit. 50 copies were sent as a surprise to the first 50 people that pre-ordered the first issue of Crawl! fanzine. I had the rare (for me) insight to save a few copies for special occasions. I didn't know what those special occasions would be until a few charity opportunities arose. And that's where those copies ended up going. They each raised from $100 to over $500 for various fundraisers and charities. I honestly only remember two of them, one that aided relief from a major typhoon that hit the Philippines and a fundraiser to help Aaron Koelman in 2022.
The volunteer work I did for the LA Tenants Union did a bunch of good things. It got me out of the house, motivated me to do more with my time, and I met and worked with really good people. As a person that has struggled living in LA, but also being a citizen with certain privileges, I thought it would be a good idea to support my local LA Tenants Union chapter as part of this campaign. So that's why I decided to create those "Collectors" pledges and that's where the extra money will be going towards. Thanks to those that pledged for the "Collectors" tiers, I'll be donating $800 to my local chapter. This money will be used towards community support, which can include street vendor support, aiding tenant associations, and fighting illegal evictions. Your support made this happen. I recommend if you believe that housing is a right, to look into your local tenants union, and if you rent, join or start a tenants association.
