I’m gonna come clean with you guys: I have a kickstarter problem. Since discovering the website a little less than a year ago, I’ve backed a lot more projects than a person of my modest means has any business donating to. Seriously, look at this shit. There’s just something magical about helping someone do what they really want to do with their lives. To be a part of producing something I believe in, even if all I’m able to contribute is a single dollar. Kickstarter is fucking magical.

Before now I’ve made a point not to use Papers & Pencils to promote kickstarters, but today I learned of one which is relevant to something I posted earlier this year. An animated short called “The Reward.” If you’re a new reader, or just didn’t check it out at the time, here it is again:

The Reward from The Animation Workshop on Vimeo.

Even months after first seeing it, I still go back and watch this video now and again. The music is great, the colors are vibrant, and the narrative fills me with a sense of adventure and an urge to roll some dice. And now the folks behind it are trying to produce a series set in the same world. Here’s a look at what they’re planning:

The first episode will tell the tale of the legend behind the mirror and why the map was created. Afterwards the story picks up just as Vito’s and Wilhelm’s epic quest has been concluded. They are now old and mighty heroes who wander the world. The next episodes will focus on new adventurers who travel out and explore the world. They will all be connected by the treasure map and influenced by the spirit of Alethrion.

What we would like to do with this series is to further develop the universe that we created during the making of “The Reward”. There were so many possibilities which we didn’t use in the short film and from the very beginning we wanted it to work like a pilot. In our opinion “The Reward” is a new take on the fantasy genre and has a spirit of wanderlust and fun and not the classic good versus evil. We want to focus on characters and their individual journeys and make stories that challenge the traditional ways of telling a story. It’s important to us that the characters we create feel alive and full of personality. It is our belief that the story and humour will be best told with strong characters.

We want to make the series closely connected to the short film, but still have it’s own appeal as well. It’s important that it follows the spirit but delivers something new. We don’t want to just copy the succes but we want to explore the same universe and feel of The Reward.

We love animation, we love fantasy and we love to make great stories. We see this as a possibility to take the fantasy genre in a direction that is mixed with the modern world and the values we have today. We hope you will help us get this project on it’s feet so we can create something so magical, so epic, so insanely crazy… that you just might go blind…

I’m sold. There’s not nearly enough high quality fantasy adventure animation out there. And given how enchanting the short film is, I believe these fellows have what it takes to do something phenomenal on a larger scale.

So check out their kickstarter, listen to their pitch, and if you are so inclined, help these fellows get funded.