The publishing team of John McGuire and Geo Collazo are going to be crowdfunding The Devil in New Jersey, based on the 3, 2, 1 system.
Question: First, off, give us the elevator pitch of the project.
John Hambone McGuire: The Devil In New Jersey, is a Found Footage Horror TTRPG from 3,2,1...Action! Games, in which the town of Helridge, NJ is rocked by the disappearance of four teenagers on the night before prom. Seven days later, a mysterious VHS Tape surfaces on the outskirts of the Pine Barrens, causing a band of misfit kids to mount a desperate mission to save their friends.
Q: Is this your first ZQ project or have you done it before? If it's your first, talk a bit about what inspired you to give it a shot this year. If you've done it before, what's something you've learned from previous ZineQuests that you may be doing differently this time, or, if you're not doing anything differently, talk a bit about your previous projects.
Geo Collazo: Funny enough, our first project as a company was a Zine Quest release. Rocket to Russia. It was a super exciting way to start our company. We felt the camaraderie and excitement, which shaped how we approached every subsequent project we've done. It became less about expressing ourselves and more about collaborating with other artists and people in the RPG community, which, to be honest, really is our prime motivator these days. Something we learned from Rocket to Russia is that you can get too excited. Our first release ended up being over 100 pages, which is a chonky zine. We will try our best to keep The Devil in New Jersey zine sized. Lol, wish us luck.
Q: Finally, tell us something about your current project that really excites you but the average backer may not be aware of. Maybe a twist to an old trope, a new way of presenting something, or maybe just something you've never tried before that you're using this as an opportunity to try out. Geo Collazo: The cool thing about The Devil in New Jersey is it will be a lite release for our new Horror Rules, and we have a lot planned for that. Since the beginning, we've focused on having shared world elements across all 3,2,1…Action!,and The Devil in New Jersey will be no different. Some pieces will make their way into the upcoming official 3,2,1…Horror! release. 3,2,1…Horror! will be a collaborative effort with a bunch of our friends in the TTRPG community, which at its core is what TTRPG is all about. Another thing we had fun with was working with The Berbalangs on the theme song for the zine to make it a more multimedia experience.