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Sunday, August 24, 2014

Kickstarter - Sabratact (the martial art sport / game depicted in Dragon 100)


"Sabratact is a martial team contact sport with targets mounted on body armor, flexible delrin weapons + fencing mask or better helmets."

You know what, I have no recollection of this being written about in an article in any issue of Dragon, let alone issue 100.

But hey, Forrest aims high. The project has the low goal of $750,000. So fair it's raised $111.

'Cause ya know, it isn't easy to put together a "television pilot will include 64 five-athlete squads competing to form 16 twenty-fighter platoons under the leadership of the winning teams through single elimination contests with the losing fighters coming aboard, leading to 4 companies of eighty players each. I think I can do this in a two or three hour format. We will then go to a 1-hour weekly show and try to get picked up for 13 weeks at a time.

I need at least 320 martial artists and other such athletes (including guest fighters from among our Backers) to shoot this pilot. Working in the Philippines gives us access to a martial arts culture of stick-fighting (Escrima) that is actually a good fit for Sabratact. We can cast and shoot perfectly well with local talent cast right on location. It also turns out that the television and film industry in the Philippines is concentrated in Cavite (our Province) and we've worked previously with those people. This can definitely be done with high production values, suitable for US broadcasters and within a finite budget. ESPN? Maybe."

And than again, maybe not.


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9 comments:

  1. Eldric IVAugust 24, 2014 at 10:45 AM

    Sabratact did appear in Dragon #100 on pages 6-8.

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  2. Scott AndersonAugust 24, 2014 at 11:01 AM

    It's no dumber than 98% of television.

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  3. jedavisAugust 24, 2014 at 12:31 PM

    I used to fight with some eskrimadores and they were quite capable. What I'm really wondering is "why the armor-targets and silly Dragon tie in?" Start an eskrima league fighting with rattan canes to submission, put team matches on the internet, and bootstrap off ad revenue. If the Dog Brothers can get away with it here in the States, you could sure as hell get away with it in the Phillipines.

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    Replies
    1. Peter DAugust 24, 2014 at 2:11 PM

      That's exactly who I thought of - it's a Dog Brother Gathering of the Pack, only with more armor.

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  4. Scott AndersonAugust 24, 2014 at 3:47 PM

    The fact that he has laid out the specific format in the kickstarter tells me this might be his first time producing a television show. Or producing anything. We really only need to know it's a big-budget martial arts game show shot on-location. Or something like that.

    Until you have the money, the rest of it is pie in the sky.

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  5. JDJarvisAugust 24, 2014 at 4:06 PM

    Hmmm, filming in the Philipines where health insurance might not be a real big barrier to filming something like this?
    If I was in my 20's and they were filming in the U.S. I'd signup.

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  6. G-woulfAugust 25, 2014 at 12:13 AM

    It is very intriguing -- I can remember issue 100 with fond memories, but do not remember this particular article... since back then I read every page, I probably don't remember it since I couldn't apply it to the game.
    Of course, for a capitalist visionary, he is incredibly ambitious to launch this and his hand bag venture simultaneously. I know it isn't a hard and fast rule, but it seems that the unspoken rule in Kickstarterville is to not attempt a big launch until you have either backed several related projects, or have successfully demonstrated your ability to deliver on smaller ones.
    It especially doesn't bode well when he claims strong demand for his hand bags, yet when I put Bella Dolci in my search engine, the first entries that come up are for cookies, specialty chocolates., and a restaurant.
    I wish him well, and applaud his ambition, but I will be keeping my money.

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  7. faoladhAugust 25, 2014 at 2:49 AM

    The last version of the sport's website that archive.org matains was in February 2011. It was gone by the next archive in June 2013, so I'm guessing that the organization isn't even trying any longer. And yeah, it was featured in an article in Dragon 100.

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  8. AnonymousAugust 26, 2014 at 11:14 AM

    I remember the article. Sounded like fun. It still does.

    But the Kickstarter campaign rambles on and I don't really get a sense of his vision. I thought his goal was to build a league, but a lot later in he talks about the TV show. That's cool and all, but I thought the original goal was to make something for everyone.

    But then, the whole write-up seems to change course a few times.

    Yeah, looks like fun, I'd try it if it was in my area, but I'll stick with the SCA. I'd rather support a group I can participate in.

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