Leeanne Krecic, the creator of the wildly successful webcomic Let’s Play, has partnered with Rocketship Entertainment once again to bring those comics to the printed page with the Kickstarter for Volume 5. Delving once again into the world of programmer Sam and her worlds of gaming culture, friendship, and love, Let’s Play has consistently met and smashed the crowdfunding goals set with each subsequent Kickstarter, and this outing is no different. In addition, Krecic is currently wearing many hats, including a new series called Dragon King Oath debuting later this year.
I spoke with Leeanne Krecic recently about the conceit of Let’s Play, the Kickstarter for Volume 5 where we find the characters at the beginning of the collection, and the different creative muscles her various comic projects let her flex.
FreakSugar: For folks who might not be familiar with Let’s Play, what can you tell us about the comic?
Leeanne Krecic: Let’s Play is a story about a young woman named Sam Young who explores her new romantic life through a gamer’s lens. She grew up in a very sheltered life due to ill health and spent most of her time growing up playing video games. Now, as an adult, she is facing a lot of difficult challenges in her life, including learning about romance, and she wishes the solutions were as simple as they can be in video games. I mean, why CAN’T you just give radishes as a gift to someone enough until they fall in love with you? Maybe dating WOULD be a lot easier if we all had visible reputation meters.
FS: The comic had such a rich array of characters. What can you tell us about who we meet in the series?
LK: There are several characters in Let’s Play, but I’ll focus on the main three:
We have Sam Young, the female lead of the series. She’s an extremely near-sighted, naïve, intelligent, doe-eyed gamer and indie game developer. We see a lot of the story from her perspective, filtered through her “gaming UI” take on things. She is sweet and loving and will literally melt into a gelatinous state when she gets too embarrassed. So naturally, I put her in embarrassing situations as much as possible. Fans have informed me that Sam is “Waifu.”
Marshall Law is a social media influencer and a rising star in the Let’s Player gaming community. He’s handsome, goofy, loving, and loyal. He is basically the human embodiment of a Golden Retriever. Regrettably, in his rush to crank out content for his fans, he plays Sam’s first game, “Ruminate,” poorly and leaves it a bad review. As a result, Marshall’s fans end up ruining Sam’s reputation online as a game developer. If that wasn’t bad enough, he moves into the apartment next door to Sam by the end of the first episode. I have been told by fans that Marshall radiates “Himbo Energy.”
Charles Jones is Sam Young’s boss. He’s a highly intelligent, toe-headed individual who is incredibly ambitious. One might think this is a setup for an HR nightmare between Charles and Sam, but fortunately, Sam’s father is the CEO of the company they both work for. If there is any “power struggle,” it’s experienced by Sam’s father, who struggles to reign in his desire to murder any man who gets too close to his only daughter. Luckily, Charles’ poise helps everyone keep a level head in difficult situations. He has also been working towards assisting Sam to learn to become the company’s next CEO. I have been told by fans that Charles is “Daddy.”
FS: What is the most rewarding part of working on Let’s Play?
LK: I feel very fortunate to have such a creative career. As a programmer in my previous profession, you were at the mercy of programming languages, architecture, and project parameters for the end software. You could be clever in your problem-solving, but the actual presentation didn’t leave much room for creativity.
As a comic creator, I’m able to dive into worldbuilding, expressions, psychology, humor, and a number of other creative outlets, and it’s very fulfilling and rewarding.
FS: You’ve worked on Let’s Play for quite some time. Are the characters who evolved in ways that you didn’t expect when you first started?
LK: In an interesting way, yes. But not in the way I initially expected when I first started the series. When I first created Let’s Play, it felt like the characters were malleable and evolving. It was my job to try to discover their personalities and qualities as I wrote about them. But after a year or two, it was as if the characters were no longer as malleable as they once were. It felt as though I couldn’t make the characters do “what they don’t want to do.” If I was told, “You should have this character do this thing,” and I didn’t feel like it fit that character, I couldn’t force them to do that thing because “It’s not who they were.” It’s difficult to explain, but I discussed this with other writers and creators, and they agreed they had a similar problem with their characters. They almost take on a mind of their own.
FS: On to the Kickstarter itself, what can you tell us about the campaign?
LK: This Kickstarter campaign is for the print edition of Volume 5 of Let’s Play. By supporting this campaign, backers gain access to a multitude of products and goodies not available in retail stores. We have unique covers, prints, apparel, enamel pins, and a lot more!
FS: Where do we find the characters at this point in this collection?
LK: Marshall has been hospitalized after collapsing. Sam and Link explore their true feelings for a potential romantic relationship, and Charles plays Ruminate. This book starts on episode 76, which is the start of season two, and ends at episode 94. I feel like this is the real start in the series where Sam begins to grow up a lot. It’s as they say, “The game always gets harder right before you level up.”
One of the many backer rewards from the Let’s Play Volume 5 Kickstarter
FS: What kind of rewards and add-ons can backers expect?
LK: In this campaign, we have the Gamer Box Tier that includes the book with the exclusive gamer cover and a copy of the board game “Let’s Playopolis.”
We also have the Naughty Tier Box, which includes the “Miami Spice” prints, an enamel Bowser pin, and Riley Noble’s second book, “Let’s Play Under the Covers,” a collection of spicy short stories featuring various Let’s Play couples. Riley’s first book was so popular for the Volume 4 Kickstarter that we asked her to return for a second book!
We also offer a FOMO tier, so if you missed out on past campaigns, now is your chance to get some of those past goodies!
FS: What are YOU reading right now?
LK: I have a new title called Dragon King Oath that will be hosted on the platform Manta soon, and I have been binge-reading 40+ titles on there to familiarize myself with their content. I’m really excited that The Accidental Heiress has returned for a new season, as I think the story is really charming and the art is lovely.
FS: What can you tell readers about Dragon King Oath?
LK: My elevator pitch for Dragon King Oath is: “Take Beauty and the Beast and Pride and Prejudice and put them in the blender. Then add magic and force the main characters to wear a ‘get along t-shirt,’ and you have Dragon King Oath.”
It’s romance, fantasy, and enemies to lovers. Lisette is a princess of the kingdom, sacrificed to protect the realm from a foreign threat. And Raith is a reclusive dragon who just wants to hang out in his library all day and enjoy his hoard of books. Then, they are forced to live together and will eventually learn the real truth behind the history of Dragons and Humans. As they spend more time together, buried secrets start to surface, and what begins as mutual disdain slowly shifts into something deeper. This connection could either break them apart or bring them together in ways they never imagined.
FS: What’s been your favorite part about working on Dragon King Oath that you might not necessarily get from working on Let’s Play?
LK: I adore the fantasy genre – it is by far my favorite. In Let’s Play, I was only able to touch on this by portraying Sam’s game “Ruminate” or the MMO “World of Warquest.” It’s been wonderful drawing and writing about a world steeped in fantasy.
Also, the female lead for Dragon King Oath, Princess Lisette, is very different from Sam, the female lead of Let’s Play. While Sam is very insecure and lacks self-confidence, Lisette has one heck of a backbone. She is confident enough to stand up for herself, even standing toe-to-toe with a dragon despite the risks. She isn’t a damsel in distress; she’s the hero to others. So, it’s been great writing about a strong, confident lead in DKO. It’s a real change-up from Let’s Play.
FS: If you had a final pitch for folks considering picking up Let’s Play for the first time, what would it be?
LK: Well, the world needs more love in it, man. Let’s Play is mainly a feel-good story that touches a lot on mental health and personal struggles. There are a lot of great moments in the story that have helped a number of readers get through a tough time. I’m not saying it’s some sort of cure, but it’s been a real port in the storm for a lot of people. If you enjoy these types of stories, or if you’re curious about checking out a comic for the first time, this might be a great opportunity for you. I’ve met readers in their late teens and have even met readers who were in their 80s. I also met a lot of readers who say they wish they had this story when they were starting out on their romantic journeys, male or female; it didn’t matter. There’s just something about this story that I think speaks to a lot of people, and maybe it will speak to you too.
Also, Let’s Play is getting an anime! OLM, the studio that animated Pokémon and Komi Can’t Communicate, will be the ones to bring the Let’s Play anime to life. So, if you’re one of those people who like to say they “liked <insert title here> before the show,” now’s your chance! LOL!
The Let’s Play Volume 5 Kickstarter has met its goal an amazing 19 times over, but there’s still time to check out the campaign and get in on the bevy of phenomenal backer rewards!