Last year popular convention artist Grant Gould set out on his own to create a fantasy tabletop role-playing game called Blade Raiders, combining his love for tabletop gaming, comics art and new concepts. Raising more than $8,000 on Kickstarter, Gould made that dream a reality -- and now he's taking the next step and bringing the Blade Raiders stories to life as a graphic novel.

Launched earlier this month on Kickstarter, the Blade Raiders: Grimalkin campaign is a creator-owned graphic novel set in the world of his RPG that mixes swords, sorcery, high adventure, creatures and quests. Gould is known with his frequent convention appearances and for his work on an official Star Wars webcomic, but with Blade Raiders: Grimalkin the cartoonist is branching out on his own.

"At its heart, Grimalkin is the story of three heroes rising up to face a terrible threat that their rulers refuse to acknowledge, much less deal with. It's a story of rebellion, and the struggle to do what's right," Gould writes on his Kickstarter page. "The central protagonists are (1) Errekor Dirgrun, a skilled and respected Sentinel of Stonemir, (2) Onabri Vallyen, a brutally honest and carefree mercenary who harbors a very dangerous secret, and (3) Brenya Shaleway, a young shade who possesses the ability to manipulate light and shadow."

Gould is hoping to raise $25,000, which would pay for both the printing of the graphic novel and provide him a living wage in order to complete the book. With about two weeks left in the campaign, Gould has raised slightly more than $2,000.