Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition by Onyx Path Publishing
Ends on Tue, July 31 2018 11:59 AM EDT.
“Contribute to help create a Prestige Edition of Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition and get the book into stores!
Death is not the end.
You learned that firsthand when you died, and in the darkness you made a deal that brought you back — but not alone. Now, bound inextricably to a geist — a shade, a monster, a tragic, broken soul — you stand between the world of the living and the world of the dead. You stand between the dead and the hungry dark that would devour them. You give a voice to the voiceless and tear down cosmic systems of oppression. You will make a better world, and if you die trying… well, you came back once, and you can do it again.
In Geist: The Sin-Eaters, you play a person who died with a powerful burden on their soul — something they didn’t accomplish in life, or something they never found. On the other side of the veil, they made a bargain with a powerful being called a geist, which returned them to the world of the living and to their own body, at the cost of a permanent bond between them and the geist. Now your character stands as a medium, with one foot in the world of the living and one in the world of the dead. Will you bend your efforts toward the cosmic injustice of the Underworld, that consumes all who become trapped in its inky depths? Will you turn your wrath on the necromancers, the ghost-eaters, the two-bit frauds who exploit dead and living alike for their own enrichment? Will you reach out to the strange shade bound to you, to try to find the person beneath the inchoate fury and bring them peace? Will you bring a new faith to the masses and teach the living to welcome the dead into their lives? Or will you use all your newfound supernatural might to accomplish what you could not in life?
Originally released in 2009, Geist: The Sin-Eaters was a sleeper hit for the Chronicles of Darkness, finally bringing “life” to the realm of ghosts and death. And now this game of second chances gets a second edition, with Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition, offering a revised and updated rules system and an expanded setting.
This Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition Kickstarter is designed to enable us to create a prestige hardcover edition designed to match the look and feel of our other Chronicles of Darkness core rulebooks such as Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, or Mage: The Awakening…
We want to create an 8.5″ x 11″ hardcover with a beautifully designed, symbolic cover image printed on a metallic under layer, and featuring an emboss/deboss of the logo. We estimate the book to be more than 280+ pages, with a two-color interior and endpapers on high quality paper stock.
Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition includes all the rules you need to play as one of the Bound: Five Burdens reflecting the cause that pulled you back from the grave, five krewe Archetypes for building your own mystery religion, and the Haunts, Keys, and Ceremonies that provide the Bound with their macabre powers.
It also includes the Chronicle of the Dead, featuring the Sin-Eaters’ struggle against the all-consuming Underworld and a variety of terrifying threats. In addition, for the first time in the Chronicles of Darkness line, ghosts are presented as playable characters.
Chapters include:
- The Quick and the Dead: the five Burdens (the reason a Sin-Eater comes back from the dead and what draws a particular geist to them) and krewe Archetypes (the common cause that draws a krewe of Sin-Eaters together).
- The Road Back: On death and coming back, and why Bound make the Bargain, including possible consequences.
- One Foot in the Grave: Character creation, with sections on both geist and krewe creation, Anchors, Merits, Synergy, Plasm, Abilities, Haunts, Keys, Ceremonies, and Mementos.
- Old Laws: the core Chronicles of Darkness rules, with special rules for playing Sin-Eaters, as well as information on subsystems for krewes, ghosts, and the Underworld, including Avernian Gates.
- Antagonists: villains for your Geist chronicle, including Reapers, Eaters of the Dead, necromancers, enemy Bound, and Kerberoi.
- The Quiet Places: Setting information and story hooks for playing your Geist chronicle in specific times and places in history., from 16th-century Brazil to modern-day Edinburgh, Scotland to Mobile, Alabama in 1910, as well as information on Dominions.
- Ghost Stories: Storyteller advice and information for running a Geist chronicle, including designing Remembrances, how to set theme and mood, story seeds, and various ways to play out the end of a game.
- Appendix: The Absent: This Appendix details the Absent, playable ghosts, including Memories, new Merits, and a collection of possible ghost characters to expand on and use in your chronicle.
- Appendix: Conditions and Tilts: Geist-specific Conditions and Tilts, including ephemeral Influence Conditions and Manifestation Conditions for ghosts, as well as Haunt Conditions and Tilts.
Throughout this Kickstarter campaign, we will be posting complete previews of the Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition manuscript as backer-only updates.
The primary goal of this Kickstarter campaign is to create the best version of Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition that is possible. Your support allows us to fund the best production, use the most appropriate components, and possibly even contract more art for the core book. We hope to not only deliver a beautiful hardcover book to all of our backers, but also fund at least one print run to be sold through distribution and into book and hobby stores that are so vital to our community.
Beyond that primary goal, we hope to gain additional funding to explore more of the world of Geist, expanding into rules companions and other Storyteller and player tools and accessories. The greater our funding for this project, the more resources we are able to explore this (Under)world.
Thirdly, we want to celebrate the quiet legacy of Geist: The Sin-Eaters by offering an affordable bundle of first edition PDF titles. The Underworld Reflections bundle is a quick-and-easy way to dive into the world of Geist and revisit those ideas and concepts as we move forward with our new edition.
Beyond all of those campaign-specific goals, we hope to do what our games have always done — open a path to a new world; a setting for our community to build new stories and entwine imaginations. Every person who participates in this campaign is joining with the goal of giving this game physical form — and like our protagonists, we all become Bound with common purpose. When you back this project, you join our krewe and we journey into the new edition together.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
I’ve been on a Storyteller buying spree lately. I backed Geist. I’m signed up to play one of the Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition sessions at Gen Con. And I covered this Kickstarter in my first deals article highlighting their $10 for [now-12] PDFs of Geist: The Sin-Eaters 1e (plus the Chronicles of Darkness core rulebook PDF for $5 more). I’m in and eager to see this series return to life.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPG here.
You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.
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Animal Adventures: Tales of Dungeons and Doggies by Russ Charles
Ends on Tue, July 31 2018 3:00 PM EDT.
“A range of highly detailed dogs compatible with role-playing systems.
Animal Adventures brings intelligent animal characters to your favourite fantasy roleplaying game! Dungeons and Doggies is the first in a planned series of Animal Adventures releases! It is a set of highly detailed miniatures combining some favourite dog breeds with the different classes of the fifth edition of the world’s greatest roleplaying game!
This set features not only the miniatures in preassembled ready-to-play or paint PVC, but also a bespoke set of fifth edition compatible rules for using your Animal Adventure miniatures and playing as dogs in ANY campaign setting.
You will be able to mix canine characters with your regular adventuring party or create an entire doggy team of heroes to save the world! The miniatures also make perfect companions and familiars for your existing characters in any fantasy setting or game!
Our range of canine characters are true dogs, four legged companions true of heart and pure of soul! We have chosen to develop a range of ‘non-humanoid’ minis to offer as much of a unique play experience as we possibly could.
Each dog has been lovingly designed and sculpted, by some serious dog fans, to be bursting with personality and detail. From the panpipes of Monty, the bard, to the magical spell bones of Cornelius, the Wizard, care has been taken to add flavour and fun to every model.
The Fetch! Pledge $35/£27
Because this is Painting and Polygons’ first independent Kickstarter project (despite our experience on other projects), we have chosen to keep things as simple as possible to make it easy for us to support, while ensuring smooth delivery.
The Fetch! Pledge brings you 13 doggy miniatures along with the Rules and Adventure Companion PDFs, as well as art prints from our artist, April Prime.
Rather than include stretch goals that would complicate the process, in an attempt to encourage more participation, we are keeping things really easy with only one pledge level, that gets you everything we can cram into this campaign!
We have many more ideas for the future too, including more doggies (and maybe even kitties) so don’t panic if your favourite breed isn’t here! The world of Animal Adventurers is just opening up, and with your support, we hope to be able to make this our first step on our journey into it!
The dogs are designed on 25mm and 20mm bases and scaled to fit in with existing RPG miniatures ranges. And, although we are providing full rules to create your own doggy adventurers, each miniature comes with its own pre-generated character, complete with character sheet and short story! Whether you fancy being Hartley, a gruff and stoic fighter or Freya, a noble guardian druid, there’s a dog for every player.
We are proud to be able to support the excellent online comic Dungeons and Doggos! As part of our collaboration with them, every backer will receive as part of their pledge, a Kickstarter exclusive cross-over miniature; Tonka, the Mastiff Bard.
You can read all about Tonka, and the rest of our fearless canine friends, by joining in with the adventure, as depicted by V Lee Illustrations, every Friday at dndoggos.com.
Alongside our range of miniatures, we are proud to present and include in our campaign a full set of digital rules and a unique adventure that provides a perfect setting for a great one-shot RPG experience, for absolutely free!
Our rules set contains OGL fifth edition racial rules for creating an intelligent dog, unique canine feats and class options, notes on a canine deity for divine doggies and magic items specially tuned for dog use (which of course, are chew proof as well!).
The accompanying adventure, titled “Who’ll let the Dogs Out?”, is designed to be played either with the characters included in the rules or with any party of equivalent level and tells the fateful tale of sinister magics, dark druids and a chance for some brave dogs to save themselves, their canine cousins and the local village from a terrible fate!
Both the adventure and the rules pack feature stunning artwork from professional illustrator and dog lover April Prime, who’s previous work includes the excellent Baby Bestiary for Metal Weave Games.
Alongside the free rules PDFs, we are excited to be able to offer some of April’s illustrations as art prints, included as part of the campaign for free for every backer!
If you want to find out more about April’s work, you can do so at: www.artstation.com/april-prime, or by following her on Twitter, @April_Prime.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Do you need magical dog miniatures for your campaign? Do you play Pugmire (a 3PP D&D variant where dogs and cats rule the world) and want to have your characters be quadrupeds? Just need a miniature of a dog in a hat and some 5e adventures? This project is likely for you then.
You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.
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Delta Green: The Labyrinth by Arc Dream Publishing
Ends on Tue, July 31 2018 7:00 PM EDT.
“Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes presents a sourcebook of threats, allies, and mysteries to deepen the terrors of your campaign.
Delta Green: The Labyrinth takes Delta Green agents beyond the beltway and deep into the fissures of America in the new millennium. From Silicon Valley startups to industrialist Super-PACs, from Oregon anarchist collectives to alt-right activists, from the depths of Reddit to this morning’s livestreams, American life has entered a labyrinth of twisty passages all alike. And while there are many ways in, there is no way out.
Written by Delta Green co-creator John Scott Tynes, this all-new collection of organizations presents ready-made sources of allies, enemies, mysteries, and surprises for your Delta Green campaign. Each group has its own story arc, progressing through three stages as it encounters Delta Green agents and the evils they fight. Some groups corrode, wither, and die. Others gain hideous strength and uncover profound new horrors. Each has connections to other groups, ensuring that players find fresh hells at every turn. But all are destined to change — and the journey each one takes holds up a mirror to the agents themselves.
Because things fall apart. The center cannot hold. And once you enter the Labyrinth, you will never escape.
Discussion
John Scott Tynes discusses The Labyrinth with Ross Payton of Role Playing Public Radio
Delta Green: The Labyrinth will be a sourcebook for Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game, about 192 pages long, hardback, in full color. Written by John Scott Tynes, illustrated by Dennis Detwiller, designed by Simeon Cogswell, edited by Shane Ivey, and published by Arc Dream Publishing, The Labyrinth will join the ever-growing line of beautiful and terrifying sourcebooks for Delta Green.
The Labyrinth will contain brand-new factions for players to encounter. Some will be sources of friendlies, allies, and aid. When their exposure deepens due to contact with Delta Green agents, however, those people’s lives and realities will corrode. A group that begins as an ally may end as a foe. Others will be enemy cults and monstrous exploiters of reality. Even those that start small may metastasize under investigation, gaining power and influence.
While this is a faction book, the combinations of story arcs for each faction, and the connections between factions, mean that it can also serve as a de facto campaign. For groups with more self-directed players who like to chase down their own clues, The Labyrinth will be a narrative sandbox they can explore in multiple directions at once.
Throughout, the point remains the same: the mosaic of American life is schisming before us and when exposed to the unnatural, and to the best intentions of Delta Green, it weakens and shatters. The Labyrinth portrays America’s march towards the End Times in microcosm.
“Deception is a right. Truth is a privilege. Innocence is a luxury. Born of the U.S. government’s 1928 raid on the degenerate coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, the covert agency known as Delta Green opposes the forces of darkness with honor, but without glory. Delta Green agents slip through the system, manipulating the federal bureaucracy while pushing the darkness back for another day — but often at a shattering personal cost.”
In Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game, the cosmic horror of the Cthulhu Mythos meets modern-day technothriller conspiracy. Delta Green postulates a secret group of men and women dedicated to investigating and neutralizing inhuman and supernatural horrors, misappropriating the resources of the U.S. government to wage a war that they must at all costs keep hidden. Delta Green has explored this world of secret horrors in dozens of game books, novels, and anthologies for over 25 years, winning awards and acclaim all along the way. Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game and the sourcebook A Night at the Opera were nominated for seven ENnie Awards in July 2018.
Learn more about Delta Green in the free quickstart rulebook, Delta Green: Need to Know.
John Scott Tynes founded Pagan Publishing and the magazine The Unspeakable Oath in 1990. He first wrote about Delta Green in “Convergence,” a groundbreaking scenario that appeared in The Unspeakable Oath issue 7 in 1992. The idea of Delta Green immediately seized the imaginations of gamers around the world. Tynes expanded it with co-creators Dennis Detwiller and Adam Scott Glancy in the sourcebooks Delta Green (1997) and Delta Green: Countdown (1999), both of which won Origins Awards. Tynes’ novel Delta Green: The Rules of Engagement also won an Origins Award in 1999.
Tynes continued to advise the Delta Green creative team over the years as Pagan Publishing and Arc Dream Publishing created Delta Green: Eyes Only (2007), Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity (2010), and Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game (2016 to present). Tynes also wrote Arc Dream Publishing’s Origins Award-nominated RPG Puppetland, and co-created Atlas Games’ RPG Unknown Armies.
In an encrypted message left in an unlisted voicemail drop, John told us: “After completing the new edition of Puppetland for Arc Dream last year and contributing to the new edition of Unknown Armies for Atlas Games, I found myself haunted by strange dreams of an America plagued by discord, ruled by monsters, and slouching towards one of several moral or literal apocalypses. Fortunately, none of that is happening in the real world, so this seemed like the perfect time to explore these completely fictional ideas in the world of Delta Green.”
We’re very excited to have John back in the world he was so fundamental in shaping.
In late 2015, Arc Dream Publishing ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to launch Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game. For the first time, Delta Green is its own game system, fully customized for the uniquely suspenseful and fearful experience that Delta Green scenarios offer. That campaign funded a long line of sourcebooks and adventures, many of which have now been published. We have produced over a thousand pages of new material for Delta Green since that Kickstarter project ended.
The final shape of Delta Green: The Role-Playing Game inspired John Scott Tynes to write The Labyrinth, his first new game material for Delta Green in many years. At the same time, illustrator Dennis Detwiller’s most substantial work from that Kickstarter, writing the King in Yellow campaign Impossible Landscapes, will be done by the time John has finished The Labyrinth. The timing lines up perfectly. Other books—Deep State, PISCES, Falling Towers—and scenarios are in development by other writing teams.
Funding for Delta Green: The Labyrinth will pay for its writing, editing, illustration, and design, and for printing it as a full-color, hardback book with the same high quality as the Agent’s Handbook, the Handler’s Guide, and other books in the Delta Green RPG line.
We love working on Delta Green. We want every new book or scenario to be even better than the ones that came before. This campaign gives us a chance to do just that.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Delta Green started life as a setting for Call of Cthulhu. It grew from a 3PP setting of one game to be a game onto itself while the new material remains backwards compatible with CoC. “Delta Green’s percentile-based rules are compatible with 20 years’ worth of Delta Green scenarios and sourcebooks.” As the pitch above states, if you’re looking for “allies, enemies, mysteries, and surprises for your Delta Green campaign”, this book is for you.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPG here.
You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.
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Neoclassical Geek Revival by Josh Rottman
Ends on Tue, July 31 2018 11:59 PM EDT.
“A trio of books for the Neoclassical Geek Revival Roleplaying Game
What is Neoclassical Geek Revival?
Neoclassical Geek Revival (NGR) is a fantasy roleplaying game. Many reviews of it have been completed over the years, but the core purpose that differentiates it from things like retroclones (beyond that it is not an OGL game) is that it is focused on player driven shenanigans. It has different mechanics for class, conflict, stealth, magic, and experience which create a wildly different play experience while maintaining the old school adventure vibe.
Some examples of play are found here
“This is possibly the best FRP I’ve read in decades, as much for what it simplifies as for what it enhances.” – Kyrinn S. Eis, Alternate Reality Games
“When playing the game quite a few things stand out to me as brilliant” – The Magician’s Manse
“My opinion? Neoclassic Geek Revival is WIN! Buy a copy!” – Paolo Greco, The Lost Pages
“Overall rating: 9½ out of 10 stars.” – Anthony Hunter, Sleeping Griffon Productions
“I would definitely recommend NGR.” – Murky Pool Roleplaying Advice and Fiction
“It was this introduction that made me fall in love with NGR and Kowolski’s distinctive writing style.” – James Maliszewski, the Black Gate
There are also special versions which features art by a number of different artists. Scrap Princess, Dyson Logos, Alex Mayo, and Chris Huth all have or will have their own versions. Luka Rejec is the next artist to unlock via our stretch goals.
What is the Adventure Omnibus?
Getting a hard copy of one of Zzarchov’s adventures has usually been reserved for those published by another company or getting lucky with one of his rare small print runs. Zzarchov has created a compendium of all his dual stat NGR/OSR adventures in one large volume that is nearly 300 pages in size. This includes “The Roots of Bitterness” which is not available for sale and Down in Yon Forest which is only available seasonally. Included in the Omnibus are the following adventures:
A Thousand Dead Babies
“It is efficient, engagingly written, mechanically solid, and there’s a sense of…anticipatory and ominous giggling?” – Playing D&D with Porn Stars
“This would also be a good module to use to introduce your non-D&D friends to D&D” – Goblin Punch
“The highest compliment I can give to any product is that I intend to use it in my own campaign…and I intend to find a cool little spot on a map for Corroc and wait for the day they players wander to that neck of the woods.” – Gothridge Manor
“I can’t wait to run it myself.” – Dyson Logos
” I love this thing. Simple. Short. Sticky.” – Bryce Lynch of TenFootPole.org
“this is probably one of the darkest modules I know.” – Endzeitgeist
The Gnomes of Levnec
“The Gnomes Of Levnec is a dank twisted little affair which I imagine will leave adventures some how feeling dirty no matter how they handle it. Well done sir, well done.” – Scrap Princess
“Good adventures about gnomes are rare, but this one by Zzarchov Kowolski checks both boxes. It’s short, peculiar, and perfect for an old school D&D game; I’d happily drop it into a campaign with an evil smile on my face.” – Gnome Stew
“First impressions…this is a adventure is disturbing and hilarious. I got a lot of entertainment reading it.” – Gothridge Manor
“you will begin to fathom the warped genius of the module’s writer.” – Hero Press
“There were a few times I caught myself laughing during the read through, and immediately knew I’d slot this adventure into any upcoming low level campaign.” – Dreams of the Lich House
“I smiled, I cringed, smiled some more and nearly did a dry heave (well, maybe not that far, but certainly more than a cringe).” – Tenkar’s Tavern
“a fantastic “so you are lost in the woods” table. Based on the map, and the awesomeness of the table, I would make sure that I roll on that table the first time they head into the woods. And at least one more time.” – Take On Rules
“The Gnomes of Levnec is a great little adventure that is worth getting to read, get a new table idea, or possibly screw with your players some. I think it is totally worth it, even at almost $6….which is saying a lot for me.” – Frugal GM
“I’m a fan of this though. I will sometimes say a product is pretty close to my cutoff line, either pro or con. Not this one.” – Bryce Lynch of Tenfootpole.org
“The Gnomes of Levnec is an amazing 1st-level module (or 0-level funnel for DCC) that manages more in its couple of pages than many modules with twice that page-count” – Endzeitgeist
Scourge of the Tikbalang
“No one writes adventures like this.” – The Cuticle Chewer’s & Well-Pisser’s Fantasy Report
Under the Waterless Sea
“There is very little art in the scenario, but somehow there are two pictures of the penis tower in addition to a vertical map of it.” – Fictive Fantasies
“All in all this is interesting, well made and value for money with a good amount of sandbox and possibly replay value.” – Thomas W.
Trail of Stone and Sorrow
“Personally, I believe it warrants your support with a donation.” – Paul Baldowski
“it’s highly engaging and strangely challenging” – Ahimsa (Knight Owl Publishing)
“Zzarchov Kowolski provides an interesting, fun sidetrek here, one that has a truly intriguing fallout potential” – Endzeitgeist
The Gem Prison of Zardax
“after trying to think of different ways to make dungeons with interesting metapuzzles for year, the Gem Prison of Zardax created a set of tools that made it really easy to think up fun variants. So, yeah, recommended.” – Playing D&D with Porn Stars
“So basically a great quick adventure that you can use for probably a single night with the recommended party level. ” – Quiet in the Dungeon
The Price of Evil
“This generator is very well done and its got tons going for it. I’m a fan of generators of this type in general and this is an especially well done style of product. ” – Swords and Stitchery
“anyone and everyone running a horror game should buy this product.” – Stefan B
The Temple of Lies
” It’s a nice little urban adventure”. – Bryce Lynch of TenFootPole.org
The Roots of Bitterness
This one had a very limited release so there aren’t many reviews about.
Down in Yon Forest
” Now, I really enjoyed this module, due to completely different reasons than most Christmas modules; because it is kind of anti, but without resorting to a full-blown inversion or spitefulness; it is a tale of the holidays in a world, where the meaning behind such a celebration may well spell the difference between life and death.” – Endzeitgeist
What is City of Tears?
The City of Tears is a desert themed dungeon adventure clocking in at 64 pages. It is set in the burned out basement of the Sultan’s palace after a plague killed the entire population of a the titular City of Tears. Now bandits and scavengers camp outside the gates and the haunted lower levels of the Sultan’s palace are the last source of valuables. This adventure also features enough details of the surrounding area that it would be a great start to a new campaign. It features art by the talented Jez Gordon, maps by Dyson Logos, and layout by Jensen Toperzer.
Who are we?
Zzarchov Kowolski is an award winning game designer from Ottawa, Canada. He has a number of roleplaying game adventures published by Lamentations of the Flame Princess, ZERO/Barrier, DIYRPG, and by his own private label. He also developed the Pioneers of Mars board game. Zzarchov is the author of all the works in this project. Joshua Rottman is a project manager from Ottawa, Canada. He has managed the previously successful Pioneers of Mars kickstarter and runs Neoclassical Games. Joshua will be handling the business and logistics aspect of this project.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
I don’t have much to add to this one that is not covered in the AMAZING number of reviews quoted above. If the volume of praise does not move you, how about this – I recently covered this Kickstarter’s best deals – CA $1 for an art-less PDF version of this or CA $5 for the PDF with the art.
You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.
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Disclosures: This article contains affiliate links.
Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer™
Freelancer for EN World, Knights of the Dinner Table, Open Gaming Network, and the Tessera Guild.
Want your RPG Kickstarter reviewed? Want to share news? Rumors? Sneak peeks? Deals? Have some RPG wanna-lancer thoughts to share? Contact me here or on Facebook (Egg Embry) or on Google Plus (+Egg Embry).