Going to the ENnie Awards at Gen Con 50 in Indianapolis, Indiana? Need a date to the ENnies on Friday, August 18th, 2017? Then the ENnies have you covered – on eBay. There you can bid on eight dates with RPG companies and creators that are a wanna-lancer’s dream! Get gifts, meet the professionals behind them, and see them win awards all in one magical night!
The ENnie Awards Date Auction
Avoid going stag and get bonus swag!
[EDITOR’S NOTE – The slogans made up by Egg Embry are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the creative abilities of the editorial staff of the ENnies Awards.]
What swag? Owen KC Stephens comes with an autographed Starfinder Core Rulebook (system premiering at Gen Con 50).
What is Gen Con? “The largest gaming convention in the world held annually in Indianapolis, Indiana.”
What are the ENnies? “The Gen Con EN World RPG Awards (the “ENnies“) are an annual fan-based celebration of excellence in tabletop roleplaying gaming. The ENnies give game designers, writers and artists the recognition they deserve. It is a peoples’ choice award, and the final winners are voted upon online by the gaming public.”
This year, the Mistress of Ceremonies for the ENnies is Stacy Dellorfano, one of the most prominent individuals in gaming and the founder of ConTessa.
What is a “wanna-lancer”? A tabletop RPG fan that wants to become a tabletop RPG freelancer (i.e., Egg Embry).
What are you getting yourself into by bidding on one of these dates? A cocktail reception, an awards ceremony, four-and-a-half-hours to pester your “date” for Gary Gygax stories, swag (some of which is highly sought after), and the chance to network with some of the largest tabletop RPG publishers and professionals in the gaming world. If you want to talk with Chaosium, Cubicle 7, Monte Cook Games, andPelgrane Press, or gain industry insights from Sean Patrick Fannon, Stacy Muth, and Owen KC Stephens, these are the wanna-lancer dream dates for you!
“This year, the highest bidder will meet the staff of Cubicle 7. If you win, you will meet up at the cocktail reception starting at 6:30pm and sit with them during the 2017 ENnie Awards ceremony taking place at Gen Con on Friday, August 18th, at 8:00pm in the Grand Ballroom of Union Station. You will also receive their first three Adventures in Middle-earth books!”
How much value is this? The cover price of “their first three Adventures in Middle-earth books” in US dollars is nearly $120. Until the eBay bids reach above that level, meeting the staff of Cubicle 7 is gravy. The books are almost – almost – the win. But keep in mind, meeting Cubicle 7 is going to be good gravy. Do you love Tolkien-based RPGs? Do you love games featuring The Doctor? Is this a no-brainer? Trust them. They’re The Doctors [of RPG].
You’ll be at the table with Cubicle 7 when they learn if they won ENnie Awards for:
“This year, the highest bidder will meet Sean Patrick Fannon! If you win, you will meet up at the cocktail reception starting at 6:30pm and sit with him during the 2017 ENnie Awards ceremony taking place at Gen Con on Friday, August 18th, at 8:00pm in the Grand Ballroom of Union Station. You will also receive swag!”
Sean Patrick Fannon has been making a living gaming for going on 20 years. He’s worked for, helped run, and created with a who’s who of the major players in the games industry. Based on the games he’s created, he knows how to make an engaging product for the whole table to play. Your bid lets you sit down with him and hear about his journey or pick his brain for more good game design tips than you could learn in a year of production.
You’ll be with Sean when he learns if Pinnacle Entertainment Group won ENnie Awards for:
UPDATED on 13:25 2017-07-11 – From Sean Patrick Fannon Facebook post: “Plus I promise good swag, even if it’s from my private stock.” To help make the ENnies a success, Sean is going above and beyond for this.
“This year, the highest bidder will meet the design team of Monte Cook Games! If you win, you will meet up at the cocktail reception starting at 6:30pm and sit with him during the 2017 ENnie Awards ceremony taking place at Gen Con on Friday, August 18th, at 8:00pm in the Grand Ballroom of Union Station. You will also receive swag!
UPDATE: On Jul-11-17 at 11:57:25 PDT, seller added the following information:
We promise the Dream Date swag bag will contain really cool, high-end, one-of-a kind items.“
I really want to play No Thank You, Evil! for my EN Worldcolumn about games for all ages. Also because I hear it is everything that is good in this world. If that makes it into the swag bag, so much the better! [Just putting that into the atmosphere… <wink, wink>]
If you win this auction, you’ll have a chance to politely inquire about Numenera or The Strange or Cypher System or game design or marketing or STUNNING art or what’s coming next? Do not miss this table!
You’ll be with Monte Cook Games when they learn if they won ENnie Awards for:
“This year, the highest bidder will meet Owen KC Stephens! If you win, you will meet up at the cocktail reception starting at 6:30pm and sit with him during the 2017 ENnie Awards ceremony taking place at Gen Con on Friday, August 18th, at 8:00pm in the Grand Ballroom of Union Station. You will also receive:
a signed hardback copy of the Starfinder Roleplaying Game
What comes with this “date” is just shy of $115 worth of Starfinder products. It’ll save you standing in line to get them, and I think that’s going to be a LONG line at Paizo’s booth. Why will it be a long line? Because Gen Con 50 is the launch of Paizo’s Starfinder. Those books are likely to be on many must-have lists. The debut is going to be the defining memory for many attendees of this convention. For one winning bidder, they’ll get to sit with the design lead for the system. That’s going to be its own story. “Yeah, at Gen Con 50 I got to attend the ENnies with Owen as Starfinder was dropping. Oh, let me tell you what happened…” and stories shall follow.
You’ll be with Owen when he learns if Paizo won an ENnie Award for:
“This year, the highest bidder will meet the staff of Pelgrane Press and sit with them at [one of their two tables]! If you win, you will meet up at the cocktail reception starting at 6:30pm and sit with him during the 2017 ENnie Awards ceremony taking place at Gen Con on Friday, August 18th, at 8:00pm in the Grand Ballroom of Union Station. You will also receive autographed copy of Cthulhu Confidential and a t-shirt!”
Not to take away from Pelgrane’s other products, but The Yellow King is making itself known on Kickstarter. It’s doing impressive numbers! For the winning bidder for the Pelgrane dates (there’s two), they’ll get to sit down with the Pelgrane staff and find out more about that game as well as the rest of their catalog. I’m looking at you, 13th Age.
As an added bonus, Pelgrane Press is up for ENnie Awards for:
“This year, the highest bidder will meet Stacy Muth, our new business manager and one of our judges for 2016! If you win, you will meet up at the cocktail reception starting at 6:30pm and sit with her during the 2017 ENnie Awards ceremony taking place at Gen Con on Friday, August 18th, at 8:00pm in the Grand Ballroom of Union Station. You will also receive swag!”
Do you want to be an ENnie’s judge? How is it done? How many games do you get handed to judge? What goes into the legwork of picking the award nominees? What’s the business side of awards like? Stacy will know.
“This year, the highest bidder will meet the team of Chaosium! If you win, you will meet up at the cocktail reception starting at 6:30pm and sit with her during the 2017 ENnie Awards ceremony taking place at Gen Con on Friday, August 18th, at 8:00pm in the Grand Ballroom of Union Station. You will also receive swag! Swag Will Be: In honor of Gen Cons’s 50th and to celebrate the 40-odd years Chaosium has had a booth at Gen Con, we offer up a nostalgic mix of old and new goodies from the vaults and also hot off the presses.
Included in your swag box will be:
1. Call of Cthulhu 7th edition slipcase set.
2. An additional CoC slipcase you can fill with any of our 7th edition releases of your choosing.
Sanity check. The items they’re giving away are worth a pretty penny (several hundred dollars worth). I can’t predict the final bids but this auction may give you enough swag that meeting the Chaosium team is just a wonderful bonus. You’ll have enough Cthulhu product to make you something like a minor young one… right? Right? No? Ok…
Chaosium is up for 10 ENnie Awards. Between them walking up to get their awards, you can ask about Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest and more. With this many awards, this is going to be an adrenaline rush of a night!
You’ll be at the table with Chaosium when they learn if they won ENnie Awards for:
So, what company or creator is your dream RPG date?
* * * * *
Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer™
Wanna-lancer™ Checklist T-shirt available at Cafepress
Interested in being a wanna-lancer? Start with the official Wanna-lancer Checklist t-shirt or wall clock or ice tea glass!
* * *
Egg Embry wrote comic book short stories, edited comic book series, wrote and drew a webcomic, and contributed to comic book journalism across the 2000s. Now, he buys the opportunity to write for a variety of tabletop role-playing games in the tradition of vanity press. His purchases have been published by:
Happy 4th of July! Because it’s Fireworks Over America Day [yeah, that’s a good reason] let’s count down three tabletop RPG Kickstarters that offer wanna-lancer opportunities (the chance to write on these projects, building your resume and demonstrating your skills so you can move from wanna-lancing to freelancing).
“Heroes build their legend and ascend to godhood in a mythic bronze age tactical RPG. Back as a creator to become a part of the world!
This heroic tactical RPG is set in a mythic land, a place where heroes build their legend in the pursuit of immortality and fantastic creatures inhabit the untamed world. The Lost Age is powered by a new class-free, skill-based system, with goal driven XP, dice-less GMing, and resource management-focused gameplay.
This is a new system so you can get in on the ground floor and show what you can do in a new environment. The art is the winner here. It’s pretty, pretty, pretty!
Wanna-lancer vanity press reward: Create a NPC, a monster, or an adventure for this new system.
“From the creators of the BabyBestiary, explore monster variants like you’ve never seen before! Includes statbooks for 5e and Pathfinder
Panda Owlbear – BUY IT!
Have you ever wanted to use a particular creature in your campaign but couldn’t because it would not make sense in the party’s current environment?
Well, look no further, for we have panda owlbears and a variety of other unique creatures for your next campaign!!”
Atlas Animalia – LAND SHARK!
Egg’s Thoughts:
They said “panda owlbears”! We live in times undreamed of! It’s cute AND it will murder kill your PCs dead! Adorable! Here’s the link, give them all of your money!
Wanna-lancer vanity press reward: These are already spoken for, but if one of them opens up you can create an adventure hook/legend and/or design a beast that will murder kill PCs across the world dead! Aim high!
“450+ ready-to-play NPCs and villains for Pathfinder RPG, featuring dozens of Archetypes, henchmen, rumors, and more.
TL;DR: The Value Proposition
If you play, or run, a Pathfinder game, this book will save you time. It’s as simple as that. Hundreds of detailed, ready-to-use PCs/NPCs and animal companions for a great price. Tons of high-quality, intricately-detailed crunch.
Not quite sure? Check out the free PDFDO1 Standard Pregenerated Characters for Pathfinder, a smaller collection of 46 characters that should give you a good sense of what to expect… times seven!”
Egg’s Thoughts:
450+ Pathfinder NPCs. Curious about the quality? They have a sample of 46 NPCs. Or jump in and back the full campaign because what GM does not need enough NPCs to literally populate a small town?
Wanna-lancer vanity press reward: Design a Pathfinder NPC.
Wanna-lancer™ Checklist T-shirt available at Cafepress
Interested in being a wanna-lancer? Start with the official Wanna-lancer Checklist t-shirt or wall clock or ice tea glass!
* * *
Egg Embry wrote comic book short stories, edited comic book series, wrote and drew a webcomic, and contributed to comic book journalism across the 2000s. Now, he buys the opportunity to write for a variety of tabletop role-playing games in the tradition of vanity press. His purchases have been published by:
This week, I’m looking at a success – I translated my wanna-lancer credits into a freelance opportunity and you can, too. Become a freelance RPG journalist through the open call on this major RPG news site. Read on for more details.
EN World, one of the largest “DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and PATHFINDER RPG news” websites in the world, is looking for new contributors for their community-generated content program. They’re requesting pitches for ongoing 500-word articles examining RPG news, industry coverage, commentary on gaming and the gaming community, gamer-interest profiles, and focused reviews of games. It’s an exciting offer because, if they accept your pitch, it’s freelancer work that grows your RPG profile.
If you want to write about games and be paid for it, you can find their open call for freelance columnists here. Their guidelines and how to contact them are here.
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My favorite piece of art from the FirstFable Guide Book. Art by Charlie Bates
After reading about this opportunity, I pitched several column series ideas, and my wanna-lancer resume, to EN World. A portion of one of the ideas caught the submissions editor’s interest. He asked for a new pitch focusing on reviews for children’s games. I was stoked that he spotted a diamond in the rough. I re-wrote the pitch, he approved it. I wrote my first article, he had only short, helpful notes. I adjusted the article and the review, entitled Gaming at the Kids’ Table: The FirstFable RPG, can be read on EN World here.
My blog series on the Tessera Guild is about buying and building my RPG resume to move from a wanna-lancer to a freelancer. A big piece of the puzzle has been filled in with this freelance column on EN World. Does this mean that wanna-lancing is over? No. One assignment does not a freelancer make. But, it’s a positive step.
I want to thank EN World for offering this opportunity. A big thank you to Submissions Editor Christopher Helton for seeing something worth publishing. I also want to thank the Tessera Guild for letting me write here. Every article exercises the writing gears and helps get me ready for future assignments.
Thank you all!
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Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer™
Wanna-lancer™ Checklist T-shirt available at Cafepress
Interested in being a wanna-lancer? Start with the official Wanna-lancer Checklist t-shirt or wall clock or ice tea glass!
* * *
Egg Embry wrote comic book short stories, edited comic book series, wrote and drew a webcomic, and contributed to comic book journalism across the 2000s. Now, he buys the opportunity to write for a variety of tabletop role-playing games in the tradition of vanity press. His purchases have been published by:
Why do I invest in RPG Kickstarters? Beyond the products, it’s to get the experience and writing credits to build a tabletop role-playing game resume. This week, I’m looking at a way to translate my wanna-lancer credits into an opportunity – a fantasy comic book series that seems designed with RPGs in mind.
[Ok, ok, ok… really, I’m looking for a way to push a worthwhile comic by a nice guy!… But there will be the potential for a RPG tie-in.]
Sorghum & Spear Art by Welinthon Nommo
Sorghum & Spear by Green County Creative Kickstarter campaign ends on Monday, April 17 2017 7:00 PM EDT.
“What is Sorghum & Spear? Sorghum & Spear is a fantasy saga that follows a group of amazing young girls who are called upon in a time of war to become the last line of defense against the Spora; a pantheon of demons bent on destroying their people and conquering the Eternal Realm.”
Green Country Creative is producing an amazing comic for everyone to enjoy while dedicating it to people of color. Through this Kickstarter, Dedren is on a mission to make the world a better place. The Kickstarter has a charitable element that gives to Project Have Hope “to empower women in the Acholi Quarter of Uganda by providing education to both the women and their children and assisting the women to establish business opportunities to promote economic stability and sustainability.”
Sorghum & Spear – Marlannah. Dedren Snead and Welinthon Nommo’s character designs would be perfect for a RPG character sheet.
In the comic book, the story is a fantasy tale of young warrior women maturing into their independence and life juxtaposed against demons and war and last hopes. High fantasy told in comic book form.
The centerpiece of any comic is the artwork. Welinthon Nommo’s art for the covers, posters, and concepts elevates this sword and soul comic series. His work has enough dynamic power to leap off a comic book store shelf and go home with a happy reader. Like White Wolf’s Vampire: The Masquerade used Tim Bradstreet’s art to define the aesthetic of their World of Darkness, I hope to see Green County Creative use Welinthon’s work as their baseline. Its kinetic imagery combined with cell shading colors really makes the world feel vibrant and the characters pop. Just the few images available through the Kickstarter sold me.
Sorghum & Spear – Namazzi. Dedren Snead and Welinthon Nommo’s character designs would be perfect for a RPG character sheet.
The property, with its story and art style, is ready to jump medias. They’re exploring animation and Sorghum & Spear has a back-of-the-napkin plan to expand into RPGs.
Now, don’t let me put words into other company’s months. Dedren has not launched an official RPG or, as far as I know, conceptualized the game. But the Kickstarter for the comic book has already reached its goal and continues to grow. That’s the first sign there’s real interest and that can translate into additional products.
Because that’s a positive sign, we’ve exchanged a few words and, assuming the RPG morphs from thought to form, I believe we’ll talk again about what I can do to bring this property from comic books to tabletops. If all goes well, I hope to collaborate with Green County Creative on a module or other RPG options. I’m looking forward to that day.
* * *
Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer™
Wanna-lancer™ Checklist T-shirt available at Cafepress
Interested in being a wanna-lancer? Start with the official Wanna-lancer Checklist t-shirt or wall clock or ice tea glass!
* * *
Egg Embry wrote comic book short stories, edited comic book series, wrote and drew a webcomic, and contributed to comic book journalism across the 2000s. Now, he buys the opportunity to write for a variety of tabletop role-playing games in the tradition of vanity press. His purchases have been published by:
AUCTION ENDS: Wednesday, 24th July, 2019 at 3:32 PM EST
REWARDS:
Attend the ENnie Awards 2019 withthe Dwarven Forge team
“A painted Starter Dungeon set! The set includes 19 pieces in pure Dwarvenite to start off (or top off) your dungeon. This set comes fully hand painted”
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
Want to step up your RPG freelancing game? RPG publisher looking to shake up the industry? Are you a fan of award-winning RPGs? Going to the ENnie Awards at Gen Con 2019? Chaosium, Cubicle 7, Magpie Games, Pelgrane Press, Petersen Games, and more will be there and they want to hang out with you! The ENnie Awards (the Oscars of tabletop RPGs) are auctioning off seats with these publishers as well as swag. On eBay, they’re offering you the chance to get some one-on-one time with some of the best creators in the industry!
Each year, I write an “ENnie Awards Dream Date Guide” to share these fantastic opportunities for fans, freelancers, and publishers. Curious what the prior options? Check them out here: 2017 and 2018.
In 2017, Iwon a “date” with Cubicle 7 and could not have been happier with the experience then and since. We sat at a table right in front of the stage, they shared industry tales, introduced me to other creators, and hooked me up with Adventures in Middle-earth books and maps (print and PDF). The cherry on that night was when they won an award while I was there. I went from a random fan to someone that C7talks with every time I see them. The experience boosted me as an RPG fan, journalist, and creator, and I would recommend it to anyone that’s interested in RPGs whether a fan, a freelancer, or a publisher. To that end, let’s review these dates!
Cubicle 7 and Egg (shorts) at the ENnie Awards 2017. [Egg is going for a record for re-using this image.]
But, before we do, here’s a few notes:
“The 2019 ENnie Awards are held August 2nd, 2019 at 8pm at Gen Con! Don’t forget to vote for the ENnie Awardshere. [Auction] winners must have a valid Gen Con badge [not provided] to attend the ENnie Awards and [the winners are] responsible for any associated expenses with attending Gen Con in Indianapolis, IN.All proceeds from the Dream Date auction are used to fund the production of the ENnie Awards each year. Egg Embry is not a part of the ENnie Awards. He writes these dream date guides for fun.”
AUCTION ENDS: Saturday, 20th July, 2019 at 3:30 PM EST
AWARDS:
Attend the ENnie Awards 2019 with the Cubicle 7 creative team
A signed copy of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Core Rulebook - Up for two ENnies this year!
“Cubicle 7 is the creative team behind many ENnie nominated and winning products!These include 2019 nominated Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Fourth Edition, The One Ring Roleplaying Game, Adventures in Middle-earth, Age of Sigmar Roleplaying Game, The Doctor Who Card Game,Doctor Who Roleplaying Game, and many, many more.”
EGG’S THOUGHTS: I’ve met C7 on multiple occasions and they’re nice, nice, nice. You’ll have a good time, they’ll keep you entertained, and, if you’re interested in one of their properties (Lord of the Rings, Warhammer, Doctor Who), they will share more insight into their worlds than you can handle.
But one of the hottest options for this night is the swag. If C7’sWarhammer Fantasy Roleplay Core Rulebook picks up either, or both, of the ENnies it’s up for, your signed copy will become something of a gaming artifact: The signed ENnie Awards Dream DateWarhammer Fantasy Roleplay Core Rulebookfrom the night it won ENnies.
AUCTION ENDS: Saturday, 20th July, 2019 at 1:45 PM EST
AWARDS:
Attend the ENnie Awards 2019 with the Pelgrane Press team including Cathriona“Cat” Tobin, Ken Hite and Robin Laws
Hideous Creatures t-shirt
Hideous Creatures – Bestiary of the Cthulhu Mythos book
A GM ribbon
Pelgrane Press button
“Pelgrane Press Ltd is a British role-playing game publishing company behind many ENnieAward winning products!This year is no exception, as they are up for multiple 2019 ENnies!Pelgrane Press currently produces Fall of Delta Green, Trail of Cthulhu, Night’s Black Agents, 13th Age, the Diana Jones award-winning Hillfolk RPG, the Dying Earth Roleplaying Game, and other related products.”
EGG’S THOUGHTS: Hideous Creatures – Bestiary of the Cthulhu Mythos is up for an ENnie Award this year and is a part of the swag the winner of this auction gets. As I mentioned with C7’s swag above, if this book wins then your copy defaults to a piece of gaming history, theENnie Awards Dream Date Hideous Creatures – Bestiary of the Cthulhu Mythos.
AUCTION ENDS: Sunday, 21stJuly, 2019 at 12:30 PM EST
AWARDS:
Attend the ENnie Awards 2019 with 2019 ENnie Awards judges, Brian Nowak, Ben Adelman and Chris Gath
“The winner will also receive some amazing swag custom tailored to your gaming interests. Value of the prize pack will be at least $50 over that final auction bid! At end of the auction, winner will receive an email asking for your tastes in genre (Horror, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, board games, etc…)We will do our best to match it with a selection of items that have been submitted to the ENnies and award them to you the night of the awards”
EGG’S THOUGHTS: If you’re a gamer, this will probably be the best swag deal of the convention as they’ll provide you with a lot of games (the judges get plenty throughout the year).
If you’re a publisher, it might open doors to talk with the judges to learn more about judging criteria, which could lead to improved products through your studio.
AUCTION ENDS: Sunday, 21st July, 2019 at 1:00 PM EST
AWARDS:
Attend the ENnie Awards 2019 withMagpie Games team
One of Magpie’s main product lines:
Masks pack - a copy of the core book, supplement, one deck and a set of dice
Or
Zombie World pack - a copy of the core book, both supplements, and a set of Kickstarter Exclusive Cards
“Magpie Games is a multi-ENnie Award nominated and winning game development and production company devoted to creating interesting, innovative,boundary-pushing, and most of all high-quality games across a wide variety of genres and styles. The majority of Magpie’s productions are tabletop roleplaying games, ranging from games designed to recreate disaster movies, to games designed to tell the stories of baby dragons on adventures, to gritty games about supernatural criminals and power brokers.Since its inception, Magpie Games has released many games, including Urban Shadows, Epyllion: A Dragon Epic, Masks: A New Generation, andBluebeard’s Bride.”
AUCTION ENDS: Sunday, 21st July, 2019 at 3:15 PM EST
NOTE: There are three dream dates being hosted by the Petersen Games team
AWARDS:
Attend the ENnie Awards 2019 withthe Petersen Games team
Some Petersen Games swag!
“Petersen Games was founded to make games with top-grade components, amazing art, and great depth of gameplay. Their games include the immensely popular Cthulhu Wars, All Orcs Must Die! andTheomachy.In addition, Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos for 5E is up for an ENnie this year!
Game Designer,Sandy Petersen, first conceived of the idea of doing a roleplaying game based on H. P. Lovecraft’s stories. That original idea, the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game, is still in print today. Since that time, Sandy has worked on many tabletop products, including helping develop the original Arkham Horror board game. He also spent almost 20 years in the computer gaming industry, as a designer on the teams that produced Civilization, Doom, Quake, the Age of Empire series, and Halo Wars. He returned to the world of tabletop gaming with the famed Cthulhu Wars strategy game, and now he is Chief Creative Officer of his own company.”
EGG’S THOUGHTS: I’m hoping the “Petersen Games swag” includes a copy of Sandy Petersen’s Cthulhu Mythos for 5E sinceit is up for an ENnie this year. Obviously, it’s not mentioned in the swag (that’s ambiguous), but if the game wins, having a copy gotten at the awards ceremony will be a special memento of gaming.
AUCTION ENDS: Sunday, 21st July, 2019 at 2:30 PM EST
NOTE: There are two dream dates being hosted by Alligator Alley Entertainment
AWARDS:
Attend the ENnie Awards 2019 withthe team at Alligator Alley Entertainment
Some amazing swag from Alligator Alley Entertainment
“Alligator Alley Entertainment is the publisher of adventure games including Witch Hunter: the Invisible World,Esper Genesis, andDemonbane Chronicles”
EGG’S THOUGHTS: Alligator Alley is the company behindEsper Genesis (sci-fi D&D 5e), which I reviewed for Knights of the Dinner Table #262. When I see them at cons, they’re always ready to talk and share lots of good information about being a small publisher that is making it. Plus, freelancer tales and more. Well worth checking out.
Executive Creative Director of Games at Andrews McMeel Universal, Daniel D. Fox. HONEST! Would I lie?!
AUCTION ENDS: Sunday, 21st July, 2019 at 3:00 PM EST
NOTE: There are two dream dates for the Andrews McMeel Universal and Grim & Perilous Studios table
AWARDS:
Attend the ENnie Awards 2019 withthe team at Andrews McMeel Universal and Grim & Perilous Studios, the team behind the twice GoldENnie winner from 2018!
Zweihänder(pdf and print)
Main Gauche (pdf and print)
Character Folio(pdf and print)
GM screen (pdf and print)
Monster Cards (pdf+print)
Injury & Mishap Cards (pdf and print)
One voucher of Zweihander Player’s Handbook(pdf and print) as it releases in December
Drinks at the ENnies (must be over 21)
“Andrews McMeel Universal (AMU) is an American media corporation based in Kansas City, Missouri. It was founded in 1970 by Jim Andrews and John McMeel.AMU is passionate about discovering authors and creators who have a distinct point of view. They nurture humorous and inspirational voices that they believe have the potential to be both profound and popular. They respect the creator’s vision as the primary source of inspiration at every stage, offering an individualized, flexible approach to publishing success.
Daniel D. Fox is the founder of Grim & Perilous Studios, an independent publisher of over 30 titles since its inception. Dan is an author and game designer, having won the gold ENnie for Best Game and Product of the Year at Gen Con 2018 for ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG. His break-out success withZWEIHÄNDER was featured on Forbes.com, and recognized by Kickstarter as one of their Projects We Love.ZWEIHÄNDER is ranked one of the best-selling tabletop games of all time at DriveThruRPG, with over 90,000 copies sold worldwide.Daniel is the Executive Creative Director of Games at Andrews McMeel Universal.”
EGG’S THOUGHTS: First, the winning bid gets hundreds of dollars worth of great gaming!
Second, I interviewed Daniel D. Fox (Zweihänder) at Origins Game Fairand can say he’s a fun guy to hang out with. Creators and publishers, part of Daniel’s job at Andrews McMeel Universal is finding the next hit RPG and bringing it to AMU. AMU has lent muscle to ZWEIHÄNDER as they’re stocked at Barnes & Nobles next to D&D, Pathfinder, Starfinder, and Star Wars. I am *NOT* saying Daniel will take your pitch or product, but I am saying that AMU is going to be a growing player in the world of RPG and it’d be good to talk to their ECD of Games.
AUCTION ENDS: Sunday, 21st July, 2019 at 4:00 PM EST
AWARDS:
Attend the ENnie Awards 2019 withthe Chaosium team
Miskatonic University the Restricted Collection Boardgame
Chaosium Clandestine Game case Poker Chip set (special item fromHorror on the Orient Express Kickstarter)
Chaosium “tuxedo”black t-shirt
One of these three premium game sets:
RuneQuest:Roleplaying in Glorantha slipcase Set + PDF
OR
Call of Cthulhu slipcase set + PDF
OR
Masks of Nyarlathotep slipcase set + PDF
“Chaosium was founded by visionary game designer Greg Stafford in 1975. For more than forty years,Chaosium has captivated gamers, readers and mythic adventurers worldwide. Its award-winning roleplaying games, boardgames and fiction have been acclaimed as some of the most engaging and innovative of all time.”
EGG’S THOUGHTS: Picking your swag will be a challenge as your choices include more than one product that is up for an ENnie this year. This is a good problem for the winner to have because they know they’re choosing between strength and strength.
AUCTION ENDS: Wednesday, 24th July, 2019 at 3:32 PM EST
REWARDS:
Attend the ENnie Awards 2019 withthe Dwarven Forge team
“A painted Starter Dungeon set! The set includes 19 pieces in pure Dwarvenite to start off (or top off) your dungeon. This set comes fully hand painted”
“Dwarven Forge was founded in 1996 by artist Stefan Pokorny, a medieval fantasy devotee and an avid Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast. After many months of painstaking design, sculpting and painting, he introduced the world’s finest pre-painted miniature terrain in 1996. Since then, Dwarven Forge has released many new sets, each fully compatible with the others, and each a new step forward in terrain design, yet maintaining a dedication to fine craft and excellent durability. These sets are built to last, and many collectors are now sharing them with their children and grandchildren.”
Again, don’t forget to vote for the ENnie Awardshere then see all of the eBay auctions here. Auctions end between Saturday, 20th July, 2019 at 1:45 PM EST and Wednesday, 24th July, 2019 at 3:32 PM EST.
Since moving my “RPG Kickstarters You Should Back” column from the Guild to the Open Gaming Network, and taking over Angus Abranson’s “RPG Crowdfunding News” column on EN World, I’ve contemplated a new Friday column for the Guild. Something RPG-related, but less Kickstarter. Then, one of my two longtime DMs suggested an ongoing Adventures in Middle-Earth 5e campaign. Doing a campaign review obviously touches on tabletop roleplaying games, and it offers the broadest appeal by combining Dungeons & Dragons and JRR Tolkien’s world. Still, will writing about how my terrible dice rolls in a variant of Dungeons & Dragons 5e be compelling week-after-week? With those questions, I decided to sit on the idea for the time being.
Our first session was Saturday, December 1st, 2018 and, while it was a great start, I still had doubts about it being enough to justify a series to discuss it. Then, on Monday, December 17th, 2018, Adventures in Middle-Earth for 5e rolled out on Bundle of Holding (here) offering most of the books as PDFs. That made this campaign and article series feel more timely. The next day, Cubicle 7 opened up pre-orders for Adventures in Middle-earth – Bree-land Region Guide + PDF (here). Even as I was preparing this article, small pieces were coming together to push this forward like Humble Bundle offering LEGO® Lord of the Rings for free (through Saturday, December 22 at 10 a.m. Pacific time). But the clincher that made me decide that I need to do a play review was the month, December. For me, there is no month I associate with Tolkien’s work more, and that’s because of Peter Jackson’s adaptations:
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – U.S. release date: December 19, 2001
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers – U.S. release date: December 18, 2002
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – U.S. release date: December 17, 2003
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – U.S. release date: December 12, 2012
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – U.S. release date: December 13, 2013
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – U.S. release date: December 17, 2014
All of that together makes this feel like the right column to tackle right now. It will let me talk about the books, the system, the world, the campaign we’re playing, other adaptations (from the 1966 short animation to the upcoming Amazon series) and the characters. Each article will talk about some aspect of the RPG, Tolkien’s work, the movies, or whatever is appropriate to the moment.
Even with that, this would not have seemed practical without a few more life accomplishments that made playing Adventures in Middle-Earth for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition happen:
As an adult RPGer, I managed to play in a 50 session D&D 5e campaign and bring the campaign into the station in 2016/2017. If you’ve ever played RPGs, you know that’s an accomplishment unto itself.
Cubicle 7 (left to right: Walt Ciechanowski, Jon Hodgson (holding the Silver ENnie Award – Best Rules), TS Luikart, Egg [*not* a part of C7], and Dominic McDowall) at the ENnie Awards 2017.
Since our last D&D campaign wrapped over a year ago, and I put hands on Adventures in Middle-Earth for 5e, I’ve wanted to play in a Middle-Earth campaign. The circumstances to make that happen came to pass on Saturday, December 1st, 2018 as a fellowship of four of us came together to adventure and, eventually, do some great bit of heroism (maybe). The Loremaster is Mike, and the fellowship consists of Rebecca, John McGuire (Tessera Guild), Stephen, and myself.
Interested in trying out Adventures in Middle-Earth for 5e? You can get most of the books as PDFs through Bundle of Holding (here) until January 4th, 2019. The price for Adventures in Middle-earth Player’s Guide, Rhovanion Region Guide, The Road Goes Ever On, Loremaster’s Guide, Wilderland Adventures, and the Eaves of Mirkwood & Loremaster Screen is not likely to get cheaper than what BoH and Cubicle 7 have it for there.
Adventures in Middle-earth for Dungeons & Dragons 5e also by Cubicle 7 that began in 2016 and has the distinction of being the first time Tolkien’s works were officially adapted to D&D.
Awards:
2017 Silver ENnie Award – Best Rules for Adventures in Middle-Earth Player’s Guide
2018 Origins Award – Best RPG
As I was putting the finishing touches on this article, I received this email from Humble Bundle promoting their LEGO® Lord of the Ring giveaway (talk about nice timing):
I met Craig Campbell of Nerdburger Games at the Atlanta Science Fiction and Fantasy Expo. He was at a table with pre-ENnie Award winner, Derek Kamal (of Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse fame). We chatted for a minute and he pitched me on two of his projects, CAPERS RPG and Die Laughing. I bought the CAPERS Quickstart and, later on, did an interview with Craig about CAPERS (here). At AndoCon, I ran into Craig again and he invited me to try out Die Laughing. That was an excellent time! Let me quote the quick pitch for Die Laughing:
“The zero-prep, horror-comedy RPG that puts the laughter in slaughter. […] Everyone’s going to die. It’s just a matter of when and how funny you can make it. Even after your character is gone, there are multiple ways for you to remain involved and influence the story right up until the bloody end.”
With the Kickstarter is running until November 21st, I wanted to talk with Craig about CAPERS, Die Laughing, and highlight the fact that the game is just $10 so price is kept low so it’s not a barrier!
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Craig, thanks for talking RPGs with me. Let’s start with your Kickstarter for Die Laughing. I played the preview version of Die Laughing at AndoCon. I don’t know whether I did good or bad, but I survived the game, so I never got to play as a producer. How does the producer role impact player engagement compared to an RPG where your character dies and you spend the rest of the night rolling up a new one?
CC: In Die Laughing, when your character dies, and most of them do, you take on the role of producer for the rest of the game (in addition to a few other things). You have producer points that you can spend once per scene to do something to affect the scene, such as lowering the effects budget or introducing positive test scores for a character, forcing them into the scene because the test audience likes them.
While you don’t necessarily spend a point every scene, I’ve had players remark that they remain very engaged with the story, plotting for the perfect time to mess with the story. Producers play a little mind game by themselves (and sometimes with other producers), seeking out a chance to really impact what’s going on in the movie you’re all creating at the table.
EGG: This game is mostly done, correct? How quickly do you hope to deliver the finished product to backers?
CC: Everything is written and playtested. I’ve added a few things that will need an editing pass. Much of the artwork is done, with a few illustrations left to go. The basic layout template is complete and much of it is laid out.
I MIGHT release a “first cut” of the game with whatever’s done, just as a PDF, right after the Kickstarter ends. This will be a playable game but won’t have all the alternate rules and additional monsters/characters that still need illustration and layout. We’ll finish all of that up and release a “final cut” of the game, hopefully within 2-3 months. But that will depend on how fast we can get a print proof turned around. November and December are notoriously slow months for ordering physical books from DriveThruRPG.com. Darn those holidays and all that wonderful gift-giving!
EGG: Despite being largely in the can, this game has some options to be expanded. In your wildest dreams [nightmares], what are you aiming for with this project?
CC: The hope is 24 characters, 24 monsters, a bunch of alternate rules and play aids, along with the core rules. I think it’ll come in around 100 or so pages. That would be the “Director’s Cut” of the game, so to speak. The biggest and best version of the game.
EGG: The number of backer rewards is ballooning quickly! 😛 This started with one option – Die Laughing for $10. What else have you decided to offer?
CC: That’s the “Victim” level. There are three “Survivor” levels that also get you the PDF for one or both of my previous RPGs (Murders & Acquisitions and CAPERS). Essentially, each adds an additional $10 to your pledge (while the PDFs are normally a $15 value). The Survivor levels have proven to be pretty popular.
EGG: You recently fulfilled your last Kickstarter, CAPERS RPG. What is CAPERS about? How has the reaction been?
CC: CAPERS is a super-powered game of gangsters in the Roaring Twenties. Players portray criminals using their powers to create their empire OR members of law enforcement using their powers to bring those criminals to justice. The Kickstarter for CAPERS went very well and well over 500 people are enjoying their Kickstarter rewards (which included not just the game book but also all sorts of PDF support materials and play aids).
The reaction has been incredibly positive. I’ve started to see a nice little community growing on the NerdBurger Games Discord. People are talking about hacking/houseruling the game. Questions are asked and answered. People are being friendly and talking about other geeky stuff. Every time a new person starts talking on the Discord or sends me a photo of their just-received CAPERS book on social media, I get a little more joy and feel a little more proud of CAPERS.
EGG: You run Nerdburger Games and do a podcast. Creator, publisher, advertiser, and local game organizer [NOTE: Craig and I are building an Atlanta-based indy RPG group. In Atlanta and want to game? Ping one of us]. Why wear all the hats instead of letting another company publish your work or the like?
CC: It all sort of happened by accident. I created Murders & Acquisitions and decided to Kickstart it myself. That went well and while I was wrapping it up, I started on CAPERS. Once I had M&A in the bag, it only seemed natural to just forge ahead as NerdBurger Games and continue self-publishing my games.
Doing it all myself has downsides. It’s a LOT of work, but I don’t mind it. Creating RPG stuff is something I would do anyway. I’m able to create these little, niche games that I love and that I can make exactly how I want them to be. That affords me the ability to NOT have to answer to others in what the games should be. It’s incredibly liberating to share my creative vision on my own terms.
And that’s a BIG upside that far outweighs the downsides of having to do all the work myself. Though, truth be told, I don’t do it all myself. I have enlisted a wide variety of very capable and talented freelancers to do the things I can’t and have found a nice little cadre of fans who love playtesting my games. It’s a group effort, for sure.
EGG: What is your podcast? What do you cover on it?
CC: I’ve been doing the NerdBurger Podcast for well over five years now with my good friend Mike (who has also contributed his art and layout talents to my games). The podcast is a weekly, hour-long potpourri of nerdy/geeky discussion on all manner of topics, all slathered over with a healthy dose of humor and camaraderie.
We have a rotating panel of regular guests and bring in special guests as well. We keep things very conversational. Over five years of a new episode every single Wednesday.
EGG: What else are you working on right now?
CC: As CAPERS finishes out its fulfillment and Die Laughing wraps up, the next big thing is CAPERS Noir. This supplement to the CAPERS game progresses the game from the 1920s to the 1940s. Gone is Prohibition era gangster action. CAPERS Noir is a crime noir game. You need the CAPERS core game to play it, but CAPERS Noir will be filled with 50 or so pages of new character options, new rules (including investigation rules), new powers, an L.A. backdrop, and some other surprises. It just went into playtesting.
If CAPERS Noir is well-received, I have plans for two more supplements. CAPERS Covert will take things to the 1960s in Las Vegas and be a crime/law story pastiche built around old-school, James Bond style agents and villains. CAPERS Offworld will tie all three eras together and bring CAPERS to outer space with Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon style interstellar crime fun in an old-school ray-gun and alien style.
EGG: For fans interested in your Kickstarter, where can they find it and you?
CC: The Die Laughing Kickstarter ends on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. As an indie creator, I strive to be as accessible and transparent as possible. My fans mean the world to me.
If you dig my games, swing on by the NerdBurger Games website. I blog fairly regularly and love sharing what I’m working on at the moment.
And I’m on a bunch of social media where I love chatting with folks.
Let’s round up some news bites: Richard A. Knaak’s Rex Draconis, my latest Storytellers Vault review, Origins hotels, where’d the “RPG Kickstarters You Should Back” column go?, some press releases, and a deal! Let’s dive into this news roundup.
NEWS BITES
Going to Origins Game Fair from June 12th to 16th, 2019? While early bird badge registration starts November 15th, the downtown hotels are already available at a discounted rate. Some are sold out, but there are still options. If you’re thinking of going, here’s the links to the discounted downtown Columbus hotels for the show. Click it to see what (if any) options remain.
My column, “RPG Kickstarters You Should Back,” moved to the Open Gaming Network. I enjoyed hosting it on the Tessera Guild and look forward to continuing the column at its new home. At OGN, I’m delving deeper into Kickstarter reviews looking at the history that inspired them as much as how they’ve gained from using the Open Gaming License.
Speaking of Kobold Press’ Tales of the Old Margreve: 5th Edition Forest Adventures, this campaign was only intended to fund completing this adventure book, a print run of it, and VTT files for Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds. The plan was not to create PDFs during this campaign. However, after a groundswell of support for PDFs, Kobold has added them to the campaign. If you wanted to back this but only if it included PDFs, now’s the time. For more details, read their campaign update here.
On ENWorld, I look at the [now ended] Vampire: The Masquerade Humble Bundle as well as David MacDowell Blue’s Savannah by Night COMPLETEfor the “Storytellers Vault Roundup.” Why did I pick Savannah by Night COMPLETE to review? Because the city lies on the coast of my state (Georgia) and I’ve frequented it a number of times. It’s interesting to see what David created by adding vampires to this colonial metropolis.
Several months ago, I shared a press release about Wet Ink Games upcoming Kickstarter, War World Occult RPG. Based on Charles Ferguson-Avery’s art, this “is a gritty horror setting where an eldritch hellscape flows over the battlefields in a fantasy World War”. The game will use the Compass System. We now have a date that the campaign will launch to Kickstarter, October 30th.
I’ve made no secret of my childhood love of Richard A. Knaak’s Dragonlance: The Legend of Huma, Kaz the Minotaur, and more. How much have I enjoyed his work? Enough to write several articles and roundup some more reasons to back the Kickstarter to develop this setting for D&D 5e and Pathfinder.
On the Open Gaming Network, I interviewed Richard A. Knaak, Phil Beckwith, and Micah Watt about their D&D 5e/Pathfinder 1e conversion of Richard A. Knaak’s latest fantasy series, Rex Draconis, into an RPG setting. Read it here.
To add to this, John McGuire shared his thoughts on Knaak’s early Dragonlance books here.
I looked at the Kickstarter for Rex Draconis RPG – Rising Tideshere. The product is funded, unlocked its first stretch goal, and ends Sunday, October 21 2018 10:02 PM EDT.
And there’s a Rex Draconis RPG newsletter with even more preview content and thoughts from Richard A. Knaak as well as the game creators. You can sign up for it here.
What are you doing this weekend? On Saturday, October 20th, I’ll be at the GAMA Retailer Award-winning Giga-Bites Cafe with Craig Campbell of NerdBurger Games and more (local RPG creators and gamers) playing some RPGs from 2PM to 6PM or 7PM. I’m excited about it and hope your weekend is equally gametastic!
[UPDATE on October 19th, 2018 at 10:10AM] On Paizo’s blog, Niobe: She is Life creator, Sebastian A. Jones, talks about Niobe, Stranger Comics,their latest Niobe Kickstarter, and Niobe: She is Pathfinder [not the actual title] that will let you play in the Niobe-verse using Pathfinder rules! Read it here.
To see the Kickstarter, click the image.
DEALS
The Open Gaming Store (the store that funds the articles on the Open Gaming Network, including mine) has a warehouse sale this month. 30% off a variety of tabletop RPG items. Check it out here.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dragonlance. The world of Kyrnn. The continent of Ansalon. The Companions. Camaron. Raistlin. Takhisis. Paladine. Kitiara. Lord Soth. Chronicles. Legends. Margaret Weis. Tracy Hickman. The Legend of Huma. Kaz the Minotaur. Richard A. Knaak.
Those settings, characters, books, and authors summarize of my love for D&D’s Dragonlance. The setting was popular in AD&D, 2e, 3e, 3.5e, and the SAGA system (the last module, for 3.5e, was published in 2008 by Sovereign Press, one of Margaret Weis’ companies and the official licensor of Dragonlance at that time). Beyond the RPG books and sets there were tie-in novels published from 1984 until early 2010 (fellow Tessera Guilder, John McGuire, wrote about those early Dragonlance novels recently), comic books, video games, and a 2008 animated movie. While there was a tip of the hat in a 5e Unearthed Arcana to Krynn’s minotaurs (here), Wizards of the Coast has not published any new Dragonlance game material for a decade, and no new novels in nearing that time span.
While the full list of every author that touched Dragonlance over those two decades is extensive, the list of authors that most defined Dragonlance novels throughout their existence is four: Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, Douglas Niles, and Richard A. Knaak. Their prose gave the world its voice and structure, gifting it with flavor while crafting a complex history. Everyone involved did an excellent job of building the world of Krynn into one of D&D’s premier settings. Knaak built up the world’s history while cementing the sailor minotaurs and Knights of Solamnia and other critical facets of the world. He curved out a section of Krynn that might be dubbed “his” part of Ansalon. However, the downside of working on corporate properties is when the publisher stops producing them, your contract ends, and the sun on your part of the world sets, sometimes forever.
Knaak worked on other properties (World of Warcraft, Conan, Diablo, and several of his own series including Dragonrealm), yet the stories of Dragonlance must have continued to percolate in his mind. In 2017, he delivered the first book in a new fantasy series, Rex Draconis. The first novella, Rex Draconis: Under the Dragon Moon, lays out the opening shots of the series. I didn’t read Rex Draconis: Under the Dragon Moon, instead I did the Audible as read by Julie-Ann Amos. For those not versed in audiobooks, an Audible is the same as reading, only it’s not. Julie-Ann Amos elevated the work through her voice acting. Her characters had a life and presence that you do not hear in every audiobook and are not always present in your head as you read.
The superficial bits of the novella marked the series as the spiritual successor to Dragonlance. But, it’s not a cloned-Krynn, it’s a skillful homage to Knaak’s corner of Ansalon. A love letter so compelling that it’s inspired Knaak to work with Phil Beckwith of P.B. Publishing and Micah Watt of Pyromaniac Press to convert this prose into a tabletop RPG setting for D&D 5e and Pathfinder 1e (the Kickstarter for is live here until Sun, October 21 2018 10:02 PM EDT). I covered the Kickstarterhere, and interviewed Knaak and the rest of the creative team on the Open Gaming Network.
What is Dragonlance about this series? Sailor minotaurs. Kwillum, a kender-like species that make more sense than kender. Two species of dragonfolk that have a light resemblance to draconians. Three-ish moons of differing hues. There’s more that, once you see those parts, make the other pieces fit a jigsaw puzzle of a Larry Elmore Dragonlance painting, but on examination it feels more like forcing the pieces to fit. The semi-befuddled mage, Knights of the Shield/Knights of the Grey Hand, the prominence of the gods as components of the sky, the tinker dwarf. Those pieces could be viewed as being taken from Ansalon, yet powerful mages, knightly orders, gods, and steampunk humanoids are common fantasy tropes. It is only when the other pieces are invoked that they form the tapestry of Krynn.
Despite the elevator pitch that this is Dragonlance revisited, and some similarities, Rex Draconis is not Dragonlance. Taken as a whole, it is its own world. The minotaur empire is pushing against the human’s world, the “orcs” of this world are the wheyr, a race of jackelpeople who have massive numbers and, thanks to some captured and copied minotaur ships, are a threat at sea, dragonfolk aren’t rooting for an evil goddess or defending mankind, instead, everyone are their pawns, the third moon is visible and shattered into the shape of a dragon, the kwillum are looking for something. There are layers to this world and this first novella offers a taste of each.
Who is Rex Draconis: Under the Dragon Moon for? Sword and sorcery fans. Fans of Richard A. Knaak. Fans missing their Dragonlance fix that are ok with a reimagined version of the world. D&D fans that want the feel of those worlds back in print. But mostly fans looking for a fantasy world that is fully realized, with interesting takes on the battle between good and evil, one where the series is ongoing and being transferred across medias to work with D&D 5e and Pathfinder 1e on Kickstarter (here).
This week’s theme, tabletop RPG adaptations, let’s me share Simon Stålenhag’s artbook, Richard A. Knaak’s newest fantasy series, and the famous judge created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra (who just passed away). All of these projects are live on Kickstarter. If you want to play as a teenager in the technopast 1990s using the Mutant: Year Zero system, or as a fantasy minotaur using either the D&D 5th edition or Pathfinder 1e rules, or as the law using What’s OLD is NEW (WOIN) game system, there are games waiting for you.
“Return to Simon Stålenhag’s world of the Loop in this new RPG. It’s the ’90s now, and things are different. This time, you can die.
It started on Christmas Day in 1994. Dark water suddenly rose from the land, invading our homes and lives. They say it came from the depths inside the Loop. Whatever it was the Flood changed everything. Nothing would ever be the same again.
Welcome back to the Loop. Things are different now.
In 2017, we released Tales from the Loop the tabletop roleplaying game based on Stålenhag’s first art book. That game was an instant hit, selling out its two initial print runs and winning no less than five ENnies (including Best Game and Product of the Year) as well as three Golden Geek Awards (including Best RPG).
Now, it’s time to return to the Loop and continue the story. In Things from the Flood you play Teens in the 1990s – a decade of change and disaster. You’re still balancing day to day life with solving exciting mysteries with your friends. But this is a darker time, and the stakes are higher.
We are the Free League, creators and publishers of roleplaying games such as Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis – The Third Horizon, Tales from the Loop and Forbidden Lands. As well as the original publishers of Simon Stålenhag’s art books. The lead writer of this book is the seasoned Swedish game writer Nils Hintze, backed up by the entire Free League team who handle project management, editing, and graphic design.
The vast majority of the art in the game is done by Simon Stålenhag himself. Most of the art will be drawn from the pages of the Things from the Flood artbook – many scenarios in the game are based directly on illustrations in the artbook – but the RPG will contain some new original art as well, including the cover image.
The book will have approximately 200 pages, in the US Letter format.
Tales from the Loop Backer? If you backed the original Tales from the Loop RPG back in late 2016, you will get a PDF of the Things from the Flood core book, including the digital stretch goals in this Kickstarter, at no extra cost. You can still join this Kickstarter to get the printed book.
Things are different now.
The world does not seem so innocent anymore.
Its the ‘90s and the once mighty Loop has been shut down, the experiment abandonded and the land bought by Krafta, a powerful corporation. You are no Kids anymore, but Teens trying to find your way in a decade of change – both within and around you.
The Flood has transformed the once pastoral islands into a dark marshland. Some say that the dark water pouring out of the ground comes from within the Loop itself. Machines are afflicted by a strange virus turning them unreliable and dangerous.
Still, your lives go on as before. You go to school, fall miserably in love, try to do everything possible to fend off boredom. When you hear about other teens going missing, and even turning up dead, you realize its time to gather the group again.
One way or another you fill find out what these Things from the Flood really are.
You play Teens growing up in the 1990s, trying to balance everyday life while at the same time solving dark mysteries together with your friends.
The core of the game is the same as in Tales from the Loop, but the themes are different. Gone are the childlike tales of wonder and discovery, in their place are dark threats to the Teens and their world. Everything is changing, everything is falling apart. Figuring out how to deal with this is a big part of the game.
You are no kid anymore, the world is both more exciting and more dangerous. Teenagers can get hurt – and even die. The stakes are higher than ever.
Both! Things from the Flood expands the scope of Tales from the Loop to the 1990s. You can continue your campaign with the Kids from the original game or create brand new player characters. We call it a “standalone expansion” because everything that is needed to play the game is included in the book. That’s right, no previous experience is needed at all, just get the book and start playing right away.
If you’ve read and played the Tales from the Loop RPG, you will find yourself right at home, this book expands the setting and introduces new exciting mysteries and threats to explore.
The game engine of Things from the Flood is the same as the one for Tales from the LoopRPG and is based on our previous game Mutant: Year Zero, that was awarded with a Silver ENnie for Best Rules at Gencon 2015.
The core mechanic is the same: To make a skill roll, you simply grab a number of dice for your attribute score, skill level and gear, and roll them all together. You need at least one six to succeed, and extra sixes can give you stunts and other bonus effects.
The acclaimed artist, concept designer and author of the art books Tales from the Loop (2015), Things from the Flood (2016) and The Electric State (2017). Simon Stålenhag is best known for his highly imaginative images and stories portraying illusive sci-fi phenomena in mundane, hyper-realistic Scandinavian landscapes (expanded into America in his latest book The Electric State). Tales from the Loop was ranked by The Guardian as one of the “10 Best Dystopias,” in the company of works such as Franz Kafka’s The Trial and Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca.
Not only have Stålenhag’s unique and cinematic images earned him a worldwide fan base, but have also made him a go-to storyteller, concept artist and illustrator for both the film and computer gaming industry. This year it was announced that The Electric State will be turned into a major motion picture and Amazon Prime ordered a full season of a TV show based on Tales from the Loop.
During his twelve years as a game writer, Nils Hintze has written a great number of scenarios, articles and reviews, as well as being the main author of critically praised and award winning Tales from the Loop roleplaying game. Previously he has written plays for theatre groups.
Nils is known for his ability to create scenarios which allow the players to explore their characters and their relationships while facing dangers and solving mysteries. The conflicts in his games are often built on personal dilemmas, where thrill and mystery is not seldom mixed with humor.
Nils is educated in creative writing, but he normally works as a psychologist. Nils is also one of the three creators of the Swedish role-playing podcast Podcon.
Free League Publishing is the international name of Swedish game and book publisher Fria Ligan AB. Since 2011 we have produced a range of pen and paper RPG’s, and have won several awards in the process.
Our first international game, Mutant: Year Zero, co-published with Modiphius Entertainment, was awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules at Gencon 2015. Last year Tales from the Loopwon five Gold ENnies (including Best Game and Product of the Year) as well as three Golden Geek awards. We have also created and published Coriolis – The Third Horizon (2017) and Forbidden Lands (2018).
Our Kickstarter fulfillment and shipping is handled by GamesQuest in the UK, and we have a partnership with Modiphius Entertainment for international retail distribution.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Tales from the Loop won five 2017 ENnie Awards (Best Game, Best Setting, Best Writing, Best Internal Art and Product of the Year) plus several Golden Geek Awards (Game of the Year, Runner-up Best Artwork & Presentation). Fellow Guilder, John McGuire, did two articles on Tales from the Loop, the prequel to Things from the Flood. The first is his thoughts about the game from playing it at Gen Con, the second is a traditional review. It can be said that “roleplaying in the ’80s that never was” is a winner. The sequel pushes the clock forward from being kids in the 80s to being “teens in the 1990s – a decade of change and disaster.” The world is darker, the stakes are higher, the first bits of the internet are forming, and you are old enough to drive in a world that is turning into a dark horror. This standalone expansion (you don’t need TftL to play this) is waiting for you here.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“The first adventure in a trilogy based on NY Times Bestselling author Richard A. Knaak’s: Rex Draconis fantasy setting.
Welcome to the Rex Draconis RPG
Set in the world of Tiberos, the Rex Draconis RPG setting allows you to experience the epic fantasy of Richard A Knaak’s new world, dubbed by many as ‘the spiritual successor to Dragonlance’.
Against the backdrop of war, play as honourable Minotaur, chivalrous knights, mischievous Kwillum or powerful wizards, as you thwart the warmongering of the savage Wheyr and the machinations of the mysterious draconic Fafni and Afafni.
The Rex Draconis RPG is written for the D&D 5th edition and Pathfinder rules sets, and feature setting material that can be easily imported to any RPG system of your choice.
The Rex Draconis RPG is being produced in conjunction with an active novel line. While the novels are not required to use and enjoy the RPG, this structure allows you to interact with and fight alongside your favourite characters in a living, growing setting that evolves as Richard envisions. It is also important to note that the RPG storyline is a separate and unique story, that interestingly crosses paths with the novel line.
Map of Tiberos
What is Rex Draconis?
Rex Draconis is the latest offering from Richard A Knaak, renowned fantasy author, and creator of some of the most iconic elements of the Dragonlance world. Richard is credited with the strong development of the Minotaur culture and the Solamnic Knights, as well as many other elements that made Dragonlance such a unique setting.
After many years, Richard has chosen to breathe new life into these embers, in an all-new high fantasy setting that combines favourite elements with an exciting new world, characters, monsters and storylines.
The first novella – Under the Dragon Moon (Hydra Publications) – has been released, and the second – Lords of the Dragon Moon – is due for release shortly. Work has already begun on the next installment.
Why Kickstart?
With the success of the new novels, Richard would like to see the setting become a playable world for Table Top Roleplaying, much like its predecessor, the Dragonlance setting. Rex Draconis is wholely Richard’s creation, over which he has, and would like to retain, full creative control.
Bringing on Phil and Micah adds significant indie RPG experience, with numerous successful products and projects and a proven track record. However without the funding of a large game company, alternative funding needs to be sourced for professional art, editing and layout, as well as production of both PDF & physical products.
Considerable time, effort and expense has already been invested in the project, but to do it justice and create a standard we – and you – are satisfied with, further funding is required.
Rewards
While a full RPG world setting is in development, this first kickstarter will focus on launching the line with the following three main products, digital art and map pack, and a smaller, exclusive mini-adventure;
The Rex Draconis Player’s Guide – This book is primarily an adaptation guide, offering rules changes to the chosen official rulesets to ensure compatability with Tiberos – the world of Rex Draconis. This book will include new races, classes, archetypes, rules and more, as well as advice on adapting the material from your favourite RPG systems to create a more personalised Rex Draconis experience for your tastes.
Rising Tides – Adventure 1 – The first adventure in a series, Rising Tides allows players to foreshadow the action of the novels, playing roles that interact with the story in meaningful and lasting ways. In Tiberos, there is more than one story being told in this war. Rising Tides acts as a prequel to the official novel storyline and takes thre characters on a journey of discovery across this fantastic new world.
Amble’s Guide to Avondale – This book is the first of the setting content, a complete guide to Avondale, the capital city of Dracoma, home of the Knights of Dracoma. This guide provides all you need to launch your own adventures in Tiberos.
Digital Art & Map Pack – All art and maps produced for the project will be offered to eligible backers as a digital pack for personal use.
Misunderstandings – A mini adventure to whet your appetite for the unique qualities of the setting. This adventure is a Kickstarter EXCLUSIVE, and will not be reporoduced anywhere else.
We know that everyone is different, and will desire different rewards. PDF or physical copy, pathfinder or 5th edition rulesets, or both. We have arranged the rewards in a number of Backer Tiers that allow you to choose the rewards you want. We also have a special early adopter reward tier for the digital products.
Who Are We?
Phil Beckwith
IT Project Manager by day, owner of P.B. Publishing by night, known mostly for many bestselling and successful titles on the DMs Guild, including the highly rated horror adventure – The Haunt, the 200 page hardcover tome Adventure Anthology, and a co-creator for the best-selling Monsters of the Guild.
Micah Watt
Owner of Pyromaniac Press, Micah is a successful Pathfinder and D&D 5e designer, known widely for his adventure path ‘What Lies Beyond Reason’, and the epic D&D 5e hardcover deity supplement; Faiths of the Forgotten Realms. Having run successful Kickstarters previously, Micah comes on board as our Pathfinder and Kickstarter expert.
The creative genius behind Rex Draconis. Richard builds the world of Tiberos in his brand new novel series; Rex Draconis. He is known worldwide as a New York Times Bestselling author of novels in the Dragonlance, Diablo, World of Warcraft, Pathfinder, and Dragonrealm series. Richard provides creative consultancy and canon authority for the Rex Draconis RPG team.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
In my youth, Richard A. Knaak’s Dragonlance novels, The Legend of Huma and Kaz the Minotaur, were huge influences on me and, after Weis and Hickman’s Dragonlance trilogies, solidified my love of Krynn. If you’d like to read more about how influential those novels were, you can read fellow Tessera Guilder, John McGuire, give his thoughts on them here. Add to them the Dragonrealm series, and I have been a lifelong Knaak fan. His new series, Rex Draconis, introduces a world that is a love letter to Dragonlance. It’s less Weis/Hickman’s version and closer to the focus of Knaak’s corner of the world, yet manages to be greater than its inspiration.
Knaak’s strengths and knowledge of Ansalon let him touch all of the right moments from that world without the work ever descending into being a pale shadow of the better known property like Go-Bots to the Transformers. Rex Draconis remains its own world and story. While the focus of the series are the minotaurs and the not-Knights of Solamnia, they are handled in an earnest manner. There’s more to compare between the series. The kender (the group of annoying Hobbits that would have been wiped out just to end their unrepentant kleptomania) are replaced with the kwillum, a race that look like 10-year-old children who are also porcupine quicklings that are hunting something (in every pouch and coin purse that they pass). They are fast and have quills making them difficult to kill and, while they steal, they don’t do it aimlessly (they’re looking for something). The dragons are not flying mounts for the characters to ride into battle; instead, they’re D&D master monsters. The dragons, starkly good and evil in D&D, are neither in regards to humans in Rex Draconis, they see all bipeds as pawns in their wars so it changes the traditional pulp relationship between the powers that be. This series analog of the black moon of Dragonlance was shattered 400 years ago, which makes it visible as pieces that, I’m guessing, are leaning into the atmosphere a bit much. Every piece has a touch of the old with a nice twist that makes it new.
Continuing its homage of Dragonlance, Knaak wants to build the world into a D&D setting and, to do that, he’s working with Phil Beckwith and Micah Watt to make it happen. I’ve backed this and recommend checking out the setting as well as the first novella in the Rex Draconis series.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“Explore Mega-City One and beyond with the official tabletop roleplaying game for the galaxy’s greatest comic!
Judge. Jury. Executioner. Play as a Judge of Mega-City One and bust perps, Sov spies, and mutant raiders in this action-packed standalone tabletop roleplaying game, bringing to life the iconic characters and worlds found in the legendary British comic 2000 AD. This book is your introduction to Mega-City One, and your gateway to a line of supplements based on 2000 AD’s many characters and settings.
These books are brought to you by Darren Pearce (Doctor Who; Lone Wolf), Robert Schwalb (Dungeons & Dragons; Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay), Andrew Peregrine (Doctor Who; Firefly; Buffy The Vampire Slayer), Russ Morrissey (What’s OLD is NEW), and Nick Robinson.
Limited & Standard Edition Rulebooks, GM Screen, Counter Set, and The Robot Wars
Full colour 270-page hardcover Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD core rulebook!
The Robot Wars, 100-pages, the first in a series of softcover sourcebooks and adventures!
Sturdy two-sided cardboard 4-panel GM screen full of handy reference charts and tables!
Beautiful cardstock tokens to represent your characters and their foes!
Also, we are offering a limited edition version of the core rulebook with a special cover exclusive to this Kickstarter!
GM Screen (Front) – note that we include player useful info, such as typical crime sentences, on the player facing side of the GM screen
GM Screen (Back)
Nearly 100 full-colour cardstock tokens to represent your characters and their foes!
We are producing a full-colour hardcover core rulebook for the all-new Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD tabletop roleplaying game. This book contains all the rules and setting information you need to play any character in Mega-City One, and is the core rulebook for the entire line of 2000 AD settings and worlds.
Play a Judge, Civilian, or Perp!
Choose from Humans, Clones, Robots, Mutants, Chimps, Gorillas, and Orangutans!
Wield the iconic Lawgiver sidearm and ride the mighty Lawmaster motorcycle!
Read about Mega-City One, as well as other worlds of 2000 AD!
Core rulebook contains everything you need to play in Mega-City One, and provides the core rules upon which the many worlds of 2000 AD are based!
Limited & Standard Edition Core Rulebooks
Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD is a standalone roleplaying game. You do not need any other books in order to play. This 250+ page book introduces you to Mega-City One, and allows you to play Judges, Perps, or Civilians in that futuristic metropolis. This is also the core rulebook for future setting books which will detail many of your favourite 2000 ADproperties, such as Rogue Trooper, Sláine, Strontium Dog, ABC Warriors, and many more!
Check out these previews of the game!
2000 AD is a multi-award winning weekly British cult-sci-fi comic anthology that has been running since 1977. Having featured dozens of writers and artists over the years, including Pat Mills, Alan Grant, Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, John Wagner and Alan Moore, 2000 ADbrings you an explosive cocktail of sci-fi and fantasy, infused with a mean streak of irony and wry black humour.
2000 AD is future lawmen in vast megacities. It is post apocalyptic wastelands filled with mutants. It is celtic barbarians and druids fighting evil drunelords. It is robot warriors taming a lawless Mars. It is ancient accords between the British Crown and Hell. It is intergalactic cargo trucks adventuring through space. It is extra-dimensional agencies who repair anomalies across the alternate realities. It is Houdini, Lovecraft, and Doyle as paranormal investigators in the 1920s. It is alien freedom fighters seeking to end the tyranny of humans on a far future Earth. It is genetically engineered soldiers bred for war. And it is much, much more.
The worlds of 2000 AD are diverse indeed. And you can play in them all!
Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD uses the What’s OLD is NEW (WOIN) game system. Here are some of the features of that system:
d6 dice pools.Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD uses d6 dice pools to resolve actions. You form a dice pool by adding dice from an attribute, a skill, and equipment. For example, a burglar trying to pick a lock might have 3d6 from her AGILITY attribute, 2d6 from her thievery skill, and 1d6 from her high quality thieves tools, meaning she gets to roll 6d6. The dice are added together and compared to a target number. Detailed rules for simple tasks, extended tasks, and competitive tasks using the same core mechanic allow for a flexible variety of challenges.
Life-path careers system.Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD uses a “life-path” system for character creation. You create a character by selecting a number of sequential careers which represent periods of your character’s life since childhood. Each career adds to your character’s age, and increases various attributes and skills, as well as granting a special ability while adding to your character’s history and backstory.”
Judge Dredd, while known in the US, has never taken root as it did in its native country, the UK. The best illustration of the difference in markets is the 2012 movie, Dredd. For that movie, the US and Canada (population north of 350,000,000) spent $13,414,714 on the entire run of that film while the UK (64,000,000) spent $6,929,744 on seeing the film. [Numbers from BoxOfficeMojo here.] A population that is less than a 5th the size of the US/Canada bought about half as many tickets as the larger group. That speaks to how much larger the fanbase is in the UK than North America. Add to that, in this Kickstarter, as of this writing, the number of American and Canadian backers combined (477) just edges out the UK (441).
Should you back this Kickstarter? Does national origin make any difference? I’d say you should, because what makes the difference in audience participation is, in my opinion, The Law tends to display a certain amount of English wit that does not always connect in the US. Yet, in my experience, that wit lives at the gaming table. Judge Dredd has the range to feel pulpy, humorous, and dark all in a single story. Using the WOIN system combined with the player’s natural tendency to take all situations to the extreme, this will be an excellent RPG and I can’t wait to test it out.
While this is a hype piece (call a spade), I’m compelled to note that the world of art is poorer today for the passing of Carlos Ezquerra, the character designer of Judge Dredd. His artwork will be missed, and my thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
Friends and acquaintances ask me to look at their Kickstarters, and so I did. In this roundup, there’s an audiobook based on an RPG, and products for 5e, including one I did an interview about on the Open Gaming Network (here). Normally, I give my thoughts on these but time is short (this is the second roundup of the week after looking at some RPG-related comic books). For this article, I’m looking at:
“Leo Cosh voices an audio book of short stories in the world of Gaia, where Infection runs rampant and humanity is a dying race.
At Shades of Vengeance, we don’t just create games, we create worlds!
We love building huge, expansive environments and bringing them to life through different types of media.
We also like to allow everyone in our team to express their creativity. A chance for Leo Cosh, a professional voice actor in his own time, to bring one of our games to life was too good an opportunity to miss!
And so, we have detailed the world of Gaia, a post-apocalyptic world where zombies and mutants roam, threatening Humanity and often causing them to turn on each other!
This audio book is our first attempt at a major audio product, bringing over 4 hours of material to you.
A hundred years ago, there was a cataclysm. Maybe a biological weapon was set off, or a parasite evolved… honestly, no-one really cares any more.
What matters is that the parasite was airborne, infectious and could live in any warm-blooded creature. Those affected are driven insane and mutate, becoming a threat to those around them. This doesn’t even end with death: corpses of those Infected are reanimated and will wander the world, seeking nourishment.
Humanity is a dying race now. In another hundred years, there won’t be any of us left. A bite or scratch, or a breath in the wrong place spells doom.
We have made some progress, however. The development of a drug, known as Injection, means that humans can encounter the Parasites and live to tell the tale.
People have adapted to this situation in different ways – some choose to fight it, preserving as many lives as possible, or searching for a cure to the Infection. Others, lost in the hopelessness, turn to stealing from any who cross their path. With the loss of communications, Runners have begun carrying messages as the only form of long-distance communication. Still others try to burn everything that stands in their way, cleansing it, or hide underground in concealed bunkers, waiting for the Infection to burn out.
In this world, surviving is a matter of wits and cunning…
The stories in this anthology explore the different factions of this detailed world, and the experiences of various people as they try to survive.
Want to hear what the stories sound like? We’ll be adding more throughout the Kickstarter!
The Runner (Story 2)
Nihilist (Story 3)
The High-Rise Slums (Story 5)
It’s an Audio Book!
The total length will be around 4 hours.
It’s an anthology: each story takes place from a different perspective.
Each story varies in length, but most are around 6 minutes.
It will be delivered in .mp3 format.
It has been voiced by a professional voice actor, using different voices for each character.
Leo Cosh is the voice actor who has brought the world of Gaia to life. With a wide range of experience on different types of projects, he was the perfect choice to give voice to the people of Gaia!
Ed Jowett is the creator of the world of Gaia, director of the audio book and writer of many of the stories. Primarily creating roleplaying games, he has published over 50 books through Shades of Vengeance.
Jennifer Martin has worked with Ed Jowett to bring the characters of Gaia into sharp focus. Having worked with Ed for over five years, her chilling style sucks the listener into the world!
Mikhail Greuli is the artist who supplied the various images used in this Kickstarter. His incredible talent for bringing the mysteries and creatures of Gaia to life have been invaluable in creating this project!
Martin Popovski has brought the world of Gaia to life through the title video! We’re very grateful to him for his work on this project!”
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“A 5e setting book and hexcrawl in a forest filled with witches, fey, and things that go bump in the night.
Beyond the kingdom of Aruanda, there is an untamed land. It is a place where witches walk, where goblins cavort, where the borders between the realms of mortal and fey grow thin. For some, it is a place of unspeakable wonder; for others, only madness and death lie within its trackless depths.
It is the Runewild, and it is both beautiful and cruel.
The Runewild Campaign Setting is a dark fairy-tale hex-crawl for use with the 5th Edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game. Designed for character levels 1 through 10, it provides locations, encounters, and NPCs to support a campaign lasting months or years, or to be adapted into other campaigns. The full-color book will be at least 160 pages long and includes:
A history of the Runewild and its surrounding settlements.
100 detailed encounter areas for player characters to explore.
New optional rules for exploring and resting.
Advice for running a hex-crawl campaign.
A new feat: Fey-Touched.
8 new Runewild-specific backgrounds (including hag-owned, Runewild folklorist, time-lost knight, and polymorphed animal).
13 unique magic items (like witch embers and the staff of clarity and confusion).
32 new monsters (including clockwork dwarves, fey lions, giant forest sloths, and the terrifyingly beautiful Golden Bodach).
Detailed descriptions of the histories, motivations, and weaknesses of the witches of the Runewild, including the Whitebone Sisters; Missus Switch, the swine hag; Korthsuva, the Witch of Hours; and the hag-queen Griselda, Mother of Ogres.
Dozens of random tables designed to help GMs make the Runewild campaign their own.
Forest of a Thousand Stories
The Runewild Campaign Setting is a hex-crawl first and foremost, but as the player characters explore the Runewild, they’re sure to find themselves caught up in the many conflicts that threaten the ancient forest. Here are just a few of the larger story arcs that might become a part of your Runewild campaign:
Ianto the Red: A powerful bandit lord named Ianto the Red controls a network of murderers and thieves who plague the roads between settlements. Rumor has it Ianto traded his soul to a coven of witches in exchange for eternal life.
The Thistlewhip Children: Cort and Cora Thistlewhip’s seven children are missing. Unbeknownst to their parents, the children undertook a quest for King Wobbly-Odd, a Runish lord who fell prey to a fey curse centuries ago. Unless someone recovers the children, the Thistlewhips may become lost in the Runewild forever.
The Broken King: In the heart of the Runewild, a mysterious figure known as the Broken King assembles an army of goblins. No one knows what the Broken King wants, but the trail of petrified victims his goblins leave behind may provide a clue.
The Witch Queen Griselda: Humans and elves united to defeat Griselda’s forces during the Witch Wars, but the hag herself survived and fled into the Cronemarsh. Now she plots revenge and rebuilds her network of allies. Griselda rarely leaves her home, but an ancient curse demands she visit the dreams of anyone who slays a witch within the Runewild’s borders.
To learn more about the Runewild, you can check out our free previews:
Preview 1 – Missus Switch, Swine Witch: The history and statistics of Missus Switch, the Swine Witch, as well as a detailed description of the school house where she teaches her porcine pupils.
Preview 2 – Highvale Blade and Twisted Tome: The Runewild is a place steeped in powerful fey magic. These magic items show how some harness it safely, while others let it get out of control.
Preview 3: Beasts that Lurk in the Runewild: This preview features four new beasts that live in the Runewild: the helpful fey lion, the thought-stealing fiddlehead, the enigmatic Seven-Tail, and the terrifyingly beautiful Golden Bodach.
If you want to see even more, you can back the project and access the current draft of the book by going to this backer-only post. We’ve written the entire book and gone through several rounds of revision, but we plan to do at least one more revision using your feedback.
Finally, we have two products already for sale that tie in to the Runewild.
The Goblin Market: A magical marketplace full of strange treasures and goblin vendors eager to part the heroes from their coin. (Note: we will incorporate most of the material from The Goblin Market into the final book.
The Marriage at Midsummer: Two star-crossed lovers have gone missing from Caerfell’s Midsummer Festival. Their families are at each other’s throats. Deep in the Runewild, a mysterious figure called the Bishop promises to unite the couple. But the Bishop actually has other plans. This is the first in the Seasons of the Runewild series of adventures.
We love the ways crowdfunding can involve our backers. Everybody who backs at any level can read the current draft of the book and provide feedback. For those who want to play an even bigger role, we offer two backer reward options:
Denizen of the Runewild
The Runewild Campaign Setting will contain a table featuring one hundred random fey denizens of the Runewild. We want to give you a chance to be part of that chart. If you select either the PDF and Runewild Denizen or the Print and Runewild Denizen reward level, you can create one entry on the chart that includes your fey creature’s name, the type of fey, a brief description, and the creature’s goals. (All descriptions may be modified for length, tone, and established setting cannon.)
Part of the Art
If you want to be even more involved with the creation, you can pledge at the Part of the Art level. At this level, we will also include an illustration based on either a photo or description you provide. We will add the NPC to the book, and you can provide as much or as little guidance as you would like. (By pledging at Part of the Art, you grant permission for us to use your likeness in the Runewild Campaign Setting and promotion for it, but not in other products.)
The focus of this Kickstarter Campaign is the Runewild Campaign Setting, but we also want to create adventures you can use to introduce players to the Runewild, either as a one-shot or part of a larger campaign. Each adventure centers around a different seasonal celebration in a different settlement around the Runewild.
The Marriage at Midsummer: Two star-crossed lovers have gone missing from Caerfell’s Midsummer Festival. Their families are at each other’s throats. Deep in the Runewild, a mysterious figure called the Bishop promises to unite the couple. But the Bishop actually has other plans. This is the first in the Seasons of the Runewild series of adventures. (Already released and available as an add-on.)
Bonedigger: The townsfolk of Ill Hollow practice a strange tradition: each Harvestide, they bury an animal’s bones in a false grave to prevent Bonedigger, a witch’s ghostly hound, from finding his mistress’s true remains. This year, however, something has gone wrong. Not only has someone dug up the real witch’s grave, but a local youth who hoped to spot Bonedigger has gone missing. (Everyone who pledges $3 or more will get a PDF copy of Bonedigger when we release it, just after the Kickstarter campaign ends.)
All Through the Long, Dark Night: Every year the village of Widderspire gathers around Widderspire Pond to celebrate the winter solstice. This year, frost imps attack the celebration, leaving the villagers entombed in ice. To save Widderspire, the heroes must brave the depths of Widderspire Pond, pass through a magical portal into the fey realm, and rescue a powerful fey named Ember John. ($6,000 stretch goal)
Springtime Comes to Kidwelly: Before spring can begin, the halflings of Kidwelly must lure a fey creature called the Monax out of its burrow, but this year the Monax is nowhere to be found. Unless the heroes locate those responsible for the Monax’s disappearance, Kidwelly may be locked in winter’s grip forever. ($8,000 stretch goal)
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“All Original Necromancy Content New arcane tradition, spells, rituals, poisons, magic items & alchemicals. 5E 5th Edition DnD RPG
What this project creates:
This campaign funds the art and backer reward fulfillment costs of Whispers of Persephone,a necromantic source book for use in your role playing game. This book is written for specialist necromancer wizards, and describes a new arcane tradition, Stygian Necromancy. Created as a book of 120+ pages, containing entirely original art in full color by Christian Martinez and all original game content by W.S. “Sam” Quinton. Whispers of Persephone is a wonderful role-playing aid.
*Written for mature role-playing audiences, this book is NOT appropriate for children.
Art for Whispers of Persephone by Christian Martinez
This is a source book for those who like their dark arts, to be DARK!
How far along is the book now?
Writing: The writing of the game play material is complete! This book is presently in its final play testing stage, and will likely see some revisions as this campaigns draws to its end. All that remains, is to complete the material for those tiers pledged that add the names of backers at The Necromancer, Acolyte of Death, and Fallen Heroes tiers, and to complete those character descriptions (stat blocks, and some narrative biographical text), as well as completing the example of play/use. That material is expected to take a couple of days to complete and another day or two for proof reading and final formatting. Character material will be completed as backers pledge at those tiers, so look for messages from me if you are pledging as The Necromancer, an Acolyte of Death, or as a Fallen Hero.
Art: The covers are complete. The interior art that has been completed thus far is displayed on this page. By reaching funding goal, the remaining art that is essential to this book can be completed. Stretch goals are structured to allow for additional art to be commissioned and added to the book. Page background art is being revised for better legibility.
Two different covers available:
Screen capture of the “Black Cover”
Spinal cover
Things you’ll find in the book:
Introduction from play test version 3.0
Whispers of Persephone contains descriptions of spells ranging from cantrips up to level nine, as well as rituals of the foulest sorts of levels one through eight. Materials on poisons, potions, and alchemicals are included; as are rules for the necromantic practices of the sacrifice of sentient beings. Comments attributed to the Necromancer, Acolytes of Death and Fallen Heroes are found throughout the book.
The Stygian Necromancer arcane tradition: The path to power is soaked with the blood of your victims, and adorned with the cries of their suffering. The brave fear you and the wise flee from you. Whispers of Persephone details a new arcane tradition for wizard characters, Stygian Necromancy. This tradition is designed to lend a new style to the play of practitioners of the darkest magical arts of blood, death, and souls.
2 New Monsters ~ Darkling Horror and Stygian Mummy
The Stygian Mummy by Christian Martinez
5 New Feats ~ Dark Prodigy or Hematomancer, which to choose?
9 New magic items ~ Enchanted Skull cup, Canopic Jars and more.
10 New alchemicals, potions, and poisons ~ Would you care for tea?
12 New Rituals ~ Blood sacrifice is the just the beginning!
15 New Spells ~ Clean Hands, Ild’s Eye Rot, and the Curse of Spite among others! Bring the pain and suffering to your enemies with these and more searing spells.
Information about the Necromancer and the 13 Acolytes of death: Such as the heinous acts of Kroalish, the first acolyte of the Necromancer. His vile acts are matters of horrific legends! This section also details the dark prodigy known as ‘Ild’ a young woman possessed of a dark heart and gifted in the arts of murder.
Ild, apprentice of Kroalish and necromantic prodigy.
All original art created by Christian Martinez specifically for this book!
Why you want this Book:
Whispers of Persephone is a great player aid. Players can use it as a quick reference book for spells and can work the book into their character backgrounds. Whispers of Persephone is also suitable for use as an in-game prop. Game masters can use it as a treasure item recovered in their campaigns. This book can also bring new adversaries into play as the player characters are confronted by followers of the Necromancer seeking to retrieve this valuable resource.
This is a darkly beautiful book, filled with fantastic art created by Christian Martinez. It looks great in your collection, and menacing on your gaming table.
Drinking from the skull of your enemy is back!
Whether used by player characters or used against player characters, Whispers of Persephone is a great resource for your games.”
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“Secrets of Starfall: a 5th-10th level adventure for 5th Edition
A 5th-10th level adventure for the world’s greatest roleplaying game!
Following the events that took place in “Whispers of Starfall”, this adventure can also be used as a filler adventure for any campaign.
Rado, the Gnome wizard, has vanished, leaving the crossroads town of Hyran to grieve their losses. The Elenhodel has given a clue to his possible misguided actions but it is up to you to determine how best to proceed. Expanding on the custom world of Ambaran, players will travel across the new world, over a blistering desert, an angry sea or a treacherous mountain. Filled with options, characters are encouraged to go where they wish and stop the evil that is Rado from destroying Ambaran as they know it.
There will also be 2 new races, the Lydran and the Xrystis! Both of these races are not only NPC’s to interact with, but also able to be played as characters if you choose! The images are still being worked on but we will, which will be included right here once the art has been completed. If we hit a few stretch goals, we will even be able to offer a miniature of both of these races. We have a rough draft of the Lydran race while the miniature prototype is still being processed.
Do you roleplay? Are you looking for something to read between sessions? How about comic books from game creators? From Pathfinder 1e to original systems, there are comics on Kickstarter for tabletop gamers!
“Erathune is a tale of Buxton, Niobe, and Skarlok in a war with their greatest foe, the Orc warlord Morka Moa!
NIOBE She is Death #1 cover by Hyoung
“With a world divided who do you turn to?”
A shadow had fallen across the vast and volatile world of Asunda, as nations crumbled and oceans swelled in blood. Some say the devil walked again and no man could stand against him. But not all men are heroes and not all heroes are men.
“We all have Niobe inside ourselves, and it’s time to let her roar.”
– VIOLA DAVIS (from her foreword in the NIOBE: She is Life hardcover)
Welcome to our campaign set in the fantasy world of Asunda that revolves around our Half-Elven hero, Niobe. If you missed any previous Kickstarters, through REWARDS or ADD-ONSbelow you will be able to fill your collection. And finally our awesome Niobe Pathfinder has sample pages below! Onwards 🙂
NIOBE: SHE IS DEATH #2
There is nothing more dangerous and beautiful than a wild woman.
Niobe: She is Death is a tale of revelations for a young woman who is tired of running. Niobe has lost her faith – in humanity and the world around her. In the sequel to the acclaimed Niobe: She is Life, we witness Niobe’s journey from heartbroken teenager to warrior woman, when Niobe becomes a badass bounty hunter, hunting down sex traffickers and slave traders. The very ones set out by her father to track her down.
The story continues! Get the 36 page second issue (and first) in several limited cover variants. Available signed and sketched in some levels.
NIOBE She is Death #2 by Jae Lee
ERATHUNE Hardcover
His eyes told you everything. For they were the color of winter’s wrath.
Soul Sunder, the cursed axe of the Death Goddess, has led Buxton back to the town where he was raised. She has promised the old warrior two more souls to collect and he can be rid of the weapon for good. One is Morka Moa, a monster who seeks war upon his people; the other is Buxton’s brother, the king, who cast him out upon pain of death a thousand years ago. Buxton must choose between saving a city that spurned him, and being free of the axe that has enslaved him.
The oversized hardcover collects 4 issues with lots of bonus material. The Kickstarter Edition will have a reversible dust jacket and foil inlay on the cover and spine. Available signed and sketched in some levels.
Erathune #1 Cover
ESSESSA: The Fallen #1
I know the taste of your Sin.
In her quest to save the soul of the man she loves, Niobe is offered help from an unlikely source… Essessa. But can she trust the Devil’s general? It may be that theyhave more in common than Niobe ever knew, and that Essessa has her own reasons for rebelling against The Untamed.
ESSESSA is our new KS release and Niobe’s immortal enemy! The 36 page series debut is the first issue with Niobe, Dusu, and Morka Moa on the same team! It is the follow up to ERATHUNE! Sneak peek below!
NIOBE Pathfinder Official module – We are finally able to show sample pages created by the amazing team at Paizo, and Hyoung’s new cover!
The final cover!
Official Niobe Paizo Pathfinder Sample 1
Official Niobe Paizo Pathfinder Sample 2
It’s Official!
Egg’s Thoughts:
I don’t know if there’s a more professional-looking comic that has an RPG tie-in/ties into an RPG than the floppies and graphic novels coming from Stranger Comics. That’s not to say IDW’s D&D comics aren’t awesome (the issue Jim Zub did with my childhood friend, Steven Cummings, is a personal favorite). or that Dynamite Comics’Pathfinder books with Starfinder backups by Paizo Chief Creative Officer Erik Mona are anything other than fun reads. And that’s certainly not to take anything away from the longest-running RPG comic ever, Kenzer & Co’s Knights of the Dinner Table, who I just started writing articles for. (While we’re on the subject, let me point out IDW and Oni Press’ crossover of Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons as a major meeting of media and RPG.) All of those books, and more, are great additions to the worlds of RPGs and comics. But when looking for a character-driven story with triple-A art, Niobe, Erathune, and Stranger Comics other books are not playing around. Painted covers worthy of the best RPGs combined with Hollywood celebrity creators, a shared universe, and an official Pathfinder 1e supplement (developed by Paizo) combine to showcase a universe that is its own plane. As an added bonus, “[f]or those that back Erathune we will have bonus Pathfinder gaming material in the back”. (Read more details here.) I reached out to Stranger Comics Sebastian A. Jones to see just how close Pathfinder will be to these books. “Def will have some fun OGL Pathfinder material in back of Erathune! We have some in back of Trades of Erathune, Untamed Killing, and Untamed Sinners Prayer. Also gonna add some to new Untamed Sinners Prayer hardcover
Plus we will have bookmarks with rune translations for our items from books!”
These books offer an engaging world, deep characters, and beautiful images combined with enough RPG to transform the title into, Niobe: She is Pathfinder!
“Celebrating 10 years of the hit webcomic Looking For Group! Pre-Order for Looking For Group Vol.10 and grab lots of other goodies!
Yes, Looking For Group has already left itself a pretty hefty legacy. The antics of Richard, Cale, Benny, Pella, Sooba (What’s with all the double-letter names?) have entertained millions for over 10 years now, which includes nine years worth of books. “Wait” you say, “did they mean to type “Ten” years worth of books? Could there be a TYPO ON THE INTERNET?!?!?”
Now, before you strap on your typo cape and hit the twitters, yes, we did say NINE. Because Looking For Group Volume 10 is almost ready to go!
“Huzzah!” You cheer “let us rejoice and tell tales of— Wait, what do you mean almost?”
By “Almost” we mean almost, in that it’s almost ready. So now is traditionally when we would offer something called a “Pre-Order.”
Now, normally when we do a pre-order, we offer it through our store, and are able to offer the folks that pre-order the book the chance to get it signed by the creators, Sohmer and Lar. For the 10th book in the series though, we thought why not go bigger? Better? Bloodier?
Once the lawyers nixed the last one, we settled on Bigger & Better and that’s why we find ourselves here!”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Watch the Kickstarter video, it’s animated and awesome! LFG falls into the realm of tabletop gaming, they’re at Gen Con consistently, and that animated Kickstarter video is awesome, so I’m eager to see this book come out! Fantasy humor and gaming, what’s not to love? And you can try before you buy because it’s online – LFG.coGive it a read and see if this is the group you’re looking for.
“A graphic novel about an African American girl who discovers her magical powers on an amazing journey to a hidden African kingdom.
THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
GRAPHIC NOVEL
The idea for Amber and the Hidden City came from my readers. Whenever I did a book signing, parents would always ask what I had for younger readers. The answer was always, ‘I’m working on it.’ It wasn’t until my wife, a former third grade teacher turned ESOL teacher told me, ‘you should really write something for younger readers. The reality is that while many children of African descent enjoy books such as Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, they and their parents desire such books that display them as main characters as well. Which is why I wrote Amber and the Hidden City.
Amber’s story is a delightful tale that also incorporated aspects of African Diaspora and African culture and the relationships between them. Since releasing the novel in 2011, it has become my best selling book. The purpose of the Amber and the Hidden City graphic novel Kickstarter is to raise funds to produce and print the graphic novel based on the popular middle grade novel and expose it to an audience that prefers illustrated adventures. We’re partnering with Peter Daniel and Pedastudio in Lagos, Nigeria to make sure Amber’s story reaches a wide and diverse audience. With out combined international network which includes the State of Black Science Fiction group (16,000+ members), we feel confident we can raise the funds to make this wonderful project a reality.
THE NOVEL
Amber and the hidden city novel.
Egg’s Thoughts:
Milton Davis and Balogun Ojetade, the creators of Ki Khanga: The RPG, along with artist, Peter Daniel, are transforming Milton’s YA book, Amber and the Hidden City, into a graphic novel. To be clear, Ki Khanga and Amber and the Hidden City are separate properties with Ki Khangabeing an RPG and a prose anthology, while the other is a YA book (Milton Davis’ bestselling work) and, soon, a graphic novel. But, because Amber and the Hidden City is jumping medias, it feels right to promote it in the hopes it will lead to another jump, this time to be an all-ages RPG. Or, this project will inspire a Ki Khanga graphic novel. Either path is a win!
For this week’s RPG Kickstarter roundup, I’m looking at games that deal in Lovecraftian horror, surrealism, and relationships. These games look both forward into the relationships of today and the future while others expose the dark soul of the past. All are worth backing.
Prism by Whitney M. Delaglio
Ends on Fri, September 28 2018 10:00 PM EDT.
“A diceless roleplaying game about relationships and conflict resolution in an aquatic world.
“Once upon a time, there was a barren planet without life, an ocean, or vegetation. Six gods in coalition made the world habitable. Five of the six gods each took an island for their own and molded it into the home they wanted to leave behind, for the life they had created and for the generations to come. The Blue Realm was created beneath the waves, built atop sand where merfolk could thrive. They lived there as mortals until their deaths, returning to their godly forms to observe from afar.”
Prism is a roleplaying game about relationships (both platonic and romantic) and conflict resolution set in an aquatic world. There are six realms in the game with their own culture, code of ethics, and deity. The setting of the game promotes a sex positive environment and a safe space to explore intimate character interactions.
Prism is also a world of elemental magic, but the mechanics are light and conversational. The rest of the rules rely less on crunch, and more on negotiations between players and the GM. There are three core mechanics in the game. The first is each character starts out with at least one relationship with another character in the game. Depending how they feel about the other person, they’ll receive a unique bonus. The second is instead of using dice, characters rely on predetermined levels of expertise in skills such as swimming, dancing, and following protocol to solve narrative conflicts, and interact with the world around them. The third mechanic is each character is loyal to a realm, and depending on their behavior, they can be punished or rewarded by the god that watches over the realm they are loyal to.
“Prism offers players a chance to think about their characters emotional lives in a way that is really fresh. I love the way in Prism what your character feels, and how they relate to the world – and the world, to them – actually matters.” – Jason Morningstar
“This is a delightful work. I am reminded again at how calm it makes me feel to read it. That is also a testament to her choices of words and phrasing.” – Cam Banks
“Character creation was a delight. Character creation is my least favorite thing about RPGs, so this is the highest compliment to pay.” – Elizabeth Stong
Since the core of the game is relationships between player and non-player characters, it’s intended for a maximum of four players. For a really intimate experience, Prism can even be played one-on-one with the GM!
“I love Prism’s attention to the dynamic nature of our relationships, and there is no better way to explore that theme than in a game where it’s just you and the GM. Experiencing love and loss through such a highly-focused lens was powerful and inspiring. I have never felt so affected by a single session of any game.” – Andrea Gaulke
“Prism was rich with opportunities, fun to explore, and intimate without being overwhelming. I felt like my character could stand alone during the adventure, but I also had the sense that if the game expanded to include more players, it could be just as fun.” – Kimberley Lam
All the writing, and most of the art was done by yours truly. The rulebook has over 50 full color illustrations. I collaborated with one of my best friends, Maria Smith, to complete the artwork for the Almanac.
The physical copy of the book is 6×9 softcover, full color, and 48 pages in length. The great thing about this campaign is the digital version has already been finalized. Which means once it has ended, printing and fulfillment can begin soon after.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Let’s do the list of why this is an idea that’s worth checking out:
Diceless? Check
Aquatic? Check
“[P]romotes a sex positive environment and a safe space to explore intimate character interactions”? Check
Normally a game tries one “new”, or rarely used, concept. Prism is a grab bag of ideas that, after reading the campaign, feel like they belong together. This RPG is opening new doors and stepping through, and I cannot wait to see how it plays!
“The Jack Hack is a rpg of trying to beat the odds in the depravity of late Victorian London. It was inspired by the Black Hack OSR rpg
The Goal of this Kickstarter.
To create an updated version of the Jack Hack rpg including a limited printed box set.
The Jack Hack is a Role-Playing Game of Victorian Villains. It was originally inspired by The Black Hack rpg by David Black & my love of Victorian Adventuring. The release will contain a full rules set based on the Black Hack, modified to fit the setting.
“You were once quite worthy fellows. Something terrible happened and you hit rock bottom. Were it not for a mysterious benefactor you would have died. Maybe you would have been better off that way. Your life is one long fight to survive in the twisting, dank alleyways of the Whitechapel area of London. And now rumour has it there is a serial killer on the loose“.
The main thrust of the The Jack Hack as a game is trying to beat the odds in the depravity of late Victorian London. It has a particular focus on the Whitechapel area just before, and around the time of the infamous Jack the Ripper murders. The PCs aren’t heroes, but aren’t meant to be down-right cruel either. They are trying to get by- but situations, events and adventures keep coming their way.
Clearly the Whitechapel Murders were a terrible event but the mystery and legend about them is perfect for game creativity.
The Jack Hack Complete (Or The Jack Hack-The Complete Rip-Off, if you forgive the terrible pun) is produced as a set of five A5 sized books each about 60 pages in length. Parts of it have previously been released on ‘DriveThruRPG.com’ where it is a Silver Seller. This release will contain much more material, a good edit throughout, and more art and images. As well as a set of new cover art.
The following details the five books
The Jack Hack Basic Book. This includes the rules.
Ripper Fhtagn. A game book of Mythos, Mesmerism and Monsters.
Dead London. A game book of Martian Invasion and Steampunk.
Carved In Flesh. 5 scenarios based around the Whitechapel Murders.
The Great Game. A game book of Anarchists, Political Intrique and Spies.
The Jack Hack Basic Book
The Jack Hack. This contains all the rules needed to play and stacks of random tables and adventure seeds.
The game features 5 classes:
The Broken. Former military tough or pit-fighter, now a shallow shell of a man.
The Night-Flower. A singer, actress; now working girl unable to rise out of the squalor.
The Cokum. A street swindler, hypnotist, false nobility or fake folk hero. ·
The Disgraced. A former doctor, scientist, lawyer, politician; abandoned by friends and family. ·
The Fine-Wire. Once a master criminal, now mocked by both police and thieves.
One born every minute….
It also features two usage dice:
The White. This usage dice represents your ‘outer’ influence, infamy, contacts and place in the Whitechapel area. You can use it to quickly gather information, find a safe house, find a short cut, or anything your group deems relevant.
The Black. This usage dice represents the ‘inner’ torment you suffer. You can call on it to complete a task, but the GM can force its use when she (or you) thinks a recent setback may cause you to go into a downward spiral and you need to face your demons.
Most classes start with a d6 to a d10 in a usage dice. When they are called on, the relevant dice is rolled to ensure you just get through that situation. If a 1-2 is rolled the dice is degraded one step (d10 to d8, d6 to d4) to represent you using up any influence and resources you may have; also your will, sanity, and/or self discipline being worn away.
The Rest of the book is ‘Welcome to Whitechapel’ and contains lots of random stuff to see, do and suffer! Images and Maps. There are many random tables such as:
20 things found floating in the Thames.
20 things a street vendor may sell you.
20 places to wake up the morning after.
20 petty criminals.
20 words a gentleman wouldn’t call his wife.
Sample d20 things
There are about two dozen of these in total. There are also many lists of places to visit, and numerous adventure seeds to start your Jack Hack.
Fear Itself
Who would have believed…….
There will be blood
The Games Afoot
Egg’s Thoughts:
I’m a John R Davis fan! In the days when I backed projects to write for them (and build my resume), I did some NPCs and location creation for his book, The Cruellest Mistress of All. I’ve interviewed him over on the Open Gaming Network (here). Through it all, I’ve found John to be an easy to get along with creator. Now he’s combining his version of the OSR, The Black Hack, with Victorian England. With the artwork above, I’m sold!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“A series of adventures where evil and the Cthulhu mythos is not what it seems.
Occam’s Razor is a collection of modern scenarios by horror author and Call of Cthulhu stalwart Brian M. Sammons for Chaosium Inc’s 7th edition Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game. It has a dark tone, like most Stygian Fox titles, more akin to True Detective and American Horror Story and is written for Mature Gamers Only. The scenarios look into the dark heart of humanity and the mythos… but this book has a twist.
One of the problems long term Keepers can face when running Call of Cthulhu is their players becoming too jaded or blasé regarding the Cthulhu mythos.
“Oh, Deep Ones? Yeah, we’ve killed these before. Open fire.”
Rather than; “Oh my God! They’re real! Run!”
It’s difficult to maintain that suspension of belief when you have been facing the same creatures year after year. This is where Occam’s Razor comes in, being a collection of scenarios where initially they seem to be linked to the mythos but they have mundane causes and outcomes.
I have run these type of scenarios for twenty years and every time they sucker players in and help them see how paranoid their characters have become and, more importantly, when it comes time to face the actual mythos again, many players believe the adventure will have a mundane cause. When interspersed with mythos adventures this leads to some serious panic when the players realise that this is real. Used sparingly, these adventures lull players into a false sense of security and make the next real mythos encounter all the more vivid.
One of my players had his character just stand and watch as a colleague was eaten by a dark shadow in a toy store because the player refused to believe it was a mythos entity. This was a ten year veteran of the game.
Of course, a separate sidebar is provided for each adventure if you wish to have actual mythos elements in your game.
Call of Cthulhu is the Registered Trademark of Chaosium Inc., and is used with their permission. www.chaosium.com
Brian M. Sammons has created 6 scenarios which tease at mythos causes but will ultimately lead to a mundane resolution. A murder is just a murder, a cult site is just kids with spray paints, etc. Here is a summary of the scenarios contained within the book.
Deep and Dark – the investigators find a snuff film on the dark web, but one of a pretty girl getting mauled by a Fishman monster. Did the deep ones mess up and accidentally get filmed in this modern world where everyone has a camera phone or is it something else?
Eye of the Beholder – an art student goes missing while doing late night research in a museum with ties to the local university. Maybe it’s a coincidence that the museum just got in a huge statue from South America of a little-known death god called Thul’Cathul. Yep, total coincidence.
The Watchers – a woman living alone in an apartment in the big city notices that people are watching her. Following her. They even broke into her home. But why? What do they want and how far will they go?
A Whole Pack of Trouble – a group of film school students go to an isolated, abandoned, and reportedly haunted asylum to make a found-footage horror movie and make a fortune? Whatever could go wrong with that? Well, when the filmmakers go missing the investigators will have to find out.
A Cleansing Flame – People are dying by fire. No one knows why and no one knows how. When the latest victim is a friend to one of the investigators and an astronomer who reportedly made a recent discovery of note, it’s up to the investigators to put out these flames.
Visions From Beyond – Tommy is a friend who makes some new friends. That’s nice. Unfortunately those friends have a strange reputation, they get up to some bizarre practices, and then one night Tommy calls one of the investigators in terror, begging for help, then the line goes dead. What’s a friend and an investigator of the Mythos to do?
The book will be in PDF, ePub, Softcover, and hardcover formats and will be full colour.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Modern horror adventures for Chaosium Inc’s Call of Cthulhu’s 7e written for mature audiences. Stygian Fox Publishing purchased four titles from Miskatonic River Press and is bringing them back (read some of the details here). Judging by those titles, Stygian has an eye for quality horror and I expect these scenarios will be excellent.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“Uncanny surrealist roleplaying, inspired by TWIN PEAKS, MULHOLLAND DRIVE, and the other dark works of DAVID LYNCH.
Something Is Wrong Here is a Roleplaying Game of uncanny surrealism designed by Kira Magrann. In this game you’ll play troubled humans who struggle with their dark pasts and inner demons in order to make meaningful, potentially healing connections with each other. At some small town diner with a neon sign, in a broken down car on the highway, in someone’s wallpapered living room, at the old roadhouse down the way, unsettling scenes of Americana unfold as the game heads down it’s inevitable nightmarish path.
This game can be played in one night, in the intimacy of your living room or a private convention room. The line between player and character is intentionally drawn thin, causing feelings to bleed from one to the other. This game is atmospheric, emotional, and personal. Don’t worry though players, there’s safety mechanics to guide you through these dreamy paths of the subconscious mind.
The game’s themes and characters are inspired by the horrific surrealism of David Lynch’s work, specifically the quirky and supernatural characters from Twin Peaks, the nightmarish identity confusion from Mulholland Drive, and the lurid truths that lie beneath mundane Americana in Blue Velvet.
all art by Elissa Leach
Dark and Dreamy
With the Return of Twin Peaks last year I became re-obsessed with the spooky dreamlike worlds of David Lynch’s work. This game is an homage to those worlds, and is meant to evoke the same types of unsettling, horrific, and identity/reality questioning feelings. The characters struggle with their darker selves, the setting is surreal and Americana, and there aren’t any satisfying answers at the end of the story.
Much like a David Lynch film, this game has postmodern references to breaking the fourth wall. It encourages overlap between real life feelings and a character’s feelings. What this means is that it’s likely players will feel a little vulnerable playing this game. There are safety guidelines included about how to play with intention, and how to debrief with aftercare for any troubling feelings that might arise while playing this game. This allows players to experiment with these feelings, and explore them in play, with a safety net built into the game.
What Play is Like
Everything needed to play Something Is Wrong Here is on a deck of cards. The only props needed are a mirror and a box. Character costuming is optional, but generic enough for thrifted or piecemeal wardrobe elements to work. A few songs are integral to mood making but can be played on any device.
Something Is Wrong Here can be played in a living room or any private room where you can control the atmosphere. While embodying your character in a series of scenes, you’re encouraged to use the space either sitting or standing, since there’s no dice involved. Cards are where the characters, roleplaying prompts, and instructions for play exist. Play is a series of scenes that the Facilitator of the game will guide players through, just like a TV show or movie.
I’ve designed this game to be as accessible as possible to new players, so I’m hoping that other David Lynch fans who have never played a game like this before can easily play, or gamers who’ve never seen a David Lynch gig don’t have to worry about matching genre conventions.
The Facilitator is in charge of knowing the entire game, spoilers and all. Their job is to tell players of characters what scenes they’re in, keep time for the game, and explain the basic rules of what the players need to do throughout the game.
Players will act the part of troubled characters in a surreal America. Each character has a personality, goals, and relationships with the other characters. There are six characters to choose from, each with their own specific issues to work through and personality quirks.
There are Two Acts in the game.
Act One establishes the characters in the surreal Americana settings. Their goal during play is to try and evoke a certain emotion in each scene together. They have a list of emotions to portray collaboratively in this series of scenes, and after each scene a corresponding card is drawn. This card gives them some narrative power over the next scene they’re in, stealing this power from the auteur Facilitator.
Emotions are things like:
The feeling of something new on the horizon
A genuine closeness
Narrative Control cards are things like:
In the next scene you’re in, you can’t quite hear what the other people are saying. Ask them to repeat things.
In the next scene you’re in, take over any part of the facilitator’s role that you like.
Mixed in-between these scenes are surreal interludes called Mirror Scenes. They allow characters to monologue about where they are internally, how they’re feeling, while looking into the mirror. Disturbing music plays.
Act Two takes a plot twist and contains a major spoiler, but it is reality changing for the characters. Scenes are then acted out with new sets of nightmarish cue cards that apply specifically to each character’s psyche, with haunting music. This is where characters, and players, decide the fate of their relationships with themselves and the other characters. It’s an internal emotional exploration, told on a supernatural stage reminiscent of red curtained stages and black striped floors.
The stats for this game are below.
Players: 5-6 + Facilitator
Time: 4 hours
Rating: 18+
Materials: Character Nametags, Game Cards, Music, Box, Mirror (floor length if possible), Drinks & Costumes (optional)
Kira Magrann has tapped a vain: David Lynch, the card-based RPG. There’s one card you can read with only a light tilt of the head [enlarged below] and, taken with the David Lynch muse, it tells you what you’re getting. What are you getting? The tea leaves say it’ll be a unique experience. That’s the genius of this game, it is more than a linear RPG, this is an atmospheric experience that you will think about as often as you ponder a David Lynch production. It is worth trying out.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
For this review, you may wonder why I’m looking at RPG Kickstarters from Italy and Turkey of all country combinations? Normally, when I do a list of Kickstarters by location, the location is my state, Georgia. But for this post, the answer to why Italy would be weight of numbers. There are five from Italy that are currently running (making that nation an RPG Kickstarter rival for Canada [4 KSs as of this writing] and the UK [6 KSs as of this writing]). As well, the individuals behind Svilland (from Turkey) have been exceptionally nice and I wanted to ensure a space for their Kickstarter, so Italy and Turkey it is.
* * *
[UPDATE 2018-09-13 10:38AM EDT] As long as I’m talking about Italy, let me give a quick shout out to a game I covered before in this column, Blackwind. This RPG is by a team in Italy, Elisa Mignemi and Allan Kelley, and it is available on DriveThruRPG as of this morning. Kickstarted from June 10 to July 10 of this year, the book was delivered on-time (expected delivery date was this month) and meeting that commitment deserves praise since so few RPG Kickstarters do. Blackwind rule set covers a variety of genres and is designed to have a cinematic feel. Over and above the core rulebook, the team also has a space opera adventure available, Blackwind – Game Module – Space Blood: Arena, as a PWYW on DriveThruRPG to use with the core rules. Check them out:
“Face Unknown Horrors in the World of Urth with this Official Licensed Product for Shadow of the Demon Lord RPG
Face Unknown Horrors!
You stand on the brink of the Apocalypse. The Demon Lord, an entity of incalculable power blights the lands with cursed evil, madness and slaughter. The dreadful beings let loose by the Demon Lord reflects this being’s nightmarish essence, the touch of its shadow and its insatiable hunger for all things.
Although the Demon Lord remains outside the mortal view, every new horror connected to him arises from the dirt and bring destruction and new death, also weakening little by little his planar prison, unchaining the constraints that are preventing him to escape the Void and bring catastrophic destruction to the world.
Robert Schwalb create a world facing the total annihilation, its lands torn asunder by war, plague, and ancient horrors. Urth, the world of Shadow of the Demon Lord, is one of many imperiled by the shadowy menace lurking without and in this game you can play through its final days as embattled survivors fighting against what to many seems to be an inevitable end.
A complete role playing game in one book, Shadow of the Demon Lord contains everything you need to create characters to confront the hordes of demons spilling in from the Void and to create and play through exciting stories steeped in horror and violence. To make this happen, the game system is easy to learn, plays fast, and requires little preparation to play. All these ensure both novice and veteran players can enjoy the game together. The benefit of short campaigns lets you tell more stories, create more characters, and experience more of the game’s options than other game before. As a player, you are encouraged to play several heroes, trying the potential of the path’s engine to create incredible flexible characters. And, as a Game Master, you can run a complete campaign in lesser time than usual, introducing new ideas, places and horrors every time.
The horror is perfect when is narrated in short stories, full of madness and fear. These are the only stories that thrive you at night and remain in your memories for long time.
BlackStar is a whole new game line based on Shadow of the Demon Lord RPG, originally designed and created by Robert Schwalb. Death & Decay, our first release, will depict and introduce new monsters and develop exciting new ways to add fun and terror to the creatures you already know. It will be an immersive, dark fantasy supplement, that gives players and GMs alike new resources for their gaming sessions.
You will find plenty of undead out there ready to drain your last breath, coming from the Underworld itself or from the haunting darker places scattered through Urth.
The Creature Codex will be a 128 pages book that describes monsters of undeath, creatures of decay and lurking horrors. It presents many classical monsters revisited with new game options that can bring new excitement to your sessions, as well as plenty of new undead monsters of all types.
Following are some of the unique features introduced in Death & Decay:
• Presences: Infested dolls, whispers in the night, echoes of battles, doomed crypts and ghost ships! All of these entities can be found all around Urth. Infestations, apparitions, geists and malevolentes, all can be suppressed or banished forever. The task can be easy or hard, but presences might damn you for life. They can come back with renewed strength to drag you to the grave, corrupt your soul or lure you to the edge of insanity. Destroying them or survive can be the goal of an entire campaign. Death can be the minor evil.
• Spirits: Spirits or incorporeal undead are a simple form of monsters that cannot follow the cycle of life and death on Urth. They nurture the evil in others and feed on the anguish they create in their victims, the sorrow they cause, the evil they plant, all to feed the Demon Lord and unchain him. Spectral beings and ghosts, shadows in the mists or wraiths can appear everywhere, in lost cairns or abandoned tombs, in attics or cellars, in ancient forests or in the crypt of an important church to carry victims with them and bring, as well, survivors to death in a slow agony for the madness they caused. Spirits alter the land they haunt, so be aware that banish a tortured soul from the living world can be the most terrific experience you may have in your entire life.
• Corpses: Animated corpses, zombies, bone constructs, risen and others corporeal beings are the flesh of the hate that the demon lord feel toward the worlds of the livings. This contaminated corpses are risen by his foul cultists to generate waves of destruction, or they rise up by themselves to claim vengeance upon the mortals. Whatever the case, they are unstoppable, and their force can grow more than you can imagine in hordes capable of spread death and burning evil behind them.
• Nightmares: Not sure if they are undead or dead at all, nightmares are the immortal visions of thousand mad minds and foul dreamers. A nightmare created lives in a limbo of nonexistence. However, their corruption and insanity can open the gates, and they will haunt dreams during the night; pervade the mind of anyone corrupted or mad so to overwhelm him by supernatural horrors. That said, be aware that your corrupted soul can strive you more than you have imagined until now.
And if you want more, be sure to support Death & Decay campaign. With your help, more creepy things will rise from the Void in Death & Decay, new forms of undead never seen before. We will investigate through the nature of Urth to find plants, malefic fungi and vermins that can cause decay to the living, or supernatural horrors from the Underworld and the Void. And of course, new players and GMs supplements, villains and adventures, and so on.
Blackstar Games: BlackStar Games is the new international label from WMS Publishing, licensee of Robert Schwalb’ Shadow of the Demon Lord RPG line. We apply our passion and creativity to bring you whole new levels of imagination. We believe RPGs are a way to forge together creativity, art and design to create a new form of communication. You can visit our facebook Page: BlackStar Games and our site pages on www.hbdragongames.
Schwalb Entertainment: Schwalb Entertainment, LLC was founded in 2014 by Robert J. Schwalb (veteran RPG game designer and developer, and author) to offer a rich, immersive game-play experience in worlds of dark fantasy and science fiction, most notably, the horror fantasy roleplaying game, Shadow of the Demon Lord. Before Schwalb Entertainment, Robert was a member of the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons design team, worked as a developer for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition, and was lead designer on A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying. He has contributed design to a slew of D&D sourcebooks, supplements for the d20 system, the Cypher System, and many other roleplaying games. Schwalb Entertainment, LLC is headquartered in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Questions? Contact Schwalb Entertainment at info@schwalbentertainment.com”
Egg Thoughts:
Blackstar: Death & Decay Creature Codex expands on the Shadow of the Demon LordRPG with third party support. New monsters are always welcome in any fantasy game and Blackstar: Death & Decay Creature Codex provides that with its new line for Shadow of the Demon Lord. This is the second article I’ve done today featuring a SotDL product, the first being Mike Myler’s Eastern Fantasy Adventures (read my interview with Mike on ENWorldhere). When I talk to friends, I hear more and more about SotDL so it’s time to bring that to the gaming table.
“Rockopolis RPG – The first f*cking Rock’n Play game
There’s a staircase facing the party. A few steps ahead, a mighty roar that would frighten even the bravest.
Is it dread what you feel? No, it’s adrenaline. You’re ready to take on whatever awaits you.
You climb the stairs and you’re on stage. Your instruments are ready, the crowd is growling.
What do you do?
Rockopolis RPG (Rock Playing Gods) is an awesome role playing game where the stage will be your dungeon.
You will face rival bands instead of goblins and trolls. Your instruments, voice and stage appearance will be your weapons. Your spells? Your ROCK songs!
Every artist has their inspiring Muse. But what if the Muse acted like a Demon, forcing you towards an abyss of behaviors that go far over the “antisocial” definition?
Your Muse will be the surge of your music, your inspiration, your art, your ROCK!
But will be the origin of each of all your troubles, too.
Rockopolis RPG is set in the real world, in the socio-cultural underground of emerging Rock bands.
During the ascent to fame, characters will meet some of the most (in)famous bands of the Rock underground (and they will probably clash!). Will they succeed in achieving international fame or will they fall into the Abyss of anonymity?
Rockopolis RPG uses a special D6 system, specifically devised to be fast and fun, characteristics that blend well with the Rock spirit of the setting. Moreover, ad hoc rules have been created in order to make the best experience of “playing live on stage” and the management of the “inspiring Muse”.
In Rockopolis RPG, the purpose will be to balance the inner demons called Muse with the goal of becoming the greatest Legends of the Stage.
Its UNIQUE On Stage rules will allow you the fantastic experience of playing on a stage like a real Band, joining your forces to get the Applauses you deserve. Be careful: Boos are always a chance, if you don’t plan well your gig. What other RPG system allow you all this?
Book preview
Rockopolis will be available in English and Italian. The English version will be available in the first quarter of 2019 to have time to properly translate it.
The Rockopolis book (220+ full color pages, A4 format, hardback) includes: – An introduction to the setting
– Character creation
– Muses
– On Stage special rules
– 3 adventures
– Everything that you will need to move and live awesome adventures where only Rock legends dare to fly
Another UNIQUE feature of Rockopolis are its Muses.
What’s the source from which your Character gets the Inspiration they need for all their awesome performance?
What’s the biggest problem of your Character, the reason of their living on the edge?
The answer is always the Muse.
Here they are: beautiful and dangerous like only the greatest passions can be.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Music is a universal language, right? Well, here it’s a game available in English and Italian in which you are rock stars playing on quite the stage. Honestly, I want to see how they handle the music at the gaming table. That alone is interesting and worth reading this one.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
NOTE: The original article is in Italian. This review is based on a Google translation.
“A Game of Ucronic Role of Men and Empires beyond the Stars.
Rome did not fall as history teaches.
In the year 2769 aUc the Empire controls not only the entire planet Earth, but also numerous other worlds, both inside and outside our solar system.
War cruisers travel for millions of kilometers using the Limes Orbitalis artificially curving space-time from the orbit of distant planets.
The new syncretistic philosophy of the Logos has extinguished the religious wars.
A council of Caesars from all over the world composes the Imperial Senate, presided over by only one Augustus chosen by the previous emperor for adoption.
Most of the inhabitants of the Empire live a utopia of social justice, progress and peace.
… what could ever go wrong …?
Milites , armed! Get under the banner! Tecnolorica worn, Systemata activated … ready for the impact of bridgeheads! In the cold sidereal expanses lurks something sinister, terrifying, alien to this same Universe … but we will defend the Empire from its fearsome enemies, or we will die in the attempt!
Livia Comnena Akiko Augusta drives away a Dark Throne in the upper orbit of Persephone, Sylde’s star system
In Augusta Universalis you will be super cybernetic , armored Praetorians with exceptional reinforced armor, able to transform themselves by changing Assectums according to need!
You will face fighting overtime and Missiones exploration of distant planets and unknown. Investigate the mysteries of alien civilizations vanished from eons, and face the menace of terrifying Dark Thrones , nightmarish creatures that bring death and destruction to the Cosmos.
You will defend the Empire and your Caesar both from political threats that tear it from within and from enemies who would destroy it from the outside.
Ready to travel beyond the known stars … for the greater glory of the Empire ?!
Augusta Universalis will be a Roleplay comprehensive , containing a rich and evocative setting ucronica sci-fi, and a quick Regulation and focused on the interpretation of the character and on the ‘ identification of the player .
If the project is successful , we will be able to create a book of 240 pages and more, as well as an extra volume full of exclusives only for you who will help us with this fundraising campaign. For the players …
Five different Empires: to which Guard and Imperator will you have sworn loyalty?
Five different Orders: to which training have you been subjected to enter your Legion?
Infinite ways to customize your Tecnolorica, the incredible cybernetic armor of the Praetorians!
For the narrator …
Clear and easy to understand game procedures .
The Syncrogram , the very useful tool of the Demiurge for the management of the Missiones.
Three complete adventures to start playing right away!
For everyone…!
A new science-fiction setting , a suggestive and in-depth buzz.
A single necessary manual , which includes setting and complete game system.
A narrative corpus of the first order , with many fascinating and suggestive stories, to help you immerse yourself in the world of Augusta Universalis !
A solid regulation , based on Destino Oscuro 2 , the same engine as the already knownNibiru Nights .
Awarded with many rave reviews, Destino Oscuro 2 has already proven to involve players like never before: perfect for novices as well as for more experienced storytellers and players, with Augusta Universalis you will experience hours of adventurous entertainment!
Augusta Universalis uses the system of Dark Destiny 2 , the same engine of Le Notti di Nibiru!
A system designed to help the Narrator (here called Demiurgo) in his task to manage and live wonderful adventures together with other players, who can identify themselves with ease in their respective characters.
The Augusta Universalis engine is a rapid system that focuses on describing actions and stage situations outside and inside combat. Players will have real mechanical advantages from their descriptions and will be encouraged to make the game more enjoyable and immersive for themselves and for everyone else.
You will have at your disposal a one-sided sheet for your character plus the Tabula Systemis, another sheet in A4 format on which you will manage the Systemata , the components ofTecnolorica , totally customizable and printable on Poker format cards (which function like small fillable cards ).
Tabula Praetorianis and Tabula Systemis of Thulile, one of the pregenerated PGs you will find in Agusta Universalis
Everything works with tests based on three key questions: what you do (the Player chooses Skill), how you do it (the Demourgo chooses an appropriate Feature based on the Player’s description), because you do it (the Player can take advantage of a series of Character resources, both emotional and training and background, to get bonuses of various kinds).
Just a few eight-sided dice, the cards of the PCs, rubber and pencil and a lot of imagination!During a fight, the Symbols , typical of Destino Oscuro, will help you to immediately transform any scenic effect into mechanics into your mind!
Face the inner conflicts of your character, discover the real reasons that drive him to act!Turn your Tecnolorica (the cybernetic armor of the Praetorians), change Assectum and unleash the power of your Systemata (the character’s equipment) to get into action and experience amazing adventures!”
Egg’s Thoughts:
I spoke to Luca De Marini about this project. Luca graciously answered all of my questions. While Augusta Universalis GDR is launching in Italian there are plans to do a full, professional translation to English and kickstarting it. Here’s a quote about their direction:
“English is our priority, no current plans for other languages. […] In any case, the question is only whether we’ll launch Nibiru’s Nights or Augusta Universalis first! Nibiru’s Nights is the first RPG using the Dark Destiny System and it was a huge success in Italy. Auguni uses the same system although it was deeply customized, of course, to be a perfect fit for this setting in particular.”
If the art and the Google translation speak to you, this game is coming sooner than later for English speakers.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“Get a digital and/or paperback copy of EVENT, a new tabletop Role-Playing Game system with innovative mechanics and a modular ruleset.
Hello everyone! My name is Valerio De Sanctis and I was born, live and work in Italy, together with my wife and my 2 sons.
I’m the main author of the Myst Role-Playing Game (not to be confused with the Cyan Inc. videogame with the same name) and the sole author of EVENT, which is the game I’d like you to support.
The EVENT is a narrative premise that will motivate the players to act as a group, providing their characters a common goal.
Introduction
I started playing Role-Playing Games since I was nine years old, and never stopped since: now that I’m 40 I’m still playing at least once a week with a wonderful group of experienced players, mostly being the gamemaster. We started playing together in 1997 using our very own tabletop RPG system which we spent years in developing, designing and playtesting (actually, we’re still doing all that). In 2001 we released it as Myst under GNU license (you can get it from www.myst.it), which got a lot of praises within our country, with more than 50.000 views & downloads and thousands of unique website visitors each day.
What does this have to do with EVENT? Well, the answer is simple: Myst is a wonderful system, yet it comes with two major flaws:
despite being a story-driven RPG, it’s built upon a simulationist ruleset which makes it a rather complex game;
it is extremely language-dependent… And it’s written in Italian, hence no one outside our contry would likely be able to enjoy it. Translating it is also out of the question, at least for the time being – considering the insane amount of content we wrote within the past 20 years, it would require a dedicated fundraising.
Though still enjoying Myst an awful lot, as time went by I started to think about how to fix the aforementioned flaws. Slowly but surely, I began focusing on what I really wanted:
Something simple, which – for example – I would be able to play with my kids, who couldn’t withstand complex systems (yet!).
Something smart, which could be easily translated in any language.
Something swift, which could be played on a single evening.
The character creation phase takes few minutes and is conducted through a pure storytelling standpoint.
Introducing EVENT
I wrote EVENT having these three goals in mind, which I called The Three S (or 3S). Being an avid reader of the indie-rpgs.com forums during the 1999-2005 era and a huge fan of story-driven games, I wanted to give birth to something good from the ashes left by the flames of The Forge and the GNS Theory: something brilliant, just like The Pool by James V. West, yet also simple, such as Zak Arntson’s Shadows…
Well, I surely hope I’ve managed to do that. You can read the overall result from the following link:
The above link points to the 30-pages EVENT manual – i.e. the full game – in ENGLISH and ITALIAN languages: you are free to view, download and play it as much as you like, as it’s licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 – which basically means that you can use it for any non-commercial purpose.
The successes and failures mechanics will grant the player the chance to become the gamemaster and narrate how his (or her) character will pull off a full success.
Egg’s Thoughts:
Dan Davenport of #RandomWorlds hosted a Q&A with Richard that you can read here. It does an excellent job of sharing what this project is about.
“A campaign setting for 5E that is inspired by the true Norse mythology, with all its rigor, valor, darkness and mysticism.
“Bear up, my warriors! Bear up! Arise from the mountains and sea! Arise from forests and flat lands! Charge and kill for the king! Maybe the sun is shining one last time for us, maybe we won’t rise our axes to air again! Believe, my warriors! Believe! We will meet in Valhalla! We will drink to glory! Charge! Run and die for the king! For the king!”
– Bear King (Last march to Eastern Horn)
Svilland is a Norse Mythology inspired D&D 5E campaign setting; it is designed to bring the valour, brutality and drama from Norse tales to your roleplaying games. The game is compatible with 5E, but its theme and dynamics are very different than your usual high fantasy game. Sure, there is magic in this realm, a plenty of it even. Yet, it is given in a way that reflects omens, spirits, runes and Norse deities with their true forms in the mythology. In Svilland you will learn the true meaning of blood, magic, raids, and wrath of the gods.
Before the last three ages of northern folks, Svilland was unknown. However, that three ages have changed the whole world and its people. They were forced to settle in a new land that is surrounded by seas, mountains and Vanir lands.
It all began with the freezing of northern shores and poor harvest from farms during the first era, earlier omens of the incoming Black Winter, and Ragnarok. Then, an ice giant (jotunn) named Odd appeared, he became a cruel tyrant of northern folks. Yet, was impaled by his own half-giant brother, who was gifted with a spear from the god Balder, forged by dvergrs.
Deep within the North Mountains, Odd was imprisoned with powerful runes and large chains. However, fate was cruel and when Balder fell into Helheim by the deeds of Odin’s brother Loki, the spear started to lose its power.
The Tower
In the beginning of second era, The High Council of seidr was assembled to prevent the Black Winter from gaining more power. In order to do that, Sami seidrs were settled down to the towers of the Ymir’s Lash. And there were two kingdoms who ruled over the mainland: Lands of the Bear King and Kingdom of Eastern Horn. Samis, however, had neither a kingdom nor an established rulership during this era, since they preferred to live in their traditional ways, following the footsteps of their ancestors.
Because of its power weakening, Balder’s spear could no longer contain the might of Odd. The jotunn finally woke up, and power of the Black Winter became even greater and it kept getting stronger and stronger. The High Council of seidr could not manage to contain influence of both Odd and the Black Winter at bay, away from the south.
The Bear King started to think that they could stop the Black Winter only if they sacrifice The High Council of seidr to the gods. In this belief, he marched with his soldiers one night, and sacrificed all of the High Seidr. So began the great conflict; with the seeds of hostility and discord sewn between the Bear King and Eastern Horn.
The third age, which is the age the campaign setting takes place, was started with a war between Eastern Horn and the Bear King. This war divided the land – which was already politically unstable – into three parts: Green Lights of the East, the Nionaem, and the Alsvartr.
The Book Cover
Yes, even now you can directly play and test Svilland! We released a demo booklet containing a small portion of the content we are creating. You can check that out and see the quality of our work before you back us. We value feedback from our backers and supporters a lot while developing the game further. You can download the booklet from here.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Dream Realm Storytellers sent a sneak peek (here) and a press release (here) featuring their product, Svilland Saga. They’ve been exceedingly nice and have a clear vision for their Norse saga. It gives 5e a decidedly vikings feel and I can’t wait to test it out. They have a free demo book that I highly recommend!
Coriolis RPG by Free League (translation through Wyrd Edizioni)
Ends on Fri, October 5 2018 5:00 AM EDT.
NOTE: The original article is in Italian. This review is based on a Google translation.
“Take command of a spaceship and set off to discover the ancient mysteries of the Third Horizon in this beautiful sci-fi GDR!
Zenith announced the dawn of a new era … and the Horizon returned to bloom. Three dozen star systems, united by Fate and the will of the Icons, advanced together towards a more radiant future. But when the Emissaries came, the happy days came to an end, and slowly the Darkness among the Stars resumed its creeping advance.
Coriolis is a science fiction role-playing game set in a remote cluster of star systems called the Third Horizon. It is a place devastated by conflict and war, but also a homeland of proud, old and new civilizations. Here, the settlers of the first wave follow the dictates of the Old Cult and venerate the Icons, while the new arrivals, the Zenithians, pursue a program of imperialist annexations through trade and military power.
In this game, you will be the crew of a spaceship and travel the Horizon with it. You can explore the ancient ruins of the Builders of Portals, undertake missions for the powerful factions of the Third Horizon and participate in the game of political intrigue on the Coriolis station – the center of power in the Third Horizon. You might even come across the strange presences that dwell in the darkness of space.
From the Monolith in the jungles of Kua to the floating temples of Mira, the Horizon is yours: explore it. You can be merchants, explorers, mercenaries, pilgrims or agents. Whatever your vocation, together you will build your destiny. And perhaps you will also be able to discover the truth about the mysterious Emissaries and the threat of Darkness among the Stars.
The Third Horizon is a series of interconnected star systems far from al-Ardha, or our Earth.Each system has portals that give access to the other systems of the Horizon. During the recent Wars of the Portals, all the portals that date back to the First and Second Horizons have been destroyed, throwing the Third Horizon into isolation and decreeing decades of decadence. Years later, the arsenal ship Zenith, which had long since been lost, came from the First Horizon. The settlers dismantled their own ship, rebuilt it as the great Coriolis space station and declared that they would begin a new era in the Third Horizon, stating that the time had come for trade, awakening and peace. Then they invited the older factions of the Third Horizon to join in a Council to begin working together to resolve the issues afflicting the people of the Horizon.
Everything would have been fine if it had not been for the faceless Emissaries, who emerged from the depths of the gas giant Xene. But what were those entities ever?Specters from another world, Icons or portal builders? They claimed to be creatures with divine powers, just like the Icons, and again the Third Horizon was divided between the newcomers and the powerful old ones.
Now, it is time for you and your friends to leave your mark on the Third Horizon. Your ship is your home and every spaceport is a chance to find work and adventure. You do not know it yet, but you will soon be captured by the vortex that is about to be formed. Will you decide the fate of the Third Horizon?
Are you curious and want to know more about the history of the Coriolis universe? On the section of our website Wyrd Edzioni you will find many informative articles about it.
The Coriolis game engine – The Third Horizon is based on the Mutant: Year Zero system , created by Fria Ligan and awarded the Silver ENnie for Best Rules at Gencon 2015.
To make a skill roll, simply take as many dice as those given by the skill level of the character in the appropriate skill plus his corresponding attribute, add those given by the equipment … and pull them all together! You need at least a 6 to be successful, and the 6 additional obtained can generate critical and other bonus effects.
What gives a twist to this simple procedure is something that is directly linked to the Coriolis theme: prayer at the Icons. Icons and their cult are central to the setting of the game. Praying an Icon will give you the opportunity to withdraw, but not without a price.Whenever you choose to use this possibility, the GM will get a Dark Point, which you can use for a series of negative effects in the session. Sooner or later, the icons claim what is theirs to restore the balance in the Darkness among the stars.
Another main feature is the ship’s development system. The spaceship of the characters is the focal point of their adventures, it is their home that must be defended, repaired and developed. The game offers a complete and innovative system for spaceship combat. Each character has an important role to play and teamwork is truly rewarded.
Here are some spectacular images of the Coriolis science-fiction universe.
Coriolis, Game Guide, about 400 color pages with everything you need from players and Game Masters to create your own heroes, face the dangers of space and experience the unique experience of an incredibly realistic SF setting.
Emissary Lost, Game Campaign, about 300 pages in color. The first part of an Epic Campaign in which the characters will be involved and will face a vast conspiracy that threatens the stability of Coriolis and, ultimately, that of the entire Third Horizon. Emissary Lost is composed of two scenarios. The first, The Awakening of the Martyr, takes place in the huge space station of Coriolis, while the second, The Kuan Connection, will land the characters on the surface of the planet Kua, between the deep jungles and violent policies of the Zenithian colonies in search of answers to the shadow of the Monolith.
Wyrd Edizioni, one of the first publishers in Italy for role-playing games, has dozens of titles and lines in active, which you can see at the official website www.wyrdedizioni.com under ‘Our Games’. Among the most important for the international scene, Numenera, The Strange, 13th Age, Mouse Guard and Shadow of the Demon Lord. He already has three highly successful and popular Kickstarter, such as Shadow of the Demon Lord, Trudvang Chronicles in the New Universes of the Cypher System.
Egg’s Thoughts:
This campaign will fund a translation/localization of Sweden’s Coriolis, which uses the Mutant: Year Zero system (as does Tales from the Loop). Distribution is limited to Italy (I’m assuming they’re only able to license certain territories). Coriolis has already been translated into English (here) so this is not the precursor to an English edition. Ultimately, this fits this week’s theme but if you’re outside of Italy, this game is available in other languages/forms (and it’s worth checking out).
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“Contributing authors James Ward, Lenard Lakofka and more share some of their pro tips on how to create your first fantasy RPG adventure”
Looking for advice on how to create your tabletop RPG along with stock art to get you going? Learn from ” industry greats and legends James M. Ward, Lenard Lakofka, as well as exceptional talents such as Johnn Four, Rick Hershey, Lucus Palosaari, Kevin Watson, Bobby Nash and Egg Embry.” I’m excited to be a part of this project and offer my insights into the world of crowdfunding!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere or at the OpenGamingStorehere.
This week, the common theme for these three RPG Kickstarters is I’ve interviewed the creators about these projects. Matthew A. Bogdan on RPG Stock Art. Ed Jowett right here at the Tessera Guild. Brian Colin on the Open Gaming Network. Each shared their thoughts with me and I appreciated that. In turn, I wanted to round up their campaigns for everyone to see.
“James Ward, Lenard Lakofka, Johnn Four and many more share some of their pro tips on how to create your first fantasy RPG adventure!
I am publishing 2 books and an optional Fantasy RPG resource bundle worth several times the price I have foolishly attached to it! ; ) As of this writing, I have several interviews ready to begin or complete. I am currently focusing on the following RPG creators listed below. I will provide a table of contents very soon, but I must gauge how things go, and not bite off more than I can chew or get presumptuous.
The current team I have been incredibly pleased with being graced with includes James M. Ward, Lenard Lakofka, Johnn Four, Rick Hershey, Lucus Palosaari, Kevin Watson, Bobby Nash and Egg Embry.
I am quite pleased to have several thousand words of quality content from interviews that I have conducted with some of these very high quality creators with great track records.Recently, I have also received some great tips from Egg Embry and Kevin Watson, as well as a complete article from Lucus Palosaari and some really cool step-by-step content from Lenard Lakofka. In short, I am truly and genuinely excited about this project! Directories will be added with any participating freelancers as well.
We will be providing a source that is primarily geared for beginner self-publishers. This resource is being designed to provide a small, future adventure design or game company the tools they need to create their first fantasy roleplaying game adventure. BUT, it can most definitely be for ANYONE wishing to improved their craft of adventure building for fun or potential commercial publishing.
This product includes options that currently include digital PDF books, with the possibility of providing printed softcover and hardcover versions.
Overnight success is NOT at all guaranteed in this field, and almost always takes time and patience, networking, making the right decisions and sticking to a strict or tight starting budget. That said, I believe that this resource will provide a solid source for you to get started and get published, along with gaining all of the proven resources that you will need in order to give you a very solid chance. At the very least, I am quite sure you will get several useful tips on adventure creation!
Below is a work in progress table of contents that will grow almost daily. Currently, these topics will include, but will not be limited to:
• Step-by-Step from A-Z Adventure and Self-Pub Template
• Creating Better – CHARACTERS
• Creating Better – MONSTERS
• Creating Better – ENCOUNTERS
• Creating Better – MAGIC ITEMS
• Creating Better – RIDDLES & PUZZLES
• Creating Better – ADVENTURES
• Different Ways To Publish
• A Special Section on KICKSTARTER Crowdfunding
• A Very Special Section on Dealing With TROLLS, and much, MUCH more.
This is a 2-book project with an optional, 65-piece Fantasy RPG stock MEGABUNDLE for only an additional $25.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Disclaimer: I am a creator on this book.
On RPG Stock Art, I spoke with Matthew A. Bogdan (my employer on that project). He gets in-depth about the creators, the package that we’re delivering, the stock art that comes with it, and why this is perfect for publishers to pick-up. Check it out here.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere or at the OpenGamingStorehere.
“Legions of creatures are invading. Only you, the Chosen, can enter the Lost Lands to fight back, and face the horror of the Anonassi…
At Shades of Vengeance, we believe that Tabletop Roleplaying Games can offer an experience that other types of games can’t. We love creating games and have been working with our team for 2 years to bring you something really special…
With the help of experts on the system and the writers you’ll recognise from our other games, plus the legendary talents of some industry greats, we’ve created a brand new game which you will love!
This is not only a detailed and immersive world, but includes mechanics which support the genre of the game, drawing the players into the chilling reality of the Lost Lands and the fight against the Anonassi.
Our world is not safe. It is besieged by creatures from another dimension…
We all know the feeling.
It’s the crawling sensation on the back of the neck, the insistent, niggling feeling that we’re being followed. It’s the feeling that there are eyes in the dark, watching. Waiting. In that moment, you know – just know – that there is a clawed hand reaching toward the back of your head.
Sometimes we stay still and try to ignore the feeling. Sometimes we whirl around, but there’s nothing there. Then we laugh, pass it off as imagination, and go on with our lives.
But… what if… what if there really was something there, but you just weren’t able to see it?
Or, worse… perhaps you’re one of the people who can see…
Our dimension of Aether, the bridge formed by the Lost Lands and the dying, dark dimension of Erebus.
In this game, you will take the role of one of the Chosen, the small number of individuals who can see the Anonassi and the paths into the “Lost Lands” where they amass their forces.
The Anonassi are terrifying in form. Emerging from their home dimension of pure darkness, they cross the bridge of the Lost Lands to enter our world…
The game’s timeline spans over 100 years, from the first recorded encounter with the Anonassi and the start of the war to drive them back into their dimension, through the industrial revolution and the development of new technologies and on to the modern era, where the war heats up once again…
Different weapons and tactics are used by each side over the course of the war, giving a unique experience in each era.”
“Our dungeon building card deck modules are perfect for your favorite roleplaying games. New monsters & magic items for each deck!
Whether you’ve been role-playing for years or you’re just now learning about this amazing hobby, Cardography is certain to enhance your adventures.
We have created 3 new unique Cardography dungeon decks, along with our first two initial decks, set in the original world of Revilo. Contained in each of the themed decks are 52 dungeon cards that can be configured in countless ways.
Each deck has downloadable pdfs of full adventure modules for both 5e and Fate with new, never before seen monsters, magic items, and NPCs to help add more flavor to your game.
Best of all, each of the pdfs is converted for these major RPG systems: Fate and D&D 5th Edition.
The modules can be played in their entirety or as a choose-your-own-adventure style dungeon crawl.
We have already successfully created and produced the first two decks Enter the Fiery Pitsand Break Through the Icy Divide. We know what it takes to make them awesome and we are doing the same to the three new decks.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
On the Open Gaming Network, I have an interview with Brian Colin about this Kickstarter. Brian does an excellent job of explaining why his dungeon-building deck of cards is right for your gaming table. Read it here.
And, hey, I have a press release from them here! ;-P
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
That said, Ed will challenge you (in a good way) at, and away from, the gaming table. When I sent him the questions for this interview, I had a note that said I’d write the introduction to the article later. I get the answers back and Ed’s one-upped me by telling the world I explained the game in an “excellent introduction.” Now I have to figure out what Era: The Chosen is?! The horror!!! 😛 So…
Era: The Chosen is a horror tabletop RPG that pits humanity against an inhuman enemy that has the upper hand in every situation. For the Chosen that can perceive these monsters, the stakes are all or nothing. It’s not about survival, it’s win or our dimension is doomed.
[So, how’d I do, Ed?]
EGG EMBRY – Ed, over the years we’ve talked a good deal and always about your Era d10 games. Before we get into the latest one, let’s catch everyone up. What are the Era games, and how are they related, and not related?
ED JOWETT – Firstly, for anyone who hasn’t seen one of these interviews before, welcome! It is always a pleasure to talk about the games I create and I hope you find this interesting!
The Era games fall into two distinct categories: ones with “Era” in the title and ones “Powered by Era d10“. The latter sort (such as Battlecruiser Alamo!) are not settings created by me, but games made in other universes which other people created and then worked with me to bring to life through the Era d10Rule Set. As a result, they are not linked to any of the other games in terms of story – the Triplanetary Confederation Universe (Battlecruiser Alamo RPG), for example, is linked to a series of novels by Richard Tongue. I took the feel of his universe and created mechanics which supported that style of gameplay to make this game, and worked with him to write the setting material.
The settings which have “Era” in the name (there are 8 so far – Era: The Consortium, Era: Lyres, Era: The Empowered, Era: Survival, Era: Silence, Era: Hitman, Era: Balam and now Era: The Chosen) are a slightly different story. These settings were created by me and have a common thread which connects them, if you look relatively carefully. I have not publicly revealed yet what it is, but I am certain some people have picked up on it from various hints I have dropped over the years in Kickstarter updates, panels and interviews. Era: The Chosen, actually, builds on this quite heavily, and is the biggest clue I have given to how these settings link up since Era: Survival.
Ignoring the links, each game explores a genre thoroughly: Era: The Consortium offers the chance to play any sub-genre of Sci-Fi you can think of with its 500 years of playable history – you just jump into the time period which suits the style of your game and then, when that story is complete, you choose the next one and have the chance to play ancestors or descendents of previous characters as well as brand new ones! Era: Lyres offers players the chance to tell literally any story they want in the low-fantasy setting it offers. The GM plays as an audience who will assess their story while they attempt to earn the gold and glory due to adventurers. But, as they don’t really have experiences, they have to be careful of inconsistencies! This game lets the players really express their creativity and provides endless opportunity for stories (as well as giving the GM a rest!) Era: The Empowered, similar to Era: The Consortium, offers every sub-genre of superhero story within its timeline. Choose whether you want to be a newly-emerging individual, finding your powers for the first time, or work as part of a large, world-spanning team, or stand against invasions by the Old Gods or Atlantis, or joining the “Empowered Department” in their attempts to police supervillains in a co-ordinated, government-led way. Era: Survival offers a post-apocalyptic setting – a hundred years after the cataclysm – where the last days of Humanity are approaching fast. Unsure how to survive, the people of Gaia have splintered into 14 different factions… and each has their own alliances and enemies. I am sure you can imagine that this provides a difficult world to step into. Will You Survive? Era: Silence is based on an island which is a High Fantasy testing ground. Entering a portal to the mythical Isle of Silence, you will have to earn your name if you expect to escape… by completing challenges and working together. The catch here is that no person is able to speak on the Isle of Silence and, being barbarians, you cannot read or write very well. So, how do you work together when you cannot communicate so easily? Era: Hitman is based in modern times, and allows you to step into the role of a team of assassins. The twist here is that many of the assassins in this world have superpowers! These are fast-burning and reduce in effectiveness as you use them, so you will have to be extremely careful about when you activate them. And, of course, your target might have powers as well! You never quite know what is around the next corner in this game, so you have to plan carefully! Era: Balam asks you to step into the role of a fighter pilot. No pilot is truly complete without their craft and this game is based around that duality: without your fighter (which is highly customisable), you are not a complete character and could be easily killed by the alien hordes which roam HX-7371. As a small squadron, you will have to adapt your fighters and work as a team if you hope to save Humanity from this threat and protect Earth…
And Era: The Chosen you already know something about, thanks to Egg’s excellent introduction above… and I will be talking more about it below.
The link between the settings of these games is perhaps more evident than another important aspect: the rules are module and can be combined. I am going to talk more about that in a later question, so read on to know more!
EGG – Era: The Chosen is a move into straight-up tabletop horror roleplaying. You did Era: Survival before, which had horrific elements. What made you decide to go full horror?
ED JOWETT – Era: Survival has a different focus to Era: The Chosen. Era: Survival is about a zombie apocalypse and a divided humanity, which doesn’t know or believe in itself or each other any more – to a high degree, no-one trusts the people they meet on Gaia. Humanity is, in reality, its own worst enemy and the truth is that they could probably survive if they worked together. Era: The Chosen is quite different. It is a game about the horrors of war when fighting against enemies you cannot understand. Humanity is united against this threat – those that perceive it, anyway!
But that doesn’t make it less terrifying. The Anonassi are biologically superior, intelligent and tactical… and know more about Humanity than you would like them to… especially when it comes to the fact that they enjoy eating us.
This game is about fighting a descent into madness and loss of control as you fight the Anonassi to protect our dimension. The horror aspect is much more psychological than in Era: Survival, making it a very different kind of fear to “when will I run out of ammo”, or “is a zombie waiting for me around the corner?”.
What made me do this was really a long love of two franchises: Dr Who – specifically the brand of horror where the primary reason you are scared is that you don’t understand – and the Turok games on the N64! I have long felt that the two would combine into an excellent setting (with numerous tweaks, obviously!).
Finally, it is something I haven’t done before! I am sure you can imagine that there are a lot more things I want to create and I am working through them. This brand of horror is something I can now tick off my list from a “setting” sense, and focus on expanding that universe!
EGG – How compatible are the different games?
ED JOWETT – They are very compatible – the aspects of the rules which are unique to each game (for example, Specialities, Karma, Implants and Party Confidence) are modular and can be carried across between games.
For example, if you want to play Sci-Fi Survival Horror, you can combine Era: The Consortium and Era: Survival’s rules to make a “Dead Space” type of game (we actually did this in a published book, Era: The Consortium – Revival!). If you wanted to tell stories of your exploits to con people out of cash in Era: Hitman, you could integrate the Era: Lyres rules… and if you were feeling very ambitious, you could combine all of them to make a “super game”!
The power of games running on the same rule sets is obvious – you don’t need to learn a new rule set each time. But when you can combine aspects of the rules and the system supports it? I think that makes something quite special, though I admit I may be biased!
EGG – Some of the settings for your games have expansive timelines. Tell us about the timeline for the game, and what makes that span appealing in Era: The Chosen?
ED JOWETT – Era: The Chosen offers 3 time periods to play in, and the attraction here is that the experience varies quite a bit depending on which you choose.
Perhaps you like the idea of fighting huge, terrifying monsters with pikes and flintlocks. If that is the case, then the “First Era” is for you! In this time, people aren’t sure what the Anonassi are, mostly assuming they are demons of some sort or, in some cases, fallen angels (a name which sticks as a descriptor!). If you like supernatural horror settings where not everything can be explained, this is allowed for here, along with the slightly more light-hearted, “swashbuckly” feel where you have to rescue the princess and save the day, but overcome your fear to do so.
Or maybe you like the sort of horror which you get from Victorian era literature – Frankenstein, for example. In the “Second Era”, you have technology advancing faster than humans learn how to control it. What if you could bring people back to life, just by integrating a technological device which you found lying around in the Lost Lands? Would you find it morally acceptable? Would everyone else? This period also brings in some of the more monstrous Anonassi for the first time; as they are driven back by superior weapons, they begin to deploy larger and more terrifying creatures.
In the Third Era, weapons are at modern levels and the war is being won. At this point, the Anonassi begin to deploy new, more sinister, tactics – swarms of insects which can devour flesh to the bones of either Anonassi or Human in seconds, and Ethereals who can possess Humans and even pass into our dimension safely for long periods of time. How do you fight when you don’t know that all who stand beside you are still the people you trained with? Who do you trust?
I think that the timeline setting was the only way for me to offer all of these types of play in the same game and playtested have very much encouraged this variety!
And, of course, when you consider that different things are horrifying to different generations, there is even more scope for differences in experience…
EGG – For some of your games, there’s been a standout mechanic or setup (Balam’s fighter craft and Battlecruiser Alamo’s duel characters). Will there be any new mechanics for the system?
ED JOWETT – Yes, there are!
Terror is the result of your experiences in the fight. Perhaps you got eaten by an Anonassi and had to blast your way out… if you were to be threatened with being eaten again, you could understandably have a severe psychological reaction to that.
This is covered by the Terror system in Era: The Chosen. As you begin to experience the Lost Lands, you will build Triggers (such as “being eaten”!). When they occur, you will have the opportunity to roll a check… but if you fail, you gain Terror. Each Terror brings with it more Triggers, so the result is a decline in your ability to cope with the Lost Lands. If your Terror bar fills, you will collapse and have to be returned home for treatment… and will probably never set foot in the Lost Lands again.
Trophies are almost the opposite. When you overcome a particularly difficult challenge – floor a giant, brutish Anonassi in the middle of it charging you, for example – you may gain a Trophy. In this example, you might gain a Trophy in the form of the Anonassi tooth. It would remind you that you can take down an Anonassi when it is charging you, so you might no longer be able to be Triggered by that event!
There are also numerous special rules for the Clans, particularly the Chike, who can transform into half-Anonassi forms. If you want to know.more about that, I recommend checking out our actual play session on Kickstarter: https://youtu.be/2j7TRgXlg6U
EGG – The $5 reward on this Kickstarter is for the digital Player’s Guide. That’s an incredible price! What will the Player’s Guide include?
ED JOWETT – I feel it is a good price, yes! The Player’s Guide includes the complete Rules (word for word the same as the Core Rulebook so there is no confusion!), an introduction to the setting for each era, full character creation and the vast majority of equipment (some stuff is so rare that it can be excluded to keep the page count a little lower and be communicated by the GM if it is used!).
What it doesn’t include is the full story of the setting or, more importantly, the Bestiary of Anonassi you might meet…!
EGG – For someone that has never played an Era d10 game, what would you say is the secret sauce that makes this a standout system that they should jump into?
ED JOWETT – It is easy and quick, it is representative without being painful and, if you are a brawler, the grapple rules are 2 pages and/or a flow chart which explains the same content!
It also gives huge flexibility for the GM to counter things like min-maxing (or not, if you prefer!), as well as the opportunity to leap into any of these genres while learning only a few extra rules.
The games are well-supported as well, through our Patreon and period campaign module releases, so if you are someone who likes grenade modules, we have you covered there too!
EGG – For those that want to check out the Kickstarter, where can they find it at?
“Contributing authors James Ward, Lenard Lakofka and more share some of their pro tips on how to create your first fantasy RPG adventure”
Looking for advice on how to create your tabletop RPG along with stock art to get you going? Learn from ” industry greats and legends James M. Ward, Lenard Lakofka, as well as exceptional talents such as Johnn Four, Rick Hershey, Lucus Palosaari, Kevin Watson, Bobby Nash and Egg Embry.” I’m excited to be a part of this project and offer my insights into the world of crowdfunding!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere or at the OpenGamingStorehere.
All of the RPG news fit to peruse. Or at least some of it. In bite form, we’ll touch on Savage Worlds’ new edition and upcoming Kickstarter, who (RPG-wise) will be at Dragon*Con 2018, what Starfinder is looking for, another stock art site, ICv2’s recent GAMA coverage, and all the press releases fit to be released.
NEWS BITES
The new edition of Savage World. Pinnacle Entertainment will launch their “brand new edition” of Savage Worlds on Tuesday, October 16th. The revised version of Savage Worlds will contain aspects seen in the Savage Worlds: Flash Gordon RPG that John McGuire and I played at Gen Con (read John’s review of it here). You can read the announcement here.
Status: Monitoring
Attending Dragon*Con in Atlanta this Labor Day Weekend? Have you read John McGuire’s Dragon*Con Hacks? You’ll want to so you can be ready for the gaming heavy hitters hosting a variety of panels that will be there this year.
Monte Cook of Monte Cook Games (Cypher System, Numenera, No Thank You, Evil!)
Shanna Germain of Monte Cook Games (No Thank You, Evil!; Predation; As Kinky As You Wanna Be, The Poison Eater, and Numenera)
Jodi Black (Chief Operations Officer and Managing Editor for Pinnacle Entertainment Group)
Clint Black (Savage Worlds Core Rules Brand Manager)
Jodi and Clint Black will be with Carolina Game Tables on the third floor of the AmericasMart, booths 3312 and 3314
“While they’re attending primarily to promote their tables, they’re both more than happy to chat about Savage Worlds (including the upcoming new edition of the game) and all the other goings-on with Pinnacle Entertainment Group.”
Kenneth Hite who has worked on Star Trek Roleplaying Game, Mage: The Sorcerers’ Crusade, Call of Cthulhu d20, The Dresden Files RPG, Qelong, The Day After Ragnarok, and the Deadlands Noir Companion
Keith Baker of the Eberron Campaign Setting for Dungeons & Dragons, as well as Gloom and Cthulu Fluxx
Brom was the artist on D&D’s Dark Sun as well as so many other projects and is the Guest of the Honor for the Dragon*Con Art Show
Jason Bulmahn is the Director of Game Design at Paizo Inc (Pathfinder and Starfinder), leading the team responsible for rules and game balance
Christopher Tang of DriveThruRPG and the Code Miners’ LARP will be in the open gaming area representing their LARP. Event descriptions here.
Eloy Lasanta of Third Eye Games and New Agenda Publishing
Richard Ankney production manager at Game Trade Media
Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel of D&D fame
Jamie Chambers of Signal Fire Studios (Metamorphosis Alpha)
Bill Fawcett of Role Aides fame (among others)
Chris Miller of the Ankur RPG
Amanda Makepeace, who’s artwork has graced Pelgrane Press (check out a sampling of them here) and one of the founding Tessera Guilders, will be displaying at the art show
Ray Nothnagel will be demoing his Afterverse RPG. You can check out the games here before backing the Kickstarterhere
Brian Colin, Bree and Drew Foulke from the Norse Foundry (Floor 1 – Exhibitor) will be slinging metal dice and talking about their current Kickstarter for Atmar’s Cardography: Full RPG Modules & Random Dungeon Decks (I picked up a copy and it’s a solid idea – mix and match cards with interconnected dungeons printed on them)
Look for Derek Kamal of silver ENnie Award winning Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse
If you search, you can find Matthew A. Bogdan of Dark by Dezign. He’s running a Kickstarter that I’m a part of called CREATE YOUR OWN FANTASY RPG ADVENTURE – RPG RESOURCES BOOKS that I (bias-ly) think is worth checking out (since I’m a part of the creative team)
Interested in playing in Dragon*Con’s non-campaign RPGs? Click here. Want play in campaign RPGs? Click here.
Status: Wish I were going
Aaron Shanks, Paizo’s PR Manager, is looking for celebrities that play Starfinder. At a guess, they’re hoping for some of the same celebrity love that D&D has seen lately.
Status: Stargazing
Looking for another place to purchase RPG stock art? Looking for an option to sale your stock art? RPG stock artist, JE Shields, opened a new stock art website – JEStockArt.com. With two RPG-focused stock art sites that I’m aware of, this is the start of an interesting trend within the past month (the other being RPGStockArt which I covered here). The driving force behind this move appears to be the desire to reduce the commissions charged by other sites by 10% to 15% (bringing the amount the creator receives to 80%).
Status: Stock Art marketplaces of the world!
Exalted coming soon to the Storytellers Vault!
Status: Looking forward to new content
GAMA (Game Manufacturer’s Association), the group that runs the GAMA Trade Show and Origins Game Fair, is the subject of a series of articles on ICv2.comabout the recent goings on within the organization.
Shifting away from ICv2’s coverage, GAMA board member, Jeff Tidball, Member-at-Large, shares his thoughts on the board’s decision regarding John Ward and the future of GAMA – It Is Wise for GAMA to Seek a New Executive Director
Status: Monitoring coverage
Speaking of GAMA, my discussion of my three most important moments at Origins Game Fair 2018 is available to read on ENWorld here. I’m excited to go again in 2019.
As always, there are some great RPG Kickstarters worth checking out. Go here to check out my reviews of Nights of Payne Town, Haunting of Hastur, Afterverse, MAIN GAUCHE, Domina Magica, and Entromancy
“Contributing authors James Ward, Lenard Lakofka and more share some of their pro tips on how to create your first fantasy RPG adventure”
Looking for advice on how to create your tabletop RPG along with stock art to get you going? Learn from ” industry greats and legends James M. Ward, Lenard Lakofka, as well as exceptional talents such as Johnn Four, Rick Hershey, Lucus Palosaari, Kevin Watson, Bobby Nash and Egg Embry.” I’m excited to be a part of this project and offer my insights into the world of crowdfunding!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere or at the OpenGamingStorehere.
Bloat Games has added their latest game, SURVIVE THIS!! Zombies! 2nd Edition – Core Rule Book, to DriveThruRPG. I played it at Origins Game Fair and did a review of it in Knights of the Dinner Table 257. If you like OSRs and zombies, this is an excellent game that’s fast and fun. When Eric Bloat of Bloat Games reached out about the game being available on DriveThruRPG, I thought the best way to convince anyone it is a good game is to show them how much it has been shared on blogs and Facebook in a single day (these are just what was sent to me or I found). Keep in mind, Bloat Games is not Wizards of the Coast, this is genuine word-of-mouth from fans and friends saying, “Give zombies a chance!” 😉
“Hit the streets of a neon-noir city as detectives and vigilantes with legendary powers! A new story arc, rulebooks, expansion, and more
City of Mist is a cinematic, neo-noir tabletop RPG set in a modern-day city where legends and stories incarnate in ordinary people, granting them mythical powers. Due to the mystical veil of the Mist, most City residents are oblivious to the legendary forces in the City, leaving modern-day legends, or RIFTS, to operate in a hidden underworld of fairy-tales and crime.
Play as detectives, vigilantes, crooks, or just ordinary Janes and Joes with legendary powers, in a setting that combines the super-powered detective mood of Jessica Jones, Daredevil, or Luke Cage with themes from myth and legend, like in Fables (The Wolf Among Us) or American Gods. You and your crew investigate strange cases and face off with other modern-day legends, and at the same time struggle to balance your everyday life with the Mythos inside you. It’s time to hit the streets…
City of Mist was successfully funded in 2016 and published in 2017. It already has a great community of backers and fans and has sold thousands of copies. The next evolutionary step for the game is a guided set of adventures in the world of City of Mist – a story arc – that MCs (or GMs/DMs) can easily run for their groups. Nights of Payne Town is the first story arc book we will publish, with ten (10) individual cases connected into a single overarching plot.
READ MORE ABOUT THE GAME BELOW!
AWARDS & REVIEWS
City of Mist RPG won two ENnie awards: Silver forBest Free Game 2017 (Starter Set) and Gold for Best Interior Art 2018 (Core Book, which will be split into the Player Guide and the MC Toolkit books available on this campaign).
GEEK & SUNDRY: “Pitch-perfect blend of superhero and noir tabletop RPG… The mechanics are simple yet INCREDIBLY robust.”
ONE SHOT PODCAST: “[City of Mist] combines everything that’s great about Apocalypse World with everything that’s great about FATE… look at the art, and see why I want this beautiful game on my shelf.”
AMAZON 5-STAR REVIEWS:
★ “Detective Noir Knockout.” ★ “Great System, Great Book, Great Company” ★ “One of the best RPG books I’ve read.” ★ “New favorite TTRPG.” ★ “Fantastic cinematic experience” ★ “I’ve got a lot of rpg books, this one rules them all” ★ “One of the Best Gaming Products I’ve Encountered in nearly 30 years of gaming.” ★ “A beautiful, cinematic superhero noir tabletop RPG for veterans and new players alike” ★ “Amit Moshe and Son of Oak Game Studio have established one of the hottest RPG franchises” ★ “Come for the incredibly high production value of the book. Stay for the brilliant design of the game.”
What makes City of Mist special is its unique premise and its bleak, yet mysterious, noir atmosphere. Your character, whether jaded or naive, lives in a corrupt metropolis where hidden forces steer the lives of millions. The situation is miserable, but you are awakening, beginning to become aware of the legend deep inside you. Together with your crew, you are trying to find answers in a city forever blinded by the veil of the Mist. You want to discover what is real, whether you are human or a legend, and who is running the show from the shadows. You are trying to discover the truth, and you’re up against heavy opposition.
Think mobsters with the power of Greek gods, a corrupt politician enchanting citizens with his magical pipe music, and a biker gang called the Winged Monkeys working for an unsavory smuggler, a modern-day Wicked Witch of the West.
Check out Detective’ Enkidu’s thoughts about the state of affairs in the city, in this animated version of the Core Book’s opening comic:
If the GIF isn’t playing, click the image.
Nights of Payne Town will present the first playable story arc that you can just pick up and play with your friends. It will contain of ten (10) cases that can be played individually, or as an ongoing campaign, each with its own backstory, locations, clues, NPCs, Dangers, and maps.
The story arc covers a time of turmoil in the City. The police are helpless against a new wave of crime, powered by forces they neither see nor understand. Ancient legends that were scheming in the shadows for decades are now finally enacting their insidious plans, raining chaos and suffering on the streets. The only ones who can stop this mayhem are nameless individuals, anti-heroes like your crew, caught in this mess unwillingly or all too willingly…
Nights of Payne Town cases break down into three “veins”, or sub-plots:
The Criminal Vein, cases involving the rise of an unstoppable crime baron, a violent self-proclaimed monarch, and the struggle for power over the City streets.
The Mystical Vein, cases following a magical arms race, where a mystery collector will stop at nothing to gather every form of magical object and being in the City;
and The Personal Vein, cases trailing the personal tragedy of the victims of a scheme to slowly and painfully destroy the very fabric of society in the City.
At the culmination of the story arc, these three veins combine into a single super-plotrevealing a sordid truth and a malignant power that has been feeding on the misery of the City since its early days. But, even there, in the heart of darkness, there is hope… even if is hidden from mortal eyes.
Can your crew solve these cases, face these evils, and save the City?
Among the modern-day legends featured are Hansel & Gretel, the Wendigo, Goldilocks, the Snow Queen, a slew of characters from Arthurian legend, the Philosopher’s Stone, King David, Paul Bunyan, spirits of Haitian Voodoo, and many more.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
City of Mist is one of the most well-considered superhero RPGs out there. It feels and looks like the best of modern superhero comics and the Marvel Netflix-verse. It has the room to be gritty and hopeful while working as a detective, all in a single game. Nights of Payne Town takes the game to another level by offering a ranging adventure path. 10 cases that standalone or form a wider story, it’s your choice.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“All five parts of the Haunting of Hastur series in print for the OSR.
The Project
The Haunting of Hastur series has been very successful for Dark Naga Adventures. However, they were never successful enough to unlock the OSR print run stretch goal. Several OSR fans have lamented this shortfall. This is my wish fulfillment project for the OSR community, particularly those fans who have waited for their version in the classic print format.
This Kickstarter project has just one reward, all five modules in the old school print format: wrap around, detached covers, maps on the inner cover, saddle stitched (stapled) booklet. Simple. No stretch goals, just a low target small print run to give the backers who have wanted this version in this print format to have their wish granted.
There is a little bit of editing to be done. See below on changes to DNH1 – The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil. Beyond that, as soon as the project funds, I will order the proofs, and as soon as they are verified, the print copies will be ordered. This will be a fast cycle project. So fast, that there won’t be any add-ons available via Backerkit. I expect to place the print order a few days after the funds post to my account.
Special Note: This might not be the project for you. This one will run the month of August. I am working on colorizing all of the art for a full color, hardback compilation version for 5e and OSR (separate books). I’m announcing both so that OSR fans don’t feel like they are being toyed with. One of my concerns is having a backer who would prefer the hardback decide to back this project because they had no idea the other one was in the works and regret their decision. That’s not cool. It’s not how I would want to be treated. Thus, I working to make sure that backers know their options, so they can make better-informed decisions.
Links to each of the five adventures:
DNH1 – The Lost Temple of Forgotten Evil – KS – DTRPG
DNH5 – Carcosa – KS – (Not yet available on DTRPG)
The editing work to be done.
The first of the adventures was an experiment in dual stats for 5e and OSR. That was one of the weakest elements. Some found it confusing. This was my failure as a writer to see beyond my own experience. I convert between 5e and OSR on the fly when running my 5e game, or a BECMI/RC game (my Old School ruleset of choice, yes, I know maybe not technically OSR by all definitions, but in the most inclusive sense, OSR). I failed to recognize that part of my audience has no experience with both systems and they could be confused by unfamiliar terms.
The only significant work to be done on this project is to sever the two versions into dedicated works. I’m estimating it as twenty hours end to end, including editing. That project will start within a few days of putting the 5e and OSR text of the last adventure in the series to rest, DNH5 – Carcosa.
While I expect to have all of the editing work done, edited and ready for release before September 1. That allows the proofs to be ordered between the end of the project and when funds are released. Ideally, I’d like to place the order within a few days of the funds being release (Mid-September), and start fulfilling in early October. The estimate is a bit conservative to allow for things to go wrong without missing a delivery estimate.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Dark Naga Adventures is Kevin Watson who I’ve interviewed about a part of Haunting of Hastur at the Open Gaming Network (here). Haunting of Hastur is a reprint of five D&D 5e and OSR adventures that Kevin has kickstarted one by one. Now you can get the full adventure in one location.
As well as this Kickstarter, Kevin is a member of the creative team behind CREATE YOUR OWN FANTASY RPG ADVENTURE – RPG RESOURCES BOOKS, a project I’m a part of as well (more below or see the Kickstarter here). Between the interview and being in a project with him, it’s easy to say that I think highly of Kevin. At the moment, we all win as there are two Kickstarters with Kevin in them, we live in rare times! 🙂
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere or at the OpenGamingStorehere.
“Afterverse is a scifi tabletop RPG featuring an expansive and versatile world and the D6 Bank game system.
Welcome to the universe. Here’s what comes next.
The universe is a rough place, and now you’re in the thick of it. Whether you’re fighting the Bactaran occupation that begins almost as soon as first contact is established, exploring the new frontier of space after humanity throws off its chains, or working towards the unification of all the species of the Orion Arm of the Milky Way galaxy, Afterverse puts the universe in front of you and sets you against it.
The d6-based game system is versatile and powerful. The usage of hit banks minimizes dice rolls and keeps gameplay flowing smoothly, while letting players control their risk factors. Characters earn XP through the innovative Motivation system, bridging the gap between powergamers and roleplayers.
Set your campaign at any time across hundreds of years of future history. Every time period has its own events, conflicts, cultures, and technologies. Encounter enemies and allies of all shapes and sizes. Join the revolution, become space pirates, or command military might in space in epic wars across the galaxy.
The Afterverse book features nearly 300 pages of game rules, settings, and adventures. Over 150 pieces of artwork created over the last five years illustrate the living universe, bringing your games to life. The book will be in full color as a softcover (or hardcover if the stretch goal is unlocked). The book contains all the information players and GMs need to run an Afterverse campaign, including character creation, base rules, the setting’s history, and more.
If you’d like a sneak peek of what the sourcebook will look like, as well as an overview of the most important rules, check out the Quickstart Rules for Players!
Quickstart Guide
Afterverse’s Action Cards help you track your character’s hit banks. Each card features beautiful character art, a place to store your hit counters, and a summary of the relevant rules. These cards help player keep track of not only their hit banks, but also the actions their character has available to them.
The Afterverse game system is based on pools of 6-sided dice. For most skill tests, you’ll add the relevant attribute, such as Agility, to the relevant skill, such as Melee; this determines the size of your dice pool. If the test involves a Specialization and you have that specialization, you’ll add two more dice. Situational modifiers may alter this pool further.
After rolling, any dice that come up as a 5 or 6 count as a hit; if you get enough hits, you’ve succeeded the test. Sometimes, instead, hits will be banked to be spent over time.
The initiative system in combat is based on this bank system. You’ll roll your character’s Reaction plus Perception, and bank your hits into your IP bank. Turn order starts with the highest IP bank and proceeds in order to the lowest; as each character acts, they will spend one or more hits from this bank. If the character has enough hits in the bank, they may perform additional actions by doubling the IP cost of the second action.
But it may be wise to conserve your IP, because this same IP bank is used for dodging. When you are being attacked, you may spend one or more points to set the threshold which the attacker will need for their attack to succeed. This greatly impacts the strategic decisions of the game. Covering fire is invaluable, as you can force the enemy to spend their IP bank dodging your shots instead of shooting back.
Finally, space combat is built on this same rule set. The Body Class system allows entities which are an order of magnitude larger than others to operate within the same combat at the same time; smaller entities receive a multiplier on their initiative rolls, while larger entities receive a multiplier on damage dealt, allowing a tiny vessel or even an individual person to act in the same combat as a battleship without skipping a beat.
Often, when in space combat, several characters will all be performing important and unique roles in the fight. The ship’s captain makes decisions and controls the deployment of the ship’s countermeasures. The pilot may position the ship in different ways in preparation to attack, defend, or evade. The engineer is in charge of repairing systems as they get damaged, managing the ship’s waste heat, and supercharging systems which will be required soon. The ship’s tactical officers will control the firing of weapons. The ship’s crew, each with their own complimentary set of skills, must work together under the leadership of their captain in order to position their ship for attack, supercharge the coilguns, and finally, deal the critical blow against the enemy, drawing upon the banks from every crew position to maximize the damage against their target.
My name is Ray Nothnagel. For my entire life, I’ve been a fan of tabletop games, science fiction, and real-world space travel. I’ve been working on the Afterverse rule set for the last five years and playtesting it for the last three. I’ve been designing the Afterverse setting since I was in junior high school – this universe has been kicking around in one form or another for twenty years, and I have the bad spaceship doodles from high school study halls to prove it. This campaign is just one more step in what has been my personal passion project for decades, and whether it succeeds or fails, will undoubtedly continue to be my unhealthy obsession for the rest of my life. The publication of this sourcebook is just one part of the grand scheme for Afterverse. The game system has come a long way since it started as little more than a homebrew variation of Shadowrun. Since that time, it has evolved into a unique game with innovative concepts and lots of refinements. The time spent on the game system has resulted in a robust and fun roleplaying experience where the rules enhance the setting, and don’t get in the way of the storytelling.
This campaign aims to finance the final push for publication – the graphic design, final editing, and the print run. Immediately upon the successful funding of the campaign, we’ll begin our final art pass and the layout work for the book. Following up on this, within a month or two, we’ll send the final sourcebook to be printed. The bookbinding printer will do their thing, and all told, we expect to have the final version of the book printed and shipped out to you no later than the end of October if all goes well, or sometime in November in case there are unforeseen delays. Some of the higher tiers will take longer to produce, but our goal is to have all rewards completed and delivered no later than December 2018.
I hope we’ve piqued your interest. There will be more posts and videos posted over the next month. If you’re going to be at DragonCon, check out our game sessions there for a taste of Afterverse. If you have any questions about the game or this campaign, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Afterverse is a post-alien-invasion-space-opera. You use a mix of cards and handfuls of d6s to determine actions. John McGuire, myself, and our friends played Afterverse with Ray Nothnagel, the creator, at Gen Con 2018 (read John’s review here). When I talked to Ray, he shared that space combat is a highlight of the game because it gave each player a task within the system to perform (unfortunately, the session I chose did not involve space combat). Ray’ll be at Dragon*Con August 30th to September 3rd, 2018, in Atlanta demoing the game (and, hopefully, working on a space battle), so if you’re going it’s worth checking out. You can see Ray’s Afterverse events here.
“MAIN GAUCHE is a chaos expansion for ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG – a gritty, dark fantasy tabletop role-playing game.
Hi, my name is Daniel – some of you know me as the creator of ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG, and face of Grim & Perilous Studios. I am a level 41 husband/father/raconteur, and have worked in digital advertising for 14 years. Were you to compare me to a character on the show Mad Men, basically I’m Ken Cosgrove: biz-dev guy on the streets/author in the sheets. Much like Cosgrove, I am a writer when I’m off the clock.
Writing a RPG? Easy. Run the business? See illustration.
I spent five years writing the brobdingnagian (read: mammoth) 688-page book you know as ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG. I set up a Kickstarter, nearly two years ago to the day, to make it a reality.
ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG also took home two golds in the ENnie Awards for Best Game and Product of the Year at GenCon 2018.
2018 ENnie Awards at GenCon
Turns out, there’s a market for world-agnostic, gritty D100 tabletop RPGs that doesn’t rhyme with “Goonquest” or “Warslammer”.
And after a stroke of inspiration, I began writing another book. Say hello to MAIN GAUCHE.
Front cover by Ken Duquet
A 60-second overview
CHAOS IS NOT A PIT – IT IS A LADDER.
MAIN GAUCHE is a supplement for ZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG – a gritty, dark fantasy tabletop role-playing game. Using this book, you will be able to:
Add 68 brand-new Professions to your grim & perilous game
Build fantastic machines, like the Arkwright Cauldron & Rumblebutler
Easily integrate cinematic, vehicle-based combat into encounters
Use alchemy & Wytch-science to gain deadly abilities
Devote yourself as an occultist to elder Daemons
Learn damning Covenant Magick & wield their horrific manifestations
Make soul-altering pacts for Daemonic Gifts of unfettered power
Build your own unique creatures & NPCs on the fly
Plugging into the core D100 ZWEIHÄNDER experience, this book expands your gaming options into the realms of chaos and beyond. MAIN GAUCHE can also be used in your homebrewed campaign world, whether inspired by the works of Andrzej Sapkowski’s The Witcher, George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, Glen Cook’s Black Company, Myke Cole’s The Armored Saint, Robert E. Howard’s Solomon Kane, Scott Lynch’s Gentlemen Bastards or other ‘grimdark’-inspired media.
With over 186 Professions and 300+ spells across ZWEIHÄNDER & MAIN GAUCHE, you now have countless ways to create your own vision of grim characters ready to embark upon perilous adventures.
Embrace the left-handed path of MAIN GAUCHE, where chaos awaits!
Daniel after writing Main Gauche, without ‘muh anachronism glasses/hair’ (thx /tg/)
Like Zweihander with 666 dollops of chaos.
We estimate that MAIN GAUCHE will come in between 300 to 400 pages after we finalize layout, in full, old school black & white glory. Like its predecessor ZWEIHÄNDER, it will be illustrated cover-to-cover by Dejan Mandic.
Rated M For Mature.
Here is an overview of MAIN GAUCHE‘s chapters, and a little bit about each. We will dive deeper into what each of these chapters entail in our updates over the Kickstarter campaign, including preview chapters for download:
Table of Contents – overview of chapters & various topics
Introduction Story – as told by Danziger Eckhardt in our video
Designer’s Note – Daniel’s POV on the book
Chapter I: Liber Mortalis – 18 regular Professions, 44 Expert Professions & revised progress tables for all Professions across both books
Chapter II: Liber Arma – new materials, weapons, armor, war machines & shields
Chapter VII: Liber Malus – bespoke monsters & NPC creation
Chapter VIII: Liber Conspiratio – rules for conspiracies & investigations
Chapter IX: There’s Something About Marie – an investigative adventure
Appendix – a useable postscript to find what you need
Written in blood
Layout mocks by Ken Duquet
Hexer
Howling Marauder
Occult Magician
Occult Magician spread
Egg’s Thoughts:
If you have not gotten a PDF of ENnie Awards winningZWEIHÄNDER Grim & Perilous RPG, you have not been paying attention. I got a free copy for attending Dan Davenport’s Q&A with Daniel Fox, another at Gen Con 2018 as they were giving away free copies via a redeemable code, and when I emailed Daniel about covering his $1 reward on MAIN GAUCHE because of the Stat Hat it included, he offered me a PDF of the rules and you know what I said? I said yes, Daniel Fox’s mom, because your son done good with this game! The core rulebook is 688 pages of great art and dark, yet fun ideas that resulted in it taking Best Game and Product of the Year at the ENnies. This follow-up expansion, MAIN GAUCHE, looks no less ambitious and worth checking out!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“Welcome to Domina Magica, the RPG about becoming a Magical Girl and fighting the forces of evil!
Domina Magica is a tabletop role-playing game designed to emulate an episode of a Magical Girl Anime. You will create and role-play a School Girl in either Elementary, Middle or High and run through the typical scenario of everyday school life. You will make friends, you might make enemies, and hopefully make your next class on time. When you and your friends encounter strange happenings around the school, it is revealed that you are the next generation of Magical Girls!!!! You have been selected to help fight the forces of evil, and only the power of love and friendship that you posses will send these dark beings back to wherever it is they came from…….and all before dinner time.
You are walking down the aisles of your local game shop, running your fingers over the corners of board games and the spines of RPG books. Your hand stops on a small but brightly colored pink book with a design of a heart and wings on the cover. You pull it off the shelf and notice it has chains running across the front page. Curious you open it…. and then a strange iridescent light fills the room as a feminine voice booms into your ears “I have been waiting for you! Are you ready to make a contract to become a Magical Girl?”
We designed this game as a fun, light-hearted way to engage with all the iconic tropes of the Magical Girl Genre. Magical Girls is a sub-genre of the Japanese fantasy manga and anime, featuring girls with magical abilities, or who use magic to transform. This sub-genre dates back to the 1950’s and has become increasingly popular due to the magical renaissance featuring shows such as Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura! When you open Domina Magica this book will guide you through the transformation from school girl to Magical Girl. Through this beautiful illustrated book you and your friends will play through a day in the life of a school girl turned Heroine.
Domina Magica is designed to play in one session, with each game generating a different experience. One person will play as the Narrator who will help facilitate the game and control the various forces of evil. The other players will each form a team of magical girls who will discover their true identities and overcome both mystical and mundane challenges. This game has a custom made rules system, designed by Emily and Jim, that will encourage players to express their inner Magical Girls.
If this Kickstarter successfully funds, the game book will be a Digest size, hardcover, embossed and foil stamped, premium addition to your game shelf. If we meet some of our stretch goals we will have the ability to improve the book with things like full color interior printing and additional art. With your help we would love to make this a true mythical tome to be passed down from one magical girl to the next.
Now about these Slap Bracelets…
You might have seen these things spread all over social media, and if you have, great! That’s what we are going for! In an effort to raise awareness about this project, and women designers in general, we are giving every single backer a “Fight Like a Magical Girl” slap bracelet. Nothing says Magical Girl, or the 90’s, like a good slap bracelet.
As part of this promotion we are going to be sending these out to backers RIGHT AWAY. Not during fulfillment, not once the kickstarter is over, but as soon as you back, you are getting a Fight Like a Magical Girl Slap Bracelet sent out to you. In return we are only asking one thing… you have to post a picture of yourself wearing it in your best Magical Girl Pose. We want to spread the word and the only way to do that is with your help. No Magical Girl can win the fight against evil without the other scouts!!!
Unfortunately… there are some exceptions
The realities of shipping, and the tight budgets of a kickstarter, means there are certain limitations that we unfortunately have to apply. All US backers at any level will get a slap bracelet sent to them right away as described above. For our international backers, it is just too cost prohibitive to send the slap bracelets as their own shipment. Instead, international backers who back at a physical reward level, will have the slap bracelet included with their book at fulfillment. We really wish we could send everyone the slap bracelets right away, but it just is not achievable.
Our game has many unique aspects that you wont find in a typical RPG. The magical girl experience is not a typical play style for tabletop role-playing games and we wanted to make sure the game delivered on that approach. We have spent countless hours designing, play-testing and incorporating the feedback of these mechanics into this game.
Here are just some of the many unique mechanics of Domina Magica
Dual Sided Character Sheets
In Domina Magica your character sheet has 2 sides, one for your School Girl and one for the Magical Girl Persona. As you play the game, the actions and decisions you make as a School Girl (the first side) will directly affect your Magical Girl (the second side). Playing your school girl will actually build your Magical Girl! When it comes time for your special transformation you will physically flip the sheet from one side to the other and play with the character you have built.
Early Character Sheets (Still in Progress)
The Cootie Catcher
In the beginning of the game you and your friends will build a “cootie catcher” or “fortune teller,” that will help determine the events of the game as it progresses. At the start of the game players will work together to establish details about their unique episode. These aspects are used to fill in the cootie catcher’s various sections, and players will write in the theme, season, names, and more. Once the players have built the world their game will take place in, each player will add a secret trial on the hidden parts of the paper. At various points in the game, the cootie catcher will be triggered which will randomly activate one of the hidden trials the players created.
Dark Energy Circle
The Dark Energy Circle (or DEC) is used to track the growth of negative energy in the world. Throughout the course of the game, player actions will determine where the evil energy first appears and how it spreads. The players will be able to see this growth on the DEC, and watch as the forces of evil get stronger. When it’s time to confront the Big Evil, players will use this as their battle map during the final showdown. The DEC is one of a kind because it will organically develop the ending boss fight of each play session.”
Battle Map (Still in progress)
Egg’s Thoughts:
Want to play a Magical Girl ala Sailor Moon or Cardcaptor Sakura? This game will take you there! It has the look, style, and feel of what you want in that genre. The creator has made the game with veteran players in mind, but set it up so new players with a love of Magical Girl animes will find it appealing! Need to know more? I interviewed Emily Reinhart of Third Act Publishing and the creator of Domina Magica over at the Open Gaming Network (here) about the game and she shares a lot of thoughts about why it’s a good one to own.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“Dive into a cyberpunk urban fantasy world filled with magic, espionage, hacking, and gunslinging action!
Entromancy is a tabletop roleplaying game set in San Francisco in the late 21st century. In our world, a quarter of the earth’s power now runs on ceridium, a newly discovered element that has had the unintended consequence of spawning a new race of people, and several forms of magic that were once thought to have been forgotten.
In Entromancy, you’ll take the role of a character in a futuristic, technology-driven, magic-rich world complete with espionage, spellcasting, hacking, and engaging action sequences.
The core system of Entromancy is based on the world’s most popular roleplaying game, and will allow you to choose from five diverse races and five unique classes to create your character and begin your story. You’ll progress your character by taking on challenging missions and eventually embracing one of the game’s five brutally powerful destinies, which are like prestige classes.
Want to stealth hack your way into enemy territory as a Vanguard, enhancing your faction standing with the underrace nation of Aurichome? You can do that. Interested in putting together a crew of NIGHT Agents to clean out San Francisco’s Presidio of zombie-like ragers? We’ve got you covered. Striving to climb the ranks of the Unaligned so that you can unlock the ferociously powerful, chaos-based magic of the Entromancer? No one’s stopping you…other than the other two power hungry factions standing in your way.
Cyberpunk Fantasy Roleplaying. Enter a futuristic, magic-rich world where technology is ever-present and several forms of forgotten magics have resurfaced — for better and worse.
Unique Characters. Choose from five diverse races and five unique classes — from the dual-pistol wielding Revolutionary to the magic-savvy Technomancer — to create your character and begin your story. Progress your character by taking on challenging missions and eventually embracing one of five brutally powerful destinies.
d20 Mechanics. Experience a streamlined gameplay system based on the Fifth Edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game, simultaneously allowing for exciting action and storytelling while providing for a great deal of depth.
Action Gameplay. Get into the game quickly with easy onboarding for new players and engage in action-packed gameplay with spellcasting, hacking, cybernetics, and much more.
Faction-Based Espionage. Increase your standing with Entromancy’s three competing factions of NIGHT, Aurichome, and the Unaligned, while attempting to make your mark on a world that has become fractured after years of population explosion, socio-economic tension, and magic-based warfare.
In Entromancy, you’ll create a character by selecting from five diverse races and five unique classes, customizing them by selecting feats and talents and/or spells. The five starter classes include:
NIGHT Agent. NIGHT Agents are special agents of the highest order, members of a paramilitary force that is called upon to enforce peace among aurics and humans — sometimes using extreme measures. As a Night Agent, you’re skilled in espionage and magical combat, and will have to decide between the paths of dark and light for your archetype.
Revolutionary. Revolutionaries are allied to the underrace nation of Aurichome, sacrificing the comforts of the status quo for the promise of equality for all underraces. As a Revolutionary, you’re trained in all manner of ranged combat, and are unparalleled in your understanding of modern vehicles.
Technomancer. Technomancers are gifted to the extreme in hacking, robotics, and manipulating any type of machinery. As a Technomancer, your training allows you to get closer to the metal with feats and spells than any other class.
Terramancer. Terramancers have dedicated their lives towards communing with nature, drawing their inspiration from the flora and fauna around them. As a Terramancer, your proficiency with healing magic is unmatched, as is your ability to throw projectiles with deadly effect.
Vanguard. Vanguards thrive in the shadows, specializing in the arts of stealth, assassination, and subterfuge. As a Vanguard, your skills in remaining unseen and getting the drop on your opponents is unparalleled.
Once you’ve completed five or more missions, you’ll unlock one of five powerful destinies, provided that you have the appropriate faction standing to do so. These include:
Aurikar Elite. Guns and spells have their places, but you prefer to get your hands dirty. You’ve mastered the art of hand-to-hand combat through training with King Thog’run’s special forces, and have sworn fealty to the crown as one of Aurichome’s elite defenders.
Entromancer. You’ve spent time, energy, and no small amount of personal sacrifice chipping away at the mysteries of the universe. Ever so slowly, entropy begins to respond to your will.
Infiltrator. When a job requires subtlety, they call for an assassin. When it requires a ghost, they call you.
Inquisitor. You’ve entered the elite ranks of NIGHT leadership, empowered with some of the most devastating –- and manipulative — spells known to humankind.
Weapon Master. Some heroes are born; others are forged through discipline and forbearance. You have become a master of arms, dedicating your life to the study of weaponry.
For a design sample of what the interior layout of the Entromancy RPG will look like, please click here.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
This is bright, shiny cypherpunk! Set in San Francisco, you’re in a time of good power sources and magic, and yet, there are still bad folk aplenty to contend with. Also, it’s based around D&D 5e so the ruleset in a modification, not a brand-new design. If you want near-future, magic-meets-science yet the world did not fall to darkness using a system you know the root of, Entromancy has a place at the table for you. Add to that, Craig Campbell of Nerdburger Games acted as a mentor to the creator on this project and I think highly of Craig so it’s just extra winning.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruFictionhere.
“Contributing authors James Ward, Lenard Lakofka and more share some of their pro tips on how to create your first fantasy RPG adventure”
Looking for advice on how to create your tabletop RPG along with stock art to get you going? Learn from ” industry greats and legends James M. Ward, Lenard Lakofka, as well as exceptional talents such as Johnn Four, Rick Hershey, Lucus Palosaari, Kevin Watson, Bobby Nash and Egg Embry.” I’m excited to be a part of this project and offer my insights into the world of crowdfunding!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere or at the OpenGamingStorehere.
RPG news is delivered in small bites and press releases throughout the week and, as best I can, I filter through them to focus on the under-reported odds and the ends. From White Wolf to Etsy, from upcoming conventions to legal rulings, this week there’s a lot to talk about.
NEWS BITES
At Gen Con, I had the opportunity to talk with both White Wolf and Onyx Path. While they White Wolf September as the month for a major Werewolf: The Apocalypse announcement, they preceded it on Facebook with a different revelation, Wraith: The Oblivion 5th Edition is on their agenda. What makes the announcement intriguing is Onyx Path’sWraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition (licensed from White Wolf) was Kickstarted and funded in January, 2015 with the PDFs of the core book available as of February, 2018 and the deluxe edition of WtO 20th being printed now. While it’s logical that, with the success of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th EditionWhite Wolf will move forward with their other major games, it’s aggressive to announce a new one is coming before the current edition has completed its roll out.
NOTE – There are several White Wolf press releases with even more information about Vampire: The Masquerade games linked below.
Status: Coming Soon!
Conan Properties International LLC has successfully sued artist Richardo Jove Sanchez over his unlicensed Conan miniatures. From Amanda Ottaway with Courthouse News Service, “Cracking down on the unauthorized sale of miniature Conan the Barbarian figurines, a federal judge hit a Spanish artist on Wednesday with a $21,000 copyright judgment.” The key point pulled from this is: “Senior U.S. District Judge Frederic Block called it erroneous Wednesday to treat “characters as separate and distinct copyright subject matter, divorced from the works in which they are embodied.”” While I’m not a lawyer and I may be misreading the tea leaves, this ruling could have consequences for “homage” projects or projects that use characters whose founding works are in the public domain, but whose later works are not.
“Conan Properties entered a screenshot of this post into evidence to support its copyright claims over figurines of its character, Conan the Barbarian.”
Read the full article on Courthouse News Servicehere.
On ENWorld, I share a few freelance RPG and fiction writing jobs. Do you want to write superhero fiction or design anthropromorphic adventures, and get paid? Read it all here.
Can’t wait until 2019 to create a game? Venger Satanis (Kort’thalis Publishing) announced he is “officially opening up my neo-quasi O5Rish rules-light vampire RPG [Blood Dark Thirst] to those interested in licensing that shit for FREE!!! Yes, you can write, publish, and reap all the rewards for your very own Blood Dark Thirst supplement, sourcebook, or scenario from now until January 1st of 2020.” I’ve spoken to at least one creator that is interested in producing a down and dirty product related to BDT. If you’re interested, you can read the full announcement here.
Status: Venger Satanis-ing
On Esty, OddForge is selling a dice tower that clips to your GM screen and can handle or two dice at a time. It’s a 3D printed product, economically sized and ready for your gaming table or a convention.
Status: I like dice towers
I’m a part of the CREATE YOUR OWN FANTASY RPG ADVENTURE – RPG RESOURCES BOOKS Kickstarter. Its creator, Matthew A. Bogdan, gave me a glowing write-up on the fifth update for the campaign. I’m humbled and inspired by his praise. Join the whole wide world and read all about me, me, ME! here.
FEMALE HALFLING ROGUE
Status: I’m proud to be a part of this project!
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EGG’S MUSINGS
I’ve been reading about the end of the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer license at Dark Horse Comics. It reminded me of Eden Studio’sBtVS and Angel RPGs. It’s interesting that they ceased to be in-print in 2006 but are still available as PDFs at commercial sites. I’ve wondered why this license has not been picked back up, then I see that the original RPG is still available and I wonder, with the BtVS reboot on the horizon, will another company pick up this game?
* * * * * *
CONVENTION NEWS BITES
Online convention, AetherCon VII, is recruiting publishing companies and GMs for their November 9th to the 11th, 2018 con. It’s online, it’s free, you run games, you *may* win swag.
On ENWorld, I Check Out the Scene at Atlanta’s MomoCon 2018, a cosplay/anime/manga/gaming/comics convention with over 30,000 attendees held every year in the capital of Georgia. There’s a heck of a nice picture of Chris Miller there.
“Contributing authors James Ward, Lenard Lakofka and more share some of their pro tips on how to create your first fantasy RPG adventure”
Looking for advice on how to create your tabletop RPG along with stock art to get you going? Learn from ” industry greats and legends James M. Ward, Lenard Lakofka, as well as exceptional talents such as Johnn Four, Rick Hershey, Lucus Palosaari, Kevin Watson, Bobby Nash and Egg Embry.” I’m excited to be a part of this project and offer my insights into the world of crowdfunding!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere or at the OpenGamingStorehere.
“A new version of the Iron Edda RPG, powered by Fate Accelerated™.
Ragnarok is here! The Dwarven Destroyers bear down on your holdfast. A cult dedicated to Loki foments deadly mischief within your walls. The local seer envisions young warriors throwing off clan ties, merging with the spirits of giants to save their holdfast. Fight, bleed, sacrifice, and save your people for as long as you can. Welcome to Iron Edda Accelerated!
Backers get access to the Early Release version of the rules (edited but not laid out) as soon as they back this campaign.
Iron Edda Accelerated is a roleplaying game about the heroes of a Viking holdfast during Ragnarok. They battle threats from outside and within for honor, glory, and clan. The game draws strongly from Norse mythology — although its focus on holdfasts allows for telling a variety of stories:
Epic Norse Action. Pick up your axe and shield to fight the metallic hordes of the Dwarves as they come to raze the world. Look through the roots of the World Tree to the Lands of the Gods and find the most opportune place to strike. Bring together your people and lead them against threats both outside and within your holdfast. Be the blazing heart of a dead giant fighting the metal monstrosities. Stand against the Dwarves who come from below to reclaim what was once theirs…or so Loki tells them.
Heroes of the Holdfast. You’re the heroes of this age, dealing with the chaos and glory of Ragnarok: a time for legends to be born. Fight hordes of Dwarven spiders, convince fractured factions to fight together, travel the planes to bring aid in the form of magical artifacts to save clan and loved ones. Ragnarok seeks to end everything, but you have the power to keep it from destroying your holdfast for a little while longer.
Internal Holdfast Politics. While external threats are daunting, insidious ones from within are equally deadly. People look for opportunities to gain power, even as Armageddon approaches. Convince your Jarl to make peace with the other holdfasts instead of war. Rally your warriors and keep their spirits high in the face of terror. Root out dissidents seeking to unbalance the power structure of your holdfast. Stabilize your own homes if your Jarl loses control. Keep your community strong or the Dwarves easily overrun your holdfast.
The Dwarves of Svartalfheim invade the surface with metal machines, monstrous and terrible. The gods fight against the end of existence. Holdfasts burn. The seers foretell the coming of the Bonebonded: young folk who’ve thrown clan aside to merge with the spirits of deceased giants, providing the power to retaliate against the Dwarves in the form of skeletal giants. The Runescribed use their terrible powers to keep everyone alive a little longer. Other holdfasts seek any advantage in these desperate times. The world hurtles toward a chaotic ending, while a smiling Loki sits in the shadows watching Yggdrasil burn. What will your story be during the end times?
Iron Edda Accelerated invites a wide variety of stories against the backdrop of Ragnarok. The Holdfast Creation system lets you take the elements presented, ask questions about the holdfast, and uncover the rest through play. While answering those questions you also draw a map of your holdfast, providing a visual representation of your experiences. The map functions as a play aid and reminder of your holdfast’s environs, the problems arrayed against you, and the places you’ve decided are important.
Iron Edda Accelerated explores the problems of an oncoming apocalypse against a backdrop of mythic storytelling and Norse culture where clan is thicker than blood. The heroes of the holdfast feel pressure from everywhere as they solve the problems assaulting the holdfast.
To make that happen, Iron Edda Accelerated uses a variation of the Fate Accelerated™ system, by Evil Hat Productions. Fate Accelerated makes the characters instantly competent and dramatic through approaches and aspects. In addition, story stress tracks help the GM weigh and present various problems assaulting the holdfast.
Other mechanisms help promote the kind of play Iron Edda promises:
Scale – Giant metal monstrosities, heroes larger than life, magical runes usable against enemies, and weapons of legend. Rules are provided to determine the weight of these elements in play.
Destinies – A number of mythic Norse-inspired destinies, including the Bonebonded, Runescribed, Seer, and even the Farmer, help players make characters fit into the setting.
Holdfast Creation – This system creates your holdfast through a series of questions and a hand-drawn map. When completed, the players have a series of problems that assail the holdfast and the characters’ paths are clear — and legendary stories unfold quickly.
The Iron Edda Accelerated book is planned to be 6″ x 9”, 140 – 160 pages, with greyscale interior art. The text is already done, and we have art assets. The Kickstarter pays the team for their hard work, purchases additional new art assets for the book, and puts money into creating additional content for Iron Edda Accelerated.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Ragnarok: Fate Accelerated™ by Tracy, Barnett, Chris Sniezak, Shawn Merwin, Robert M. Everson, Tim Jones, John Arcadian, Phil Vecchione, and Matt Morrow. If that system and setting and those creators don’t move you, the gods will.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“Necrotopia is a pen and paper role-playing game. We are releasing a complete 30 page color rule-set book with original artwork. #RPG
Necrotopia is an Apocalyptic RPG where you and your friends battle through multiple Apocalypses. Faced with invasion of evil forces through portals, travel across worlds after you master use of portals. Original story and art with unique characters and settings.
Uses a D6 game system with move creation that is simple and highly customizable. Create a character in 5 minutes and play a session within an hour. Fun for veteran RPG players and new players.
Necrotopia is a role playing game written and developed by Keenan Dunham. This is an independent project of a combination of ideas and stories Keenan has created. Our goal is to release the first 30 page stand alone rule-set book, and expand the Necrotopia Universe after that with more campaign books.
With the limited time-frame of the first kickstarter we will only be releasing the 30 page rule-set book along with some special bonuses. Artists are being paid up front for original art used, not from promises of future money. Some art used is public domain.
The game itself is meant to be a beginners pen and paper role-playing game that can appeal to anyone. It is simple and highly customizable. Here is a sample of the story from book one: “Necrotopia’s story begins with sparks of an invasion of demonic and inter-dimensional forces attacking Earth, initiating a battle for survival and conquest. There is a battle between Heaven and Hell brewing and you and your friends are caught in the middle. What happens depends on you with one person taking the role of Game Maestro and the rest taking the roles of role playing characters.” We hope you and your friends have a ton of fun with this game!
Keenan Dunham is the writer and creator of Necrotopia: Handbook to the Apocalypse. The idea actually came from a book he was planning to write and the game will include many characters from those ideas. The book may get written if Necrotopia is successful. Other writing projects Keenan was working on got merged all into a greater world of Necrotopia, and it makes for a lot of fun. Expect a growing universe of characters and places to come. Thank you!”
Egg’s Thoughts:
I covered the first run of this Kickstarterhere. In the new iteration, it has a higher goal and has raised more dollars towards it.
Check out the Kickstarter page. I didn’t copy it, but the pages shares a lot about the game’s mechanics so you can find out exactly what you’re getting with your pledge.
“Bronze-Age Sword and Sorcery roleplaying, inspired by TORAH and ILLIAD, GILGAMESH and ACHILLES, CONAN and THE DYING EARTH.
Udebed, who has promised her donkey Ahf to help her find a suitable mate; and has promised her ktesh, Kalil, perpetual fresh meat. By Simon Roy
Joshua A.C. Newman’s The Bloody-Handed Name of Bronze is a tabletop roleplaying game of those who speak the secret Language of Names that spoke the world into existence. When you portray one such Namedealer, you will make treaties with anything bearing a name — and you will thrive and suffer from the consequences of those promises.
…And it is a game of fated heroes, driven by their long-dead ancestors — and their own great passions — to pursue their destiny for the benefit of the dead, and to die bathed in glory.
Ashahu Nine Finger is saved once again by the bronze sword, Adakim, given to her by the tortoise Dubud in thanks for removing it from his flesh. by Jabari Weathers
It is a game of passions and cunning, of tricksters and hard-found justice.
Zikru, a man of renowned beauty who challenged a Great Name to a contest of poetry. And won. By Joshua A.C. Newman
It is a game of pursuing what you desire. It is a game of getting what you want from your companion characters when you have no reason to trust them, and about using those you don’t trust to aid you in your pursuits.
It is a game about flight from the consequences of your promises, and the power that comes from both lies and the truth.
It is a game about charging toward that against which you have been commanded, and the power one has to turn against an abuser.
From PROPHET. by Simon Roy
The World of Names
Above the World is the Vault of Heaven, holding back the Waters of Heaven.
Beneath the World flow the Waters of the Underworld.
Between them is the World, and all in it is made of clay, given being with names, spoken into existence with the first breath.
All that has a name, has a will. Every child, every river, every constellation, every fang of bronze discovered in the rib cage of a storm-revealed skeleton, scoured by the desert. Seek and explore, for in the quest lies your destiny and your doom; your redemption and your failures.
Baruk fled far into foreign lands, shearing his hair and beard as do the foreigners. Now as he returns through the swamp Yogash that offers him safe passage, it grows in as he approaches the City of Hu where he would complete past business. by Shel Kahn
Jabari Weathers – Not art from the game but a great example of Jabari’s work.
Egg’s Thoughts:
The game sounds interesting as an experiment. The Kickstarter is intimidating, meant to show its artistry and poetry to give a solid feel for the setting (I feel I get the setting based on the imagery that is shared in the art and writing). Yet, the campaign keeps its mechanics shrouded in mystery. As best I can tell, you’ll draw from two pools and roll them together to accomplish your goal. If the fantasy of these previews can be infused through the book, this will be a winner.
Add to that, there’s Jabari Weathers art! I met Jabari online, loved their art, and, ran into them at Gen Con 2018 twice (we happened to be in the same hotel). Jabari is an exceeding friendly individual and I wished I’d had time to sit in on one of their games at the convention. With this project, I’m eager to see all of Jabari’s work cause it will build this setting.
“L’gat’s Tome of Amazing Creatures Volume 2 is Power-Up Gamer’s next supplement containing homebrew and reskinned monsters for DND 5e.
Crystal Golem
What are we doing here?
L’gat’s Tome of Amazing Creatures Volume 2 is the next release in a trilogy set of 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons supplements. Produced by Power Up Gamers Roleplayers for Accessibility, artwork will be done by the talented Jon Pintar.
Cacticorn
What’s in the book?
Much like the first volume, we plan on releasing 26 homebrewed and re-skinned monsters with rich lore, culture, and history sections, several tables including a d100 magic item roll table, and a section containing 12 locations with sights, sounds, and sensations specifically designed to cater disabilities. Each Location will also have a trap, a puzzle and a riddle along with monsters from the series that might be found there.The Supplement will have a full color cover with black ink sketches of the monsters inside.”
NOTE – Cacticorn and the Crystal Golem are “pre-edits,pre-rewrites, and pre-playtests”.
Egg’s Thoughts:
This is “26 new, flavourful creatures for the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, this time focusing on the fantastical non-hostile denizens of L’Gat’s Prime Material Plane.” So, you’re getting the nice creatures and you’ll need to see volume one for the bad folk. These are monsters by Disabled DM Jarin DND, who reached out, sent a press release, and has been very accommodating of my questions. One of the main ones I had was about the Writer’s Room Visit, a part of the $35 and up rewards that include PDFs of both volumes of L’gat’s Tome of Amazing Creatures and more. If you’re curious what the Writer’s Room Visit involves, Jarin from Power Up Games shared this:
“The Writer’s Room Visit is where our backers can sit down with our production team with an idea of their own and we will help them with the process of taking a basic idea and writing it out into a usable pdf format…of course with time being limited, we obviously can’t teach them all the ins and outs in one session but we will teach the basics of the process as well as give some guidance for resources etc. We currently plan on these sessions being between 2 and 8 hours per session depending on what the supporter needs.”
For $35 (or more), you’re getting 5e games, updates, and a chance to talk gaming ideas with individuals that have already taken the plunge and published their creations!
Over and above the gaming, PUG is on a worthwhile mission to create “ways of making their games more accessible to a wider variety of people, especially those with sensory impairments and learning disabilities. This is done by suggesting language and methods that evoke the senses as well as outright descriptions of the beasts and their habitats.” Their mission is inclusive and it’s done in a way that benefits all gamers – by offering more detailed monsters. This is product is going to be a win!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“10 Worlds. 1 Game. Endless Possibilities. Confluence is the core rulebook for the Cosmic Mirror Games settings and systems.
Confluence is the 9th of 14 eras on the Cosmic Mirror, a flat world with 4 suns. Cosmic meddling has caused the world to collapse in on itself, prompting beings from the other 13 eras to pour into it. Now, their cultures, their races, their creatures are all colliding. This is Confluence.
10 Worlds, 1 Game. In Confluence, players will take up the roles of denizens who have come from these disparate worlds, thrown together into one world of ancient history and extreme technology. Each of the 10 playable races brings a unique experience from their own game worlds, and each comes with their own levels of difficulties, allowing experienced players to play alongside new players while facing different difficulty levels in character creation and management.
With 10 core races and 40 NPC races, as well as unique items, technology, equipment, and magic from each of the worlds, Confluence is a world made to be explored. You can play a horror game with the undead hordes of the 7th Era, engage in political intrigue with the beings of the 12th, and hunt down ancient relics of incredible power from the 13th. Will you fall into worship of the Fallen Gods, or will you find power from the being that resides within the world itself? Your journey awaits.
NOTE: The Worm The Early Birds Want is the tier you want to get– get a PDF at the 25$ price and get a FREE hard copy! Only 50 slots, get them while they last!
Promotion days: Day 1 (July 30th)- Free cover and world map posters to all who pledge at the $25 level or higher!
Day 15 (Aug 13th)- Bump your pledge by $5, and you’ll get a free PDF of Generations! Bump by $15 and you can nab a hardcopy! That’s half the price of a PDF on Drivethru right now.
Day 22 (Aug 20th)- Bump your pledge by $5, and you’ll get a free PDF of NuAEther! Bump by $15 and you can nab a hardcopy! That’s half the price of a PDF on Drivethru right now.
I keep good records, so don’t drop your pledge later to try and trick me into giving you the pdf at the end. I’ll tally it up when it wraps up! : )
Past Kickstarter: We want to be forward. Confluence had an attempted Kickstarter back in June last year, where it was paired up with two of our small book games. The Kickstarter failed, but we didn’t stop for a second. Work continued, art kept coming in, and we’re coming back stronger than ever.
The Game
Confluence is the core rulebook for a series of game books set to come out each year. It also acts as the core setting. Future books will rely on these core mechanics as expounded upon in the Confluence book, but will offer new worlds and settings, along with new races, items, magic systems, and much more. Because this core setting is made up of elements from the other worlds, each of these new setting books will be backwards compatible, all their contents usable in the core world. The book is slated to reach 650 pages.
The core of Confluence is built on a simple d6 dice pool system. To perform an action, you will add your relevant Attribute to any relevant Specialty your character has for the particular action. You then roll that many d6, and succeed on 5’s and 6’s. Unique race powers, character traits such as Talents and Abilities, and a wide array of item options from across the worlds enhance and enjoyably complicate the game for players, and help make each game new and exciting.
This game book is actually at your fingertips to give a look over right now. The playtest copy contains all the elements needed to pick up and play right now, including all the information needed to create any of the 10 unique character races, unique character traits to help set your character further apart, as well as 20 pages of item options to ensure you are properly equipped for your journey. Information on combat and survival are here in their entirety as well, letting your group pick up and play from this playtest document alone. In addition, the book looks ahead at the variety of offerings still in store for World information, continent and city descriptions, additional NPCs, monsters, and more. There is a lot of info missing from this copy, over half the book, but that’s to make sure that there’s plenty of worthwhile stuff for you to still find ahead in the final version!
To ensure the world feels real, alive, and expansive, it has been beautifully mapped with the use of the Inkarnate program. Additional area maps are still forthcoming, ensuring that even a game that remains in one area or around one city will be able to find plenty to engage players for many games. Additionally, information on each city and area of the world, as well as towns and cities are described in the book that can be set anywhere in a particular region, ensuring your players always have a place to rest their head, or find a new story hook.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
By Dane Asmund, this game’s system involves adding “your relevant Attribute to any relevant Specialty your character has for the particular action. You then roll that many d6, and succeed on 5’s and 6’s.” It’s a simple system and they’re offering a playtest copy to try it out. Give it a go and if you like it, come back to the campaign.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“Contributing authors James Ward, Lenard Lakofka and more share some of their pro tips on how to create your first fantasy RPG adventure”
Looking for advice on how to create your tabletop RPG along with stock art to get you going? Learn from ” industry greats and legends James M. Ward, Lenard Lakofka, as well as exceptional talents such as Johnn Four, Rick Hershey, Lucus Palosaari, Kevin Watson, Bobby Nash and Egg Embry.” I’m excited to be a part of this project and offer my insights into the world of crowdfunding!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere or at the OpenGamingStorehere.
On Kickstarter there are three RPG campaigns that have surpassed $200,000 in pledges with over a week to go as of this writing. Let’s look at the heavy hitters like The Expanse, The Fantasy Trip, and Your Best Game Ever!/Cypher System Rulebook!
“The Expanse Roleplaying Game brings James S.A. Corey’s award-winning series of science fiction novels to the tabletop.
Check out the free Quickstart PDF right now!
Venture Into The Expanse!
The Expanse Roleplaying Game brings James S.A. Corey’s award-winning series of science fiction novels to the tabletop. Using the Adventure Game Engine (AGE) rules found in Fantasy AGE, Blue Rose, and Modern AGE, The Expanse takes players to a far-future solar system where humanity is divided: Martians, Belters, and the people of old Earth struggle for political power and resources, but even older, alien, forces are stirring in the universe, and human history is about to take an unexpected new turn. The Expanse applies the fast-playing and action-based AGE rules to spaceships, solar colonies, and adventure and intrigue in the far-future, where the actions of the characters may change the course of history!
As long time fans know, The Expanse was a roleplaying game campaign long before it was a series of novels or a TV show. We are delighted to bring it full circle with this game! And here’s the best thing about The Expanse RPG: we’ve been working on this for well over a year and rules are done! They’ve been through multiple iterations and playtesting, and we’ve worked closely with Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham (together, James S.A. Corey) throughout to ensure we are getting The Expanse right. Now let’s hear from Daniel and Ty themselves!
Want to check the game out RIGHT NOW? Download The Expanse RPG Quickstart today! This is a 40-page PDF that includes stripped down rules, pre-generated characters, and an adventure you can play right away. The download is free.
The Expanse RPG Features
The Expanse is based on the exciting new Modern AGE rules-set, and includes many of its features, such as customized character building using Backgrounds and Professions, Drives for character engagement, and an abstract resources system. It also makes use of the Modern AGE approach to action, exploration, and social encounters, complete with stunts and systems for all of them. To get a closer look at Modern AGE, you can download the Quickstart here.
The following are some of the unique features of The Expanse in comparison to other AGE games:
Fortune: Rather than Health, characters have a Fortune score that measures lucky near-misses, close scrapes, and trivial hits before the character takes serious harm. Fortune is also useful for modifying die rolls and offering players some narrative control but, watch out! Spend too much of it and your luck could run out when you get caught in a crossfire!
Conditions: In addition to a running Fortune total, characters use various conditions to measure things like injuries and fatigue as well as tactical challenges like hindered movement or sensory abilities.
Interludes: The interludes in between encounters are given their own treatment, allowing players to make use of their “down-time” (including long hauls between destinations in the System) to recover, do maintenance, build their connections with others, or pursue their own projects.
Spaceships: The Expanse RPG features a system to model and create spaceships and its own system for space combat, including the assault on Thoth Station as an example of the system in action!
The Churn: The Expanse also offers something for the Game Master with the Churn: A ticking counter that measures the crew’s progress through a story and just when things are going to suddenly go sideways and become even more complicated!
Two Editions to Choose From!
We are offering the core rulebook of the Expanse RPG in two formats:
The Standard Edition is now (thanks to unlocked stretch goals) a 224 page full color hardback with a poster map of the solar system. This is the version that will stay in print after the Kickstarter has been fulfilled.
The Special Edition is a deluxe version of The Expanse RPG. It features the same beautiful full color interior of the Standard Edition with a black leatherette hardcover and a ribbon bookmark. This version is a Kickstarter exclusive, so it will not be available after the close of this campaign. Thanks to an unlocked stretch goal, the Special Edition now includes a dust jacket featuring the game’s gorgeous cover art!
The Expanse Game Master’s Kit
This Kickstarter also includes The Expanse Game Master’s Kit, which will ship alongside the book. It currently includes the following, but may expand with the unlocking of stretch goals:
A three-panel landscape format GM Screen with vital game system reference tables on one side and three panels of Expanse art on the player-facing side.
A set of game reference cards, including an initiative tracker, stunt references, and action references useful for players at the table.
Now includes pre-generated characters after a stretch goal unlock!
Now includes an adventure after a stretch goal unlock!
Abzu’s Bounty
Abzu’s Bounty is the first campaign for The Expanse Roleplaying Game. This series of six linked scenarios will let you kick off your adventures in The Expanse in style. All six parts were unlocked as stretch goals so the full campaign is a go! Best of all, if you back the Kickstarter for $30 or more, you get a PDF of Abzu’s Bounty for free!
Design Team
We assembled a great team to design The Expanse Roleplaying Game. Steve Kenson is the lead designer. You may know Steve from our Blue Rose and Mutants & Masterminds RPGs, or from any of the dozens of RPG books he’s worked on over the last two decades. He had the able assistance of Seth Johnson, Ian Lemke, Rich Lescouflair, Rob McCreary, Jason Mical, Neall Raemonn Price, Zack Walters, Nicole Winchester, and of course James S.A. Corey!“
Egg’s Thoughts:
James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse, the book series and TV series [with poorer pacing than the books (call it what it is)] started life as a homebrew game. With this Kickstarter, it’s coming around full circle using Green Ronin Publishing AGE System (Dragon Age, Fantasy AGE, Blue Rose, and Modern AGE) as the engine (I enjoy the system overall). Add to that, there are stretch goals to let fans get their characters written up by James S.A. Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) and even include a fresh short story (reported on here). This campaign is well worth checking out.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere or at the OpenGamingStorehere.
“Help us bring back Steve Jackson’s first tabletop RPG.
In 1977, Steve started work on his first roleplaying game, The Fantasy Trip. It was published by Metagaming, and for a brief time it even rivaled D&D for popularity. The Fantasy Trip (TFT) was published first as a series of microgames and, later, expanded with full-size books.
Steve’s TFT works, published between 1977 and 1980, included:
Melee (1977): A microgame of fantasy combat and the first release in the series. At $2.95,Melee was inexpensive and formed the core of the line.
Wizard (1978): Spellcaster battles! Wizard, the second TFT game, was originally slightly more expensive at $3.95 and provided the line’s magic rules.
Death Test (1978): Steve’s first solo adventure — ever! — and designed for use with Meleeand/or Wizard. To learn more about solo adventures, see “Writing a Solo Adventure” atthefantasytrip.game website.
Death Test 2 (1980): A sequel to Death Test and a chance to explore a second dungeon using only the Melee and/or Wizard microgames.
Advanced Melee (1980): Originally designed as part of the TFT boxed roleplaying game,Advanced Melee was split by the publisher from its planned format and released to a separate book of expanded combat rules.
Advanced Wizard (1980): Also snatched from the never-released TFT box set, this title presented more magic rules for use with the series.
In the Labyrinth (1980): The roleplaying rules for TFT and what would have been the core of the planned box set, In the Labyrinth included character rules, GM advice, monsters, and more.
Tollenkar’s Lair (1980): An adventure for TFT.
Steve left Metagaming after completing his work on In the Labyrinth and the other titles that were planned as parts of a never-to-be-published TFT box set. After his time at Metagaming, Steve published The Space Gamer magazine and founded Steve Jackson Games.
The Fantasy Trip continued at Metagaming, under the guidance of line editor Guy McLimore (author of the excellent Grail Quest TFT solo adventure) and others. Several adventures were released . . . then Metagaming closed its doors, and The Fantasy Trip was unavailable for nearly 40 years.
Fast forward to 2017. Steve regained rights to his work! He’s now working on the Legacy Edition . . . what TFT should have been when it was first published 40 years ago.
The Fantasy Trip is an “old-school” RPG, with easy character design, realistic tactical combat, and an emphasis on story. It is unabashedly focused on dungeon crawls and arena battles. It’s a great introduction for your friends who are new to roleplaying, because it’s so easy to get started.
Egg’s Thoughts:
I was *briefly* GM’ed (in a round robin) by Steve Jackson at Dragon*Con in the 90s and met him again, briefly, at Origins 2018. Like that event in my life came around for me, Steve Jackson is returning one of his original properties to the players after decades. This is worth checking out for that old school nostalgia and a still-original game. Check out the philosphy of the game here – easy character design, realistic tactical combat, and an emphasis on story – then head to the campaign and back it!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“A tool book for tabletop roleplayers. No matter what game you play or how long you’ve been playing–have your best game ever!
Your Best Game Ever is not your typical RPG sourcebook. It’s not a book with adventures, spells, creatures, or magic items. It’s not a book for characters at all, but a book for players! If you play or run roleplaying games, this book is for you. Inside this gorgeous hardcover book, suitable for your coffee table or your gaming table, you will find advice and suggestions for enhancing your RPG experience at the table and away from it. This is an insider’s look at everything that goes into the hobby—finding a group, making a character, running a game, creating adventures, finding all the right ideas, hosting a game…and that’s just for starters.
If You’re an Experienced Gamer
You’ve been gaming for a while now. Maybe even years. You get the concepts, and you understand the rules. No one needs to explain the dice to you. Your Best Game Ever embraces the hobby you love, and provides real tips, immediately usable advice, and hands-on pointers you can use at your game table. You’ll find everything here from enhancing immersion, tips for running games online, creating characters with depth, worldbuilding, designing rules, dealing with personality conflicts that arise at the table, and more!
If You’re Fairly New to Gaming
Your friends play RPGs. You’ve maybe watched some streaming games, or given it a try a few times. You get the general idea, but where do you go from there? How do you really get into this hobby the way so many others have? This book will give you everything you need to learn how to choose the right game, how to fit into your game group or start your own group, and get you going on the fast track to being a great gamer.
Not a Rule Book, But a Tool Book Your Best Game Ever is divided into three major sections: general game topics, being a player, and being a game master. There’s even a section on designing your own game, and getting it published. And this isn’t just a stuffy book on theory, either. You’ll find actual suggestions you can use to create better characters with character arcs, real recipes you can make for game night (and even spruce them up for your genre of choice), specific suggestions for music and ambiance depending on genre, plot ideas, character ideas, and other ready-to-use material.
This 224-page book will enable you to become a better gamer. You’ll find ways to create and manage a great game group, tricks for game prep (and what to do if you haven’t prepared!), understanding and managing game balance, and taking everything around you and incorporating it as inspiration for your game.
Monte Cook, the principal author, has been playing RPGs for 40 years, and working on them professionally for 30 years. The MCG team, all of whom will be contributing, are an extremely seasoned group with a combined total of over 250 years of RPG experience. But we wanted to get an even wider and diverse set of experiences and points of view in this book, so we’ve recruited a team of folks that will provide feedback as well as their own contributions for the book. This dream team of consulting experts includes:
(Scroll down for more details on Your Best Game Ever)
In 2011, Monte created Numenera, and with it, a game system called the Cypher System. This game system has won awards and has been lauded by gamers everywhere as a wonderfully different way to play games of any genre. In 2015, we created the Cypher System Rulebook (CSR) to help gamers use the system for any type of game they wanted to play—fantasy, science fiction, horror, superheroes, and so on. You can get a copy of that book in this Kickstarter campaign, but we’re also Kickstarting a new version that will come out in 2019. The new version will incorporate lots of new options for players, but perhaps best of all it will take the concepts from Your Best Game Ever and apply them directly to the Cypher System. These two books will work hand-in-hand to create the best Cypher game ever!
(Scroll down for more details on the new Cypher System Rulebook)
If you’re new to the Cypher System and are curious about how it works, you can download the free Cypher System Rules Primerfor an idea of how the game plays.
Now that the Kickstarter has funded, our stretch goals will focus on the development of various genre-focused books that will take the concepts found in the new CSR and take them one step further, with specific examples. Each of these additional books will include an entirely new and original campaign setting as well as lots of material and advice for making your own in the realms of science fiction, fantasy, and more.
You’ve read the effusive descriptions above. Is Your Best Game Ever really for everyone? More importantly, is it for you? Maybe it would be better to just show you what’s in the book. Here’s a brief listing of some of the topics we’ll cover:
Our goal with this book is to make every game your best game ever. But we know–as GMs, players, and designers ourselves–that every game and every experience is unique. What’s the hardest struggle you have with creating great games, either as a player or as a GM? Looking for some GM or player advice? Let us know at this link. (Once the KS is complete and we’ve started working on the book, we’ll look through your comments to make sure the book covers players’ biggest issues and concerns.)
When we were finishing the new Numenera books, Discovery and Destiny, one of the first things that playtesters asked us was, are you going to incorporate some of the cool new material in these books into the Cypher System?
A valid question. And it got me (Monte) really thinking about the Cypher System Rulebook as a whole. I didn’t want to change the rules—I love the Cypher System, and wouldn’t touch the mechanics. But developing Numenera Discovery and Destiny showed me that there was a lot we could add in terms of player abilities and flexibility, and what the CSR really needs is flexibility. The idea that you can create any campaign in any genre is fundamental to the whole idea. And I realized we could take some steps to push that idea a lot further.
So we’re Kickstarting a brand new, revised 416-page Cypher System Rulebook. Before I go any further, though, let me say right now, if you’ve got the existing Cypher System Rulebookand you’re happy with it, great! These new ideas don’t change the way the rules work. You still roll a d20, you’ve still got difficulties 1⎼10, you’ve still got characters with descriptors, types, and foci. NPCs have levels. PCs use effort to decrease the difficulty. Everything is still fully compatible with everything Cypher-related that we’ve ever published. You’ll be able to play a game with half the characters from the original CSR and half from the new CSR all at the table at the same time. The difference isn’t in how the game is played, but in the choices players get to create and run their characters.
What I’m most excited about are the ways I’ve thought about over the last few years to make things more customizable so that you could even more easily use these rules in any setting. To that end, in this book we’re dramatically streamlining the chapter on character focus, so that you can customize your character’s focus to perfectly match the setting and your character concept. So if you’re making a starship pilot, a superhero, or an occult investigator, you don’t choose the one that fits best from a list of foci—you take your character concept and tailor your focus so that it really fits what you want to do.
Based on player feedback, we’re also making what we call subtle cyphers—cyphers that aren’t tied to a specific object—the default for all genres, and we’ll be including way more of them. (You’ll still be able to have cyphers as objects too.) This will make applying the concept of cyphers, which is obviously core to the system, easy no matter what kind of game you’re playing.
And of course, there’s all those new additions from Numenera Discovery and Destiny that add a lot of new options that just make the game better. They’re not really changes, they’re additions—new character abilities, more choices, player intrusions in addition to GM intrusions, and more. These will all be incorporated into the new CSR. And let me say again, it’s still all entirely compatible with existing Cypher System material, whether it be from theCSR or one of our settings like Gods of the Fall, Predation, or Unmasked (and of course, Numenera and The Strange).
Further, we’ll also be incorporating suggestions from Your Best Game Ever directly into this book. So, for example, Your Best Game Ever will talk about creating character arcs to enhance play, while the specific material for creating Cypher System character arcs as a mechanic will be included in this book.
Lastly, we’ll include even more genres you can use, in addition to fantasy, horror, and so on. We’re going to break science fiction into hard sci-fi and space opera/science fantasy, and we’ll add coverage for romance, historical gaming, and more! Learn more about the changes we’re planning to make here.
Your Best Game Ever: This 160-page beautiful hardcover book is suitable for your coffee table as well as your game table! Decades of gaming advice and insight all in one tome. If you love RPGs, you need this book. Also available as a PDF.
Cypher System Rulebook: This 416-page, lavishly illustrated, hardcover corebook is fully compatible with the original Cypher System Rulebook, and all Cypher System products like Numenera, The Strange, Gods of the Fall, Predation, and Unmasked! It contains everything you need to play a Cypher System game of your own. Also available as a PDF.“
Egg’s Thoughts:
Your Best Game Ever! is going to be an epic tool dealing with something that is not always covered in gaming, philosophy. When the rules are covered, the setting is immaculate, the game is scheduled, then this book deals with the connecting tissue between those elements, what will take them from a checklist of needs to a fun night of dice slinging. And it is written by some amazing writers!
“Contributing authors James Ward, Lenard Lakofka and more share some of their pro tips on how to create your first fantasy RPG adventure”
Looking for advice on how to create your tabletop RPG along with stock art to get you going? Learn from ” industry greats and legends James M. Ward, Lenard Lakofka, as well as exceptional talents such as Johnn Four, Rick Hershey, Lucus Palosaari, Kevin Watson, Bobby Nash and Egg Embry.” I’m excited to be a part of this project and offer my insights into the world of crowdfunding!
Yesterday I covered four RPG Kickstarters, Tiny Supers, Spacecraft 2000 to 2100 AD, Art of War, and Power Outage here. Today, let’s look at some news, press releases, and RPG deals.
NEWS BITES
Are you a fan of The Expanse either the novel series or the TV series? If/when Green Ronin Publishing’sThe Expanse Roleplaying Game reaches $300,000 and $400,000 in funding, the plan is to offer:
“$300,000: James S.A. Corey Flash Fiction We will add a new flash fiction reward tier. Imagine if you could have Daniel and Ty write a one page story about your Expanse RPG character. A select number of backers will be able to do just that if we unlock this stretch goal. All backers who pledge $30 or more will get a PDF of these stories for free!
$400,000: New James S.A. Corey Short Story The big enchilada! If we unlock this stretch goal, Ty and Daniel will write a brand new Expanse short story for the rulebook. It will be set in the period between Leviathan Wakes and Caliban’s War (the timeframe of our core rulebook) and feature new characters. How awesome is that?”These stories (getting official flash fiction is an amazing opportunity) will cement the RPG as canonical within the Expanse-verse. Status: Funding
I covered the Kickstarter for John Silence recently. After it successfully funded, they’ve started looking for submissions for an anthology. Do you have poetry or fiction for John Silence that you would like to submit by September 30th for paid publication? “The John Silence RPG & Anthology is a collective projective reinvisioning Algernon Blackwood’s “John Silence” short stories to focus on non-white/POC/ethnically and racially marginalized psychic detectives in an alternate American noir setting spanning the 1920s to the 1990s.” If so, they’re open to short submissions here. Status: Recruiting
As John McGuire discusses (here), I had a chance to play Savage Worlds Flash Gordon at Gen Con 2018. It was excellent and if you’re interested in getting a copy, there’s still a few more days to do so (here). Status: Funding
Are you a fan of Fat Goblin Games? Did you back any of the TinyD6 Kickstarters or bought them from DriveThruRPG? FGG has signed “a licensing agreement with Gallant Knight Games to create roleplaying game supplements based on the popular TinyD6 Engine. …Fat Goblin Games has teamed up with Gallant Knight Games to expand on the amazing TinyD6 genre books with new supplemental material. … The first planned release will be Heritage Composer, a complete guide to creating new heritages for your TinyD6 games.” For more details, you can read the full press release here. Status: Funding
Folklore: Creatures of Myth and Legend for Fifth Edition D&D – Ends on Thu, September 6 2018 6:04 PM EDT.
This is a limited time, early bird deal. At the CA$ 10 (US$ 8) Loremaster (Earlybird) level, you will receive a PDF of this 5e supplement at half price. If you’re going to back this, early is the time to do it! Check out the campaign here.
Domina Magica – A Magical Girl RPG – Ends on Thu, September 6 2018 10:00 PM EDT.
At the $1 Classmate level, you will receive:
💙Classmate💙
At this level you […] get a “FIGHT LIKE A MAGICAL GIRL” slap bracelet!!! […] Fight Like A Magical Girl Slap Bracelet (US backers only)
How cool is it that they’re bringing back slap bracelets? Along with this, there’s a lot of good coming from this Kickstarter! Check out the full campaign here.
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Disclosures: This article contains affiliate links.
CREATE A BLOOD-DRENCHED VAMPIRIC LEGACY IN VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE – HERITAGE BOARD GAME — COMING TO TABLETOPS IN Q3 2019
Explore and Expand Clan Politics and Develop your Vampiric Bloodline in the Definitive Vampire: The Masquerade Board Game Experience
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (AUGUST 6, 2018) – White Wolf Entertainment, in cooperation with board game publisher Nice Game Publishing GmbH, has unveiled a new chapter in the Vampire: The Masquerade storytelling universe — Vampire: The Masquerade – Heritage, a new Legacy-format game of Vampire clan politics and historical manipulation. In Heritage, designed by Babis Giannios — a long-time Vampire Storyteller, players take on the role of an ancient vampire, shaping over 700 years of kindred and human history through political machinations, subversion and secrecy. With first demo sessions being available at SPIEL ‘18, and set for full release at SPIEL ’19 in Essen, Germany, Vampire: The Masquerade – Heritage will challenge players to make decisions that shape history, while expanding the influence of their vampire clans.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Heritage is a 2-4 player Legacy-styled board game that takes 20-40 minutes to play. During the game, players build a bloodline from characters who complete history-based missions and challenges via Vampiric Battlegrounds. Gameplay includes the use of Intrigue cards, which change the rules of the game in thematic ways to fit characters and clans. Vampire clans grow in strength as they build a chronicle spanning 700 years of blood-soaked history. Humans can also be “embraced” and turned into fellow vampires, with new abilities and a new name. These newly embraced vampires are represented in-game by flipping their human card to the Vampire side, and returning them to their sleeve. To allow for this innovative gameplay, Vampire: The Masquerade – Heritage will come with more than 60 pre-sleeved character cards. To reach the conclusion of the 700-year timeline, players will scramble to unravel ancient mysteries and make the most of their allies and influence gathered throughout the campaign.
“We’re happy to be working with Nice Game Publishing to further expand the gameplay universe of Vampire: The Masquerade,” said Martin Ericsson, Lead Storyteller at White Wolf. “Seeing how they plan to take the popular Legacy format board game and bring Vampire into that style of play is something we are eager to see, and we’re sure our fans will be excited to play Heritage when it arrives in stores.”
“At Nice Game Publishing, our goal is to find, fund, and publish unique and exciting ideas for board game experiences. Vampire: The Masquerade – Heritage fits this perfectly,“ said Simon Schwanhäußer, CEO of Nice Game Publishing GmbH. “We’re both excited and honored to have the chance to craft a whole new tabletop experience for fans of the Vampire universe, and we will handle this beloved franchise with the care and craftsmanship it deserves.”
Features of Vampire: The Masquerade – Heritage include:
Shape 700 years of kindred and human history through a tabletop Legacy-styled game system
Avoid the Inquisition, uphold the Masquerade, and resist the Beast are just a few of the Vampire Battlefield challenges you’ll encounter
Embrace and enhance dozens of unique characters to build your bloodline
Gather influence and forge alliances in a mystery that spans centuries
Seven clans, dozens of unique, pre-sleeved character cards, special “vampiric battlegrounds” and more than 100 historical missions
Headquartered in Bonn, Germany, Nice Game Publishing prides itself on publishing great tabletop games that are unconventional and break the mold of the expected. Previous successful titles include Terrible Monster, Fantasy Defense and Dragon Canyon.
For more info, please follow Nice Game Publishing on Twitter, Facebook or their online store at nicegameshop.
About White Wolf Entertainment
White Wolf is a licensing company focused on creating the best participatory brands in the world. Since its original entry into the roleplaying game market in 1991, White Wolf’s World of Darkness has grown to be one of the most recognized and successful brands in the hobby game space with collective book sales in excess of 10 million copies during this time. White Wolf’s World of Darkness brands, which include Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Wraith: The Oblivion, and Orpheus, has been licensed for television series, console and computer video games, interactive media events, and a myriad of merchandise and other entertainment products.
White Wolf team: Tobias Sjögren, Dhaunae De Vir, Karim Muammar, Tomas Arfert, Martin Ericsson, Jason Carl.
REDMOND, WASHINGTON (August 2, 2018): Today,Paizo Inc. launched the worldwide playtest of Pathfinder Second Edition, an evolution of one of the world’s most popular tabletop roleplaying games. Thefree PDF bundle download of the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook, Pathfinder Playtest Bestiary, Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn, and Flip-Mat Multi-Pack is available now on paizo.com.
“Overall feedback from the playtest reveals on the Paizo blog and through industry partners has been positive. We’ve made the rules more fun, easier to learn, and better for telling our favorite fantasy stories. Now, we need all your feedback to make Pathfinder Second Edition the best it can be,” said Erik Mona, Paizo’s Publisher and Chief Creative Officer.
Preordered print editions of the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook, Pathfinder Playtest Adventure: Doomsday Dawn, and Pathfinder Playtest Flip-Mat Multi-Pack have been shipped to players and are available for preorder pick up at Paizo’s booth at Gen Con in Indianapolis, Indiana, August 2–5.
Softcover, hardcover, and deluxe special editions are available for purchase in the Paizo booth at Gen Con and at game and bookstores worldwide. Paizo will not reprint the playtest rulebook or adventure, so players who want print editions should act quickly.
Playtest 1: The Lost Star begins Tuesday, August 7 and runs through August 26, kicking off the massive multi-month free playtest.
Pathfinder Playtest Schedule:
The Lost Star, August 7 – August 26
In Pale Mountain’s Shadow, August 27 – September 9
Affair at Sombrefell Hall, September 10 – September 23
The Mirrored Moon, September 24 – October 8
The Heroes of Undarin, October 9 – October 21
Red Flags, October 22 – November 4
When the Stars Go Dark, November 5 – November 18
Players are invited to visit PathfinderPlaytest.com to give feedback via online surveys for each of the 7 Doomsday Dawn adventure playtests and share opinions with others in the Pathfinder Playtest Forums on paizo.com. Paizo will be discussing the results of the Playtest surveys and changes they are implementing based on player feedback both on Paizo.com and on the Paizo Twitch channel (twitch.tv/officialpaizo). Players stay informed by signing up for email updates at paizo.com.
The worldwide Pathfinder Society organized play program has four more opportunities to playtest. Pathfinder Society Playtest #1: The Rose Street Revenge (August 7), Pathfinder Society Playtest #2: Raiders of Shrieking Peak (August 7), Pathfinder Society Playtest #3: Arclord’s Envy (August 7), and Pathfinder Society Playtest #4: The Frozen Oath (September 26) will all be available as free downloads.
Many Paizo official licensed partners are supporting the playtest. Players can immerse themselves in epic sounds with the Doomsday Dawn audio experience from Syrinscape. They can play with friends all over the world on Fantasy Grounds and Roll20 virtual tabletops. Players can also build their perfect character using Hero Lab. They can roll dice designed by Q Workshop to aesthetically compliment the Pathfinder Playtest Rulebook. Players can celebrate their participation with the deluxe enamel collector pin by Campaign Coins. Links to all of this content are waiting for players on PathfinderPlaytest.com.
About Paizo
Paizo Inc. is one of the world’s leading hobby game publishers. Since 2002, millions of players have joined the goblin army by playing the Pathfinder® and Starfinder® roleplaying games across tabletops, at conventions, at their favorite local game store, and digitally on virtual tabletops. Paizo.com is an online retail hobby destination for millions of gamers that carries the latest products from top hobby game publishers. Players also find accessories, like dice and maps, miniatures, T-shirts, goblin plush toys, and the newest releases to quickly replenish those adventuring supplies for the next dungeon run.
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Disclosures: This article contains affiliate links.
MetaArcade Announces Cthulhu Chronicles Creators Initiative, Android Plans, New Campaign at Gen Con
Contributors Can Sign Up to Create New Original Content for New Narrative Horror Game Using Company’s Adventure Creator Software; Cthulhu Chronicles Android Version Announced
SEATTLE – August 1, 2018 –MetaArcade, the developer of interactive fiction games, announced today it is significantly expanding the scope of its narrative horror game, Cthulhu Chronicles™, with three new initiatives following the game’s successful launch on the App Store:
First, starting today players can sign up for the new Cthulhu Creators program, where they can submit their own original interactive adventures for the game using MetaArcade’s proprietary Adventure Creator tool, the software the team uses to create adventures for the game.
Second, an Android version of Cthulhu Chronicles is now in development for Cthulhu fans who play on that platform, significantly expanding the game’s audience.
And third, the company today announced Mythos Across America, the game’s second Lovecraft campaign following today’s launch of Blackwater Creek, the ninth and final chapter of the game’s initial Investigations in Lovecraft Country campaign.
The Adventure Creator software, the new adventure, and a sneak peek at the upcoming campaign will all be on display at Gen Con 2018 in Chaosium’s booth, #829 in the Exhibit Hall.
“These three announcements mean the dreadful power of Cthulhu will soon be everywhere, fueled by the creativity of fans, powered by both iOS and Android devices, and charged with a darkly compelling new campaign from our team of cultists,” said David Reid, Founder and CEO of MetaArcade. “User generated content that taps into the storytelling potential of our audience has always been our plan and we’re excited to invite players to join the Cthulhu Creators program at Gen Con 2018.”
Created in partnership with Chaosium, creator of the popular tabletop RPG game, Call of Cthulhu, Cthulhu Chronicles distills the essence of the award-winning roleplaying system into a story-driven, intuitive experience designed for mobile gamers, with individual stories forming larger campaigns. In the game, players can play as various archetypal investigator characters such as a policewoman or private detective to pursue missions involving crazy cults, sinister creatures, and horrors from beyond space. At key decision points, players will make choices that matter, as each story has multiple endings and numerous clues to uncover—which in turn unlock new storylines and outcomes as the campaign unfolds.
All scenarios in the game, including the newly released Blackwater Creek adventure, which provides a breathtaking conclusion to the game’s initial Investigations in Lovecraft Country campaign, are created with MetaArcade’s proprietary Adventure Creator tool, which allows creators to write branching scenarios with combat and decision points, images, and immersive music and sound effects. Players interested in being the first to submit their own original material to the game through the Cthulhu Creators program can apply at MetaArcade.com or visit MetaArcade at Gen Con.
Cthulhu Chronicles, which is now available for iOS as a free download with in-app purchases and will soon be available on Google Play thanks to player requests, is developed and published by MetaArcade. Keep in touch with the latest MetaArcade news by following @MetaArcade and facebook.com/MetaArcade.
About MetaArcade
Launched in 2016, MetaArcade is a Seattle area independent game company building a platform to allow players to create and publish their own interactive fiction experiences – with no technical experience required – for free. The company was founded by lifelong RPG fan and seasoned vet David Reid, who previously held high profile roles at Microsoft, NCsoft, Trion Worlds, and CCP Games. MetaArcade launched Tunnels & Trolls Adventures in 2017 for Android and iOS mobile devices, and launched the horror adventure title, Cthulhu Chronicles, for iOS on July 10, 2018. For more information, visit www.MetaArcade.com.
About Chaosium
Chaosium was founded by visionary game designer Greg Stafford in 1975. For more than forty years, Chaosium has captivated gamers, readers and mythic adventurers worldwide. Its award-winning roleplaying games, boardgames and fiction have been acclaimed as some of the most engaging and innovative of all time. For more information, visit www.chaosium.com.
AboutCallofCthulhu
Chaosium’sCallofCthulhu was created by gaming legend Sandy Petersen in 1981 and is the definitive horror roleplaying game. It has won over 80 awards since then, including being inducted into the Academy of Adventure Gaming Art and Design Hall of Fame. The current 7th editionof the rules won 9 awards at the 2017 ENnies.
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Disclosures: This article contains affiliate links.
I’m back from Gen Con 2018 [you can read Part One of John McGuire’s review of our trip here] and ready to focus on some amazing RPGs available via Kickstarter. These are projects that I have connection to (I’m friends with the creators or they are an all-ages game) and that look amazing! Let’s dive in!
“Tiny Supers – Minimalist, four-color tabletop superhero roleplaying based on the TinyD6 system!
Gallant Knight Games is happy to present the latest genre-book for our TinyD6 minimalist roleplaying system: Tiny Supers!
Using the rules in this book, you’ll be able to play superheroes of all types, from paragons and exemplars, to super-science heroes of the future or past, to cosmic guardians defending the far-reaches of the galactic civilizations from untold threats!
Alan was on Victory Condition Gaming talking about Tiny Supers! While the video is 40 minutes long, the first 5 to 10 minutes are hyper focused on the game and the contents of the campaign (but you can listen to the whole thing if you want!)
The Iconic Hero and paragon of the GallantVerse, Gallant! Art by Nicolas Giacondino
Character creation is simple, fast, and exciting. You pick your character archetype based on the exciting stories your Game Master is going to tell, you pick a few Traits or Powers that each grant a single benefit, and you’re done!
For the first time ever, a TinyD6 game will have it’s own detailed setting, as we bring the GallantVerse to you!
You can read more about the GallantVerse below!
Ryker Swift, aka Velocity! One of our Iconic GallantVerse Heroes. Art by Nicolás Giacondino
Sometimes as the GM, you don’t have time to plot lengthy, detailed worlds, but you want that experience. Well, we’ve got your back, and that support comes in the form of micro-verses and our signature setting, The GallantVerse!
Micro-verses are short settings filled with adventure hooks, and designed to put your adventures and campaigns into high action-adventure.
Our goal is to fund a softcover edition, a limited number of hardcover collector’s editions, and the Tiny Supers dice. We’ve planned several stretch goals which will increase page count, add more art, add more special rules but all of our goals will provide you with more fun and engaging superhero tabletop content!
You might notice that our funding goal is much higher than previous TinyD6 Kickstarters. One of our goals with this project is to fund a full-color book, replete with gorgeous art from the very talented Nicolás Giacondino, with posters and covers by a variety of talented artists.
Additionally, the writing on the GallantVerse is being handled by top industry talent. We’re set on paying all our contributors well, and our goal reflects our commitment to an ethical pay rate for our writers, artists, and team members.
Pulsewave, one of our GallantVerse Iconics! Art by Nicolás Giacondino
TinySupers uses a simple, fast, and dynamic ruleset to handle actions. The game uses up to three six-sided dice as part of action resolution.
If you roll a “5” or “6” on a die, your check succeeds. Most checks are made with two dice. However, if you are deemed to have “advantage” on a roll, you gain a third die to roll. If you have disadvantage, you lose a dice (rolling only a single die).
Characters are made quickly and easily. You will select a superheroic archetype (such as Paragon, Gadgeteer, Defender, Mastermind or more), three traits or powers, and write down some basic information and you are ready to play!
Bastion, one of our GallantVerse Iconics! Art by Nicolás Giacondino
If you’re familiar with the TinyD6 ruleset, you’re probably wondering how Power Traits are different than Traits?
Well, Power Traits are new traits that gain better versions of themselves as you take them again and again. Let’s use an example, like Super–Speed (Alan’s favorite power.) Super–Speed has 3 Tiers. The first time a Trait choice is spent to select Super–Speed.
TierOne: Any turn in which you move, you also count as having taken the Evade action.
If a Hero were to select the Super-Speed Power Trait again with a Trait Choice, they’d gain the Tier Two Power:
TierTwo: You can take a move action once per turn, without using up one of your two actions for the turn.
If they repeated it a third time, they’d gain the third and final power:
TierThree: When you take a move action, you can move three times.
All the PowerTraits in Tiny Supers function on a level similar to this. There is a wide swath of powers, making almost any super imaginable!
Darklight, one of our Iconic GallantVerse Villains! Art by Nicolás Giacondino
The GallantVerse is the standard superheroic setting for Tiny Supers! Conceived by Alan Bahr, the GallantVerse is a near-future setting, where superheroes have recently come into being!
The GallantVerse is a setting focused on heroic and exciting heroes, with a slight science fiction bent and a focus on hope and optimistic heroism! All your favorite comic book angles are here, from mystical occultists, to mutants, to paragons of science and technology, and massive cosmic threats! We’re hitting all the notes!
Our core of the setting is the coastal city of Sentry City! A technological hotspot, Sentry City is the birthplace of superheroes and the central piece of the GallantVerse.
As the first cohesive core campaign setting for the TinyD6 line, GallantVerse is being overseen by Alan, with writing by an excellent troupe of freelancers!
The Eagle! One of our GallantVerse Iconics. Art by Nicolás Giacondino
Micro-settings are unique, small universes that exist in alternate dimensions adjacent to theGallantVerse!
They are specifically designed to be used as a tool, resource, or spring-board for your own campaigns.
All of the micro-verses come with some story and some fluff that is designed to be unique to that particular micro-verse.
The core book comes with some very different micro-verses, all of them written by those we selected from our Tiny Supers Open Call!
Further down the page (and revealed as they’re unlocked) are the micro-verses that are included in Tiny Supers! All of them were unlocked by stretch goals, and we’ve compiled them below!
Asher Solomon, the Immortal Magus and GallantVerse Iconic! Art by Nicolás Giacondino
Gallant Knight Games is a indie game company ran by Alan and Erin Bahr. This is our 10th GKG Kickstarter!
Our previous TinyD6 Kickstarters (Tiny Frontiers and Tiny Frontiers: Mecha & Monsters) delivered early to backers (4 months in the case of Tiny Frontiers), and Tiny Dungeon 2e was on time!
Our micro-settings are written by some of the most talented freelancers in the RPG business!
Tiny Supers has been in development since late 2016 and been in play-testing for 12 months! The art is all in, and paid for (with the exception of any stetch goals). The goal of this Kickstarter is to pay for the print run and unlock our stretch goals, making this a truly gorgeous book.
Montebank, an Iconic Occult Villain! Art by Nicolas Giacondino
As we continue along, we’ll be previewing bios of our fantastic freelancers and writers here!”
Egg’s Thoughts:
This year I met Alan (Gallant Knight Games) Bahr at Gen Con (it’s nice to put a face with a name). During another campaign, I interviewed Alan Bahr about Tiny Dungeon 2nd Editionhere (Tiny Supers uses the same core mechanic). The system is simple enough that it can be viewed as an all-ages option (which I love), but not so simple there’s no joy in playing it. TinyD6 is a popular system and it spans a variety of genres.
Of the Tiny-verse, only the campaign for Tiny Dungeon: Second Edition has more backers and pledges. Add to this, Fat Goblin Games will be creating “roleplaying game supplements based on the popular TinyD6 Engine” [read the press release here], this is a good time to try TinyD6!
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“A Terran Trade Authority Handbook. Full color reprint of the original books by Stewart Cowley.
No one would have believed, in the closing years of the 1970’s, that science fiction was to experience a boom that would last through to the present day. The summer blockbuster had only just been invented. There was only one Star Wars movie. The voyage of the Battlestar Galactica had only just begun, and Buck Rogers had yet to conquer television. But between the pages of the Terran Trade Authority handbooks, enthralled readers were discovering a beautiful and brightly-coloured vision of the future, where wondrous spacecraft explored strange planets, navigated shimmering nebulae and fought desperate battles among the stars. Illustrated by some of the world’s greatest science fiction artists and written by Stewart Cowley, the handbooks told the tale of mankind’s expansion into the unknown and the trials and wonders they encountered. Conceived of as a “Jane’s Guide” for the future, the books made use of the stunning artwork produced for the paperback science fiction market at the time, reproducing them in lush colour and on glossy paper. Beginning with Spacecraft 2000-2100 AD in 1978, the Terran Trade Authority series went on to become a cult phenomenon, loved and fondly remembered by all who came across them. The Terran Trade Authority presented a bright vision of the future, optimistic about man’s place in the universe, and featuring a strong undercurrent of mystery, wonder and adventure. In recent years the volumes have become collectors’ items – expensive and rarely found, but never forgotten – and have gone on to influence creators around the globe. The setting has spawned two role-playing games and has been cited as a clear inspiration for the best-selling computer game No Man’s Sky. Within the pages of the books are a veritable who’s who of science fiction art, including such names as Jim Burns, Alan Daniels, Peter Elson, Fred Gambino, Colin Hay, Robin Hiddon, Bob Layzell, Angus McKie, Chris Foss, Chris Moore, Tony Roberts, and Trevor Webb. Now, with your help, we are proud to present a special 40th Anniversary Edition of the first of the TTA handbooks; Spacecraft 2000-2100 AD. It’s time to return to the future!
ACM 113, Fatboy
About Spacecraft 2000 to 2100 AD
The Terran Trade Authority is an original science-fiction setting first presented in four large-format full-colour illustrated books, published between 1978 and 1980. Each book is presented as an “in-universe” document, detailing the history of the Terran Trade Authority and their spectacular spacecraft. This book covers the events immediately before and after the Proximan War Era, and is presented in the same manner as an aircraft recognition guide, made up entirely of spacecraft descriptions and art accompanied by details of their role and performance in the war, and occasionally their history afterwards.
Nomad Industrial Complex
Foreword to Spacecraft 2000 to 2100 AD: 40th Anniversary Edition
During the heady days of the Russian-American space race and the globally televised Apollo missions, the world watched enthralled as humans took the first faltering steps beyond gravity’s grip. But as time passed public enthusiasm waned. The value and relevance of space research and its huge costs were questioned In the face of global social, political and economic pressures. But eventually, popular interest in space exploration re-emerged. A major imperative was the growing awareness of Planet Earth’s fragility in the face of the demands we made on it. However successful we were in conserving our world’s resources and developing new forms of energy, the fact remained that we were simply outgrowing our homeworld. The search for Earth-like planets and the technology to travel there became of paramount importance. The post-Apollo drop in popular enthusiasm for space research did not mean that the scientific community relaxed their search for answers. On the contrary, a growing number of major players brought fresh resources to the table. In addition to NASA and Roscosmos, the Russian Federal Space Agency, China, Japan, India, the European Space Agency and even private enterprise grew our knowledge base. Not just in how we would travel in space but where we might go. A major contributor was NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope. Launched in 2009 to seek out exoplanets – planets beyond our own solar system – Kepler soon identified over 1000 of them. Only a dozen or so were Earth-like, as to qualify, planets could not be much larger than twice Earth’s size and therefore rocky, in order to increases the probability of surface water. Such planets also had to orbit the ‘habitable zone’ of its sun where the average temperature allowed water to exist in liquid form. Identifying the ‘Where’ brought us to the ‘How’, the greatest challenge of all. Entirely new aspects of astrophysics had to explored and manipulated for interstellar travel to become a reality. The strongest contenders were forms of Warp Drive where the space-time continuum, the actual fabric of space, is distorted. Work by NASA’s Dr. Harold ‘Sonny’ White made significant advances in Warp Drive technology using advanced Quantum Optics to create a space-time bubble around a craft that would enable it to move independently from the rest of space. By compressing space-time in front of the vessel and expanding it behind, faster-than-light speeds became possible. The key point in making interstellar travel a reality came about in 2012 with the founding of the 100 YSS (100 Year Star Ship Project) funded initially by NASA and DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). The formation of Icarus Interstellar in 2011 and its Starship Congress of 2013 combined with the introduction of Brane Cosmology took faster-than-light (FTL) research to a new level. The creation of the Terran Trade Authority harnessed global research and made Warp Drive systems and our journey to the stars a reality.
~ CMDR Stewart Cowley Terran Trade Authority
Colonial III, Angus McKie
Add-Ons
RPG Add-on
Terran Trade Authority: The Proxima War. This is the setting book written for the Savage Worlds game system. For an additional $15 you will be able to purchase a PDF of the book, for an additional $25 you will be able to purchase a softcover copy of the book. Shipping to be figured after the end of this kickstarter.
Promotional Opportunity
We know that as midshipmen, it can take forever to qualify for that promotion in the Terran Navy, so why not do what good midshipmen have done for ages, bribe your way up the chain of command. You can just add an amount for which ever rank you request promotion, you will be listed in the back of the book with a dedication to you at that rank. It’s the easiest way to be promoted. Ship assignments, where necessary, will be posted on the order sheet detailed in the back of the book.
+$10 Ensign. While its not a high rank, it does put you in the officers core.
+$15 Lieutenant. It’s a little higher on the chain of command, Captains are still above you, but you get to command Ensigns and midshipmen. You get to look forward to your own ship command one of these days.
+$20 Captain. Here you are, you immediately will be assigned to your own starship, at the assignment of the Admiralty when needed. The Admiralty will randomly assign you a ship (type and name) for your command.
+$25 Rear Admiral. You are in command of a squadron, imagine being in command of a fleet of ships. Its not easy baring that responsibility, but you are pretty sure you have the chops for it. The admiralty will give you a random assignment for your fleet, something like Terran Defense Command or Terran Training Command.
Book Specs
Author and Artist: Stewart Cowley and company (this book will contain all the original artwork)
Size: the print book will be a 8.5 x 11 book, either in softcover or hardcover, depending on your choice.
Layout: New layout will be done by J Gray.
40th Anniversary logo is by Ian Stead
Stretch Goals
$13000 – Terran Trade Authority RPG material for the Starfinder Role Playing Game published by Paizo Publishing in PDF. A POD version will be made available for purchase should we reach this stretch goal.
$15000 – Terran Trade Authority RPG sourcebook for the Cepheus Engine (A current Mongoose Traveller 1e clone) in PDF. A POD version will be made available for purchase should we reach this stretch goal.
SHIPPING THE REWARDS
Shipping is not included in the pledge levels. That’s because for this Kickstarter campaign, we’re going to send out surveys and collect shipping fees through BackerKit once we’re ready to ship out all physical rewards. This not only means all funds raised in the Kickstarter are going towards covering the costs of production (creating an electronic edition from a print is not cheap. The cost of production include licensing fees, layout, and printing) but it gives us plenty of time to source the best and least expensive international shipping options through fulfilment agents in Europe and Asia. Thanks for being understanding! We know that for some it’s much easier just to take care of the total costs all at once upon pledging, but we hope you’ll see that this approach is not only better for the project but affords you the lowest shipping costs when the time comes.
Cyclops, Colin Hay
Spacecraft 2000 to 2100 AD is (c) 1978 Stewart Cowley. All art is (c) 1978 to the respective artist. All work used herein is used with permission and under license.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
This is a campaign to reprint the first in a series of books, it has a stretch goal to make it the setting for two RPG systems (Starfinder [a new stretch goal] and the Cepheus Engine), and it will be beautiful. Everyone involved in this has a great deal of love for this series. On the Open Gaming Network, I interviewed Jonathan Thompson about this campaign (here), and it covers so much ground. If you’re on the fence, I recommend that interview.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere or at the OpenGamingStorehere.
“Art of War (relaunch): The Martial Arts Setting in a Fantasy Anime World. Powered by Savage Worlds. Be a Hero. Be a Legend.
Art of Waris an anime inspired setting of over-the-top action. Art of War combines the exciting influences of Heroes of the East mixed with Samurai Champloo. A high-flying martial arts campaign where Players and Game Masters can tell epic stories of Outlaws of the Marshand Forty-Seven Ronin using Savage Worlds.
Welcome to the San Empire…
It is the rise of a new dynasty for the people of the San Empire. After an invasion of an Oni horde, the Three Clans attempt to rebuild a nation with the help of a new Emperor. The proud Kitsune Clan slowly relinquishes territory to the Imperial Court. Members of the Tiger Clan work to restore the peoples faith in the land with the guidance of the Jade Stratagem. The leaders of the Serpent Clan remain silent keeping their plans secret.
Mock up only. Cover arrangement may change.
Art of War introduces new features for Savage Worlds® fans and RPG enthusiasts. It offers unique & updated setting rules inspired by the tropes of Anime, Samurai Sagas, and Wuxia Epics. These include:
Tropes: Adapted from the Iconic Framework character creation rules of Savage Rifts® and the standard archetypes, Tropes offer a chance for a player to choose a starting package and jumping off point of skills and abilities that reflect their role in the story. This is a simple “plug-in” to the core Savage Worlds® character creation process.
Chi System: A streamlined rule set based of the Power system of the core rules allowing for a combination of cinematic game play and martial arts flavor. Designed for ease of use, it syncs with the core philosophy of the Fast, Furious, Fun role-playing you have come except out of a Savage Worlds® game.
Glory & Honor System: For those that want to introduce a more social system, we have created an optional rule designed just for you. The Glory & Honor System is designed to track a Wild Card’s fame, honor, reputation and even notoriety throughout the course of a game in the world of Art of War.
New Races: While humans are the default race across the Empire, we pull from anime and have created the Kemonomimi and Terracotta. Animal spirits that grew by the side of mankind are the Kemonomimi. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but only seven species are prominent. The Terracotta are clay vessels that hold the spirit of those that have passed and have been given a second chance at life.
New Edges: New Combat, Racial, Social, and Weird Edges are introduced to add character background and story hooks for Game Masters.
New Hindrances: The epic folklore and inspiring tales of the past, humanize mythic heroes and make them relatable. It is the same for the stories that we tell in our home games. While not everyone’s favorite part, we introduce new hindrances to add both serious (like the Mute Hindrance) and comedic value (such as Nosebleed) to play.
New Skills: Two new skills are introduced, Acrobatics and Meditation.
Tropes & Races
Declaration of Red Pass ends the war between the Tiger and Kitsune Clans.
A horde of Oni invade from the southern wastelands, slaughtering everything in their path as they move up the coastline to the East.
Tiger and Kitsune launch a combined two year campaign expelling the Oni from the San Empire. Southern Wall is erected to keep the Oni at bay. Once completed, the ruling Emperor, Liu Shan, passes away leaving an empty throne and no heirs.
From the Northern Mountains the Serpent Clan emerges from hiding with a decedent from the First Emperor.
The Serpent Clan, Tiger Clan and the majority of the Kitsune Clan accept Wu Zhang as the new Emperor.
Not the final map.
While welfare and prosperity is on the rise, the San Empire is not entirely stable. Along the eastern coast lies the loose alliance of feudal lands of former clan members who refuse to recognize Emperor Wu Zhang.
Rebellions of the poor and destitute cry for help. Hauntings from the wrongfully dead plague the lands after the sun goes down. Patches of Oni have been sighted north of the Wall. Each clan has internal power struggles as they clamor for favor with the new Emperor.
Players take up the mantle of Heroes in a land of need. Will they fall to the clan politics and internal struggle. Or will they rise to become Legends and carve their names into the scroll of history?
Art Montage 1
Imperial Scribe – Wojciech “Drejk” Gruchala (Contributing Writer): Drejk was born in the country historically marking the border between the West and the East, during the times when communist regime faded to democracy, in a city sporting an actual dragon cave. He was fan of SF and Fantasy since he can remember, having learned to read on a fairy tale book. He also discovered games when he was but a wee hatchling, starting with early computer games and board games, followed by more complex wargames, and then role playing games. Assembling worlds and creating snippets of fictional cosmology, history, culture, and science is his favorite part of role playing games. You can find his work on his blog: Shaper of Worlds
Ukiyo-e – Sasha Turk (Artist and sole Illustrator): Sasha Turk is a freelance concept artist. For three years, she has been published in several Amora Game products. Her most notable character designs appear in Kemonomimi: Moe Races and Xeno Files Issue 5. Sasha lives in Lake Forest, California. You can find her online portfolio here, and see sneak peaks of work for Art of War.
Humble Peasant – Greg LaRose (Creator & Publisher): Greg is the owner and operator of Amora Game, LLC. Art of War has been a labor of love and is happy to see it come to production. You can find Amora Game published works here.
This game references the Savage Worlds game system, available from Pinnacle Entertainment Group at www.peginc.com. Savage Worlds and all associated logos and trademarks are copyrights of Pinnacle Entertainment Group. Used with permission. Pinnacle makes no representation or warranty as to the quality, viability, or suitability for purpose of this product.
Art Montage 2
Egg’s Thoughts:
This is a relaunch of this campaign with new additions and a better goal (which it’s already met). For the first iteration, I interviewed Greg here and much of that still applies. I thought this looked strong on the first try and looks strong again here. But, don’t take my word for it, try some samples:
“Power Outage is a kid-friendly, kid-focused Superhero roleplaying game, that focuses on accessibility, learning, teamwork, and fun!
Power Outage is a kid-friendly, kid-focused Supers roleplaying game where it’s all about being the hero, taking down villains, and being accessible to the widest audience as possible.
It started out originally as a personal project to introduce my own children into the world of tabletop gaming. But Power Outage has grown and is now ready to bring a new generation into the world of tabletop role-playing.
A UNIQUE CHARACTER CREATION SYSTEM
Power Outage does not have classes or races. If your kids want to make a Human, a Robot, an Alien, a Ghost, or an 8-foot tall anthropomorphic zebra girl they can. Powers come from a library of effects that kids get to apply their own characteristics.
STREAMLINED CHOOSE-YOUR-OWN-ADVENTURES
Power Outage makes use of a CAPE (Combat, Alternative, Puzzle, Exploration) component technique that allows you to easily build your own adventures, or allows you to choose your own path through pre-made modules.
FOCUS ON ACCESSIBILITY
Power Outage offers guidance for gaming with kids of various ages and abilities. Through Differentiation and Accessibility guidance, GMs can make the table fun for everyone.
A COMPLETE PACKAGE
Power Outage contains player instructions, GM guidance, a compendium of villains, and a complete adventure to play with! You supply dice and an imagination, and we will take care of the rest!
Mrs. Robotto
EASY ON RULES, BIG ON COOL
Power Outage focuses on the concept of guidance rather than hard set rules. You take from the book what you need, and build the game as you go. But there is enough guidance built in that you don’t need to question how to play. Free resources are also available for characters, powers, and adventures. The mechanics are easy enough to pick up in a half hour, but not boring or overly simplified. You’ll constantly find yourself rolling and strategizing.
THE POWER TO LEARN
Power Outage is built not only as a game but a potential educational tool. The game slots in perfectly with a gamified classroom, but also works tremendously in counseling as well. Villains also have weaknesses based off of Meta actions that allow your players actions outside of the game to impact the world of Outage.
PLAY THE GAME YOU WANT
5 distinct regions allow you to customize a game you want in this safe and wonderous sandbox world. Do you want to create a fantasy adventure? Try The Overgrowth or The Sink! Looking for your classic Super Hero Beatum Up? Turn to the soaring futuristic heights of Shorai City! Looking for a gritty detective story. Try delving into the murky alleyways of the Atomic Punk ever-night Atomnyy Zavod. The entire mythos is built into this single book.
WHY SO SERIOUS
Well, it’s not. Power Outage is filled with fun adventures, puns, and references that even adults will enjoy. In fact, Power Outage is just as often played by groups of adults as it is by groups of kids. With villains like Break Fast, InstaGator, The Bulshefist, and heroes like SuburbanKnight, Rockin Troll, and Pocket Protector, the adventures are off the wall fun.
Product Information
Power Outage is currently sitting at roughly 160 pages in its rough draft form. That number might change during the edit and design process, which is this Kickstarter is funding. Currently, the plan is to have this printed in Hardcover format at 8.5×11, with options for digital copies in PDF at its outset. As mentioned the game is intended to be GMed by adults, but kids are welcome to try their hand at it. The game can be played with as few as one player and one gm. The core rulebook offers differentiation and accessibility guidance that allows you to play the game with varying abilities.
Power Outage 1.4 Cover
The core rulebook includes the following sections:
Quick Play Instructions – A 4-page primer that gets you playing or demoing a game in only a few minutes
What Is Power Outage – An introductory to Power Outage, Tabletop RPGs, and external resources
Mechanics – Gameplay mechanics for Players or GMs
Heroes – Creating Heroes including Powers, Guidance, and Crafting Unique Experiences, as well a Character Sheet
The World – Information on the history and current standing of Outage, Its five primary regions, adventure hooks, travel information, notable villains and heroes, and region-specific roll tables that add complexities to your adventures
Villain Files – Information, stats and weaknesses for 120 villains, sorted by Region and leading Villain
Gaming with Kids – Guidance for playing with kids at different age ranges (from as early as 4 years old), abilities, and how to manage differentiated game tables where kids have varying degrees of capabilities
Accessibility Accommodations – Guidance for playing with kids that have disabilities, including Pre-Session communication, general guidance, and information pertaining to five accessibility domains (Physical, Communicative/Receptive, Behavioral, Cognitive, and Emotional)
Free Play Guide – A full guide on how to create your own adventures using the resources within the book
Trading Spaces – A level 1 to 4 adventure set in Shorai City against the villain Mrs. Roboto.
RoboTrouper
A majority of the Kickstarter funding is going toward art, design, editing, and some other miscellaneous production costs.
Here is an example of the quality of change that can be achieved. While my design was serviceable, Rosanna Spucces will take the design to the next level. To something that is professional.
Power Outage Character Sheet Redesign
My Designer and Editor will be Rosanna Spucces of https://www.rsdesignsnyc.com/
My Artist is Abhishek Ghimire”
Egg’s Thoughts:
This is the second superhero game on here and the second all-ages RPG system. The system, just from a small sampling, looks more rules-heavy than most all-ages games. It’s a bold choice and I’m curious to get the rules details. The art looks great and I’m eager to see how it plays.
Fat Goblin Games Licences TinyD6 from Gallant Knight Games
Fat Goblin Games is pleased to announce a licensing agreement with Gallant Knight Games to create roleplaying game supplements based on the popular TinyD6 Engine.
TinyD6 is a minimalist RPG system published by Gallant Knight Games. With a great assortment of genre books (such as Tiny Dungeons 2nd Edition, Tiny Frontiers, Tiny Wastelands, and Tiny Supers currently on Kickstarter), the TinyD6 Engine is an ever expanding system with a dedicated and growing fanbase. Fat Goblin Games has teamed up with Gallant Knight Games to expand on the amazing TinyD6 genre books with new supplemental material.
“Rick was a huge fan of the TinyD6 games, and I loved seeing his posts about playing with his daughters!” says Alan Bahr, publisher at Gallant Knight Games. “When he asked if we could work together to allow Fat Goblin Games to create products for TinyD6 fans, I was excited to see what they do, and absolutely had to say yes!”
Fat Goblin Games will bring new supplements and expansion material to the TinyD6 Engine as well as several genre books. The first planned release will be Heritage Composer, a complete guide to creating new heritages for your TinyD6 games.
“We are really excited about working with Alan and Gallant Knight Games. I loved Tiny Dungeons 2nd Edition and picked it up to play with my daughters. Wasn’t long before my kids were playing on their own and Alan gifted them a complete set of game books and supplement material. It was an amazing gift to them and made me want to work with him and on TinyD6 games even more! I can’t wait to begin on the first book and believe the fans will love what we do with our supplements,” said Fat Goblin Games owner Rick Hershey.
Gallant Knight Games is a Utah-based roleplaying and publishing company dedicated to heroic, fun and high-quality RPG materials. They are best known for the TinyD6 line, while venturing out into new ideas with the Gallant Pocket Games, Venerable Knight Classics, and other game lines, such as the espionage thriller RPG, Cold Shadows.
Based in South Carolina, USA, Fat Goblin Games was founded in 2011 to create Pathfinder Roleplaying Game compatible products. With a focus on high quality production values and providing a creative environment for our team of freelancers (TheFat Goblin Hoarde), Fat Goblin Games has quickly become a recognized force in the world of Third Party Publishers of not just the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and 5th Edition Fantasy, but also supporting the vs. M Engine and releasing official products for Castle Falkenstein, originally published by R. Talsorian Games. With hundreds of support books, visual aids, campaign settings, and quality stock art, Fat Goblin Games continues to provide exciting content and fantastic worlds in which gamers can immerse themselves.
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Disclosures: This article contains affiliate links.
I’m headed to Gen Con 2018, excited to play games, see friends, and talk to publishers! As I’m headed up the road to Indianapolis, there are a few news items and deals worth mentioning.
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At EN World, Angus Abranson shares Strange Machine Games announcement that they’re launching a new Robotech RPG. In the 1980s, Harmony Gold licensed three Japanese anime series and bolted them together to create Robotech. This series spawned, among other things, The Robotech Role-Playing Game by Palladium Books (1986 to 1998, and 2008 to 2018). With the lapse of Palladium’s license, Strange Machine Games is picking it up and creating a new game. Which is a win for gamers! However, as Chris Helton (Dorkland Blog) pointed out, Harmony Gold’s Frankenstein-ime… er, license expires on March 14, 2021. [Here’s Karen Ressler’s article about that end here on Anime News Network.] They are hitting the ground running (From their Facebook page: “Hello Robotech Fans! If you want to see a hard copy preview of the Robotech RPG game, visit our booth at GenCon: 2963. We will have 1 or 2 on hand!”) That said, they have two-and-a-half years before the parent company’s license ends and that implies SMG’sRobotech RPG will have a limited run. Which begs the question, how much of the franchise will they be able to cover?
I contacted Strange Machine Games, however, Gen Con prep prevented us for connecting in detail but they are “happy to discuss the project”. Expect an interview/discussion post-con.
Are you a member of an underrepresented group in TTRPGs (Person of Color, Woman, Non-binary, Trans, Queer)?
Among the applicants was DC Comics writer, Route 3 creator, BlackSci-Fi.com EiC, and Tessera Guild member, Robert Jeffrey (Facebook). NAP selected Robert to freelance on their “Post Apotheosis Space Opera RPG”, Orun. As Robert shares below (screenshot from his Facebook page), I, too, am geeked as f&^% about this, NAP made a great choice and Robert is going to bring a lot of good to RPG.
STATUS: Congratulating.
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At Gen Con, on DriveThruRPG, and on Kickstarter there are DEALS to be had!
Ray Machuga of Higher Grounds Publishing is going to be wandering Gen Con. If you find him, take a picture, post it, and he’ll give you a copy of his game. Check out the details here.
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Gary Gygax Day – Zweihänder Grim and Perilous RPG
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Not going to Gen Con but you still want something free from Zweihänder? Introduced on Gary Gygax Day, Grim & Perilous Studios are offering a free Zweihänder Grim and Perilous RPG preview/supplement showcasing “our Henchman profession from the upcoming supplement Main Gauche. We’re also including the Dungeoneer, an expert profession from Zweihänder Grim & Perious RPG.” You can get the Gary Gygax Day – Zweihänder Grim and Perilous RPG as a Pay What You Want (“Suggested Price $0.00”) on DriveThruRPG here.
It’s Gen Con week, and I’m looking at four inclusive games. Since Gen Con is the largest tabletop gaming convention in the world, it feels like it’s the perfect time to look at some games that encompass all groups.
“A complete rpg plus a shared-universe story/poetry anthology about psychic people of color saving the Earth from invisible monsters
The forthcoming book John Silence from Ginger Goat Press is an original RPG and shared universe collection of short stories and poems. Your John Silence game is about people of color who are psychic detectives committed to saving Earth from planar creatures invisible to most humans.
The story is set in the United States between the years 1938 and 1998. This universe is an updated version of the one in Algernon Blackwood’s 1908 novel, John Silence, Physician Extraordinary.
This game is inspired by the mechanics of D&D and various OSR games. However, attacks and combat have been replaced with rhetoric and conversation. You are not rolling to kill the monster. You’re rolling to convince them to do what you tell them. Unlike in most RPGs, violence is not the best way to achieve your goal.
Core concept
The John Silence universe is about black, indigenous, and/or people of color (BIPOC) psychic detectives. It is set in the United States at some time between 1938 and 1998. TV shows like The Dead Zone and Heartless fit the tone of this game, but we want a more diverse cast of characters.
Genre
John Silence is Weird Fiction or noir, but reinvented to be non-racist, non-sexist, and mostly non-violent. During a game, players are forbidden to use hate speech or slurs. Stories must not contain non-consensual sex or glamorized violence.
Stories might, for example, feature radios, cars, angels, witches, aliens or poltergeists. However, they will not feature smartphones, tablets, giants, or dragons.
GMs and players might want to explore these themes during a John Silence adventure.
Psychic powers are interdimensional. They involve other planes. Psychic monsters are attracted to human psychic activity.
Friendship, kindness, and forethought are heroic virtues.
Humans with psychic powers feel obligated to defend humans without.
The Book
The John Silence book is a complete roleplaying game (no other books needed) designed by Josh T. Jordan and his team. The book is also an anthology of several poems and short stories by writers of color. It will be full-color, 6×9 inches, and an estimated 160 pages long. We plan to make a pdf version, a softcover, and a Kickstarter-Exclusive hardcover version with a unique cover. This hardcover version will only be available to Kickstarter backers.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
Looking for a game with an option to talk through situations instead of planning ambushes? Looking for a yesteryear (1938 to 1998) setting where “black, indigenous, and/or people of color (BIPOC) [are] psychic detectives”? All while using modified D&D and OSR rules? John Silence is trying new mechanics that benefits game design while creating a setting that offers original thoughts.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPGhere.
“A game zine re-envisioning masculinity through the eyes of non-cisgender masculine creators.
Behind the Masc is a game zine using historical and cultural archetypes to re-envision masculinity through the eyes of non-cisgender masculine creators. The creators include experienced game designers and illustrators as well as newer people to the game industry. The project hopes to draw attention to indie creators in tabletop games who are still marginalized people, but can fall into the ether when it comes to representation and people campaigning for their work to be seen.
This game zine is a collection of game materials for a variety of systems. It will be available digitally and in print as a short-run booklet with half-letter (US) size pages.
What’s inside, and who is doing it?
Behind the Masc will include a variety of game materials, including a new Monsterhearts skin, a Twine narrative game, and some great illustrations! Illustrations will be half-page (so one page in the zine), black and white, with a brief on the concept. Game materials will fill up to three zine pages and have a brief discussing how their design expresses their concept of masculinity.
For culturally related topics, we’ll have a sensitivity reader review the content before publication. The editor is Brie Sheldon, who is also the curator of the project and a contributor.”
Our logo!
Eli Eaton is a trans-masculine person residing in Ontario Canada. He currently just runs and plays games, but has been dabbling with game design here and there for the past year or so. This is his first publication. His contribution to Behind the Masc will be a character skin for a PbtA game (to be determined) modeled after benign trickster characters from mythology and folk heroes. He does not have an official website, but he does most of his gaming talk on G+ and Facebook.
Patrick Lickman is a writer and designer from Sheffield, UK. They work at a board games cafe, where they run various roleplaying projects in a variety of systems, aimed to be accessible to newcomers to the hobby. They are a Forever GM, only playing their first RPG three years after running one. They will contribute The Demi, a godlike skin for Monsterhearts 2.
Raiden Otto is eager to be working on Behind the Masc. He is a nonbinary masc that uses he/him/his pronouns. While he is new to the video game design scene, for years he has been making art available on Instagram, Tumblr, ArtStation, and his portfolio sites. For this project, he will be creating a character concept sheet for an FtM man based in the Ming Dynasty of China with the use of Paint Tool SAI.
Adrian Heise is a writer and generalist/narrative game designer from British Columbia, Canada. He has contributed in the past to games such as Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2, The Long Dark, and the cancelled Visceral Star Wars project. For Behind the Masc, he is producing a short interactive Twine narrative exploring the role of the “protector” as it applies to masculine-identifying queer people.
Lemmo’s contribution is the Harlequin, presented in illustration. Here’s an ink draft of the work!
Lemmo Pew (him/he, pan/fluid/non-binary) is an artist, illustrator and game designer from Minneapolis, MN. Lem’s art spans the indie gamut from self-publishing comic books and anthologies, to illustrations for independently published games and gaming websites, stretching from ’99 to the present. His most current web presence is the online streaming channel, HotSoup.TV, and can be found on Twitter at @Lemmo.
Alex McConnaughey (@variant_games) likes to design games that make your heart race, that make you laugh or shout or cry. They think games can be a great tool for learning and growth, but they mostly just try to engage the players around the table in an experience as quickly and deeply as possible. They have designed games for contests, including their first game, As We Know It, a Golden Cobra honorable mention, but last year they broke into formal (paid) design with The Imposters anthology. They’re designing a Minotaur Skin for Monsterhearts, for the obvious maze metaphor of understanding their gender and trying to navigate masculinity, as well as the role of existing solely as a challenge for someone else to conquer.
Lawrence Gullo (He/Him) is an Illustrator, comic writer, and playwright currently developing an exorcism dating sim. He enjoys larps that generate empathy and doing D&D homebrew. He’s spoken on trans and queer topics at cons for years, including Gen Con and Flame Con. He explores the spectrum of masculine experience in the sect of male Bacchae he’s designing for Behind the Masc, serving as a spiritual origin or location in an RPG setting. Find him @hismajesty on Twitter and bashback on Tumblr.
Brie Sheldon is a queer game designer, journalist, and editor and is a genderfluid nonbinary-masculine person. They are the creator of Script Change, Let Me Take a Selfie, and a number of other small products, and have worked on larger professional projects like Firefly Smuggler’s Guide to the Rim and Bubblegumshoe. They have managed the Thoughty Blogfor over 5 years and do interviews, create free games released through their Patreon, and also created Leading with Class, a leadership show teaching through games. Their passions are asking questions, selfies, and exploring exciting ideas in games. For this project, Brie is creating question pages, curating materials, doing layout and design, and filling in spaces where needed.
Tracy Barnett is a genderqueer (they/them) game designer (School Daze, Iron Edda Accelerated) and podcast producer (TheOtherCast). By working with other publishers and producing their own content, they hope to make game design and podcasting their full-time work. For Behind the Masc, Tracy will be exploring masculine physical presentation and non-traditional masculine behaviors through a D&D 5e Sorcerer you can use in your home games.
Egg’s Thoughts:
Let’s list this project’s positives:
It’s a zine (I love them)
It has an interesting theme that may prove eye-opening (“re-envision masculinity through the eyes of non-cisgender masculine creators”… Being dead-level-honest here, I don’t know what that means, but I’m interested to read about it as it relates to gaming because I feel I’ll gain a great deal from it)
What inspires me the most, though, is it lets some of the most innovative creators out there create the content that they’re passionate about. For as little as $5 (the “Behind the Masc PDF” pledge level), we’ll get content from Eli Eaton, Patrick Lickman, Raiden Otto, Adrian Heise, Lemmo Pew, Alex McConnaughey, Lawrence Gullo, Brie Sheldon, and Tracy Barnett for D&D 5e, Powered by the Apocalypse, Monsterhearts 2, and more.
It’s a lot of good creators doing their thing with a low cost of entry and I’m eager to see it happen!
“A variety of layered Pride themed polyhedral dice sets for board games & RPG games.
Hello, we’re HeartBeat Dice and with your help we’d like to help bring your Pride to the gaming table with these 6 Pride Sets!
After the overwhelming success of HD’s Rainbow Dice Set we decided to expand our range of colors so that everyone could have a set to call their own but with a unique twist. In lieu of the 20 on the d20 we’ve made it a heart, because love always crits!
This first Kickstarter project will be very simple and straightforward. Below are the 6 sets we’ll be offering for this campaign and yes, Lesbian Dice are going to be included in this roster. The final design will be shared once our prototypes are in-hand.
Rainbow Pride Set
11pc set
Transgender Pride Dice
11pc set
Pansexual Pride Set
11pc set
Asexual Pride Set
11pc set (As an additonal note the purple will be darker in the final design)
Bisexual Pride Set
11pc set
Lesbian Pride Set
11pc set
With your help and support we can continue to expand our line of dice to include more Pride Flags and other themed sets in the future.
UPDATE** As a thank you to everyone who has backed our project we’d like to also announce every order of dice will include a free HeartBeat Dice Bag!”
Egg’s Thoughts:
These dice look perfect for any game, and they’re inspiring. I appreciate the set including 4d6. For gaming, that’s what I want to see in every dice set! I am glad to see this project receiving so much attention (it’ll exceed $100,000 easily).
“A PbtA Tabletop RPG about traveling to other worlds, the bonds we have with other people, and how we’re stronger for them.
Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined is a tabletop RPG about our connections with other people, the power we draw from those connections, and traveling to different worlds.
For those that don’t know, a Powered by the Apocalypse Engine game is a roleplaying game that utilizes playbooks for characters, rolls using 2d6 plus your stat, and is generally a more narrative then crunchy roleplaying game. See Monster of the Week, Monsterhearts, or The Sprawl for other examples.
In Interstitial, you will travel through the barriers between Worlds with your party. You’ll meet new friends, enemies, teachers and learn about yourself. You will also be able to visit and partake in events in your favorite intellectual properties or your own worlds ala Kingdom Hearts. In short; Take two worlds that don’t fit each other, smash them together, wipe away the dust and find out how they do.
Think of this game as a vehicle for you to play out Fanfiction. You control the story, either with your self-insert or another canon character from a different property just smashed into this other one.
The stories this game tells are invoking the tone and emotions of Kingdom Hearts, Super Smash Bros Brawl’s Subspace Emmisary, and Comic Crossovers/Events.
The Link System is the load-bearing mechanic of this game. It is used to represent the connections we have with others, and it boils them down into four different categories: Light, Dark, Mastery, and Heart.
A Light link is all about positive relationships we have with others. They’re our friendships, our loves, some of our families, and anyone who helps lift you up in times of need. An example of this would be Luke and Leia.
Dark links are representative of rivals, enemies, and relationships that are overall negative. People who approach you in an antagonistic way, bullies, some of our families. They try to drag you down to their level. An example of this would be Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.
Mastery links paint the picture of teacher-student relationships. Anyone trying to teach or learn has Mastery Links. Students, journeymen, cruel witches, and henchmen are all examples of those in a mastery link relationship. Mr. Miyagi and Daniel would have a Mastery Link.
Finally, Heart links are the most complicated of all. They are how we view ourselves and things we decide about our own being by watching other people. If you looked at someone’s failure and said “I won’t make that same mistake.”, that’s a Heart link. If someone came to you in a time when you were faltering and watching them made you make the right decision, then that’s a Heart Link. Bucky has a Heart link with Captain America.
Art by Shannon Manor for The Mystic, Minit.
You gain links in play by rolling the Make a Link move, and adding the stat that you want to classify the link as. So if you met an NPC and after a first impression the two of you are bickering, you’d roll a Dark link.
These links don’t need to be the same in both directions, relationships are complicated things, and not everyone sees them in the same way. They can change over time, sometimes grow stronger and sometimes fade away entirely. But while we have a link with another person, we can draw power from it.
In game, you can spend Links to activate moves, gain advantage on rolls, and all in all mimic how you and other players know each other and react to each other. Each individual playbook also has a Link Move, so every time you successfully make a Link, your Link Move goes off, and effects the game in some way.
The game comes with 9 Playbooks to start. Each playbook will have playbook specific moves and their Link move.
This is a WIP shot of the Playtest materials. It does NOT SHOW THE FINISHED PRODUCT
The Playbooks are all dramatically different yet can work together in any combination you put them in. Interstitial comes with the following nine unique playbooks:
The Chosen: The class that is your base form “protagonist”. The mechanics of this book help you assist your friends in big set pieces and fights.
The Connected: This represents the allies you’d gain from world to world, and allows you to change your character in each new world, should you choose to.
The Dark: Every party needs a dark force looming over them, and sometimes you want to play that force. If manipulation is your game, or if maybe you are a three-stage boss fight, this is the book for you.
The Discarded: If there’s a chosen, there’s someone who feels like they were looked over for the role. They take that disappointment, that resentment, and channel it into their combat.
The Displaced: As worlds sink into the darkness, people get taken and removed from their homes. These people end up somewhere different, and are trying to get their wits about them.
The Friend: Just like every story needs a hero and a villain, it needs a friend. Someone to be there and help strengthen the party in times of stress and help them overcome their fears.
The Light: The Light is all about creating Heart links with others and leveraging those. They anchor people down and help them find their way home in the darkness.
The Mystic: You know what’s best for everyone, even if they don’t quite know it themselves. The Mystic is all about keeping secrets, saving people, and sometimes making the hard choices no one else wants to make.
The Other: You aren’t the original one, you aren’t the first. People discount you and don’t believe in you and push you to the sidelines. This playbook comes with a feature that gives you a Counterpart that is the real you.”
Character Art for the Dark by Shannon Manor, Auxiliary Concern.
Egg’s Thoughts:
This game is open to everyone, it’s fueled by interpersonal relationships using the Powered by the Apocalypse system. There’s a lot of potential to create unique worlds and situations without the stress of ensuring your characters are high enough level to dish out the violence. This is adventures over brawls. As with the other products on this list, this game allows everyone to play and have a good time.
Since moving my “
Status: Recruiting
Status: Funding
Status: Funding
Status: Creating
“We are really excited about working with Alan and 
