My goal? To write tabletop role-playing games professionally.
My plan? To pledge for RPG Kickstarters that let me write as a reward.
My reality? I pay-to-play to build my resume.
So far, I discussed my contribution – monetary and writing-wise – to the Kickstarter for Sasquatch Game Studio’s 5e campaign setting on Kickstarter Reward Level: Vanity Press – Primeval Thule. If my path inspires you to do the same – buy writing credits – then here are some of the RPG vanity press rewards currently on Kickstarter.
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Luminous Echo (D&D 5E, Anima, Pathfinder compatible) by Project Lux
Wen-M art for Luminous Echo (D&D 5E, Anima, Pathfinder compatible)
Kickstarter campaign ends on Friday, September 30th, 2016 at 11:07 EDT in the morning.
Their pitch:
“Luminous Echo is a world containing ten years’ worth of lore, characters, artifacts, and amazing weapons by world renowned artist Wen-M.
One world, forever divided into two realms. The Dream World, a realm of magic, immortality, and mysteries. Mhodica, a realm of solid matter, stone, and certainties. For as long as either realm could remember, they were precious little more than myth to each other.
Though once stories of witches, wizards, ghosts and goblins were considered nothing more than stories to frighten small children, the age of certainty is coming to an end. A darkness is stirring which threatens to shatter the equilibrium of the two realms forever.
The only way to avert this catastrophe is for the people of Mhodica to accept the existence of magic, and for the people of the Dream World to accept that the world of Mhodica exists for something more than their own amusement.
Luminous Echo is half art book showcasing the work of Wen-M and half an outline of the world, as well as many characters, weapons, stories, and places.
They set the stage for those who purchase the book to create a variety of adventures in the RPG system of their choosing.”
Egg’s thoughts:
Why would you want to be in this book? It’s so pretty! So, so pretty! You will be happy with the words but even happier with the art! A huge incentive to pledge for their vanity press option is that Wen-M, this project’s artist, will draw a picture of what you write about and you get to keep the sketch.
Need another perk? It will be available for D&D 5e, Pathfinder, and Anima gaming systems. More systems = more exposure.
More Wen-M art for Luminous Echo (D&D 5E, Anima, Pathfinder compatible)
Their vanity press rewards:
“Pledge $350 CAD or more
ABOUT $271 USD
Custom Designed Weapon
You will receive all rewards in the “Signed Book and All Printouts” tier + custom designed weapon in full color with short story in the book, with the signed original sketch from Wen-M.
INCLUDES
- Your name in the credits
- Digital Sketchbook
- PDF book
- Hardcover Book – Signed
- All 11″ x 17″ Prints – Signed
- Your custom designed weapon in the book
- Original sketch of your custom designed weapon – Signed”
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“Pledge $750 CAD or more
ABOUT $580 USD
Custom Designed Creature
You will receive all rewards in the “Signed Book and All Printouts” tier + custom designed creature in full color with short story in the book, with the signed original sketch from Wen-M.
INCLUDES
- Your name in the credits
- Digital Sketchbook
- PDF book
- Hardcover Book – Signed
- All 11″ x 17″ Prints – Signed
- Your custom designed creature in the book
- Original sketch of your custom designed creature – Signed”
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“Pledge $1,600 CAD or more
ABOUT $1,238 USD
Custom Designed Hero
You will receive all rewards in the “Signed Book and All Printouts” tier + custom designed hero in full color with short story in the book, with the signed original sketch from Wen-M.
INCLUDES
- Your name in the credits
- Digital Sketchbook
- PDF book
- Hardcover Book – Signed
- All 11″ x 17″ Prints – Signed
- Your custom designed hero in the book
- Original sketch of your custom designed hero – Signed”
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“Pledge $5,000 CAD or more
ABOUT $3,868 USD
Custom Designed Clan/Family
You will receive all rewards in the “Signed Book and All Printouts” tier Build your landmark in the setting with this custom designed clan with a Clan Emblem of your design, and up to 5 characters with their stories in the book!
INCLUDES
- Your name in the credits
- Digital Sketchbook
- PDF book
- Hardcover Book – Signed
- All 11″ x 17″ Prints – Signed
- Your custom designed Clan/Family in the book
- Original sketches of your custom designed clan/family – Signed”
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Slaughter at Splinterfang Gorge (5e, Pathfinder)
Slaughter at Splinterfang Gorge (5e, Pathfinder) by TPK Games
Kickstarter campaign ends on Sunday, September 25th, 2016 at 5:11 EDT in the morning.
Their pitch:
“Author William “Mindflayer” Tucker (Kenzer and Co.), brings his brand of danger to TPK Games in the form of two great adventures.
Two Dark Fantasy Adventures, Two Great Systems, Just in Time for Halloween!
We are looking for your support to help us publish two great dark fantasy 64-page adventures for the Pathfinder and 5e Dungeons & Dragons games. We love both systems and will be dual-statting the adventures so no matter which is your favorite, we’ll have you covered. Your investment will help us bring more art and layout to the project.
It is well known that Total Party Kill Games brings the pain on dark fantasy adventures, so you won’t be disappointed in either of these new titles.”
More art from Slaughter at Splinterfang Gorge (5e, Pathfinder)
Egg’s thoughts:
Two modules for D&D 5e and Pathfinder. The main one is all sorts of bugbear goodness! Can’t go wrong with bugbears!
(Bugbears, they look NOTHING like the name implies… NOTHING!)
This Kickstarter campaign does not have a vanity press option. However, it does have four print advertisement pages. The reward offers ad space for your gaming-related project. With four days to go, they had all four print ad pages left so I took a chance and contacted Brian Berg (Slaughter at’s co-creator). I asked if I could take one of those four print pages for $100 and, instead of submitting an ad, submit a monster or magic item or whatever would fit into their module. He said yes. That made my day!
Their vanity press reward (technically none so please read the section above and reach out to TPK Games before deciding to pledge the $100 level expecting to write something):
“$100 or more
Print Advertiser
We’ll place your PRINT AD in our adventure books. This advertisement must be gaming related. We reserve the right to refund your money and not run your ad based on content.”
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Closing thoughts:
Both of these projects are going to be fun. I’ve already pledged for Slaughter at Splinterfang Gorge and will document what comes of the pledge in the months to come. Review them both with a thought toward your name on the credit’s page.
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Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer
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:
Sasquatch Game Studio’s Primeval Thule for 5e (2015) available at DriveThruRPG.com
Tessera – A Creative Guild is:
