The same day that I noticed the Kickstarter for AndoCon 2018 in Atlanta, I read that the Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse RPG Kickstarter was also based out of Atlanta, and, while talking with David Silva of Metahumans Rising recently, it turned out he’d been in Georgia for 17 years (he’s in Vegas now). That got me to wondering, are there enough tabletop games/products on Kickstarter to warrant an article about my state? You’ll have to judge for yourself, but here’s a sampling of what gaming Georgia has to offer on Kickstarter.
4) Dangerous Places: Illustrated cards to inspire adventure by Steven and Amanda
Ends on Fri, October 27 2017 9:53 PM EDT
“A set of 30 5″x7” two-sided illustrated cards. Minimalist art and prompts help you quickly create engaging stories and RPG side quests.
Draw a card to create a story-rich adventure in an instant
Over 30 beautifully illustrated cards to inspire new adventures. The fastest way to get lost in a story world of your own design. We just give you a little creative spark.
- Quickly create side-quests or ad-hoc campaigns by using the Mysteries and Conflicts on the back of each card
- Dangerous Places cards allow you to “render” new areas so that your player characters can actually wander outside of your planned adventure.
- Lay out the cards in a grid to rapidly create a world map
- Or just use the art to give life to your own adventures and writing”
Egg’s Thoughts:
“You can download free high res samples of our prototype cards here:
Those samples give you a solid idea of what is being offered. Each card has several high level ideas for adventures. They’re system agnostic and broad enough to spark a variety of quests. As a quick GM tool, they’re an interesting asset and worth exploring if those samples moved you.
Find their Kickstarter here.
3) Demons: The 9th Circle of Hell UNLEASHED!!! by Award Winning Games
Ends on Tue, October 31 2017 11:59 PM EDT (Ends on Halloween… I see what they did there…)
“A card based, role playing, kingdom building, adventure game with dice. The best of everything all under one apocalyptic roof!
Key Features:
A high fantasy in-depth adventure for gamers and non-gamers alike.1-8+ players best with 2-6. Playtime: Customizable -Standard game is 60-90 minutes otherwise.
50 unique instances to explore, all with their own story and game dynamics. A real adventure in a box! Your adventure will include, but is not limited to: Angry Yeti’s, Fire Breathing Spider Kites (see Jorogumo, the Yokai from Japanese mythology), and a whole plethora of horribly gruesome ways to die.
Takes less than 5 minutes to set up and learn.
Unlimited re-play value! The starting keeps will change your opening play style, the random instances really mix up the middle, and the demon lord changes the end goal, story, and win conditions. A high fantasy adventure that will keep you coming back for more.
Also including some of the most horribly interesting traditional demons from history!There’s even one that comes in riding a crocodile carrying a hawk! …sadly the crocodile does not have laser beams on its head.. Yet. Stay tuned for the next expansion! Agares 2.0
Semi-competitive or Cooperative. Can be played semi-competitively (Kind of like Gimli and Legolas during the Battle for Helms Deep) Or full on co-operatively.. where if your teammate is not doing well.. you should probably help them or you’re all probably going to die.
It’s customizable. You can make it harder or easier, longer or shorter, and expand it as you see fit and even change up the rules to give the game a different feel. So stay tuned for lots of great extras. I’m even currently working on a way to extend your campaign, so after you beat back the forces of hell and save the world.. you can push through the gate into the fiery underworld and bring the fight to them!”
Egg’s Thoughts:
This ends on Halloween, that’s how on point Aaron Antonich of Award Winning Games [the company name is prediction over track record] is with this game. Is this “card based, role playing, kingdom building, adventure game with dice” right for you? That’s a lot of ground to cover but, you can check out an early version of the game rules here and decide if they are right for your table.
Find their Kickstarter here.
2) Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse by Shoreless Skies Publishing
Ends on Thu, November 2 2017 11:22 AM EDT
“An RPG of Mice and their Motorcycle Clubs
Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse (HMTM) is a tabletop roleplaying game where you and your friends make your mice, found your club, and hit the streets. These are mice with the gusto to build their own motorcycles and set off into an intimidating world where they are outsized, but never outclassed.
HMTM uses the rules of Fate to tell stories about the drama of city mice and their motorcycle clubs. It’s an RPG that works best with 2-5 players (plus the GM). It’s fit for episodic play (sessions last about 3-4 hours) and epic campaigns!
Your stories are set in Thunder City, USA, a fictitious city of the real world. For small creatures existing in a place which doesn’t belong to them, these stories will be filled with the drama of their lives, and the trouble, both inside and outside, of a biker gang. Will your gang be Robin Hood-like doers of good, springing cheese from unwatched refrigerators and delivering it to needy widows, or will you be thugs and thieves exploiting the weak? Your mouse, your bike, and your gang all belong to you and the stories you tell at your table.
Thunder City & Its Gangs
Thunder City is home to the only mice in the world who have figured out combustion engines. Since that time they’ve organized themselves into clubs and gone about their business, often bumping into one another in conflicts over cheese and territory. There are:
- The Spanner Murine Motorcycle Club: The finest mechanics and the most arrogant gang in the city. They’re snooty little mice but they can back it up, or so they say.
- The Asphalt Avengers: If speed had a fan club it would be these crazed rodents. Their whole club life is based around the next incredible kick, and not much else. It’s high a velocity life for them.
- The Bardlings: Not all clubs are about territory and “business”; some simply want freedom from the usual mouse’s life of scrounging and fretting. So the Bardlings are just that, strumming their matchbox guitars and beating thimble-sized bongos late into the night.
- Plus the Ocho Necro, The Wailing Sisters, and more!
Besides the mice, there are territorial felines, chipmunk toughs, crabby crabs, Old Jerry (the graying German Shepherd who guards the ever-important docks), and a whole city full of colorful critters ready to add drama to your stories. With these wheels in motion there is no choice but fun and adventure and gang life.
The Rules of Fate
Mechanically, HMTM uses a slightly modified version of the rules of the Fate Core system. Aspects and fudge dice are still key here, but the character sheet has been modified to look more like a playbook that you might see in a Powered By The Apocalypse game (check out the mockup here). In addition, the rules for Factions (by Mark Diaz Truman) have been adapted to fit this murine setting and applied to tiny motorcycle clubs. The result is a game that will be totally familiar to Fate players, but with a few twists that feel fresh!”
Egg’s Thoughts:
I’m a fan of the Mouse Guard comics and RPG, and I’ve reviewed Vasty Wilds because it had an art style similar to David Peterson’s work, so Heavy Metal Thunder Mouse – mice on motorcycles using a variant FATE engine – was always going to pique my interest. The concept is fun and whimsical enough that, like Craig Campbell said in the Kickstarter video, “I’m, frankly, a little upset I didn’t come up with the idea first.” I think you know that your collection will not be complete without this game on your shelf!
[Egg’s Note – “Was that a mouse on a motorcycle?”
Every time my father farted, that was his joke. I needed to put that one down for my history’s sake and because it’s been rattling around in my head since I saw this Kickstarter. You’re welcome.]
Find their games on DriveThruRPG here.
Find their Kickstarter here.
1) AndoCon 2018 by AndoCon (It’s an Atlanta gaming convention)
Ends on Thu, November 2 2017 9:00 PM EDT
“AndoCon 2018 is an Atlanta-based gaming convention focused on gaming and the geeky lifestyle.
What is AndoCon?
AndoCon is a 3-day gaming convention in Atlanta, Georgia. It will be held Friday thru Sunday, March 9th-11th, 2018 at the Atlanta Marriott Peachtree Corners. This is our fifth convention and we’re dedicated to making it bigger and better than the first four. And you can be part of that!
AndoCon focuses on gaming and the geeky life. We specialize in tabletop gaming of all sorts — board games, card games, roleplaying games – combining these with a variety of other events and a friendly, welcoming atmosphere to create an enjoyable experience for everyone.
If you’d like to attend, simply buy a badge and come game and hang out with us in March. Badge prices will go up after the Kickstarter. Plus, there are things you can get now through the Kickstarter that won’t be available later. Finally, by pledging to the Kickstarter, you can help build the AndoCon community now, which will make for a better convention for everyone later!
Thanks for checking out our Kickstarter. We hope to see you in March.
What Can I Do at AndoCon?
There are many ways to get your Ando on at AndoCon. Here’s just some of what’s going on. As we nail down more specifics, we’ll update this page and provide continued event announcements at AndoCon.org.
- Play board games and card games
- Play roleplaying games, including D&D Adventurer’s League
- Attend game shows, courtesy of Florida Whammy Entertainment
- Meet and game with our special guests
- Shop the dealer room with games and other great stuff for purchase
- Participate in gaming and geek life panels
- Special events (TBD)
- Attend a live recording of the NerdBurger Podcast, where you can even get on the mic and share your geekiness with everyone.
Why We’re Using Kickstarter
For three years, AndoCon got a great rate at its former venue, in part because we were new to the local gaming scene. We’ve grown, and that’s a good thing. But it also means we needed to find a new venue, which we have. And now that AndoCon is bigger than ever, the cost to rent space at a great venue is higher.
Additionally, being bigger and better incurs additional behind-the-scenes, organizational costs. And it costs money to bring back to AndoCon some of the great guests and events we’ve all enjoyed in the past.
Getting funds locked into place earlier is absolutely essential to being able to set up and run everything as smoothly as possible, which in turn will give you a better experience.
Special Guests
So who are these special guests we talk about? Here’s who we have on the slate right now. More will be added as we square things away with folks.
- Kevin Lanzing, designer of the Flashpoint: Fire Rescue board game, recently featured on Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop series
- David Lupo, designer of the Addictive Alchemy card game
- Craig Campbell, designer of the Murders & Acquisitions RPG
- Derek Kamal, designer of The Dig RPG and author of Homes
- James Dawsey of Vigilance Press and creator of the Tianxia RPG
- Jason Stone, board game designer, creator of (among others) Five Golden Rings
- Marco Leon, designer of the Enter the Shadowside RPG
- And more to come…
AndoCon prides itself on supporting local, indie game developers. Several of our special guests are from the Atlanta area.”
Egg’s Thoughts:
A part of this article is built on an idea my editor at EN World, Christopher Helton, shared here.
“…a thriving local/regional gaming scene supported by thriving, growing conventions means that there are going to be more gamers in an area. More gamers is always a win. It means more people to potentially game with, as well as more customers for the industry. More customers means that the industry has more money to play with when it comes to making things for all of us. Conventions, gamers, customers, and publishers. All of this is interrelated, and more of one thing leads to more of another.“
Every Kickstarter featured in this post are Georgia games or Georgia products or a Georgia gaming convention. Singularly, these are games worth checking out. Collectively, these are opportunities to grow the local gaming community, to be the answer to Christopher Helton’s call to action. My hope is that sharing space in an article will start not just the subjects of this post but the wider gaming world to think locally and work to increase the size of the gaming table! There are topics to discuss and ideas to share and, maybe, the chance that we can try some face-to-face support that will raise all ships.
Find their Kickstarter here.
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Signal Boost:
My gaming preference is RPG. That said, I want to shout out some other non-RPG gaming Georgia projects.
The 1998 Deck : Hip Hop Playing Cards by The 1998 Deck ( Hip-Hop Playing Cards )
Ends on Sun, October 8 2017 12:57 AM EDT.
“The 1998 Deck is a deck that merges nostalgic 90s hip-hop with a deck of playing cards. Play poker with the Gods of Rap!
Hey Guys!
Thanks for taking the time to take a look at my little project! This is The 1998 Deck. It’s a deck of cards that marries nostalgic 90s Hip Hop to your favorite card game. My name is Khia Jackson, I’m a graphic designer based in Atlanta. The first leg of this project has already been completed, and I’ve been truly floored by the positive responses and the love that it has elicited from all parts of the world. The 1998 deck is a 4-part series that uses legendary Hip Hop artists as it’s imagery, but still follows the size and layout guidelines of official poker cards.
I’ve created The Biggie Deck (see the video). Now i’m trying to mass produce The Nas Deck. In each of the decks the legendary rappers shift their position and the artwork evolves. So, when the series of 4 is finally completed, Biggie Smalls will be the King of ‘Spades’, ‘Clubs’, ‘Diamonds’ and ‘Hearts’; all with different coloration and design variations. This deck was created with Spades players in mind. In this iteration of the deck, Nas leads as the power card when he becomes the King of Spades. However, because this deck follows standard guidelines, it can be used for any of your favorite card games.
Here is where I need your help! I need money to produce the deck and to get it shipped. I have exhausted over 300 hours of design work to create the Biggie deck alone! This project is a true labor of love. I’m pushed by my passion for the project and fueled by the people who have told me they’ve used my artwork to unwind after a stressful week.
WHY 1998?: I had to figure out how to narrow down amongst the all of the legendary artists in hip hop. It was clear to me that the biggest rivalries in Hip Hop’s history had to be illustrated. After all…card games are a battle. One day I ran across an old Magazine cover. It had Foxy Brown, Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill and Lil Kim on it. Perfect! I’d wanted it to be within the Biggie / Tupac era and I needed to find four powerful women for all my queens. I told myself whatever year was on the spine of that magazine would underline the deck. And so, The 1998 Deck was born.”
Find their Kickstarter here.
The Hobby Equipment Organizer – THEO by Impudent Mortal
Ends on Sun, October 15 2017 9:59 AM EDT.
“Impudent Mortal has redefined hobby organization with a system for all of your tools, paint, and bits that is both modular and mobile!
Say hello to The Hobby Equipment Organizer, or as we like to call it, THEO!
We know that staying organized isn’t the easiest and not all of us have large enough hobbies areas. So we came up with a solution that not only keeps you organized and saves space, but is also modular so it can grow with you, and mobile allowing you to take your hobby wherever you’d like to go!”
Find their Kickstarter here.
Not quite Georgia but David Silva was here for nearly two decades, so…
Metahumans Rising RPG Redux by House Dok Productions
Ends on .
“Metahumans Rising is a tabletop role-playing game (RPG) embodying the drama, creativity and action of the superhero genre.”
You can read my interview with Dave Silva here.
You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPG here.
You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.
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Want your RPG Kickstarter reviewed? Have some RPG wanna-lancer thoughts to share? Contact me here or on Facebook (Egg Embry) or on Google Plus (+Egg Embry).
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to DriveThruRPG.com and Amazon.com.
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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!
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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 available at DriveThruRPG.com – Writer
- Ember Design Studios’ Yrisa’s Nightmare for 5e and Pathfinder available at DriveThurRPG.com – Writer
- Ember Design Studios’ Rats in the Street for 5e and Pathfinder available at DriveThurRPG.com – Writer & Artist
- Kobold Press’ Tome of Beasts for 5e available at KoboldPress.com – Playtester
- Kobold Press’ Deep Magic 9: Ring Magic (5e) available at KoboldPress.com – Playtester
- EN World’ Gaming at the Kids’ Table Column – Journalist
- Total Party Kill Games’ Slaughter at Splinterfang Gorge – Writer
- Total Party Kill Games’ Fifth Edition Fighter Folio – Writer
- MidCity Comics’ Soon-to-be-Announced Comic Book Mini-Series – Writer
Want your RPG Kickstarter reviewed? Have some RPG wanna-lancer thoughts to share? Contact me here or on Facebook (Egg Embry) or on Google Plus (+Egg Embry).
