3 RPG Kickstarters You Should Back – Atmar’s Cardography, Era: The Chosen, and HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN FANTASY RPG ADVENTURES AND SELL THEM

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.

 

HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN FANTASY RPG ADVENTURES AND SELL THEM by Dark by Dezign (DriveThruRPG or Open Gaming Store)
Ends on Fri, September 14 2018 2:00 PM EDT.

Disclaimer: I am a creator on this book.

 

“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 DriveThruRPG here or at the OpenGamingStore here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

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Era: The Chosen – A Horror RPG: Defend our dimension! by Shades of Vengeance
Ends on Sun, September 16 2018 4:30 PM EDT.

 

“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...
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.
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 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.”

 

Egg’s Thoughts:

 

For those of you that have read my interviews over the years, you know I’ve followed Ed Jowett for a long time and interviewed him about Era: Balam, Era: The Consortium, Era: The Empowered, and Battlecruiser Alamo RPG (Powered by Era d10). For Era: The Chosen, I spoke with him here. If you’re on the fence about a horror RPG that runs across centuries, try his interview.

 

You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

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Atmar’s Cardography: Full RPG Modules & Random Dungeon Decks by Norse Foundry
Ends on Tue, September 18 2018 9:00 PM EDT.

 

“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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

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Disclosures: This article contains affiliate links.

Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer™
Freelancer for EN WorldKnights of the Dinner TableOpen Gaming Network, and the Tessera Guild.
Want your RPG Kickstarter reviewed? Want to share news? Press releases? Rumors? Sneak peeks? Deals? Have some RPG wanna-lancer thoughts to share? Contact me here or on Facebook (Egg Embry) or on Google Plus (+Egg Embry).

8 Questions with Ed Jowett (Shades of Vengeance) about Era: The Chosen

I’ve interviewed Ed Jowett of Shades of Vengeance four times before, each one about one of his games – Era: Balam, Era: The Consortium, and Era: The Empowered on the Tessera Guild as well as Battlecruiser Alamo RPG (Powered by Era d10) on the Open Gaming Network, so it only makes sense to talk to Ed about his latest RPG on Kickstarter, Era: The Chosen. As you can see from the title of games, they are rooted in the same system, yet cover a lot of ground because Ed is one of the hardest working folks in RPG.

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 d10 Rule 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!

Our world is not safe. It is besieged by creatures from another dimension...

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 JOWETTEra: 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!

"Creepy alien starfish... why did it have to be creepy alien starfish?" - Kevin Kutlesa

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 JOWETTEra: 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

Chike - “Understanding is the key to survival, and not accepting preset biological limits is the key to victory.”

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?

ED JOWETT – You can join us right here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadesofvengeance/era-the-chosen-a-horror-rpg-defend-our-dimension-0?ref=9nc0yr

Thank you very much for reading and I hope you will consider supporting Era: The Chosen!

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CREATE YOUR OWN FANTASY RPG ADVENTURE – RPG RESOURCES BOOKS by Dark by Dezign (DriveThruRPG or Open Gaming Store)
Ends on Fri, September 14 2018 2:00 PM EDT.

Disclaimer: I am a creator on this project.
“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 DriveThruRPG here or at the OpenGamingStore here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

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Disclosures: This article contains affiliate links.

Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer™
Freelancer for EN WorldKnights of the Dinner TableOpen Gaming Network, and the Tessera Guild.
Want your RPG Kickstarter reviewed? Want to share news? Press releases? Rumors? Sneak peeks? Deals? Have some RPG wanna-lancer thoughts to share? Contact me here or on Facebook (Egg Embry) or on Google Plus (+Egg Embry).