PRESS RELEASE – SURVIVE THIS!! Dark Places & Demogorgons: The Cryptid Manual Coming to Kickstarter

On January 15th, 2019 Bloat Games will launch their 5th RPG Kickstarter for SURVIVE THIS!! Dark Places & Demogorgons: The Cryptid Manual. This will be the 3rd Kickstarter from the SURVIVE THIS!! line, created by Bloat Games founder, Eric Bloat, in 2015 and the 2nd in the Dark Places & Demogorgons series (Created by Eric Bloat and Josh Palmer). All of Bloat Games previous Kickstarters have funded, including their most recent Kickstarter, SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City, which funded at nearly $13,000.

Bloat Games will be using Drivethrurpg for both digital and physical fulfillment.

The Cryptid Manual is Bloat Games first exclusively Bestiary/Monster Manual type of product. However, instead of using the same monsters that find their ways into most Bestiaries, for the Cryptid Manual, Bloat Games focused on highlighting the creatures of Cryptozoology from all around the world. If you’ve ever wanted to run your players against a Big Foot, a Lake Monster, The Mothman or Jersey Devil, then this supplement will be a must have. While the Cryptid Manual was created for Dark Places & Demogorgon it can easily be used with any OSR game, with very little conversion needed by the DM.

The physical book will be approximately 90 pages, full color, digest size (6×9) and available in hard cover and softcover.
https://bloatgames.squarespace.com/cryptidmanualpressrelease/

PRESS RELEASE – Join Ulisses North America’s latest Kickstarter for Torg Eternity: The Nile Empire!

Join Ulisses North America’s latest Kickstarter for Torg EternityThe Nile Empire!
 
Battle against High Lord Mobius and his terrifying shocktroopers across a realm of thrilling heroics, dastardly villains, and the heightened action and drama of pulp serials!
Join the ranks of the heroic Mystery Men with new archetypes and character options!
Start your adventure with the Fires of Ra campaign module, the shorter Delphi Missions, written by various unlocked celebrity authors, or the just-announced Relics of Power: Act 1, a reboot of everyone’s favorite classic Torg campaign!

PRESS RELEASE – Epic campaign for Mutant: Year Zero revealed in the Elysium Kickstarter – The Grey Death

Free League Publishing

Epic campaign for Mutant: Year Zero revealed in the Elysium Kickstarter – The Grey Death

Free League Publishing – Nov 28, 2018 14:30 GMT

A new power is rising in the Zone. A disciplined fighting force, calling itself the Army of the Dawn, has recently seized land and established outposts in the Zone. Who controls the Army of the Dawn and what are they truly after?

MUTANT: THE GREY DEATH is an epic campaign for the award-winning tabletop RPG Mutant: Year Zero where mutants, animals, robots and humans must set their differences aside and work together to face a threat that could change the Dawnworld forever.

The adventure has been added as a brand-new stretch goal that is part of the current Mutant: ElysiumKickstarter by Free League Publishing.

The Grey Death adds an over-arching metaplot for Mutant: Year Zero and the stand-alone expansions Genlab Alpha, Mechatron and Elysium and brings them into a larger narrative. The adventure is written by Michael Petersén, one of the original game writers of the first Mutant RPG and is an homage to a classic campaign published in the 1980s.

If the stretch goal is reached, backers of Mutant: Elysium will get The Grey Death as well, in PDF or as a printed hardback book.

Read more about the Mutant: Elysium kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/mutant-elysium-roleplaying-humanitys-final-fall

Watch the Mutant: Elysium trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvc_v04GaYQ

Share on social media

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin

Kickstart the Comic – Mine To Avenge: Book of Layla #1

Ancient evils… this normally lends itself to fantasy style settings, or maybe some kind of urban fantasy where there is something that will destroy all that you hold dear.

But what if there was a group who had to ensure the evil remained put down? What if you were recruited into such a group? And what if you realized that the shadow war you never believed in was very, very real?

***

Mine to Avenge: Book of Layla #1

Creator/Writer – Robert Jeffrey II

Artist -Matteo Illuminati

Colorist/Letterer – Loris Ravina

 

Kickstarter Campaign ends on Saturday, December 15, 2018 at 3:43 PM EST.

***

The Pitch:

In a time of technological marvels, an ancient evil rises.

 

The Story:

The  little  girl  who  escaped  the  demonic  forces  which  occupied  the  LaLaurie  New  Orleans  mansion  on  a  sunny  day  in  1833,  though,  called  it  something  else:  the  site  of  a  rebirth.  The  little  girl  swore  on  that  day  that  she  would  never  be  anyone  else’s  victim,  and  so  began  a  centuries  long  campaign  of  bloody  revenge.  The  Retribution  Cabal  (RC)  was  born,  protecting  only  those  descendants  of  America’s original sin.  

Now  on  a  cyberpunk  stage  where  technological  wonders  leave  no  place  for  creatures  of  legend,  the  LaLauries  and  their  denizens  reappear,  continuing  their  blood-soaked  quest  for  obtaining  ultimate  power.  Time  will  tell  if  the  remaining  members  of  the  fractured  Cabal  can  stand  as  the  bulwark  between  humanity  and  the  rising  hordes  of  darkness.

John’s Thoughts:

Robert Jeffrey II was a regular contributor to TesseraGuild, where he talked about comics and sci-fi and Sliders (he and I have talked many times about Sliders!). I know that he eats, breathes, and everything else comics. For a long time, we’d tease him by saying “Robert, you’re are on the cusp! Just have some patience.”

Well, in my opinion, he’s no longer on the cusp. He has made it big time, and with this comic, it will only further his empire!

 

The Rewards:

Since this is issue #1 of the comic book, you have the entry-level tiers: Digital ($5), Physical ($10), and then starting at $25 you can either get an alternate cover or a print. On the higher end, you can potentially get a cameo appearance in issue #2 ($100) or you can go BIG and become a character within the story for issues 2-5 ($500).

The Verdict:

Look… if Robert writes it, I’m buying it. That’s been my attitude since I first met him. You should do yourself a favor and check it out.

Plus I’m a sucker for stories which bring that centuries old grudge to bear all over again and again and again and…

***

To find out more about Mine to Avenge: Book of Layla #1, check out the Kickstarter Page here.

***

John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. The Trade paperback collecting the first 4 issues is finally back from the printers! If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!

Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?

Click here to join John’s mailing list.

His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow EmpireBeyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.

He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com

Kickstart the Comic – Sorghum & Spear Fantasy Graphic Novel & Animation Short

It’s a strange thing to create a universe from the ground up. Gamers do it all the time without thinking twice about it. They love to explore lands never seen before. They want to introduce you to all manner of people and beasts. How man and machine interact. How man and magic are at odds.

So what other worlds have yet to be discovered?

Sorghum & Spear Graphic Novel by Dedren Snead and Welinthon Nommo

***

Sorghum & Spear – Fantasy Graphic Novel & Animation Short

Creator/Writer – Dedren Snead

Artist – Welinthon Nommo

 

Kickstarter Campaign ends on Friday, November 23, 2018 at 1:13 PM EST.

***

The Pitch:

SORGHUM AND SPEAR is an African fantasy saga about young girls called to serve their people in a time of war during their ages of innocence. For a young farm girl named NAMAZZI who dreams of escaping the sleepy farm village of her birth, her life would be forever changed the day that monsters came there to find her.

 

The Story:

SORGHUM AND SPEAR is centered around the lives and stories of a mythical race of warrior women, known as the AN’FRE, who fight against a legion of demons to protect a rare and ancient artifact known as the LIFESEED. Created and guided by a living goddess known as ESHE, THE ALL-MOTHER who wields the Lifeseed, they have found a rise in power of their foes known as the ABIKU.  The shifting tides of the FOREVER WAR now threatens to end their people, they call upon the last generation of girls to use their hidden powers and skills to save their world and their way of life. Each girl has their own voice and within the war’s final outcome, and their decisions will impact the fate of the ETERNAL REALM.

 

John’s Thoughts:

This is the second Kickstarter for Sorghum and Spear with the first one being for the very first issue. This one is much more adventurous as they are going for a three comic book-length graphic novel.

I was a contributor to the first Kickstarter (as well as an editor of sorts on the script – full disclosure). Even so, Dedren managed to create the entry point into a larger story with that initial tale that made me want to see how the world would open up. And if you’ve ever seen him at a convention, he always has so many prints of the characters… different interpretations of the heroes and villains of the stories. It’s almost as if his brain might explode without getting some of those ideas down. And I believe that is the kind of passion he has for the story itself.

Preparing for Battle by Welinthon Nommo

The Rewards:

There are a number of pledge levels that have some very unique rewards. Aside from the digital version ($10) or the Physical copy of the Graphic Novel ($30), you can help donate to the Ancholi Quarter in Uganda ($50). At $75 level you can get Ancient Coin Jewelry. While at $200 you get to be within the graphic novel.

And there are numerous others that I didn’t list, so do yourself a favor and scroll through the various options.

 

The Verdict:

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Nichelle Nichols was an Executive Producer on the project. I can’t wait for her to lend her talents to the animation.

The project is only a couple of days away from the end of its Kickstarter life and needs just over $2000 (at the time of this writing) to fully fund. If you check out the Kickstarter page, you can see that Dedren has plenty of guest artists on tap for potential alternate covers or new prints (or probably other things I’m overlooking). This is one of those projects where I believe that if enough eyeballs see it, there is no place to go but up.

Eshe the All-Mother by Sheeba Maya

***

To find out more about Sorghum and Spear, check out the Kickstarter Page here.

***

John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. The Trade paperback collecting the first 4 issues is finally back from the printers! If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!

Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?

Click here to join John’s mailing list.

His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow EmpireBeyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.

He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com

PRESS RELEASE – Kickstarter launched for MUTANT: ELYSIUM RPG – The Final Fall of Humanity

Free League Publishing

​Kickstarter launched for MUTANT: ELYSIUM RPG – The Final Fall of Humanity

Free League Publishing – Nov 20, 2018 13:10 GMT

When humanity falls, when nations and authorities collapse, only the most basic human bond remains – family. While the world burns, the powerful dynasties form a covenant called Elysium. Deep down in the bedrock, they build the enclave named Elysium I, designed to weather the long atomic winter. Decades later, Elysium I is a gilded prison, a lonely outpost in a sea of quiet destruction where fear and suspicion grow unchecked…

Prepare for the end of the world as you know it. Today marks the launch of the kickstarter of MUTANT: ELYSIUM. It is the third and final major expansion set in the universe of the award-winning postapocalyptic tabletop roleplaying game MUTANT: YEAR ZERO RPG created by Free League Publishing.

MUTANT: ELYSIUM AT KICKSTARTER:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/mutant-elysium-roleplaying-humanitys-final-fall

MUTANT: ELYSIYM KICKSTARTER TRAILER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zvc_v04GaYQ

MUTANT: ELYSIUM is fully playable as a standalone game and tells the origin story of the enclave humans, the last torchbearers of human civilization. In the huge underground enclave Elysium I, powerful Houses struggle for supremacy, oblivious to the looming threat that could bring humanity’s last bastion on Earth to its final downfall.

Get ready for the final fall of humanity!

ABOUT MUTANT: ELYSIUM

MUTANT: ELYSIUM, with art by acclaimed artists Simon Stålenhag and Reine Rosenberg and created by Free League, completes the Mutant: Year Zero quadrilogy of roleplaying games telling the full story of the postapocalyptic MUTANT universe. The stand-alone expansion, which also introduces non-mutant humans as a playable class in Mutant: Year Zero, includes:

  • ENCLAVE HUMANS – New rules for creating and playing enclave humans, including their web of contacts with rich and powerful allies.!
  • ELYSIUM I – A detailed description of Elysium I, the mother of all Elysium enclaves, including a full-color map.
  • GUARDIANS OF THE FALL – The complete campaign Guardians of the Fall, that will settle the final fate of the enclave.
  • ADAPTING TO LIFE IN THE ZONE – An overview of how the enclave humans can adapt to life in the Zone, and join the mutants, animals and robots of Mutant: Year Zero, Mutant: Genlab Alpha andMutant: Mechatron!

ABOUT MUTANT: ELYSIUM – THE STORY

In Elysium I, the Houses turn on each other and enclave workers begin to question their masters. After a violent confrontation, the ruling Houses create a force of judicators, with the authority to strike hard against anything that threatens order in the enclave.

You are one of these judicators. It is your duty to investigate crimes and impose the appropriate sentences. But never forget that your strongest loyalty is towards your family. You are the true heir of doom. When humanity sets foot on the surface again, it will be your House that leads the way into the new dawn. Your lineage. Your family.


ABOUT MUTANT: YEAR ZERO – ROLEPLAYING AT THE END OF DAYS

Mutant: Year Zero is the latest version of the classic Swedish tabletop roleplaying game Mutant, first published in 1984. The postapocalyptic game Mutant: Year Zero was named Best RPG at UK Games Expo 2015 and awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules at Gencon 2015.
The first major expansion was Mutant: Genlab Alpha, telling the story of the mutant animals. The second expansion was Mutant: Mechatron, launched earlier this year, introducing the robots into the Mutant universe.

Watch the Mutant: Year Zero trailer here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaD4BSoh81U

Praise for Mutant: Year Zero:

Awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules.

“Mutant: Year Zero blew me away on a personal level. I did not know of its existence, and suddenly I realise that I am holding a masterpiece, probably the best post-apocalyptic game on the market.”-RPG.Net Playtest Review

“The book and supporting products are high quality and it uses unique, quirky mechanics that really bring its themes of desperate survival to the forefront.”-The British Fantasy Society

“If you are into post-apocalypse RPGs you definitely should give Mutant a chance!”-Stargazer’s World

“Mutant: Year Zero is an exceptional roleplaying game, and if you’re the least interested in this kind of entertainment you should buy it immediately.” -The Piruett sf and fantasy blog

“This RPG is f***ing great and I recommend it to new gamers and veterans alike. Giving this game anything but the highest grade would be insane.” -The Kryokinesi gaming blog

“The rules support and create campaign play. Intrigues start, threats arise, opportunities and challenges appear, without the GM having to make it all up.” – The Fenix gaming magazine

[ If you want review copies or have interview requests, please e-mail: boel@frialigan.se ]

Free League Publishing is a Swedish publisher dedicated to speculative fiction. We have published several award-winning tabletop role-playing games and critically acclaimed art books set in strange and wondrous worlds.

The post-apocalyptic Mutant: Year Zero was awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules 2015. The sci-fi adventure Coriolis – The Third Horizon, was awarded a Judge’s Spotlight Award at Gencon.The dark fantasy roleplaying game Symbaroum has earned several nominations and awards, including a Best Game nomination at the Origins Awards 2016. And we are proud to say that our latest roleplaying gameTales from the Loop RPG based on Simon Stålenhags iconic artbooks made a grand slam at the ENnie Awards 2017, winning five Gold ENnies – among them Best Game.

Our upcoming fantasy RPG is Forbidden Lands, with art by critically acclaimed artist Simon Stålenhag and iconic Swedish fantasy artist Nils Gulliksson, lore by fantasy author Erik Granström and game design by the team that created Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis: The Third Horizon and Tales from the Loop RPG. Forbidden Lands was the third most successful RPG Kickstarter in the world 2017 and was recently named one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2018 by EN World.

We have also released the critically acclaimed art books Things from the Flood and Tales from the Loopby artist Simon Stålenhag. His third book The Electric State has been released by Free League Publishing exclusively to the backers of the kickstarter campaign.

Website: www.freeleaguepublishing.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FriaLigan
Instagram: http://instagram.com/frialigan/
Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/FrialiganSe
Twitter: http://twitter.com/FriaLigan

Share on social media

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin

PRESS RELEASE – Hero Realms Journeys – on Kickstarter NOW!

Back it now!
Hi everyone!

Moments ago, we launched Hero Realms Journeys on Kickstarter.

You can get six all-new expansions for Hero Realms, with content for both PVP and cooperative play. And new players can get into Hero Realms with one click: Just get the “Everything Tier” and you’ll catch up on everything Hero Realms!

Here’s what Journeys is all about:

  • Journeys expansions. This series of 12-card expansions will bring players new champions, new actions, and two brand new types of cards: Quests and Relics.
  • The Ancestry Pack lets fans play as a Dwarf, Elf, Ogre, Orc, Smallfolk, or – as a Kickstarter-exclusive – a Half-Demon.
  • The Lost Village transforms the Hero Realms base game into a coop adventure: Investigating the disappearance of the population of an entire village.
Back Day One, Get an Avatar 

We truly appreciate your support! Back us today and you can use this avatar to let everyone on Kickstarter know that you are one of our biggest fans! You can add this to your Kickstarter profile and post it on your social media to let people know you are as excited about Hero Realms Journeys as we are!  Please share the Kickstarter link to help us spread the word! It really does make a difference!

Thank you so much!
The White Wizard Games Team
Copyright © 2016 White Wizard Games, All rights reserved.

PRESS RELEASE – Mutant: Elysium – The end of the world as you know it

Free League Publishing

Mutant: Elysium – The end of the world as you know it.

Free League Publishing – Nov 13, 2018 13:35 GMT
Get ready for the end of the world as you know it! One week from today, on Tuesday the 20th of November, Free League Publishing will launch the Kickstarter for MUTANT: ELYSIUM, the third and final major expansion to the award-winning Mutant: Year Zero RPG.
MUTANT: ELYSIUM, with art by acclaimed sci-fi artists Simon Stålenhag and Reine Rosenberg, completes the Mutant: Year Zero quadrilogy of roleplaying games telling the full story of the postapocalyptic MUTANT universe.
MUTANT: ELYSIUM, fully playable as a standalone game, tells the story of the final survivors of the end of the word. In the huge underground enclave Elysium I, four powerful Houses struggle for supremacy, oblivious to the looming threat that could bring humanity’s last bastion on Earth to its final downfall.
[ If you want review copies for any games from Free League Publishing, please e-mail: boel@frialigan.se ]
About Mutant: Year Zero
MUTANT: YEAR ZERO – ROLEPLAYING AT THE END OF DAYS
Awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules.
“Mutant: Year Zero is an exceptional roleplaying game, and if you’re the least interested in this kind of entertainment you should buy it immediately.” -The Piruett sf and fantasy blog
“A better and more stylish balancing act between nostalgia and innovation the Swedish RPG scene hasn’t seen in a very long time.” -The Boningen gaming blog
“This RPG is f***ing great and I recommend it to new gamers and veterans alike. Giving this game anything but the highest grade would be insane.” -The Kryokinesi gaming blog
“The rules support and create campaign play. Intrigues start, threats arise, opportunities and challenges appear, without the GM having to make it all up.” – The Fenix gaming magazine
Share on social media

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin

Read more on Mynewsdesk

Resource links

9 QUESTIONS WITH CRAIG CAMPBELL (NERD BURGER GAMES) ABOUT DIE LAUGHING

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.

Links

 

This Kickstarter end on Wed, November 21 2018 9:00 PM EST. Click here to check it out.

* * * * * *

 

 

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).

Who Goes There?

While we do spotlight many different RPG and comic Kickstarters on Tessera Guild, we don’t tend to focus too much on board games. Mostly that’s because (at least for me), I don’t end up buying very many board games through the platform. However, last year I saw a game that intrigued me to the point that I had to contribute:

Who Goes There?

If you’ve seen John Carpenter’s The Thing or the original The Thing From Another World then you should know that the story originated from John W. Campbell, Jr.’s novella: Who Goes There? The novella sets the stage of researchers in Antartica who come upon an alien creature who has the ability to consume and replace those it comes in contact with. Paranoia runs rampant. And the big question is who do you trust?

 

That’s what the game is focused on as well. That idea of having a game begin to capture whether or not you can trust the other players or if perhaps you are the only human still alive. I watched some of the play videos where players were having to make game decisions based on whether one person or another could be trusted or not.

And for the first time since it arrived, I was able to break it out for a few friends.

While I don’t want to get into a full play by play of the game itself, the breakdown is that each character has different strengths and weaknesses. McCready is better at surviving the cold. Kinner (the cook) is able to subsist on snacks as opposed to full cans of food. Others might have a dog companion or be able to heal injuries sustained in the game. Throughout your turns, you are gaining items (cards) to build weapons and other supplies to help you survive.

And through it all, you have to be on the watch for The Thing. Up until the first person has to draw from the “Vulnerable” card pile, everyone is human and can be trusted. But as soon as that first Vulnerable card is drawn, you no longer are able to know if that person might be infected or not. It takes the game from a cooperative love fest to a game where you might just be on your own until the end game – where you have to board a helicopter and hope you haven’t allowed any infected to go with you back to humanity!

On this first go through, we actually didn’t get to play a full game (ran out of time and had a prior engagement). However, even playing about 1/2 a game, we could all see the potential for certain strategies and how we might end up playing on a second time through.

In addition, we couldn’t help but talk about the inspiration for the game. Which intrigued my wife (who hasn’t seen any of the versions). Which leads us to tonight. While we hand out candy, we will be watching Carpenter’s The Thing. I’m hoping that we haven’t built it up too much for my wife. Fingers crossed.

To learn more about the game Who Goes There? click here.

In addition, if you want to read the original novella, there is actually a Kickstarter for the original full-length novel that was trimmed down into the story we all know. You can find Frozen Hell here.

***

John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. The Trade paperback collecting the first 4 issues is finally back from the printers! If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!

Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?

Click here to join John’s mailing list.

His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow EmpireBeyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.

He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com

 

 

What’s Drip by Kickstarter? RPG Dripper WS Quinton (Sinopa Publishing) shares the Details

By W.S. Quinton and Egg Embry

Are you a fan of Kickstarter? Like the concept of Patreon? Then Drip may be for you. Launched by Kickstarter in 2017, Drip takes the Kickstarter crowdfunding brand and adapts it to the subscription content model embodied in Patreon. However, after a year in existence as an invitation-only service, in 2019 Drip will morph into a new tool that will be co-owned by Kickstarter and XOXO. One of the current RPG Drippers, W.S. Quinton, has shared his experiences on Drip with me, so when I read about this change, I thought I’d ask his thoughts on Drip, crowdfunding, subscription funding, Kickstarter, and his current campaign, Whispers of Persephone ~ The bloody book of Necromancy 5E. What follows is mostly Quinton, I asked for a few sentences to quote in an article and he wrote 1,300ish words that I decided to run with. Enjoy reading about his Drip experience.

EGG EMBRY (EGG): When did you launch your Drip page?

W.S. QUINTON (WSQ): October 2nd, 2018. My page has been active for less than a month and has so far attracted six backers for my current Kickstarter campaign, Whispers of Persephone ~ The bloody book of Necromancy 5E:

“All Original Necromancy Content New arcane tradition, spells, rituals, poisons, magic items & alchemicals. 5E 5th Edition DnD RPG”

EGG: Has Drip helped your Kickstarter presence?

WSQ: No, but it hasn’t been in operation for a month yet. My current subscribers are repeat backers and one person who has been a friend for years. My focus has been on promoting the Kickstarter campaign so slow growth is only natural.

W.S. Quinton of Sinopa Publishing, LLC

EGG: Why did you join Drip?

WSQ: I was building a Patreon page in order to make available a monthly publication. I also wanted to take some of the material I normally offer on my blogs, concerning creating RPG books and crowdfunding, and give a more in-depth look at the process behind the scenes. I had literally advanced to the part where I was building reward tiers for the Patreon page when I received the email inviting me to Drip.

I’m a fan of Kickstarter’s public benefit structure as they give back to their community and make a huge difference in people’s lives. Being invited to join Drip was incredibly flattering as it is invite only. I’m still not certain why I was selected to be invited. There aren’t many RPG creators on Drip at this time, so being in a small demographic is exciting. There were two other creators who have been on Drip (I believe) for about a year now.

EGG: What options are available on your Drip Page?

WSQ: I have public posts which anyone can access without subscribing. I also have three subscription levels:

  • The $1 subscription grants access to the behind the scenes news posts where I share information on coming projects, share play test documents of coming products, premier art for upcoming projects and go over things about crowdfunding and development (how to calculate your backer reward tiers for Kickstarter was particularly well received).
  • The $3 subscription grants all the benefits of the $1 tier, plus the monthly publication. This monthly release details a character, companion, creature or monster, complete with original art/ stats/ a narrative/ example treasures/ story hooks. October’s release went out nicely, and the subscribers I’ve heard from so far were well pleased. This release was nine pages in all (counting the OGL and the cover/title page, with six pages devoted to content.
  • The $6 subscription grants all the benefits of the $3 tier, plus the subscribers receive a little magic in the mail by way of a thank you post card where the subject of the monthly release is depicted in full color on side, with a few notes concerning it on the back. This is a nice way to show the subject at the game table in an easily transportable way. I sign each of those to the specific backer.

EGG: What are your thoughts on the transition from Drip to what comes next?

WSQ:

  • There are features common to Kickstarter and other platforms that are curiously absent from Drip. By way of example, Drip doesn’t have a search feature native to its page. That means that current subscribers, if they wish to explorer other creators, have to page through all of the currently active pages. You can’t even sort by interests. This is something I assume will be addressed in the new build as it is such a common feature its absence is widely felt.
  • Another feature that I as a creator cherish, is a widget to create code to embed a link on another page. I make heavy use of this feature from my Kickstarter pages and its absence is felt on Drip (for me anyway). This kind of feature makes embedding your page link onto your other online resources a snap. Drip’s new build needs this.
  • Drip pages also don’t have a share to social media feature. Seriously, I’m not joking. Or, if they do, I’ve never been able to find it. So sharing the link isn’t hard, (you copy and paste it) but it’s not as easy as it is from Kickstarter or GoFundMe or Indiegogo or Patreon. With so many people sharing their pages, not being able to directly share your page slows your ability to point people to your page.
  • That said, I love the idea that the new site will also be a public benefit corporation. The fact that the creativity of so many helps to raise funds that are used to benefit other people as well as enabling them the freedom to pursue their artist endeavors is incredibly appealing.
  • That current Drip creators are going to be helped to migrate to the new resource is reassuring. In my first month, I’ve already released several posts, containing a lot of information. Within the coming year I imagine it piles up to quite a bit of data. I’m appreciative of any help they have to offer.

EGG: What’s your wish list of features you’re hoping XOXO will implement in the new platform?

WSQ:

  • A digital download library for subscribers. I’ve not seen this on other platforms, and frankly I’m at something of a loss as to why not. As a creator, I would gladly pay for additional cloud storage on-site if it allowed subscribers to access titles and download them directly while retaining a record that they had the title. This would allow me to offer discounted finished products exclusively to the subscribers in a much more convenient manner, and allow new subscribers to access older releases without have to work it out with me so it could be facilitated. Yes, this sounds like Amazon’s library feature. It’s still a good idea.
  • Subscriber chat feature/ native streaming tool. Kickstarter has Kickstarter Live. Since using it, I’ve loved it! I have a tremendous amount of fun hanging out with backers on Kickstarter, we field questions and chat about a wide range of things. I also bring guests on so it’s a fantastic way to interact with your audience.
  • A space for embedding links to my other resources. I write a few blogs, I’ve started a YouTube channel, etc. It would be SO handy if I could just put a link on the Drip page as a button so subscribers could go find my other free material without a fuss.
  • An archive: It would be wonderful to move old posts into an archive where subscribers could always go retrieve them. This would keep the page from being overly cluttered and allow people to access the latest data with ease. Add in a way to compartmentalize the archive (Play test folder/ monthly release/ game system/ comics/ children’s books/ whatever) and you’ve got a fantastic way to keep your page looking nice while putting vast amounts of information within reach of your audience.
  • Systemic integration with online merchandise pages like Society6 or Printful. A great many artists sell prints of their work or otherwise make them available to their subscribers. It would be amazing if a way were found to implement such integration into one seamless whole.

Egg, I know that is a lot, but as the new guy on Drip I think I’ve found a few things I would definitely like to see improved. I also had a lot to say. There are more things about UI and record keeping but that stuff is largely boring.

EGG: I want to thank W.S. Quinton for taking my questions and writing this article on his own initiative. It was a great surprise! Where can fans find your Drip page?

WSQ: https://d.rip/w-s-quinton

EGG: What’s the address for your current Kickstarter for Whispers of Persephone ~ The bloody book of Necromancy 5E?

WSQ: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sinopapublishing/whispers-of-persephone-the-bloody-book-of-necroman

EGG: Your blog?

WSQ: http://wsquinton.sinopapublishing.com/

EGG: Your social media?

WSQ:

 

NOTE: The Kickstarter for Whispers of Persephone ~ The bloody book of Necromancy 5Eends on Tuesday, October 30 2018 11:57 PM EDT. If you need dark, evil magic in your Dungeons & Dragons 5e campaign, Whispers of Persephone is worth checking out.

[UPDATED] RPG News, Press Releases, and Conventions – Origins Hotels, Kobold Press Back to PDFs, Where’d My Column Go, and more

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.

  • On ENWorld, I look at the [now ended] Vampire: The Masquerade Humble Bundle as well as David MacDowell Blue’s Savannah by Night COMPLETE for 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.
    • I reviewed the first book in Knaak’s Rex Draconis series, Rex Draconis: Under the Dragon Moon, 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 Tides here. The product is funded, unlocked its first stretch goal, and ends Sunday, October 21 2018 10:02 PM EDT.
    • Want a preview of some of the gaming content? Check out their latest update here!
    • 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

 

 

PRESS RELEASES

 

* * * * * *

 

 

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).

Kickstart the Comic – Arthur Blackfrost

Curses and horror go hand in hand. Whether it is something that ensures you live forever as a rotted corpse or it foretells how you are going to die, they become all-consuming for those afflicted. A disease of the soul, which ensures nothing else can be well and good until it has been lifted.

And that might be the worst part, trying to figure out how to remove it.

***

Arthur Blackfrost: A 72-Page Dark Fantasy Graphic Novel

Writer – Justin Gray

Illustrator – Laura Rimaszombati

 

Kickstarter Campaign ends on Wednesday, November 14, 2018 at 10:00 AM EST.

***

The Pitch:

A remote fishing village – surrounded by vast seas and faced with a magical heritage, he never knew existed, Arthur Blackfrost will discover some folktales about his island home are true… and could be the key to breaking a centuries-old family curse or… make it much worse.

 

The Story:

After his father abandons his family, a young fisherman named Arthur inherits a curse that has plagues his bloodline for generations. On the eve of the annual fishing tournament, Arthur begs the spirit of the ocean for help. What happens next changes the lives of everyone in Gull Harbor and unravels the mystery of the Blackfrost Curse.

 

John’s Thoughts:

When I clicked on the Kickstarter Page, I was struck by Laura Rimaszombati’s artwork. In the introduction, Justin Gray invokes stories like Coraline and Corpse Bride, and while this artwork isn’t that, it has a fantastical feel to it right away. It reminds me of various pieces of art and nothing at the same time. And seems perfect for the type of story Justin Gray has laid out in the Kickstarter.

The Rewards:

Overall, this is a pretty straightforward Kickstarter when it comes to Pledges. You can get the book in digital ($10 level) or paperback/softcover ($20 level) or hardcover ($30 level). There are also opportunities to double down with Arthur Blackfrost and and all-ages novel The Adventures of Penelope Hawk ($40 level). The one higher end Reward Level ($120) has not only the hardcover of Arthur Blackfrost but a “box full of Hardcovers and paperbacks predominately from DC Comics” – which is one way to start up your Justin Gray collection!

 

The Verdict:

I feel like you just need to look at the images and ask yourself if you want a dark fantasy graphic novel to sit on your shelf. Something with great looking artwork and a compelling story? Is that something which might interest you? 🙂

***

To find out more about Arthur Blackfrost, check out the Kickstarter Page here.

***

John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. The Trade paperback collecting the first 4 issues is finally back from the printers! If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!

Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?

Click here to join John’s mailing list.

His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow EmpireBeyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.

He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com

PRESS RELEASE – Tales of the Old Margreve PDFs Tiers Are Now Available

EDITOR’S NOTES: I reviewed this Kickstarter on the Open Gaming Network here.

Details about the addition of PDFs to Kobold Press’ Tales of the Old Margreve Kickstarter campaign can be read here.

 

News from the Warrens
This Forest is Filled with Fabulous Treasure!
Did you hear? We recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new 5e adventure book: Tales of the Old Margreve! It comes with a Player’s Guide containing new player options that will help you explore the dark, primeval forest. The adventures are set in the Old Margreve forest of Midgard—and it’s easily transferable to any ancient, mystical forest in your own campaign setting! You can now pledge towards getting it in print, PDF, or your virtual tabletop of choice!
We talked a lot about the Tales of the Old Margreve Kickstarter campaign in the last edition of the Kobold Courier; but we’ve burst through several huge stretch goals since then, so there’s plenty more to talk about in this issue! Let’s check out the secret treasures of the ancient woodland. Read on, fellow kobolds!
5th Edition roleplaying adventures in the deep and menacing forest, for PCs level 1 to 10
Forests in fantasy roleplaying games are dark places, full of secrets. With this project, we bring the Old Margreve to the 5th Edition of the world’s most popular RPG. The Margreve is an ancient, enchanted forest that defends itself from those who come to cut its timber, poach its creatures, or steal its magic. Within its borders the Old Ways are strong, the word of the druids carries great weight, and griffons, dragons, and stranger creatures nest and hunt, undisturbed by humans, dwarves, or other lordlings.
Until your adventuring party shows up. Then things get really interesting.
Tales of the Old Margreve is a brand-new book from Kobold Press filled with
new adventures, encounters, monsters, and everything you need to make a memorable 5th Edition campaign. Whether your campaign is set entirely in the forest, or simply takes a brief detour there, this book will help make your wilderness adventures thrive!
The Old Margreve Kickstarter is made up of three main parts:
  • The Adventures! The Tales of the Old Margreve adventure campaign hardcover for the GM.
  • A Player Resource. The Margreve Player’s Guide softcover gives the players of this campaign knowledge and resources that will help them navigate the lightless boughs of this ancient forest.
  • Miniatures (Unlockable Only!) If we unlock this stretch goal, the campaign will also set of thick cardboard standups, the Margreve Pawns, similar to those created for Tome of Beasts and the Creature Codex.
But that’s not all! More than a dozen stretch goals unlock new adventures, monsters, maps,a dn more. Some will increase the size of the campaign book , making it an even better deal, and some expand the Player’s Guide!
In the end, some experiments are interesting but not successful. For this Kickstarter we’d planned to focus on print and VTT; but the backer support for PDF is too huge to ignore. So Tales of the Old Margreve also includes PDF options!
Our goals are primarily about improving the hardcover book by adding new material to the adventures, expanding the lore of the deep forest, and providing more player options.
That said, we also have several big goals to unlock: a poster map of the forest village that appears in several adventures, the set of custom pawnsmentioned above, and more will certainly become available as the campaign goes on!
Over the past week, we’ve unlocked 7 incredible stretch goals, adding additional content to the Tales of the Old Margreve adventure book and theMargreve Player’s Guide. Every stretch goal makes these books thicker!
Here are the goals we’ve already achieved, thanks to our backers:
And More?
Those seven unlocked stretch goals are amazing… but we’re not done yet. The Old Margreve forest contains dangers and treasures beyond imagining. Take a look at just a tiny sample of the stretch goals you can help us unlock.
The secrets of the Old Margreve are deep and dark, and the hidden depths of the Tales of the Old Margreve Kickstarter campaign are far from fully revealed. Keep an eye out on the Kickstarter page (and on our social media and future Kobold Couriers) for more as we navigate to this forest’s heart.
One Final, Incredible Prize
Decades ago, when the game of D&D was young, a man named Dennis Sustare created a class that lives on to this day: the Druid. Indeed, Gary Gygax was not the creator of the druid class, but we have good news. Dennis Sustare has agreed to join us in creating brand-new spells, items, and even a new subclass for the 5th edition druid. New druid material by the guy who created the class for D&D? Only the mystical forest can hold such wonders.
We want to make this happen, but we can only do it with your support. Help us break through to this mind-bogglingly cool stretch goal!
Do We Have Miniatures for You:
Arise, Creature Codex and Tome of Beasts Pawns!
Fully 300 pawns for your 5th Edition game featuring fearsome monsters from the Tome of Beasts, from tiny to huge!
And the same for the brand-new book of monsters, the Creature Codex. Get 300 full-color pawns for the new monsters in the greatest monster manual since the Tome of Beasts!
Other Recent Kobold Press Titles
The Old Margreve Kickstarter is exciting, but there are other incredible new books from Kobold Press for you to check out!
Journey into nine different creature lairs that highlight Kobold Press’s newest monsters in Creature Codex Lairs.
Plan cunning schemes as you delve into secret lore about the realm of the faeries in Warlock 7: Fey Courts.
These monsters are bit darker than most. Our most horrific designers get to flex their muscles in the Warlock Bestiary.
The Tome of Beasts is a 400+ page book—what if it were a bit lighter?
Behold, from the deepest pits of the earth crawls forth the Deck of Beasts! This deck of cards includes the full stats of monsters from the Tome of Beasts, giving you all the power of the best manual of monsters for 5th Edition in the palm of your hand.
The Deck of Beasts: Challenging Creatures includes over 80 creatures from the innovative Tome of Beasts in a portable format that is easy to clip to a GM Screen or tuck into your module notes! Featuring most creatures with challenge ratings from 6 to 9, the deck includes the Chronalmental, Shadow Fey Elves, Oozasis, Tophet, Vine Lord and many more.
Start from the beginning of
THE WORLD TREE BURNS
Watch the First Official Midgard Livestream on YouTube
or
Listen to it on the go as a podcast!
Using 5th Edition rules, Game Master Dan Dillon and his five players have woven a story of dark magic, sorrow, and true heroism in the dark fantasy world of Midgard.
In The World Tree Burns, five unlikely heroes gather in Zobeck and discover a terrible secret about the world—one that threatens to tear Midgard apart at the seams. Acclaimed game designer and Kobold Press regular Dan Dillon joins the regular cast of Encounter Roleplay to bring you an adventure of epic proportions.
The World Tree Burns has just concluded its first epic season, and you can listen to every glorious second of it on YouTube and in podcast form. Start the adventure from the beginning with Episode 1 on EncounterRoleplay’s YouTube channel, or as a podcast hosted by our friends at The Tome Show.
Dan Dillon is the author of Last Gasp, and one of the expert designers behind the Midgard Heroes HandbookMidgard Worldbook, and Tome of Beasts. He is also a contributor to the upcoming Undermountain dungeon crawl Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage.
Caine, laconic dhampir ranger and vampire hunter; a betrayer of the Blood Kingdoms.
Cloak, enigmatic gnome fled from Niemheim and on the run from Baba Yaga’s horsemen.
Glaz, erudite trollkin geomancer on a mission of knowledge.
Kari, shadow fey and cleric of the cat domain. She lives for the thrill of the hunt.
Riodan, dhampir cleric, a noble on the run from the wars that have torn the Blood Kingdoms asunder.

PRESS RELEASE – Sandy Pug Games Presents Americana

 

It is the 1950s, but not as you know it.
In Small Town USA, a Dragon is asking the cute Orc Jock to prom. The nerdy Undead has been practicing their magic all month in preparation for the big show, and an Elf has just finished tuning up their hot rod, in time for the big race.
And somewhere in this town, their best friend was just murdered.
Americana is a new TTRPG by Sandy Pug Games set in a radically inclusive, magical 1950s. Players build their own incredible town, populate it with gangs and hangouts, then investigate the murder of their best friend in a collaborative, collective storytelling system designed to place narrative and relationships front and center.
Caught your interest? Head on over to Kickstarter and learn more about the incredible world of Americana, and check out some of our stretch goals which include an audio drama, a super-sentai tribute setting, and a cold-war spy drama twist!

[UPDATED] 3 RPG Kickstarters Adapting – Things From the Flood, Richard A. Knaak’s Rex Draconis, and Judge Dredd

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.

 

* * *

 

Things from the Flood – Sequel to Tales from the Loop RPG by Fria Ligan/Free League
Ends on Tue, October 9 2018 3:00 PM EDT.

 

“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 ZeroCoriolis – The Third HorizonTales 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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

Rex Draconis RPG – Rising Tides by P.B. Publishing
Ends on Sun, October 21 2018 10:02 PM EDT.

 

“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
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.

Richard A. Knaak 

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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

UPDATE: [Q&A] #randomworlds welcomes Phil Beckwith (Rex Draconis) 10/05/2018 8:30 p.m. CDT! If you can make it, you can ask Phil your questions here: https://tinyurl.com/randomworlds-chat In case you missed it, Dan Davenport (the host) has the complete transcript here: https://gmshoe.wordpress.com

 

* * *

 

Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD Roleplaying Game by EN Publishing
Ends on Thu, October 25 2018 7:00 PM EDT.

 

“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
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 (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)
GM Screen (Back)
Nearly 100 full-colour cardstock tokens to represent your characters and their foes!
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
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.”

 

Egg’s Thoughts:

Disclaimer: I freelance for ENWorld, which is published by EN Publishing who are behind Judge Dredd & The Worlds of 2000 AD.

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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

UPDATE: A free quickstart of the game is available here.

 

* * * * * *

 

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).

4 RPG Kickstarters You Should Back – Life on Gaia, Runewild, Whispers of Persephone, and Secrets of Starfall

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:

Enjoy!

 

* * *

 

Life on Gaia: An Audio Anthology of Post-Apocalyptic Stories by Shades of Vengeance
Ends on Sun, October 7 2018 4:00 PM EDT.

 

“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!
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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

The Runewild – A Dark Fairy-Tale Setting for 5E by Sneak Attack Press
Ends on Thu, October 18 2018 10:00 PM EDT.

 

“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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

Whispers of Persephone ~ The bloody book of Necromancy 5E by Sinopa Publishing LLC
Ends on Tue, October 30 2018 11:57 PM EDT.

 

“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
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"
Screen capture of the “Black Cover”
Spinal cover
Spinal cover

Things you’ll find in the book:

Introduction from play test version 3.0
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
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 HandsIld’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.
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!
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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

Secrets of Starfall: A 5E Adventure by Dragon-Knight Publishing (DriveThruRPG or Open Gaming Store)
Ends on Thu, November 1 2018 3:01 PM EDT.

 

“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.

Lydran Warrior Brave
Lydran Warrior Brave

 

NOTE: I interviewed Jon Neddo about this Kickstarter on the Open Gaming Network (here).

 

You can see examples of their work at DriveThruRPG here or the Open Gaming Store here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * * * * *

 

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).

Kickstart the Comic – The Adventures of Parker Reef – To Save a Soul

Writers and Artists have a somewhat unique ability. Most of the time they don’t think about it, but it is always there… always a possibility. Both can offer a form of Immortality.

It is no substitute for the person being in front of you, but to tell their story to others is a way to keep their spirits alive. Knowing that even if they are gone, a part of them will live on.

And that is a beautiful thing.

***

The Adventures of Parker Reef – To Save a Soul

Created by – Christopher Campana

 

Kickstarter Campaign ends on Friday, September 28, 2018 at 8:13 PM EDT.

***

The Pitch:

The Adventures of Parker Reef is a love letter to the life, I, my family and so many people will never get to experience. On March 14th, 2018, my girlfriend Tana and our son, Parker, died in my arms. It was supposed to be the day we welcomed our son into this world. My third child and Tana’s first. 

This book (90 + pages) is my way of having them in this world in some way. Loss is always difficult and we all experience the pain of someone leaving us. Be it too soon, or after a life well lived, it hurts the same. No more smiles, phone calls…no more anything.

 

The Story:

This story is about Parker’s dream to see me in this world and Tana helping him prepare for that dream. Tana always believed you should follow your dream and that is exactly what Parker Reef will be trying to do within these pages. 

Adventure? Well, you can’t just choose to leave the after world and just come back. 

You have to earn that. 

In my story, souls are the rarest of treasures. When someone is attempting something like Parker is, ALL are watching. All bets are off and the peaceful land he had been in with Tana is no longer where Parker will be. No, the land Parker will be set in will be dangerous. Full of those souls who have been lost, those souls who did evil while in this world and creatures sent by pure evil to try and stop Parker and covet his soul.  A land full of challenges and adventure. A land Tana has been preparing him for. After all, who knows what their son would wish for more than their parent? 

John’s Thoughts:

I cannot imagine having to go through what Christopher Campana has gone through these last 6 months. The idea of taking that pain and anguish and probably a thousand other emotions and putting it in this format is an incredibly brave thing for a person to do.

 

The Rewards:

While a couple of the rewards have already been gobbled up, there is still the opportunity to get some original art ($80 level) or variant covers ($150 level) or if you just want the physical book ($20 level). So there are a few choices for all types of backers.

The Verdict:

Time is short on the campaign as there is only a couple of days left, but I only discovered it tonight… I’d say if the story has touched you in some way… then take a look at the Kickstarter page.

***

To find out more about Christopher Campana, check out the Kickstarter here.

***

John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. The Trade paperback collecting the first 4 issues is finally back from the printers! If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!

Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?

Click here to join John’s mailing list.

His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow EmpireBeyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.

He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com

3 Comic Book Kickstarters for RPGers – NIOBE RETURNS, Looking For Group, and Amber and The Hidden City

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!

 

NIOBE RETURNS IN ERATHUNE, SHE IS DEATH, & ESSESSA by Stranger Comics
Ends on Sun, November 4 2018 1:59 AM EST.

“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
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
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
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!

Essessa: The Fallen #1 Hyoung Virgin Variant
Essessa: The Fallen #1 Hyoung Virgin Variant
NIOBE She is Death #2 by Sheldon Mitchell
NIOBE She is Death #2 by Sheldon Mitchell
CLICK to view the Niobe #2 Preview
CLICK to view the Niobe #2 Preview

CLICK to view the Niobe #2 Preview

Stranger v Paizo!

Stranger v Paizo!

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!
The final cover!
Official Niobe Paizo Pathfinder Sample 1
Official Niobe Paizo Pathfinder Sample 1
Official Niobe Paizo Pathfinder Sample 2
Official Niobe Paizo Pathfinder Sample 2
It's Official!
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!

 

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

Looking For Group: The First 10 Years by LFG.co
Ends on Wed, October 10 2018 11:41 PM EDT.

“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.co Give it a read and see if this is the group you’re looking for.

 

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

Amber and The Hidden City Graphic Novel by MVmedia, LLC
Ends on Wed, October 10 2018 7:00 AM EDT.

“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
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.
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 Khanga being 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!

 

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * * * * *

 

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).

Kickstarter Reflections – To Do List

This is part of a series of posts where I look back at the process of running a Kickstarter. The steps we took, the mistakes we made, and a bunch of other things I wish I had known.

Other Kickstarter Reflections Posts

Kickstarter Reflections – Mailing List Blues

Kickstarter Reflections – Starting at the Finish Line

Kickstarter Reflections – Shipping And Handling Not Included

***

The preparation was the most important thing. The more you have planned out, the more you can anticipate, then the more you can adjust when things go sideways (like they already had before).

When I launched the Gilded Age Kickstarter, I had my master list from having helped out on the Route 3 campaign. What no one will tell you, or maybe what no one really understands is that assisting on a Kickstarter and running your own is like… is like doing something Hard and then doing something impossible! They say that running your own Kickstarter is very much like having a second job, and while that is close to what it is like, I’d compare it more to an extra part-time job. Because, for all the preparing you’d done prior to pushing the button to launch your campaign, there is a whole other aspect to the campaign which begins to reveal itself.

But I’ve jumped ahead. Here was my list of things (from another email) to do prior to the actual launch (about 3 weeks out):

I’d started a Steampunk Fridays blog on this site in order to get some eyeballs on their work and get my own name out there a little bit. This meant either finding Kickstarters which fit the theme or getting interviews with the creators. At that point, I’d reached out to 4 or 5 Steampunk Creators about interviews and then send on questions to those that had responded.

Since I was waiting, I needed to figure out my Steampunk Friday post for the week.

Needed to do my weekly blog post.

Needed to finish the first draft of the Kickstarter Page. I’d done a bunch of the basic stuff, but was still figuring out exactly what images to upload, how to arrange things, etc. Then I needed to send out the link to some trusted people to get feedback on the page. This was honestly the single biggest thing I had to do as each section had various images and each image had to be manipulated in order to fit correctly on the Kickstarter page.

Needed to create a handful of Kickstarter images for promotional purposes.

I was still debating the Rewards (both with the other Terminus guys and in my head).

There was an online Kickstarter hour video I needed to watch (which I’m pretty sure was from Tyler over at ComixLaunch – which if you haven’t had a chance to check out his podcast and you are thinking about doing a Kickstarter… well, you are missing out on a ton of great information).

Copies available now! Click the image to order the book!

Contact the artists on the project and get them to send in their Bios. If you’ve dealt with creative types you know this will end up being akin to herding cats.

At this point, the last couple of pages were being lettered, and that meant getting those pages to him (his computer was acting up, so this required traveling into the city).

Of course, I also was trying to identify places online where I might be able to spread the word. Whether it was blogs, websites, Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and any other places I could think of. A master list was beginning to take shape at this point.

***

All of that, and I hadn’t even launched yet. And I still had regular life commitments like work and family.

***

John McGuire is the creator/author of the steampunk comic The Gilded Age. The Trade paperback collecting the first 4 issues is finally back from the printers! If you would like to purchase a copy, go here!

Want to read the first issue for free? Click here! Already read it and eager for more?

Click here to join John’s mailing list.

His other prose appears in The Dark That Follows, Hollow EmpireBeyond the Gate, and Machina Obscurum – A Collection of Small Shadows.

He can also be found at www.johnrmcguire.com

PRESS RELEASE – Sequel to the Award-winning Tales from the Loop RPG hits Kickstarter today – Things from the Flood

Free League Publishing

Sequel to the Award-winning Tales from the Loop RPG hits Kickstarter today – Things from the Flood

Free League Publishing – Sep 18, 2018 13:06 BST

Welcome back to the Loop. Things are different now. Things from the Flood are coming. The long-awaited standalone sequel to the multiple award-winning Tales from the Loop RPG created by Free League Publishing and based on the wondrous worlds of artist Simon Stålenhag, has hit Kickstarter today, September 18.
“It started on Christmas Day in 1994. Black 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.”
The Tales from the Loop RPG was released in 2017 and won no less than five Gold ENnies (including Best Game and Product of the Year) as well as three Golden Geek Awards (including Best RPG) last year. Now, the time has come to return to the Loop and continue the story.
Things from the Flood RPG expands the scope of the Tales of the Loop universe into a grim and bleak alternate 1990s. You will step into the shoes of teenagers growing up in a decade of change – and disaster. Balance day to day life with solving exciting mysteries with your friends. But this is a darker time, more dangerous.
The core of Things from the Flood RPG is the same as in Tales from the Loop RPG. The themes however, are different. Gone are the childlike tales of wonder and discovery, in their place are dark threats to the Teens and their surroundings. Things from the Flood offers a darker, more mature version of Stålenhag’s hallmark retro science fiction, based on his second art book.
Things from the Flood is a standalone expansion which is fully playable as a complete game. You can choose to create brand new player characters or continue your campaign and let your Kids from Tales from the Loop grow older. But keep in mind – this time they can die…
LIFE AFTER THE FLOOD
Everything is changing, everything is falling apart.The world does not seem so innocent anymore. It’s the ‘90s and the once mighty Loop has been shut down, the experiment abandoned, and the land bought by a powerful corporation. You are not 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 black 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 of boredom. When you hear about teens going missing, and even turning up dead, you realize it’s time to gather the group again. One way or another you’ll find out what these Things from the Flood really are.
THE ART
All the art in the Things from the Flood RPG is created by acclaimed artist Simon Stålenhag. Most is drawn from the pages of the artbook and many scenarios are based directly on illustrations in the artbook. But the RPG will contain new original art as well, including the cover image.
THE GAME ENGINE
The game engine of Things from the Flood RPG is the same as the one for the Tales from the Loop RPG, based on Free League Publishings Mutant: Year Zero RPG, that was awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules at Gencon 2015.
IMPORTANT FOR BACKERS OF TALES OF THE LOOP
If you backed the Tales from the Loop kickstarter in 2016, you will receive a complete PDF of this game at no added cost, since it was one of the stretchgoals in the Kickstarter-campaign. This new kickstarter is for the printed version of the game.
ABOUT SIMON STÅLENHAG
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 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.
ABOUT NILS HINTZE
The lead writer of Things from the Flood is the seasoned Swedish game writer Nils Hintze, who wrote the critically praised Tales from the Loop RPG (2017). During his twelve years as a game writer, Nils Hintze has written a great number of scenarios, articles and reviews, as well as plays for theatre groups. Hintze 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 are not seldom mixed with humor. Nils Hintze is educated in creative writing, but he normally works as a psychologist. Hintze is also one of the three creators of the Swedish role-playing podcast Podcon.
Free League Publishing is a Swedish publisher dedicated to speculative fiction. We have published several award-winning tabletop role-playing games and critically acclaimed art books set in strange and wondrous worlds.
Our first game, the post-apocalyptic Mutant: Year Zero was awarded a Silver ENnie for Best Rules 2015. The sci-fi adventure Coriolis – The Third Horizon, was awarded a Judge’s Spotlight Award at Gencon. And we are proud to say that our latest roleplaying game Tales from the Loop RPG based on Simon Stålenhags iconic artbooks made a grand slam at the ENnie Awards 2017, winning five Gold ENnies – among them Best Game.
Our upcoming fantasy RPG is Forbidden Lands, with art by critically acclaimed artist Simon Stålenhag and iconic Swedish fantasy artist Nils Gulliksson, lore by fantasy author Erik Granström and game design by the team that created Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis: The Third Horizon and Tales from the Loop RPG. Forbidden Lands was the third most successful RPG Kickstarter in the world 2017 and was recently named one of the most anticipated RPGs of 2018 by EN World.
We have also released the critically acclaimed art books Things from the Flood and Tales from the Loopby artist Simon Stålenhag. His third book The Electric State has been released by Free League Publishing exclusively to the backers of the kickstarter campaign.
Share on social media

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin

Read more on Mynewsdesk

Resource links

4 RPG Kickstarters You Should Back – Something Is Wrong Here, Jack Hack, Occam’s Razor, and Prism

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!

 

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

The Jack Hack Complete. A Dark Victorian role-playing game by John R Davis
Ends on Sun, September 30 2018 1:30 PM EDT.

 

“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 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....
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
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
Fear Itself
Who would have believed.......
Who would have believed…….
There will be blood
There will be blood
The Games Afoot
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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

Occam’s Razor, a collection of scenarios for Call of Cthulhu by Stygian Fox Publishing
Ends on Mon, October 1 2018 12:16 PM EDT.

 

“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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

Something Is Wrong Here: A Roleplaying Game by Kira Magrann
Ends on Thu, October 4 2018 8:00 PM EDT.

 

“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
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)
  • Keywords: Identity Confusion, Surrealism, Uncanny, David Lynch, Americana, Non-linear, Meta, Narrative Control, Unsettling, Emotional, Personal”

 

Egg’s Thoughts:

 

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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * * * * *

 

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).

PRESS RELEASE – Bloat Games is excited to announce Tales From Vigilante City! [Updated Version]

Bloat Games is excited to announce Tales From Vigilante City!

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is an updated press release (see the original here). The updated items include:

  • Reduced minimum word count.
  • Submissions deadline announced.
  • Tales From Vigilante City Vol. II announced.
  • Some details about the post-submissions process.

* * *

 

Tales From Vigilante City is an all new street level super hero short fiction anthology which is to be a companion piece to Bloat Games recent successful Kickstarter SURVIVE THIS!! Vigilante City which is an RPG heavily influenced by the 90s cartoons Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, Spider-man and TMNT.

Tales From Vigilante City will be compiled and edited by Eric Bloat (from Bloat Games, Creator of the SURVIVE THIS!! Game Series &Vigilante City) and by ENnie and Origin Award winning author James M. Spahn (from Barrel Rider Games, Creator of The Hero’s JourneyWhite Star RPGs).

Bloat Games is currently accepting super hero short fiction in the genres of Action, Adventure, Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Horror, Sci-Fi & Young Adult.  We are chiefly interested in stories that feature “normal” human vigilantes but also are accepting stories about Anthropomorphs (think TMNT), Mutants (think X-Men), or low power level metahumans, mystics, psions, etc.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

• Accepting 1K-16K word count.
• Pay is $0.01 per word
• Payment made via Paypal only.
• Payment grants Bloat Games Non-exclusive rights to publish the story. Writer retains all other rights and Intellectual IP and can resell the story to other publishers.
• All submissions and inquiries should be sent via email to ericbloat@yahoo.com with the subject line: TFVC Submissions.
• Submission cutoff date is Nov 1st, 2018. Any submissions received after that date may be held and considered for Tales From Vigilante City Vol. II.
Bloat Games will begin reviewing submissions then and you will be contacted if your submission was selected to be included or not.

 

* * * * * *

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links.

[UPDATED] 6 RPG Kickstarters from Italy and Turkey – Coriolis RPG, Blackstar, Rockopolis, Svilland, Augusta Universalis GDR, and EVENT

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:

 

* * *

 

Blackstar: Death & Decay Creature Codex by BlackStar Games (Division of WMS Publishing)
Ends on Sat, September 15 2018 2:01 PM EDT.

“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 Lord RPG 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 ENWorld here). When I talk to friends, I hear more and more about SotDL so it’s time to bring that to the gaming table.

 

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

Rockopolis RPG by Minòs Games
Ends on Sun, September 16 2018 6:00 PM EDT.

 

“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
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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

Augusta Universalis GDR by Acchiappasogni
Ends on Mon, September 17 2018 3:11 AM EDT.

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
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
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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

EVENT – A Minimalistic Tabletop Role-Playing Game (RPG) by Valerio De Sanctis
Ends on Wed, September 26 2018 7:42 PM EDT.

 

“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.
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.
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.
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.

 

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

Svilland: A Norse Mythology themed Campaign Setting for 5E by Dream Realm Storytellers
Ends on Thu, October 4 2018 10:01 AM EDT.

 

“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
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
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!

 

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

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 DriveThruRPG here.

You can support this Kickstarter campaign here.

 

* * *

 

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.

 

* * * * * *

 

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).

PRESS RELEASE – 65 COMMERCIAL DESIGN ASSETS ONLY $25, A TRAPS BOOK FOR D&D 5e and PATHFINDER, and CREATE YOUR OWN RPG ADVENTURES BOOK

CREATE YOUR OWN RPG ADVENTURES.

We’ve got a cool little project in the works. We’ve got a group of fantasy roleplaying adventure creators and writers to write about one of their favorite things. Adventure design and building. This group of writers and creators has a tremendous amount of collective experience and talent. James M. Ward, Lenard Lakofka, Johnn Fourr, Rick Hershey, Lucus Palosaari, Kevin Watson, Egg Embry and Bobby Nash are all contributing to this 256-page book. Check out some cool rewards here!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bookofdarksecrets/create-your-own-fantasy-rpg-adventure-rpg-resource?ref=user_menu

FILGAR CROOKE’S-TRAPS-1

A second book is also kind of cool. It features a 9th level Tiefling Thiefling named FILGAR CROOKE. And you wanna know something? He IS a crook! This obnoxious, Tiefling rogue has a Wisdom score of 5, and this becomes quite apparent in no time at all. After reading some of his preposterous comments, you will be rooting for monsters and deadly traps of all kinds take him out of commission!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bookofdarksecrets/create-your-own-fantasy-rpg-adventure-rpg-resource/posts/2283831?ref=backer_project_update

This TRAPS book has 30 traps dual stat’s for both D& D 5e and Pathfinder. There is also an Adobe Indesign file and PHOTOSHOP Document traps. This allows you to change the traps in any way you want, and reuse these 30 traps FOR YOUR OWN PROFESSIONAL ADVENTURES!

Check out the latest update focusing on FILGAR CROOKE’S – TRAPS-1.

The update also touches briefly on the several thousand words that Lenard Lakofka has already written, as well as TWO maps that he has drawn for the core book: CREATE YOUR OWN RPG ADVENTURES.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bookofdarksecrets/create-your-own-fantasy-rpg-adventure-rpg-resource/posts/2283831?ref=backer_project_update

There’s also a ton of STOCK ART, MAPS, BACKGROUND TEMPLATES, MAKE YOUR OWN MAPS PHOTOSHOP Documents, EPHEMERA and more. All of which can be used (COMMERCIAL LICENSES INCLUDED) to create your own commercial adventures. This 65-piece ASSET set is only $25. This set would easily be worth over $100, but is only $25 and sold as a BIG DESIGN ASSET BUNDLE! Grab it now!

This KICKSTARTER ends this Friday [September 14, 2018] at 2:00pm Eastern time, so if you want a really cool handbook where you can pick the brains of several very talented adventure designers, this is a great chance! Ideally, this core book is geared for someone that may have tried self publishing, and it did not go as well as expected. While focusing on design tips, it also touches on several things you can do to increase your chances of making money with your adventures.

Thanks for your time!

Matt Bogdan

DARK BY DEZIGN

 

* * *

 

Disclaimer: Egg Embry of the Tessera Guild is a contributor to this project.

SNEAK PEEK – Art from Cha’alt (Kort’thalis Publishing), Kickstarter Coming Soon!

From the email of Venger Satanis, High Priest of Kort’thalis Publishing:

“Attached is the very first piece of finished artwork for Cha’alt. As you can see, it’s an alien desert world (in ruins because of an apocalypse centuries ago); the capstone of a black pyramid can be seen rising out of the sand. Before reaching the pyramid, the three adventurers must face a giant worm.

Yannick Bouchard is the artist, and he’s currently working on a 2nd interior illustration for the book. Cha’alt is expected to be 176 page hardcover over-sized art book, both O5R campaign setting and [Dungeon Crawl Classics]. Kickstarter campaign by Venger Satanis is poised to launch in early November.”

He included another piece:

 

Cha’alt is an interesting evolution for Kort’thalis Publishing. This is, I believe, their largest book yet and the first one to use both the VSd6 system and DCC. I’m eager to see the results!

 

EDIT: Over at the Halls of the Nephilim, Justin Ryan Isaac has some additional thoughts and a quote from Venger about what the final form of this book will be. Check it out here.

 

For more games by Venger Satanis, check out his work here.

 

* * *

 

Disclaimer: This post uses affiliate links.

PRESS RELEASE – Things from the Flood is coming to Kickstarter!

Free League Publishing

Things from the Flood are coming!

Free League Publishing – Sep 04, 2018 14:00 BST

Things from the Flood are coming! The long awaited standalone expansion to the multiple award-winning Tales from the Loop RPG, based on the wondrous worlds of Simon Stålenhag, is coming to Kickstarter on September 18.

Things from the Flood is based on the art book with the same name and thrusts the Tales universe into a grim and bleak alternate 1990s. In this major expansion, fully playable as a complete game, you step into the shoes of teenagers growing up in the midst of a decade of change – and disaster.

Designed by Free League Publishing – the same team that made the Tales from the Loop RPG (winner of five Gold ENnies 2017, winner of three Golden Geek awards 2018), Things from the Flood presents a darker, more mature version of Stålenhag’s hallmark retro sci-fi. Create new Teens or let your Kids from Tales from the Loop grow older. But remember – this time they can die.

Share on social media

Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on linkedin

About Free League Publishing

Free League Publishing is a Swedish publisher dedicated to speculative fiction. We have published several award-winning tabletop role-playing games and critically acclaimed art books set in strange and wondrous worlds. Our first game, the post-apo…

Visit the newsroom »

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.

 

* * *

 

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.

 

* * *

 

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.

 

* * * * * *

 

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).

PRESS RELEASE – Norse Foundry® and Creature Curation™ announces new Atmar’s Cardography

Norse Foundry® and Creature Curation™ announces new Atmar’s Cardography – a dungeon crawl in a deck

Full module adventures for Dungeons & Dragons 5e and Fate packed into a deck of playing cards

Carrollton, GA – August 28, 2018. Today, Norse Foundry and Creature Curation announced Atmar’s Cardography, a new way to play your favorite roleplaying games.

Atmar’s Cardography takes the traditional roleplaying dungeon crawl adventure and fits it into your pocket. These dungeon crawl adventure modules contain a map that is built as a deck of playing cards. These cards can then be easily laid out as a full 52 card map, or they can be randomly picked to make a new dungeon of your own build.

There are five adventure decks currently on Kickstarter with a closing date of September 18, 2018. Each one has downloadable pdfs of full adventure modules for both Fate and D&D 5e. The “Atmar” in the product name is based on the specific Cardographer, as he has chronicled the different regions of the fantasy world Revilo. The modules for each of these five decks are filled with unique creatures, magic items, and NPCs that you won’t find anywhere else.

“Each of these decks explore a different region of Revilo, a world I built to help foster my son’s creativity. The ability to use the cards randomly has opened up endless possibilities for dungeon building, and I think that is his favorite part,” said Cardography creator, Brian Colin. “I love that it both inspires veteran roleplayers to spice up their adventures, and also how the modules make it really easy for all the new people who are starting up this wonderful hobby.”

Atmar’s Cardography is a supplement for existing roleplaying games. For Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition the party levels range from 2 – 12 throughout the series of decks. Each deck contains 52 different cards, an 8 page folded booklet containing brief room descriptions, and a link to the pdf game modules.

 

Back this Kickstarter at:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/norsefoundry/atmars-cardography-full-rpg-modules-and-random-dun

 

About Norse Foundry and Creature Curation

Cardography is the brainchild of a great relationship that forged between Norse Foundry and Creature Curation. They met over dinner at DragonCon many years ago, and quickly realized that with their combined talents they could create amazing experiences for their friends and for roleplayers everywhere. Cardography is not their first collaboration, and it will definitely not be their last! The partnership utilizes the best aspects of each company’s resources to produce a superior product. They’ve brought together Creature Curations’ ability to design and create unique content, creatures, and quests with Norse Foundry’s many years of industry and manufacturing experience, and a combined art team to develop a unique product and design.

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!

* * *

 

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.

 

* * * * * *

 

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).