What RPG Kickstarters Excite Creators? Pirates of Pugmire, Hearts of Wulin, Big Bad Con, and Memento Mori

This week, the creator of Pugmire, Big Bad Con, The Gauntlet Gaming Community, and Luna Publishing share what RPG Kickstarters they’re following.

Beyond sharing creator’s crowdfunding picks, for this week’s column I’m sharing a few picks of my own. But, they’re *not* crowdfunding projects, instead, they are products that are available to purchase now through DriveThruRPG or Modiphius Entertainment’s site.

 

Pirates of Pugmire – A Realms of Pugmire Tabletop RPG by Pugsteady and Onyx Path Publishing

END DATE: Thu, June 20 2019 1:59 PM EDT.

“Contribute to help us create a traditionally printed game book featuring pirates in the Realms of Pugmire – and get it into stores.”

Eddy Webb (Pugsteady) recommends:

Grimmerspace: A science-fiction/science-fantasy horror game with Sean Astin as the creative lead. And the art looks really fantastic. I’m curious to see where this goes!

Victorian Gothic & Adventure Soundscapes: I am a huge sucker for good, well-made background music, and there really isn’t much in the way of Victorian music. Now I can listen to these while I play Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective!”

 

Hearts of Wulin by The Gauntlet Gaming Community

END DATE: Sun, June 16 2019 8:00 PM EDT.

“A tabletop roleplaying game of wuxia melodrama, Powered by the Apocalypse.”

Lowell Francis (The Gauntlet Gaming Community) recommends:

“I just backed Hard Wired Island, an anime cyberpunk rpg with its own unique. It leans into an anime aesthetic, in particular drawing inspiration from 1990s media like Ghost in the Shell. I’m old enough to have lived through our local groups’ discovery of anime, passed around on VHS tapes. It reshaped how people played and saw R Talsorian’s Cyberpunk 2020. Hard Wired Island brings that back, but with an approach that explicitly considers the political dimension. I’m excited to see how it handles that. If you asked me five year ago what I thought of cyberpunk, I would have dismissed the whole genre. But that’s changed with new releases like The Veil’s PbtA approach and The Crisp Line for Fate. There’s a ton cool stuff being done with cyberpunk and Hard Wired Island feels like a new direction.

I’m also really excited for Good Society: An Expanded Acquaintance. I missed the original Kickstarter, so I’m glad to have the chance to get everything this time. Over the last year I’ve seen lots of people run Good Society on The Gauntlet, and I’ve been amazed at the variety of settings and reframings used. It says something about how the strength of the core concept. All of the expansion variants appeal to me, but I most dig the idea of doing a Jane Austen-esque game with a Harry Potter-Wizarding backdrop. Plus the books look amazing—first class. I love smart layout and presentation.”

 

Big Bad Con 2019 by Sean Nittner

END DATE: Thu, June 6 2019 9:59 AM EDT.

Big Bad Con is a tabletop and live action gaming convention built on great games and a welcoming community. Join us October 10-13 in Walnut Creek, CA!”

Sean Nittner (Big Bad Con) recommends:

“I’m excited about two games that both evoke some real nostalgia for me.

Raid Boss looks all kinds of fun to me. Like a mix of raiding in World of Warcraft (First 10-Person guild to end the Lich King on Malfurion, woo!), D&D 4th Edition (which was great for tactical combat), and the Dresden Files Co-Op (which I got to playtest early version of an have played so many times my cards are nearly worn through). I love seeing how different roles can synergize and and I just want to grab all those dice and chits and tokens. *grabby hands*

When you get down to Dungeon Crawling, let not mince words. I want to grab treasure and level up! The Maze is all about that. What happens in play is always so much more rewarding than backstory developed before the game so I’m very excited about the Renown Rule: Every character starts without a name. You earn one (and a title) through your great deeds! If Raid Boss takes me back to WoW, The Maze takes me back to Gauntlet and Rogue. Q that potion!”

 

Memento Mori : D&D 5E Victorian Gothic Campaign Setting by Luna Publishing

END DATE: Mon, June 17 2019 2:15 PM EDT.

Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) 5th Edition Compatible Campaign Setting”

Gregory Lucas (Luna Publishing) recommends:

Monster Adventure Terrain- 3D Customizable D&D World BuilderMonster Adventure Terrain is probably one of the best 3D terrain projects I’ve seen. It looks good. Comes Painted/Unpainted so you can customize. It’s probably a 7/10 in the looks while being 1/10 in complexity. Seriously these things are as easy to use as Legos. Makes building quick scenes a literal snap. Speed and flexibility are necessities at a game table for a GM when it comes to props and game aids. This has it all for me.

Afterlife: Wandering Souls. High Fantasy is a dime a dozen in the market. We’ve seen a lot of it. Unique visions are ripe on Kickstarter, and Afterlife: Wandering Souls is one of them. It reminds me of those odd one-off games DM’s used to play back before entire adventure paths were published. Afterlife has a beautiful and unique premise, while retaining a stunning and unique visual style.”

###

Beyond crowdfunding, there are some great products that recently dropped. I’m sharing my recommendations that I’m currently reading and playing.

City of Mist from Modiphius Entertainment. A large release using the Powered by the Apocalypse engine from Modiphius Entertainment (Star Trek, Conan, and, soon, Dune), this game is a high-end project that lets you play a noir superhero. The books look great, the concept is evocative, and I’m eager to play this game. More details in their press release here.

Legacy: Life Among the Ruins from Modiphius Entertainment. Another Modiphius Entertainment Powered by the Apocalypse offering, this one goes a different route, setting-wise. As well, this is three books, with two that focus on L:LAtR’s core setting – the post-post apocalypse where you’re the first wave of those rebuilding the world – and one that rewrites the game for a new setting. Free From the Yoke rewrites the game for a gritty medieval setting where you’re a restored nation that has just thrown off an empire. The GM runs a powerful family that each player must live with or fight against. More details in their press release here.

Heroic Dark (Early Edition) from Will Power Games. The creator of Synthicide, a bit of sci-fi RPG so good that after a test drive one-shot, we went directly into a campaign. Heroic Dark is a new game from the same creator, and its early edition is free on DriveThruRPG. I’m even more excited about this one because the GM of our Synthicide campaign, John McGuire, picked Heroic Dark as a must-play Gen Con game this year and we managed to snag one of the sessions. Really looking forward to it! 

The Art of War for D&D Players from M.T. Black. M.T. Black is, among other things, a fellow freelancer on EN World, and he shared his DMsGuild product with me. The concept – “Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War, the seminal work on military strategy. Discover how you can use these ancient secrets to master the game of Dungeons & Dragons!” – is really solid and worthy of a read. It offers in-game strategy that feels right for a wuxia campaign or any d20-based game. Grab it for your table.

Keeping It Classy: The Barbarian from Kim Frandsen. I interviewed Kim, my former editor on the Open Gaming Network, about this project (here). If you’re looking for more spice and variety for your 5e barbarian, Kim has you covered. An Electrum Seller in it first few days on the DMsGuild, this project resinates with players looking for new Barbarian Paths (15 of them), a new race (Redscale Lizardfolk), and more. Want to do a party that’s a barbarian tribe, this book will make each tribe unique, power-wise.