RPG Crowdfunding News 024 : Shadows of Esteren – Dearg, This Defiant Earth, No Thank You, Evil: The

Welcome back to our weekly look at tabletop roleplaying game, and accessories, crowdfunding roundup! Each week we’ll be looking at a few campaigns currently running that have caught our eye as well as occasionally speaking to some of the creators about their campaigns, or looking at some of the ‘behind the scenes’ business aspects of putting together, launching, operating and then delivering a crowdfunded project. If you have anything you’d like us to cover, or questions about anything we talk about, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me directly.


[h=3]Shadows of Esteren – A Medieval Horror RPG: Dearg by Jim Searcy[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Friday 18th November 2016; 09:00 UTC)

Shadows of Esteren will be very familiar to anyone who follows the ENNIES due to their multiple nominations and awards over the last few years since the original book was released in English. The series combines fantastic art and design with a compelling dark medieval low-fantasy world which has led to a string of incredibly successful Kickstarter campaigns allowing the team to translate the books from French to English and release them in both Limited Edition and regular retail (which are still stunning) formats.

This latest campaign is the first part of two campaigns for the Dearg campaign – a two book series which will ultimately be about 500 pages in length. The second part of the campaign will be financed through Kickstarter next year.

Dearg is the result of nearly ten years of work. It depicts the full extent of the themes related to Shadows of Esteren. Through 21 scenarios, it takes the Player Characters closer to dark secrets, and puts them face to face with their inner demons. Its main objective is to put the PCs at the heart of the narrative and to turn their personal stories into critical components of the dramatic tension. To that end, Dearg introduces several new game mechanics, including two new types of scenarios: Focuses and Modular scenarios.”

Focuses: Although the PCs are all involved in the same quest, each member of the party has their own history and motivations, which are expressed through their Narrative arcs. Among the campaign’s 21 scenarios, 6 are Focuses that will explore each PC’s intimate story. These particular scenarios follow a pattern different from a regular session: only one Player plays their Character (the one whose Narrative arc the Focus is about), while the other Players play as important people in the PC’s life, helping the Game Leader steer the story.

Modular scenario: Modular scenarios work according to the same principle as the modular scenes system used throughout the Shadows of Esteren series. Each Modular scenario is comprised of several modules exploring various facets of a theme or Character, and offers the Game Leader several ways said scenario can evolve. For example, the modular scenario “Thoir’s Ogre” introduces three ways (modules) that the character Mac Snore can be involved in the campaign. Each module is symbolized by a tarot card representing it, drawn from Dearg’s tarot. By connecting the modules together, the Leader can create a story of their own.



[h=3]This Defiant Earth: 1950s Sci-Fi Movie Roleplaying! By C. Michael Hall[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 30th November 2016; 04:00 UTC)

Subterranean monsters? Alien invaders? Science gone mad?? I love retro B-movie flavoured sci-fi so when I saw This Defiant Earth launch I jumped straight in. It helped that I also backed their previous Kickstarter, Urban Knights: 1970s Crime TV Roleplaying, and liked what they did with that.

This Defiant Earth is a roleplaying game set in a universe inspired by the popular imagination of the 1950s Atomic Age dreamscape as envisioned by television, cheap paperback novels, comic books, and above all, movies. In this world, the American Dream is alive and well, but threatened by monsters from the deep recesses of the Earth, alien flying saucers, and sinister foreign agents pledged to destabilize the American way of life with super-advanced technology. Platers take on the roles of America’s noble defenders in these thrilling but dangerous times! It’s up to you, dear reader, to stop the horde of gargantuan ants before they establish a colony in the heart of New York City. It’s up to you to thwart the sinister plans of Kro-Gar, the conqueror from space. You will test-pilot rockets, fight monsters, challenge unknown landscapes, and tmake the world safe for freedom and democracy. You will stand a champion of… This Defiant Earth!


[h=3]No Thank You, Evil! The Adventures Continue by Monte Cook Games[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Friday 11th November 2016; 23:59 UTC)

No Thank You, Evil! Is a fantastic, and award-winning, childrens roleplaying game from Monte Cook Games. This campaign is offering two new expansions for the game…

Story, Please! An Adventure-Building Deck
Story, Please! is a 100-card deck stuffed full of evocative art and creative ideas, letting you quickly build hundreds of unique adventures for No Thank You, Evil!

It’s easy: just combine an engaging Story card with one or more cool Place and Person cards to outline your quest. Then give your adventure a surprising Twist, and some cool Stuff. Map and handout cards complete the adventure. The deck is the same size as the cards in the original game, allowing you to use it with the Creature and Cypher Cards from that game.


Uh-Oh, Monsters! An Adventure Expansion Boxed Set
Uh-Oh, Monsters! is an adventure expansion that includes everything you need to run new adventures for No Thank You, Evil!

Claws and Paws: The Monsters You’ll Meet! is a creature book full of monsters, humans, aliens, robots and tons of other walking, talking, fighting, biting creatures you’ll encounter in Storia. Learn more about the Monster Museum, discover quirks, and learn how to make your own monsters.

Lairs and Scares: Let’s Go on Wild Adventures! is an adventure book that offers three brand-new adventures, all with fun monster themes.

Creature Cards gives you 30 new creature cards, that match the format of the cards in the original game, for quick-and-easy reference.



[h=3]Perseverant RPG: A Survival Story Game by Sigil Stone Publishing[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 20th November 2016; 05:00 UTC)

Perseverant is about struggling to survive in a brutal wilderness. The players work together to create the Wilderness, its locales, deadly challenges found there, how their characters are connected as well as why they are all there.

Throughout play, the characters will confront both the Wilderness and each other, haunted by the grim spectre of betrayal and sacrifice. It’s unlikely that everyone will survive.

The game works with any kind of setting - from the arid Silk Road to the vastness of space – so long as there are people determined to pass through an inhospitable environment.

Preseverant is designed to create an entire story in a single session lasting two to four hours. Since it’s a collaborative story game, it doesn’t require a GM or any preparation; you’ll start creating your desperate journey as soon as you sit down to play.


The game is inspired by collaborative story games such as Microscope, Downfall, and Fiasco.


[h=3]Fantasy Renaissance Modules II – Toad God Series by Dave Olson[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 16th November 2016; 23:13 UTC)

Ready for some old school fun? This Kickstarter is aiming to fund four adventures, three in the TG Memoires of the Toad God series plus a Kickstarter exclusive adventure only available through this campaign. The adventures are all for 5E, Swords & Wizardry, Castles & Crusades, DCC, and Savage Worlds.

This series of adventure modules takes a party of stalwart adventurers to the edge of civilization itself. Beyond the imposing Fell Mountains sits the Great Jungle, lush and full of dangers and treasure from a long lost civilization. The frontier outpost of Kraden’s Hill has become a hotbed of activity and many merchants are willing to pay handsomely for the unearthed riches of the inhospitable jungle.

TG0 Depths of the Croaking Gtotto – A missing box of treasure sends the characters on the last caravan of the season bound for the frontier outpost of Kraden’s Hill. Tracking the culprits turns into a dangerous journey into the rough untamed mountains, where predators and onsters lurk in the shadows of craggy peaks. Can a brave band of heroes recover the missing treasure and return from the Depths of the Croaking Grotto? – This adventure is available as a Pay What You Want title on DriveThruRPG.

TG1 Lost Temple of Ibholtheg – On the borders of the uncivilized Great Jungle lies the outpost of Kraden’s Hill. Brave adventurers are needed to lead expeditions into the perilous jungle, facing cannibal monsters, dangerous flora, and worse, all in search of wealth and power hidden deep inside the jungle.

TG2 Tongues of the Screaming Toad – The frontier outpost of Kraden’s Hill has been having problems lately with people going insane. Signs point to long dead religious rites honouring a horrendous god of the ancient jungle.

TG3 Shadow Out of Sapphire Lake – Tranquil Sapphire Lake, located a short distance from the outpost of Kraden’s Hill, has long been a source of fresh and clean water for the frontier community. One night however, transforms the site into a horror beyond nightmares and out of time as people face the Shadow Out of Sapphire Lake!

KS2 Crypt of Bones – Terrible monstrosities crawl up from the dirt around the remote town of Amberdale! The ancient graveyard that sits outside the town has become host to a fore of darkness under the touch of the Demon Lord of Graveyards, and no one is safe from the return of the Eyes of Death! Can you protect Amberdale and put an end to the evil in the Crypt of Bones?


The TG adventures range between 3rd to 6th level whilst the Kickstarter exclusive KS2 is for levels 10 to 12.


[h=3]Monsterhearts 2 by Avery Alder[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 1st December 2016; 07:59 UTC)

Monsterhearts was a massive indie hit when it was first published back in 2012. Drawing upon inspiration from sources such as Twilight, True Blood, Ginger Snaps and The Craft it’s a game about sexy monsters, teenage angst, personal horror and secret love triangles. “You’re all teenagers in a dark and stormy world, hiding the fact that you are secretly a monster. When you play, you explore the terror ad confusion of having a body that is changing without your permission.”

The game uses the Apocalypse World engine and the 2nd edition has seen some of the rules streamlined from the original edition as well as new chapters and sections covering things such as boundaries and vulnerability, the nature of violence in the genre, sexuality, asexuality/non-attraction and texting.


[h=3]Cabal by Andrew Peregrine[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 1st December 2016; 07:54 UTC)

Andrew Peregrine is one of the unsung powerhouses of the RPG industry – having worked on dozens of books and game lines over the last twenty years ranging across games such as 7th Sea to Firefly, Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space to Vampire: The Masquerade, as well as Line Developing Victoriana 2nd Edition for Cubicle 7. He’s also written a few of his own indie games over the years and has turned to Kickstarter to fund his latest venture… Cabal.

Cabal is an RPG that works in reverse to the way tabletop RPGs usually function. Instead of each player creating their own character, you create a single character between you. This character is an organisation with its own secret plan and gaols. It might be a conspiracy, a corporation, an activist group, an occult society of magicians or even a collection of hidden alien refugees. The size, influence, resources and pawns of the group depend entirely on what attributes the players choose between them for the organisation.

In most RPGs, the characters go on adventures created by the Gamemaster, and gain improvement points they can use to build their characters. In Cabal, the players decide what aspect of the organisation they want to improve, and work with the Gamemaster to create a project that will improve that attribute if they are successful. These projects require the organisation to use specialty teams to complete the goal. Such teams are created to give each player a character to run for that team’s part of the project. Several teams might be required to complete a project, and compared to the organisation, any of them are expendable.

For instance: you may want to improve your organisation’s scientific knowledge, and create a project to send a team to locate a rare plant you suspect may have properties you can turn into a powerful new product. You might begin with a group of explorers looking for the plant. Bt when they find it is in the lands of an ancient tribe you might switch to a diplomatic team who can negotiate access to their sacred lands. Having got hold of the herb, you discover another organisation is looking to steal it from you. So you switch to a military team who can get the herb back to headquarters when your enemies make their move.

Cabal is what you want it to be, a game of corporate greed, activists and hackers taking on the establishment, or even mercenaries working for the highest bidder. The motives, agenda and methods of your Cabal are entirely up to you.



[h=3]Contact – Tactical Alien Defense RPG by Uhrwerk Verlag[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Saturday 3rd December 2016; 15:01 UTC)

Imagine a future where mankind is in constant conflict with itself and has been subdued into a totalitarian economic landscape that allows a handful of massive multi-national companies to dominate every aspect of human life. One might in fact argue there is already little left to imagination as far as that vision goes.

But as we speak, there are even more sinister forces at work on planet Earth – and beyond. As of late, our world has become a hotspot for hostile alien visitation. There’s an impressive assortment of curious, cruel, and voracious creatures descending on a world already ravaged by one of the most treacherous and violent species in the Universe: Us!

In order to meet this new threat, Earth’s industrialized governments finally approve the inception of a strong and independent clandestine organization: OMEGA. Authorized to secretly operate in all parts of the world, OMEGA is the only entity on Earth with the capability to counter the alien threat.

When engaged in a game of Contact, you take on the roles of dedicated OMEGA operatives. Player characters may be human soldiers, agents, engineers or scientists, with detailed background stories and lots of personal quirks, traits, and ambitions. Naturally, there is also the possibility of playing more exotic characters, such as cyborgs, advanced Artificial Intelligences, or even the occasional alien ally. Your duty is to stand firm between a menacing UFO armada and the survival of mankind, fulfilling your mission by any means necessary, yet no one can even know you exist.


You can download the free Quick Start Rules here!


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If you have a forthcoming Kickstarter, or see one that excites you, please feel free to drop me an email on angus.abranson@gmail.com You can follow me on Twitter @ Angus_A or on Facebook where I often post about gaming.

Until next week, have fun and happy gaming!

Angus Abranson
 

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