Frank Mentzer's Worlds of Empyrea Kickstarter to be Rebooted!

The Kickstarter for Frank Mentzer's Worlds of Empyrea was ambitious, and sadly it didn't seem to gain the traction it needed to raise the $250K it was asking for. Indeed, Kicktraq is currently predicting it won't make its funding goal; so far it has raised just over a fifth of its target. However, all is not lost - because it's being rebooted! (thanks to Terradave for the scoop).

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The reboot, which will take place on Monday, October 16th, will have a much lower funding goal, quicker delivery time, and expanded PDF offerings. Frank posted the following update:

Greetings all.

We're rebooting the Empyrea Kickstarter.

In my first-ever KS I made several miscalculations, so we're fixing them. The Team have discussed options and we're all set. Here are the highlights:

• Realistic (lower) goal, carefully analyzed for maximum quality and cost-efficiency (alernate printing sources, etc.)
• Realistic delivery time (next Fall, not Summer)
• Expanded Living Campaign online at all levels (not just Nobles)
• Expanded PDF benefits and options for all

Sorry about that, but now we know how to do this right. Thanks again for your support.

So here are some details from the Team.

—Frank

This was followed by an update from Mike Myler, who is handing the social media aspect of the campaign.

Hello everybody! It’s Mike!

In the rush of his lifelong campaign setting being fully realized and shared with the world, Frank’s zeal to make Empyrea have a massive print run with a huge impact got the better of him and bowled me right over. Rightly so—I’ve gotten to sit in on his weekly game, I’ve read the internal documents for it, and it’s a really fantastic place ripe for adventure especially with the huge scope involved. In addition to that a lot of amazing people from the industry came out of the woods to get on board with the project as soon as they got wind of it and did so right up to the night before launch. In the mix of Empyrea being finalized and a widening roster of contributors, the full breadth of Frank’s vision was shadowed by the needs of firming up work agreements and other business concerns.

This last week we’ve worked hard to refine the focus on things and make sure everyone clearly understands the expansive, involved, and frankly ground-breaking gaming phenomenon that Frank has laid out here. It is still a complicated affair—a box set fantasy setting with multiple books and compatibility with 10 RPGs, a medieval campaign world that’s approachable but still filled with fantastic underpinnings he’s spent 40 years refining, all done by an epic team from the industry’s history, an expansive online campaign simultaneously played by citizens and nobles from across the globe—but we’re hoping that it’s clearly presented now and that we can exceed our revised, smaller print run goal to realize Frank’s larger dream.

So, October 16th is the date.

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[Banesfinger]

Frank's work in forming our hobby is undeniable. And he's assemble a great team for this project.
But apart from the nod to Greyhawk, what sets this campaign world apart from all the other Fantasy 'heartbreakers'?

For me, there are so many 'High Fantasy' worlds on the market already, that there needs to be something really significant to set it apart - not just minor esthetics which other products try to tote (halflings have a different name, dwarves live above ground, gunpowder, magic is bad but everyone still seems to use it, etc).

 

[TerraDave]

Looking at it again, the concept is there, and the chrome is there, but the substance feels rushed.

I still hope they can pull it together.

 

[Tangleknot Lightstep]

I'd like to know more about this setting. I've been to the Kickstarter a few times and all I know is that its a homebrew in Greyhawk....? I couldn't bring myself to backing it when I knew nothing of the world.

 

[Kelewandar]

I must say I feel the same as Tangleknot. A lot of people say it's amazing, but it seems to me that the kickstarter page/video were not conveying the atmosphere/ theme behind this campaign setting. I still wonder what the core is really about. I had to read through the comment section to find a link to a webpage containing more info. Honestly, I didn't even check it as I was not put in confidence by the overall layout of the Kickstarter page. Kickstarter I back such as Spire or Lost Citadel really did a good job conveying the feeling of their games, with a lot of descriptions, artwork and fiction.

I hope they fix this for the reboot as at first I was really intrigued by the project.

 

[Elf_flambe]

This still feels to me like a first-timer's Kickstarter project. He's promising a lot, quickly. I've seen quite a few projects grind to a crawl, or even crash and burn, under the pressure and cost of actually producing the huge variety of initial goals, not to mention crazy stretch goals. They're promising 10 (!) versions of the core book, for rule sets that it doesn't sound like they're very familiar with. And even if they know them all intimately, good conversions take time.

I wish Frank luck, and hope he succeeds beyond his wildest dreams. His enthusiasm is nothing if not infectious, and I'll keep watching. But I'm still not seeing what sets this setting apart from all the others out there. Just hasn't grabbed me yet, sadly.

 

[pickin_grinnin]

I no longer back any rpg Kickstarters if the majority of the book hasn't already been written and if there's not a lot of specific information about the game setting on the Kickstarter page.

 

[Xaelvaen]

Backed before, will back again - and now I'm getting even more for my same initial pledge. Can't complain there. For me personally, the draw and allure comes four-fold:

There's the connection to Greyhawk - literally the same planet, just a separate continent with a nice connected story. Anything related to Greyhawk obviously has a high nostalgia factor attached to the older gamers, of which I am one - but the second point of interest for me of course is the 'living world' that is attempting to be created. The backers having the capability of shaping and altering the world is an interesting idea.

As was illustrated a few times in the live chats with Frank, the intent is to start small - bring everyone into the area, and it seems as though the 'genre' of the world will be sort of modular, allowing different levels of technology and magic to be played by different groups. "Add what you want, leave what you don't" sort of approach. This could just be my interpretation, of course.

Finally, it's the multiple system books. I still play weekly games of AD&D 2E, and I also play 5E D&D, so getting the information already converted (saving me some precious time) is a nice hook. That sort of plays out like a Free to Play MMO; if you have more time than money, grind. If you have more money than time, pay.

 

[volanin]

Can I do a shout-out here? Feel free to delete my post, Morrus.

Meanwhile, another kickstarter that I discovered through EN is soaring! It's Mini-Dungeons from AAW Games, a tome with 120+ one page adventures for 5E and PFRPG. It has only TWO days left to go and already got 115K in pledges, totaling 4600% of the original goal! It's the 6th kickstarter from AAW and the link is right there in the front page of EN!

http://www.enworld.org/forum/conten...ni-Dungeon-Tome-for-5th-Edition-or-Pathfinder

 

[Sunseeker]

I no longer back any rpg Kickstarters if the majority of the book hasn't already been written and if there's not a lot of specific information about the game setting on the Kickstarter page.

I agree with this. A Kickstarter campaign should come after they're written the book. Even if it's just Frank's personal copy in need of a fine tuning, editing and cool pictures. That way we can get samples of the specific sort of material that's going to be included. A sample dungeon. A potential major NPC. An important kingdom. So we can get a feel for names, styles and overall theme.