Welcome back to our weekly look at tabletop roleplaying game, and accessories, crowdfunding roundup! This week we bring you starship maps, desert encounters, a boarding school with a difference, a comedy Starfinder Adventure Path, and an RPG in a Keyring. 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. P. Lovecraft Preparatory Academy – Tabletop RPG by Eloy Lasanta
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 7th March 2018; 21:29 UTC)
The H. P. Lovecraft Preparatory Academy (HPL Prep for short) is a semi-humorous RPG “in the tradition of Saturday morning cartoons featuring mystery-busting kids… only the monsters are real.” Based around the prestigious HPL Prep this 300-page book gives you everything you need to play students as they deal with a range of problems… from conspiracies, uncaring professors, bullies, dangerous steam tunnels, horrible monstrosities that humanity was never meant to see, all the while trying to study for exams and stay out of Arkham Sanitarium!
I bet you’re wondering, “What parent would send their child to a school like this?” Well, you’re not exactly a “normal” student. You’ve got supernatural powers! As a Witch, you can bend the eldritch forces of the universe to your will… what could possibly go wrong with that? Or you could be a Mad Scientist, developing strange and wondrous gadgets that almost never explode. Maybe you’re a Hybrid, forced to hide your alien features and disturbing powers. Or you could be a Summoner, accompanied by a terrifying little critter that follows you around like a puppy… if the puppy was inside out and covered with tentacles. Maybe you’re a Dreamer, with the power to invade and manipulate sleeping minds. And if you choose to be a Monday (normal kid), there's always money and exceptional skills.
· Features a detailed sandbox environment on the campus of a haunted New England boarding school.
· Six different Student Types to choose from (Dreamers, Hybrids, Mad Scientists, Mondays, Summoners, or Witches)
· A simple task resolution derived from the PDQ System: roll 2d6 + skill modifier against a target number.
· Design your own faculty! Want Dr. Frankenstein to be the new Biology professor? No problem!
· Thanks to the medical breakthroughs developed by Dr. West in the school infirmary, your character can’t die…but sanity is another matter entirely.
· Tons of optional rules to customize your individual game.
Redshirts, Vol. 2: A Starfinder Comedy A.P. for levels 4-6 by T.J. Lantz
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 25th February 2018; 17:59 UTC)
T.J. Lantz returns with the second part of his tongue-firmly-in-cheek Starfinder Adventure Path – Redshirts. Covering Chapters 4 to 6 (and for character levels 4 to 6) this continuation sees the characters trying to stay alive despite the best efforts of their well meaning, but dysfunctional, command crew during their deep space exploration mission.
So, what can we expect from Volume 2?
· Chapter 4: When a ship of undead creatures kidnaps a Confederation Ambassador, the Redshirts must find a way to rescue her and destroy the vessal, before joining them in undeath, forever.
· Chapter 5: When a routine visit to Plushy Prime, the happiest place in the Universe, goes wrong the Redshirts must unravel a mystery hidden away for thousands of years.
· Chapter 6: When the Captain accidentally gets married again (to the Slurmolian Emperor) only the Redshirts can be trusted to find the one creature in the Universe that can perform the annulment before anyone finds out.
· 20+ new monsters
· New Equipment to kill your enemies with
· 5+ new playable races: Slurmolians, Soulcage, Za’Rootyn, Fungoids and Val’hooligans.
V’lar: Starship Maps & Miniatures by Ryan Wolfe
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 25th February 2018; 04:55 UTC)
Ryan Wolfe turns his hand to bringing us the first in a series of alien ships with V’lar. These organic alien ships, great for Starfinder or other sci-fi RPGs, are offered as a double-sided 24x36 inch deckplan poster and a set of four miniatures.
The exotic craft presented here are from the first issue in the upcoming "Armada Codex: Aliens" series. In my homebrew Zero Hour setting, these are organic-hybrid ships from the V'lar Confluence, but they can be used to represent anything from plant-based, to biological, to undead-themed starships.
The deckplans are provided on both sides of a full color, 24x36 inch poster. They are drawn to a 1 inch equals 5 ft scale and have a subtle 1-inch grid built into the floor. Posters are shipped rolled, not folded.
There are three unique ships included in this project: a cargo ship, a bomber, and a heavy fighter. A single poster holds the complete deckplans for all three ships, but the cargo ship has one deck on the front and one deck on the back (so you may want a pair of posters to display the whole cargo ship at once, or to display both the cargo ship and bomber at the same time).
The posters are made with miniatures in mind and are scaled for use with Starfinder and similar d20 rule systems. The interiors (sleep pods, ladders, toilets, etc.) are scaled to roughly human dimensions so the maps are usable as both adventure settings and potential player property.
The miniatures were created as digital models, 3D printed at the highest resolution, and made into a mold. From that, Trollforged Miniatures spun out the ships using their proprietary resin and professional techniques. A hexagonal 1-inch flight stand is included with each of the two larger ships. The fighters do not use stands.
The group of four miniatures (1 Beetle, 1 Manta, and 2 Skulls) is sold as a set for this campaign.
The Keyring RPG by Askfageln
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 18th February 2018; 20:12 UTC)
The Keyring RPG is a really interesting idea, combined with ultimate portability. “The Keyring RPG is a combination of the idea of creating a procedural role-playing game and the discovery of a really cute notepad. Mashing those ideas together gave rise to the Keyring RPG.”
Key features (no pun intended):
· The Basic Game is very small, only 7 x 3 x 2 centimeters. You can carry it on your keyring.
· It features a procedural adventure building system
· A full rules set that allows for a lot of flexibility when playing
· Five sets of generic maps
· Mission cards
· Location cards
· Obstacle cards
· Reward cards
· Motivation cards
· Character sheets
The first version of the Keyring RPG was made all in Swedish (and is the reason why all of the photos show that first printed version of the game). It consisted of 500 copies in two print editions, and it ran out in less than half a year. This new, edition is translated into English and intended to reach a broader audience.
I spoke to Askfageln’s Tove and Anders Gillbring about the project…
“The inspiration for the rules design is a mix of Tunnels & Trolls and the Storyteller System. The Keyring Rpg uses Dice pools. You have basic abilities, and that's how many dice you roll, and then you add the skills to the result of the die roll to improve your results. When you start the game, you get a certain number of dots to place on abilities and a certain number to place on skills. Let's say you want to cross a bridge, but you're not terribly apt at physical endeavors. Instead, you choose to charm the barbarian guarding the bridge to have him carry you across. This is a Charisma roll. So you have two dots in charisma and two dots in charm. You roll two die and add 2 to the result, against a difficulty (and this can be different depending on if the barbarian is friendly or aggressive) and if you succeed, you get safely carried across the bridge.
When it comes to story hooks, the game is procedural, which means that even when you've played the story hook previously, the adventure can still turn out differently depending on which obstacles you face and where the adventure is set. Basically, an adventure that at one point is about rescuing a fair youngster from a crazed warlock in a lush forest can turn into a hunt to save a whale on the ocean. This means that yes, at some point you will run out of combinations, but that's hopefully tens or hundreds of games in. But Åsa has not actually done the math on that.
The Basic Game actually comes without a setting. Instead you will find everything to be generic and or procedural in its basic form.”
Off the Beaten Path, Desert Excursions by Thom Wilson
(Campaign Ends : Monday 19th February 2018; 21:30 UTC)
Off the Beaten Path, Desert Excursions is a collection of one to two page standalone adventures and side-quests usable for any fantasy RPG. “There are over twenty-six pages of encounters found within dry deserts and desolate locales. As your player's characters travel through the arid wasteland, they will come across burial chambers, deserted villages, sunken towers, troublesome oases, and more! These adventures are a great way to add additional encounters during travel, or to handle an unexpected change in direction!”
The campaign actually offers two versions of the book. One is system-neutral, containing open stat blocks for GMs to fill in for their preferred system, and the other will be written for Swords & Wizardry.
Off the Beaten Path, Desert Excursions is the stand-alone follow-up to Off the Beaten Path, Forest Excursions which was produced last year.
Death is Only the Beginning – New Novel in the KULT Universe by Fria Ligan
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 28th February 2018; 20:00 UTC)
Death is Only the Beginning is a horror novel set in the universe of the classic Kult roleplaying game. This 250-page novel is written by the original creators if the game, Gunilla Jonsson and Michael Petersen. Alex Torvenius provides the cover art, whilst Dan Algstrand, who is also the designer of the upcoming Kult: Divinity Lost RPG coming from Helmgast, is handling the graphic design.
Amanda Serner casts black Jersey barriers in her Kreuzberg studio. Her grandfather wades through barbed wire in hell. A golden beetle climbs toward the ceiling in Hauptbahnhof. And somewhere in the big city, a plaza opens amid crumbling ruins.
Berlin in the summer of 2017 is a city where reality is starting to fall apart. The old capital of the Prince-Electors is the border between the world we know and the world we have chosen to forget. In abandoned buildings covered by graffiti, doors are opening into the metropolis left behind by humanity. Beneath the villas at Wannsee, a black citadel appears. An old hospital built by angels holds secrets from the time when artists tore down walls and defied authority. A Swedish sculptor comes here, searching for inspiration. Instead, she finds the path to Inferno.
**********
If you like what we do here at EN World (the Forums, Columns, News, ENnies, etc) and would like to help support us to bring you MORE please consider supporting our Patreon. Even a single dollar helps Thanks!
**********
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
H. P. Lovecraft Preparatory Academy – Tabletop RPG by Eloy Lasanta
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 7th March 2018; 21:29 UTC)
The H. P. Lovecraft Preparatory Academy (HPL Prep for short) is a semi-humorous RPG “in the tradition of Saturday morning cartoons featuring mystery-busting kids… only the monsters are real.” Based around the prestigious HPL Prep this 300-page book gives you everything you need to play students as they deal with a range of problems… from conspiracies, uncaring professors, bullies, dangerous steam tunnels, horrible monstrosities that humanity was never meant to see, all the while trying to study for exams and stay out of Arkham Sanitarium!
I bet you’re wondering, “What parent would send their child to a school like this?” Well, you’re not exactly a “normal” student. You’ve got supernatural powers! As a Witch, you can bend the eldritch forces of the universe to your will… what could possibly go wrong with that? Or you could be a Mad Scientist, developing strange and wondrous gadgets that almost never explode. Maybe you’re a Hybrid, forced to hide your alien features and disturbing powers. Or you could be a Summoner, accompanied by a terrifying little critter that follows you around like a puppy… if the puppy was inside out and covered with tentacles. Maybe you’re a Dreamer, with the power to invade and manipulate sleeping minds. And if you choose to be a Monday (normal kid), there's always money and exceptional skills.
· Features a detailed sandbox environment on the campus of a haunted New England boarding school.
· Six different Student Types to choose from (Dreamers, Hybrids, Mad Scientists, Mondays, Summoners, or Witches)
· A simple task resolution derived from the PDQ System: roll 2d6 + skill modifier against a target number.
· Design your own faculty! Want Dr. Frankenstein to be the new Biology professor? No problem!
· Thanks to the medical breakthroughs developed by Dr. West in the school infirmary, your character can’t die…but sanity is another matter entirely.
· Tons of optional rules to customize your individual game.
Redshirts, Vol. 2: A Starfinder Comedy A.P. for levels 4-6 by T.J. Lantz
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 25th February 2018; 17:59 UTC)
T.J. Lantz returns with the second part of his tongue-firmly-in-cheek Starfinder Adventure Path – Redshirts. Covering Chapters 4 to 6 (and for character levels 4 to 6) this continuation sees the characters trying to stay alive despite the best efforts of their well meaning, but dysfunctional, command crew during their deep space exploration mission.
So, what can we expect from Volume 2?
· Chapter 4: When a ship of undead creatures kidnaps a Confederation Ambassador, the Redshirts must find a way to rescue her and destroy the vessal, before joining them in undeath, forever.
· Chapter 5: When a routine visit to Plushy Prime, the happiest place in the Universe, goes wrong the Redshirts must unravel a mystery hidden away for thousands of years.
· Chapter 6: When the Captain accidentally gets married again (to the Slurmolian Emperor) only the Redshirts can be trusted to find the one creature in the Universe that can perform the annulment before anyone finds out.
· 20+ new monsters
· New Equipment to kill your enemies with
· 5+ new playable races: Slurmolians, Soulcage, Za’Rootyn, Fungoids and Val’hooligans.
V’lar: Starship Maps & Miniatures by Ryan Wolfe
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 25th February 2018; 04:55 UTC)
Ryan Wolfe turns his hand to bringing us the first in a series of alien ships with V’lar. These organic alien ships, great for Starfinder or other sci-fi RPGs, are offered as a double-sided 24x36 inch deckplan poster and a set of four miniatures.
The exotic craft presented here are from the first issue in the upcoming "Armada Codex: Aliens" series. In my homebrew Zero Hour setting, these are organic-hybrid ships from the V'lar Confluence, but they can be used to represent anything from plant-based, to biological, to undead-themed starships.
The deckplans are provided on both sides of a full color, 24x36 inch poster. They are drawn to a 1 inch equals 5 ft scale and have a subtle 1-inch grid built into the floor. Posters are shipped rolled, not folded.
There are three unique ships included in this project: a cargo ship, a bomber, and a heavy fighter. A single poster holds the complete deckplans for all three ships, but the cargo ship has one deck on the front and one deck on the back (so you may want a pair of posters to display the whole cargo ship at once, or to display both the cargo ship and bomber at the same time).
The posters are made with miniatures in mind and are scaled for use with Starfinder and similar d20 rule systems. The interiors (sleep pods, ladders, toilets, etc.) are scaled to roughly human dimensions so the maps are usable as both adventure settings and potential player property.
The miniatures were created as digital models, 3D printed at the highest resolution, and made into a mold. From that, Trollforged Miniatures spun out the ships using their proprietary resin and professional techniques. A hexagonal 1-inch flight stand is included with each of the two larger ships. The fighters do not use stands.
The group of four miniatures (1 Beetle, 1 Manta, and 2 Skulls) is sold as a set for this campaign.
The Keyring RPG by Askfageln
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 18th February 2018; 20:12 UTC)
The Keyring RPG is a really interesting idea, combined with ultimate portability. “The Keyring RPG is a combination of the idea of creating a procedural role-playing game and the discovery of a really cute notepad. Mashing those ideas together gave rise to the Keyring RPG.”
Key features (no pun intended):
· The Basic Game is very small, only 7 x 3 x 2 centimeters. You can carry it on your keyring.
· It features a procedural adventure building system
· A full rules set that allows for a lot of flexibility when playing
· Five sets of generic maps
· Mission cards
· Location cards
· Obstacle cards
· Reward cards
· Motivation cards
· Character sheets
The first version of the Keyring RPG was made all in Swedish (and is the reason why all of the photos show that first printed version of the game). It consisted of 500 copies in two print editions, and it ran out in less than half a year. This new, edition is translated into English and intended to reach a broader audience.
I spoke to Askfageln’s Tove and Anders Gillbring about the project…
“The inspiration for the rules design is a mix of Tunnels & Trolls and the Storyteller System. The Keyring Rpg uses Dice pools. You have basic abilities, and that's how many dice you roll, and then you add the skills to the result of the die roll to improve your results. When you start the game, you get a certain number of dots to place on abilities and a certain number to place on skills. Let's say you want to cross a bridge, but you're not terribly apt at physical endeavors. Instead, you choose to charm the barbarian guarding the bridge to have him carry you across. This is a Charisma roll. So you have two dots in charisma and two dots in charm. You roll two die and add 2 to the result, against a difficulty (and this can be different depending on if the barbarian is friendly or aggressive) and if you succeed, you get safely carried across the bridge.
The Basic Game actually comes without a setting. Instead you will find everything to be generic and or procedural in its basic form.”
Off the Beaten Path, Desert Excursions by Thom Wilson
(Campaign Ends : Monday 19th February 2018; 21:30 UTC)
Off the Beaten Path, Desert Excursions is a collection of one to two page standalone adventures and side-quests usable for any fantasy RPG. “There are over twenty-six pages of encounters found within dry deserts and desolate locales. As your player's characters travel through the arid wasteland, they will come across burial chambers, deserted villages, sunken towers, troublesome oases, and more! These adventures are a great way to add additional encounters during travel, or to handle an unexpected change in direction!”
The campaign actually offers two versions of the book. One is system-neutral, containing open stat blocks for GMs to fill in for their preferred system, and the other will be written for Swords & Wizardry.
Off the Beaten Path, Desert Excursions is the stand-alone follow-up to Off the Beaten Path, Forest Excursions which was produced last year.
Death is Only the Beginning – New Novel in the KULT Universe by Fria Ligan
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 28th February 2018; 20:00 UTC)
Death is Only the Beginning is a horror novel set in the universe of the classic Kult roleplaying game. This 250-page novel is written by the original creators if the game, Gunilla Jonsson and Michael Petersen. Alex Torvenius provides the cover art, whilst Dan Algstrand, who is also the designer of the upcoming Kult: Divinity Lost RPG coming from Helmgast, is handling the graphic design.
Amanda Serner casts black Jersey barriers in her Kreuzberg studio. Her grandfather wades through barbed wire in hell. A golden beetle climbs toward the ceiling in Hauptbahnhof. And somewhere in the big city, a plaza opens amid crumbling ruins.
Berlin in the summer of 2017 is a city where reality is starting to fall apart. The old capital of the Prince-Electors is the border between the world we know and the world we have chosen to forget. In abandoned buildings covered by graffiti, doors are opening into the metropolis left behind by humanity. Beneath the villas at Wannsee, a black citadel appears. An old hospital built by angels holds secrets from the time when artists tore down walls and defied authority. A Swedish sculptor comes here, searching for inspiration. Instead, she finds the path to Inferno.
**********
If you like what we do here at EN World (the Forums, Columns, News, ENnies, etc) and would like to help support us to bring you MORE please consider supporting our Patreon. Even a single dollar helps Thanks!
**********
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
