MCDM's New Tactical TTRPG Hits $1M Crowdfunding On First Day!

Matt Colville's MCDM is no stranger to crowdfunding, with three million dollar Kickstarters already under its belt. With the launch of The MCDM RPG, that makes four!

This new game is not a D&D variant or a supplement for D&D, which is what MCDM has focussed on so far. This is an all-new game which concentrates on tactical play, with a fulfilment goal of July 2025. It comes in two books--a 400-page 'Heroes' book and a 'Monsters' book which is an adaption of the existing Flee, Mortals!

The MCDM RPG

Whether you’re a group of local heroes sent to investigate mysterious goings-on in the nearby haunted wood, or famous mercenaries plotting and scheming in the big city, the MCDM RPG makes building adventures and fighting monsters fun.

www.backerkit.com

The game takes aim at traditional d20 fantasy gaming, referring to the burden of 'sacred cows from the 1970s', but point out that it's not a dungeon crawling or exploration game--its core activity is fighting monsters. The system is geared towards tactical combat--you roll 2d6, add an attribute, and do that damage; there's no separate attack roll.

At $40 for the base Heroes PDF and $70 for the hardcover (though there are discounts for both books if you buy them together), it's not a cheap buy-in, but with over 4,000 backers already that's not deterring anybody!

Even more ambitiously, one of the stretch goals is a Virtual Tabletop (VTT). There's already a working prototype of it.

 

[Shardstone]

Yeah, July of 2025 is a long way off. I'm still waiting to get my hard copy of ShadowDark and every update I get, the delivery date is pushed back 2 weeks to a month from the last time. Starting to make me mad as it was supposed to be fulfilled by this Fall iirc.

You cant just ignore the printing conditions man. Its not easy to get books printed and distributed in a post covid world.

 

[darjr]

Amazing. Nothing short of amazing.

Oh if you get this game then here might end up being useful.

https://www.enworld.org/threads/ollie%E2%80%99s-has-campaign-cases-for-3-and-warriors-of-krynn-for-10.701457/

 

[R_J_K75]

You cant just ignore the printing conditions man. Its not easy to get books printed and distributed in a post covid world.

I'm just sick of hearing about the post COVID world, I call Bulls**t

 

[SteveC]

I'm just sick of hearing about the post COVID world, I call Bulls**t

I have friends who've had to get products printed during and after Covid. The supply chain issues are still very much a thing, and the costs for printing, shipping, storage, and distribution have skyrocketed. That's for both the gaming industry and others. It is a different world. Is Covid just being used as an excuse? Don't know. But it absolutely is much more expensive in every area.

 

[Breaking Star Games]

I thought I've seen it as standard or best practice to have a playtest doc with pretty much complete and playable core rules before getting funding. Seems a lot of Kickstarters were to pay for art, layout editing and of course printing/shipping.

Maybe not a red flag to not have it finished but it does remind me of how much work Urban Shadows 2e has had to do since its Kickstarter and how slow that progress can be.

 

[Shardstone]

I'm just sick of hearing about the post COVID world, I call Bulls**t

As a third party publisher, it's not bull man. Even WotC has to push back things due to printing delays. The cost of printing and shipping has increased dramatically. Customs is not easy to get things through all the time. Logistics for kickstarters that go over a million are far harder then the logistics I dealt with, under 100K, and that adds complications too.

You could really just educate yourself on the realities of publishing instead of just believing everyone is lazy or lying to you or w/e.

 

[Zaukrie]

I thought I've seen it as standard or best practice to have a playtest doc with pretty much complete and playable core rules before getting funding. Seems a lot of Kickstarters were to pay for art, layout editing and of course printing/shipping.

Maybe not a red flag to not have it finished but it does remind me of how much work Urban Shadows 2e has had to do since its Kickstarter and how slow that progress can be.

In the old days, most were NOT finished products. In recent years, you are correct, it is for art and stuff.....

MCDM is clearly using this to pay their workers. They've been testing this for some time, and it will finish. We'll get a 75% done product in the playtesting next year, I'd guess....

 

[R_J_K75]

Is Covid just being used as an excuse? Don't know. But it absolutely is much more expensive in every area.

I don't want to derail the thread any more than I already have but I'm going to leave off with this and say that in my XP its more of a workforce issue, lack of employees and a poor work ethic now more than actually COVID. I'm not saying this about everyone, but I have noticed a great decline in customer service and quality control last year or two

 

[The Soloist]

Yeah, July of 2025 is a long way off. I'm still waiting to get my hard copy of ShadowDark and every update I get, the delivery date is pushed back 2 weeks to a month from the last time. Starting to make me mad as it was supposed to be fulfilled by this Fall iirc.

The last Shadowdark update on Dec 5 says the goods have arrived at the US port.

 

[R_J_K75]

The last Shadowdark update on Dec 5 says the goods have arrived at the US port.

Yeah, and I'll see in a month...allegedly, which is 2-3 months after it was supposed to arrive