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.

 

[Andvari]

I don't see the big deal about always hitting. It comes out to the same whether you hit always for less damage or hit less but deal more damage when you do. It averages out to the same, it's just more predictable with automatic hits, and you need to update HP more frequently.

Regardless, the game sounds pretty interesting so far. Would be very interested if someone near me offered to run it at some point. It's also good to see more non-D&D titles gaining popularity. I also have a sneaky suspicion a CRPG version of the game could work well.

What I'm most curious about though, is what name the game will end up having.

 

[overgeeked]

I don't see the big deal about always hitting. It comes out to the same whether you hit always for less damage or hit less but deal more damage when you do. It averages out to the same, it's just more predictable with automatic hits, and you need to update HP more frequently.

Regardless, the game sounds pretty interesting so far. Would be very interested if someone near me offered to run it at some point. It's also good to see more non-D&D titles gaining popularity. I also have a sneaky suspicion a CRPG version of the game could work well.

What I'm most curious about though, is what name the game will end up having.

People really hate to change tradition. What I don't get is how a lot of the people angry about old-school save or suck mechanics are the exact same people angry about no longer rolling to hit. So, they're okay with "make this roll or you don't get to do something for a round"...but "make this roll or you don't get to do something for a round" is also...paradoxically...not okay. It's weird.

 

[darjr]

FYI if you’re a backer there is a Pocket Kobold STL up.

 

[bedir than]

The funny thing is that from time to time I see adverts offering to sell, maintain and service my defibrillator.

I don't own one!

maybe you should? Possibly get two even

 

[darjr]

20k backers

 

[Zaukrie]

20k backers

Which is an insane amount..... I'm not sure it's enough to build a new gaming community outside their fans. But it's an insane amount

 

[MacDhomnuill]

Which is an insane amount..... I'm not sure it's enough to build a new gaming community outside their fans. But it's an insane amount

Thats about 25% of his discord or youtube followers. Seems like the ficus on building a cult…er follower base has worked out well.

 

[Aldarc]

20k backers

That's incredible. And just for scope, it's still crazy for me to think that Avatar Legends had 81K backers when all was said and done.

 

[SteveC]

That's incredible. And just for scope, it's still crazy for me to think that Avatar Legends had 81K backers when all was said and done.

That's just a measure of the differences in the size of the fan base. I doubt that Netflix is talking with Matt about spending millions of dollars on an MCDM series. And yet, I also believe that after it's all said and done more people will be playing the MCDM game than Avatar. I have heard people that I 100% trust say that Avatar is being played, but I have never seen it in the wild so to speak.

I know people who own the Avatar RPG and none of them have even pitched running it, they just wanted it because they're fans. I think that's going to be the difference here. My gaming groups are already talking about playing MCDM but when I mentioned Avatar they just said "nah," even though they own the books!

 

[Velderan]

They just released a patreon update from James saying the first patreon playtest packet will be released on December 26th at 2pm eastern and it will focus on combat and a bit of negotiation. He stressed this is still early and rough, so I guess we’ll see. He said it’s fine to discuss with non-patrons so I’ll try to describe what’s in the packet after it’s released.