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.

 

[Velderan]

I listened to the entire Q&A today as I was watching football and cleaning. Some takeaways:

* They expect a playtest packet this month for Patreon supporters.

* I love Matt's honesty. At one point he said if that if money was tight for you with the holidays coming up, don't feel like you have to support the project, because they've already raised enough money that "it's definitely happening".

* On that note: Matt says repeatedly that this game won't be for everyone. It won't involve cutting purses to get seven copper, and if that's your bag, try a different game that does that better. They want big, heroic fantasy.

* For example, will you be able to shapeshift into a bear? Probably, but that's not enough, because "a bear can't fight Thanos". They want your shapeshifter to do bigger and cooler things than just that.

* In designing the game, they conceptualize the "fantasy" first, then build the rules around that. What does a badass fantasy archer look like? Visualize that clearly, then figure out how to make it happen. At different points Matt mentioned Jason Bourne and Captain America as people you might want a character to resemble.

* They want to build from the ground up, rather than be beholden to RPG ideas "from 1974". So just because we have 50 years of thinking that "a third of attacks miss" and do nothing, that doesn't mean that attacks will miss in their game. They want no wasted turns.

* They want a strong tension between deciding whether to press forward or retreat when adventuring. Incentivize both and let the characters debate and decide.

* He name-dropped Shadowdark yet again, although I forget the context. Matt can't write or say anything without mentioning Shadowdark, which I think I kind of cute. Speaking of which:



All your thread are belong to us.

I loved the number of times he said “this game isn’t for you” in response to a question. I can respect a designer leaning heavily into the type of game they are trying to make even if it costs them sales.

 

[mamba]

I love Matt's honesty. At one point he said if that if money was tight for you with the holidays coming up, don't feel like you have to support the project, because they've already raised enough money that "it's definitely happening".

He did that in the announcement video too, spent almost as much time giving you reasons not to back it as reason to back it (with much of the time being spent on the game itself rather than on a sales pitch)

 

[Parmandur]

I listened to the entire Q&A today as I was watching football and cleaning. Some takeaways:

* They expect a playtest packet this month for Patreon supporters.

* I love Matt's honesty. At one point he said if that if money was tight for you with the holidays coming up, don't feel like you have to support the project, because they've already raised enough money that "it's definitely happening".

* On that note: Matt says repeatedly that this game won't be for everyone. It won't involve cutting purses to get seven copper, and if that's your bag, try a different game that does that better. They want big, heroic fantasy.

* For example, will you be able to shapeshift into a bear? Probably, but that's not enough, because "a bear can't fight Thanos". They want your shapeshifter to do bigger and cooler things than just that.

* In designing the game, they conceptualize the "fantasy" first, then build the rules around that. What does a badass fantasy archer look like? Visualize that clearly, then figure out how to make it happen. At different points Matt mentioned Jason Bourne and Captain America as people you might want a character to resemble.

* They want to build from the ground up, rather than be beholden to RPG ideas "from 1974". So just because we have 50 years of thinking that "a third of attacks miss" and do nothing, that doesn't mean that attacks will miss in their game. They want no wasted turns.

* They want a strong tension between deciding whether to press forward or retreat when adventuring. Incentivize both and let the characters debate and decide.

* He name-dropped Shadowdark yet again, although I forget the context. Matt can't write or say anything without mentioning Shadowdark, which I think I kind of cute. Speaking of which:



All your thread are belong to us.

I have to say that I really like their approach and how they are handling themselves...even though this game is not for me, kind of radically going against what I'm looking for in an RPG. But I like their moxy and enthusiasm for their own thing.

 

[Staffan]

I have to say that I really like their approach and how they are handling themselves...even though this game is not for me, kind of radically going against what I'm looking for in an RPG. But I like their moxy and enthusiasm for their own thing.

I very much agree. Not all games are for all people, and they seem to have a clear vision for what they want and are going hard for it. Very much a "If this is the kind of thing you like, you'll like this, and if it isn't you won't." Me, I think it looks super interesting, though I'm probably waiting for retail (on account of transatlantic shipping costs), or backing at the PDF level at the most.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I have to say that I really like their approach and how they are handling themselves...even though this game is not for me, kind of radically going against what I'm looking for in an RPG. But I like their moxy and enthusiasm for their own thing.

Agree also - I'd much rather see confident, bold RPGs with a focused design towards a specific goal, even if that's not my goal, the milquetoast ones who try to please everyone, or, somehow worse, stick to a specific system for the sake of sticking to that system rather than use a system that works for what they actually want to do.

I think that latter point is pretty big with MCDM's RPG - they've been fearless in exiling sacred cows of D&D, even ones so sacred and ancient people barely talk about them like lengthy dungeon crawls as an intended and heavily supported mode of play, or mainly-attrition-based resource usage design (attrition does factor in here, but it's balanced against victories which tend to increase resources). Shadowdark did a lot of similar exiling, albeit to a very different end - like dumping non-resource-consuming ways to have light and dumping darkvision/infravision entirely.

I very much agree. Not all games are for all people, and they seem to have a clear vision for what they want and are going hard for it. Very much a "If this is the kind of thing you like, you'll like this, and if it isn't you won't." Me, I think it looks super interesting, though I'm probably waiting for retail (on account of transatlantic shipping costs), or backing at the PDF level at the most.

I've backed at the PDF level. I'm excited by the game, but yes not excited by transatlantic shipping costs, which tend to be a lot higher than the mark-up of buying the actual books when they appear in the FLGS (usually Leisure Games if we're being real).

 

[Parmandur]

they've been fearless in exiling sacred cows of D&D, even ones so sacred and ancient people barely talk about them like lengthy dungeon crawls as an intended and heavily supported mode of play, or mainly-attrition-based resource usage design

I mean, those exact decisions are particularly the "I'm not interested in this game" aspect for me, since those are kind of two of the main points of D&D for me personally. But good for them making the game they want to play.

Also wouldn't have thought it before, but removing misses really doesnwork for me. Loses that sense of gambling and excitement thwt D&D combat posseses.

 

[mamba]

I mean, those exact decisions are particularly the "I'm not interested in this game" aspect for me, since those are kind of two of the main points of D&D for me personally. But good for them making the game they want to play.

Also wouldn't have thought it before, but removing misses really doesnwork for me. Loses that sense of gambling and excitement thwt D&D combat posseses.

same, when moving away from 5e, I'd move more towards Shadowdark than superheroic fantasy / MCDM RPG, that does not mean I cannot appreciate them having a vision they follow instead of trying to be everything for everyone

 

[darjr]

I’m in no way going to stop playing D&D 5e. Nor Shadowdark or other games.

I do want to play this too.

 

[Parmandur]

same, when moving away from 5e, I'd move more towards Shadowdark then superheroic fantasy / MCDM RPG, that does not mean I cannot appreciate them having a vision they follow instead of trying to be everything for everyone

Yeah, I have Dungeon Crawl Classics already for a D&D style game that leans more into the parts I like than 5E does. For hyper-supweheeoic action, I'd go wrong something more abstract in action, like Powered by the Apocalypse.

 

[Parmandur]

I’m in no way going to stop playing D&D 5e. Nor Shadowdark or other games.

I do want to play this too.

Multiple games are good to have, for sure!