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.

 

[overgeeked]

I somehow get the impression that many people don't really get how the OGL Fiasco caused massive waves in the designer space regarding their professional relationship with 5e D&D and WotC.

Sure, it could work like 5e D&D. But it's hard to imagine that people who believe that have been paying attention to a single word that Matt Colville has been saying about D&D for the past six to eight years.

Basically, yeah. Most people on here are hyper-conscious of the industry and the news surrounding RPGs. The average gamer in the RPG scene? Not so much. There were tons of comments to that effect on here during the OGL fiasco. As an example, look at the impact the OGL thing had on WotC sales and/or the Beyond subs. Despite the "massive" push back...neither sales nor subs were noticeably changed. We're in a bubble and seemingly surprised when other people aren't in our same bubble.

 

[overgeeked]

Matt and James are doing another Q&A in about 30 minutes on YouTube.

 

[MNblockhead]

The reactions I've seen are mixed and the negative side is far more pronounced. A lot of people are dumbfounded that this isn't 5E, shocked that it doesn't work exactly like 5E, people rehashing the edition wars due to part of this game's inspiration being 4E, etc. The other bits are complaints about MCDM, Matt personally, and issues with previous Kickstarters. The last one is fair to bring up, but read more as mean-spirited sniping more than anything.

What issues did he have with his prior Kickstarters? I only backed Strongholds and Followers and Flee! Mortals, but I was very happy with both how he ran his campaigns and his final products.

 

[Aldarc]

Basically, yeah. Most people on here are hyper-conscious of the industry and the news surrounding RPGs. The average gamer in the RPG scene? Not so much. There were tons of comments to that effect on here during the OGL fiasco. As an example, look at the impact the OGL thing had on WotC sales and/or the Beyond subs. Despite the "massive" push back...neither sales nor subs were noticeably changed. We're in a bubble and seemingly surprised when other people aren't in our same bubble.

At the beginning of the OGL Fiasco, I predicted that most people in the hobby, particularly those engaged only in D&D 5e, would suffer from short-term memory loss once everything had blown over. I hate being right.

 

[MNblockhead]

At the beginning of the OGL Fiasco, I predicted that most people in the hobby, particularly those engaged only in D&D 5e, would suffer from short-term memory loss once everything had blown over. I hate being right.

If people don't really care and aren't particularly affected by something, and don't otherwise find it that interesting, they're not going to hold on to thoughts of it. I think that describes the vast majority of DnD and potential DnD fans then and now. Besides, from my perspective, the result ended up being better than what we had. Creative Commons license, major third party publishers putting out their own licenses, some major DnD-focused third-party publishers branching out by releasing new systems not based on d20/DnD.

Hard for me to stay upset--what do I have to complain about?

 

[Retreater]

What issues did he have with his prior Kickstarters? I only backed Strongholds and Followers and Flee! Mortals, but I was very happy with both how he ran his campaigns and his final products.

Kingdoms and Warfare had a printing error where a page was left blank. One of the employees released a statement saying "just print out the errata PDF and stick it in your book." This rubbed some backers the wrong way - they don't want to think about a book that is already marred and "less than perfect" even before it ships.
Eventually, Matt Colville made a video to apologize and give backers the options to...
1) ship the book immediately, uncorrected
2) ship the book a little later with a sticker included that backers can use to replace the "bad page."
3) ship the book even later than that with the sticker correctly applied by the MCDM staff.

 

[overgeeked]

Complex tests are reworked skill challenges from 4E. I think they cracked it.

 

[Morrus]

Kingdoms and Warfare had a printing error where a page was left blank. One of the employees released a statement saying "just print out the errata PDF and stick it in your book." This rubbed some backers the wrong way - they don't want to think about a book that is already marred and "less than perfect" even before it ships.
Eventually, Matt Colville made a video to apologize and give backers the options to...
1) ship the book immediately, uncorrected
2) ship the book a little later with a sticker included that backers can use to replace the "bad page."
3) ship the book even later than that with the sticker correctly applied by the MCDM staff.

That happened to us with a big printing of Judge Dredd core rulebooks. We pulped the lot and reprinted them. That was one expensive mistake.

 

[Retreater]

That happened to us with a big printing of Judge Dredd core rulebooks. We pulped the lot and reprinted them. That was one expensive mistake.

Yeah, it's happened to WotC even recently. Working in libraries, we see our shares of printing errors from major publishers too.
Can't hold that against a company, especially when they go out of their way to correct it.

 

[MNblockhead]

Yeah, it's happened to WotC even recently. Working in libraries, we see our shares of printing errors from major publishers too.
Can't hold that against a company, especially when they go out of their way to correct it.

True, but when you are spending USD 60 on a book, or potentially much more on a deluxe backer-only version, it can suck. Though if it goes on to be a big hit with additional reprintings, maybe it'll be a collectors item. ;-)

Actually, I would be very forgiving of this--though I appreciate hearing the Morrus reprinted in a similar situation. Wow and ouch, but that is also the kind of thing that builds greater respect and trust among fans and backers and, hopefully, pays dividends in subsequent Kickstarter projects.

What annoys me is poorly copy-edited material that feels rushed. For example, I'm a big fan of Frog God Games lost lands setting. They give a lot attention to the physical quality of their books. But it seems more often than not, they are riddled with typos, map mistakes, and other issues that indicate insufficient investment of time and money into copy editing.

MCDM, in my experience does a good job, other than the Kingdoms and Warfare blank page issue that I just heard about, because I didn't back that one.

Kobold Press has been the gold standard for me for TTRPG books I've backed on Kickstarter. I can't recall any obvious issues and errors in any of the books I backed from them.