Welcome back to our weekly look at tabletop roleplaying game, and accessories, crowdfunding roundup! Each week we’ll be looking at a few campaigns currently running that have caught our eye as well as occasionally speaking to some of the creators about their campaigns, or looking at some of the ‘behind the scenes’ business aspects of putting together, launching, operating and then delivering a crowdfunded project. 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=3]Life of the Party: The Realities of an RPG’er by Travis Hanson[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 9th February 2017; 15:47 UTC)
Travis Hanson’s Life of the Party comic strip paints a wonderfully satirical look at roleplaying snapshots that will be familiar to many of us. The subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) humour in our games and the situations our characters can find themselves in. Combining Travis’ daily strips about RPG’ing this book looks like something that should lighten even the most hardened adventurers evening.
“Growing up I have had a love for the game, the thrill of creating characters, the unpredictability of rolling dice, and the hours dedicated to campaigning and rpg’ing. Many of those adventures turned into stories for my books and artwork. Many of those encounters were also rather funny.
I decided that I needed to combine my memories, my humor and my art, and draw a simple cartoon just for me. Little did I realize that this “simple” cartoon about my love of fantasy, gaming and friendship would grow so quickly into a daily strip. I also found that my experiences were far more universal than I could have hoped. Life of the Party has given me the chance to bond with an incredible, extended family of gamers – pend-and-paper and digital – who have all felt the intense of pain of rolling a 1.
Now after several months of creating this wild, offbeat adventure, I am humbled by the consistent demand for a book. I have decided to bundle all the existing strips, along with the many more I am currently creating, and put them into a single, beautiful volume. So grab your dice, your character sheets, and your friends. It’s time to be the Life of the Party.”
[h=3]Spheres of Might: A New Pathfinder Martial System by Adam Meyers[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 15th February 2017; 07:59 UTC)
After several successful Kickstarter campaigns looking at Rogues, a new magic system, and even a new Pathfinder campaign setting in Skybourne, Drop Dead Studios are turning their attention to the Fighters and other Martial classes.
Spheres if Might is designed to change the way martial combat works to make it more visceral, intricate, and cinematic. In this book, we introduce deeper and more robust options for martial combatants, giving them a greater number of tactics to employ each round, and supporting virtually any combat style imaginable from precise one-handed fencing to wild berserking and beyond. Additionally, because these new options build off the of the core combat rules presented in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, anyone familiar with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game will be able to jump right in and begin using these new options without having to learn pages of new rules or terms first.
Spheres of Might will contain over 20 spheres to provide characters new and interesting options in and out of combat, as well as new feats, thematic variants, and six new classes custom designed to showcase the new options and bring a great many character ideas to life.
[h=3]Monkey, the Roleplaying Game of the Journey to the West by Newt Newport[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Friday 10th February 2017; 07:29 UTC)
I picked up the original edition of Monkey, the Roleplaying Game at a UK convention a number of years ago. Newt, and his D101 Games company, make some cracking games and it’s great to see a new edition of Monkey being crowdfunded.
Based on the classic Chinese novel The Journey to the West the game is a story-telling game set in a mythical China where Immortals seek redemption by escorting a vulnerable mortal Monk to distant India. Braving many dangers along the way, to recover scrolls of Buddhist scripture, that are missing from the Chinese canon. The road through the wilderness is dangerous since all of Demon-kind has resolved to stop the pilgrims and the eat the Monk’s flesh!
The game’s simple rules, which use standard playing cards, allow for any sort of action that you can imagine, from fast paced kung-fu to heated debates.
The main rule book contains all that you need to play, except two packs of standard plying cards (one for the players and one for the referee) and your imagination.
So back now and join Pigsy, Sandy, Tripitaka and Monkey on their legendary travels!
[h=3]Pigsmoke: A Roleplaying Game of Sorcerous Academia by Chris Longhurst[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Saturday 4th February 2017; 20:51 UTC)
Welcome to Pigsmoke School of Sorcery, where you are one of the magically gifted teachers trying to navigate the world of troublesome students, faculty politics and the occasional demon.
Students exist to make your life difficult. Your department head is an arch-conservative taskmaster who leans on you to make their department look good. The Dean’s Office wans to ensure you’re following all of their ridiculous rules. The bursar won’t give you any money, your peers want their names ahead of yours on your latest paper, and your personal life is a garbage fire. Chase tenure, acoud burnout, and try to resist the urge to go adventuring: like all get-rich-quick schemes, it’ll probably just end with a humiliating death.
Pigsmoke is powered by the popular Apocalypse Engine system and is being brought to life as a 130-page digest sized full colour book.
[h=3]Neomancer – A Cyberpunk Pen and Paper RPG by Andy[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Tuesday 7th February 2017; 17:13 UTC)
Neomancer is a new cyberpunk RPG from a team of German writers. They have developed their own system to power the game, an easy system focused on storytelling with a fast, tactical and deadly combat system.
The world of Neomancer is highly advanced, but somehow stuck in the 80s. There is every tech you could imagine and androids walk among us, without anyone noticing sometimes, without even themselves knowing. Technology always moves on, and people are afraid they will be made obsolete.
The world is dark and dirty. The rich are unbelievable rich, and the poor are extremely poor, living a life in debt and pollution. Terrorists try to kill whomever they figured out as their main target this week, be it the government of the megacorporations. Or a random bunch of people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Organized crime is as powerful as ever. The government is trying to control the population, while the megacorporations work hard on getting richer and richer.
Enter the characters: with cyberware, Hackers and Riggers are able to control computers and machines, while Commandos overhaul themselves to be the moist efficient killing machines on the streets. Tracers find ways to move around the city where no one else can. If you prefer to bluff your way around, the Face might be someone for you. Are you an android on the run or maybe you prefer to be completely human, to forego cyberware and trust in your skills, your talents and your connections?
These people live between the cracks, off the grid, called operators. They are who gets called when something needs to be done and kept off the books. They are specialists, expendable, hated and hunted, but needed.
Whatever the reasons were that drove you out of the system, remember: it will cost you to stay outside. Sometimes, more than you can afford.
But then you can never go back anyway.
[h=3]Dime Adventures: Pulp Alternate History Roleplaying by Tab Creations LLC[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 9th February 2017; 15:00 UTC)
I’ve backed a couple of Tab Creations previous Kickstarters (the sci-fi Shadows Over Sol and their mythic India RPG Against the Dark Yogi) so was happy to jump on board upon the launch of this latest campaign. More so as Dime Adventures is a pulp alternate history RPG promising weirdness and high adventure inspired by the likes of Jules Verne, John Carter, Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen… which ticks a lot of my boxes.
The year is 1904, but in a world that never was.
Dinosaurs still roam forgotten corners of the land. Alien influences operate from the skies. Mystics wield ancient powers. Strange new sciences promise to change the world. The dead rise from the grave. All the while, modern movements sweep the globe, and bold explorers venture deep into the unknown or delve into forgotten ruins.
The world stands at a precipice. It is time when bold men and women of action can reach out and make a lasting change in the world. It is an era when history is made.
Throughout the past century science has steam-rolled on, making the world a new and better place. Explorers are venturing out to the edges of the map, social institutions are changing and a global system of trade and alliances is emerging. With the rise of airships and the earliest airplanes, humans have now mastered air travel. With the spread of electricity and the telegraph, the world has become just a bit smaller. It is a time or optimism and opportunity.
The world is ripe for adventure!
**********
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=3]Life of the Party: The Realities of an RPG’er by Travis Hanson[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 9th February 2017; 15:47 UTC)
Travis Hanson’s Life of the Party comic strip paints a wonderfully satirical look at roleplaying snapshots that will be familiar to many of us. The subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) humour in our games and the situations our characters can find themselves in. Combining Travis’ daily strips about RPG’ing this book looks like something that should lighten even the most hardened adventurers evening.
“Growing up I have had a love for the game, the thrill of creating characters, the unpredictability of rolling dice, and the hours dedicated to campaigning and rpg’ing. Many of those adventures turned into stories for my books and artwork. Many of those encounters were also rather funny.
I decided that I needed to combine my memories, my humor and my art, and draw a simple cartoon just for me. Little did I realize that this “simple” cartoon about my love of fantasy, gaming and friendship would grow so quickly into a daily strip. I also found that my experiences were far more universal than I could have hoped. Life of the Party has given me the chance to bond with an incredible, extended family of gamers – pend-and-paper and digital – who have all felt the intense of pain of rolling a 1.
Now after several months of creating this wild, offbeat adventure, I am humbled by the consistent demand for a book. I have decided to bundle all the existing strips, along with the many more I am currently creating, and put them into a single, beautiful volume. So grab your dice, your character sheets, and your friends. It’s time to be the Life of the Party.”
[h=3]Spheres of Might: A New Pathfinder Martial System by Adam Meyers[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 15th February 2017; 07:59 UTC)
After several successful Kickstarter campaigns looking at Rogues, a new magic system, and even a new Pathfinder campaign setting in Skybourne, Drop Dead Studios are turning their attention to the Fighters and other Martial classes.
Spheres if Might is designed to change the way martial combat works to make it more visceral, intricate, and cinematic. In this book, we introduce deeper and more robust options for martial combatants, giving them a greater number of tactics to employ each round, and supporting virtually any combat style imaginable from precise one-handed fencing to wild berserking and beyond. Additionally, because these new options build off the of the core combat rules presented in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, anyone familiar with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game will be able to jump right in and begin using these new options without having to learn pages of new rules or terms first.
Spheres of Might will contain over 20 spheres to provide characters new and interesting options in and out of combat, as well as new feats, thematic variants, and six new classes custom designed to showcase the new options and bring a great many character ideas to life.
[h=3]Monkey, the Roleplaying Game of the Journey to the West by Newt Newport[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Friday 10th February 2017; 07:29 UTC)
I picked up the original edition of Monkey, the Roleplaying Game at a UK convention a number of years ago. Newt, and his D101 Games company, make some cracking games and it’s great to see a new edition of Monkey being crowdfunded.
Based on the classic Chinese novel The Journey to the West the game is a story-telling game set in a mythical China where Immortals seek redemption by escorting a vulnerable mortal Monk to distant India. Braving many dangers along the way, to recover scrolls of Buddhist scripture, that are missing from the Chinese canon. The road through the wilderness is dangerous since all of Demon-kind has resolved to stop the pilgrims and the eat the Monk’s flesh!
The game’s simple rules, which use standard playing cards, allow for any sort of action that you can imagine, from fast paced kung-fu to heated debates.
The main rule book contains all that you need to play, except two packs of standard plying cards (one for the players and one for the referee) and your imagination.
So back now and join Pigsy, Sandy, Tripitaka and Monkey on their legendary travels!
[h=3]Pigsmoke: A Roleplaying Game of Sorcerous Academia by Chris Longhurst[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Saturday 4th February 2017; 20:51 UTC)
Welcome to Pigsmoke School of Sorcery, where you are one of the magically gifted teachers trying to navigate the world of troublesome students, faculty politics and the occasional demon.
Students exist to make your life difficult. Your department head is an arch-conservative taskmaster who leans on you to make their department look good. The Dean’s Office wans to ensure you’re following all of their ridiculous rules. The bursar won’t give you any money, your peers want their names ahead of yours on your latest paper, and your personal life is a garbage fire. Chase tenure, acoud burnout, and try to resist the urge to go adventuring: like all get-rich-quick schemes, it’ll probably just end with a humiliating death.
Pigsmoke is powered by the popular Apocalypse Engine system and is being brought to life as a 130-page digest sized full colour book.
[h=3]Neomancer – A Cyberpunk Pen and Paper RPG by Andy[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Tuesday 7th February 2017; 17:13 UTC)
Neomancer is a new cyberpunk RPG from a team of German writers. They have developed their own system to power the game, an easy system focused on storytelling with a fast, tactical and deadly combat system.
The world of Neomancer is highly advanced, but somehow stuck in the 80s. There is every tech you could imagine and androids walk among us, without anyone noticing sometimes, without even themselves knowing. Technology always moves on, and people are afraid they will be made obsolete.
The world is dark and dirty. The rich are unbelievable rich, and the poor are extremely poor, living a life in debt and pollution. Terrorists try to kill whomever they figured out as their main target this week, be it the government of the megacorporations. Or a random bunch of people in the wrong place at the wrong time. Organized crime is as powerful as ever. The government is trying to control the population, while the megacorporations work hard on getting richer and richer.
Enter the characters: with cyberware, Hackers and Riggers are able to control computers and machines, while Commandos overhaul themselves to be the moist efficient killing machines on the streets. Tracers find ways to move around the city where no one else can. If you prefer to bluff your way around, the Face might be someone for you. Are you an android on the run or maybe you prefer to be completely human, to forego cyberware and trust in your skills, your talents and your connections?
These people live between the cracks, off the grid, called operators. They are who gets called when something needs to be done and kept off the books. They are specialists, expendable, hated and hunted, but needed.
Whatever the reasons were that drove you out of the system, remember: it will cost you to stay outside. Sometimes, more than you can afford.
But then you can never go back anyway.
[h=3]Dime Adventures: Pulp Alternate History Roleplaying by Tab Creations LLC[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 9th February 2017; 15:00 UTC)
I’ve backed a couple of Tab Creations previous Kickstarters (the sci-fi Shadows Over Sol and their mythic India RPG Against the Dark Yogi) so was happy to jump on board upon the launch of this latest campaign. More so as Dime Adventures is a pulp alternate history RPG promising weirdness and high adventure inspired by the likes of Jules Verne, John Carter, Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, Indiana Jones and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen… which ticks a lot of my boxes.
The year is 1904, but in a world that never was.
Dinosaurs still roam forgotten corners of the land. Alien influences operate from the skies. Mystics wield ancient powers. Strange new sciences promise to change the world. The dead rise from the grave. All the while, modern movements sweep the globe, and bold explorers venture deep into the unknown or delve into forgotten ruins.
The world stands at a precipice. It is time when bold men and women of action can reach out and make a lasting change in the world. It is an era when history is made.
Throughout the past century science has steam-rolled on, making the world a new and better place. Explorers are venturing out to the edges of the map, social institutions are changing and a global system of trade and alliances is emerging. With the rise of airships and the earliest airplanes, humans have now mastered air travel. With the spread of electricity and the telegraph, the world has become just a bit smaller. It is a time or optimism and opportunity.
The world is ripe for adventure!
**********
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
