A documentary on Gary Gygax, a Mexican urban fantasy, toys that come alive to protect their children, afro-centric sci-fi and fantasy games, a comedy-horror game and a brand new Superhero game from the team that brought us Dusk City Outlaws! Welcome back to our weekly look at tabletop roleplaying game crowdfunding campaigns!
Spectaculars by Scratchpad Publishing
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 21st November 2018; 05:00 UTC)
Spectaculars is a tabletop roleplaying game of comic book heroes and villains where you create the setting as you play the game. When you open your copy of Spectaculars for the first time, you are standing at the heart of an entirely new comic book universe, one which will grow and change and become filled with memorable heroes, engaging villains, and stories of the clash between them. Best of all, you and your players are the ones who create all of those things!
The game comes as a boxed set, with all the game materials needed for an entire gaming group to start playing. Spectaculars is designed to be easy to start playing, even on a moment's notice. Once all of the players are familiar with the rules, it takes only minutes for one player to read through the scenario while the other players quickly choose or make characters.
Each box set of Spectaculars represents a unique comic book universe, one that the players craft and evolve during play. There is no assumed setting for the game; instead, Spectaculars provides materials and guidance that help players craft the universe these comic book stories take place in. Each copy comes with a book filled with pages of important, iconic elements that make up the foundational elements of the setting. These include entries for your setting's powerful, alien artifacts, your setting's supervillain prison, your setting's government agency that deals with superpowered conflicts, and important background characters like the head of your setting's most important news media empire. As you encounter these elements for the first time in the game's scenarios, you and your players will define these elements, and then from that moment on they become a permanent part of your setting.
Spectaculars is a game that is focused on episodic campaign play, playing out like issues in your favorite comic book series. However, Spectaculars also uses its included components to make it easy to play a campaign without requiring anyone to do any advanced prep work between sessions. There's no need for one person to spend hours crafting materials in advance of the session; each scenario includes all of the information the Narrator needs to run the game.
The core game box set comes with everything that a group of 5 people need to play. The box set includes:
Nahual: A Tabletop RPG of Mexican Urban Fantasy by Miguel Angel Espinoza
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 18th November 2018; 19:00 UTC)
Nahual is a tabletop roleplaying game of Mexican urban fantasy. In Nahual you play as shapeshifting nahuales that hunt angels to make a living. You run a changarro—a business—together and sell the angels you hunt as different types of products. Caught in the middle of an ancient feud, you struggle to find your place in a world of fantastical and overwhelming forces.
Nahual builds upon the Powered by the Apocalypse system used in Apocalypse World, Urban Shadows, Dungeon World and more. When your character’s actions trigger a move, the move tells you what happens in the fiction or you roll two six-sided dice to find out. Moves are designed to push the fiction forward, building tension and taking the story in unknown and exciting directions.
Nahual is set in the universe created by Mexican comic book artist Edgar Clément, first presented in the graphic novel Operación Bolivar and expanded in titles like Kerubim, Los Perros Salvajes (I & II) and other short stories. Nahual is yet another addition to that ever-growing universe, using elements from the comics and creating new ideas that add to this amazing setting.
In Nahual, players are angel hunters, descended from the powerful brujos nahuales. They have special gifts that enable them to contend with gods and angels, but their cultural memory has been taken from them—they no longer possess the shamanic traditions to unleash these wonders to their full potential. Many struggle for survival, others look for answers, but all agree on one thing: a nahual lives to hunt down angels.
The game setting is a Mexico filled with fantasy and sci-fi elements, mixed with a maelstrom of violence, inequality, corruption, folklore and fiesta. In this mess, angels prowl the cities, looking for souls to feed upon. Restless humans pray to God and his angels; where there are people hungry for hope and faith, angels thrive.
And yet...there are angeleros—angel hunters. They have the power to fight back, to get rid of the celestial parasites, to free the people. But these are not times for idealism. What is it to be gained by revolution? It is kill or be killed in the concrete jungle. All you can do is look out for yourself and your closest allies, to try to make a living in the face of poverty, decay, and death. And so they hunt.
Of course, everyone wants a piece of heaven, a fragment of the magical flesh of celestial beings. The drug dealers are interested in the "angel dust" made by grinding their bones into an addictive and potent drug. The Church uses the angels as circus animals to lure in worshipers. The corporations are finally beginning to realize the business potential of these creatures, for experimentation and synthetic replication. The politicians… well, they like to get their hands in everything, as long as there is a profit to be made. Con dinero baila el perro.
The nahuales are caught in the middle of all this. They are the drivers of the angel trade. The laborers. And the cheaper the labor the better the profits. The only thing they can do is fill their role and struggle to survive these shark-infested waters in which everyone wants a bite. Freedom? Revolution? There is no time for such nonsense, is there?
The Dreams in Gary’s Basement: A Documentary on Gary Gygax by Dorks of Yore
(Campaign Ends : Friday 16th November 2018; 04:00 UTC)
The Dorks of Yore have raised close to three times the money they were initially aiming for to create this documentary on Gary Gygax, the man responsible for influencing millions over the years, and whose legacy still lives on today in so many aspects of todays society, even away from rolling the dice to see if our characters succeed on games night.
The documentary looks at Gary’s life, from his time as a down-on-his-luck shoe repairman, to building a multi-million dollar company that spawned our hobby. Not only does the documentary look at Gary’s life, but it interviews dozens of people who knew, worked, or have been influenced by him. Tim Krask, Flint Dille, Luke Gygax, Frank Mentzer, Satine Phoenix, Peter Adkison, and many many more appear in this documentary which will be available on DVD, Blu Ray, or as an electronic download.
ORUN: Post-Apotheosis, Afro-Centric, Space Opera RPG by New Agenda Publishing
(Campaign Ends : Saturday 17th November 2018; 04:56 UTC)
Eons ago, we were a desperate and different people, all vying for dominance of the galaxy. Fearful... Angry... Greedy... Shaped by petty desires... When the beings called Orisha came, they showed us a better way. They created Utopian worlds, Oruns, especially for us. These worlds and all the others of the galaxy flourished. The peoples of the galaxy were happy. They guided us to apotheosis, transcendence from the physical reality and expansion of our Ori.
Then, with a single stray thought, it was all torn apart. The mnemonic Sopona virus spread throughout the galaxy. Worlds fell into catatonic states, others hurt themselves in unspeakable ways, and all that stood against the psychic maelstrom was the Union of Ascendancy and some of the ascendant, the Oluru, who returned. Ultimately the war was won, the Sopona virus contained, and order restored... but the secret of apotheosis was lost.
That was over 500 years ago.
In Orun, you play an envoy of the ascendant Oluru, called a Djali or Luminary. Not quite ascendant themselves, the Luminaries travel to different worlds as advisers, troubleshooters, and peacekeepers in the post-apotheosis galaxy. They explore lost star systems and ultimately help enlighten worlds and their people, waking the galaxy from its disordered indolence.
Nighty Knights the RPG by Ben Woerner
(Campaign Ends : Monday 19th November 2018; 08:01 UTC)
Using the TinyD6 system, Nighty Knight is a game where you play stuffed animals, dolls, and action figures defending your sleeping human children from monsters and nightmares. Play gruff stuffed dogs, mysterious black cats, energetic tigers, proud space rangers, determined penguins, good monsters, or any type of plush toy you can imagine. Explore the dark and dangerous basement, creep into the creepy attic, visit the glorious metropolis of Underbed, or adventure in the Dreamlands all while making sure your child is safe from evil monsters and nightmares that want to suck the happiness out of their lives.
Character creation is simple, fast, and exciting. Based on the exciting stories your Game Master is going to tell, you pick a child to protect, your Knight’s Heritage, a few Traits that each grant a single benefit, and you're done!
Then you defend, explore, and adventure in the whimsical setting of Underbed and the Dreamlands.
BASTION: Afrocentric Sword and Sorcery fantasy by Jerry D. Grayson
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 21st November 2018; 08:06 UTC)
Bastion: Afrocentric Sword and Sorcery is a full-color, hardcover, 100+ page sourcebook for the MYTHIC D6 system. Set in the last city at the edge of oblivion, Bastion is a post-apocalyptic game where the heroes explore the wasteland to find survivors of the last great global holocaust that has corrupted all life. It is a fantasy horror game where decay and the warping power of animated chaos corrupt everything it touches.
The players of Bastion take on the role of a Fihankra, the greatest warriors that have ever walked the dying land of Ife Oodaye. The adinkra symbols carved into the center of their foreheads blaze with a blue flame and give them the divine power of the god Nyame.
Die Laughing RPG by Craig Campbell
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 22nd November 2018; 02:00 UTC)
Die Laughing is a short-play, GM-less tabletop roleplaying game where players portray characters in a horror-comedy movie. Everyone's going to die. It's just a matter of when and how funny you can make it.
Even after your character is gone, there are multiple ways for you to remain involved and influence the story right up until the bloody end.
Die Laughing requires just a couple minutes of preparation to play. Players pick their characters and make a few quick choices. You pick a monster and you're ready to go. It takes 1-2 hours to play, depending on how many player are involved.
The following campaigns are finishing in the next week
(Format – picture 250px – name – campaign ends – synopsis)
Dungeon Realms – A Dungeon Tile System for Tabletop RPG’s by David Robotham
(Campaign Ends : Tuesday 13th November 2018; 00:00 UTC)
“A full colour, laminated-neoprene Dungeon Tile System, designed for simplicity and ease of use while looking amazing!”
Falls Keep – 5E & S&W Adventure by Lloyd Metcalf
(Campaign Ends : Tuesday 3th November 2018; 17:43 UTC)
“Falls Keep - A "Quick Kick" for FSG - Sidequest 5E and S&W adventure”
From the Earth, RPG Fantasy Coins & Currency by Rare Elements Foundry
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 15th November 2018; 14:26 UTC)
“Mint quality fantasy coins to enhance your quests and campaigns!”
Legendaria: Messenger Roleplaying Game by Vincent Baker
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 15th November 2018; 15:00 UTC)
“Perfect for those that love RPGs, but struggle with finding the time to get together with friends or to dedicate to long sessions.”
Socks of Speed and Socks of Elvenkind by Andy “Cosmo-Joe” Watkins
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 15th November 2018; 17:59 UTC)
“Perfect pair of Socks for any Adventurer! Socks of Speed and Socks of Elvenkind”
**********
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!
**********
After 121 crowdfunding columns this is my last one for ENWorld. Someone else will be taking over and supplying you with your weekly rundowns as of next week. Many thanks for reading, commenting, sending me PMs and emails, and - most importantly - backing and supporting the Kickstarters, patreons and other crowdfudning campaigns out there! As always please fell free to drop me an email on angus.abranson@gmail.com and you can always follow me on Twitter @ Angus_A or on Facebook where I often post about gaming.
Thanks again for reading, and to Morrus for letting me do these columns!
Have fun and happy gaming!
Angus Abranson
Spectaculars by Scratchpad Publishing
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 21st November 2018; 05:00 UTC)
Spectaculars is a tabletop roleplaying game of comic book heroes and villains where you create the setting as you play the game. When you open your copy of Spectaculars for the first time, you are standing at the heart of an entirely new comic book universe, one which will grow and change and become filled with memorable heroes, engaging villains, and stories of the clash between them. Best of all, you and your players are the ones who create all of those things!
The game comes as a boxed set, with all the game materials needed for an entire gaming group to start playing. Spectaculars is designed to be easy to start playing, even on a moment's notice. Once all of the players are familiar with the rules, it takes only minutes for one player to read through the scenario while the other players quickly choose or make characters.
Each box set of Spectaculars represents a unique comic book universe, one that the players craft and evolve during play. There is no assumed setting for the game; instead, Spectaculars provides materials and guidance that help players craft the universe these comic book stories take place in. Each copy comes with a book filled with pages of important, iconic elements that make up the foundational elements of the setting. These include entries for your setting's powerful, alien artifacts, your setting's supervillain prison, your setting's government agency that deals with superpowered conflicts, and important background characters like the head of your setting's most important news media empire. As you encounter these elements for the first time in the game's scenarios, you and your players will define these elements, and then from that moment on they become a permanent part of your setting.
Spectaculars is a game that is focused on episodic campaign play, playing out like issues in your favorite comic book series. However, Spectaculars also uses its included components to make it easy to play a campaign without requiring anyone to do any advanced prep work between sessions. There's no need for one person to spend hours crafting materials in advance of the session; each scenario includes all of the information the Narrator needs to run the game.
The core game box set comes with everything that a group of 5 people need to play. The box set includes:
- The 44-page Rulebook
- The 60-page setting book, in which you record the decisions you make as you create the setting
- 4 different 80-page series pads, containing teams, hero archetypes, heroes, villains, minions, and scenarios; each series pad is themed based on a different comic book genre, including street-level, super science, sorcery, and cosmic series.
- The 80-card Deck of Powers
- The 60-card Deck of Identities
- 10 Team Role cards
- 40 initiative cards
- Tear-off pad of character tracking sheets, used to track the evolution of heroes
- 5 sets of percentile dice
- 4 advantage dice
- 4 challenge dice
- Cardboard token sheet, containing hero points and continuity tokens
- Plastic component tray by GameTrayz
- More may be added through Stretch Goals
Nahual: A Tabletop RPG of Mexican Urban Fantasy by Miguel Angel Espinoza
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 18th November 2018; 19:00 UTC)
Nahual is a tabletop roleplaying game of Mexican urban fantasy. In Nahual you play as shapeshifting nahuales that hunt angels to make a living. You run a changarro—a business—together and sell the angels you hunt as different types of products. Caught in the middle of an ancient feud, you struggle to find your place in a world of fantastical and overwhelming forces.
Nahual builds upon the Powered by the Apocalypse system used in Apocalypse World, Urban Shadows, Dungeon World and more. When your character’s actions trigger a move, the move tells you what happens in the fiction or you roll two six-sided dice to find out. Moves are designed to push the fiction forward, building tension and taking the story in unknown and exciting directions.
Nahual is set in the universe created by Mexican comic book artist Edgar Clément, first presented in the graphic novel Operación Bolivar and expanded in titles like Kerubim, Los Perros Salvajes (I & II) and other short stories. Nahual is yet another addition to that ever-growing universe, using elements from the comics and creating new ideas that add to this amazing setting.
In Nahual, players are angel hunters, descended from the powerful brujos nahuales. They have special gifts that enable them to contend with gods and angels, but their cultural memory has been taken from them—they no longer possess the shamanic traditions to unleash these wonders to their full potential. Many struggle for survival, others look for answers, but all agree on one thing: a nahual lives to hunt down angels.
The game setting is a Mexico filled with fantasy and sci-fi elements, mixed with a maelstrom of violence, inequality, corruption, folklore and fiesta. In this mess, angels prowl the cities, looking for souls to feed upon. Restless humans pray to God and his angels; where there are people hungry for hope and faith, angels thrive.
And yet...there are angeleros—angel hunters. They have the power to fight back, to get rid of the celestial parasites, to free the people. But these are not times for idealism. What is it to be gained by revolution? It is kill or be killed in the concrete jungle. All you can do is look out for yourself and your closest allies, to try to make a living in the face of poverty, decay, and death. And so they hunt.
Of course, everyone wants a piece of heaven, a fragment of the magical flesh of celestial beings. The drug dealers are interested in the "angel dust" made by grinding their bones into an addictive and potent drug. The Church uses the angels as circus animals to lure in worshipers. The corporations are finally beginning to realize the business potential of these creatures, for experimentation and synthetic replication. The politicians… well, they like to get their hands in everything, as long as there is a profit to be made. Con dinero baila el perro.
The nahuales are caught in the middle of all this. They are the drivers of the angel trade. The laborers. And the cheaper the labor the better the profits. The only thing they can do is fill their role and struggle to survive these shark-infested waters in which everyone wants a bite. Freedom? Revolution? There is no time for such nonsense, is there?
The Dreams in Gary’s Basement: A Documentary on Gary Gygax by Dorks of Yore
(Campaign Ends : Friday 16th November 2018; 04:00 UTC)
The Dorks of Yore have raised close to three times the money they were initially aiming for to create this documentary on Gary Gygax, the man responsible for influencing millions over the years, and whose legacy still lives on today in so many aspects of todays society, even away from rolling the dice to see if our characters succeed on games night.
The documentary looks at Gary’s life, from his time as a down-on-his-luck shoe repairman, to building a multi-million dollar company that spawned our hobby. Not only does the documentary look at Gary’s life, but it interviews dozens of people who knew, worked, or have been influenced by him. Tim Krask, Flint Dille, Luke Gygax, Frank Mentzer, Satine Phoenix, Peter Adkison, and many many more appear in this documentary which will be available on DVD, Blu Ray, or as an electronic download.
ORUN: Post-Apotheosis, Afro-Centric, Space Opera RPG by New Agenda Publishing
(Campaign Ends : Saturday 17th November 2018; 04:56 UTC)
Eons ago, we were a desperate and different people, all vying for dominance of the galaxy. Fearful... Angry... Greedy... Shaped by petty desires... When the beings called Orisha came, they showed us a better way. They created Utopian worlds, Oruns, especially for us. These worlds and all the others of the galaxy flourished. The peoples of the galaxy were happy. They guided us to apotheosis, transcendence from the physical reality and expansion of our Ori.
Then, with a single stray thought, it was all torn apart. The mnemonic Sopona virus spread throughout the galaxy. Worlds fell into catatonic states, others hurt themselves in unspeakable ways, and all that stood against the psychic maelstrom was the Union of Ascendancy and some of the ascendant, the Oluru, who returned. Ultimately the war was won, the Sopona virus contained, and order restored... but the secret of apotheosis was lost.
That was over 500 years ago.
In Orun, you play an envoy of the ascendant Oluru, called a Djali or Luminary. Not quite ascendant themselves, the Luminaries travel to different worlds as advisers, troubleshooters, and peacekeepers in the post-apotheosis galaxy. They explore lost star systems and ultimately help enlighten worlds and their people, waking the galaxy from its disordered indolence.
Nighty Knights the RPG by Ben Woerner
(Campaign Ends : Monday 19th November 2018; 08:01 UTC)
Using the TinyD6 system, Nighty Knight is a game where you play stuffed animals, dolls, and action figures defending your sleeping human children from monsters and nightmares. Play gruff stuffed dogs, mysterious black cats, energetic tigers, proud space rangers, determined penguins, good monsters, or any type of plush toy you can imagine. Explore the dark and dangerous basement, creep into the creepy attic, visit the glorious metropolis of Underbed, or adventure in the Dreamlands all while making sure your child is safe from evil monsters and nightmares that want to suck the happiness out of their lives.
Character creation is simple, fast, and exciting. Based on the exciting stories your Game Master is going to tell, you pick a child to protect, your Knight’s Heritage, a few Traits that each grant a single benefit, and you're done!
Then you defend, explore, and adventure in the whimsical setting of Underbed and the Dreamlands.
BASTION: Afrocentric Sword and Sorcery fantasy by Jerry D. Grayson
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 21st November 2018; 08:06 UTC)
Bastion: Afrocentric Sword and Sorcery is a full-color, hardcover, 100+ page sourcebook for the MYTHIC D6 system. Set in the last city at the edge of oblivion, Bastion is a post-apocalyptic game where the heroes explore the wasteland to find survivors of the last great global holocaust that has corrupted all life. It is a fantasy horror game where decay and the warping power of animated chaos corrupt everything it touches.
The players of Bastion take on the role of a Fihankra, the greatest warriors that have ever walked the dying land of Ife Oodaye. The adinkra symbols carved into the center of their foreheads blaze with a blue flame and give them the divine power of the god Nyame.
Die Laughing RPG by Craig Campbell
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 22nd November 2018; 02:00 UTC)
Die Laughing is a short-play, GM-less tabletop roleplaying game where players portray characters in a horror-comedy movie. Everyone's going to die. It's just a matter of when and how funny you can make it.
Even after your character is gone, there are multiple ways for you to remain involved and influence the story right up until the bloody end.
Die Laughing requires just a couple minutes of preparation to play. Players pick their characters and make a few quick choices. You pick a monster and you're ready to go. It takes 1-2 hours to play, depending on how many player are involved.
The following campaigns are finishing in the next week
(Format – picture 250px – name – campaign ends – synopsis)
Dungeon Realms – A Dungeon Tile System for Tabletop RPG’s by David Robotham
(Campaign Ends : Tuesday 13th November 2018; 00:00 UTC)
“A full colour, laminated-neoprene Dungeon Tile System, designed for simplicity and ease of use while looking amazing!”
Falls Keep – 5E & S&W Adventure by Lloyd Metcalf
(Campaign Ends : Tuesday 3th November 2018; 17:43 UTC)
“Falls Keep - A "Quick Kick" for FSG - Sidequest 5E and S&W adventure”
From the Earth, RPG Fantasy Coins & Currency by Rare Elements Foundry
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 15th November 2018; 14:26 UTC)
“Mint quality fantasy coins to enhance your quests and campaigns!”
Legendaria: Messenger Roleplaying Game by Vincent Baker
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 15th November 2018; 15:00 UTC)
“Perfect for those that love RPGs, but struggle with finding the time to get together with friends or to dedicate to long sessions.”
Socks of Speed and Socks of Elvenkind by Andy “Cosmo-Joe” Watkins
(Campaign Ends : Thursday 15th November 2018; 17:59 UTC)
“Perfect pair of Socks for any Adventurer! Socks of Speed and Socks of Elvenkind”
**********
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!
**********
After 121 crowdfunding columns this is my last one for ENWorld. Someone else will be taking over and supplying you with your weekly rundowns as of next week. Many thanks for reading, commenting, sending me PMs and emails, and - most importantly - backing and supporting the Kickstarters, patreons and other crowdfudning campaigns out there! As always please fell free to drop me an email on angus.abranson@gmail.com and you can always follow me on Twitter @ Angus_A or on Facebook where I often post about gaming.
Thanks again for reading, and to Morrus for letting me do these columns!
Have fun and happy gaming!
Angus Abranson
