We’re into January but the number of crowdfundings is at a low ebb from the holiday break. Because there’s not that many campaigns ending between January 25th and 31st to review, I’m taking the opportunity to look at a few RPG Kickstarters that are ending sooner, and delve deeper into the process behind Off the Beaten Path, Mountain Excursionsby ThrowiGames. ThrowiGames’ collection of adventures presents an interesting case of being developed through a membership platform (Patreon) before jumping to a crowdfunding site (Kickstarter) to upgrade into a larger realized product. There’s more about that and other crowdfunding campaigns below.
[h=3]RPG RULESETS[/h] Secretum Mundi - The book of the Secret World by Fire Ruby Designs
100 Maps of Fantasy Islands by The Lore Observer
[h=3]RPG ACCESSORIES[/h] Reversible Neoprene Space/Terrain Battle Mats Quickstarter by BattleMats
[h=3]ENDING SOON(ER)[/h] Iron Monolith and the Tomb of Sun A'Galla - D20 RPG by Mitchell Tierney
Off the Beaten Path, Mountain Excursions by ThrowiGames
[h=3]EGG’S THOUGHTS[/h] This project offers a look at the potential of a full crowdfunding ecosystem. ThrowiGames (Thom Wilson) ran a Patreon until December, 2017. During that time, he “created and delivered 5-6 adventures digitally to subscribers each month throughout 2017. This project prints all the adventures from the mountain theme in a single book.” Using Patreon as a financial base, Thom was able to create a variety of shorter RPG adventures and get them into the hands of fans. This helped to offset the cost of production for his larger Kickstarter project while also building his brand through positive word-of-mouth. He’s brought those products together to deliver a single book, Off the Beaten Path, Mountain Excursions. Using Patreon (others might use Drip) to create individual pieces of the project allowed him to come to Kickstarter (or Indiegogo) with a well-realized project that could be funded and bound into a book. Likely, after the project is complete he’ll make it available on DriveThruRPG or the Open Gaming Store to sale.
There are others that have gone this route, including the genesis of EN Publishing’s A Touch of Class: 7 New Classes for 5th Edition. Developed in parts through Patreon, A Touch of Class was brought together for a single publication via Kickstarter, and is now available for purchase on DriveThruRPG. This path – Patreon to Kickstarter to long-term sales – is proving to be a viable direction for many creators allowing Patreon to keep cash flow consistent while a project is developed in full for Kickstarter and, ultimately, traditional sales channels.
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! This article was contributed by Egg Embry as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. Please note that Egg is a participant in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to DriveThruRPG.
[h=3]RPG RULESETS[/h] Secretum Mundi - The book of the Secret World by Fire Ruby Designs
- END DATE: Tue, January 29 2019 5:42 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Esoterica RPGor system neutral
- PROJECT TYPE: Adventure modules
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £13 for a PDF and POD version of Secretum Mundi and you can contribute some “occult imaginings” to the project
“A book of plot hooks and encyclopedic entries for Esoterica or other modern occult roleplaying games, and you can add your own content! This project is to create and publish an encyclopedic-style supplement for the Esoterica Roleplaying game, or for any other roleplaying game that focuses on the occult and magic in the modern world. The book will contain a range of alphabetized entries on occult individuals, places, events and items, the majority of which will have plot hooks that can be used to create adventures. Also, many of the entries will interlink (i.e. reference each other), so that several entries can be used to create a mini campaign. The book doesn't contain any rules and is therefore system neutral, so it can be used with any occult-themed roleplaying game. Once you have pledged, you can write up to three of your own occult entry for Secretum Mundi, which I will endeavor to include in the book. It can be a place, event, object such as a Soul Jar (magical items in Esoterica), person or an occult group, and it can be from any period in history. I'll then take your entry and work it into the book. Length wise, anything from a couple of paragraphs to maybe 1000 words maximum is best. The book is around seventy pages in a 6"x9" format. If we fund and everyone contributes an entry, we should end up over one hundred pages.”
100 Maps of Fantasy Islands by The Lore Observer
- END DATE: Wed, January 30 2019 11:23 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): System neutral
- PROJECT TYPE: Maps
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €25 for the eBook: 100 Maps of Fantasy Islands and you decide the lore and landmarks of certain islands
“We want to make 100 Maps of Fantasy Islands that you can use for your tabletop RPG campaigns every time your party needs to be on an island. But here's the deal: we want you to decide the lore of these islands that should be published in the book! Our plan is to create an eBook of high-res island maps that you can use in your RPG campaigns, to get inspiration for your own worldbuidling or to prompt your creative writing skills. Here's the deal: you can be the one who decides what's going on one island and your ideas will be published in the eBook alongside the artwork! Backing one of the 100 limited rewards, you will get the limited Worldbuilder's Edition of the eBook and you will be part of a collaborative worldbuilding project where your map description, name and landmarks will be published in the eBook next to the artwork. We want to Make 100 fantasy maps, join us in this collaborative worldbuilding project and tell us what's going on in these islands!”
[h=3]RPG ACCESSORIES[/h] Reversible Neoprene Space/Terrain Battle Mats Quickstarter by BattleMats
- END DATE: Mon, January 28 2019 12:00 AM EST.
- PROJECT TYPE: RPG accessories (mats)
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £55 plus shipping & handling for two 3' x 3' reversible skirmish mats
- NOTE: This is a 17-day quickstarter.
“We are launching an innovative new product - A double sided neoprene tabletop battle mat combining a space image & a terrain image. One Mat for many games and the perfect underlay for miniatures wargaming as well as board, card, tile and dice games. Featuring exclusive designs from Loke BattleMats, these 3'x3' mats offer you the best of our designs combined for the first time in one mat to cover a huge range of tabletop games! Saving Money and space, these are perfect for the travelling gamer as well as removing the need to buy multiple mats for the keen hobbyist. The mats are 2mm neoprene with a stitched edge, giving you a high quality heavy weight feel. Each mat weights 1.3KG and will, of course, lay perfectly flat under its own weight. Sturdier and heavier than PVC or cloth, these mats are thick enough to deaden your dice rolls and will drape beautifully over a table edge if needed. So huge versatility and no more lost dice! Double sided quality mousemat skirmish game battle mat offering the best of both; terrain on one side and a starscape on the other.”
[h=3]ENDING SOON(ER)[/h] Iron Monolith and the Tomb of Sun A'Galla - D20 RPG by Mitchell Tierney
- END DATE: Wed, January 23 2019 10:43 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): d20, Starfinder, Pathfinder 1e, and D&D
- PROJECT TYPE: Campaign setting
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: AU$15 for the full campaign
“You have been employed by Osseous System renowned pilot, Fink, and his android engineer, NOX, to bring in an outlaw, Taxidermist. Things don't go exactly to plan as you find yourself in the midst of an intergalactic treasure hunt for the 3 tombs of Sun A'Galla. You will engage in starship battle, work out puzzles and navigate your way through dangerous terrain and mazes, fighting outlaws, space desert worms and engaging in diplomatic converse. A roleplaying game based on the d20 dice system, compatible with Starfinder, D&D and Pathfinder, or any space based RPG.”
Off the Beaten Path, Mountain Excursions by ThrowiGames
- END DATE: Fri, January 18 2019 5:01 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Sword & Wizardry RPG or system neutral
- PROJECT TYPE: Adventure modules
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $6 for system neutral PDF of Off the Beaten Path, Mountain Excursions
- NOTE: This is a 10-day quickstarter.
“A minimum of twenty single or double page mountain excursions to use as side quests or stand-alone adventures for your Fantasy RPG. There are over twenty-six pages of encounters found within cold mountain passes and snowy locales. As your player's characters travel through the frozen wasteland, they will come across tombs, yeti caves, snow drake lairs, deserted lodges, and more! These adventures are a great way to add additional encounters during travel, or to handle an unexpected change in direction! Designed as System Neutral or specifically for Swords & Wizardry. Print on demand books will be saddle-stitched with a color exterior. Although the paper used for the project will be of premium quality, the interior of the book will be printed in black and white (as the original Patreon PDFs were). A minimum 28-page book, filled with one- to two-page adventures usable by any system. Based on the Patreon project by Nomad Gaming.”
[h=3]EGG’S THOUGHTS[/h] This project offers a look at the potential of a full crowdfunding ecosystem. ThrowiGames (Thom Wilson) ran a Patreon until December, 2017. During that time, he “created and delivered 5-6 adventures digitally to subscribers each month throughout 2017. This project prints all the adventures from the mountain theme in a single book.” Using Patreon as a financial base, Thom was able to create a variety of shorter RPG adventures and get them into the hands of fans. This helped to offset the cost of production for his larger Kickstarter project while also building his brand through positive word-of-mouth. He’s brought those products together to deliver a single book, Off the Beaten Path, Mountain Excursions. Using Patreon (others might use Drip) to create individual pieces of the project allowed him to come to Kickstarter (or Indiegogo) with a well-realized project that could be funded and bound into a book. Likely, after the project is complete he’ll make it available on DriveThruRPG or the Open Gaming Store to sale.
There are others that have gone this route, including the genesis of EN Publishing’s A Touch of Class: 7 New Classes for 5th Edition. Developed in parts through Patreon, A Touch of Class was brought together for a single publication via Kickstarter, and is now available for purchase on DriveThruRPG. This path – Patreon to Kickstarter to long-term sales – is proving to be a viable direction for many creators allowing Patreon to keep cash flow consistent while a project is developed in full for Kickstarter and, ultimately, traditional sales channels.
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! This article was contributed by Egg Embry as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. Please note that Egg is a participant in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to DriveThruRPG.
