The Dark Eye, the most popular RPG in the German-speaking world, is in its fifth edition in English and continuing to attract new fans. On GameOnTabletop, Ulisses Spiele, the publisher of The Dark Eye (TDE), is crowdfunding their latest sourcebook, Gods of Aventuria. Tajo Fittkau, The Dark Eye English language Line Developer, joins us to talk about the campaign, their special charity book, and to tease the next project after this, the English version of TDE starter set.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Thank you for talking to me about the latest The Dark Eye crowdfunding project. What are you making through this GameOnTabletop campaign?
TAJO FITTKAU (TAJO): In this campaign, we create the English translation Gods of Aventuria book as well and the last three modules of the Theater Knights campaign. With both of them, we finish the first tiers of expansion rules and the first launched campaign in English. The Gods of Aventuria focuses on the different Blessed One (priest) professions, while the campaign lets you interact with the living history of Aventuria and take part in essential changes happening to that region.
EGG: For fans that are not familiar with The Dark Eye, can you tell us about the setting and system?
TAJO: The Dark Eye is the largest fantasy RPG in the German-speaking world. It has been around for over 35 years now and is in its 5th Edition. It started very similar to the first edition of D&D, but from that point diverged greatly in mechanics and general feel of the system. The world of Aventuria is a fantasy world that is grounded more in the European Fairytales than a Tolkienesque world. Its history and rulesets have been continuously developed over the last 35 years. With its 5th edition in German, a lot of the systems have been streamlined from previous editions. It is still a very ‘crunchy’ system, but it plays very fluidly at the table. The general power level of characters is much lower than in systems like D&D or [Pathfinder], and even playing “mundane” characters are a lot of fun.
EGG: Gods of Aventuria has “150 new liturgies and ceremonies”. In game terms, what do they do?
TAJO: Liturgies and ceremonies are the powers that are available to the Blessed Ones, the priests of the different gods. The world of Aventuria has 12 main Gods and several Demigods, as well as the main antagonist, the Nameless One. Each of these different traditions have access to their own liturgies and ceremonies that represent the power they grant to their follower. With this book, you can now play Blessed Ones from all 12 Gods and 5 of the most important Demigods. The GM, or in special situations maybe a player, can also generate NPCs/characters that are followers of the Nameless One. For these, there are also several new liturgies and ceremonies that the GM can use to give NPCs a more extensive toolbox and more depth.
EGG: This crowdfunding will complete the six-volume Theater Knights campaign, correct? What’s the plot of the campaign?
TAJO: Yes, we will publish the last three chapters of the Theater Knights campaign. I don’t want to spoil the content of the campaign. But I can say that the heroes of the campaign travel to the northeast of Aventuria into the region called the Bornland. There they are confronted with a series of events that pull them deeper into a historic reveal around changes that are happening. They have to engage in warfare, diplomacy and encounter old and new threats that could endanger large parts of Aventuria. The results of the campaign will form this region for the coming years.
EGG: Let’s talk about some of the offerings. What’s in the slipcase?
TAJO: Most of the additional offerings in this campaign focus on the intersection of the campaign and the Gods book. With the 16-page short adventure Three Colors of Snow, we provide another small module that fleshes out the Theater Knights campaign. It is a closed-room detective-style adventure, that plays in the north of the Bornland. The other book that is already partially funded through the stretch goals is the Kor VadeMeCum. Kor is one of the demigods in the Gods of Aventuria book and a significant player in the Theater Knights campaign. He is the Lord of Battle, Guardian of the bloody victory and patron of mercenaries. The book is a mostly in-game book that gives the Blessed Ones of this god a lot of background to the church, believes, and rites.
EGG: This campaign is run through GameOnTabletop, which allows you to offer a charity option. Can you tell us about the charity offering?
TAJO: Yes, we are offering a special charity edition of the Gods of Aventuria book with a white leatherette cover during the crowdfunding as an add-on. 100% of all the money spent on this book will be donated to the Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) charity. Ulisses Spiele is covering the full costs for the production of this book.
EGG: That’s an amazing offer! Why do a product that benefits Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) instead of another charity? What made them the right fit?
TAJO: Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) is a long-standing and highly regarded charitable organization that is active all over the globe. In the current pandemic, their help is needed all around the world. Each of the books sold makes it able to provide six full PPE sets for healthcare workers across the globe. The charity edition is also a joint effort with the German RPG community as well. It was important to us that we are supporting a world-wide acting charity.
EGG: Again, thank you for doing that. Why did Ulisses Spiele choose to run this on GameOnTabletop as opposed to Kickstarter?
TAJO: Ulisses Spiele in Germany has run most of its crowdfundings through the GameOnTabletop platform. The platform has a build-in pledge manager, and we work closely with GameOnTabletop to be able to integrate it with our systems. For backers, it also allows them to select add-ons and see the shipping costs when they enter their pledge, and they do not need to come back later to finish up their pledge. While Kickstarter has the advantage to be ‘discovered’ by more people, this rarely happens, especially for things like an expansion to an existing RPG.
EGG: This RPG is the most successful tabletop RPG in Germany, correct? What about it allowed the game to take a bigger marketshare than D&D?
TAJO: Yes, The Dark Eye is and has been the most played fantasy RPG in Germany for over 35 years now. It was created by one of the larger boardgame companies as a direct competitor to D&D in 1984. And they were able to keep D&D out of the market in the first years. Most of the players who started in the 80th or 90th started with The Dark Eye as their first tabletop RPG. And even today, every RPG player in Germany knows it, and most of them have played it at least a little. It is an excellent system with a strong lore background. I have to say, most of the people I was able to bring The Dark Eye closer at conventions here in the US enjoyed the system and the world a lot. While it is a crunchy system, its play is much more focused on experiencing the world, than to kill its inhabitants.
EGG: Beyond The Dark Eye, what other projects are you working on?
TAJO: My work is solely focused on the world of Aventuria and the success of The Dark Eye on the international stage. The next project we announced is the RPG Beginners Box for The Dark Eye. It not only brings you into The Dark Eye, but it is built to bring a non-RPG player easily into the great world of RPGs. It is already out in Germany and, I think it is the best RPG starter box that is currently on the market. You can take this box and break it open and play with up to 4 friends without any preparation or prior knowledge. It also provides a campaign that can keep you engaged for up to 60 hours or more. I am very excited to bring that to the English market next.
EGG: Thank you for talking with me. Where can fans learn more about your work?
TAJO: Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure talking to you. You can find updates around The Dark Eye and our other product lines at our website. People can find me on Twitter @vendolis or on our Ulisses Discord Server. I also frequent the Facebook “Aventuria - The Dark Eye (english)” group, where there are also a lot of long-playing TDE fans that help out others with their questions.
THE DARK EYE - GODS OF AVENTURIA (ENG) from Ulisses Spiele
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Thank you for talking to me about the latest The Dark Eye crowdfunding project. What are you making through this GameOnTabletop campaign?
TAJO FITTKAU (TAJO): In this campaign, we create the English translation Gods of Aventuria book as well and the last three modules of the Theater Knights campaign. With both of them, we finish the first tiers of expansion rules and the first launched campaign in English. The Gods of Aventuria focuses on the different Blessed One (priest) professions, while the campaign lets you interact with the living history of Aventuria and take part in essential changes happening to that region.
EGG: For fans that are not familiar with The Dark Eye, can you tell us about the setting and system?
TAJO: The Dark Eye is the largest fantasy RPG in the German-speaking world. It has been around for over 35 years now and is in its 5th Edition. It started very similar to the first edition of D&D, but from that point diverged greatly in mechanics and general feel of the system. The world of Aventuria is a fantasy world that is grounded more in the European Fairytales than a Tolkienesque world. Its history and rulesets have been continuously developed over the last 35 years. With its 5th edition in German, a lot of the systems have been streamlined from previous editions. It is still a very ‘crunchy’ system, but it plays very fluidly at the table. The general power level of characters is much lower than in systems like D&D or [Pathfinder], and even playing “mundane” characters are a lot of fun.
EGG: Gods of Aventuria has “150 new liturgies and ceremonies”. In game terms, what do they do?
TAJO: Liturgies and ceremonies are the powers that are available to the Blessed Ones, the priests of the different gods. The world of Aventuria has 12 main Gods and several Demigods, as well as the main antagonist, the Nameless One. Each of these different traditions have access to their own liturgies and ceremonies that represent the power they grant to their follower. With this book, you can now play Blessed Ones from all 12 Gods and 5 of the most important Demigods. The GM, or in special situations maybe a player, can also generate NPCs/characters that are followers of the Nameless One. For these, there are also several new liturgies and ceremonies that the GM can use to give NPCs a more extensive toolbox and more depth.
EGG: This crowdfunding will complete the six-volume Theater Knights campaign, correct? What’s the plot of the campaign?
TAJO: Yes, we will publish the last three chapters of the Theater Knights campaign. I don’t want to spoil the content of the campaign. But I can say that the heroes of the campaign travel to the northeast of Aventuria into the region called the Bornland. There they are confronted with a series of events that pull them deeper into a historic reveal around changes that are happening. They have to engage in warfare, diplomacy and encounter old and new threats that could endanger large parts of Aventuria. The results of the campaign will form this region for the coming years.
EGG: Let’s talk about some of the offerings. What’s in the slipcase?
TAJO: Most of the additional offerings in this campaign focus on the intersection of the campaign and the Gods book. With the 16-page short adventure Three Colors of Snow, we provide another small module that fleshes out the Theater Knights campaign. It is a closed-room detective-style adventure, that plays in the north of the Bornland. The other book that is already partially funded through the stretch goals is the Kor VadeMeCum. Kor is one of the demigods in the Gods of Aventuria book and a significant player in the Theater Knights campaign. He is the Lord of Battle, Guardian of the bloody victory and patron of mercenaries. The book is a mostly in-game book that gives the Blessed Ones of this god a lot of background to the church, believes, and rites.
EGG: This campaign is run through GameOnTabletop, which allows you to offer a charity option. Can you tell us about the charity offering?
TAJO: Yes, we are offering a special charity edition of the Gods of Aventuria book with a white leatherette cover during the crowdfunding as an add-on. 100% of all the money spent on this book will be donated to the Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) charity. Ulisses Spiele is covering the full costs for the production of this book.
EGG: That’s an amazing offer! Why do a product that benefits Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) instead of another charity? What made them the right fit?
TAJO: Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) is a long-standing and highly regarded charitable organization that is active all over the globe. In the current pandemic, their help is needed all around the world. Each of the books sold makes it able to provide six full PPE sets for healthcare workers across the globe. The charity edition is also a joint effort with the German RPG community as well. It was important to us that we are supporting a world-wide acting charity.
EGG: Again, thank you for doing that. Why did Ulisses Spiele choose to run this on GameOnTabletop as opposed to Kickstarter?
TAJO: Ulisses Spiele in Germany has run most of its crowdfundings through the GameOnTabletop platform. The platform has a build-in pledge manager, and we work closely with GameOnTabletop to be able to integrate it with our systems. For backers, it also allows them to select add-ons and see the shipping costs when they enter their pledge, and they do not need to come back later to finish up their pledge. While Kickstarter has the advantage to be ‘discovered’ by more people, this rarely happens, especially for things like an expansion to an existing RPG.
EGG: This RPG is the most successful tabletop RPG in Germany, correct? What about it allowed the game to take a bigger marketshare than D&D?
TAJO: Yes, The Dark Eye is and has been the most played fantasy RPG in Germany for over 35 years now. It was created by one of the larger boardgame companies as a direct competitor to D&D in 1984. And they were able to keep D&D out of the market in the first years. Most of the players who started in the 80th or 90th started with The Dark Eye as their first tabletop RPG. And even today, every RPG player in Germany knows it, and most of them have played it at least a little. It is an excellent system with a strong lore background. I have to say, most of the people I was able to bring The Dark Eye closer at conventions here in the US enjoyed the system and the world a lot. While it is a crunchy system, its play is much more focused on experiencing the world, than to kill its inhabitants.
EGG: Beyond The Dark Eye, what other projects are you working on?
TAJO: My work is solely focused on the world of Aventuria and the success of The Dark Eye on the international stage. The next project we announced is the RPG Beginners Box for The Dark Eye. It not only brings you into The Dark Eye, but it is built to bring a non-RPG player easily into the great world of RPGs. It is already out in Germany and, I think it is the best RPG starter box that is currently on the market. You can take this box and break it open and play with up to 4 friends without any preparation or prior knowledge. It also provides a campaign that can keep you engaged for up to 60 hours or more. I am very excited to bring that to the English market next.
EGG: Thank you for talking with me. Where can fans learn more about your work?
TAJO: Thank you for having me. It was a pleasure talking to you. You can find updates around The Dark Eye and our other product lines at our website. People can find me on Twitter @vendolis or on our Ulisses Discord Server. I also frequent the Facebook “Aventuria - The Dark Eye (english)” group, where there are also a lot of long-playing TDE fans that help out others with their questions.
THE DARK EYE - GODS OF AVENTURIA (ENG) from Ulisses Spiele
- END DATE: 08/11/2020 19:00 (GMT-4)
- NOTE: This project is available through GameOnTabletop
- “Now, more than ever, Aventuria needs the help of the Demigods and the blessings of all Twelve Gods… Gods of Aventuria gives you lore details about Church Customs around the everyday work of a Blessed One.”
