This week’s RPG crowdfunding projects and quickstarters end on or before January 7th. While many of these campaigns roll into the new year, some of those featured here end in 2020. As with each week, I try to cover as many RPG crowdfunding projects as space allows, but there are more than I can capture. What I’ve selected below are some that look like they’d be fun at the gaming table.
Southlands 5th Edition: A Realm of High Adventure from Kobold Press
Voyages of the Vagabond from Deep Dungeon Games
Knock! Issue one from Olivier Revenu
Wrenn's Guide to the Modern World and its Cities from Fumble Pals
Calo's Book of Monsters, a Third-Party Mörk Borg Book from Philip Reed Games
A Packet of Particular Peaks from L.F. OSR
POLYHEDRAL from HTTPaladin
Allies & Antagonists: A Big Book of D&D 5e NPCs from Grim Press
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- END DATE: Fri, January 1 2021 7:00 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: Campaign sourcebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $95 + $8 US S/H for all 3 books in PDF and print
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Kobold Press’ signature setting adds new world building in this release. Want to add a Middle East inspired option to your 5e setting? Kobold is offering three books (Southlands Worldbook at 300 pages, City of Cats at over 150 pages, and Southlands Player’s Guide, which still has stretch goals to unlock as of this writing) to build out that world and offer adventures. Because these books are inspired by a rich and diverse culture, Kobold Press is working to insure they craft an interesting product without falling into stereotypes or fetishizing the inspirational societies. In the campaign’s FAQ, Kobold Press addresses the representation on the creative side of this project that draws inspiration from Middle Eastern and North African histories. Their team includes members of the diaspora as well as cultural consultants. With Kobold’s track record with 5e in both their own products and creating content for Wizards of the Coast, and their sensitivity to the subject matter, this promises to be another excellent Southlands offering.
Voyages of the Vagabond from Deep Dungeon Games
- END DATE: Fri, January 1 2021 9:00 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): System neutral
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebooks
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $30 for 4 PDFs, 100 digital map assets, and 40 digital battlemaps
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This campaign offers a number of books with a total page count, when added together, of over 500 pages (Magnificent Mounts and Where They Go will reach 233 pages while Terrific Terrains and Terrible Travels will come in at 278 pages). This system neutral content focuses on terrain, travel, and how magic affects them both. If your fantasy world needs more logic in its intersection between reality and magic, this project offers a great deal of content including mounts, locations, and more.
- END DATE: Tue, December 22 2020 5:55 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: RPG magazine
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €25 + €9 US S/H for the PDF and physical copy
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? As I mentioned last week, there appears to be a resurgence of RPG magazines. This campaign will generate 212 pages of D&D history, thoughts on gaming, new rules, tables, classes, monsters, and more. As with the Kickstarters I looked at last week, this project heralds the return of RPG magazines which is something that’s been missing from gaming. I hope that, like RPG zines, we’re seeing another part of the RPG renaissance.
Wrenn's Guide to the Modern World and its Cities from Fumble Pals
- END DATE: Wed, December 23 2020 3:00 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €18 for the PDF of the book
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This sourcebook is 250 pages of information about cities with some additional 5e rules. This guide gives descriptions of 30 villages, towns, and cities as well as guilds, services, classes, and more. The most interesting component for this is the new class, the Citizen. This creates rules for playing a mundane soul, something unique in D&D. Between the locations and the option to play a simple PC, it’s an interesting offering for GMs to consider.
Calo's Book of Monsters, a Third-Party Mörk Borg Book from Philip Reed Games
- END DATE: Fri, January 1 2021 2:55 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Mörk Borg
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $35 with free US S/H for the PDF and the hardcover
- DISCLAIMER: Phil Reed sent me a print proof of the original layout of the book and it is awesome
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Recently, Phil Reed and Ed Bourelle did a pair of Kickstarters to create third-party Mörk Borg products (I interviewed them about those campaigns here). Since Phil has already fulfilled that campaign, this Kickstarter is for something new, another Mörk Borg book, this time a hardcover written by Phil Reed. This book is 64 pages and uncommonly sized at 6.25” by 11”. It includes twenty monsters, D66 rumors, and a setting, Castle Skullrot, all intended for one of the most awarded RPGs of last year. If you’re interested then follow the link and take advantage of Phil’s entry offer: one dollar for the PDF.
A Packet of Particular Peaks from L.F. OSR
- END DATE: Fri, January 1 2021 3:00 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): System neutral
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $20 + $3 US S/H for the PDF and physical copy
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? 75 pages detailing 100 magic items, 18 beasts, and three interesting mountain peaks. That’s the secret sauce, this is a sourcebook bringing several unusual locations into your campaign as your characters go up a mountain and find… A Packet of Particular Peaks. By picking a location that characters commonly traverse, this book offers value as you can drop these locations in as needed to make your world feel larger and, perhaps, more adventurous.
POLYHEDRAL from HTTPaladin
- END DATE: Wed, December 23 2020 12:00 PM EST.
- PROJECT TYPE: RPG-related interviews
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $45 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of this
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? I do a lot of RPG related interviews and this project brings a lot of RPG related interviews into existence and I couldn’t be happier about that. Coming in at over 150 pages, you’ll get interviews with Banana Chan, Keith Baker, Craig Campbell, Brandon Dixon, Cat Evans, Daniel Fox, Shanna Germain, Daniel Kwan, Rich Lescouflair, Miguel Lopez, Matthew Mercer, Amit Moshe, Elisa Teague, Chris Spivey, and many more. I’m glad to see a collection of interviews with great creators like these and I’m even more excited to see it find an audience with this level of interest.
Allies & Antagonists: A Big Book of D&D 5e NPCs from Grim Press
- END DATE: Tue, January 5 2021 1:59 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook of NPCs
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: CA$30 for the PDF and POD copies of the book
- TRY BEFORE YOU BUY: Allies & Antagonists Free Sample (5th Edition) is free at DriveThruRPG
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? 200 pages featuring over 100 5e-statted NPCs. When I GM, the crunch I want the most are collections of monsters and NPCs. If I have those two items available, I’m a happy GM. To that end, while there are endless bestiaries from Wizards of the Coast and third-party publishers, the number of NPCs is not as large as the number of monsters. To bridge that gap, this project adds more NPCs to the ranks, divided between allies and enemies. If you’re on the fence, try out the free sample to see if their style of NPC is right for your campaign.
