Into the Mother Lands: A Sci-fi RPG by PoC Designers

When Eugenio Vargas spoke to us on our podcast back in November about this Afrofuturist RPG, it was still months away. Now the game has hit Kickstarter, and has made over $100K in the first couple of days!

Into the Mother Lands - An Original Afrofuturist TTRPG

Setting book for Into the Mother Lands RPG!!!

www.kickstarter.com

Imagine if African explorers had set sail for the New World long before Europeans did... but got transported to a new planet instead! This planet is developed by a civilisation of African descent.

Choose from five cultures and several professions such as the Bio Priest or the Spine Ripper.

The team behind Into the Mother Lands is a group RPG designers, all people of colour, led by Tanya DePass, the founder of the non-profit group I Need Diverse Games.

You can pick up the PDF for $25 or the hardcover for $50, plus an array of dice, screens, maps, sheets and more.

Podcast #127 Into the Mother Lands with Eugenio Vargas

This week, Morrus and Peter are joined by Eugenio Vargas to talk about Into the Motherlands. In the news, Gale Force 9 sues Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything released, Comic Relief Plays D&D Part 2, and more plus a brand new sketch about the...

www.enworld.org

 

[Marc_C]

I think it uses the Cortex Prime rules.

 

[Nikosandros]

I think it uses the Cortex Prime rules.

Looking at the FAQs, it seems that the system has yet to be decided.

Which rule set / system is the game going to use?


We have the privilege of having a number of different options available to us.
Multiple publishers have contacted us, and we are also considering creating our own unique rule set as well.
Ultimately we will do what will let us create the best possible game experience for you and your table!

 

[Ixal]

Looking at the FAQs, it seems that the system has yet to be decided.

Is it normal for a kickstarter to not have decided on a system at this stage?
While the focus is obviously on the story and setting imo you get the best result when you write settings with a game system already in mind as otherwise you can always run into problems when something from the setting can't accurately be presented by the system.

Took me a while to realize (reading their kickstarter to be honest) that the names are all a reference to Mansa Musa (Munsa?). Considering that he was a devout Muslim, will this also be included in the game or will religion play a negligible role or be a futuristic/fantasy religion?

 

[Grendel_Khan]

Is it normal for a kickstarter to not have decided on a system at this stage?
While the focus is obviously on the story and setting imo you get the best result when you write settings with a game system already in mind as otherwise you can always run into problems when something from the setting can't accurately be presented by the system.

Yeah I feel like this is a huge red flag. And the fact that they're vaguely tying the system choice to stretch goals seems pretty sketchy/slapdash. System-neutral material is fine, but just say that's what it is from the start.

 

[Bagpuss]

Looking at the FAQs, it seems that the system has yet to be decided.

Yeah not sure about backing a project that doesn't even know what system it is going to be for. Glad it has funded and if it is any good it will be available beyond Kickstarter and I'll pick it up when I know what system it works with.

Surely they have done some playtesting and gaming with some system during it's development?

 

[Morrus]

Is it normal for a kickstarter to not have decided on a system at this stage?

A lot of projects have barely started work at this stage of a Kickstarter. It seems like a lot of work has already gone into this — heck, they’ve had a popular livestream for months. I’m sure they’ll choose the best system fit for the types of stories they want to tell. I feel pretty confident backing this one

 

[Grendel_Khan]

Yeah not sure about backing a project that doesn't even know what system it is going to be for. Glad it has funded and if it is any good it will be available beyond Kickstarter and I'll pick it up when I know what system it works with.

Surely they have done some playtesting and gaming with some system during it's development?

They use Cortex Prime for the streamed games. Just seems odd to not commit to that, or to anything specific, before collecting pledges.

 

[Bagpuss]

A lot of projects have barely started work at this stage of a Kickstarter.

I can't recall one I've seen that didn't know what system it was going to use. I've seen some that have declared they are going to be systemless, but that's a design decision, seems really odd to go to Kickstarter when you don't even what rules you are writing for.

They use Cortex Prime for the streamed games. Just seems odd to not commit to that, or to anything specific, before collecting pledges.

I would be disappointed if I had backed to later find out they tie it to a system I don't like. Thanks for the information since it seems likely to be tied to Cortex I'll give this one a miss for now.

 

[Dire Bare]

Is it normal for a kickstarter to not have decided on a system at this stage?
While the focus is obviously on the story and setting imo you get the best result when you write settings with a game system already in mind as otherwise you can always run into problems when something from the setting can't accurately be presented by the system.

Took me a while to realize (reading their kickstarter to be honest) that the names are all a reference to Mansa Musa (Munsa?). Considering that he was a devout Muslim, will this also be included in the game or will religion play a negligible role or be a futuristic/fantasy religion?

I'm not worried about "best results" regarding the lack of a system at this point. What exactly are you comparing it to? System matters, but . . . not as much as some folks think.

It does mean that there's a lot of work to do, once a system (or systems) is chosen. But as @Morrus pointed out, it is common for Kickstarter projects to have a lot of work ahead of them at the crowdfunding stage.

Some games are designed system-first, setting-second. Others, such as this one, flip the script . . . and I'm confident the game will turn out just fine, awesome likely!