RPG Crowdfunding News – Broken Weave, Mini-Dungeon Tome, Sinless, and more

IndieGoGo, GameOnTabletop, GameFound, ItchFunding, BackerKit, and Crowdfundr as well as Kickstarter, so many choices to run an RPG crowdfunding campaign on. I have to dig deep to discover all of the RPGs crowdfunding at any given time. From these options, I prepare a sampling of what’s out there for tabletop RPGs. This week, I feature RPG projects that end between February 28th and March 3rd including some from Kickstarter’s Zine Quest and ZiMo.

Broken Weave from Cubicle 7 Games

• END DATE: Thu, March 2 2023 9:58 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €55 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Cubicle 7, the company that brought Middle-earth to 5e for the first time, goes a different direction: 5e post-apocalyptic tragic fantasy. The gods are dead, the world is being reshaped by Decay, and hope is fleeting, though not extinguished. With new mechanics for Hope, Decay, keeping your community up, harvesting monsters, and more, this is the dark side of fantasy. Inspired by Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Shadow of the Colossus, Annihilation, and the Dark Tower, this is a world where the end is closer than you think, yet still unimaginably distant. If you want to wrest joy from this despair, check out the campaign page for more details.

Mini-Dungeon Tome for Pathfinder 2e from AAW Games

• END DATE: Thu, March 2 2023 12:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Pathfinder 2nd Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventures
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $49 + S/H for the PDF and hardcover versions of this book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Talk about a timely third party product with the OGL crisis and Pathfinder 2nd Edition selling so well, AAW Games provides a nice hardcover of PF2e adventures. Ranging from levels 1 to 20, you get 110 short adventures and self-described sidetreks. There’s an appendix with with creatures and traps. If you need a book of short drag and drop PF2e adventures, this project is for you.

Encyclopedia 2: Lore Book & Toolbox for your 5E Campaign from Studio Agate

• END DATE: Fri, March 3 2023 5:00 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $80 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book, GM screen, and cartography set
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This book is 350 pages of GM-choose-your-own-content. It’s a book from a well established third party publisher offering mix and match setting details for whatever you need in your campaign. Cities, NPCs, plot hooks, and more are available in this collection. Not sure if this is for you? Studio Agate is offering you several free and PWYW books at DriveThruRPG to sample the quality of their work. I believe once you try out their samples, you’ll want to add this book to your collection.

Kibbles' Compendium of Legends and Legacies from KibblesTasty

• END DATE: Thu, March 2 2023 6:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $60 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Keeping with the theme of 5e sourcebooks with a myriad of options, let’s look at this compendium. The book offers four new classes, over thirty subclasses, feats, and hundreds of spells. Coming in at 260 to 300 pages, depending on stretch goals, this is more crunch for players to pull from. If you need more 5e options for your table, there’s a sample to check out on the campaign page.

Sinless from Hack & Slash Publishing

• END DATE: Fri, March 3 2023 1:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $30 + S/H for the PDF and print book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? There are three projects crowdfunding now, or will shortly, that draw comparisons to Shadowrun: Subversion by Fragging Unicorns Games, Vault by Team Rex Games, and this project, Sinless by Hack & Slash Publishing. The comparisons are so common that I have an interview with Fragging Unicorn on the subject. For the first two, their relationship to SR is superficial. In Sinless’ case, this has been called an SR retroclone by some, which seems valid. If you put the Sinless logo next to the SR1e logo (the original art for which I wrote about here), you’re likely to note a resemblance. The creator, Courtney, said this in the comments of the KS: “If you have played Shadowrun 3rd or 4th edition, you will find the game very comfortable.” So what is this RPG? It’s 200 pages and a crowdfunding campaign page that leads with this line: “Sinless is a playable cyberpunk tabletop role-playing game with magic, integrated domain play, and giant pools of d6s”. The emphasis is on the word “playable”, suggesting this is a streamlined SR, one that leans towards the earlier editions. As a fan of all things cyberpunk, I’m interested in seeing what they achieve.

The Electrum Archive - Issue 02 from Emiel Boven

• END DATE: Tue, February 28 2023 6:00 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): OSR inspired by Cairn, Mausritter, and Whitehack
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €48 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of issues 01 and 02
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This is the second zine detailing the setting of Orn, a science-fantasy world of ancient alien shipwrecks filled with magical ink. The ink is the setting’s currency and fuels spells. The first zine presented the core rules and the world. This zine, at 68 pages, details a single location. Inspired by The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, Dark Sun, and Ultraviolet Grasslands, this RPG zine expands on the existing setting with a new desert city, Titan Port. If an OSR city interests you, check out the campaign page for a link to a free rules preview.

Sky ov Crimson Flame + Blights ov the Eastern Forest from Owl Knight Publishing

• END DATE: Fri, March 3 2023 12:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeon Crawl Classics
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventures
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $19 for the PDFs of both adventures
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Two DCC adventures: the 32-page Sky ov Crimson Flame and the 80-page Blights ov the Eastern Forest. This project saw life once before, but this time it’s back, revised and expanded. The adventures are dark and unexpected, as good DCC should be. If you want two DCC adventures that have been through heavy playtesting and gained from the experience, these might speak to you.

Normie Generator & more: Worldbuilding pamphlet games from proton31

• END DATE: Wed, March 1 2023 2:03 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Alone Among the Stars
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rule pamphlets
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $9 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the three pamphlets
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? I love pamphlet RPGs, so a campaign that offers three pulls me in. Titled Normie Generator, Alone in Jodomundi, and Final Boss, these one-pagers journal slice of life experiences for background characters in a cyberpunk mega city or a fantasy city and its magical forest or gamify faction creation for Powered by the Apocalypse style games like Monster of the Week. Engine-wise, they’re pamphlets using Takuma Okada's journaling system, Alone Among the Stars. If you’re looking for simple projects to bring more solo gaming into your life, this is worth checking out.

The Doom of Blackwinter from Dice Monkey

• END DATE: END DATE: Wed, March 1 2023 1:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Powered by ZWEIHANDER, Old-School Essentials, and Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition, and Pathfinder 2nd Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $20 for the PDFs of the zine in multiple systems and a print version using one of the listed systems (your choice)
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? An early winter, orcs with glowing tattoos, and a quest to stop the rise of a frost elemental. This 24-page zine includes 10 NPCs for 3rd or 4th level adventurers. This project’s secret sauce is the systems, it meets you where you play with 5e, PF2e, OSE, and ZWEIHANDER options. If you need a low level adventure and want to see the differences in rule options across different systems, this zine may be for you.

Electrocube War Adventures from Fainting Goat Games

• END DATE: Fri, March 3 2023 2:46 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Valor Knights RPG
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $35 for the PDF and POD discount versions of the zine
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Bloat Games created the Transformers homage RPG, Valor Knights. Fainting Goat Games is using that system to produce a 40-page collection of six adventures where you can roll out. You’ll play as disguised hero robots protecting humanity against evil robots. If transforming robot action sounds fun to you, these adventures may be right for your table.

Call of Cthulhu Gaming & Display Coins from Goliath Coins

• END DATE: Thu, March 2 2023 8:55 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Call of Cthulhu
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG Accessories
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $100 + $18 S/H to the US for all five coins plus any unlocked stretch goals
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? These are officially licensed Call of Cthulhu RPG Mythos coins. They’re cool looking coins, they’re also usable as props in your CoC games as they include an in-game adventure tie-in. If you need Mythos coins for your collection, check out this campaign.

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Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, and Amazon.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I learned something today.

 

[Egg Embry]

Broken Weave looks great but I am on the fence. My players tend to like to use subclasses from the core book but in the Kickstarter comments it is made pretty clear that won’t work well with the setting/mechanics. Will be a last minute decision…

I have an interview with one of the creators coming soon. Maybe that will help to sway you.

 

[jerryrice4949]

I will look forward to it.

 

[timbannock]

I have an interview with one of the creators coming soon. Maybe that will help to sway you.

Glad to hear that! I'm also on the fence. Setting sounds almost verbatim what I've been trying to build on my own, but (unsurprisingly) more developed and fleshed out.

...but it's 5e, and unless I can convert it pretty easily to not-5e, it may be too much system-stuff I'm not going to use. The thing that could tip me over the edge is if the community-building stuff is really well-done, and if the GM tools are more than just "here's a new mechanics for THIS, and THIS, and THIS OTHER THING!" but instead is a lot of hooks, maps, worldbuilding, system-neutral stuff.

In other words, I'm looking for more than 10 pages of setting fluff amidst 200 pages of game mechanics.

 

[Giorgicus]

I had a chance to play the Vault demo (Kill B.O.B) last Friday 2/27th, and I had a good time doing so as Art, the EOS Sniper. Things started to move faster once everyone picked up the basics, and the GM keep things lighthearted, fun, and moving along. A couple of great “critical hits” by both players and NPCs kept things interesting. We didn’t “break” anything rules wise while playing, yet we did recommend some clarifications and slight modifications for the text of future demo files updates. This game is being developed for both in-person/meatspace AND VTT support for the start (a player already did a Foundry update) and that is important to me.
.

I am working on generating interest in my FLGS to run in store demos myself, and I am happy to share this Cyberpunk Fantasy game with newbies, especially those that have never given SR a try before. I look forward to this games KS success and playing full games in the future.
.
If this game ever gets its own thread in the "TTRPG General" or "Crowdfunding News" sections of the forums, I will post a breakdown of my experience in more detail. One of my fellow demo players already posted a nice review at Reddit, I will shamelessly steal his format later. (grin)

 

[Egg Embry]

I had a chance to play the Vault demo (Kill B.O.B) last Friday 2/27th, and I had a good time doing so as Art, the EOS Sniper. Things started to move faster once everyone picked up the basics, and the GM keep things lighthearted, fun, and moving along. A couple of great “critical hits” by both players and NPCs kept things interesting. We didn’t “break” anything rules wise while playing, yet we did recommend some clarifications and slight modifications for the text of future demo files updates. This game is being developed for both in-person/meatspace AND VTT support for the start (a player already did a Foundry update) and that is important to me.
.

I am working on generating interest in my FLGS to run in store demos myself, and I am happy to share this Cyberpunk Fantasy game with newbies, especially those that have never given SR a try before. I look forward to this games KS success and playing full games in the future.
.
If this game ever gets its own thread in the "TTRPG General" or "Crowdfunding News" sections of the forums, I will post a breakdown of my experience in more detail. One of my fellow demo players already posted a nice review at Reddit, I will shamelessly steal his format later. (grin)

Thanks for sharing your experiences! I have a blurb about Vault coming in this week's RPG crowdfunding roundup.

Getting a demo table going at your local game store is awesome! The industry needs more of that!

 

[Retreater]

Backed that Mini Dungeon Tome. Looks great.

 

[timbannock]

Backed that Mini Dungeon Tome. Looks great.

I hope they do a good editing pass on it. I have the 5e version and it is a great book filled with at least 75% solid adventures (maybe as high as 90 but I haven't played THAT many yet!). But the editing was rough on a lot of adventures: missing references, vague intro text, tie-ins between adventures but they were too vague to be useful (there was a great download that clarified some of these, but even that left some rather boggling questions hanging). If it gets a floor to ceiling edit and the adventure ties are made explicit, then it's an easy book to recommend!

 

[Myrdin Potter]

I am backing Sinless and there is a draft rulebook available to check out which is a good indication that the system is advanced enough to reduce the chance that deliveries will be massively delayed. So far it looks good.