D&D 5E Auroboros Kickstarter From Warcraft Devs Has Launched

The D&D 5E setting from developers who originally hail from video game studios like Blizzard, and video games like Warcraft and Diablo, has launched on Kickstarter with a bang, as expected. Auroborus: Coils of the Serpent details a realm called Lawbrand, which contains a number of trade cities and factions. Will this one be the 4th in the last month to join the $1M club?

The high-powered team, under the banner of Warchief Gaming, includes Chris Metzen (Blizzard Entertainment, Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, Overwatch), Mike Gilmartin (Blizzard, Eidos, Maxis, Atari), and Ryan Collins (Hearthstone, Marvel Heroes, HeroClix).

The setting contains 5 new races and 4 new subclasses, plus details of 8 trade cities. It also features a new game rule called the Mark of the Serpent which lets you do incredibly powerful magical effects at a cost.

Auroboros: Coils of the Serpent

An epic 5E fantasy campaign setting by Chris Metzen.

www.kickstarter.com

For $25 you can pick up the PDF bundle, or $50 for the hardcover. There are higher tiers with GM screens, world maps, slipcases, and more, with expected delivery in one year (March 2022).

 

[Grendel_Khan]

I thought the definition of Kickstarter was "Preorders with the risk shifted to the consumer."

Joking aside, I think lots of RPG Kickstarters are more than vanity projects, although I agree that many others are. This one just struck me as especially egregious given that one inclusion in the collector's set is a write up of the original campaign. Maybe I am out of the loop and this campaign is well known among the creator's fans and folks have been clamoring for just this product?

Seems like the draw is pure name recognition, and maybe people wanting to feel connected to a Kickstarter campaign that everyone knew was going to be bananas. The setting itself doesn't have any real character, imo. What confuses me about Metzen & co. being a draw is that MMOs basically extracted and amplified the most boring parts of TTRPGs. Experience building settings for endless fetch quests and combat grinding doesn't seem relevant to me.

But the audience for this once seems pretty clear--people who are stoked about getting shiny collector coins.

 

[Waller]

And as I mentioned in that thread, WotC plugged the game on both the D&D Twitter and Facebook accounts. So this project had a lot of exposure before the kickstarter launched.

It's all about who you know. Seattle is big on the old-boys-network.

 

[Reynard]

And Star Trek is Gene Roddenberry's childhood fantasies.

I've released products based on material I first came up with 30 years ago. I didn't literally take my 10-year old notebook and publish it. You're being weirdly literal.

I'm actually just being salty for no particular reason. I remember the first announcement of this thing and it didn't really strike me as good or bad. I was serious when I said I wish them well and hope folks who want this get the best version of it.

For the past year or so I have been getting strong d20 Glut vibes off the 5E third party environment tho. There's a lot of material coming out and quickly, which sets off my "shovelware" detectors.

But that said I am just about to start writing for a pretty notable 5e licensed game so I'm in that same camp. Like I said, just being salty.

And for the record the races jab was unwarranted. They don't seem any better or worse than any of the official Mos Eisley Cantina choices we get from official sources. I apologize if it seemed argumentative.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

It's all about who you know. Seattle is big on the old-boys-network.

Pretty sure Chris Metzen lives in California, like most Blizzard (and ex-Blizzard) staff.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Seems like the draw is pure name recognition, and maybe people wanting to feel connected to a Kickstarter campaign that everyone knew was going to be bananas. The setting itself doesn't have any real character, imo. What confuses me about Metzen & co. being a draw is that MMOs basically extracted and amplified the most boring parts of TTRPGs. Experience building settings for endless fetch quests and combat grinding doesn't seem relevant to me.

But the audience for this once seems pretty clear--people who are stoked about getting shiny collector coins.

This is a pretty crappy way to dump on a bunch of your fellow posters.

People can like different things than you do without being lesser humans.

 

[grimslade]

I will not be backing this Kickstarter. Not because I do not think it will be good... I know Metzen and company at Warchief will put out a fantastic product. The product doesn't speak to me. It might when I learn more about it, but right now I am backing Symbaroum both 5E and the original version.
If the product speaks to you, I can promise you it will be polished and insanely detailed. There will be reinventions of standard tropes. It is not just a video game designer cashing in. This is the Warcraft and Diablo DM. If you like that style of story arc, you will like what he puts out. Plus it will look gorgeous.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This is the Warcraft and Diablo DM. If you like that style of story arc, you will like what he puts out. Plus it will look gorgeous.

There are so many third party products that never would have stood a chance if Blizzard actually released a Diablo 5E book. There's tons of stuff out there that's basically Diablo with the names filed off.

Maybe they'll do it in time for Diablo IV, as they're greatly fleshing out the world for that game, after fleshing out its background and metaphysics for Diablo III.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Maybe they'll do it in time for Diablo IV, as they're greatly fleshing out the world for that game, after fleshing out its background and metaphysics for Diablo III.

Please yes. WotC really needs someone to show them how to do cool necromancers!

 

[Grendel_Khan]

This is a pretty crappy way to dump on a bunch of your fellow posters.

People can like different things than you do without being lesser humans.

Sure, I’m being a little reductive, but the fact that there are posters here who’ve specifically said it’s an instant back because of Metzen, and that there are comments in the Kickstarter campaign asking for more coins and such—and that the campaign went with those coins as stretch goals and early bird rewards—supports my point. I’m not saying the final product will be bad, but Warchief knows who its audience is. And their approach is working! Good for them, honestly. But I think it’s fair to point out that this is a very specific kind of campaign, that leans almost entirely on past successes in a very different medium, and some super gimmicky collectible doodads. It’s a real business venture, not a vanity project or cash grab. But I’m within my rights to point out the lack of substance presented in the campaign, and the amount of Hey Guys Remember Video Games (and also ... coins).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yes, you're within your rights to be a jerk and say that "the audience for this once seems pretty clear--people who are stoked about getting shiny collector coins." It's ignoring all the other things people said about the book so you can diminish people who like something you don't. Go you.

You're not required to like everything, but you're also not required to take a dump on people who do.