Crowdfunding News – Root, Under Hollow Hills, 3PP Pathfinder 2e Products, and more

At least 13 crowdfunding projects end between October 18th to the 24th. Among these are notable projects like Root and Under Hollow Hills as well as a follow-up to Welcome to Tikor | The Swordsfall RPG Setting and Art Book in the form of an IndieGoGo for Swordsfall Art Booster 1: Vehicles and Transports.

Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game by Magpie Games

• END DATE: Sun, October 20 2019 2:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Powered by the Apocalypse
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $100 + $10 US S/H for the PDF and print version of the rulebook plus additional PDFs, dice, maps, deck of cards, and more

“A tabletop roleplaying game based on the award-winning Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right board game. Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game is a game of woodland creatures fighting for money, justice, and freedom from powers far greater than them. Based on the Root: A Game of Woodland Might & Right board game and officially licensed by Leder Games, Root: The TTRPG brings the tales of the Woodland to your RPG table! In Root, you play vagabonds, outcasts from the normal society of the woodlands who have come to live in the spaces between, whether that's in the forests themselves or on the fringes of society. Root is based on the Powered by the Apocalypse system used by tabletop RPGs like Apocalypse World, Dungeon World, and many of Magpie Games’s own games like Masks: A New Generation, Urban Shadows, and Zombie World. Root creates stories like those you’d find in Redwall, Watership Down, Mouse Guard, The Warriors, and The Guardians of Ga’Hoole. Root: The Tabletop Roleplaying Game will be a 6” x 9” hardcover full-color book of about 240 pages.”

Under Hollow Hills by lumpley games

• END DATE: Sat, October 19 2019 9:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Powered by the Apocalypse
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $30 + $12 US S/H for the PDF and print versions of the game

“A tabletop roleplaying game about a traveling circus under the Hollow Hills. Enchantment, drama, and dangerous secrets revealed to all. There is a traveling circus under the Hollow Hills. It travels by moonlight, small wagons creaking in the night silence. It travels the night world and the day world, fairyland and the living earth, and places otherwise, and no border can keep it. It has mysteries to pose, drama to perform, it has music, juggling, acts of death-defying peril, pratfall comedy. It has dangerous secrets to tell. You are its performers, its ringmaster, its clowns, its sideshow, its stars. You travel through fairyland and the mortal world, performing as you choose. Wherever you perform, you change: you change the seasons, you change the fortunes of those you perform for, you change their hearts. You change yourselves. This is the game: we change. Under Hollow Hills is a tabletop roleplaying game. It's Powered by the Apocalypse, which in this case means that it's got playbooks for the players, a system of moves based on rolling and summing two dice, a GM, and a "play to find out" approach to prep and plotting.”

Adventuring with Pride: An LGBT 5E Supplement by Jack Dixon

• END DATE: Tue, October 22 2019 4:03 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons 5e
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure module
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £10 for the PDF

“A brand-new RPG book of adventures, characters and more, themed around LGBT culture. D&D is an incredible game and a hobby which brings people together from all walks of life. I've always wanted to create a project that combines my twin passions of D&D and the LGBT community. Which is how Adventuring with Pride - an LGBT Themed D&D 5E Supplement - came about. Adventuring with Pride is a full-colour, 50+ page book for the 5th Edition of the World's Greatest Roleplaying Game, available in both PDF and Hardback. The book contains three one-shot adventures, three pre-made characters and a ton of NPCs, [and] more than a dozen unique themed items!”

Entromancy: Hacker Battles by Nightpath Publishing

• END DATE: Wed, October 23 2019 12:00 AM EDT.
• PROJECT TYPE: Card game
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $8 for the POD of the cards
• NOTE: Read Sean Hillman’s review of the The Entromancy RPG here and his interview with M.S. Farzan here

“Take the role of hackers and engage in fast-paced, strategic card battles to create and deploy devastating programs! Entromancy: Hacker Battles is a cyberpunk fantasy tabletop card game for 2-4 players. In Entromancy: Hacker Battles, you and your friends will take the roles of hackers and engage in fast-paced, strategic card battles to deploy devastating programs and attempt to overcome each other’s security protocols.”

Little Monster Detectives by Nosolorol

• END DATE: Wed, October 23 2019 8:18 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €50 + €10 US S/H for the PDF and print of the game, the GM’s screen, stickers, and more

“Little Monster Detectives is a Pen and Paper Roleplaying Game for kids. The game is about the Monster Detective Agency, children and grownups that investigate mysterious monster mischief. With simple and scalable rules and different game modes, Little Monster Detectives wishes to be the first roleplaying game for your kids. Little Monster Detectives is a storytelling game. That is to say, it's a game where players create a story with their actions and the decisions they make during the game. When the game is over, the players will have created a new story where they have been the stars and creators. They choose the path to follow and what to do at every moment. You can play Little Monster Detectives with children that are 5 or older.”

Gods and Masters by Twitchy Butcher Studios LLC

• END DATE: Thu, October 24 2019 8:01 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Savage Worlds
• PROJECT TYPE: Campaign setting
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $25 for the PDF and POD of the book pluse additional PDFs
• NOTE: Read my interview with JC Thompson of Twitchy Butcher Studios LLC here

“An urban guerrilla fantasy RPG for the Savage Worlds rule system. Gods and Masters is certainly fantasy, but it was not inspired by pastoral European history or traditional fantasy tropes. We drew our inspiration from the urban guerrilla conflicts of the last century. Dokaro is a city controlled by legionaries, war drakes and winged dragoons instead of riflemen, tanks, and helicopters. But the setting has more in common with the Battle of Fallujah or the Spanish Civil War than any conventional fantasy setting. Dokaro's soldiers, partisans, and religious fanatics are all armed to the teeth and ready to spill blood in their war for control, with civilians caught helplessly in the middle.”

The Wolves of Steadwick by Amarik

• END DATE: Thu, October 24 2019 4:19 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, Pathfinder, and Pathfinder 2e
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure module
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $9 for the adventure
• NOTE: Last week, EthanSental asked if there were many third-party Pathfinder 2e projects being crowdfunded. This week, there are two (the other is linked below) that I want to point out. It should also be noted that PF2e is growing based on Fantasy Grounds’ number

“A mystery-horror D&D/Pathfinder module. Wolves of Steadwick is an adventure for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, Pathfinder, and Pathfinder 2e. This adventure module’s main feature is an in-depth mystery for the players to solve with clues, secrets, limitless options, and danger. Wolves of Steadwick boasts a strong role-playing aspect with some horror elements and enough optional combat for the most bloodthirsty adventurers. The module is expected to last for about twelve hours of gameplay for an average group, though exploring and interacting with the whole island could easily double that. It is made for a party of 3-5 players at levels 4-6.”

LOOK AT WHAT I MISSED

Heart: The City Beneath RPG by Rowan, Rook & Decard

• END DATE: Thu, October 17 2019 8:00 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): “Resistance system, the mechanics that power Spire”
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £35 + £5 US S/H for the PDF and hardcover of the book

“A game of obsession and wonder in a nightmare dungeon beneath the Spire. Heart: The City Beneath is a game about delving into a nightmare undercity that will give you everything you’ve ever dreamed of - or kill you in the process. It is a dungeon-crawling, story-forward tabletop RPG from the designers of Spire that focuses on what characters have to lose in pursuit of their dreams in the chaotic darkness beneath the world. Heart is a tabletop roleplaying game, and will be released as a 224+ page hardback book and a bookmarked PDF. You won’t need a copy of Spire to play Heart - it’s a standalone game. Sharing a setting with Spire, Heart expands the unreal world beneath it. It uses an expanded and updated version of the Resistance system, the mechanics that power Spire, to help you tell stories of desperation, hubris and adventure in the City Beneath.”

RPG QUICK HITS

Swordsfall Art Booster 1: Vehicles and Transports by Brandon Dixon

• END DATE: Mon, October 21 2019
• NOTE: This campaign is on IndieGoGo (here)
• “Hoverbikes. Cybernetic Horses. Floating Transports. Telekinetic animals and more. Transportation is an important part of any sci-fantasy universe and Swordsfall is no different! And there's no better form to show that than illustrations! The goal is simple. Fund art for transport and vehicles of Tikor.”

The Complete Illustrated Book of Divination by Phil Stone

• END DATE: Sun, October 20 2019 5:03 PM EDT.
• “A complete illustrated spellbook of Divination spells for Dungeons and Dragons 5e.”

Aces in Space by Christian Vogt

• END DATE: Mon, October 21 2019 11:22 AM EDT.
• “A Fate roleplaying game about a gang of space fighter pilots - half Battlestar Galactica, half Sons of Anarchy, full Social Media star!”

Traveling Encounters volume 1 by Jerry Joe Seltzer

• END DATE: Tue, October 22 2019 8:06 AM EDT.
• “Compelling 5th Edition Challenges For CR1 to CR5”

Aquilae: Bestiary of the Realm for Pathfinder Second Edition by Infinium Game Studio

• END DATE: Wed, October 23 2019 9:46 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition, Pathfinder, and Pathfinder 2e
• NOTE: The other third-party Pathfinder 2e projects being crowdfunded
• “The largest, most ambitious fantasy RPG bestiary ever conceived: 6,400 complete statblocks of 1,600 monsters, for Pathfinder 2E/5E/P1E.”

Wicked Foundations: Tales of Terror 5e Miniatures by Wicked Foundations Games and Accessories

• END DATE: Thu, October 24 2019 6:59 PM EDT.
• “We at Wicked Foundations provide highly detailed miniatures to augment your tabletop roleplaying experience.”

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KICKSTARTING A UNION

As reported [here, here, and here], some of Kickstarter’s employees are organizing a union. There’s discussion about how to best support the union including some RPG publishers sharing their stances [here, here, and here]. As of this writing (October 6th, 2019), Kickstarter United (“The workers of Kickstarter. Organizing with OPEIU Local 153”) are not calling for a boycott. As I learn more, I will continue to share details.

 

[Morrus]

Don't forget two more that just started!

Don‘t forget its a column of Kickstarters that are about to end!

 

[Toriel]

About Kickstarter and unions, the CEO has made it clear that they will do everything they can to stop any formation of a union. There is an article about it here.

Personally, I will not cancel any pledges I have already made, but I cannot in good conscience continue to support such corporate greed and selfishness.

I would appreciate it if you started looking more at other platforms, as I am sure a lot of creators will jump ship and the name of the column is, after all, crowdfunding news and not Kickstarter news

 

[Morrus]

About Kickstarter and unions, the CEO has made it clear that they will do everything they can to stop any formation of a union. There is an article about it here.

Personally, I will not cancel any pledges I have already made, but I cannot in good conscience continue to support such corporate greed and selfishness.

I would appreciate it if you started looking more at other platforms, as I am sure a lot of creators will jump ship and the name of the column is, after all, crowdfunding news and not Kickstarter news

We are following the guidance of the Kickstarter employees. As Egg noted in the article above, at present they have requested that folks not boycott as that hurts them more than it hurts KS. We feel they are best positioned to judge what’s best for them, and will continue to do as they ask.

That said, we also already cover other platforms, and we’ve covered projects on Indiegogo, Patreon, and more, including at least one in the above article. Just most projects happen to be on KS.

 

[Paragon Lost]

Don‘t forget its a column of Kickstarters that are about to end!

Yeah, definitely forgot that, got all excited reading the Scavenger Kickstarter info. lol

 

[Amarik]

Hey, this is Amarik, creator of "The Wolves of Steadwick" (see above).

Thanks for your shout out! I've gotten at least one redirect from here already and we're now 98% funded!

 

[Sunsword]

About Kickstarter and unions, the CEO has made it clear that they will do everything they can to stop any formation of a union. There is an article about it here.

Personally, I will not cancel any pledges I have already made, but I cannot in good conscience continue to support such corporate greed and selfishness.

I would appreciate it if you started looking more at other platforms, as I am sure a lot of creators will jump ship and the name of the column is, after all, crowdfunding news and not Kickstarter news

I have a serious question for you? Do you shop at Walmart or Amazon?

If so, why is Kickstarter different than either of the above to businesses?

 

[Egg Embry]

Hey, this is Amarik, creator of "The Wolves of Steadwick" (see above).

Thanks for your shout out! I've gotten at least one redirect from here already and we're now 98% funded!

Amarik,

That's exciting news! I'm glad that this article helped (even in a small way)! Thanks for sharing that! :-D

 

[5atbu]

I have a serious question for you? Do you shop at Walmart or Amazon?

If so, why is Kickstarter different than either of the above to businesses?

I look forward to workers at Amazon and Walmart unionising.

 

[Mike Myler]

I look forward to workers at Amazon and Walmart unionising.

Wal-Mart has been union busting for over two decades. It's one of the reasons I don't shop there (or Amazon). The dollar is the only genuine voting power we have left in the states. Use yours wisely (and not at Chic-Fil-A or Wendy's either). I was extremely upset to give up Yeungling (the only cheap and reasonably alcoholic beer made en masse here in Pennsylvania) but knowing about the jackals running the company ruined the taste for me.

Vis-a-vis other crowdfunding platforms: GameOnTabletop is pretty sweet.

Regarding Kickstarter unionizing: I think people keep glossing over WHY Kickstarter employees started talking about unionizing in the first place.

After years of awkward growing pains, things at Kickstarter seemed to finally feel settled by the summer of 2018. Then last August—one year after the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia—the far-right news site Breitbart published a story accusing Kickstarter of violating its terms of service, which bars projects that encourage violence, by approving a fundraiser for a comic book called Always Punch Nazis. The title referred to an incident in which the white nationalist leader Richard Spencer was clocked in the face during a television interview. The comic book creators described the project on Kickstarter as “A 44-page, comic book anthology about our country’s battle against racism. Join the fight with this satirical graphic novel.”

What happened over the next seven days rattled the Kickstarter staff. After the Breitbart article, the project had to be reviewed by Kickstarter’s Trust and Safety team, which audits whether disputed content violates the company’s community guidelines or is making other users unsafe. Because it was satirical, Always Punch Nazis may not have been a clear-cut case. According to multiple current and former employees, the Trust and Safety team initially decided not to act against Always Punch Nazis. But then management overruled the team, saying that Always Punch Nazis had to come down.

According to staffers, because the situation had become high profile, a member of the Trust and Safety team posted in a staffwide Slack channel that Always Punch Nazis would be canceled after all. Employees who felt the company was giving in to bigots were livid. Senior leadership called an emergency all-hands meeting that afternoon to hear staff concerns and explain that the company needed to consistently enforce its policies and that the project shouldn’t have been automatically approved in the first place.

Employees told me that there was vocal protest. One engineer stood up and said he couldn’t continue to work at a place that would give in to people trying to have a “both sides” debate about Nazis, according to multiple sources who were present at the meeting. Not all staff felt that the company was wrong to take the project down, but five sources present said it appeared the overwhelming majority did. Shortly thereafter, executives reversed their reversal.

In the weeks that followed, things got uglier. The employee who shared the content decision with the staff was pressured to resign, according to multiple sources familiar with the incident, and six workers said they believed it was because of her posting in Slack.* (That staffer declined to comment, and Kickstarter said, “Nobody was fired or threatened with termination in connection with this issue.”) Multiple former and current employees familiar with the incident told me that managers warned the Trust and Safety team not to question their decisions and that the general counsel of Kickstarter told employees on the team that New York is an “at will” employment state and they could be fired at any time.

Afraid that they would be dismissed next—and that they didn’t have enough leverage to pressure Kickstarter over ethical issues the next time there was a disagreement—employees started discussing a union. Since March, the organizers haven’t requested recognition from the company nor have they held a staff vote through the National Labor Relations Board. But the topic has been ever-present.

I think it's discrediting on all sides not to consider why after over a decade employees suddenly want to organize themselves. I know why nobody wants to talk about that, but a little part of me dies inside over the fact that KS Management want to grab their ankles for nazis and nooooooobody gives a naughty word about their placating attitude. Ya'll just want to keep the safety of your crowdfunding platform intact so you can keep making projects (a good thing) regardless of the other things going on with it (turning a blind eye, which I think history has emphatically taught us is a bad, bad, bad idea). For what it's worth I hope KS workers do get their union and that the people ready to get Krieger-cornholed are pushed out of the company, but I'm not putting any money into their pockets while those people are still there.

 

[Sunsword]

I look forward to workers at Amazon and Walmart unionising.

I'll ask you then. Do you shop at either of them?