Crowdfunding News: Altered Carbon, Hunter: The Vigil 2e, Ultimate Guide to Alchemy, and more

This week I look at RPG crowdfunding projects that end between February 28th to March 5th. This week’s article is a mix of regular tabletop RPGs, accessories, conventions, and zines; however, this is not an exhaustive list (there are many more zines and RPGs out there to support).

The Ultimate Guide to Alchemy, Crafting & Enchanting for 5E by Nord Games

• END DATE: Fri, February 28 2020 2:59 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons 5e
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $20 for the PDF of this book

"Every hero has downtime between their adventures. It's time to expand the possibilities… A brand new approach to crafting, and hundreds of new magic items, for the world's greatest roleplaying game! This supplement introduces a brand new game mechanic for creating items, potions, and magical goods. It also provides hundreds of new, never-before-seen illustrated magic items, both in-book and available separately as magic item decks! This book contains a chapter for each creative discipline, featuring various recipes for creating a wide array of different items, from the mundane to the magical. Alchemy: Reveal secrets hidden within the natural world, and bend them to your purposes. Crafting. Set your hands to work to create clothing, armor, weapons, jewelry, trinkets, and other various oddities. Enchanting. Turn the average into the extraordinary by imbuing mundane items with magical power.”

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Accessible Gaming Quarterly, an RPG Zine by Accessible Games

• END DATE: Tue, February 25 2020 5:21 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): System neutral
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $28 for the annual (4 issue) PDF subscription

“A quarterly zine about tabletop RPG accessibility. Accessible Gaming Quarterly is bringing together people with disabilities and their allies to talk about the issues we face and some solutions to overcome those challenges. Each of the four quarterly issues may cover topics such as advice for convention-goers, whether you have a disability or are just trying to be aware of others, guidance for how to accommodate people with disabilities in your games, advice for respectfully playing disabled characters, first-looks and reviews of tabletop games with an emphasis on accessibility, tips on how to adapt certain game mechanics for various purposes, interviews with disabled game designers, important news and resources related to accessibility in gaming, art by disabled illustrators, and more.”

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Venture & Dungeon by Riley Rethal

• END DATE: Mon, March 2 2020 6:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Belonging Outside Belonging
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $25 + $3 US S/H for the PDF and print versions of the games

“Venture and Dungeon are two tabletop roleplaying games inspired by traditional high fantasy RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons. Venture is a game of introspective heroic fantasy. You play an adventuring party of a traditional fantasy story, but framed in a way that shifts your perspective, focusing on the inner lives of the characters. The game is written to encourage players and characters to think about who they are, what they are doing, and why they are doing it. What does it mean to be a Cleric with a personal relationship to a deity? How does it feel to create magic out of nothing as the Wizard? Venture is a game about understanding the archetype through the character, and understanding the character beyond their archetype. Dungeon is a game about recapturing the experience of enjoying traditional fantasy narratives. You play a group of young kids playing Dungeons & Dragons while grappling with the perils of high school, and how these things can intersect. In Dungeon, the characters the kids play are tied to the feelings and experiences of the kids themselves. The magic the characters can cast are reflections of the kids' own skills and experiences, and the monsters the kids face are allegorical to the challenges they experience in day-to-day life. Like all of Jay's work, Dungeon is a queer narrative that features genders tied up in high school experiences and a flexible approach to the ever-shifting teenage identity. Both Venture and Dungeon are games of Belonging Outside Belonging, a tabletop roleplaying game system spearheaded by Dream Apart / Dream Askew by Avery Alder and Benjamin Rosenbaum. It uses no dice and has no GM; instead each player has a player character and have equal control over the story, using a token economy of strong and weak moves to advance the narrative.”

Decuma: The R&D for your RPG by Golden Lasso Games

• END DATE: Tue, March 3 2020 4:59 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): System neutral
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG accessory
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $25 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the deck of cards

“A tarot-inspired card game that helps the GM and players collaboratively create all the important details for their TTRPG campaign Decuma is “the R&D for your RPG”: a tarot-inspired card game that helps the GM and their players collaboratively create all the important details for their campaign, including key locations, character connections, and setting conflicts. Plus, Decuma can be paired with any tabletop RPG setting or system, including D&D, Savage Worlds, Powered by the Apocalypse, Pathfinder, and more—so you never have to worry about compatibility. Decuma uses a unique set of question cards that give the whole experience a feeling of mystical interconnectedness—as if Destiny herself is guiding the campaign! Decuma saves the GM a ton of prep time and can be easily customized to focus on (or exclude) specific aspects of campaign creation. You can use it to add depth to a pre-written adventure or to create a home-brewed world from scratch!”

Altered Carbon: The Role Playing Game by Hunters Entertainment

• END DATE: Wed, March 4 2020 1:03 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): “Hazard System – a brand new game system that finds inspiration in popular engines like the Cortex System, Savage Worlds, and Outbreak: Undead.”
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $50 + S/H for the PDF and print copies of the game

“Official tabletop RPG based on the hit neo-noir cyberpunk Netflix series and award-winning novel of the same name. In this transhumanist vision of the future, the human mind is nothing more than digital code – Digital Human Freight – saved and stored in a Cortical Stack, advanced technology that allows you to “re-sleeve” your entire consciousness into a new body. You can wear any body you can afford, transmit your mind across the cosmos in an instant, and, if you’ve got the credits and political cachet, you can re-sleeve time and again for centuries, accumulating enough wealth and power over the millennia to become the societal equivalent of an immortal god. Whereas character death is a natural occurrence and ever-present threat in tabletop RPGs, Altered Carbon: The Role Playing Game offers a unique angle on the concept. As opposed to creating a brand new character, players will have the opportunity to transfer their character’s consciousness, memories, and experiences into new Sleeves post-death… but at a cost.”

Blacksad: The Roleplaying Game by Nosolorol

• END DATE: Wed, March 4 2020 10:37 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €55 + €10 US S/H for the PDF and print versions of the game plus a GM’s screen and a dice pack

“A roleplaying game based on the noir fiction of the Eisner-award comic by Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido. Welcome to Blacksad: The Roleplaying Game. Set in the early years of the Cold War, in a world filled with anthropomorphic animals, a black cat named John Blacksad works as a detective. Throughout the numerous volumes that define the series, Blacksad solves cases, collides with his past and suffers through all kinds of adventures that revolve around the classic themes of noir fiction. In Blacksad: The Roleplaying Game you have the chance to enjoy the world of Blacksad in a totally different way. In a roleplaying game, players tell fictional stories, much like a storyteller does, except all the players create the story together. If this is your first roleplaying game, you're lucky! This game is especially recommended for new players. The rules we’ve developed for Blacksad: The Roleplaying Game are simple and quick. We designed this system because we don’t want the storytelling to pause during exciting and perilous situations; these rules easily support the narrative. You can create characters matching every trope in noir fiction, from the tortured detective to the femme fatale. We will look over this genre and its source material to make an expert out of the game master, prepared to create a fascinating world for their players. All things considered, we created a roleplaying game to best replicate what happens, as faithfully as possible, in the Blacksad comics.”

Hunter: The Vigil Second Edition tabletop roleplaying game by Onyx Path Publishing

• END DATE: Thu, March 5 2020 2:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Storyteller system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $50 + S/H for the PDF, POD, and print versions of the book

“Help us to create a traditionally printed, hardcover, edition of Hunter: The Vigil Second Edition, and then get it into stores! The scales have fallen from your eyes. A fire is lit — is it a lamp perched over the inscription on an ancient blade or a roaring conflagration consuming the house in which the howling fiends wait? Things will never be the same after this. You’ve set forth on a damning path. Carry the Vigil. Fight back the shadows. In Hunter: The Vigil, you play out stories following a core cast of characters as they fight their way through the Chronicles of Darkness, a version of our own everyday world filled with monsters. It’s a lot like a TV drama, something like The Walking Dead or The X-Files. Individual gaming sessions, generally running two-to-four hours, are like weekly episodes. Secrets will be revealed, relationships will be tested, and blood will be spilled. In Hunter: The Vigil, anyone can be a hunter — provided you are committed to the hunt. It is a game of personal horror and sacrifice that tests relationships and encourages teamwork within a cell, compact, or conspiracy.”

Advanced Occult Guide, a Starfinder-Compatible Project by Rogue Genius Games (also at the Open Gaming Store here)

• END DATE: Thu, March 5 2020 11:59 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Starfinder
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $35 for the PDF and POD versions of the book
• NOTE: This project is by Owen KC Stephens who freelances for EN World

“A compilation and expansion of Everybody Games's popular Occult Skill Guide series for the Starfinder Roleplaying Game. Equal parts compilation and expansion, the Advanced Occult Guide is a Third-Party Starfinder RPG compatible product designed to add a splash of the strange and supernatural to your far-flung future. At it's base funding goal, the Advanced Occult Guide contains over 200 pages of material that includes content some of Everybody Games's most popular products as well as brand-new rules and options penned exclusively for this release. Upon funding, the Advanced Occult Guide will include 3 Classes (the Elementian, Shapeshifter, and Zoomer), 4 Archetypes, 5 Themes, 15+ Corruptions, 15+ Occult Rituals, 25+ Spells for Mystics, Technomancers, and Witchwarpers, 10+ pieces of Occult Gear, and much more!”

RPG Quick Hits, Conventions, and ZineQuest 2

Con on the Cob 2020 by Andy Hopp

• END DATE: Wed, March 4 2020 12:20 PM EST.
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG convention
• LOCATION: “Quality Inn & Suites (previously Days Inn) in Richfield, Ohio. It's a former Holidome with a huge atrium, indoor pool, miniature golf, playground, and all sorts of fun stuff.”
  DATES: October 1st to 4th, 2020
• “A Four Day Celebration of Games, Art, Freaks, and Fun!”

CASKET LAND – CRUACH by Marie Enger

• END DATE: Wed, February 26 2020 3:00 AM EST.
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
• “Rising water, a void king, and a reaching shadow - can you survive what waits for you in the swamps of CASKET LAND?”

For the Honor by Quinn Vega

• END DATE: Thu, February 27 2020 12:59 PM EST.
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
• “A She-Ra Inspired GM-less ttrpg about powerful heroes fighting to make the world a better place. Made for Zine Quest 2!”

The Haunting of Eliuska Manor: A RPG adventure by Lone Wanderer Entertainment

• END DATE: Tue, March 3 2020 2:19 PM EST.
• “A haunted mansion adventure for 5th Edition and SagaBorn RPG systems. (for 4-6 adventurers of 4th-6th level)”

Mutant Murder Hobo Dice by Jim Wampler ("Writer and creator of Mutant Crawl Classics RPG for Goodman Games")

• END DATE: Tue, February 25 2020 9:03 AM EST.
• "Glow-in-the-dark d20s in four different radioactive isotopes."

The Level Up - A raised platform for Board, Card, & RPG's by Jon and Oliver

• END DATE: Thu, February 27 2020 11:58 AM EST.
• “Lightweight. Quick & Easy Assembly. Metal legs for strength and durability. Sizes: 3x2, 3x3, 4x2. (Check the add-on menu for extras)”

Night Reign RPG #ZineQuest2 by Oli Jeffery

• END DATE: Fri, February 28 2020 11:30 AM EST.
• “A tabletop roleplaying game of stealth, guile, violence and devilry in a fantasy metropolis. #ZineQuest2”

Our Queen Crumbles: a Weird-Fantasy RPG by Jason Brown

• END DATE: Fri, February 28 2020 1:55 PM EST.
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
• “A storytelling game of magick, revenge, and inevitable death.”

Adûl, City of Gold: A D&D 5e Adventure by Menagerie Press

• END DATE: Sat, February 29 2020 12:00 AM EST.
• “An original D&D 5e level 6-8 adventure: The adventurers discover a map to Adûl, the mythical City of Gold.”

Sagas of the Sea Peoples by Sword's Edge Publishing

• END DATE: Sat, February 29 2020 12:00 PM EST.
• “Survive and thrive in the post-apocalypse of 3000 years ago. A tabletop roleplaying game set in the Late Bronze Age Collapse.”

The Deck of Many Things & The Deck of Many Fates | RPG Cards by Brybelly

• END DATE: Sat, February 29 2020 11:59 PM EST.
• “We're taking a classic Dungeons & Dragons artifact of untold power and making it real! Hold the power in your hands. Draw if you dare!”

Dungeon Delve by Sigil Entertainment Group

• END DATE: Mon, March 2 2020 8:00 PM EST.
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
• “A fantasy roleplaying game zine for Savage Worlds Adventure Edition. #zinequest”

Omega Horizon by Paleo Gaming

• END DATE: Wed, March 4 2020 7:09 AM EST.
• “An innovative space-age tabletop roleplaying game with cyberpunk and space-western elements, plus piloted mechanized warframes.”

Not Pretty But Wonderful: Designers In Conversation by Joe DeSimone

• END DATE: Wed, March 4 2020 4:35 PM EST.
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
• “A compilation of interviews with analog game designers under the influence.”

SolSpace: The Spartan Gambit by EN Publishing

• “It’s Die Hard … On a starship. Can a returning science team end the Spartan siege of the USF Copernicus? A one-week Quickstarter!”

Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program. This program provides advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG.

 

[Fishreeler]

A former military commando and rebel, Kovacs served a prison term in the form of consciousness without a body until he was returned to the world by billionaire Bancroft. He hired Kovacs to investigate the death of one of his bodies. Outwardly obvious suicide, but Bancroft considers himself incapable of such an act, and the memories of the last minutes of his life are destroyed by a well-aimed shot in the memory device.

Details of the second season are not disclosed. Maki will play the new body of Kovacs, who will continue the search for his beloved Quellcrist Falconer.

 

[Egg Embry]

"#KickstarterUnited has now been certified by the NLRB:
We Are A Union!!!"
That quote is from the Kickstarter United Twitter feed (I turned in this article before Kickstarter United made their announcement on Twitter). Congratulations to the employees for reaching their goal.

 

[Baumi]

The Level up mini-Table is really interesting. 8D

I wanted to bake Decuma, but not getting the Tarrot Cards digitally is an absolute Deal-Breaker.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

The Level up mini-Table is really interesting. 8D

I think it might be something you either love or just don’t see the use or value for. To me looks like it would raise the height of the board to a point where you might need to stand up in order to get a good view of what’s going on. Plus I achieve pretty much the same result for a lot less with a couple of books and a piece of MDF, so I feel like it’s an expensive solution to the problem. I’m also wary of first time creators with projects that involve custom manufacturing.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

Backed Venture & Dungeon! Riley and Jay are brilliant young designers with a fresh look on the archetypes and experiences of fantasy roleplaying.

 

[R_Chance]

I'm thinking "Alchemy, Crafting and Enchanting" at the $50 level (hardback and PDF). Altered Carbon is interesting but I'm not up for another new system... if I used the setting I'd go with Traveller rules...

Thanks for the round up. Useful series!

 

[SpellJammer16]

Backed Hunter... now I'm thirsting for that Genre to watch on TV lol. I'll give Dracula on Netflix a try though.