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

 

[Bagpuss]

So original release date is next month and the last update was July this year about a new artist hire, but they have pinned one in Dec 2021where they announced they would go with their own system rather than the Cortex system they had been using with the twitch stream. A twitch stream which stopped abruptly in August last year, when it said see you next Wednesday, and claimed "nine more weeks to go" of this series. The last comment on the Kickstarter was an offer to refund someone that complained about the tone they took when people asked about updates.

So likely it is going to overrun, but by how much?

Edit: Correction provided by Mezuka.

 

[Mezuka]

So original release date is next month and the last update was Dec last year where they announced they would go with their own system rather than the Cortex system they had been using with the twitch stream. A twitch stream which stopped abruptly in August last year, when it said see you next Wednesday, and claimed "nine more weeks to go" of this series. The last comment on the Kickstarter was an offer to refund someone that complained about the lack of updates and the tone they took when people asked for some.

So clearly it is going to overrun, but by how much?

Seems like she made an update #48 on July 27th 2022. Scroll down.

 

[Bagpuss]

Seems like she made an update #48 on July 27th 2022. Scroll down.

Cool, guess they just pinned that Dec one as it was important. The rest mainly seem to be artist showcases at least what they have publicly.

Any news on an actual release date? (looks like they might have said something in May)

 

[Mezuka]

Cool, guess they just pinned that Dec one as it was important. The rest mainly seem to be artist showcases at least what they have publicly.

Any news on an actual release date? (looks like they might have said something in May)

Aren't you a backer? I'm not. I checked the KS because of your comment.

 

[Bagpuss]

Aren't you a backer? I'm not. I checked the KS because of your comment.

No too many red flags at the start, but I liked the concept of it and was hoping for some updates. I've stopped backing most kickstarters as the shipping to the UK usually means it is worth waiting until it is actually released, and get it from a local shop.

 

[Bagpuss]

Andrews McMeel - that had a contract to publish Into the Mother Lands has closed it's RPG division and will no longer be publishing it.

Andrews McMeel Reportedly Shuts Down RPG Division

Andrews McMeel Publishing has reportedly shuttered its RPG division, canceling the contract of at [...]

comicbook.com

They are in the process of looking for a new publisher or considering self-publishing.

 

[MGibster]

I'm sorry it didn't work out for them.

 

[Michael Linke]

So original release date is next month and the last update was July this year about a new artist hire, but they have pinned one in Dec 2021where they announced they would go with their own system rather than the Cortex system they had been using with the twitch stream. A twitch stream which stopped abruptly in August last year, when it said see you next Wednesday, and claimed "nine more weeks to go" of this series. The last comment on the Kickstarter was an offer to refund someone that complained about the tone they took when people asked about updates.

So likely it is going to overrun, but by how much?

Edit: Correction provided by Mezuka.

I originally took the change of system to be a really bad sign, but after-the-fact, I learned Cortex Prime's commercial licensing isn't great, so I don't blame them for migrating off of it.

 

[RivetGeekWil]

I originally took the change of system to be a really bad sign, but after-the-fact, I learned Cortex Prime's commercial licensing isn't great, so I don't blame them for migrating off of it.

Their commercial licensing is fine. No blanket license applies to all projects. This is good because the licensing terms tend to take less of a bite out of sales for smaller projects vs. bigger ones. The one thing I don't think you'll get out if it is the right to sublicense (i.e., no third-party ItM derived games if it is licensed Cortex Prime), which I would wager is what went into the decision to not use Cortex.

 

[Anon Adderlan]

So Andrews McMeel decided to breach their contract with a Black writer(s), at the start of Black History Month, while continuing to sell an RPG from a White writer (on their front page no less) called Blackbirds. Seems every time I think things can't get more absurd I end up holding another beer.

But lets be honest, the only product being sold here was diversity itself. There was no system or even a coherent setting, just a stream (which stopped mid season) by a group of POC (or is it now BIPOC) who decided to leverage their status into a crowdfunding campaign. And before you cry foul, note they are now working with the same individual who condemned a White guy (Matt Mercer), for playing a Chinese guy (despite being the one who wrote the section on doing so), in a game run and designed by a Black guy (Chris Spivey). So good luck streaming it if you aren't the right demographic.

And there's no reason they couldn't have stuck with the rules they started with. If there's anything this OGL crisis has taught us it's that mechanics aren't protected by Copyright, and I'm damn sure the mechanics of Cortex aren't Patented. Fandom has no legal standing to sue anyone for using it, and would receive a business destroying amount of negative press if they tried. The only thing they had which made a license agreement worth anything was sold to #WotC, which ultimately led to the Masters of the Universe RPG being cancelled.

Still I wish them the best, and hope they find another publisher, if not also successfully sue for breach of contract.