Monte Cook Games' Darkest House Is Designed For Online Play

Monte Cook Games' newest Kickstarter has just launched. It's a plug-in horror location/interlude designed to work with any game system, and built for online play.

The house itself can fit in any game by simply placing a door -- they give examples of the apartment at the end of the hall or a strange unit in the station quarters sector. In that sense, the house exists in all worlds.

As a digital product, everything is shareable and formatted for the screen, with plenty of handouts, images. It has been deigned with VTTs in mind, as well as Zoom or Discord.

The house itself has several dozen rooms. You get two an app, and two PDFs -- the GM's Secrets of the House, and a Player's Guide. The GM downloads The Darkest House (mac or windows ZIP files) -- you can actually download a little demo, which is the intro page.

It's $45, or $85 with exclusive additional content.

The Darkest House

A descent into horror for 5e or any RPG that will make your campaign and characters better—optimized for an awesome online experience.

www.kickstarter.com

 

[Wrathamon]

It's a heavily electronic product. It's much more than a PDF. It's an entire downloadable executable game product, which has all sorts of abilities built-in to copy out pictures, text, and other elements. It's built from the ground up for online play.

but no resale value

 

[dragoner]

Sounds like Channel Zero's No-End House:

Channel Zero: No-End House - Official Site | SYFY

Inspired by Brian Russell’s Creepypasta tale, Channel Zero: No-End House tells the story of a young woman named Margot Sleator, played by Amy Forsyth, who visits the No End House, a bizarre house of horrors that consists of a series of increasingly disturbing rooms. When she returns home, Margot...

www.syfy.com

 

[imagineGod]

Why are Monte Cook Kickstarters these days just for rich demographics?

In contrast, look at the wonderful Coyote and Crow Kickstarter by Native American team with very friendly tiers for the average non financially rich group.

Monte Cook digital $45 vs Coyote and Crow $20.

 

[Dire Bare]

but no resale value

Heh, if that's your measuring stick . . . . nothing digital has resale value.

 

[Dire Bare]

Why are Monte Cook Kickstarters these days just for rich demographics?

In contrast, look at the wonderful Coyote and Crow Kickstarter by Native American team with very friendly tiers for the average non financially rich group.

Monte Cook digital $45 vs Coyote and Crow $20.

Why are apples not like oranges? Apples are nice and red, but oranges . . . so orange!

 

[DaveMage]

Why are Monte Cook Kickstarters these days just for rich demographics?

My guess is because that's where the money is.

 

[MGibster]

Why are Monte Cook Kickstarters these days just for rich demographics?

Here in the United States, a $45 price tag for a role playing game supplement is well within the norms of industry pricing standards. Even the upper tier at $85 is easily within reach of the vast majority of gaming adults. So I don't agree with your assessment that this Kickstarter is just for the wealthy.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

but no resale value

So it's not for you, as had been said. If you're arguing that it's not for anyone, you're clearly wrong, based on how well the campaign is going.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Why are Monte Cook Kickstarters these days just for rich demographics?

In contrast, look at the wonderful Coyote and Crow Kickstarter by Native American team with very friendly tiers for the average non financially rich group.

Monte Cook digital $45 vs Coyote and Crow $20.

Cook has clearly decided that's where his market is. But he's also got a lot of experience in how much it costs to create a deluxe product, even before Kickstarter came along.

And the Darkest House isn't just a PDF, so that requires additional people working on it.

 

[Mistwell]

but no resale value

What makes you say that? I buy used electronic games on eBay sometimes. Seems there is resale value.