I'ma hit you with something different.
The American Crisis is, to the best of our knowledge, the first D&D campaign guide built to be 100% historically accurate. [snip]
We use black powder to fill in the rest of the mechanical gaps where supernatural effects are removed from the 5e chassis, leaning on the properties of single-shot flintlock muzzle-loaders to create potent rules for firearms that still have strategic limitations. Firearms are threaded throughout all of the gambits, subclasses, feats, and equipment design (including a loadout system called Wargear) in Nations & Cannons, and they're built to be a holistic system that has meaningful depth and build options—which allows for significant player expression even when limited to historically appropriate classes of Fighter, Ranger, Barbarian, Rogue, and Firebrand. We think it's the most robust black powder system anyone's published yet for 5e.
Ooh! I love it when I ask a creator for the value prop and they can give me paragraphs in response! (This is not sarcasm; I'm genuinely so happy you had multiple responses!) I have downloaded the Quickstart rules from DriveThru and I'm looking forward to the finished product. While historical gaming is not my preferred MO (hence my glomming on to your flintlock fantasy), this has a series of very interesting tweaks to 5E that interest me greatly. Carving out race and avoiding bioessentialism are both obvious, but easier said than done, for example.
Many enemy types have triggered abilities, which allow these asymmetric battles to operate smoothly even with dozens of enemies on the field. Artillery crews act in unison to take special crew actions to operate field pieces, and groups of British footmen can execute a volley fire when a Sergeant gives the order. If a Field Officer is nearby, they can steady the line and further improve the effectiveness of a volley. Cavalry units and infantry equipped with bayonets can charge en masse on the same initiative order, allowing the Gamemaster to bring considerable pain to bear on a player who’s caught out of position. Damage values are high all around, and movement, cover, and choosing when to reload become important tactical considerations.
Btw, AC III forts were rad, that's a great idea. I gotta think on that one.
I had noticed your redesign to allow "monster groups" that behave almost like a mob with a single, powerful attack. I thought that was an interesting innovation, and I appreciate the thought that must have gone into playtesting.
So, options for that stuff IS THERE in some compacity or can be expanded upon by compatible 5E stuff. (Such as using the Headless Horseman stat block from the current 5E Ravensloft book).
The MAIN draw of Nations and Cannons is its historical aspect/nature. No other 5E related product out there is focused on the Revolutionary War OR touches upon this moment in History. At least, none that I've seen so far.
Yep! Actually, picking up the Quickstart was how I found out about the Kickstarter!
Also: another interesting thing Nations and Cannons has is basically a "magic" system for non-magical users called Gambits. which is basically "spells" made/set up as a more Mundane sort of effect/nature. Foxfire(Farie Light basically) is pretty much Bioluminescent fungi while Summon Company is EXACTLY what it says on the tin.
A number of them, after checking them out in the Quickstart, are VERY specificish in their uses/requirements. That very same 5th level Summon Company gambit? Well one of the components(spell) for it requires a signed writ of orders.
Yep! I liked a lot of the gambits that felt like something that would happen in a tactical engagement - the one where you can shoot a grenade out of someone's hand as a reaction was amazing! Some of the more social ones, though, felt a little like they undercut player planning. There's no need to set up a spy network, after all, if you've got access to intelligence network (level 3 firebrand gambit). But then I feel all kinds of wishy-washy because firebrands don't get those until level 9, literally one level before you're supposed to retire the character. I kind of feel like that should be a sub/class feature - spend an hour in a settlement and learn the following (and then include that dope table they have for the ability!) Interested to hear y'all's thoughts.
As (partially) flawed as the Artificer class is, I would love to get my grubby mitts on it to hack together a mundane/historical version. Unfortunately, even post-SRD kerfuffle, it's still a gray area whether or not you can even mention Artificer and publish subclasses for it in a 3pp product.
There was a rumor a while back that Artificer would be added to the Creative Commons material, but unfortunately I think it was just hearsay. We might wind up making our own Polymath or Inventor class in a future Nations & Cannons supplement (as well as a mundane Monk), because quite a few neat 18th-century archetypes are there on the cutting room floor currently.
If you're taking feedback, I'd love more robust travel / exploration rules specifically for 18th century wilderness expeditions. I really want "there's a flash flood - you can save the mules or the powder, but not both" to be on the encounter table! I know this is the most-iterated aspect of 5E, but given how important the frontier is to colonial and native mindsets, I love for it to be included. I did buy the "Poor Richard's Almanack" weather supplement, so hopefully some of that's included in there!
I'd also love to see some support for a running battle where two groups are moving through an area with a constant engagement. Zooming out to mix exploration consequences with combat consequences would be really fun! So something like, "OK, you know the Huron and the French are engaging the rearguard, and won't stop pursuing you to the fort. You can try a forced march with the risk of a save vs exhaustion. You could also try scouting around to see if you can find anything beneficial in the nearby area, but that risks the Huron cutting you off. You could also try counterattacking into French pursuit, but that risks being bogged down in a tough fight. Or you could pull something outside of the box. What do you want to do?"
Again, I appreciate the dedication to historically grounded fiction. While we've seen portions of this in TSR-era supplements like
A Mighty Fortress, I like your approach and I'm interested to see what happens!
