RPG Crowdfunding News – Asunder, The Well, Medieval, and more

This week’s RPG crowdfunding projects and quickstarters end on or before December 31st as New Years is about to roll in. There’s a number of games worth reviewing so I’m covering as many as I can. However, this is not an exhaustive list and I apologize to those I did not cover.

Asunder: A Dark Fantasy RPG from Adam Lawson

• END DATE: Wed, December 23 2020 2:59 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Shadow of the Demon Lord
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $115 + $18 US S/H for the the PDF and print versions of both rulebooks, the ePub and print version of the novel, custom dice, GM’s screen, and more
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? In a world without metal, plants and insects have been weaponized in this Shadow of the Demon Lord-powered RPG by Adam Lawson, director of Wil Wheaton's TableTop, Spellslingers, Sagas of Sundry and Escape the Night. This game involves creating living weapons as the characters command nature in their war. But, there’s a twist, nature is fighting back and you’re faced with difficult choices as your weapons are among your enemy’s arsenal as well.

Medieval from Phalanx Games Design

• END DATE: Wed, December 30 2020 8:21 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Articles for use with d20 and d100 rule systems
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG magazine
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: AU$36 for 4 quarterly issues of the magazine in PDF and POD options
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? As with SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN below, we’re seeing the return of RPG magazines, a semi-lost art. Medieval focuses on recreating realistic historic information for your tabletop game. As a magazine, this project involves a series of articles crafting rules to heighten the simulation nature of RPGs including detailed lands, how weapons would break over time, and more. If you’re looking for articles with crunch about aspects of the medieval world, it’s worth giving this campaign a review.

Folio #26 The Virgin Mine Gaming Adventure! from Art of the Genre

• END DATE: Sun, December 27 2020 11:42 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Advanced Dungeons & Dragons First Edition and Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure module
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $25 + $5 US S/H for the PDF and physical module
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Art of the Genre is back with part one of a six-part megadungeon intended for lower level characters. Scott Taylor creates a lot of these 1e/5e projects with AAA cover artists and they have a fanbase. This megadungeon promises to sweeten the pot by offering both 2D and 3D versions of the maps, giving you options for how to visualize this enormous setting. All of that and a cover by Justin Gerard to boot.

The Well Roleplaying Game from Shoeless Pete Games

• END DATE: Sun, December 27 2020 1:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $30 for the PDF and softcover
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? In the last city on Earth, Bastion (not to be confused with Mythic D6: Bastion, the last city, which I reviewed here), there’s a well around which this location revolves. Expected to exceed 90 pages, this book offers a world in which the society keeps building cities further down a well. As the old civilizations die out, they go further down. Your job is to head back up the well, fight the former (undead) inhabitants of the cities above to steal lost wealth. The interior art by Kurt Komoda is gorgeous and, combined with Peter Schaefer’s writing, is bound to make this book a winner.

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DnD 5e Herbalism Kit: Healing Potion Dice Rollers from Crit Happens Dice

• END DATE: Wed, December 23 2020 12:00 PM EST.
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG accessories
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £50 + £32 US S/H for dice, rollers, boxes, and more
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? If you need a beautiful, decorative dice set and bottle presentation, something that can sit on the shelf and look right in any finely furnished home, I recommend checking out this set of dice. Bottles with labels, corks, display box, and dice, it’s a nice looking set and a conversation piece.

Pew Pew- Bounty Hunters in Space from Fainting Goat Games

• END DATE: Thu, December 17 2020 3:18 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Havoc Brigade
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $7 for the PDF and POD of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Bounty hunters in a sci-fi western by Mike Lafferty of the BAMF RPG and Comics Podcast and awards. This is a rules light one-shot that’s intended for the players to have fun without worrying about tomorrow. Pre-gen characters and simple rules for a quick-to-dice experience. If you’re looking for a sci-fi western to play now, this is going to be a fun option.

SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN No.2 from Mudpuppy Games

• END DATE: Tue, December 15 2020 9:00 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): OSR
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG magazine
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $15 + $5 US S/H for the PDF and print versions of the magazine
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? As I mentioned above, RPG magazines, once a steeple of the industry, are largely relegated to history today. Enter Jim Wampler of Mutant Crawl Classics with a new push to a 64-page RPG magazine. This issue features articles and works from creators that I’m glad to have some tenuous association with such as James M. Ward (columnist at EN World), James M. Spahn (who I appeared beside in Tales from Vigilante City), Jolly Blackburn (my publisher at Knights of the Dinner Table), and many more. This product fills a gap on the RPG shelf with new ideas for your d20-based games.

The Sol Survivor: Print Edition from W.H. Arthur

• END DATE: Mon, December 14 2020 7:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £10 for the PDF and POD versions of this book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Peter Coffey of Morrus’ Unofficial Tabletop RPG Talk fame reached out to suggest that this project might be of interest, and he’s right. The RPG is GM-less, or, more accurately, GM round robin as the role of Narrator passes between the players, uses a deck of cards, is 30 pages, and is inspired by Chinese mythology. In this game, the key roles – Narrator, Sun, and Ally – rotate between players as you track the Sun’s journey each turn. The goal is to complete the Sun’s trek to determine if they overcome various threats with the help of their allies. This RPG touches on a lot of unique ideas: card-based, rotating roles, and collaborative story creation that lets the table explore new storytelling horizons, and that makes it worth checking out.

Presents for Goblins: Festive Resources for D&D 5E from EN Publishing

• END DATE: Mon, December 14 2020 6:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £7 for the PDF
• DISCLAIMER: EN World is a subsidiary of EN Publishing
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? EN Publishing offers a holiday themed 35-page softcover (and PDF) full of 5e material. You’re getting a combination of five resources including NPCs, treasures (from Walt Ciechanowski, the mind behind Victoriana 3rd Edition and so much more), a new clerics domain, and a holiday-themed adventure with lots of goblins. Among the offerings is this, Grimollo the Voice Thief, an NPC that can steal your words. That concept has the potential to make the roleplaying for a session interesting. What does it mean if and NPC or your character loses their ability to speak, how will that play out at the table? Between that concept, the other ideas offered, and the theme, it’s a nice holiday package. Included with that, there’s one additional gift: as soon as the campaign funds, Morrus will send out the PDFs. If you back this, on December 14th you’ll have the complete PDF sent to your inbox in time for the holidays.

SHOTGLASS ROUNDS - 5e Adventures in PDF from Laidback Dungeon Master

• END DATE: Mon, December 14 2020 12:55 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure module
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: AU$5 for 3 PDFs
• TRY BEFORE YOU BUY: SHOTGLASS ROUNDS#1: The One That Got Away Pay What You Want at DriveThruRPG
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Three 12-page PDF one-shots for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition from the Laidback DM at a low price. Sea monsters, attacking flying islands, and a dungeon crawl are the big images that sell these adventures. Considering the creator, the big ideas, and the cost, it’s worth checking out.

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