RPG Crowdfunding News – Amethyst, Black God's Kiss, Eldritch, and more

This week I look at RPG crowdfunding projects that end between September 20th and October 3rd. Lot’s of 5e and related systems this week, each offering great ideas and production values.

Amethyst (5E) - Magic & Technology Collide (Collection) from Dias Ex Machina Games

• END DATE: Thu, September 29 2022 11:59 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: CA$75 for the all of the PDFs
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Each week I pick a lead for this round up. This week was an easy selection as I use Dias Ex Machina Games’ UltraModern5 in one of my campaigns. The quality of that book is outstanding, it provides everything you need for 5e set in the here and now. Beyond UltraModern, Dias Ex Machina Games has several other settings including Amethyst (5E). This campaign offers a new sourcebook for the Amethyst setting in which our world was invaded by magic and monsters. Post crossover, humanity dwells in the last technological cities as the monsters of fantasy roam the wider world. This setting sees magic combating science with a world much like our own hanging in the balance. If you need a mix of today, magic, and the post-apocalypse, this is worth a look.

Bullets & Bleedthroughs - Books of Before & Now - A 5E RPG from Outland Entertainment

• END DATE: Tue, September 20 2022 10:58 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $28 for the PDF and POD options for the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This project is 230 pages of 5e sci-fi weird west. You play one of the people that survived the Before, living in a post-apocalypse comprised of strange ingredients. Searching for bleedthroughs that let you steal tech and food from the Before, your characters strive to survive in a world that's moved on. While this world feels like The Dark Tower meets Mad Max, the RPG is based on Jason Fischer's Papa Lucy & The Boneman from the Books of Before and Now series published by Outland Entertainment. If you’re looking for something Stephen King meets George Miller, this may be for you.

Micro Dungeons: Anniversary Edition from ND Hobbies

• END DATE: Tue, September 20 2022 3:05 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventures
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: MX$40 for three PDFs
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? After a year of Micro Dungeons released via Kickstarter, ND Hobbies has a print book compiling all of the prior dungeons. With over 50 dungeons and 120 monsters plus scalable options, you’ll get a lot of combats from this book. In addition, they’re offering more Micro Dungeon books including one themed around dragons and another for wizards, each featuring their lairs. If you need encounters and monsters for your 5e campaign, this will fit the bill.

Tome of Quests: Volume One from Pacesetter Games & Simulations

• END DATE: Thu, September 22 2022 1:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and BX
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $45 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book for the system of your choice
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Keeping with the theme of 5e adventures returning to print, Pacesetter dug into their vault to refresh five of their original adventures, each redone for 5e and BX. Designed to stand alone or weave together to make a greater tale, these adventures feature refined encounters designed for 1st to 7th level characters. If you’re interested, you get to pick your system and play the encounters that speak to you.

Eldritch: The Book of Madness - Deluxe Edition from BlackVault

• END DATE: Sun, September 25 2022 5:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £50 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This book adds new, dark concepts to your 5e game. Offering rules for madness and addictions that the characters will pick up as they encounter profane monsters, spells, and dread lords, this book is over 300 pages of rules governing the dark side of facing fantastic beasts. If you need to institute dread into your 5e campaign, this project provides the necessities.

Black God's Kiss RPG Box Set from Blazing Worlds

• END DATE: Thu, September 29 2022 9:56 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and Old-School Essentials
• PROJECT TYPE: Boxed set
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $89 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the boxed set, its books, maps, dice, and minis
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Your characters will face the Black God and worse in this dark corner of the universe. While this may appear to be another project that offers 5e or the OSR system, OSE, plus rules for losing humanity and surviving an eldritch pocket dimension, it has a pedigree. Inspired by C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry, this project licensed the character, bringing her world to the setting and reissuing her fiction. The books are for both 5e and OSE. As well, there’s a standalone game for two players. If you’re interested in a horrific fantasy journey inspired and reprinting some of the earliest female sword and sorcery, check out the campaign page.

Rultmoork ~ Duality for DnD 5E from AAW Games

• END DATE: Thu, September 29 2022 11:47 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure module
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $129 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the boxed set, dice, tokens, and more
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? At Gen Con 2022, I spoke to Jonathan G Nelson and Endzeitgeist about this project. It is an epic adventure for levels 5 to 7 with difficult battles ahead; you’re hired to investigate a spire and its waterclock, but beware the cults of this stagnant land. If these creators and this concept intrigues you, check out the campaign page for a free preview download.

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Nebula Chaos from Polyhedra Games

• END DATE: Wed, September 28 2022 9:19 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Polyhedra Core Engine system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $10 for the PDF
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? From the creator of Justice Velocity, Nebula Chaos brings over the top, pedal to the metal sci-fi action to the gaming table. A space opera that pulls from all of the action of Star Wars, Firefly, Mass Effect, Halo, Futurama, Dune, and so many more; if a laser was involved, Nebula Chaos can recreate the moment. I reviewed Justice Velocity and, since this project uses the same engine, I can say that if you need sci-fi action at your gaming table, this is a fast system that offers combat and stunts for days.

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Dungeon Delver's Guide: A Sourcebook for D&D 5E and A5E from EN Publishing

• END DATE: Mon, October 3 2022 6:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and Level Up: Advanced 5E
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £50 + £14 S/H to the US for the PDF and print versions of the sourcebook
• DISCLAIMER: EN World is a subsidiary of EN Publishing
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Last week, I talked about this project from Morrus and team. It’s worth repeating, Level Up: Advanced 5E is one of those systems that scratches an itch for players looking for more crunch in their fantasy RPGs. If you’re interested in checking it out, this campaign offers a new sourcebook and a chance to catch up on the core books.

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[beta-ray]

Sorry, I looked at the game at DTRPG and did see the summary and noticed it had 3E & 4E products, I was asking more about experience with it (if it was any good, etc)

 

[thullgrim]

I backed Affinity from the same publisher as Amethyst. The PDFs are very well done and the books will be gourgeous. I won’t play it with 5e but as a setting it really interested me and is full of some very neat ideas I want to play around with. I’ll be backing Amethyst for much the same reasons.

This month is going to kill my credit card. Amethyst, Uncharted Journeys, Dungeon book for A5e, free leagues game, and another sci fantasy ray punk book I’m planning to back.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This month is going to kill my credit card. Amethyst, Uncharted Journeys, Dungeon book for A5e, free leagues game, and another sci fantasy ray punk book I’m planning to back.

I think everyone is trying to get their campaigns out before holiday shopping time. I'm making some tough choices, myself.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

I actually was raving about that on another thread. I love, love, love the utility of that book as a DM. If I were DMing OSR games right now, I'd be on that like a shot.

I have Skerples' Magical Industrial Revolution book and it is amazing -- the city book for any DM who ever wanted to run an Ankh-Morpork campaign or a heavily magical game.

I think Monster Overhaul seems useful for really any fantasy GMing, OSR or otherwise, because of those awesome-looking tables and context for each entry. I mean, statboxes are statboxes, we've all seen em, there are tons you can drop in as necessary. This book seems like it's crammed full of story seeds. I don't even like running fantasy, in general, and that book has me half-convinced to give it another go.

Plus, did you look at the preview of the cosmology stuff? So cool!


And yes, Magical Industrial Revolution is kind of an RPG masterpiece? We don't deserve writing that good.

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

Amethyst is an "old veteran", from the times of 3rd Ed when d20 became an open licence. It is about high-tech meets magic, and relations between both is not good.

Ha hah...I never thought of it in that light, but yeah, Amethyst was originally created for 3rd Edition as a homebrew setting in 2002. And to thing we are only at book 3.

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

I backed Affinity from the same publisher as Amethyst. The PDFs are very well done and the books will be gourgeous. I won’t play it with 5e but as a setting it really interested me and is full of some very neat ideas I want to play around with. I’ll be backing Amethyst for much the same reasons.

This month is going to kill my credit card. Amethyst, Uncharted Journeys, Dungeon book for A5e, free leagues game, and another sci fantasy ray punk book I’m planning to back.

Aww thanks. Affinity is finally on a boat and I'm really proud of how it turned out. Amethyst is much thicker, lore-wise, and we are reaching the stretch goal where we rebuild the earlier books to fall inline with our experience. Amethyst also features our artist turning his dial to 11

 

[antiwesley]

Ooooh look at all the shiny 5e material. Oh, and one rando non-5e.

 

[beta-ray]

I backed Affinity from the same publisher as Amethyst. The PDFs are very well done and the books will be gourgeous. I won’t play it with 5e but as a setting it really interested me and is full of some very neat ideas I want to play around with. I’ll be backing Amethyst for much the same reasons.

Thanks for the feedback. I downloaded the sample they provided and to be honest, found it a bit hard to read (the text was a little hard to read on the background). Maybe I'll try again later when my eyes are less tired.

 

[Dias Ex Machina]

Thanks for the feedback. I downloaded the sample they provided and to be honest, found it a bit hard to read (the text was a little hard to read on the background). Maybe I'll try again later when my eyes are less tired.

One of the stretch goals we are due to cross (it's just about $100 off) is a complete rebuild of previous books. We hope to improve legibility and comprehension. We've shifted design programs and are looking forward to improving the design of past and future books.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Finally started listening to Black God's Kiss on audiobook. I'm only three short chapters in, but holy moly, how is C.L. Moore not much more prominent? It reads like a modern horror story set in medieval times.

There have already been several sequences and rhetorical flourishes that you can practically feel a young Stephen King being influenced by.