RPG Crowdfunding News – Arcana of the Ancients, Seas of Vodari, Ultraviolet Grasslands, Ultimate Sph

The number of Kickstarters have decreased from the highs of February and March. Between April 12^th and the 18^th, there are 9 RPG Kickstarters and 1 RPG zine ending, all covered below. 5e sees products for the seas, Numenera, and more, there’s original systems, one of the largest Pathfinder 1e products in some time, and a convention for you to back.

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Arcana of the Ancients, a 5E science-fantasy sourcebook by Monte Cook Games

• END DATE: Fri, April 12 2019 8:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons 5e
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $160 + S&H for PDF and print of every book in this campaign

“A sourcebook that brings the science-fantasy stylings of Numenera to 5E, written by designers very experienced with both games. In the misty recesses of time, before the kingdoms and lands you know existed—before the elder elves, the dwarven ancestral lords, and even the dragons—civilizations undreamt rose and fell. And with their passing, they left behind remnants of the powers they wielded. They built citadels of metal, glass, and light, now hidden away in the deepest recesses of the world, and crafted wonders and harnessed energies we can only guess at. These places, objects, and even creatures all can be called Arcana of the Ancients. Arcana of the Ancients is a sourcebook for 5th edition players and GMs to bring the wonders of mysterious technology and weird science-fantasy elements to their traditional fantasy campaigns. Designed by Monte Cook, Bruce R. Cordell, and Sean K. Reynolds, all of whom have years of professional design experience working on the world's most popular roleplaying game, this gorgeously illustrated hardcover sourcebook gives you everything you need to add a whole new element to your 5E game.”

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The Seas of Vodari - 5th Edition Swashbuckling & Sorcery by Tribality Publishing

• END DATE: Fri, April 12 2019 1:53 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons 5e
• PROJECT TYPE: Campaign setting
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: CA$26 for the PDFs of The Seas of Vodari, unlocked stretch goals, and map

“Everything you need to run exciting seafaring campaigns full of swashbuckling action and magical adventure for Fifth Edition. Long ago, a vast continent was annihilated and all but the outer edge of the continent sank to the bottom of the sea. The devastation left only a scattered few to start rebuilding their civilization on a ring of islands. The Seas of Vodariis a full-color book that we are offering in hardcover and PDF. This book provides 200+ pages of material for gamemasters to run exciting seafaring campaigns for 5th Edition. Your players will get tons of options for creating characters and you'll get support to run a world full of swashbuckling action and magical adventure. The Seas of Vodari campaign setting contains all of the iconic things you’d expect in a fantasy setting, but in a world with more water than land, much of the familiar becomes surprising and new. Dungeons can be found deep below the surface of the sea in the form of shipwrecks and lost cities. The most dangerous monsters are found below the waves, such as sea dragons, megalodons and krakens. Nature becomes as deadly as the most powerful monsters with furious hurricanes, catastrophic tsunamis, and fiery volcanoes. Islands are modular by nature and the book was designed for you to use as a detailed setting or to pick and choose what you like for your own game world.”

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The Ultraviolet Grasslands by Exalted Funeral

• END DATE: Sat, April 13 2019 7:07 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $40 + S&H for the PDF and hardcover of Ultraviolet Grasslands

“The Ultraviolet Grasslands (UVG) trpg is a rules-light psychedelic metal trip to the Black City on the edge of space and time. The Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black Cityis a tabletop role-playing game book, half setting, half adventure, and half epic trip; inspired by psychedelic heavy metal, the Dying Earth genre, and classic Oregon Trail games. It leads a group of ‘heroes’ into the depths of a vast and mythic steppe filled with the detritus of time and space and fuzzy riffs. The UVG is the work of the designer, artist, and writer Luka Rejec and was made possible through the generous support of hundreds of discerning fans at the Stratometaship patreon. Luka's previous work includes illustrating Chris Kutalik's acid fantasy Misty Isles of the Eld, co-writing What Ho Frog Demons with the Hydra Coöperative, and writing, art, and design on the already-sold-out adventure of witch-hunting:Witchburner. The UVG is for referees and players who want to run a months’ long science fantasy Marco Polo-style voyage across a weird, old world. The UVG is for any gamer who wants to mine it for inspiration, adventuring locations, odd characters, maps, items, and random encounters. The UVG is an art book knitting together Luka's illustrations and maps and writing. The UVG is loud, heavy music, and grinding, tectonic sci-fi given flesh as a rule-light old-school 'R' or what have you continent-spanning rpg adventure. Hey, there's a free version of the manuscript available for download. That's what it is. Hard-cover print, A4-size just like the bandes dessinées of Métal Hurlant that inspired the first sketches, full-color print, 192 pages of glorious metal weirdness between the odd future of the Rainbowlands and the half-known Long Ago.”

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The City of Great Lunden by Glynn Seal

• END DATE: Sun, April 14 2019 8:00 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Swords & Wizardry / OSRs
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £45 + S&H for PDF and print of The City of Great Lunden, PDF and print maps, PDF and print of the character card set, and all unlocked stretch goals

“A City Setting for Old School RPGs - The Midderlands setting compatible. The City of Great Lunden is a city setting for use with old school roleplaying games. It is designed to be used alongside The Midderlands setting and hence is 'The Midderlands Compatible'. Game stats are presented for use with Swords & Wizardry Complete, which means they are easily adopted for old school games/retroclones. Much of the content is designed to be as system-neutral as possible, so feel free to use it with any fantasy game system you like. This book DOES NOT require The Midderlands setting, but it is greatly enhanced with it. There might be references to things found in the other books. We are creating three things: a 224-page book, a map set of 4 no. A2 folded poster maps, and six pre-generated character cards. The Midderlands book won a Gold ENnie for Best Cartography at the 2018 ENnie Awards, so you can be sure you are getting a quality product. The book itself will be 224 pages of great, city-based, game-juice, all in glorious, high specification, hardback and/or digital format.”

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Ultimate Spheres of Power: The Complete System! (Pathfinder) by Drop Dead Studios

• END DATE: Sun, April 14 2019 12:01 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Pathfinder 1e
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $79 + $5 US shipping for PDF and print copies of Ultimate Spheres of Power

“The ultimate edition of Spheres of Power, the 5-star magic system for Pathfinder, compiled into a single volume! Spheres of Power was a new magic system released in 2014 and made for Pathfinder and other D20 systems. With its incredible flexibility and easy-to-use talent-based magic system, Spheres of Power quickly became a top-reviewed magic system and our top-selling product, and thanks to the generosity of Patreon has been greatly expanded with the publication of over 20 handbooks of new and expanded content. Spheres of Power is an alternate magic system that completely breaks away from the old, vancian system of magic-use and instead presents players and GMs with the tools they need to forge magic and magic-users into whatever image they desire. Instead of being forced to adapt a concept to the system's spell lists and classes, Spheres of Power uses a tradition system for customizing the how's and why's of magic, as well as a talent-based system for building a caster's magic abilities. With Spheres of Power, you gain the freedom to break from the traditional molds of fantasy D20 and create virtually any form of world, setting, or caster, including from the Cosmere to Final Fantasy to RWBY and beyond. Ultimate Spheres of Power combines content from over 20 handbooks, including Spheres of Power, Expanded Options, Items of Power, The Temestarian's Handbook, The Telekinetic's Handbook, The Geomancer's Handbook, The Enhancer's Handbook, The Diviner's Handbook, The Abjurer's Handbook, The Auspician's Handbook, The Battlemage's Handbook, The Chronomancer's Handbook, The Conjurer's Handbook, The Creator's Handbook, The Destroyer's Handbook, The Illuminator's Handbook, The Mentalist's Handbook, The Necromancer's Handbook, The Nyctomancer's Handbook, The Shapeshifter's Handbook, The Trickster's Handbook, The Vivomancer's Handbook, and more into an updated, streamlined, and multi-faceted volume of amazing magic!”

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An Inner Darkness - For 7th Edition Call of Cthulhu by Golden Goblin Press

• END DATE: Sun, April 14 2019 11:59 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Call of Cthulhu 7e
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure module
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $15 for PDFs of An Inner Darkness and all unlocked stretch goals

“A supplement for 7th edition Call of Cthulhu, a collection of between five and seven adventure scenarios set in the 1920's.
The dark and malevolent forces of the Cthulhu Mythos mostly ignore humankind. But these entities are also shrewd opportunists. Many of them see humans as a resource to be harvested, corrupted or enlisted for their dark plots. Humanity, with all its noble aspirations, has many flaws. Greed, lust, envy, hatred and fear are ripe fruits for these forces to exploit. Division and separation makes the humans easier to control. While the best of humankind fights for just laws and civilization, those who cling to power and privilege stand ready to quash protections for those who need them most. In the shadows of human injustice lurk loathsome, inhuman entities. As investigators square off against the worst aspects of mankind, they also find themselves entangled with the parasitic powers of the Mythos. This is collection of Classic 1920’s era scenarios of 7th edition the Call of Cthulhu Roleplaying Game (published by Chaosium, Inc) with several goals in mind. We hope to present well researched, historically accurate and challenging adventures, with a slightly darker, harsher and more brutal tone than our fans might be used to. For Golden Goblin Press, this will be a more mature book, one focused on adult themes, designed to spark deep conversations among your players for years to come. These scenarios will of course feature the malignant taint of the Cthulhu Mythos, but at the forefront of each will be one or more examples of social injustice, societal corruption, and mankind’s inhumanity to man. The 1920’s was a period of great social upheaval in America, when the borders between classes, races, and genders were changed. In this time of social upheaval and chaos, eldritch forces found fertile ground to exploit us. Mankind is never so vulnerable than when we are divided from within.”

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The Folio #22 (1E/5E D&D Adventure) by Art of the Genre

• END DATE: Mon, April 15 2019 1:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons 1e and 5e
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure module
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $18 + $3 US shipping for PDF and print copies of The Folio #22 plus PDFs of all unlocked stretch goals

“An fantasy adventure in both classic AD&D and 5th Edition D&D formats. With The Curse of Roslof Keep, I’ve had the pleasure of designing a high level dungeon crawl, and Folio #22 will be the third installment of this particular dungeon. Within it, I am taking on a ‘new look’ as I try to customize a level like nothing the players have encounter so far in any of the dungeons I’ve designed. I hope you will all help make this project not only a reality, but a huge success, because the more people we get to join the adventure, the more great stuff I can include! Whatever the case, I’m truly excited to journey in Level Three of The Kasbah Dungeon and see what dastardly threats the Infernal Machine has in store for the players! What is included in Folio #22? This module will provide the adventurers with access to Level 3 of the Kasbah Dungeon as well as a new monster that even threatens the existence of the Infernal Machine. Dungeon details include 2D standard 'blue' hex maps as well as fully 3D renderings of Level 3. It also features a fully removable stand-alone cover that can act as DM screen. Who is this adventure for? It will be based around classic AD&D gaming mechanics, while also have 'grey' stat and treasure blocks for 5th Edition D&D, so it is easily playable in BOTH formats. It has been designed for 6-8 characters, roughly levels 11 thru 13, and will include a Virtual Table Top map without secret doors, traps, and numbers.”

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BASE: a CaRdPG by Fire Lizard Games LLC

• END DATE: Tue, April 16 2019 5:02 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $10 for the PDF of BASE: a CaRdPG rulebook

“BASE is a collaborative, setting-agnostic RPG. Roll your own adventures! BASE is a collaborative, storytelling role-playing game for 2-7 players. In a storytelling RPG, you come together with your friends to tell a particular story, with each player in charge of a character that is integral to the function of the story. The players draw cards in order to randomly determine the setting of the story you are about to tell. These story elements are somewhat general, which leaves room for you, the players, to fill in the gaps and create a unique setting. The same concept of randomization also applies to creating your character, the predicaments they will become entangled in, and the actions they will take in order to solve those predicaments. Essentially, BASE is a *nearly* infinite one-shot story generator.”

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AcadeCon 2019: Ours goes to Seven! by TheRpgAcademy.com

• END DATE: Wed, April 17 2019 10:00 PM EDT.
• PROJECT TYPE: Gaming convention
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $45 for a 3-day weekend badge

“AcadeCon 2019. Tabletop Gaming convention in Dayton, Ohio. RPGs, Boardgames, card games, panels, workshops, podcasters & more. AcadeCon is a 3-day tabletop gaming convention at the Dayton Convention Center, in Dayton, Ohio. November 8th - 10th, 2019. AcadeCon 2019 is our 7th annual gaming convention. From that first year of 15 people to last year with over 500, AcadeCon continues to grow. Confirmed guests for this year include Rob Schwalb (Schwalb Entertainment), Rich Baker (Sasquatch Game Studio), Craig Campbell (Nerdburger Games), A.P. Klosky (Blackfall Press), and more. We're super excited to have ConTessa joining us for this year's event. ConTessa is a nonprofit organization that runs events of all types at conventions all over the United States. Our primary goal is to increase the number of marginalized people in all aspects of tabletop gaming through the power of positive representation. Our volunteers run and teach roleplaying games, miniature war games, board games, LARPs, and card games. In addition, we run board game socials using our own board game library, panels on topics that span the whole range of gaming experiences, and provide our volunteers with everything they need to succeed from snacks to dry-erase game mats. Together, we move the needle on making conventions more diverse. Games on Demand is an open-gaming event put on at various conventions, sometimes under the “Indie Games Explosion” organizational label. It typically consists of designated area with tables, materials, and a constant supply of enthusiastic volunteers prepared to run a variety of independent and cutting-edge games.”
[h=3]RPG ZINE QUEST[/h] ZINE! - Lost Classes and Cannibal Corpses - Two Original RPG Zines by Appendix N Entertainment

• Ends: Sat, April 13 2019 8:51 AM EDT.
• “One Zine featuring re-imaginings of two character classes from proto RPG days. One adventure module.”
• PDF $8 (for two zines) / PDF & print $25 + $5 US shipping (for two zines)

If you like what we do here at EN World (the Forums, Columns, News, ENnies, etc) and would like to help support us to bring you MORE please consider supporting our Patreon. Even a single dollar helps! This article was contributed by Egg Embry as part of EN World's Columnist (ENWC) program. Please note that Egg is a participant in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to DriveThruRPG.

 

[AriochQ]

A Kickstarter for a convention badge? Does KS take a smaller cut than tabletop events or something? Or, maybe they are just going for some free advertising?

 

[TheRpgAcademy1]

A Kickstarter for a convention badge? Does KS take a smaller cut than tabletop events or something? Or, maybe they are just going for some free advertising?

At the risk of going too deep on this, our show has no capital. We fund each year and generally break close to even. We have to have security deposits down for our venue early in the year and the KS allows us to sell a lot of badges in April for an event in November. Otherwise we'd not have the money in-hand for the deposits and other up front costs to hold the event. When we first decided to do our on convention I was already aware of several smaller events like ours that also used KS so we basically copied that method and so far it's worked. This is our 5th year as a public event. We've used KS every year and assuming we fund this year - it continues to work.

 

[AriochQ]

At the risk of going too deep on this, our show has no capital. We fund each year and generally break close to even. We have to have security deposits down for our venue early in the year and the KS allows us to sell a lot of badges in April for an event in November. Otherwise we'd not have the money in-hand for the deposits and other up front costs to hold the event. When we first decided to do our on convention I was already aware of several smaller events like ours that also used KS so we basically copied that method and so far it's worked. This is our 5th year as a public event. We've used KS every year and assuming we fund this year - it continues to work.

Interesting. I hadn't run into any KS funded conventions in the past. I have a friend who organizes a local con that is slowly growing. Will have to keep this model in mind for the future. Thanks for the info.

 

[pogre]

A Kickstarter for a convention badge? Does KS take a smaller cut than tabletop events or something? Or, maybe they are just going for some free advertising?

I think it is a cool idea and something we should consider for MAGEcon.

 

[Egg Embry]

TheRpgAcademy1,

Thanks for pulling back the curtain a bit on that. It's interesting to read about.

Since we're on the subject, right now there are 3 active gaming conventions I'm tracking (there are more cons for other genres on Kickstarter).

CharCon 2019 - THE West Virginia Gaming Convention - Charleston WV - July 12-14, 2019.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/933806098/charcon-2019-the-west-virginia-gaming-convention

AcadeCon 2019: Ours goes to Seven! - Dayton, OH - November 8-10, 2019.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/therpgacademy/acadecon-2019-ours-goes-to-seven

Harbor Dice Con 2019 - "Central Washington Coast" - December 7-8, 2019.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/harbordicecon/harbor-dice-con-2019

 

[shawnellsworth]

Thanks for including Seas of Vodari!

 

[TheRpgAcademy1]

TheRpgAcademy1,

Thanks for pulling back the curtain a bit on that. It's interesting to read about.

Since we're on the subject, right now there are 3 active gaming conventions I'm tracking (there are more cons for other genres on Kickstarter).

CharCon 2019 - THE West Virginia Gaming Convention - Charleston WV - July 12-14, 2019.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/933806098/charcon-2019-the-west-virginia-gaming-convention

AcadeCon 2019: Ours goes to Seven! - Dayton, OH - November 8-10, 2019.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/therpgacademy/acadecon-2019-ours-goes-to-seven

Harbor Dice Con 2019 - "Central Washington Coast" - December 7-8, 2019.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/harbordicecon/harbor-dice-con-2019

Happy to talk about it more if you have any questions. I've had the opportunity to be a guest on a couple different podcasts to discuss this AcadeCon and some of the others and enjoyed talking the ups and downs of running a small gaming convention.

 

[shawnellsworth]

A Kickstarter for a convention badge? Does KS take a smaller cut than tabletop events or something? Or, maybe they are just going for some free advertising?

I'm not sure about KS, but Indiegogo has an option for non-profits I believe.

 

[Akodoken]

I think this may be the first year I make it to AcadeCon, even if just for a single day. I live in Indy now so the drive is an easy one.