RPG Crowdfunding News – MemoryCore, Vagabond RPG, GURPS Ring of Fire, and more

This week’s crowdfunding sampler looks at campaigns that close between June 25 to June 30. Below you’ll find a six-figure RPG anthology and a Tales of the Valiant third-party offering as well as projects powered by GURPS, Dungeons & Dragons B/X, Mutants & Masterminds, and a Friendly Local Games Store (FLGS). If you’re headed to Origins Game Fair in Columbus, Ohio this weekend, have a blast rolling dice!

MemoryCore from Horrible Guild

• END DATE: Jun 30, 2026 at 10:00am EDT.
• CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
• SYSTEM(S): Shared Core System (MemoryCore System)
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebooks
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €165 + S/H for the print plus PDF versions of the User Manual, Game: Solid State Machine, Game: Bloodsong: Hunters Of The Night, Game: Extinction Protocol, Game: Final Tournament, Game: Corebound Chronicles, Game: Overdrive Crew, and GM screen in a magnetic box with markers, tokens, stickers, dice, bag, CorePlayer! Magazine, and more
• AI STATEMENT: “No generative AI was used in MemoryCore. The game was made by highly talented human artists and creatives.”
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Are you a fan of 32-bit 1990s video games and wish you could play them on tabletop? MemoryCore is an anthology of six games: Solid State Machine (inspired by the Metal Gear Solid franchise), Bloodsong: Hunters Of The Night (inspired by Castlevania), Extinction Protocol (inspired by Resident Evil and other horror games), Final Tournament (inspired by Mortal Kombat, TEKKEN, and Street Fighter), Corebound Chronicles (inspired by racing and heist games), and Overdrive Crew (inspired by JRPGs such as Final Fantasy). All of the games come in a boxed set that resembles a Playstation or a Nintendo system. Inside, each of the games comes in a clamshell meant to evoke 1990s video game packaging. Using the same 80-page core rules manual, each of the games adds a 60-page book describing their unique elements and a 10-session campaign, a 32-card deck of items, a story randomizer, a map, character boards like board games, and dry erase markers to fill out the boards. Designed to replicate the feel of low-rez video games, this project promises the action and video game logic of that style of play. If the concept speaks to you, visit the Backerkit page to download a free PDF variant of Solid State Machine.

Vagabond RPG | Spellbook - Hero Expansion & Reprints! from Land of the Blind

• END DATE: Mon, June 29 2026 12:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Vagabond // Pulp Fantasy
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $49 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the Spellbook plus the PDF of Caustic Cave of Quasmoidon
• AI STATEMENT: “Land of the Blind prides itself on 100% Human Made creations. Plain and simple, generative AI was not and never will be used in the creation of any portion of our product lines.”
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Promising old school influences and modern character options, Vagabond RPG is a d20-centric system with a roll at or over your skill to succeed. With traditional, solo, or GM round robin options, you can play the game as your table sees fit. The Vagabond system is meant to be broadly OSR enough that most existing OSR adventures work with it without a great deal of adaptation. This Kickstarter offers a sourcebook of character options including new ancestries, classes, perks, spells, and GM advice. If you’re interested in a well-reviewed OSR with modern gameplay options, check out this campaign page.

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GURPS Ring of Fire from Steve Jackson Games

• END DATE: Jun 29, 2026 at 5:00pm EDT.
• CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
• SYSTEM(S): GURPS Fourth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $40 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of GURPS Ring of Fire plus the PDF of GURPS Lite (4th Edition)
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This is a cool concept combining Eric Flint's 1632 series of novels with GURPS Fourth Edition. The combination recalls all of the adaptions that GURPS has produced over the decades. The novels postulate the move of Grantville, West Virginia from the year 2000 to 1630s Holy Roman Empire while it is beset by the Thirty Years War. The sourcebook gives the rules to make the conflict a reality at your gaming table. GURPS has the crunch to scale 1600s and 2000s tech so your players feel the difference. If you want to play in Eric Flint’s book series, this Backerkit campaign offers everything you’ll need to get to dicing.

The OFFICIAL Mutants & Masterminds System Module from Immersive Realms Gaming and Green Ronin Publishing

• END DATE: Jun 25, 2026 at 10:00pm EDT.
• CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
• SYSTEM(S): Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Foundry VTT conversion
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: C$70 for 3rd Edition BETA TEST access as well as the 4th Edition Deluxe Hero’s Handbook and Deluxe Gamemaster's Guide plus access to their Discord
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Immersive Realms Gaming is working with Green Ronin Publishing to bring Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition to Foundry VTT, with 4th Edition to follow. If you want to play M&M 3e (and, eventually, 4e) on Foundry VTT, this is a great way to support building the tools. This Backerkit campaign serves another purpose since it financially benefits Green Ronin Publishing while they’re in court against zombie Diamond Comic Distributors to recover their seized assets (with more reporting on the Diamond bankruptcy available at Comics Beat). If you want VTTs for M&M, check out this Backerkit campaign.

Blades of Power from Barrel Rider Games

• END DATE: Tue, June 30 2026 11:00 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons B/X and Old-School Essentials
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $15 for the PDF of the core rulebook
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Blades of Power combines the science fiction fantasy cartoons of the early 1980s (He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Thundercats, Blackstar, and more) with an OSR built on Dungeons & Dragons B/X. Power swords, magic, blasters, snakemen, flying machines, liches with abs, magic castles, and more populate the World of Ultimos. At 300 pages, you’ll get the rules, setting, 225 monster bestiary, and quests to recreate those Saturday morning adventures. Written by Ennie and Origins Award-winning author James M. Spahn, expect redefined classes that feel old school yet have extraordinary powers that replicate those big, bombastic cartoon worlds. If you’re a fan of that era of science-fantasy and gaming, this Kickstarter awaits.

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Valiant Monster Planet: Legendary Creatures & Adventures from Legendary Games

• END DATE: Thu, June 25 2026 10:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Tales of the Valiant
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure and sourcebooks
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $39 for the PDF of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Legendary Games embraces Tales of the Valiant with a 20-level cosmic campaign and three new bestiaries. Legendary normally creates books with stats for 5e, 5.5e, and Pathfinder, but with this campaign they’re focused in on TotV. In the adventure, Valiant Monster Planet, you’ll travel through gateways to worlds inspired by Flash Gordon, John Carter of Mars, Blackmoor to Stargate, and more. On top of that adventure, they’re offering 3 bestiaries: Mechanical Monsters (140+ constructs and more), Nordic Monsters (90+ monsters from Norse mythology and Scandinavian folklore), and Hoard Monsters (40+ dungeon denizens). If you’re a fan of TotV or Legendary Games, check out this Kickstarter.

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The Sending Stone: Minneapolis Gaming Café & Bar

• END DATE: Tue, June 30 2026 11:59 PM EDT.
• PROJECT TYPE: Friendly Local Gaming Store (FLGS)
• LOCATION: Minneapolis, Minnesota
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $75 for the t-shirt, enamel pin, stickers, grand opening party, and more
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Need to game in Minneapolis, Minnesota? This campaign is funding a café and bar for gamers, whether board, card, or role. If you want some beverages and battles, this project offers you both plus pins, stickers, and more. If you’re in the Minneapolis area, check out the page to see if this is a place you want to game at.

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See you next week.
Egg Embry does not use AI in any of his writing. He participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, Kobold Press Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, Kobold Press, and Amazon. If you like the articles at EN World please consider supporting the Patreon.

 

[The Last Hobbit]

And the classic B/X race-as-classes have their own tweaks. Elves are inherently magical, no longer needing spellbooks and casting spells similar to D&D 3e Sorcerers, Dwarves have a unique ability called "Is that All Ye Got" that turns them into juggernauts in combat, and Halflings have an Unlikely Hero ability that allows them to generate and manipulate the game's meta-currency, Hero Tokens.

 

[Dire Bare]

I thought this looked awesome, but having standard B/X race as class Elves, Dwarves, and Halfling just feels weird.....

The art looks sick though.

If you get the current OSE "Advanced" rulebook, or the newer OSE rulebook being released sometime this fall . . . you can choose between B/X style race-as-class or more AD&D style with race and class being separate things.

 

[sevenbastard]

And the classic B/X race-as-classes have their own tweaks. Elves are inherently magical, no longer needing spellbooks and casting spells similar to D&D 3e Sorcerers, Dwarves have a unique ability called "Is that All Ye Got" that turns them into juggernauts in combat, and Halflings have an Unlikely Hero ability that allows them to generate and manipulate the game's meta-currency, Hero Tokens.

Yeah i think it was just jaring to have my head in the Pronoun Man space and then see Standard BX races.

I guess my expectation was they would be the appendix races and the main setting would be more bizarre.

Or maybe the Juggernaut Class and Unlikley Hero Class would be included as core classes then a side bar would say those classes could represent Dwarves and Halflings in a vanilla B/X conversion.

Again not saying im not going to back, the whole thing looks cool as hell.

 

[The Last Hobbit]

Yeah i think it was just jaring to have my head in the Pronoun Man space and then see Standard BX races.

I guess my expectation was they would be the appendix races and the main setting would be more bizarre.

Or maybe the Juggernaut Class and Unlikley Hero Class would be included as core classes then a side bar would say those classes could represent Dwarves and Halflings in a vanilla B/X conversion.

Again not saying im not going to back, the whole thing looks cool as hell.

It's funny you should put it that way, but I almost did exactly that.

 

[Sossij]

Yeah, I always feel like outside of early stuff and things like dying Earth, a lot of fantasy is slavishly devoted to Tolkien elf/dwarf/hobbit themes, and it was cool that He-man and Thundarr and so forth were not. But it can always be a GM call.

 

[DaishoChikara]

Blades of Power, let's goooooo!