RPG Crowdfunding News – Monty Python, Paranoia, M&M and More

This week, I look are RPG crowdfunding projects that end between November 18 and 27. The big guns are here: Python, Paranoia, and Mutants & Masterminds. In addition, there are some other great games coming to your gaming table.

Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme from Exalted Funeral

• END DATE: Fri, November 18 2022 10:00 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $65 + S/H for the PDF and print book plus dice
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? I’m going to suggest RPG heresy: That a game might have ever stood as tall as D&D in the 1980s or 90s. There was a time in the 1980s and 1990s where a Monty Python RPG might have changed the history of gaming. If the version of the game they’re showing here dropped during those early days when every fantasy gaming session had to block out 90 plus minutes for Monty Python quotes, Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme might have challenged Dungeons & Dragons for the crown. This is speculation so we’ll never know, but in my early days of slinging dice, you had to recite the entire Holy Grail and some mis-attributed Benny Hill during the game to fit in. I feel that crowd of gamers would have bought these books as fast as they could be printed. If the game was outstanding, we might talk about those days by mentioning D&D and Python in the same breath. That isn’t to say this game missed its window, it has not; instead, it’s finding an audience in the here and now. If you’re a fan and you want to relive the best of Python, this is the perfect book to use for your campaign.

Paranoia RPG - The Perfect Edition from Mongoose Publishing

• END DATE: Sun, November 27 2022 10:00 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Paranoia
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £125 (free shipping) for both of the PDFs and hardcovers, the dice, the softcover book, and treason cards
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Gamers beware! Paranoia is back. Again. For more. This time, it’s revenge. But not for the final revenge. Probably. This is THE Paranoia Perfect Edition. More perfect than the last edition. Less perfect than the next edition. Your party members are out to get you! Because! So, get them first! Because! Don’t trust the GM! The rules are lies! Bring down the system! For money! This campaign features two books and another one plus treason cards! But you didn’t hear that from me. If you need perfect paranoia at your gaming table, you need Paranoia Perfect Edition.

Plants Nowhere to be Found - Hardcover edition from Trent Holbrook

• END DATE: Sun, November 20 2022 10:15 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): System neutral
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: AU$61 + AU$23 S/H to the US for the PDF and print versions of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? 112 pages of descriptions, spells, notes, illustrations, and photos about plants. This book is meant to inspire odd fauna encounters during your gaming night. Take ideas from it to blend into your world. This artbook offers some original concepts to inspire you and your players; if that interests you, check out the campaign page for more details.

Witch: Fated Souls Second Edition from Angry Hamster Publishing

• END DATE: Mon, November 21 2022 10:00 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Afterlife: Wandering Souls
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €40 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
• TRY BEFORE YOU BUY REVIEW: You can read my review of the Witch: Fated Souls 2e Quickstart here
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? In this RPG, you play a Fated, an individual that sold their soul to a demon for powers (spells, rituals, and more). In a world that has elements of Sabrina, Supernatural, and Vampire: The Masquerade, you have the power to change the society, fight the supernatural, and to travel between dimensions. At the same time, there are social rules that protect you from a society would would condemn your literal devil’s bargain. This RPG is the second addition, taking the setting and combining it with a proven engine from Afterlife: Wandering Souls. As you game, you’ll work to try to regain your soul while dealing with the supernatural world. This is urban fantasy done with style, and if you’re interested check out the quickstart and the campaign to learn more.

Mutants & Masterminds Reprint Extravaganza and More! from Green Ronin Publishing

• END DATE: Tue, November 22 2022 11:00 PM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Reprints and more
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $100 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the 6th printing of the Deluxe Hero’s Handbook, Gadget Guides, and Power Profiles
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Any holes in your Mutants & Masterminds collection? Green Ronin is offering a chance to fill them at their current price, before inflation drives the MSRP up. M&M is one of the most beloved superhero RPGs as witnessed by the core book’s multiple printings. Because they’ve sold the last of their fifth printing and run out of other M&M books, they’re conducting this campaign to reprint those and offer new fiction to go with them. If you’re interested in superhero RPGs, this is worth exploring. Again, if you buy now, you get these at the 2022 price, before the 2023 print points begin.

Shipwrecks of the Astral Sea: The Abbey Oak from Jerry Joe Seltzer

• END DATE: Wed, November 23 2022 10:11 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure module
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $5 for the PDF of the adventure and maps
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? An asteroid near your Spelljammer catches your eye. With trees, a crashed ship, and exposed blue crystals along its surface, you’re expecting something profitable, but what you find is a mystery. This is a space exploration for levels 6 to 8 with maps, tokens, and artwork for the players to check out. If you’re looking for Spelljammer adventures, this is worth checking out.

Vermilium from White Witch Games

• END DATE: Thu, November 24 2022 11:02 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): Savage Worlds Adventure Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Campaign setting
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £30 for the PDF and POD versions of the book, tokens, cards, GM screen, and more
• TRY BEFORE YOU BUY: Vermilium Jumpstart is free at DriveThruRPG
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? High fantasy and weird west using the Savage Worlds system. This is a world that’s moved on, the setting reads like The Dark Tower series or The Sword of Shannara series, you’re in a world that failed during its industrial age as magic and fantasy arose. Now, it’s back around to a near-Western level as you adventure, hunt bounties, gamble, and everything else you would in a world of elves and outlaws. If you’re interested, check out the jumpstart and the campaign page.

gutter_PVNKS | A CY_BORG Supplement from Christian Eichhorn

• END DATE: Sat, November 26 2022 11:00 AM EST.
• SYSTEM(S): CY_BORG
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €16 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the zine
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This RPG zine gives you more for your CY_BORG campaign. The city of Cy awaits with its NPCs, locations, and adventures, all shared in this zine. You’ll get two classes (the Broke CEO has got to be a trip), PVNKS, and 48 pages of content to spring on your gaming table. If you’re a fan of cyberpunk RPGs, this supplement is perfect for your CY_BORG campaign.

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[Enevhar Aldarion]

I wonder if other less complicated super hero games are taking their spot? Sentinel Comics, Masks PbtA, Claim the Sky, Icons, BASH, City of Mist, etc seem to have some traction in the TTRPG world.
I tried to like M&M in the various editions, but I didn't want to deal with huge list of Feats, and it never seemed to get substantially better.

Or people want to play in a licensed superhero world and have been trying out the Marvel Multiverse RPG playtest and are waiting for the full core book release next year, rather than bothering with any existing supers game. I know I am.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I'm a huge fan of a lot of Green Ronin's stuff, the updated Book of the Righteous and the Book of Fiends. I've always enjoyed Blue Rose, but never have gotten around to playing it.

I hope the idea that they are struggling as a company is just speculation and rumor and not based on anything real. It is effectively a one-man operation however, if Chris Pramas ever needs to step back, that might be the end of the company.

Aren't the whole AGE system and books still going strong?

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Now, for the Monty Python kickstarter, I just got the latest backer email today and they have added bonus stuff for all the way up to a total of $2.5 million in pledges, with a final bonus, if all goals are hit, of a set of coconut half-shell dice cups. Not made of real coconut, of course.

That is a big jump from the current $1.6 million in just 10 more days, so sadly, I do not think the coconuts will make it.

 

[Reynard]

It's funny because when M&M 1e came out I remember being happy to see a point-buy superhero game that wasn't nearly as complex as Champions. 2e and 3e both simplified it, but now I don't think I'd run it - I'd run Icons[*] over M&M every time now because M&M is just too fiddly. Just shows how the environment has changed since '02.

[*] Amusing to me, another Steve Kenson design. I do like his work.

I don't think that is true of 2E at all. 2E is nearly as robust a power design system as Champions was -- I know because I GMed M&M2 for years for a bunch of Champions players and they utilized it to its fullest.

3E did streamline things, sacrificing some of its versatility, but it is still pretty robust. I prefer running 3E even if my players preferred 2E characters.

This KS's woes are probably as much a reflection of the overall weakness of super hero games in the marketplace overall, as well as M&M being long in the tooth: 3E came out in 2010, after all. There are many beloved supers games but they all seem to struggle to maintain a solid footing after just a few years. Even Champions and Mayfair's DC Heroes had relatively short edition cycles, with less and less support as editions went on.

Add to that the current narrative driven, rules light, don't make-me-do-homework attitude and I don't think any crunchy supers game would do well right now.

 

[Superchunk77]

Aren't the whole AGE system and books still going strong?

If the company is having cash flow issues, I'm guessing no.

 

[humble minion]

I own almost everything for 2e and 3e M&M and I probably won't be backing this one simply because I already have it all and there's nothing in it for me. The only new stuff is the novels, and I haven't been a fan of M&M fiction in the past. If they'd included the new Danger Zones book as an add-on (yes, it's another one of their pdf compilations, but I'll take what i can get for M&M at this point) then I might be tempted.

The 3rd party market for the system is basically dead too. I have an alert set up at DRTPG for new M&M content, and there's one publisher putting out PDFs of two hero/villain profiles for a few bucks on a fairly regular basis, but compared to the volume of material that was being produced in 2e or early 3e by quite a number of publishers, it's increasingly looking like a system on the decline.

 

[Jer]

I don't think that is true of 2E at all. 2E is nearly as robust a power design system as Champions was -- I know because I GMed M&M2 for years for a bunch of Champions players and they utilized it to its fullest.

Oh I'm not saying 2e isn't robust - I'm saying it's easier to use and less complicated than 1e, which was already a more streamlined design imo than Champions but 2e improved on it.

It's just that despite how impressive I felt the system was then I have no desire to run it now because even 3e is too fiddly for where my group and I are at with our systems these days.

 

[Ghost2020]

If the company is having cash flow issues, I'm guessing no.

The Fantasy Age is behind on release, but that could be a number of factors, as most publishing schedules have been punished in the last few years. I wouldn't doubt we'll see a KS for it. I hope so, I'd like to see the revised corebook eventually.

 

[Jaeger]

Building your own system potentially means you're no longer subject to the whims of the next generation of leadership at WotC -- something especially appealing for anyone publishing during the 3E/3.5 transition. But it relies on that other system being a big hit. Obviously, it did well enough for Green Ronin to do a bunch of different AGE books, but it never caught Pathfinder and even Paizo is now toying with 5E books, suggesting that these alternatives may be finding things a bit harder during a popular D&D edition.

Exactly.

In theory it has lots of benefits, but, you have to score 'big'....

It is very difficult for fantasy RPG's without a long standing brand name like WFRP, to gain any traction.

The AGE system is just a slightly different way to do what D&D does, and unfortunately for GR pathfinder was already well cemented as the "D&D" alternate to D&D in RPG land.

In my opinion; in spite of the awareness the tv show brought, the Expanse rpg was not a winner. And I still have no idea why they keep Blue Rose around as a thing... But that's just me.

Aren't the whole AGE system and books still going strong?

Whatever they are doing it is evidently not enough to stop GR financial woes.

Add to that the current narrative driven, rules light, don't make-me-do-homework attitude and I don't think any crunchy supers game would do well right now.

Well, we have gotten a lot more casual players in the hobby.

And casual players do not "work" for their fun. They just want to sit down and play.

5e has the largest network effect, which in spite of some 5e rulesets quirks allows casual people to just sit and play with minimal effort - any system issues will be explained to them by the group - which means that they do not have to actually read the rules for themselves. Which would be "work"...

 

[Reynard]

Well, we have gotten a lot more casual players in the hobby.

And casual players do not "work" for their fun. They just want to sit down and play.

I wonder if they don't realize the GM still has to do work, or if they don't care.