The RPG crowdfunding projects featured here end by July 30th. As ICO Partners shared, tabletop games continue to perform well. This list of tabletop RPGs is no exception with projects funding from three to six figures (US dollars), all worth examining for yourself.
Nightfell: Horror Fantasy Setting for 5e from Mana Project Studio 
Veil of Ruin: A 5e Setting and Miniatures from Project Dark Water 
Slayers from Gila RPGs
SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN #1 from Mudpuppy Games
BYTE Roleplaying Game Rulebook from Abascanto Press
Fairview from Post World Games
RPG Quick Hits
Filling in the Blanks -- A Guide to Populating Hexes from Todd
- END DATE: Thu, July 30 2020 2:57 PM EDT.
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €98 plus S/H for PDF and hardcover of the books plus the GM screen
- NOTE: Try before you buy with the PWYW Nightfell - Quickstart
“Nightfell is a Horror Fantasy setting, a grimdark world under the influence of the Moon, for 5th Edition. This manual will dive you into a dark world full of terror and despair. The Undeads come back from the afterlife, and eternal beings crave the nullification of reality. You will face ancient horrors, but you will also come to know superstition and occultism, and you will learn to follow the Moon as the only guide in this nocturnal world. In this ruthless setting, players will play night explorers, resilient survivors who adapted to the Lunar Age, an era where the sun is dead, and life still endures only thanks to the last Primordial beings. Nightfell is a brand new setting for 5th ed. We'll produce a Corebook and a Bestiary! The manuals will consist of about 200 pages each. A Bestiary with almost 100 new creatures, with monsters dedicated to lore and others inspired by Italian folklore, each and everyone painstakingly adjusted to fit the setting and its dreadful atmosphere. The game will encompass several new, dark fantasy flavored playable races, along with new archetypes for the classes of the most famous role-playing game in the World, new backgrounds for your characters, and three new original classes!”
Veil of Ruin: A 5e Setting and Miniatures from Project Dark Water
- END DATE: Fri, July 24 2020 12:00 AM EDT.
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook and miniatures
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: CA$129 + S/H for “a hardcover adventure book and a hardcover character options book, 7 medium and 1 huge miniature, a GM screen, 2 encounter maps, 6 pregen hero booklets and so much more!”
“Veil of Ruin is a post-apocalyptic fantasy campaign setting for DnD 5e, complete with a compelling adventure and finely crafted minis. 6x Pregenerated Heroes Packages, showcasing all new classes, subclasses, feats, and magic items. 5+ Encounter Maps. An expansive Bestiary featuring all of the creatures from the core campaign and more from the wide and dangerous world of Orman. 40+ all new spells and magic items included in the adventure. New Backgrounds. New Races, New Subraces. New Classes, New Subclasses. 6+ New Feats. 40+ New Magic Items. 15+ New Spells. Fold-out Maps. GM Screen - Optimized for gameplay in Orman. Pregenerated Hero Booklets x6.”
Slayers from Gila RPGs
- END DATE: Thu, July 30 2020 11:00 AM EDT.
- SYSTEM(S): An original system
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $15 + $5 US S/H for the PDF and print copies of the book
“A tabletop RPG of monster hunting in a strange city. Slayers is a tabletop RPG of mercenaries and monster hunters for hire. Known by locals as Slayers, players wander a haunted city, cursed long ago to expand towards the horizon forever. Slayers help clean out the monsters that infest the alleyways and shadows, and those that the city seems to be manifesting on its own. It's slay or be slain. Better get to work, Slayer. Asymmetrical combat mechanics for each class. No two players will do the same thing in combat, down to how they roll the dice! Explore a world that is ever-shifting. While the foundation is given to you in the book, you as a table will build The City together over time. With a game built on making every creature and character unique, you have the ability to hack and create new classes, monsters, and experiences easily. Less time worrying about stat blocks, and more time jumping into the Hunt.”
SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN #1 from Mudpuppy Games
- END DATE: Tue, July 28 2020 9:00 AM EDT.
- SYSTEM(S): “All material presented is usable with any d20-based game system.”
- PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $15 + $5 US S/H for the PDF and print versions of the zine
“A Post-Apocalyptic Role Playing Game Fanzine with metric tons of mighty new content for your post-apocalyptic or genre-mash fantasy game, SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN #1 has it all. You’ll be amazed at ‘The Ecology of the Crater Mutant’ by Levi Combs (Planet X Games), astounded at the robotic mounts of ‘S.A.B.L.E. Rangers’ by Mike and Elizabeth Stewart (Victorious RPG), and astonished at the malevolent diseases in ‘Mutant Maladies’ by Skeeter Green (SGP Games). All that and a mini-adventure that’s not-so-mini in Jim Wampler’s The Gene Looms of Janeck-Vacca.’ SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN #1 also includes ongoing features that will continue in every issue, with new mutations, new monsters, new artifacts, Retro Reviews of inspirational source media and material, and of course Scientific Comics right in the back! SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN #1 will be a 6” x 9” digest-size square-bound book so it will look great on your shelf or slip easily into your game bag.”
- END DATE: Fri, July 24 2020 11:00 PM EDT.
- SYSTEM(S): An original system
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €24 for the PDF and POD versions of the system
“The BYTE Roleplaying Game Rulebook stands at over 400 pages, and gives players everything they need to play tabletop RPGs in any setting. The book includes 10 technological levels and 20 thematic modules that can be combined in many unique ways, with each combination creating a different ruleset. This allows the rules to be tailored to the world in which the players want to immerse themselves. From cowboys to spies, Roman gladiators to mecha pilots, elven knights to vampires, private investigators to galactic rulers, the book provides everything needed for your game. It allows you to play in any historical era or the worlds of your favorite books, movies, series, or video games. It can also easily be customized for use with any ‘system-agnostic’ settings you own.”
- END DATE: Thu, July 23 2020 1:08 PM EDT.
- SYSTEM(S): An original system
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $12 for the PDF
- NOTE: This is a quickstarter, a subject that Jim Pinto of Post World Games discussed here
“A strange roleplaying game set in a small American town during World War II. Fairview takes place in the town of the same name: Anytown, U.S.A. with unique resources that made her invaluable to the war effort and an isolated locale that ensured the townsfolk aren’t harmed by the enemy. The town listened with horror and resolve as Roosevelt addressed the nation after Pearl Harbor. Their young men volunteered to serve, as young men did all over the country. The rest of the town geared up to do their duty: utilizing their secrecy and resources to stop the Axis. Today, the war effort continues… but something is wrong. The town hasn’t been in regular contact with the outside world for at least five years (sometimes longer). No radio contact, no telephones, no mail or telegrams. Just the city’s leaders in contact with what they claim to be the U.S. government forces somewhere beyond Fairview’s borders. No one questions. No one wonders. At least not officially. There’s a war on, after all. The nation can’t afford disloyalty and the town’s resources and needed more than ever. And yet the isolation remains. No one new comes in. No townsfolk ever leave. Fairview has become a world unto itself: isolated and alone as 1945 turns to 1946… and beyond. These are some of the issues the players will face within Fairview: a town like any other town, just trying to do its duty. What strange and terrible places this leads them to is unknown… Welcome to Fairview. Enjoy your stay.”
RPG Quick Hits
Filling in the Blanks -- A Guide to Populating Hexes from Todd
- END DATE: Sat, July 25 2020 10:21 AM EDT.
- “A guide to creating and populating hexes for use in fantasy role-playing games.”
- END DATE: Mon, July 27 2020 2:57 PM EDT.
- “A specialized notebook for your Pathfinder 2.0 character info.”
- END DATE: Wed, July 29 2020 12:01 PM EDT.
- “Third-party, sci-fi horror adventure for the Mothership RPG.”
- END DATE: Thu, July 23 2020 6:00 PM EDT.
- “Introducing the Eraegarth world setting. Explore the location of Ravensport and venture into The Blackcroft Crypts.”
- END DATE: Fri, July 31 2020 6:00 PM EDT.
- NOTE: This project is published by EN Publishing, the parent company of EN World
- NOTE TWO: I’ll cover this in more detail in the following weeks
- “A beautiful 5th Edition hardcover tome of legendary figures from Achilles to Robin Hood, Thor to Dracula, King Arthur to Baba Yaga!”
- END DATE: Wed, July 29 2020 1:00 PM EDT.
- “3D printable fantasy terrain and miniatures for RPGs and wargames.”
