RPG Crowdfunding News – Planet of the Apes, Castles & Crusades, Smörk Borg, and more

This week’s TTRPG crowdfunding sampler covers campaigns that end between July 11 to 17. This week there is too much awesome to do each project justice. Planet of the Apes meets the D6 System, the revised Castles & Crusades, an OSE zine with discussions of dragon poop, a 5e sourcebook with a sample via the Baldur's Gate 3 video game, Mörk Borg Smurfs, Pathfinder dinosaurs, 5e and Pathfinder 2e arenas, and the last day of Voidrunner's Codex.

The Official Role-Playing Game of the PLANET OF THE APES.png

The Official Role-Playing Game of the PLANET OF THE APES from Magnetic Press Play
  • END DATE: Fri, July 12 2024 8:00 PM EDT.
  • SYSTEM(S): D6MV System
  • PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
  • MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $112 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of both books
  • TRY BEFORE YOU BUY: The Official PLANET OF THE APES RPG Primer is PWYW at DriveThruRPG
  • AI STATEMENT: “MADE BY HUMANS NO AI OR APE-GENERATED CONTENT!”
  • WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? If you’re a fan of the original run of Planet of the Apes movies and television series (1968 through 1974), then this is as tempting a TTRPG as you’re likely to find. Apes, astronauts, The Forbidden Zone, mutants, and d6 dice pools is the combination to get your gamers gaming. Using an updated version of West End Games’ D6 System, you’ll be able to throw some nice handfuls of dice at any problem. The engine is similar to the one they used for the original Star Wars RPG during the heady years after the original trilogy but before the revived expanded universe novels and comics. As the Apes franchise is going through another revivial with movies and new comics, it’s a good time to get a game that lets you adventure through the original movies. This is the game that will have you telling your players: “Take your stinking paws off my dice, you damned dirty ape!”


Castles & Crusades Reforged.png

Castles & Crusades Reforged from Troll Lord Games
  • END DATE: Thu, July 11 2024 12:00 AM EDT.
  • SYSTEM(S): SIEGE Engine for Castles & Crusades
  • PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook and sourcebooks
  • MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $175 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the five books and GM screen
  • WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Ever thought of trying out the award-winning fantasy TTRPG, Castles & Crusades? This Kickstarter might be the best option ever to pick up the core rulebooks, some adventures, and more. During the OGL crisis, Troll Lord Games decided to revise C&C in order to jettison the OGL. This fantasy system was an homage to the work of, and used by, Gary Gygax. This crowdfunding provides those revised, OGL free versions of C&C including Castles & Crusades Players Handbook (272 pages), Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure (365 pages featuring 400 monsters), Castles & Crusades Castle Keepers Guide (256 pages), Castles & Crusades Beneath the Canopy Green (200 pages of adventures), Barsoom: A Pocket Atlas to the Dying Planet is 20 to 25 pages of adventures in the world introduced by Edgar Rice Burroughs for John Carter, a GM screen, and The Crusader Journal #28 (36 pages of C&C magazine). That’s the core rules and then some. Already own some C&C books? No problem, these are the same books with some edits and the OGL content removed and replaced so yours still work. If you’re a fan of fantasy d20 RPGs and want a system that is a fully supported, modern AD&D, this project is worth a look.


Songs of the Spellbound Sea- Nautical Adventures for 5E!.png

Songs of the Spellbound Sea: Nautical Adventures for 5E! from somanyrobots
  • END DATE: Thu, July 11 2024 12:30 PM EDT.
  • SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
  • PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
  • MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $25 for the PDF of the book
  • WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Set in the Spellbound Sea, this is a sourcebook for water-themed 5e gameplay. This book offers 4 mini-settings, 3 new classes (one of which takes the official Rogue: Swashbuckler subclass and reimagines it as a full class), over 10 subclasses, 6 new species, hundreds of new spells, and more. If you’re thinking about testing out the book, check out the campaign page for a link to a PDF sampler. If you’re looking for a deeper dive through a unique preview, check out the campaign page for a link to a mod for Baldur's Gate 3 that lets you play as one of their new classes, the Troubadour. For fans of BG3, that’s a cool way to test out this project.


Pathfinder Second Ed.- Dr Dhrolin's Dictionary of Dinosaurs.png

Pathfinder Second Ed.: Dr Dhrolin's Dictionary of Dinosaurs from PalaeoGames
  • END DATE: Sun, July 14 2024 12:00 PM EDT.
  • SYSTEM(S): Pathfinder Second Edition
  • PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
  • MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £35 for the PDF and Foundry VTT versions of the book
  • WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Do you want realistic dinosaurs in your PF2e game? Originally designed for 5e, this campaign updates that book for use with PF2e. But this isn’t just any conversion, PalaeoGames worked with the creators of the Pathfinder Second Edition ruleset to ensure the game is the best possible PF2eDino experience it can be. The resulting book is 304 pages with 57 Mesozoic creatures, 20 Mesozoic plants, 6 new ancestries, and much more. The hook are the dinosaurs, the closer is the realistic, simulations elements of their versions. If PF2e and grounded stories about dinosaurs would excite your gaming table, this campaign awaits your review.


Heroes of the Arena.png

Heroes of the Arena from Jerry Joe Seltzer
  • END DATE: Wed, July 17 2024 12:25 PM EDT.
  • SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and Pathfinder Second Edition
  • PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
  • MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $29 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
  • WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Have your players ever wanted to be seen when they’re fighting? Do they want an audience for the bloodsport? This book offers them spectacle and combat, crowds and cheers, and the glory that everyone will know their names. This book provides strategic tournaments and gladiatorial combats for teams of characters levels 3 through 16. The book is over 100 pages showing 20 crafted arena games and 20 teams. If the idea of fighting in an arena excites your gamers, check out the campaign page for a free preview.


Gary's Appendix- Issue 6 - Dragons!.png

Gary's Appendix: Issue 6 – Dragons! from RPG Ramblings Publishing
  • END DATE: Thu, July 11 2024 6:00 PM EDT.
  • SYSTEM(S): Old-School Essentials
  • PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine
  • MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $16 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the zine
  • WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? A zine full of dragons for Old-School Essentials. Inspired by Gary Gygax’s many AD&D books, this zine offers articles with titles like: “Five Ways to Play The Dragon,” “Dragon Children of the Penitent Litch,” and, best title of them all, “Dung and Dragons.” This article is about dragon... er, leavings. That information will inspire some gamer to start an in-campaign business harvesting dragon fecal matter. “How are you so rich?” The fighter’s dad-answer: “I won at craps.” Add in a dragon bestiary, some fresh artwork, and you’re in for a great OSE resource.


Smörk Borg TTRPG.png

Smörk Borg TTRPG from Squid Ink Games
  • END DATE: Thu, July 11 2024 11:27 AM EDT.
  • SYSTEM(S): Mörk Borg
  • PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
  • MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $29 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the core rulebook
  • AI STATEMENT: “Absolutely no AI-generated imagery was utilized in this game. All of the art on this page and in the book is drawn by hand.”
  • WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Smörk Borg (Smurf Borg) is Mörk Borg but with The Smurfs. Genius. You play as apple-tall, yellow goblins smörking in a village that looks like a field of mushrooms. Life would be shirtless, yellow glory save for two problems: You are smörking tasty, and every creature towers over you even as they savor your flavor. Character creation is simple. Roll your stats. What’s your name/highest stat? You’re (checks character sheet) Agility Smörk. Did two characters end up with high Agility? Then one of them is Jumpin’ Smörk. What will a session or campaign look like? Remember the zombie Smurfs from the The Smurfs season 1 episode, “The Purple Smurfs” (or the original comic album)? That’s ideal ground to build a Smörk Borg campaign around. Would it be dark or delightful? Powered by Mörk Borg, the setting can be a horror (mushroom) house of evil or it can be lighter and more comical like the inspirational material; either way, the players can lean into the lethality of the system and determine their own outcome. This project recalls the other, recent third-party Mörk Borg RPGs: DUKK BÖRG (a riff on Duck Tales) and ANIMORT (Steamborg Willie in the black-and-white era of cartoons), both building an homage to classic cartoons. Don’t sleep on these as you may come to smörking regret that decision.


Voidrunner's Codex Sci-Fi Box Set For D&D 5E & Level Up- A5E.png

Voidrunner's Codex Sci-Fi Box Set For D&D 5E & Level Up: A5E from EN Publishing
  • END DATE: Thu, July 4 2024 6:00 PM EDT.
  • SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and Advanced Fifth Edition
  • PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebooks
  • MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £110 + S/H for the PDF, VTT, and print versions of the boxed set
  • WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Final day for the A5E sci-fi sourcebooks! Don’t sleep on this A5E expansion.

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Egg Embry

Egg Embry

Coming from 3E, I'm stuck in the mindset that a DC is static in the world. So, if there's a lock to pick that is DC 19, then that is DC 19 no matter who comes along. It doesn't matter if they have more DEX or Levels or Prime or Secondary stats.

I guess that would be your formula in reverse:
Dex 13s: + 3(Secondary) + 1(Bonus) + 3(Level) = 1d20 + 7 (to hit DC 19)

My way might take longer as you have to do some addition. And yours ultimately achieves the same result.

But that means every challenge in the world would be DC 19. Unless you apply Basic: -3 (DC 16) and Master: +3 (DC 22) to give some slight variation of easier or harder locks to pick. I think 3E had a much wider range, maybe DCs ranging from 10 (very easy) up to 30 (very very difficult).
Completely get what you're saying (and by default there is a range of -10 to 30). When I was first modifying C&C, static DCs is what I was originally shooting for, but because of the nature of C&C SIEGE system, a wide range of DCs just isn't needed. This is mostly due to three reasons:
  • Really low/high checks just being automatically decided by the GM and not rolled. That concept is really key to enjoying C&C I think (also 5E, but that's a different discussion).
  • System built around DC being set by Level/HD.
  • Non-Primes already crippling chances of success.
In effect, the range of DCs we used to in 3.5 is already baked into the Prime system, so the only other modifiers needed are the small "+/- 2 bonuses". C&C is all about being fast and streamlined, so that small bonus comes from the difference in HD/Level or the GM chooses one. Since normally they would choose a number around that of HD/Level, a range of +/- 3 is pretty typical. Even then, that's 7 different choices the GM has to pick from, which I think is overkill, so I simplified it to just 3.

Oh, and I can't overstate the need to just let most tasks pass/fail using best judgement. Only require rolls when it contributes to the story/scene. SIEGE is all about making rolls when the GM thinks, "You're probably going to fail, but I'll give you a chance to succeed." If that's not the case, don't roll!
 

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@dead
Also, C&C is great for spur of the moment gaming. Coming up with DCs relative to the characters on the fly is a bit easier than static DCs as they stand in the world, IMO.
 

@dead
Coming up with DCs relative to the characters on the fly is a bit easier than static DCs as they stand in the world, IMO.
I've always found it easier and faster to set the "normal Joe" DC than to try and calculate how hard X should be for PC y... and most systems now very much support settingwide difficulty standards.
 

I've always found it easier and faster to set the "normal Joe" DC than to try and calculate how hard X should be for PC y... and most systems now very much support settingwide difficulty standards.
Agree. One of the aspects of C&C I don't like is how hard that number is to sus out.

A "DC" of 1 in C&C is the difficulty that a Level 1 character competent (Prime) at the task and gifted in ability (Attribute bonus) has a 50% shot of succeeding at.

Increase the DC to 3 and someone untrained now has no shot (0%) in succeeding.

A "normal Joe" score would than be around DC -8?

It's an odd system until you get that rolls should be fairly rare. Most of the time you have an idea if something should pass/fail, in which case you'd just rule it and move on. Makes the game run pretty smooth, honestly.
 
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Agree. One of the aspects of C&C I don't like is how hard that number is to sus out.

A "DC" of 1 in C&C is the difficulty that a Level 1 character competent (Prime) at the task and gifted in ability (Attribute bonus) has a 50% shot of succeeding at.
[snip]

It's an odd system until you get that rolls should be fairly rare. Most of the time you have an idea if something should pass/fail, in which case you'd just rule it and move on. Makes the game run pretty smooth, honestly.
Both aspects are why I have an unplayed (but opened, read, and box shelfworn) C&C whitebox. And a PHB from same era.
The real issue for me is that, while I don't mind complexity that adds to realism or to genre enforcement, C&C's complexity does neither, merely encouraging not rolling.
My approach has always been the following process:
  1. Can anyone likely do it? If so, say yes
  2. Is failure probable for a trained normal? If yes, go to 5
  3. Is failure interesting? If yes, go to 5
  4. say yes, and done.
  5. set a roll based upon joe normal odds.
  6. resolve roll, narrate, and done.
Items 2 and 3 are why I tend to have a roll about every 5-15 minutes of play in many systems. Partly because I often find the potential fail state interesting.
C&C impedes #2 and #5, and doesn't help #3... so for me, it's just no benefit as a system, by comparison to just breaking out some other old school game with ascending AC.
 

Coming from 3E, I'm stuck in the mindset that a DC is static in the world. So, if there's a lock to pick that is DC 19, then that is DC 19 no matter who comes along. It doesn't matter if they have more DEX or Levels or Prime or Secondary stats.

I guess that would be your formula in reverse:
Dex 13s: + 3(Secondary) + 1(Bonus) + 3(Level) = 1d20 + 7 (to hit DC 19)

My way might take longer as you have to do some addition. And yours ultimately achieves the same result.

But that means every challenge in the world would be DC 19. Unless you apply Basic: -3 (DC 16) and Master: +3 (DC 22) to give some slight variation of easier or harder locks to pick. I think 3E had a much wider range, maybe DCs ranging from 10 (very easy) up to 30 (very very difficult).
Had some time tonight, so made an attempt to hack C&C to match 3.5 more closely.

Target Number (TN) = 17
Choose 3 Attributes that are Prime, these get a +6 bonus.

3.5 DC to C&C CL conversion:
DC 5 = CL -10 (Easy)
DC 10 = CL -5 (Average)
DC 15 = CL 0 (Tough)
DC 20 = CL 5 (Challenging)
And so on...

That should more or less work for those that find set DCs easier.
 

Both aspects are why I have an unplayed (but opened, read, and box shelfworn) C&C whitebox. And a PHB from same era.
The real issue for me is that, while I don't mind complexity that adds to realism or to genre enforcement, C&C's complexity does neither, merely encouraging not rolling.
My approach has always been the following process:
  1. Can anyone likely do it? If so, say yes
  2. Is failure probable for a trained normal? If yes, go to 5
  3. Is failure interesting? If yes, go to 5
  4. say yes, and done.
  5. set a roll based upon joe normal odds.
  6. resolve roll, narrate, and done.
Items 2 and 3 are why I tend to have a roll about every 5-15 minutes of play in many systems. Partly because I often find the potential fail state interesting.
C&C impedes #2 and #5, and doesn't help #3... so for me, it's just no benefit as a system, by comparison to just breaking out some other old school game with ascending AC.
You know, with some tweaking this method would actually work... I'd use:

  1. Can a typical adventurer do it? If so, say yes.
  2. Is failure probable for a trained adventurer? If yes, go to 5.
  3. Is failure interesting? If yes, go to 5.
  4. Say yes, and done.
  5. Is there an opposing force? If so, set a roll based on the opposing Level/HD (CL = Level/HD). If no, set a roll based on what level a trained adventurer would have 50/50 odds (set CL to that level).
  6. Resolve roll, narrate, and done.
 

If no, set a roll based on what level a trained adventurer would have 50/50 odds (set CL to that level).
Right there is where it utterly fails for me. No comparison to normal.

Plus your choice of "adventurer" instead of normal man. Doubles down on what bugs me most.

And I'm certain there are a few who feel that an advantage...
 

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