This week I look at a sampling of the TTRPG crowdfunding projects that end between November 23 to 30. This list includes a sci-fi dinos-and-cowboys option, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles return to tabletop, Grimtooth, several OSRs, Eclipse Phase, an TTRPG involving confidence games, and a holiday MÖRK BORG.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness from Palladium Books
Grimtooth's Old-School Traps for 5E and DCC from Goodman Games
SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN No.6 from Mudpuppy Games
Eclipse Phase Character Options from Posthuman Studios
The Big Store: A Con Game TTRPG from ndp design
The Gun Belt - The Roleplaying Game from Geekster Games
Gruss Vom Krampus from Deeply Dapper Games
Vault of Splintered Souls: A D&D 5th Edition Megadungeon from EN Publishing
Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, and Amazon.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness from Palladium Books
- END DATE: Tue, November 28 2023 11:59 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Megaversal System
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $100 + S/H for the print versions of both books
- NOTE: Due to license restrictions, the core books are print-only. PDFs are available for some stretch goals. In addition, let’s address the elephant in the room: Palladium Books has a mixed history when it comes to crowdfunding (see the Robotech® RPG Tactics™ Kickstarter miniatures game and its failure to fully deliver). That said, as reprints of books from one of their oldest TTRPGs, this project is within their wheelhouse and more likely to be a success.
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness is likely to join the million-dollar crowdfunding club before the campaign ends. This is a nostalgia project, generating as much interest as a D&D announcement, if the EN World forums are any measure. This campaign offers two hardcover reprints of the original rulebooks that many kids in the 1980s owned. With errata updates, edits, and new art by TMNT creators Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird as well as Sophie Campbell, Larry Elmore, David Petersen, Steven Cummings, and many more, these books bring that childhood feel back to the gaming table. They offer revised versions of the original corebook, the Turtles Go Hollywood adventure book, the Truckin' Turtles adventure book, the Transdimensional TMNT sourcebook, the Guide to the Universe sourcebook, original comics by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, 5 new mutant animals (the Gecko, Great White Shark, Ring-Tailed Lemur, Penguin, and Alligator Snapping Turtle), and more. If you played this TTRPG back in the day (or just made endless characters through its random tables, like I did) this campaign may rekindle your love of that era of gaming.
Grimtooth's Old-School Traps for 5E and DCC from Goodman Games
- END DATE: Nov 28, 2023 at 7:00pm EST.
- CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition and Dungeon Crawl Classics
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $47.99 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book and adventure
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Many years ago, I interviewed Grimtooth, so I’m excited to see this project. This Backerkit takes the classic Grimtooth traps and updates them in a beautiful tome for use with either Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition or Dungeon Crawl Classics. No more playing with traps your characters might survive! With these books you’ll be able to roll new parties encounter-after-encounter. Your players will welcome a Tarrasque encounter after falling through the fifteenth meatgrinder pit trap hidden below a doorway. Each trap has a skull rating suggesting its deadliness, which is silly because Grimtooth only does deadly. <Wink> If you need traps for 5e or DCC, I highly recommend these as they’re classic, funny, and a pleasure for the GM to spring on the table.
SCIENTIFIC BARBARIAN No.6 from Mudpuppy Games
- END DATE: Tue, November 28 2023 8:59 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): OSR and “roughly formatted in [Mutant Crawl Classics] style”
- PROJECT TYPE: Megazine
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $17 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the zine
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Let’s start with the cover, a beautiful homage to Thundarr the Barbarian. That alone is enough to make me want to own this issue; however, Jim Wampler doesn’t stop there. Inside, Mark Hunt gives us a guide for “How To Play Thundarr the Barbarian in Your Favorite RPG” plus a Thundarr-inspired mini-adventure by Tim Snider as well as an editorial titled “Sorcery is Science” from The Hero's Journey RPG creator, James M. Spahn. It’s a lot of homage to one of the best characters from Saturday morning cartoons. Add to that, a review of Jack Vance’s The Dying Earth books. If you’re a fan of science sorcery and OSR TTRPGs, this 100-page megazine is worth grabbing.
Eclipse Phase Character Options from Posthuman Studios
- END DATE: Nov 28, 2023 at 10:00pm EST.
- CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
- SYSTEM(S): Eclipse Phase 2nd Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $75 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Eclipse Phase is a sci-fi TTRPG about the losing side of a humanity vs AI war: the transhumans. Living on colonies, transhumans are on the brink and only a dedicated effort will keep them from being wiped out. With the move to Eclipse Phase 2nd Edition, Posthuman Studios updates a 1e sourcebook with additional information and 2e rules, in this case the lifepath character creation along with the Morph Recognition Guide. Eclipse Phase Character Options is a 152-page book featuring the tools you’ll need to make better Eclipse Phase characters. If you’re a fan of Eclipse Phase, this Backerkit campaign is worth reading through.
The Big Store: A Con Game TTRPG from ndp design
- END DATE: Wed, November 29 2023 2:59 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): A version of the system used in World Wide Wrestling
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $10 for the PDF of the game
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? For fans of The Sting, Ocean's Eleven, The Rockford Files, and Leverage, this TTRPG is a con game in which your characters are “confidence tricksters running a game on a greedy mark.” You make your living as a movie-style con artist, and in each session, you pull a job. Your target, the mark, has all the right qualities: Rich, greedy, and villainous. Your characters will create a false narrative of make believe as you prepare to lift their money. The stakes are high, but the payoff is worth the risk. If you want to pull a confidence job, this is the TTRPG for you.
The Gun Belt - The Roleplaying Game from Geekster Games
- END DATE: Sat, November 18 2023 9:00 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): An original system
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $25 for the PDF of the quickstart and the core rulebook
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? On a planet famed for its deposits of levitite, a resource that makes mountains float and gives humans powers, you’ll play as cowboys, aliens, and robots, all mounted on dinosaurs. Take everything an American child in the 1950s thought was cool, put it together, and you have The Gun Belt. Using a simple system open to all-ages of play, young and adult, this game takes a fantastical approach to the subject of other worlds and what we’ll find there. On the corporateplanet Hell, you’re living to enrich the LeviCorp, unless you can make your own way. While this project is influenced by the tales of the Wild West, it is a sci-fi project and the campaign mentions that it is not meant to represent that time period or the difficult historic moments that occurred then. If the idea of sixshooters, triceratops, and Area 51 interests you, check out the campaign page for a quickstart version of the game. But hurry, this one ends soon.
Gruss Vom Krampus from Deeply Dapper Games
- END DATE: Thu, November 30 2023 11:55 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): MÖRK BORG
- PROJECT TYPE: Adventure
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $30 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
- AI STATEMENT: “Deeply Dapper continues its proud tradition of using minimal intelligence in their designs, artificial or otherwise. ALL ART is drawn by human hand or goat hoof.”
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This TTRPG offers a merry MÖRK BORG bringing Krampus Christmas to you and your players, complete with classic cards and holiday horror. If you’re a fan of wintery warriors and snowy slaughter, this project offers something special for the holiday season. The 100-page rulebook serves as a winter toolkit featuring revised classic artwork, familiar MB rules, and monstrous mayhem. While physical delivery is planned for 2024, the PDF proof of GRUSS VOM KRAMPUS will be sent out before Christmas. The physical greeting cards will ship before Christmas 2023 to US backers. If you’re a fan of MB and holiday themed projects, this is worth exploring.
Vault of Splintered Souls: A D&D 5th Edition Megadungeon from EN Publishing
- END DATE: Thu, November 30 2023 12:19 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: Adventure
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £10 for the PDF of the dungeon
- DISCLAIMER: EN World is a subsidiary of EN Publishing
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? A 100-page, 14-floor megadungeon for characters level 6 to 10. Offered as a book and optional map, this project gives you a deep delve to run your players through during the best character levels for dungeon crawling. With new monsters and treasures, this is perfect for fans of 5e and EN Publishing’s other adventures.
Egg Embry participates in the OneBookShelf Affiliate Program, Noble Knight Games’ Affiliate Program, and is an Amazon Associate. These programs provide advertising fees by linking to DriveThruRPG, Noble Knight Games, and Amazon.
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