After 121 articles, Angus Abranson moved on from this column to focus on other projects, including Boardgame Guru. Taking up the reins, I have a tall order to fill, but Angus offered guidance (we co-admin the RPG Kickstarter News Facebook group) and I’m hopeful I will do his legacy honor. To kick off my first article for this Thanksgiving week (US), I’m reviewing a number of RPGs from Kickstarter that run on D&D 5e, DCC, VtM 5e, PbtA, and more. Enjoy EN World’s weekly roundup of tabletop roleplaying game crowdfunding campaigns and have a good holiday!
Chicago By Night - for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition by Onyx Path Publishing
(Campaign Ends: Thursday, 29 November 2018 12:00 PM EST)
“Chicago By Night, an updated edition of White Wolf’s bestselling city book, will be Onyx Path Publishing’s first supplement for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. In this hardcover supplement, you will find descriptions of most of the Kindred inhabitants of Chicago, complete with 5th Edition writeups; the secret history of Chicago with detailed maps and geographical details; relationship details and factions; and dozens of encounters organized by theme, which provide Storytellers a means to make the setting come alive for the players.
Originally released in 1991, the first Chicago by Night was an iconic release for Vampire: The Masquerade, establishing format and style for many supplements to follow. In addition to a revised Second Edition version, the book had many supplements that introduced important characters and stories to the lore of Vampire: The Masquerade. This Chicago By Night Kickstarter is designed to enable us to create a prestige hardcover edition designed to sit proudly alongside Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition core book. We want to create an 8.5” x 11” hardcover with a beautifully designed, full-color cover image featuring the Windy City. We estimate the book to be more than 240+ pages, with a full-color interior and endpapers on high-quality paper stock.”
The recent article on EN World about the “end” of White Wolf (read it here) points toward a future of WW licenses. “...White Wolf will develop the guiding principles for its vision of the World of Darkness, and give licensees the tools they need to create new, excellent products in this story world. White Wolf will no longer develop and publish these products internally.” At this point, it is reasonable to assume that Onyx Path Publishing has the inside track on gaining that license. If so, this book may will represent their vision of VtM 5e.
The Black Iron - Horror Fantasy RPG by FGFantasy
(Campaign Ends: Friday, November 30 2018 10:45 AM EST)
“The Black Iron is a dark fantasy, survival-horror tabletop RPG set in a demon-infested post-apocalyptic world
The Black Iron is a dark horror based fantasy RPG set after a war between elves and humans. Dark magick created by the elves was used to summon a ball of Black Iron to fall from the sky and destroy the human armies, but what it did was infect the land and mutate all those touched by the infection. The elves fled to another reality and the humans slowly died, those that could escape fled underground to the abandoned cities of the dwarfs.
The players are characters trying to survive in this new world, above ground the infection slowly spreads, engulfing the land and mutating everything it touches, the last city of the humans is protected by the mages who fight to hold back the corruption using magic, but even this is waning.
Below ground the humans survive in the abandoned cities and mines of the dwarfs, dealing with the horrors that exist there and the politics that comes with power struggles. The players can decide if they come from the cities below or the last city above, with a number of profession types that reflect the world in unique and interesting ways.
The game is powered by a d6 dice pool system which is both fast and intuitive. The player's attributes determine the number of dice rolled and their skill gives the number needed to equal or better with the difficulty deciding the number of successes needed. The book will be a 8x11 300 page tome with everything you need to play, no separate players or GM books. It will be in full colour on high-quality paper.”
Thousand Arrows: a Samurai Action & Drama TTRPG by Galileo Games
(Campaign Ends: Friday, November 30 2018 7:00 PM EST)
“Thousand Arrows is a Powered by the Apocalypse tabletop roleplaying game of samurai drama and action by way of Kurosawa and Chanbara. It is the sixteenth century. All Japan is at war. Feudal warlords called “big names,” rising from the knight caste, have carved the nation into warring states. Chivalric virtue, Buddhist moderation, friendship, and loyalty fade and fall before the hunger for conquest and glory. The grand prize? None other than Japan’s unification under a single master. And then? Perhaps all Asia is next. Thousand Arrows is the story of the Japanese Warring States Period’s leaders—knight-commanders, Buddhist teachers, spymasters, peasant revolutionaries, even the gods and spirits themselves—as they establish themselves and direct the course of history.
Thousand Arrows is a tabletop role-playing game, in which three to six players assume the personae of commanding figures in a fictional Japan parallel to our historical one. Another player, Tenchi, describes the world and supporting cast around them as the main characters’ players describe their struggles and successes. A set of rules informed by the roll of six-sided dice helps guide the storytelling conversation, keeping outcomes unpredictable. The story you tell will be worthy of historical narratives like the Tale of the Heike, period dramas like Kurosawa Akira’s films, or comic books like Path of the Assassin.”
By backing the game at any level, you immediately gain access to the ashcan edition of Thousand Arrows. I had the opportunity to play this with Chris Tang of DriveThruRPG (GM) as well as Sean Hillman of EN World and several of our friends. It’s a variant of Powered by the Apocalypse, it’s collaborative, it’s set in a war, you have roleplaying phases and war phases throughout the game, and it was excellent even as a rough draft edition.
Turn: A Tabletop Roleplaying Game by Brie Sheldon
(Campaign Ends: Friday, November 30 2018 11:59 PM EST)
“Turn is a slice-of-life supernatural roleplaying game about shapeshifters in small, rural towns who struggle between their beast and human sides in a quiet drama, while trying to find balance and community. Turn is made for two to four players plus a facilitator in the Town Manager role, and is designed for multiple session play. Each session should take about 3-4 hours. Play is open-ended, and can continue as long as players find new elements to explore in their town and in themselves. While this RPG is designed for long-form play, with the Kickstarter we're releasing a convention play packet to help you create memorable one-shot play experiences. Turn includes interlocking character sheets to represent your human roles and beast archetypes. You will also create your town map together at the table on the template we provide. The Town Manager will have their own checklists, references, and records sheets to make facilitating the game easier.
This Kickstarter will fund a print run of the already-completed game as a 6” x 9” book with visual art by Rhis Harris and John W. Sheldon, and poetry by A.J. Odasso. The game is a creation of Brie Beau Sheldon, with developmental editing by John W. Sheldon and Tracy Barnett. The Kickstarter is being guided by Tracy as a consultant, combining Brie’s experience with Tracy’s to help guarantee success.
In Turn, players will play out slice-of-life stories. This means that while they will encounter crises and drama, it is not often life-or-death outside the normal experiences of a human or beast. The overarching plot of a season of Turn may be something like a local town election with heated debates and threats to the land where the beasts roam, or maybe a family member of one or more shifters is struggling financially or with their health and the shifter players have to try to help them through it. There can be complicated relationships in these small towns, and players will have the opportunity to explore the skeletons in the closets of even the most secretive non-player characters. They even have to deal with the problems animals do, like finding food and mates, or keeping their homes safe.”
Kamigakari: God Hunters - Modern Action Anime Roleplaying by Serpent Sea Games
(Campaign Ends: Saturday, December 1 2018 12:00 AM EST)
“A tabletop RPG from Japan about secret societies, soul-eating monsters, gods of destruction, and the anime heroes that fight them! Kamigakari: God Hunters is a tabletop role-playing game set in modern-day Japan that combines centuries of Japanese mythology with a modern-day setting and urban fantasy action. You play as a God Hunter, a being wielding supernatural strength, magical abilities, and reality-warping spiritual powers. Your mission is to protect an unsuspecting populace from evil beings known as Aramitama, and to prevent the supernatural from leaking into the public eye.
Originally, the game was released in Japan by Arclight Games on November 2013 as Legendary Arms RPG Kamigakari, to great popularity. In January 2017, a text-only fan translation appeared on the internet, exposing Kamigakari to the attention of English-speaking RPG fans world wide, and creating a thriving fanbase that continues to grow to this day!
The world of Kamigakari features a distinctly seinen action anime and style to it. With crazy abilities and flashy powers, it's an over-the-top world where you can battle kaijus, giant robots, gods and demons all under the same umbrella. The system is designed to keep interactions as simple and intuitive as possible, for an easy pick-up-and-play. Kamigakari splits its play up into "scenes", which are short, episodic and will often split the focus onto individual players. It's a different experience compared to western systems that often assume the party is always together, which allows for more varied and engaging character focus and development.”
HYPERBOREA: Players' Manual, Referee's Screen, and more! by North Wind Adventures
(Campaign Ends: Saturday, December 1 2018 12:00 AM EST)
“Four new products for AS&SH: Players' Manual, Referee's Screen, Player Character Folder, Rats in the Walls and Other Perils (module). From North Wind Adventures, an exciting new Kickstarter campaign for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea™, a role-playing game of swords, sorcery, and weird fantasy. This bundle features four new products intended to improve the fun and excitement of your AS&SH™ game day.
The Hyperborea Players’ Manual compiles Volumes I, II, and III of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, as originally presented in the AS&SH 2E hardback. The milieux of AS&SH are inspired by the fantastic literature of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith. AS&SH rules and conventions are informed by the original 1974 fantasy wargame and miniatures campaign rules as conceived by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
The Hyperborea Players’ Manual contains all the information that you need to play AS&SH, including character creation, spells, and adventure and combat rules. You can play a fighter, magician, cleric, or thief, or one of their many subclasses: barbarian, berserker, cataphract, huntsman, paladin, ranger, or warlock; cryomancer, illusionist, necromancer, pyromancer, orwitch; druid, monk, priest, runegraver, or shaman; assassin, bard, legerdemainist, purloiner, or scout. Character races include Amazons, Atlanteans, Esquimaux, Hyperboreans, Ixians, Kelts, Kimmerians, Picts, and several lost or moribund racial derivations, plus a variety of admixtures. This 8½ ×11-inch softcover book will feature Smyth-sewn binding glued to a durable cover with gatefold flaps and heavy interior pages. The book is estimated at about 300 pages. Errata are being incorporated, and we also will include a full index.”
The Ice Kingdoms: The Fires of Mount Surtur by Mad Martian Games
(Campaign Ends: Saturday, December 1 2018 7:35 AM EST)
“An adventure for the Ice Kingdoms Campaign Setting by Mad Martian Games. Deep in the heart of Mount Surtur an ancient evil long thought vanquished is stirring. Can your heroes protect the Ice Kingdoms from the legacy of the fire giants?
The Ice Kingdoms is a fantasy setting inspired by and designed for old school RPGs. We love the ‘feel’ of old school games (such as pre-3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons) and their rules, so we are creating game material that is compatible with several modern game systems that use the Open Game License to ‘retro-clone’ those classic games. The Ice Kingdoms is compatible with OSRIC and For Gold & Glory, and our books can also be used with Swords & Wizardry, Basic Fantasy Role-Playing, and Labyrinth Lord with only very minimal conversion, as well as the original editions upon which these games are based. We are currently working to convert our earlier projects to other game systems such as Pathfinder, 3rd Edition and 5th edition. This Kickstarter will cover one of our adventures planned from the first Kickstarter we ran in 2016: The Fires of Mount Surtur. In addition we have a supplemental Compiled Bestiary in the works that will be released as part of this Kickstarter.
For this project we have enlisted the talents of Grant Hoeflinger to handle the writing of the core adventure with the support of writers Moses Wildermuth (For Gold & Glory) and Chris Lites (Dust Adventures, Conan) and more to handle the writing chores while RW Stenberg continues to handle the art direction. In addition we have past products available written by James Ward and are currently working with Richard Knaak on developing several monsters for a future release. The base funding goal will cover the creation of the art for The Fires of Mount Surtur.”
Never Going Home: World War Occult Role Playing by Wet Ink Games
(Campaign Ends: Monday, December 3 2018 8:00 PM EST)
“On the first day of fighting at the Somme something happened which thinned the veil between this world and the world of the Others. Soon after came the Whispers. From just behind a soldier’s ear voices told them how they could win. Some resisted, and the Others drove them mad. Some accepted their instructions and sold their humanity for arcane powers. Strange enemies now stalk the battlefield and many soldiers have become twisted parodies of their past selves.
Inspired by the World War Occult art of Charles Ferguson-Avery, Wet Ink Games is ready to bring you into the horror-haunted trenches and march you through the terror-torn battlefields of the First World War. Create a soldier, choose your Whispers, join your fellow survivors, fight for your lives, and protect your humanity as long as you can. You are never going home...
Never Going Home: World War Occult Role Playing is powered by a simple and easy to learn rules set, loosely based on the Compass System used in Wet Ink Games’ previous game. Players roll D6 equal to skill proficiency and may manipulate die results a number of different ways based on attributes in an effort to meet or exceed the difficulty (a number of successes required) per check. A success is considered a 5 or 6 on the die, but each roll can be manipulated a number of times equal to the associated attribute to raise or reroll a die, but also to add dice to a roll, or even to roll a skill you may not have. The higher an attribute is, the more a character can manipulate the roll, but considering each attribute is a marker of your health and can be reduced means options and proficiency are also reduced as a character is damaged.”
5TDM: 5th Edition Team Deathmatch by Defy Danger
(Campaign Ends: Tuesday, December 4 2018 11:59 PM EST)
“A team-based, PvP competitive tabletop arena for the world's most popular roleplaying game. This game is an action RPG about strengthening the bonds you already have with the friends in your gaming group, or forming new bonds of friendship, in the face of shared adversity and the greatest challenge. Nothing beats the thrill of coming together to defeat a seemingly insurmountable foe. 5TDM doesn't pull any punches. It puts you through the wringer and lets your group emerge closer to each other than ever. It is competitive, but not toxic.
Small groups of player characters are pitted against each other in a no-holds-barred frenzy of carnage in a team-based, player-vs-player competition. 5th Edition Team Deathmatch is a contest of skill, wits, and luck. 5TDM is about winning the world's most popular roleplaying game.
THIS GAME IS FINISHED! We are running this Kickstarter campaign in order to raise funds for editing, layout, final art, and printing. Backers will receive the fully playable rough draft documents at the very start of the campiagn.This is a 100+ page book with twenty original maps, custom rules for competitive team vs. team play, a strategy guide, a guide to running your own matches, and a guide to running tournaments.
Necrotopia: Handbook to the Apocalypse Book One by Keenan Dunham
(Campaign Ends: Wednesday, December 5 2018 2:34 AM EST)
“Necrotopia is an Apocalyptic RPG where you and your friends battle through multiple Apocalypses. Faced with invasion of evil forces through portals, travel across worlds after you master use of portals. Original story and art with unique characters and settings. Uses a D6 game system with move creation that is simple and highly customizable. Create a character in 5 minutes and play a session within an hour. Fun for veteran RPG players and new players.
Necrotopia is a role playing game written and developed by Keenan Dunham. This is an independent project of a combination of ideas and stories Keenan has created. Our goal is to release the first 30 page stand alone rule-set book, and expand the Necrotopia Universe after that with more campaign books. With the limited time-frame of the first kickstarter we will only be releasing the 30 page rule-set book along with some special bonuses. Artists are being paid up front for original art used, not from promises of future money. Some art used is public domain.
The game itself is meant to be a beginners pen and paper role-playing game that can appeal to anyone. It is simple and highly customizable. Here is a sample of the story from book one: "Necrotopia’s story begins with sparks of an invasion of demonic and inter-dimensional forces attacking Earth, initiating a battle for survival and conquest. There is a battle between Heaven and Hell brewing and you and your friends are caught in the middle. What happens depends on you with one person taking the role of Game Maestro and the rest taking the roles of role playing characters." We hope you and your friends have a ton of fun with this game!”
The following campaigns are finishing in the next week
Chicago By Night - for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition by Onyx Path Publishing
(Campaign Ends: Thursday, 29 November 2018 12:00 PM EST)
“Chicago By Night, an updated edition of White Wolf’s bestselling city book, will be Onyx Path Publishing’s first supplement for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. In this hardcover supplement, you will find descriptions of most of the Kindred inhabitants of Chicago, complete with 5th Edition writeups; the secret history of Chicago with detailed maps and geographical details; relationship details and factions; and dozens of encounters organized by theme, which provide Storytellers a means to make the setting come alive for the players.
Originally released in 1991, the first Chicago by Night was an iconic release for Vampire: The Masquerade, establishing format and style for many supplements to follow. In addition to a revised Second Edition version, the book had many supplements that introduced important characters and stories to the lore of Vampire: The Masquerade. This Chicago By Night Kickstarter is designed to enable us to create a prestige hardcover edition designed to sit proudly alongside Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition core book. We want to create an 8.5” x 11” hardcover with a beautifully designed, full-color cover image featuring the Windy City. We estimate the book to be more than 240+ pages, with a full-color interior and endpapers on high-quality paper stock.”
The recent article on EN World about the “end” of White Wolf (read it here) points toward a future of WW licenses. “...White Wolf will develop the guiding principles for its vision of the World of Darkness, and give licensees the tools they need to create new, excellent products in this story world. White Wolf will no longer develop and publish these products internally.” At this point, it is reasonable to assume that Onyx Path Publishing has the inside track on gaining that license. If so, this book may will represent their vision of VtM 5e.
The Black Iron - Horror Fantasy RPG by FGFantasy
(Campaign Ends: Friday, November 30 2018 10:45 AM EST)
“The Black Iron is a dark fantasy, survival-horror tabletop RPG set in a demon-infested post-apocalyptic world
The Black Iron is a dark horror based fantasy RPG set after a war between elves and humans. Dark magick created by the elves was used to summon a ball of Black Iron to fall from the sky and destroy the human armies, but what it did was infect the land and mutate all those touched by the infection. The elves fled to another reality and the humans slowly died, those that could escape fled underground to the abandoned cities of the dwarfs.
The players are characters trying to survive in this new world, above ground the infection slowly spreads, engulfing the land and mutating everything it touches, the last city of the humans is protected by the mages who fight to hold back the corruption using magic, but even this is waning.
Below ground the humans survive in the abandoned cities and mines of the dwarfs, dealing with the horrors that exist there and the politics that comes with power struggles. The players can decide if they come from the cities below or the last city above, with a number of profession types that reflect the world in unique and interesting ways.
The game is powered by a d6 dice pool system which is both fast and intuitive. The player's attributes determine the number of dice rolled and their skill gives the number needed to equal or better with the difficulty deciding the number of successes needed. The book will be a 8x11 300 page tome with everything you need to play, no separate players or GM books. It will be in full colour on high-quality paper.”
Thousand Arrows: a Samurai Action & Drama TTRPG by Galileo Games
(Campaign Ends: Friday, November 30 2018 7:00 PM EST)
“Thousand Arrows is a Powered by the Apocalypse tabletop roleplaying game of samurai drama and action by way of Kurosawa and Chanbara. It is the sixteenth century. All Japan is at war. Feudal warlords called “big names,” rising from the knight caste, have carved the nation into warring states. Chivalric virtue, Buddhist moderation, friendship, and loyalty fade and fall before the hunger for conquest and glory. The grand prize? None other than Japan’s unification under a single master. And then? Perhaps all Asia is next. Thousand Arrows is the story of the Japanese Warring States Period’s leaders—knight-commanders, Buddhist teachers, spymasters, peasant revolutionaries, even the gods and spirits themselves—as they establish themselves and direct the course of history.
Thousand Arrows is a tabletop role-playing game, in which three to six players assume the personae of commanding figures in a fictional Japan parallel to our historical one. Another player, Tenchi, describes the world and supporting cast around them as the main characters’ players describe their struggles and successes. A set of rules informed by the roll of six-sided dice helps guide the storytelling conversation, keeping outcomes unpredictable. The story you tell will be worthy of historical narratives like the Tale of the Heike, period dramas like Kurosawa Akira’s films, or comic books like Path of the Assassin.”
By backing the game at any level, you immediately gain access to the ashcan edition of Thousand Arrows. I had the opportunity to play this with Chris Tang of DriveThruRPG (GM) as well as Sean Hillman of EN World and several of our friends. It’s a variant of Powered by the Apocalypse, it’s collaborative, it’s set in a war, you have roleplaying phases and war phases throughout the game, and it was excellent even as a rough draft edition.
Turn: A Tabletop Roleplaying Game by Brie Sheldon
(Campaign Ends: Friday, November 30 2018 11:59 PM EST)
“Turn is a slice-of-life supernatural roleplaying game about shapeshifters in small, rural towns who struggle between their beast and human sides in a quiet drama, while trying to find balance and community. Turn is made for two to four players plus a facilitator in the Town Manager role, and is designed for multiple session play. Each session should take about 3-4 hours. Play is open-ended, and can continue as long as players find new elements to explore in their town and in themselves. While this RPG is designed for long-form play, with the Kickstarter we're releasing a convention play packet to help you create memorable one-shot play experiences. Turn includes interlocking character sheets to represent your human roles and beast archetypes. You will also create your town map together at the table on the template we provide. The Town Manager will have their own checklists, references, and records sheets to make facilitating the game easier.
This Kickstarter will fund a print run of the already-completed game as a 6” x 9” book with visual art by Rhis Harris and John W. Sheldon, and poetry by A.J. Odasso. The game is a creation of Brie Beau Sheldon, with developmental editing by John W. Sheldon and Tracy Barnett. The Kickstarter is being guided by Tracy as a consultant, combining Brie’s experience with Tracy’s to help guarantee success.
In Turn, players will play out slice-of-life stories. This means that while they will encounter crises and drama, it is not often life-or-death outside the normal experiences of a human or beast. The overarching plot of a season of Turn may be something like a local town election with heated debates and threats to the land where the beasts roam, or maybe a family member of one or more shifters is struggling financially or with their health and the shifter players have to try to help them through it. There can be complicated relationships in these small towns, and players will have the opportunity to explore the skeletons in the closets of even the most secretive non-player characters. They even have to deal with the problems animals do, like finding food and mates, or keeping their homes safe.”
Kamigakari: God Hunters - Modern Action Anime Roleplaying by Serpent Sea Games
(Campaign Ends: Saturday, December 1 2018 12:00 AM EST)
“A tabletop RPG from Japan about secret societies, soul-eating monsters, gods of destruction, and the anime heroes that fight them! Kamigakari: God Hunters is a tabletop role-playing game set in modern-day Japan that combines centuries of Japanese mythology with a modern-day setting and urban fantasy action. You play as a God Hunter, a being wielding supernatural strength, magical abilities, and reality-warping spiritual powers. Your mission is to protect an unsuspecting populace from evil beings known as Aramitama, and to prevent the supernatural from leaking into the public eye.
Originally, the game was released in Japan by Arclight Games on November 2013 as Legendary Arms RPG Kamigakari, to great popularity. In January 2017, a text-only fan translation appeared on the internet, exposing Kamigakari to the attention of English-speaking RPG fans world wide, and creating a thriving fanbase that continues to grow to this day!
The world of Kamigakari features a distinctly seinen action anime and style to it. With crazy abilities and flashy powers, it's an over-the-top world where you can battle kaijus, giant robots, gods and demons all under the same umbrella. The system is designed to keep interactions as simple and intuitive as possible, for an easy pick-up-and-play. Kamigakari splits its play up into "scenes", which are short, episodic and will often split the focus onto individual players. It's a different experience compared to western systems that often assume the party is always together, which allows for more varied and engaging character focus and development.”
HYPERBOREA: Players' Manual, Referee's Screen, and more! by North Wind Adventures
(Campaign Ends: Saturday, December 1 2018 12:00 AM EST)
“Four new products for AS&SH: Players' Manual, Referee's Screen, Player Character Folder, Rats in the Walls and Other Perils (module). From North Wind Adventures, an exciting new Kickstarter campaign for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea™, a role-playing game of swords, sorcery, and weird fantasy. This bundle features four new products intended to improve the fun and excitement of your AS&SH™ game day.
The Hyperborea Players’ Manual compiles Volumes I, II, and III of Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, as originally presented in the AS&SH 2E hardback. The milieux of AS&SH are inspired by the fantastic literature of Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith. AS&SH rules and conventions are informed by the original 1974 fantasy wargame and miniatures campaign rules as conceived by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
The Hyperborea Players’ Manual contains all the information that you need to play AS&SH, including character creation, spells, and adventure and combat rules. You can play a fighter, magician, cleric, or thief, or one of their many subclasses: barbarian, berserker, cataphract, huntsman, paladin, ranger, or warlock; cryomancer, illusionist, necromancer, pyromancer, orwitch; druid, monk, priest, runegraver, or shaman; assassin, bard, legerdemainist, purloiner, or scout. Character races include Amazons, Atlanteans, Esquimaux, Hyperboreans, Ixians, Kelts, Kimmerians, Picts, and several lost or moribund racial derivations, plus a variety of admixtures. This 8½ ×11-inch softcover book will feature Smyth-sewn binding glued to a durable cover with gatefold flaps and heavy interior pages. The book is estimated at about 300 pages. Errata are being incorporated, and we also will include a full index.”
The Ice Kingdoms: The Fires of Mount Surtur by Mad Martian Games
(Campaign Ends: Saturday, December 1 2018 7:35 AM EST)
“An adventure for the Ice Kingdoms Campaign Setting by Mad Martian Games. Deep in the heart of Mount Surtur an ancient evil long thought vanquished is stirring. Can your heroes protect the Ice Kingdoms from the legacy of the fire giants?
The Ice Kingdoms is a fantasy setting inspired by and designed for old school RPGs. We love the ‘feel’ of old school games (such as pre-3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons) and their rules, so we are creating game material that is compatible with several modern game systems that use the Open Game License to ‘retro-clone’ those classic games. The Ice Kingdoms is compatible with OSRIC and For Gold & Glory, and our books can also be used with Swords & Wizardry, Basic Fantasy Role-Playing, and Labyrinth Lord with only very minimal conversion, as well as the original editions upon which these games are based. We are currently working to convert our earlier projects to other game systems such as Pathfinder, 3rd Edition and 5th edition. This Kickstarter will cover one of our adventures planned from the first Kickstarter we ran in 2016: The Fires of Mount Surtur. In addition we have a supplemental Compiled Bestiary in the works that will be released as part of this Kickstarter.
For this project we have enlisted the talents of Grant Hoeflinger to handle the writing of the core adventure with the support of writers Moses Wildermuth (For Gold & Glory) and Chris Lites (Dust Adventures, Conan) and more to handle the writing chores while RW Stenberg continues to handle the art direction. In addition we have past products available written by James Ward and are currently working with Richard Knaak on developing several monsters for a future release. The base funding goal will cover the creation of the art for The Fires of Mount Surtur.”
Never Going Home: World War Occult Role Playing by Wet Ink Games
(Campaign Ends: Monday, December 3 2018 8:00 PM EST)
“On the first day of fighting at the Somme something happened which thinned the veil between this world and the world of the Others. Soon after came the Whispers. From just behind a soldier’s ear voices told them how they could win. Some resisted, and the Others drove them mad. Some accepted their instructions and sold their humanity for arcane powers. Strange enemies now stalk the battlefield and many soldiers have become twisted parodies of their past selves.
Inspired by the World War Occult art of Charles Ferguson-Avery, Wet Ink Games is ready to bring you into the horror-haunted trenches and march you through the terror-torn battlefields of the First World War. Create a soldier, choose your Whispers, join your fellow survivors, fight for your lives, and protect your humanity as long as you can. You are never going home...
Never Going Home: World War Occult Role Playing is powered by a simple and easy to learn rules set, loosely based on the Compass System used in Wet Ink Games’ previous game. Players roll D6 equal to skill proficiency and may manipulate die results a number of different ways based on attributes in an effort to meet or exceed the difficulty (a number of successes required) per check. A success is considered a 5 or 6 on the die, but each roll can be manipulated a number of times equal to the associated attribute to raise or reroll a die, but also to add dice to a roll, or even to roll a skill you may not have. The higher an attribute is, the more a character can manipulate the roll, but considering each attribute is a marker of your health and can be reduced means options and proficiency are also reduced as a character is damaged.”
5TDM: 5th Edition Team Deathmatch by Defy Danger
(Campaign Ends: Tuesday, December 4 2018 11:59 PM EST)
“A team-based, PvP competitive tabletop arena for the world's most popular roleplaying game. This game is an action RPG about strengthening the bonds you already have with the friends in your gaming group, or forming new bonds of friendship, in the face of shared adversity and the greatest challenge. Nothing beats the thrill of coming together to defeat a seemingly insurmountable foe. 5TDM doesn't pull any punches. It puts you through the wringer and lets your group emerge closer to each other than ever. It is competitive, but not toxic.
Small groups of player characters are pitted against each other in a no-holds-barred frenzy of carnage in a team-based, player-vs-player competition. 5th Edition Team Deathmatch is a contest of skill, wits, and luck. 5TDM is about winning the world's most popular roleplaying game.
THIS GAME IS FINISHED! We are running this Kickstarter campaign in order to raise funds for editing, layout, final art, and printing. Backers will receive the fully playable rough draft documents at the very start of the campiagn.This is a 100+ page book with twenty original maps, custom rules for competitive team vs. team play, a strategy guide, a guide to running your own matches, and a guide to running tournaments.
Necrotopia: Handbook to the Apocalypse Book One by Keenan Dunham
(Campaign Ends: Wednesday, December 5 2018 2:34 AM EST)
“Necrotopia is an Apocalyptic RPG where you and your friends battle through multiple Apocalypses. Faced with invasion of evil forces through portals, travel across worlds after you master use of portals. Original story and art with unique characters and settings. Uses a D6 game system with move creation that is simple and highly customizable. Create a character in 5 minutes and play a session within an hour. Fun for veteran RPG players and new players.
Necrotopia is a role playing game written and developed by Keenan Dunham. This is an independent project of a combination of ideas and stories Keenan has created. Our goal is to release the first 30 page stand alone rule-set book, and expand the Necrotopia Universe after that with more campaign books. With the limited time-frame of the first kickstarter we will only be releasing the 30 page rule-set book along with some special bonuses. Artists are being paid up front for original art used, not from promises of future money. Some art used is public domain.
The game itself is meant to be a beginners pen and paper role-playing game that can appeal to anyone. It is simple and highly customizable. Here is a sample of the story from book one: "Necrotopia’s story begins with sparks of an invasion of demonic and inter-dimensional forces attacking Earth, initiating a battle for survival and conquest. There is a battle between Heaven and Hell brewing and you and your friends are caught in the middle. What happens depends on you with one person taking the role of Game Maestro and the rest taking the roles of role playing characters." We hope you and your friends have a ton of fun with this game!”
The following campaigns are finishing in the next week
- DCC Annual (and other forbidden tomes) by Goodman Games (Campaign Ends: Monday, November 26 2018 2:59 AM EST): “At long last, the elusive first official expansion for DCC RPG, six years in the making: the DCC Annual. And other forbidden artifacts!”
- Lamp's Light Sanitarium: A Horror Sourcebook for 5th Ed. by Saturday Morning Scenarios (Campaign Ends: Wednesday, November 28 2018 9:32 AM EST): “A horror campaign setting for the 5th edition of world's most famous roleplaying game.” If you want more details, and an exclusive preview, read EN World’s interview with Matt Corley here.
