RPG Crowdfunding News – BBEG, Cloudbreaker Alliance, Clockwork Tower, and more

This week’s TTRPG crowdfunding sampler looks at projects that end between August 31 and September 6. As always, this is a taste of what’s available from a variety of crowdfunding sites.

BBEG from Jerry Joe Seltzer

• END DATE: Mon, September 4 2023 11:30 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $14 for the PDF of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Jerry Joe Seltzer of UnFamiliar: Release The Tiny Beasts fame has a new book with the best kind of 5e option: Campaign-level bosses. Need the big bad to pit your party against? BBEG (Big Bad Evil Guys) provides their stats, motivations, their backstory, organizations, and plots to weave them into your campaign. 100 to 110 pages of worldbuilding options so the setting feels ripe for the villain and your characters have extrinsic motivations to be in conflict with them. If you need some heavy hitting bads for your campaign, check the Kickstarter page for a free preview.

The Art of Taming: A Revealer's Journey from Foredice

• END DATE: Fri, September 1 2023 10:00 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: €20 for the PDF of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This book is all about adding 5e pets to your campaign. If you read “5e pets” as Familiar fodder, you’re not off base. The book includes a new class “which manifests its life essence in the form of a familiar creature.” Created by animal lovers, this sourcebook gives you new creatures to populate your fantasy world along with items, spells, and more. I mentioned Jerry Joe Seltzer’s UnFamiliar: Release The Tiny Beasts above and this is the type of book that could be an excellent companion to it. Need more pets? Check out the campaign page for a free preview.

Cloudbreaker Alliance - Counter Apocalyptic TRPG from CJ Leung

• END DATE: Fri, September 1 2023 9:58 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: AU$85 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book plus digital extras
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This TTRPG is inspired by Star Trek’s nature of exploration, Final Fantasy’s adventure and art style, and every popular traveling hero TV show of the 1970s and 1980s. Described as a counter-apocalyptic fantasy, your world is reaching the end of the apocalypse and it’s time to reconnect the isolated cultures. During the two millennium apocalypse, the world was cutoff by clouds of mist filled with horrors. As the clouds break up, the resurgent societies, beliefs, peoples, and tech levels vary. The use of the word “cloud” feels strategic, like this project is moving away from Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn, Stephen King’s The Mist, or John Carpenter’s The Fog, implying that it’s deep walls of distance between settlements, not a thin veil that kept the world apart. You’re setting out on an adventure into the unknown, going from outpost to outpost encountering long separated worlds and righting wrongs. Using a new 2d6 system, the campaign page boasts the use of “infographics, summaries and other pedagogical tools to make learning the game a breeze.” If you’re interested in an RPG about exploring and being the outsider that saves the town, this Kickstarter is worth checking out.

The Start Here Roleplaying Game from Tim Beach

• END DATE: Wed, September 6 2023 8:42 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $50 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the books
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? For new gamers, is the obstacle to roleplaying the amount of pre-knowledge and gameplay mechanics they feel that they have to internalize before picking up the dice? This project seeks to overcome that barrier to entry by creating an easy-to-use RPG that will not overwhelm first-time players. Why should you believe this is going to be the right first-time RPG? Because Tim Beach (TSR, Wizards of the Coast, Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Goodman Games, Ulisses Spiele) is working with Elisa Teague, Jamie Chambers, and Jennell Jaquays to design a game that will get new gamers to the table. The amount of game design experience powering this project will lead more gamers to the table. If you want to have a go-to option to get new players to try out RPG, this project sounds promising. UPDATED 2023-08-23: For more details on the system, see Tim's post below.

Clockwork Tower from Penny Blood Adventures

• END DATE: Sep 5, 2023 at 11:00pm EDT.
• CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $10 for the PDF of the book
• AI STATEMENT: “Right now, I have been using Stock Art and Midjourney. Moving forward, we will use a combination of illustrators, sketch artists, and stock art. You will see the credits expand for each contributor at the opening of each book.”
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This is a dungeon crawl with a plot. A time-bending tower lost for a century appeared in town. Where’s it been? What could be inside? Will it leave for another time? If so, when? Think clockworks and curious collections. This adventure opens up with a non-permanent dungeon, a mystery, and, for a clever GM, offer a chance to time travel.

Micro Dungeons: Second Annual Compendium from ND Hobbies

• END DATE: Thu, August 31 2023 1:58 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $40 + S/H for the compendium
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This book collects 50 dungeons and new monsters, all designed for one-shot 5e encounters. This is ND Hobbies’ second collection of adventures as they grow their library of encounter options. The dungeons include themes like winter, Halloween, Titans, and shipwrecks. If you need a book of quick encounters with maps, synopsis, and monsters all in one location, this campaign may be for you.

Alchemy Generator from Nerdbuilding

• END DATE: Sep 2, 2023 at 2:58am EDT.
• CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
• SYSTEM(S): System neutral
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $30 for the PDF and POD discount versions of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This is an RPG science sourcebook. Do you want your alchemy to feel in-depth? This book offers 182 pages of bases, catalysts, reagents, poisons, environments, and effects to make alchemy a deeper discipline. This is a project on Backerkit, and I want to call it out because it’s not hitting the funding highs it might if it were on Kickstarter. The book looks solid, but it may not be as widely seen as some projects, so it’s checking out to be sure you’re not missing out on a good sourcebook.

The Chateau of Stolen Memories: Tabletop RPG Adventure from Gaming Honors

• END DATE: Sat, September 2 2023 7:00 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeon Crawl Classics (DCC) or Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition
• PROJECT TYPE: Adventure
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $15 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the DCC version of the adventure
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Here’s the words you need to read: “Dungeon Crawl Classics” for 3rd level characters in a “hotel of the damned.” Inspired by the song "Hotel California" as well as the stories from The Shining and Memento, you know if this is right for your gaming table based on the system, setting, and that inspiration. So many adventures start at an inn, this one can end there. (While this feels very DCC, the adventure is available for 5e as well, so pick the system that works for your gaming table.)

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[sevenbastard]

I went to the Start Here page and it has zero info on how the game works? More on bios and setting.

Maybe it's in the video? Maybe i missed it?But what makes it easier to learn and what kind of rules are they?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Some times I think in the future the monster pets will be more popular in D&D and here Hasbro should worry about to arrive before with their own version of "mons" (collectable monsters) like Pokemon or Digimon.

 

[Tim Beach]

I went to the Start Here page and it has zero info on how the game works? More on bios and setting.

Maybe it's in the video? Maybe i missed it?But what makes it easier to learn and what kind of rules are they?

Yes, the video has a demo, and I updated the page with the basics in text last night, but here it is. There's one basic rule in Start Here: when you take an action, you make an Action Roll, by rolling a 20-sided due and adding the ability score appropriate for the action. The number you're trying to meet or beat is the other side's Target Number, which is usually 10 plus their ability score.
For example, if you want your character to Bluff, you roll and add Charisma. The number you're trying to match or beat is the other side's Perception, which is 10 plus their Wisdom.

It's easier because that's all there is to the Beginner's rules: six ability scores and a d20 for mechanics. There are four character archetypes (warrior, rogue, mage, and believer) and a handful of spells and weapons, but everything uses the core mechanic.
-- Tim Beach

 

[This Effin’ GM]

Throwing this in here for a friend, but also crowdfunding now for you Shadowdark fans: an adventure!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/youcarrythefirerpg/you-carry-the-fire-an-original-shadowdark-adventure

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It is interesting how it's often easy to tell at a glance that something is AI generated. (Something I'm sure will change in the future.) I'm not even sure I can put my finger on what it is -- maybe the excessive intricacy.

 

[Egg Embry]

Yes, the video has a demo, and I updated the page with the basics in text last night, but here it is. There's one basic rule in Start Here: when you take an action, you make an Action Roll, by rolling a 20-sided due and adding the ability score appropriate for the action. The number you're trying to meet or beat is the other side's Target Number, which is usually 10 plus their ability score.
For example, if you want your character to Bluff, you roll and add Charisma. The number you're trying to match or beat is the other side's Perception, which is 10 plus their Wisdom.

It's easier because that's all there is to the Beginner's rules: six ability scores and a d20 for mechanics. There are four character archetypes (warrior, rogue, mage, and believer) and a handful of spells and weapons, but everything uses the core mechanic.
-- Tim Beach

Tim, thanks for speaking to this. I'm looking forward to seeing your project in action!

 

[Lalato]

I've been away for a bit... and just went through all of the Crowdfunding articles I missed. Wow. Lots still popping.

Off to go update my lists of 5e Campaign Settings and Adventure Paths.

 

[Egg Embry]

I've been away for a bit... and just went through all of the Crowdfunding articles I missed. Wow. Lots still popping.

Off to go update my lists of 5e Campaign Settings and Adventure Paths.

Glad to have you back!