Welcome back to our weekly look at tabletop roleplaying game, and accessories, crowdfunding roundup! Each week we’ll be looking at a few campaigns currently running that have caught our eye as well as occasionally speaking to some of the creators about their campaigns, or looking at some of the ‘behind the scenes’ business aspects of putting together, launching, operating and then delivering a crowdfunded project. If you have anything you’d like us to cover, or questions about anything we talk about, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or contact me directly.
[h=3]Dusk City Outlaws by Scratchpad Publishing[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Tuesday 28th February 2017; 17:02 UTC)
The eagerly awaited Dusk City Outlaws is a fantasy setting inspired by ‘heist/long con’ style movies and shows such as Leverage and Ocean’s Eleven. Characters are thieves who belong to one of the eight cartels that rule the criminal underworld in this massive fantasy city. The characters come together, forming a crew, to take on jobs, plan and execute schemes and, in doing so, hopefully earning the respect of their peers.
The game comes as a boxed set, with all the game materials needed for an entire gaming group to start playing. The game is designed to be easy to start playing, even on a moment’s notice. Once all of the players are familiar with the rules, it takes only minutes for one player to read through th scenario while the other players quickly make characters.
Dusk City Outlaws has a streamlined rules set that uses a sleek narrative dice system and player-empowering special abilities to let the players craft a story about a daring heist or a long con without slowing the game down to consult a rulebook. Everything the players need to know stays on the table in front of them for the duration of the game. For the Judge, the game’s setting is a fantasy city sandbox, and the game provides a resource system that lets the Judge easily react to player actions and providing interesting challenges and plot twists without the need for advanced preparation.
The game is created and designed by Rodney Thompson who many will know as one of the designers of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition as well as board games such as Lords of Waterdeep and Tyrants of the Underdark. The supporting team also have an impressive resume which even include John Rogers (the creator of the Leverage TV show) who is creating one of the scenarios in the boxed set.
[h=3]Cold Shadows – Narrative Espionage Roleplaying by Gallant Knight Games[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Friday 3rd March 2017; 00:00 UTC)
When Alan Bahr started talking about his ideas for a new spy game last year I was instantly interested. Not only am I fan of Alan’s work but am a diehard fan of James Bond, The Americans and the works of Frederick Forsyth, Robert Harris, Len Deighton, Tom Clancy and John le Carre.
Cold Shadows is a tabletop roleplaying game built on the ruleset developed in Blood & Honor by John Wick presents and World of Dew by Woerner Wunderwerks. Cold Shadows is a narrative tabletop role-playing game where the rules are focused on telling a dynamic, personal and compelling story. The game is set in a taut world of espionage, betrayal, and drama inspired by the great spy stories of authors such as John le Carre and Robert Ludlum.
Cold Shadows is written to evoke the feeling of the Cold War era of spies both in modern and historical context. The game can easily be used to tell espionage stories in any 20th and 21st century time-frame.
Cold Shadows is a game about story, tension, bursts of violence and drama. Characters deal with ongoing issues such as betrayal inside their own agency, paranoia, suspicion, patriotism, and struggle to gain the resources they need from the Director.
Stretch goals have been unlocking new chapters exploring different locations such as Cairo, Tel Aviv, London, Paris, Beijing and Manila, as well as additional chapters covering classic spy Gadgets and Gear.
[h=3]Fear’s Sharp Little Needles, adventures for Call of Cthulhu by Stygian Fox Publishing[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 1st March 2017; 10:04 UTC)
Stephanie McAlea’s Stygian Fox Publishing have been making a name for themselves with not only some great Kickstarters but also some great products they’ve released without the help of crowdfunding. In this latest campaign she has gathered up a host of talented authors to write a collection of modern-era Call of Cthulhu scenarios playable in a single evening. The collection takes a decidedly darker edge, name checking shows such as True Detective and Hannibal.
The adventures deal with squalor, dark secrets, underground vice, and a host of other environments and elements. Gangland criminals, psychopaths, cultists, and Great Old Ones can all be found within these pages. Horror stretches its tendrils across the globe and, as such, please be aware that some of the themes are quite mature and are suitable for adult gamers only.
[h=3]Wearing the Cape: The Role Playing Game by Marion G. Harmon[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 5th March 2017; 05:00 UTC)
Wearing the Cape is a FATE powered superhero roleplaying game based upon Marion G. Harmon’s novel of the same name, published in 2011. Now a series of novels Marion has also spent the last two years, working with a team, to create a complete roleplaying setting and rulebook to bring the Post-Event world to another of his passions.
The campaign has already fully funded and added a couple of extra books through stretch goals. Barlow’s Guide to Superhumans and The B-Files, both of which expand the world setting looking at places and capes and villains – both ones that already exist in the novels and ones created by backers of the Kickstarter campaign that will become part of the universe.
[h=3]Sig: The Manual of the Primes by Jason Pitre[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Saturday 25th February 2017; 04:00 UTC)
Sig: Manual of the Primes is a 240 page full-colour hardcover 6” x 9” cosmopolitan fantasy RPG. The setting juxtaposes planar magics with urban drama, offering players the opportunity to travel to the planes of existence and explore the primal worlds.
WELCOME TO SIG
There is only one true city, a place of multiversal trade, cultural exchange, and mixed blood. A place where monsters come to scheme and gods come to die.
Sig is the nexus of the multiverse. It’s a city connected to everywhere, a refuge for the oppressed and a prize for tyrants. It’s a place where culture is at the forefront, with diverse faiths and tongues struggling for space in the crowded metropolis. It’s a city of families, both whole and broken.
Sig is also a launching point, allowing fools and heroes to venture into the eternal planes of existence. Each plane is made of concepts, of elements, of ideals that resonate through the entire ‘verse. The planes impose their own Beliefs on Sig and on the infinite primal worlds beyond.
Each of the planes is also home to unique peoples, from the Giants of the Elemental Plane of Stone to the Wyrms of the Ideological Plane of Destruction. The planes are home to might Powers: gods, demons, and stranger things which send their servitors to spread their faith into the City Between. The planes even offer resources to the bickering political Factions and warring guilds that control Sig’s hungry streets.
Visit the Elemental Plane of Flame to test yourself in scorched wastelands of the Crucible. Seek answers to hidden secrets in the Umbral Delta of the Conceptual Plane of Shadow. Defend yourself on The Final Court, where the Seven Magistrates provide final remedy to any injustice.
**********
If you like what we do here at EN World (the Forums, Columns, News, ENnies, etc) and would like to help support us to bring you MORE please consider supporting our Patreon. Even a single dollar helps Thanks!
**********
If you have a forthcoming Kickstarter, or see one that excites you, please feel free to drop me an email on angus.abranson@gmail.com You can follow me on Twitter @ Angus_A or on Facebook where I often post about gaming.
Until next week, have fun and happy gaming!
Angus Abranson
[h=3]Dusk City Outlaws by Scratchpad Publishing[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Tuesday 28th February 2017; 17:02 UTC)
The eagerly awaited Dusk City Outlaws is a fantasy setting inspired by ‘heist/long con’ style movies and shows such as Leverage and Ocean’s Eleven. Characters are thieves who belong to one of the eight cartels that rule the criminal underworld in this massive fantasy city. The characters come together, forming a crew, to take on jobs, plan and execute schemes and, in doing so, hopefully earning the respect of their peers.
The game comes as a boxed set, with all the game materials needed for an entire gaming group to start playing. The game is designed to be easy to start playing, even on a moment’s notice. Once all of the players are familiar with the rules, it takes only minutes for one player to read through th scenario while the other players quickly make characters.
Dusk City Outlaws has a streamlined rules set that uses a sleek narrative dice system and player-empowering special abilities to let the players craft a story about a daring heist or a long con without slowing the game down to consult a rulebook. Everything the players need to know stays on the table in front of them for the duration of the game. For the Judge, the game’s setting is a fantasy city sandbox, and the game provides a resource system that lets the Judge easily react to player actions and providing interesting challenges and plot twists without the need for advanced preparation.
The game is created and designed by Rodney Thompson who many will know as one of the designers of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition as well as board games such as Lords of Waterdeep and Tyrants of the Underdark. The supporting team also have an impressive resume which even include John Rogers (the creator of the Leverage TV show) who is creating one of the scenarios in the boxed set.
[h=3]Cold Shadows – Narrative Espionage Roleplaying by Gallant Knight Games[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Friday 3rd March 2017; 00:00 UTC)
When Alan Bahr started talking about his ideas for a new spy game last year I was instantly interested. Not only am I fan of Alan’s work but am a diehard fan of James Bond, The Americans and the works of Frederick Forsyth, Robert Harris, Len Deighton, Tom Clancy and John le Carre.
Cold Shadows is a tabletop roleplaying game built on the ruleset developed in Blood & Honor by John Wick presents and World of Dew by Woerner Wunderwerks. Cold Shadows is a narrative tabletop role-playing game where the rules are focused on telling a dynamic, personal and compelling story. The game is set in a taut world of espionage, betrayal, and drama inspired by the great spy stories of authors such as John le Carre and Robert Ludlum.
Cold Shadows is written to evoke the feeling of the Cold War era of spies both in modern and historical context. The game can easily be used to tell espionage stories in any 20th and 21st century time-frame.
Cold Shadows is a game about story, tension, bursts of violence and drama. Characters deal with ongoing issues such as betrayal inside their own agency, paranoia, suspicion, patriotism, and struggle to gain the resources they need from the Director.
Stretch goals have been unlocking new chapters exploring different locations such as Cairo, Tel Aviv, London, Paris, Beijing and Manila, as well as additional chapters covering classic spy Gadgets and Gear.
[h=3]Fear’s Sharp Little Needles, adventures for Call of Cthulhu by Stygian Fox Publishing[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Wednesday 1st March 2017; 10:04 UTC)
Stephanie McAlea’s Stygian Fox Publishing have been making a name for themselves with not only some great Kickstarters but also some great products they’ve released without the help of crowdfunding. In this latest campaign she has gathered up a host of talented authors to write a collection of modern-era Call of Cthulhu scenarios playable in a single evening. The collection takes a decidedly darker edge, name checking shows such as True Detective and Hannibal.
The adventures deal with squalor, dark secrets, underground vice, and a host of other environments and elements. Gangland criminals, psychopaths, cultists, and Great Old Ones can all be found within these pages. Horror stretches its tendrils across the globe and, as such, please be aware that some of the themes are quite mature and are suitable for adult gamers only.
[h=3]Wearing the Cape: The Role Playing Game by Marion G. Harmon[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Sunday 5th March 2017; 05:00 UTC)
Wearing the Cape is a FATE powered superhero roleplaying game based upon Marion G. Harmon’s novel of the same name, published in 2011. Now a series of novels Marion has also spent the last two years, working with a team, to create a complete roleplaying setting and rulebook to bring the Post-Event world to another of his passions.
The campaign has already fully funded and added a couple of extra books through stretch goals. Barlow’s Guide to Superhumans and The B-Files, both of which expand the world setting looking at places and capes and villains – both ones that already exist in the novels and ones created by backers of the Kickstarter campaign that will become part of the universe.
[h=3]Sig: The Manual of the Primes by Jason Pitre[/h]
(Campaign Ends : Saturday 25th February 2017; 04:00 UTC)
Sig: Manual of the Primes is a 240 page full-colour hardcover 6” x 9” cosmopolitan fantasy RPG. The setting juxtaposes planar magics with urban drama, offering players the opportunity to travel to the planes of existence and explore the primal worlds.
WELCOME TO SIG
There is only one true city, a place of multiversal trade, cultural exchange, and mixed blood. A place where monsters come to scheme and gods come to die.
Sig is the nexus of the multiverse. It’s a city connected to everywhere, a refuge for the oppressed and a prize for tyrants. It’s a place where culture is at the forefront, with diverse faiths and tongues struggling for space in the crowded metropolis. It’s a city of families, both whole and broken.
Sig is also a launching point, allowing fools and heroes to venture into the eternal planes of existence. Each plane is made of concepts, of elements, of ideals that resonate through the entire ‘verse. The planes impose their own Beliefs on Sig and on the infinite primal worlds beyond.
Each of the planes is also home to unique peoples, from the Giants of the Elemental Plane of Stone to the Wyrms of the Ideological Plane of Destruction. The planes are home to might Powers: gods, demons, and stranger things which send their servitors to spread their faith into the City Between. The planes even offer resources to the bickering political Factions and warring guilds that control Sig’s hungry streets.
Visit the Elemental Plane of Flame to test yourself in scorched wastelands of the Crucible. Seek answers to hidden secrets in the Umbral Delta of the Conceptual Plane of Shadow. Defend yourself on The Final Court, where the Seven Magistrates provide final remedy to any injustice.
**********
If you like what we do here at EN World (the Forums, Columns, News, ENnies, etc) and would like to help support us to bring you MORE please consider supporting our Patreon. Even a single dollar helps Thanks!
**********
If you have a forthcoming Kickstarter, or see one that excites you, please feel free to drop me an email on angus.abranson@gmail.com You can follow me on Twitter @ Angus_A or on Facebook where I often post about gaming.
Until next week, have fun and happy gaming!
Angus Abranson
