RPG CROWDFUNDING NEWS – Loot Tavern, Hit Point Press, Nat Two Press, and more

This article samples a selection of TTRPG crowdfunding campaigns closing between May 8 to 14. You’ll find 5e sourcebooks, some of the coolest 5e ideas a decade into the system, a collection of Old-School Essentials content, a superhero RPG, and a minitures kit designed to take on the road.

Zaman's Guide to the End of Time (And How to Fix It) from Loot Tavern

• END DATE: Thu, May 8 2025 3:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (2014 and 2024)
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $30 for the PDF of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? 5e, firearms, and time travel! This book provides a new class, The Gunner, more firearms, and ways to craft magical ammo. If you’re going to have fantasy and guns, you’re going to need mounts, and there are 8 new ones with the book. There’s an adventure, new species, subclasses, and more for your games. This is over 700 pages with a new paradox system Loot Tavern offers via this book is used to make time travel an interesting affair. The system is described as “allowing players to meddle with the past. Upon returning to the future, a player might find their hair colour is different, their backstory has changed, or they’ve become an entirely different race!” If you’re looking for a 5e expansion that offers some interesting ideas, this one may really expand what your gaming options are.

Humblewood: Beyond the Canopy from Hit Point Press

• END DATE: Thu, May 8 2025 3:01 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (2014 and 2024)
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $60 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This book expands on Humblewood with new species, new classes and subclasses, monsters, NPCs, a setting guide, and a mid-level adventure. Inspired by Redwall, The Secret of NIMH, and Bloomburrow, this is a fantasy setting where you play as anthropomorphic animals. This book takes you beyond the canopy, exploring more of the world. The adventure involves a villain trying to bring about a new Ice Age, so your party is going to want to stop that. If you’re a fan of Humblewood or just interested in trying out the world, this campaign page may interest you.

Pocket RPG. Play Anytime. Anywhere. Magnetic. Patent Pending from Pocket RPG

• END DATE: Sat, May 10 2025 8:00 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): System neutral
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG accessory
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $99 + S/H for 10 magnetic maps, 12 magnetic minis, 8 magnetic terrain, and storage case plus digital character sheets and adventure
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Breaking up the list of 5e sourcebooks this week, let me ask: Do you need a travel miniatures and dungeon kit? This one looks cool! Designed as a small case that folds out – length of 344 mm (13.5 in) by a width of 152 mm (6 in) and a thickness of 45 mm (1.75 in) – you’ll get a GM screen, a magnetic map with swappable maps, magnetic miniatures, and magnetic terrain. Built for travel, you’ll get all the parts you need, a dry erase surface to add obstacles, and an adventure to get this rolling. The total package looks nice and offers a lot of utility for an RPG. If you’re a GM that needs a simple kit to travel with, this may fit the bill.

The Kingdom of Keshanar: Ancient Egypt 5e Setting & Campaign from Warden of Worlds

• END DATE: Fri, May 9 2025 4:00 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (2014 and 2024)
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $120 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of both books, digital map, VTTs, STL files, and MP3
• AI STATEMENT: “We do not and will not use Artificial Intelligence in the creation of our images. All our art is 100% human-made.”
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Back to 5e sourcebooks, this one imagines Egypt for your gaming group. In these pages you’ll find new subclasses, species, over 50 monsters, spells, a 10-level campaign, a 3D map of Keshanar, 200 locations in the land, a mega-pyramid dungeon, and more. Designer by gamers as well as a PhD of Egyptology and a sensitivity consulting group, this game strives for authenticity and fun. If you want Pharaohs in your adventure, this may be for you.

Rainsporest Odyssey: Mushroom Mayhem for D&D 5e from Nat Two Press

• END DATE: Thu, May 8 2025 2:59 AM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (2014 and 2024)
• PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $65 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? The pitch line inspires me: “Explore an ancient jungle full of mushroom monsters. Battle them. Befriend them. Harvest their mushrooms for supernatural sandwiches!” The idea of 5e monster harvesting is such a “hot” trend that I believe it will be a root feature whenever 6e is developed. This idea – mushrooms instead of monsters – offers vegan monster harvesting options for your gaming table. In a jungle overrun with fungus, you have to battle your way through over 30 new monsters with fungal abilities, whimsical species, pets, boss fights, an adventure, and a new cooking system. If you want to fight the fungus among us, this book may speak to your gaming group.

Gary's Appendix: Hardcover Omnibus from RPG Ramblings

• END DATE: Thu, May 8 2025 1:33 PM EDT.
• SYSTEM(S): Old-School Essentials or OSR
• PROJECT TYPE: RPG zine collection
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $45 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Let’s move from 5e to OSE. This book collects issues 1 to 6 of the Gary's Appendix zines into a hardcover. 264 pages of refreshed layouts and full-color graphics. You’ll get 34 articles of OSR goodness from essays to mechanics and 39 monsters with more details, contents, and descriptions. If you love Old-School Essentials and OSRs, this might be a neat addition to your collection.

Indominant Superhero Tabletop RPG: Super's Information Codex from Odin's Key Gaming

• END DATE: May 8, 2025 at 11:00pm EDT.
• CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
• SYSTEM(S): An original system
• PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
• MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $49.95 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
• WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? With the sad news of the shuttering of Greater Than Games and their title, Sentinel Comics, I felt this was a good time to mention their struggle as well as spotlight a new superhero RPG from another publisher. Indominant Superhero is a 250-page core rulebook featuring deeply customizable superpowers, experience system, and teamwork options for tactical combat. 5 Archetypes, 10 Powersets, 5 Origins, 5 Species Types, and 7 Callings combine to offer 480 Powers and more. The secret sauce seems to be a combination of powers and tactics and, if that’s right for your next game, check out this Backerkit campaign page to learn more.

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[LuisCarlos17f]

I am glad for the sucess of Humblewood franchise and I hope this enjoyed a great popularity and longevity in the future. I hope all the PC species to be added to D&D-Beyond.

I miss more details about the new species from Keshanar (Ancient Egypt).

 

[mamba]

I miss more details about the new species from Keshanar (Ancient Egypt).

there is a paragraph about each in the preview

 

[EthanSental]

3 decently sized 5e crowd funded campaigns….again…..not the decline Mike kept bringing up here and online interviews a few weeks ago.

 

[Clint_L]

That Pocket RPG campaign is very interesting to me. It's very ambitious - trying to miniaturize and make portable miniatures-based gaming. That's my passion, and it's a side of RPGs that goes back to their beginning, so I am rooting for them. Seems most likely to be a novelty, but I hope I am wrong.

***Also, their claims about tariff costs seem very optimistic, given that they are planning to manufacture in China. So I would approach this one with caution. But I think the concept is super cool, and they've already got more than 400k in backing.

Ascend definitely scratches a setting itch for a lot of folks. I might back, if it will have DDB access. I just got a bunch of Egyptian-themed miniatures from the last Reaper KS.

 

[Lalato]

Here are the 5e Campaign Setting and Adventure Path crowdfunding campaigns I'm keeping an eye on right now.

Closed and Funded:

• Transform & Roll Out

Closed:

Open and Funded:

• Nomora (1 week)
• Scepter of the Lightbringer (2 week)
• The Kingdom of Keshanar (2 weeks)
• Zaman's Guide to the End Times (2 weeks)
• The Gunslinger's Guide to Rexfald (2 weeks)
• Broadsword Guide to the Negative Energy Plane (2 weeks)
• Vydal City (2 weeks)
• Fen's Guide to Myriad Realms (2 weeks)
• Treasure in the Badlands (2 weeks)
• Heroes Assemble (3 weeks)
• Dawn of Heroes (4 weeks)

Open:

• Noctis (2 weeks, 9%)
• Ardenfell (9 weeks, 17%)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Edit your Kickstarter page before it goes live, people. If the Draugr Court is "illusive," that means it's an illusion. I suspect that the campaign means that the court is "elusive," which means it eludes capture.

 

[humble minion]

I really like the idea of Keshanar, and I’ve backed at $1 with the possibility of increasing later, but they’re doing something very strange with postage. Shipping is (I think) charged at campaign completion and it is at an EXTRAORDINARILY high rate. Here in Australia the shipping cost is much higher than the backing amount, and is several times higher than what similar campaigns are charging. They’re saying that they’re trying to be upfront/conservative about costs, and that this is their first campaign and they’re inexperienced about how fulfillment works in practice, and that they’ll refund shipping money if they find a cheaper option. But the sheer sticker shock and the weirdness has me having second thoughts.

 

[EthanSental]

Keshanar does look good, might have to to back it at the $60 pdf level.

 

[Clint_L]

I really like the idea of Keshanar, and I’ve backed at $1 with the possibility of increasing later, but they’re doing something very strange with postage. Shipping is (I think) charged at campaign completion and it is at an EXTRAORDINARILY high rate. Here in Australia the shipping cost is much higher than the backing amount, and is several times higher than what similar campaigns are charging. They’re saying that they’re trying to be upfront/conservative about costs, and that this is their first campaign and they’re inexperienced about how fulfillment works in practice, and that they’ll refund shipping money if they find a cheaper option. But the sheer sticker shock and the weirdness has me having second thoughts.

Wise. I'll never back another first time KS - been burned before. I didn't realize it was their first time - thanks for the head's up.