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This TTRPG crowdfunding sampler looks at campaigns on that end between November 14 to 20.
This TTRPG crowdfunding sampler looks at campaigns on that end between November 14 to 20. I talk about Ars Magica, ElfQuest, Monster of the Week, and more including projects from Rowan, Rook and Decard and Roll & Play Press. In addition, Pelgrane Press’ Trail of Cthulhu 2nd Edition, which ends tomorrow, gets a well-deserved shout out.
Ars Magica Definitive Edition from Atlas Games
- END DATE: Nov 14, 2024 at 9:00pm EST.
- CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
- SYSTEM(S): A “heavily expanded version” of Ars Magica Fifth Edition
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $149.95 + S/H for the PDF and print Definitive Edition Set plus additional digital items
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? One of the most innovative roleplaying games of the 1980s is back with a new, Definitive Edition of their award-winning system. Known for its magic system and troupe play style, Ars Magica allows your gaming table to play a commune of mages, companions, and their staff in stories that are larger than one character’s adventures. This game tells tales of the wider group enduring through epic adventures and crises told over decades. With an expanded core rulebook that comes in at double the previous page count, this project promises spells, action, intrigue, and the rules to support them all. The campaign includes the core rulebook, a reference guide, GM screen, map, slipcase, and dice. In addition, this crowdfunding launches a Ars Magica Open License, which I’ve shared a bit about here and here. The Open License allows fans and publishers to make their own content using the Ars Magica Definitive Edition ruleset, a boon for creators that want to make use of the system. Looking at the Backerkit page, I want to praise Atlas Games for promoting the artists that participated in bringing Ars Magica to life. Not only do they list their names, but they provide links to the artwork found in Ars Magica, and Atlas Games goes the extra mile and suggests that you check out each artist’s webpage and purchase some artwork from those artists. That move – Spotlighting their creative partners – is a huge gesture and I wish more publishers took the time to boost their freelance contributors. If you want to support the game, check out the Backerkit campaign page for a link to the first three chapters of the book plus more details about the Open License.
Trail of Cthulhu 2nd Edition from Pelgrane Press
- END DATE: Nov 7, 2024 at 8:00pm EST.
- CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
- SYSTEM(S): GUMSHOE
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £40 for the PDF versions of the quickstarter, core rulebook, and another book
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Cthulhu, investigation, horror, and Pelgrane Press’ GUMSHOE system, all in a refined edition. Kenneth Hite and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan bring back their award-winning 1930s setting and engine so your gaming table can learn alien secrets, cast spells, and get in gunfights with cultists. The secret sauce in Trail of Cthulhu is the engine, the GUMSHOE system changes how investigation RPGs work. No longer is it about finding the clues; instead, you find them with ease. This game focuses on putting the clues together. The second edition improves character creation, revises the “insanity” to be more mythic and cosmic, makes the magic system easier to run, adds new gods, and so much more. Best of all, it’s backwards compatible with your first edition material. This Backerkit campaign ends tomorrow (November 7, 2024); before it ends check out the campaign page to get your hands on the free PDF quickstart.
ElfQuest Classic Deluxe from Chaosium
- END DATE: Tue, November 12 2024 11:59 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): Basic Role-Playing
- PROJECT TYPE: Core ruleset
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $99 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the boxed set
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Announcements about the reprint can be read on EN World here and here
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This campaign brings back the original Chaosium ElfQuest RPG for your gaming table. After 40 years, Chaosium is reprinting the original game with some improvements. Don’t think of this as a new edition of the classic game, it is not. This version of ElfQuest is the original concepts and writing but edited to correct typos incorporate errata, and generally revise the books to make them the best versions of the 1980s game you knew and loved. What’s different about the 2024 version? The extras. This boxed set is 2” deep, not 1” like the original version, and that extra space adds new characters, monsters, and scenarios that didn’t exist when the original was crafted. The box comes with a rules book, setting book, maps, character sheets, an adventure, dice, and more. Through this Kickstarter, you’re getting a chance to collect and play a piece of history and while enjoying ElfQuest.
Royal Blood – A Tarot Heist RPG from Rowan, Rook and Decard
- END DATE: Thu, November 14 2024 11:00 AM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): An original system
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rules
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: £80 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the rules and cards
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Set today, your character has a lineage, a magic lineage. In Royal Blood, you build a sorcerer-king or witch-queen using Tarot cards and an original ruleset. Designed for a single play session, this game allows you to create your character and steal from the older powers that infect our world through corrupting capitalism. Story-wise, this feels like a nice mash-up of Mage: The Ascension and Werewolf: The Apocalypse with original heist ideas sprinkled in. Mechanically and mythology-wise, it is not those games, but what the bad guys are doing and why you fight has notes of those World of Darkness classics. If the idea of single-session games of mage heists speaks to you, check out the campaign page for more details.
Slayers Survival Kit and Hunter’s Journal from Evil Hat Productions
- END DATE: Nov 14, 2024 at 9:00pm EST.
- CROWDFUNDING ON: Backerkit
- SYSTEM(S): Powered by the Apocalypse (Monster of the Week variant)
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebooks
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $75 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the Kit and Journal plus a POD discount coupon to get copies
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? Do you want 600 new pages worth of material for your Monster of the Week games? In this Backerkit campaign, you’ll get the Hunter’s Journal and Slayer’s Survival Kit. The kit has new playbooks for your hunters and their teams, as well as new Weird Moves, allies, and guidelines for Big Magic. The journal provides GM advice including options for each of the new and existing playbooks, story-arc options, mysteries for your campaign, and more. Monster of the Week uses the Powered by the Apocalypse engine to tell stories like those seen in Buffy, The Vampire Slayer, Supernatural, The X-Files, and more. If you’re a fan of the subgenre and the game, these books will give you more to slay each gaming session.
No Place Like Homebrew: Build epic fantasy worlds for DnD from Roll & Play Press
- END DATE: Thu, November 14 2024 12:00 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): System neutral but with any-edition D&D stat blocks
- PROJECT TYPE: Sourcebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $50 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the book
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This 200-page book gives you ideas and options to make your world more detailed and epic. With guidance for everything from towns, buildings, and regions to NPCs and religions, this book has direction that will improve your homebrewed setting. The strength of this pitch comes from the publishers awards, which show they know what they’re doing, as well as the previews on the campaign page. If you want to create your own gaming world and need advice, this book may be right for you. If this idea interests you, check out the campaign page for a free PDF preview.
Titans of Fallen Earth: A Kaiju vs. Mecha Roleplaying Game from Dueling Dragon Adventures
- END DATE: Sun, November 17 2024 7:08 PM EST.
- SYSTEM(S): An original system
- PROJECT TYPE: Core rulebook
- MOST POPULAR PLEDGE: $30 + S/H for the PDF and print versions of the rules
- WHY SPOTLIGHT THIS CAMPAIGN? This game is kaiju versus mechs using an original system. In the 1980s, the kaiju came, bombs were dropped, and civilization fell. In the aftermath, you are part of a faction with a salvaged mech that you use to fight the monsters. Maybe, one day, you’ll take back the planet. For now, you’re just trying to survive and defend the last bits of humanity. In this world, there are three factions that you can play as ranging from heroes to the villains that unleashed this apocalypse. This system uses d6 dice pools reminiscent of West End Games d6 System. If you want to pilot mechs in the wasteland as you fight giant monsters, this game may be for you.
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