Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

You are here: Home / consume / games / D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: Folklore Bestiary, Skwirl’s Wild Shape Cards, Terramyr Compendium, & more!

D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: Folklore Bestiary, Skwirl’s Wild Shape Cards, Terramyr Compendium, & more!

by

Image by ScalyDragon from Pixabay

Get your armor equipped, my friends, because I’m back with another review of the Dungeons & Dragons and 5e-Compatible Kickstarter projects!

Last week I looked at all of the projects that were the closest to their pledge deadlines, and I wound up backing several. This week, I’m reviewing every one of 18 live 5e projects on Kickstarter to figure out which are the must-buys, the best values, and the most unusual concepts.

For many of these projects I’m viewing them through the 9-point criteria I established in my recent essay, “What makes a good Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition official release or 5e-Compatible supplement?” However, for some of them that are hyper-specific – like just one dungeon or just potions I’ve skipped the criteria and got right to the point.

If any creators of those projects happen to swing by: congratulations on your awesome work! I might have a few critiques about your campaign page, but your labor of love is still an impressive effort.

Do you have an upcoming 5e-Compatible Kickstarter project? As I continue this pilot series over the next few weeks I’d be happy to check out your sample pages or give you comments on your campaign page. Just leave me a comment below or reach out to me @CrushingComics on Twitter.

25 Queer NPCs for 5e

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $5,213 reached! Kickstarter ends Sun, July 10 2022 2:05 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? 25 Queer NPCs for 5e describes itself as “Diversify your roleplaying games with lovable NPCs!”

Notable Pledge Levels: €15 (~$16USD) for a PDF digital copy, €29 (~$31USD) for hardcover (per stretch goals) physical copy + PDF

In addition to 25 complete NPC characters (+ at least 5 more via stretch goals), this also includes a “new magic shop + inventory”

Should you pledge? This campaign does all the right things: it quantifies its contents, it shows easy-to-read sample layout pages, and it has a clear progression of pledge levels.

I think if you struggle to supply fully-formed NPCs to your characters or need help queering your campaign, this could be a great game-aid for you! Plus, everything about it looks lovely and made with great care.

My decision to pledge comes down to if I really need 25 pre-written NPCs for my DM-ing. Personally, I tend to pre-invent more NPCs than my characters need for most situations, and I default to a majority of them being queer because… why not?

So, sadly, I don’t think I need this book for $16. Of course, this includes NPCs at the cost of a mere $.64 per character, so if I spend more than a few minutes dreaming mine up it might still be worth it!

Curse of the Chupacabra: Epic Horror Adventure For 5e & OSR

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $10,00 not yet reached! Kickstarter ends Sun, July 31 2022 3:16 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Curse of the Chupacabra invites you to join the campaign by saying, “Come with us on a quest into the heart of darkness, where shadows stretch long, and evil lurks around every corner.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $20 for a PDF digital copy, $40 for a softcover + PDF, $60 for a hardcover + PDF

This campaign specifies its book will be 150-200 pages at a 8.5″ x 11″ trim size. I love getting specific details up front!

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: Establishes the setting of Isla Zardia
  • Adventures & Campaigns: a “feature-length” module for Levels 1-5, which sounds like 4 distinct adventures plus side quests
  • Creatures: Yes, but number of stat blocks is unspecified
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: Yes, an unspecified amount
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: NPCs, encounters, maps of “over 20 unique locations,” STLs of the main creatures

Should you pledge? This book makes a clear, professional pitch for its value proposition that instills confidence in the final product. It enumerates its features, explains its world, and shows sample interior pages. Everything about it looks solid and completely thought through.

This is priced just slightly higher than an official D&D book of similar length, although D&D campaign books usually span a 10-level range and this covers just five.

I think if you’re looking for an introductory adventure with this sort of semi-tropical horror vibe that this would be a good campaign to back! As someone who owns all the official books and whose main party just hit L7-8, the price to put this on my physical or digital shelf just for the fun of browsing through it is a little too high.

The Exodus of Wolfbane

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $1,500 reached! Kickstarter ends Thu, July 7 2022 12:00 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? The Exodus of Wolfbane describes itself plainly as “An epic 1st-3rd level RPG adventure for 5E!”

Notable Pledge Levels: $10 for a PDF digital copy, $16 for a physical copy + PDF

The campaign makes it clear that this is an 80-page adventure that has been revised and expanded from a previous campaign due to its popularity, with 20 pages of new original content. It shows a small sample of layout. Buried downpage is the detail that this will be a perfect-bound softcover. It only ships to the US & Canada.

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: The village of Wolfbane
  • Adventures & Campaigns: One adventure
  • Creatures: Stat blocks for all creature encounters
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: Unclear, though it mentions that this campaign is fundamentally a treasure hunt, which implies some amount of items.
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: A “save the citizens” mini-game, NPCs, maps, player handouts, GM helper sheets

Should You Pledge: If you’re looking for a custom adventure for a new party, I think $10 is a reasonable digital price point for an introductory adventure with this much detail. We’ve seen D&D adventures on KS for $1-5, but that’s not for 80 pages of content. It’s clear this adventure has been thoroughly play-tested via many folks pledging for the original version.

This doesn’t ship to NZ, so it’s a pass for me.

The Fall: A Post-Apocalyptic 5e Modern World

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $1,500. Kickstarter ends Wed, August 3 2022 2:24 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? The Fall describes itself as “Using the DnD 5e SRD we have created a modern day Post Apocalyptic World. The Fall is set up as a West Marches style of game.”

Key Pledge Levels: $15 for PDF rules, $150 for all digital rewards + a physical book

Should you pledge? I suspect this is a Kickstarter project that will need to re-evaluate its sales pitch and come back for another try. It’s from a first-time creator who has never launched (or, on this profile, backed) projects before. It sounds like he has dreamt up a fascinating, modern, post-apocalyptic campaign world full of alternate classes, but there’s nothing on the campaign page to explain what they might be.

Combined with some challenging copy-editing on the page (including in the title itself), $15 seems like a steep amount to pledge to get a glimpse of what this campaign might have to offer.

I know how much effort it takes to plan a campaign like this, so I’m always bummed to see one launch in a way that’s not going to connect with backers. Hopefully they can give it another go in the future.

A Folklore Bestiary for 5E and OSE

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $8,340 reached! Kickstarter ends Thu, July 28 2022 11:00 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? A Folklore Bestiary for 5E and OSE describes itself as “Inspired by Folk Tales and Superstitions”

Notable Pledge Levels: €15 (~$16USD) for a PDF digital digital copy for either system, €33 (~$35USD) for a hardcover + PDF for either system

This is a 160-page book that includes 40 monster stat blocks from the creators behind KNOCK! magazine. The campaign page shows several examples of interior page layouts and includes a download of 5 sample monsters (12.5% of the book!). The layouts are different from the standard D&D layout, but they’re attractive and easy-to-read. I love that they include supporting information in bold, color-blocked sidebars, which makes pages packed with information easier to navigate. The campaign page makes the shipping costs clear and easy to understand.

Also, I like that the creators admit that they aren’t 5e balance experts, so they hired one to make sure their creatures work well for their challenge ratings. That inspires a huge amount of confidence!

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
  • Adventures & Campaigns: N/A
  • Creatures: 40!
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: N/A
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: For every one of the monster stat blocks, the book includes “1-3 pages of gameable material: adventure hooks, magical items, spells, dungeons and hexcrawls, and more!”

Should You Pledge? Full disclosure – I’ve already pledged for this campaign! Fully-illustrated hardcover books full of folklore monsters are one of my many D&D weak points.

If you like folklore-inspired monsters, this is an obvious buy. Getting 40 monsters with this amount of original digital art and supporting game hooks is a great value for the price of either the digital or physical version. I strongly encourage you to check out their sample pages on Dropbox to see if you find them as charming as I did.

Grayshade – Dark Fantasy Novels and RPG

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $25,000 not yet reached! Kickstarter ends Sat, July 16 2022 3:59 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Grayshade – Dark Fantasy Novels and RPG describes itself as “a dark fantasy trilogy and a 5E-powered RPG based on The Gray Assassin world.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $20 for a trilogy of digital novels, $25 for a PDF digital gamebook + 1 digital novel, $55 for a hardcover gamebook + 1 digital novel, $75 for a hardcover gamebook + PDF gamebook + 1 digital novel

This campaign has a lot going on and it took me a few minutes to figure it all out.

The first novel in this “Gray Assassin Trilogy” – Grayshade – was released a little over a month ago, although that seems like it might be a revision or reprinting of a book from 2016.

Now, on the heels of the 2022 paperback release, this Kickstarter campaign is meant to fund the final two books in the trilogy as well as a 5e campaign setting to reflect the world of the books.

Regardless of if you pledge for the two novels, the RPG, or both, you’ll get a digital copy of the first novel.

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: A unique magic system, a new Faith mechanic
  • Game Worlds & Settings: the city of Cohrelle
  • Adventures & Campaigns: It sounds like the book may include story hooks rather than full campaigns, based on “Our gamebook provides everything needed to plan missions and design capers”
  • Creatures: Unclear
  • Playable Races: Unclear
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: “5 starting classes”
  • Equipment & Items: Unclear
  • Spells: At minimum, there is a new domain – sonic magic.
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: maps, character sheets

Should You Pledge: This is a fascinating campaign that might be incredible, but even with a well-written campaign page and a steady stream of updates it feels like it’s withholding some key information from potential backers like me.

This is a 5e-Compatible campaign setting in a city filled with intrigue that includes five custom classes and a new magic domain. They don’t say much more than that because the book Grayshade works as an advertisement for the campaign! Except, this is a novel with only 4 ratings on GoodReads and 2 ratings on Amazon – there’s not much advertisement out there.

I think the campaign would be more effective if it waited to have more reviews and ratings for the first book out in the world. Then, people would be able to quickly see tons of praise for the world of the novel, which would fuel their interest in the RPG version. That’s the first thing I checked after seeing this campaign.

As it stands, I feel like I’m being challenged to go and read this book to see if I am interested in backing the Kickstarter. Plus, a $25 minimum for a campaign setting PDF of unspecified length and quality is an expensive gamble… even if I did already love the book!

The Haunted Pass

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $100 reached! Kickstarter ends Thu, July 28 2022 2:37 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? The Haunted Pass says it will allow you to “Explore the mystery of the Haunted Pass and an unspeakable evil! An adventure module for DnD, D&D 5e / 5th Edition, Pathfinder.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $5 for a PDF digital copy of the adventure, $8 for PDF + print-ready files, $25 for a printed copy + PDF + print-ready-files

This is a 13-page Level 1 adventure for 2-4 characters.

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
  • Adventures & Campaigns: one adventure, which is part one of a six-adventure campaign
  • Creatures: Unclear – only specifically claims one “chilling, never-before-seen monster”
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: N/A
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: NPCs, maps, a promise of encounters balanced well for Level 1 characters

Should You Pledge? I think it’s cool that this company is creating a series of interlinked starter adventures to form a campaign! The dire description and illustrated cover with a plain text summary gives a very D&D 1e feel, which is something they claim they’re aiming for.

This is slightly more expensive than an official Adventurer’s Guild one-shot of similar length and scope, and there are dozens upon dozens of those. For a more-expensive adventure claiming to be fully produced and promising perfect balance for a Level 1 party, I’d expect to see interior samples to show the quality of the writing and production.

In Service of the Tiger – Historical Fiction 5e

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $1,000 reached! Kickstarter ends Tue, July 19 2022 2:00 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? In Service of the Tiger gives you the chance to “Join with Takeda Shingen, the Tiger of Kai, in feudal Japan during the Warring States Period in this historical fiction 5e adventure.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $10 for a digital version (format unspecified), $20 for a hardcover physical book + digital version

This is not just a 5e setting that emulates feudal Japan. It is literally a campaign based in historical feudal Japan, filled with real historical people, and complete with maps based on actual battles. You are meant to play pre-generated non-magical characters within this campaign setting (although the campaign says it can be adapted to your own characters in a fantastical 5e setting).

I dig that they say the minimum time you’ll get from this campaign is 5hrs of play, based on their playtesting. That’s a great statistic that more campaigns ought to provide.

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: A unique character progression system based on branching decision trees
  • Game Worlds & Settings: Warring States feudal Japan
  • Adventures & Campaigns: One lengthy adventure that they refer to as a mini-campaign
  • Creatures: Yes, an unspecified number of human combatants
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A, but pre-regenerated characters may have specific abilities outside the D&D class system
  • Equipment & Items: Yes, but an unspecified number
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: Maps, “choice cards”

Should You Pledge? I love the concept of using 5e as a way to retell historical fiction. Also, this is a pair of very experienced indie game designers who are also qualified in other ways. Co-author James McElroy is fluent in Japanese and has lived in Japan for a decade, and his co-creator Corey Papastathis has a Master’s degree in Linguistically Diverse Language (ESL).

So, from a language standpoint, I’m sure this will be very well thought-out!

However, I’m concerned that McElroy describes himself as a “Japanese history buff” without any mention of a consulting historian or sensitivity reader. It could be that both men are also 100% qualified as that (and it wouldn’t surprise me at all!), but it would be nice for the campaign to address it. Co-opting real history and historical figures for semi-fictional gameplay can be a tricky topic.

Libations – The Book of 1,000 Drinks

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $10,000 reached! Kickstarter ends Fri, July 15 2022 4:01 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Libations describes itself as “The Book of 1,000 Drinks”

Notable Pledge Levels: $30 for a PDF digital copy, $60 for a hardcover physical book + PDF

This 200+ page book includes descriptions of 1,000 beverages.

Should You Pledge? This book has lovely illustrations and I dig the concept, but we’re not even talking about magic potions here. It’s a list of 1,000 drinks for DM’s whose players spend a lot of time in taverns. The drink descriptions on the sample page don’t include any ingredients, DM notes, or saving throws against their effects. They are a paragraph of mysterious flavor text per drink, many of which boil down to “it made you feel drunk.”

Sure, it’s only $.03 per drink at the PDF level, but you could just buy a bartending book of actual exotic beverages at this price point and be able to make them physically!

Loot Lemmings: A 5e Drop-and-Play Adventure

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $155 reached! Kickstarter ends Mon, July 25 2022 3:00 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Loot Lemmings describes itself as “Danger, daring and destruction for characters levels 3 to 4”

Notable Pledge Levels: x

What it includes: $2 for a PDF digital copy + token pack

This campaign has a curious story. This creator’s previous campaign failed to reach its nearly $4k funding goal on June 13. That campaign was for multiple adventures fulfilled both physical and digitally starting at a high $24 price point. They launched this campaign just 12 days later on June 25, for one of the six adventures from that previous campaign.

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
  • Adventures & Campaigns: One adventure!
  • Creatures: At least three new creatures
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A (though there is one as a stretch goal)
  • Equipment & Items: Yes, an unspecified amount
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: NPCs, tokens, two maps

Should You Pledge? I appreciate the creator going back to the drawing board to repackage their individual adventures as single-serving digital products since they didn’t manage to meet their goal for an entire campaign book. However, this is the second campaign in a row that shows only a few small maps, one creature illustration, no internal layout pages or writing samples, and only the sparsest of adventure hooks.

$2 is a much smaller amount of money to gamble on the outcome of that than $24, but I still think a first-time creator should to show a little bit more of their work to inspire confidence.

The Lost Message (5E)

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $750 reached! Kickstarter ends Sun, July 31 2022 3:25 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? The Lost Message (5E) describes itself as “A Fifth Edition DnD roleplaying mystery adventure like no other.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $10 for a PDF digital copy, $25 for a paperback physical copy + PDF, $40 for a hardcover physical copy + PDF

This is a low-combat mystery adventure built for Level 3 characters, but reportedly scalable to all levels.

Should You Pledge? This mystery adventure does a great job at selling itself in a mysterious way. Even after reading the well-edited and sharply-designed campaign page, I’m still not sure what it’s about, how it is driven by mystery, or how much material it includes! It sounds like it involves time travel and an orc that likes to bake and is maybe a robot? Or something like that.

Kudos to the creator for creating something so tantalizing while giving so few hints of the content within, but it’s a bit too much of a mystery box for me.

Palace of the Golden Princess #1

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $5,000 NOT YET reached! Kickstarter ends Fri, July 22 2022 11:39 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Palace of the Golden Princess #1 describes itself as “5e module and comic based on the first RPG adventure written by a woman”

Notable Pledge Levels: $10 for PDF digital copies of the comic + module + character sheets, $20 for physical edition of same (with no PDF)

Whoa, we’ve got a comic + RPG crossover on our hands! This could not be more within my wheelhouse! And, the creator – Preston Poulter – wrote one of my favorite truly independent comics of the past few years, White Lily.

The story of this campaign is that Poulter with co-creator Courtney Campbell are resurrecting an early 1st edition adventure – the first written for TSR by a woman, which was legendarily scrapped due to its suggestive nature. That Kotaku article makes the adventure out to be incredibly risqué, but I realized I’ve actually seen this before! It was an adventure advertised on the strength of a princess, filled with female NPCs, possessing a slight BDSM vibe, and including an odd foe in the “Ubue” – a bickering three-headed giant where the heads were always of different genders.

This campaign is for the 1st comic issue and 1st adventure module retelling this story, which is 12,000 words with three map illustrations.

Should You Pledge? I think you have to be specifically invested in the history of this module to make pledging worthwhile. That’s because $10 for the PDF of a comic and a single adventure module isn’t cheap, and if the updated version of the module is anything like the original it’s mostly a single dungeon.

Also, with no schedule for a #2 issue and a 2nd module, you could be left hanging. I tend to prefer to pledge for completed Kickstarters, having been burnt too many times on #1s of things that never reached a #2.

The Rumor Broker’s Ledger of Names: An NPC Compendium

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $15,000 NOT YET reached! Kickstarter ends Mon, August 1 2022 3:59 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? The Rumor Broker’s Ledger of Names describes itself as “A diverse collection of NPCs with unique backstories, motivations, and mechanics, compatible with 5e.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $20 for a PDF digital copy [there is no physical book]

The book will include 40 NPCs, each with “intricate backstory, personal motivations, and full rules for where they can be encountered as well as what they might do for the party if so inclined”

Should You Pledge? Do you need NPCs at $.40 a pop? That’s what this comes down to. It’s cheaper than the NPCs above in 25 Queer NPCs for 5e, but these are not themed.

The sample page has too much playing with text justification for my tastes. When it comes to the left-side margin of text, keeping it simple leads to the best readability.

Sinister Sacrament: Cultist Quick-adventures for D&D 5e – $1

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $100 reached! Kickstarter ends Mon, July 18 2022 3:59 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Sinister Sacrament: Cultist Quick-adventures for D&D 5e describes itself as “5 cultist themed mini-adventures and other cultist related content for D&D (Dungeons and Dragons) 5th edition.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $1 for a PDF digital copy, $5 for that plus a cultist “expansion pack”, $50 for every add-on

Luna Publishing calls this adventure series by the name “Penny Dreadful.” A “penny dreadful” was a 1800s pamphlet of serialized fiction distributed in Britain that cost a literal penny.

These adventures are scaled for players from Level 2 to 18. They plan to fulfill as soon as the campaign ends – within the next month!

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: Lore included in the expansion pack
  • Adventures & Campaigns: Five!
  • Creatures: “Each adventure contains a few uniquely designed monsters and encounters,” plus more in the expansion pack
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: Yes, in the expansion pack
  • Spells: Yes, in the expansion pack
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: Maps, adventures scale to different levels

Should You Pledge? IT’S ONLY ONE DOLLAR, Y’ALL. Yes, I’d like to see some examples of interior layout, but if you are a DM who needs an occasional plug-and-play adventure for a short-notice session, why not toss a dollar their way and bank this for the future?

Skwirl’s 5E Wild Shape Cards

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $4,000 almost reached! Kickstarter ends Tue, August 2 2022 10:00 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Skwirl’s Wild Shape Cards describes itself as “50 wildshape stat cards for your druid. Quick reference illustrations on one side and all the stats you need on the other.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $10 for a PDF digital copy of the cards, $16 for a physical deck + PDF

This campaign is from an illustrator who has worked on official Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering materials who has teamed with several colleagues. The campaign page is packed with sample art.

Should You Pledge? If you love to play a Druid or have a Druid in your campaign, then absolutely yes!

I think card decks as player game aids can really help keep things straight in a physical campaign – especially when it comes to magical abilities. A lot of that is handled for you with the current digital tabletop tools, but if there is one ability that can always use a quick reference it is Wild Shape.

Our current campaign includes a pair of Druids, so Wild Shape is a constant topic of conversation both in and out of encounters. Lots of reviewing the list, checking the stats and special abilities, and haggling with fellow players over what might be most-useful.

I love the idea of a pack of pocketable cards with all of the standard Wild Shape options. It’s a physical artifact for the player that they could also double as a physical artifact for their well-studied druid, if they chose. I don’t have a use for them, so I’m not going to add them to my massive dragon’s hoard of RPG stuff, but this is a must-buy product for many players and DMs.

Terramyr Compendium: A 5e Creature / World sourcebook

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $2,000 reached! Kickstarter ends Fri, July 8 2022 12:10 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Terramyr Compendium is “8 One-shot adventures, new deities, races, classes, monsters, companions, and pets set upon the world of Terramyr!”

Notable Pledge Levels: $25 for a 400+ page PDF digital copy, $35 for a B&W paperback physical copy + PDF, $65 for a full-color hardcover physical copy + PDF + eBook of an accompanying novel

I love that this campaign explains what it is and what it includes right in the top-of-page description! Knowing that this was filled with the things I’m most interested in lead me to check out the author’s homepage, which made me even more excited for seeing a product based on this fictional world developed over the course of twenty novels.

The campaign page includes many interior pages in the standard D&D 5e layout, some of which are large enough to be readable. Also, a recent update includes photos of a physical proofing copy of the hardcover!

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: Maybe new/improved rules for overland travel.
  • Game Worlds & Settings: the world of Terramyr
  • Adventures & Campaigns: 8 one-shot adventures, though their level is unclear
  • Creatures: Yes, though an unspecified amount
  • Playable Races: Yes, though an unspecified amount that includes a merman/merwoman race
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: Yes, though an unspecified amount
  • Equipment & Items: Yes, via new shops, though an unspecified amount
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: Deities, companions (NPCs?), and pets.

Should You Pledge? Checking out this campaign for this post made me want to pledge. There’s nothing that excites me more than a hulking campaign setting book with plenty of storytelling and options! For $65, this is at least 1.5x as long as a standard $50 D&D hardcover and it comes with a digital copy. That’s a solid deal.

However… the campaign currently only has 77 backers, and only 14 at the hardcover level. That is wild to me, given how well-planned this campaign is! Even though the campaign has beat its low $2,000 goal, printing hardcovers relies on a certain economy of scale. Even with a real-life sighting of the color proof of the hardcover, I question if they’ll be able to print such a small quantity of the hardcovers at the advertised cost. (Of course, as a long-running author, they’ll likely overprint so they can sell these themselves in the future.)

I am SO TEMPTED on this. I’m going to be staring at the page every day until the campaign completes.

Traveler’s Guide to the Elemental Chaos

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $500 reached! Kickstarter ends Sun, July 17 2022 12:00 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Traveler’s Guide to the Elemental Chaos describes itself as “A ‘zine-size 5e supplement of elemental sub-classes, playable azers, and a guide to the Elemental Chaos”

Notable Pledge Levels: $5 for a digital copy, $12 for a print copy. $10 for this project plus its precursor in digital, $25 for print.

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
  • Adventures & Campaigns: N/A
  • Creatures: Some number of classic and reimagined elementals
  • Playable Races: At least Four – azer, gargoyle, harpy, and sahuagin
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: Summoner class with four sub-classes. Four elemental Ranger sub-classes, multiple sorcerer sub-classes
  • Equipment & Items: N/A
  • Spells: Unclear
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: environmental tables for the elemental planes

Should you pledge? I like that this book has a tight sales pitch: player options and game aids for adventures on the elemental planes. I tend to lean heavily on elementals in my campaign even without plane-hopping, so this stuff could be useful to me!

However, I wouldn’t pledge for a book that has so little supporting material evident on the campaign. There are no images on the campaign, which means no sample layout. There’s a brief glimpse of two pieces of B&W artwork in the promotional video, which are striking, but similar to each other.

For a creator who has shipped over a dozen projects I expect so see some sample product! He does mention in the campaign text that this book will re-use art from past campaigns unless he makes it to a stretch goal. I think that’s fine, and I actually dig the art from his Caspar’s Guide to Elementals. I simply wish there was a better way to envision the finished product.

Wyrdwich Council: A New Way To Play D&D 5e

On Kickstarter! Funding goal of $60 reached! Kickstarter ends Sun, July 24 2022 6:13 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Wyrdwich Council describes itself as “Adventures In Eldritch Local Government.”

Notable Pledge Levels: £8 (~$10USD) for a PDF digital copy.

I am fascinated by this campaign, which is about transforming “Dungeons & Dragons” into “Bureaucracy & Inept Local Government Officials.” It claims to be “a whole new way to play D&D, taking the rules and mechanics that you know and love and presenting a different set of obstacles for you to overcome.”

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: Wyrdwich Council, a version of D&D 5e for local government.
  • Game Worlds & Settings: The town of Wyrdwich
  • Adventures & Campaigns: A starter adventure
  • Creatures: Some number of town officials and council challenges to defeat in non-combat capacities.
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: 2 new classes (+1 stretch goal), plus “full conversions” of the existing classes to give them “non-violent” ways to solve problems
  • Equipment & Items: Unclear
  • Spells: Spell conversions to work in this bureaucratic world
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids: “A complete guide to Wyrdwich: the town, the locals and the indescribable entities that are suddenly in charge of it”

Should You Pledge? $10 feels steep to pay for a random campaign with no artwork or writing samples that claims to completely rewrite the rules of D&D… but I’m intrigued.

I think if you’re ever going to take a chance on a random project on Kickstarter that doesn’t feature a lot of detail, it has to be weird enough that the risk is worth it without wildly overpromising on what it might deliver.

Maybe it’s the deeply serious (but also full of clever parody) Kickstarter video. Or, maybe it’s the idea of bending the structure of D&D to be about leadership, democracy, and consultant fees rather than combat. Also, the creator has a track record of delivering several small, zine-sized projects to crowds of a few-hundred backers, which boosts my confidence in this compared to The Lost Message, above.

I couldn’t resist – I backed it.

Related posts:

  1. Music Monday: “I Love Your Smile” by Shanice
  2. Krisis on Near Mint Condition, Mapping Scarlet Witch!
  3. Music Monday: “We’re Good” – Dua Lipa
  4. Updated: Ms. Marvel Guide – a Kamala Khan Reading Order!
  5. Crushing On: “Ain’t I” – Lizzo
  6. From The Beginning: WildStorm Universe – WildStorm Rising
  7. RuPaul’s Drag Race Power Rankings, S09E04 – “Good Morning Bitches”

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks