D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: ZineQuest 2022, Cute Creatures Compendium, US National Park maps, & more!

Image by ScalyDragon from Pixabay

It’s time to roll a saving throw against Kickstarting, because I’m back with another weekly review of Dungeons & Dragons and 5e-Compatible projects on Kickstarter – including Kickstarter’s ZineQuest 2022!

There have been twenty-four 5e-Compatible projects launched in the past week, which is double the pace of any weeks I’ve covered in the past month! That’s because we’re in the middle of ZineQuest 2022 – a special Kickstarter-sponsored initiative to encourage creators to create small-scale, zine-sized RPG campaigns.

Just taking a peek at all of these Kickstarter campaigns took a while! From those two dozen projects, I’ve picked nine to cover in this post that tickle my fancy the most or fit my digital-first campaign the best – several of which are part of ZineQuest.

• The Bloodbay Abduction – Adventure Zine – for DnD 5E – $2 – A solid seaborne adventure for ZineQuest!
• Cute Creatures Compendium, by Catilus – 40+ adorable deadly creatures
• Deep & Dangerous 5e – A terrific micro-setting with classes and creatures
• Joshua Tree: A 5E Park – Digital maps based on US National Parks
• The Oddity Offprint, No. 1 – 5 goofy monsters for ZineQuest!
• One-Hour RPG : The City Watch (A Zine Quest Project for 5e) – 50+ pages of 10 one-shot drop-ins for $4!
• 🎭 Roles & Rolls 🎲: Giant Expansion Books for DnD 5E – 4 books packed with options at $6 each
• Stranger Sights: Challenges for 5e and Advanced 5e – 40 kinds of terrain and 50+ monsters to populate it with

Here are the other 15 projects launched since my last post:

• The 5E RPG maps – Pay what you want!
• Assassins, Rogues and Outlaws
• Blackmore: a high fantasy Rock & Roll zine for 5E & OSE – Very cool, check it out!
• Catpocalypse Meow: 5e
• Crazy Farm – A 5e DnD Zine Quest 4 Adventure Module
• Darkness Reigns: The Chronicles of Shadaryn Campaign Setting
• Battlezoo Eldamon Monster Training & Year of Monsters (5E/PF2) – Brings Pokémon mechanics to D&D!
• GEAS: Broken Gods – A New RPG adventure series for 5e DnD
• Inventory of Improving Items
• Lost in the Dark: Solo-play 5E RPG Zine
• A Multiverse of Subclasses
• Ritual Cuts #1 – Shattermage
• A Shadow over Odir – A Coastal Mystery Adventure for 5E
• Tomb – A Dungeon Crawl For 5e
• The Traveler’s Guide to the Goblin Fells
• XENOZINE ISSUE 2: Enemy Within

For projects with a scope that extends beyond being a single adventure or specific topic like “wands”, I review them based on the 9-point criteria I established in “What makes a good Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition official release or 5e-Compatible supplement?”

Want to catch up on other currently-running campaigns? Here are all of the other XX campaigns currently-running on Kickstarter, all of which I’ve covered in depth on past posts in this series.

• 3 Projects from the 26 July 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Post
  • Reviewed:
    • 5e D&D – Adventure Journal, Character Sheets & Planners – Reviewed! A cool physical artifact to track your character.
  • Plus:
    • Steinhardt’s Guide to the Eldritch Hunt: A 5e Supplement
    • Twilight Fables
• 11 Projects from the 19 July 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Post
  • Brave: Guide to the shattered
  • Calls To Action: Extraordinary Party Backgrounds for 5e – 3 Days Left!
  • D&D 5E Modules: Tomb Raiders of Orek / Into the Royal Tombs – 9 Days Left!
  • The Dark Nun’s Church, a D&D 5e Adventure – Cool first time campaign!
  • Druid Wild Shape Reference Deck
  • A Guide to Guilds For D&D 5E – 9 Days Left!
  • Maps & Monstrum Compendium – 9 Days Left!
  • Quick 5e Side Quests – 1€ – 3 Days Left!
  • Rings of Protection – 1 Day Left!
  • Shipwrecks of the Astral Sea
  • Whisper & Venom: Dark Fantasy Adventure for 5e and OSE
• 6 Projects from the 12 July 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Post
  • The Courts & Kingdoms Tavern: 5e Drunken Supplement – 4 Days Left!
  • Customizable, Comprehensive DND 5E Character Journal – 6 Days Left!
  • Hag Mag: A Terrible RPG Adventure Setting for 5E – Check this out! 3 Days Left!
  • Humblewood Tales – Sequel to a cool campaign setting. 9 Days Left!
  • Monstrous Personas for 5th Edition Roleplaying – Unusual Concept! 3 Days Left!
  • Til Death Do Us Part: Adventures With Heart For 5E – Great value! 3 Days Left!

Do you have an upcoming 5e-Compatible Kickstarter project? I’d be happy to check out your sample pages, give you comments on your planned campaign page, or highlight your project in a future post. Just leave me a comment below or reach out to me @CrushingComics on Twitter.

The Bloodbay Abduction – Adventure Zine – for DnD 5E – ZineQuest!

On Kickstarter! Created by John & Nicole Clark. Funding goal of $450 reached! Kickstarter ends Thursday, September 1 2022 1:18 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it?The Bloodbay Abduction describes itself as “An exciting one-shot zine-sized adventure on the pirate-ridden docks of Bloodbay Harbor. For PC’s level 3-4.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $2 for a PDF digital copy; $12 for a softcover physical copy + PDF

Should You Pledge? Of the many ZineQuest campaigns this week, this is one of the adventures that feels the most thoroughly thought-through. It has high-end illustrations, promises read-out-loud text for every encounter, and comes with digital maps (which look awesome). They even posted a picture of their proofing copy, and it looks sharp! For $2, if you could use a Level 3-4 fill-in adventure it looks like this one would be a great pick.

Cute Creatures Compendium, by Catilus

On Kickstarter! Created by Catilus. Funding goal of $1,232 exceeded by more than 10x! Kickstarter ends Fri, August 26 2022 2:00 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Cute Creatures Compendium, by Catilus describes itself as “An Assortment of Adorable Critters for Dungeons and Dragons 5e – Stat Blocks, Lore, Illustrations for Each Creature, and More”

Notable Pledge Levels: €9 (~$10USD) for a PDF digital copy; €18 (~$19USD) for a code for a hardcover print-on-demand physical copy + PDF

You can download a free preview PDF of this book right now!

What it includes:

• Rule Sets: N/A
• Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
• Adventures & Campaigns: N/A
• Creatures: 40+ fully-illustrated, unique creatures (depending on stretch goals)
• Playable Races: N/A
• Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
• Equipment & Items: N/A
• Spells: N/A
• World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: Adventure hooks, optional rules, tables

Should You Pledge? I backed this project! If there are two things I am a sucker for, it’s books full of monster stat blocks and projects that subvert the typical style or tone of D&D. This has both for about $.25 per stat block for a digital copy even if further stretch goals aren’t hit, which is a solid deal considering they’re all hand-illustrated. This campaign includes a sample page in full layout, and it’s clear and easy to read.

If the idea of bringing hyper-cute (but still potentially hyper-deadly) creatures into your campaign sounds like fun, I think this is a great buy. Plus, the creator is offering their previous campaigns mega-cheap as add-ons, some of which are ultra-popular on DriveThruRPG.

Deep & Dangerous 5e

On Kickstarter! Created by Sword Compass Creations. Funding goal of $3,000 more than doubled! reached! Kickstarter ends Monday, August 22 2022 4:00 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Deep & Dangerous 5e describes itself as “Subterranean monsters, villains, and player options that add deep-delving excitement to any 5e campaign!”

Notable Pledge Levels: $13 for a PDF digital copy; $20 for a code for a softcover print-on-demand copy + PDF (this will cost an additional $17 + shipping)

What it includes:

• Rule Sets: N/A
• Game Worlds & Settings: Micro-Setting: The Convergence Scar
• Adventures & Campaigns: N/A
• Creatures: 6 new factions with 3 monsters each, plus 6 additional monsters for a total of 24
• Playable Races: 3 new lineages for existing races
• Classes & Sub-Classes: 12 new subclasses – one for each D&D core class
• Equipment & Items: Yes, an unspecified amount
• Spells: N/A
• World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: random roll tables

Should You Pledge? I was on the fence about this one, but the more I read the campaign page and checked out their free 2o-page preview PDF the more excited I became. (They even include a link to a clean, image-free version of their campaign text, which I think is a brilliant move for accessibility.)

I think Deep & Dangerous hits a perfect sweet spot for a $10-20 project. A mini-setting is always handy to drop into an existing campaign, and if that setting came with only the factions or the Sub-Classes the book would feel worthwhile. With both, it makes a great case for adding it to your game world if you want a subterranean setting that’s unique from the typical D&D Underdark.

Joshua Tree: A 5E Park

On Kickstarter! Created by John Lemay. Funding goal of $100 exceed by 10x! Kickstarter ends Thursday, August 4 2022 5:59 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Joshua Tree describes itself as “Battle maps inspired by the granite monoliths and bizarre trees of Joshua Tree National Park.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $5 for a pair of maps and a 2pg PDF explaining the environments and their real-world history.

Should You Pledge? I am obsessed with this campaign on a conceptual level. The idea of taking real world locations and turning them into 5e environments is a cool idea to begin with. Add the additional twist of highlighting US National Parks is brilliant. A series of $10 add-on adventures (50+ pages each) detail five other other parks, complete with a trio of custom monsters for each one – Yellowstone, Everglades, Bryce Canyon, Great Sand Dunes and Sequoia National Parks.

(This campaign is not 50+ pages and does not include the monsters – only the add-ons do.)

This series is clearly a labor of love for author/illustrator John Lemay and it honestly gives me the warm fuzzies seeing how much care he has taken with the process of simply creating a pair of maps. If you’re a DM who runs digital campaigns (or who likes to print or project maps for players), Lemay has really thought of everything you’d want for this historic location.

The Oddity Offprint, No. 1 – ZineQuest!

On Kickstarter! Created by 0lvl Media & Catacombs & Comedians. Funding goal of $285 not yet reached. Kickstarter ends Saturday, August 27 2022 2:30 PM UTC. +12:00.

What is it? The Oddity Offprint, No. 1 describes itself as “a collection of five fearsome freaks for your 5e compatible role-playing game for #zinequest.” The freaks are sourced from the Catacombs & Comedians liveplay show.

Notable Pledge Levels: $3 for a digital PDF; $9 for a physical softcover zine + PDF

Should You Pledge? If your campaign appreciates silly monsters, $3 for 5 of them is a solid deal. That seems like it’s perfectly in the spirit of ZineQuest – just knocking out a few cool things for people to appreciate at a low cost. Plus, these illustrations are so goofy that they immediately made me imagine our players trying to keep a straight face while fighting them.

One-Hour RPG : The City Watch (A Zine Quest Project for 5e)

On Kickstarter! Created by S. K. Dinning. Funding goal of $121 shattered by over 25x! Kickstarter ends Friday, September 2 2022 10:55 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? One-Hour RPG: The City Watch describes itself as “Ten exciting and surprising 5e adventures for new and experienced GMs and players, each playable in under an hour.“

Notable Pledge Levels: £4 (~5USD) for a PDF digital copy; £8 (~10USD) for a softcover physical copy + PDF

Should You Pledge? YES, ABSOLUTELY BUY THIS! Whether you get the digital or physical version, 50+ pages of 10 urban mini-adventures is an absolute steal.

How many times have your player characters passes through a town or village and needed something a little more hefty to deal with than a random encounter? This zine embroils your players in helping the city watch in quick, 1hr drop-in missions. Use them to start a brand new campaign, or just fling them in as filler when a few of your players are absent from a session.

The only hesitation I have with these is that they are advertised as starting at Level 1 when I wish they would be level agnostic. However, that’s really just a matter of substituting a different set of creatures at the end of adventure, which is easy enough to do.

🎭 Roles & Rolls 🎲: Giant Expansion Books for DnD 5E

On Kickstarter! Created by DreaMers and Players. Funding goal of $7,000 not yet reached. Kickstarter ends Monday, August 29 2022 4:00 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Roles & Rolls is actually a trio of tomes of original 5e content that cover “New classes, subclasses, factions, villains&monsters, new spells&magical items, new chasing rules” and more

Notable Pledge Levels: $24 for all four books as PDFs + codes for print-on-demand hardcover copies.

What it includes:

• Rule Sets: N/A
• Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
• Adventures & Campaigns: 10+ one-shot adventures
• Creatures: 17 evil factions with several dozen enemies
• Playable Races: N/A
• Classes & Sub-Classes: 2 new classes – Bounty Hunter and Strategist, plus 30+ subclasses for existing classes, plus 30+ new feats
• Equipment & Items: 10+ non-magical weapons and 100+ new magical items
• Spells: N/A
• World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: 12+ encounters, 50+ lairs, adventures hooks, puzzles & traps

Should You Pledge? I am absolutely fascinated by this project on several levels.

First, this is exactly the sort of over-the-top chaos I would be a part of. Why launch a campaign of one 5e-Compatible book when you could launch four books, each one with many dozens of options – a book of classes, a book of villains, a book of adventures, and a book of traps and tricks. It’s a whole D&D supplement line until itself!

Normally I’d be super-skeptical of such an overreaching project, but purely on an aesthetic level everything here looks strong. The graphic design doesn’t look cheap, the illustrations are gorgeous, and the layouts are clean and readable.

That leaves me asking… what’s the catch?! Well, the catch is that I just don’t think they planned this campaign very well. Not everyone wants all four of these books and not everyone wants print-on-demand codes for hardcovers. Spending $24 is a pretty steep buy-in for such an unambiguously rangy project, even if that works out to just $6 a PDF – which is actually a steal even before you factor in the at-cost POD codes.

If they had itemized the reward selection or included the ability to buy a single PDF for $8 I think they’d already be much closer to their goal.

Stranger Sights: Challenges for 5e and Advanced 5e

On Kickstarter! Created by Sarah Breyfogle. Funding goal of $800 already exceeded by 2x! Kickstarter ends Tuesday, August 30 2022 4:00 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Stranger Sights describes itself as “Monsters, exploration challenges, and unique micro-settings designed to make creating encounters easier and more dynamic than ever.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $20 for a digital PDF copy; $28 for a print-on-demand code for a softcover copy + PDF

Should You Pledge? Creator Sarah Breyfogle is one of the lead designers for Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition, which is like a turbo-boost for standard 5e that adds many new options.

For Stranger Sights, she’s introducing 40 new landscape environments and pairing them with an adapted a Level Up concept: Exploration Challenges. Exploration Challenges are the pairing of a stat-related challenge and a monster to create a situation that feels a little more textured than your typical random encounter.

If your campaigns are anything like mine, players love to wander around and ask “What’s over there?” when you’re trying to herd them into a specific adventure direction. I love the idea of a handy index of terrain and monsters I can raid to give players some satisfaction for that curiosity.

What gives me some pause is that this book makes no mention of environment illustrations and some monster illustrations are a stretch goal. The sample layout pages look clear and easy-to-read, but only one shows an illustration. I think this concept is brilliant, but I’d be a little sad to page through it without seeing more illustrations like the featured campaign image. And, generally, I dislike having new monsters without an illustration to accompany them.

Those are detractions for me, but 40 ready-to-drop-in environments might sound incredibly attractive to you – especially if you play a more “theatre of the mind” campaign where the DM describes everything to players without showing much.