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D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: Dalor’s Guide to Devils & Demons, Maps & Monstrum, Rings of Protection, & more!

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Image by ScalyDragon from Pixabay

It’s time to roll for initiative, because I’m back with my weekly review of all of the new Dungeons & Dragons and 5e-Compatible projects on Kickstarter, including the delightfully quirky Dalor’s Guide To Devils & Demons!

This is my ongoing attempt to get my arms around the zeitgeist of what people are creating for 5e, plus find all the coolest, most-useful, and weirdest 5e-Compatible projects!

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?”

For the second week running, there have been 12 new 5e-Compatible projects launched in the past seven days – all of which are reviewed below!

Plus, there are another 21 campaigns still running that I’ve covered previously!

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 I’m just one DM and player with opinions. 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.

Brave: Guide to the ShatteredBrave Guide to the Shattered Kickstarter Interior Page

On Kickstarter! Created by Yokai Group Gaming. Funding goal of $2000 not yet reached. Kickstarter ends Mon, August 15 2022 7:02 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Brave: Guide to the Shattered describes itself as “5E Anime roleplaying game setting”

Notable Pledge Levels: $25 for PDF digital copies of the setting + creatures; $45 for the setting physical book + PDF; $90 for both physical books + PDFs

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: New powers mechanics, revised mounts and vehicles, new rules on creature sizes, dynamic combat rules
  • Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
  • Adventures & Campaigns: N/A
  • Creatures: N/A
  • Playable Races: 10 new races
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: 5 new classes, one new sub-class for all of the existing classes
  • Equipment & Items: guides to players creating their own weapons and armor
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: gods and lore

Should You Pledge? This campaign has several pluses and minuses that leave me undecided on what to recommend to you.

On the plus side, the campaign page is detailed, the benefits are thoughtful and well-described, the new game systems sound awesome, the manga-style art perfectly illustrates the creator’s intended tone, and $25 for two whole books of digital content is a solid deal.

On the minus side, this is a first time campaign from a creator who has no backing history, with no FAQ, and no updates. Them having no backing history is not super-uncommon, as sometimes people don’t want to expose their personal profiles when launching a campaign. However, the page makes no comment about the creative team – calling it only “small team of people with varying work schedules.”

Next, the setting includes a lot of new and revised rules systems that will require thorough play-testing to work well together, and there is no comment in the campaign about that. Also, while the sample page layout on the campaign looks attractive at a glance, on closer examination all of the text is center-aligned. That’s fine in a comic book word balloon, but it would be painful to read a ragged left margin across a whole book.

And, finally, there are many subtle proofreading problems with the campaign page itself. I know reward level text is notoriously tricky to proof and cannot be changed once a campaign kicks off, but other errors on the campaign page could’ve been corrected by now. That makes me slightly nervous about the final product.

This comes down to if you’re willing to put $25 bucks on the line for some potentially cool books. Even if the entire campaign setting doesn’t gel, you’ll still get some awesome artwork and inspiring ideas for your D&D campaigns.

Calls To Action: Extraordinary Party Backgrounds for 5eCalls to Action Kickstarter featured image

On Kickstarter! Created by Doug Levandowski. Funding goal of $100 reached! Kickstarter ends Fri, August 5 2022 1:00 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Calls To Action describes itself as “A PDF-only supplement to give players connections between their PCs and giving GMs story hooks to start your campaign.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $5 for 12 Party Backgrounds in a PDF digital copy, $8 for 20 Party Backgrounds in a PDF digital copy.

Should You Pledge? This is one of those areas that is so far from how I’ve ever played D&D that it’s hard for me to understand it – but, that’s doesn’t meant it won’t work for you!

You know how in the character creation process there are many different random roll tables for backgrounds, beliefs, and flaws? This is a slightly more systemized version of that. It’s a set of 20 fantastical, protagonist-caliber backgrounds for characters that include prompts for players and story hooks for the DM.

(Since I have almost exclusively played D&D with theatre nerds and musicians, needing to prompt folks to think up extra background has never been a big problem for me!)

I could see this coming in handy if you have an occasional newbie, guest, or recalcitrant player. However, it strikes me as a somewhat “use once and destroy” sort of resource. Even with several different prompting questions, after one of your players has picked the highly-specific “Child of Polymoprhed Sentient Weapon” background I can’t imagine someone else in the same party will also pick that background.

That means it comes down to if it’s worth $.40 to you to have something to hand to a player who feels stuck in that moment. Given the value of your time, it might be!

D&D 5E Modules: Tomb Raiders of Orek / Into the Royal Tombs [Places by the Way]

On Kickstarter! Created by Douglas Sun. Funding goal of $1,000 not quite reached. Kickstarter ends Fri, August 12 2022 8:12 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? This continuation of the “Places by the Way” series of D&D 5E Modules describes itself as “Two location modules [#11 & #12] compatible with D&D 5E in our Places by the Way series. Run them as stand-alones, or link them together.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $5 for PDF digital copies; $15 for print copies, $18 for both

“Places by the Way” is a series of setting-neutral locations that you can use either as a drop-in environment or as their own mini-campaign, complete with NPCs, encounters, and adventure hooks. There have been 10 editions already, and further pledge levels include the ability to catch up on all of them in digital, print, or both.

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
  • Adventures & Campaigns: A pair of related physical settings which double as mini-campaigns.
  • Creatures: Unclear; it sounds like there might be a few stat blocks, but they could also be standard Monster Manual creatures
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: An unspecified amount
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: N/A

Should You Pledge? I am a particular fan of this sort of project: small, useful settings that aren’t necessarily their own adventure that you can drop into any campaign. I just wish the campaign itself included more information – like how long they are, their intended level range, a sample of their layouts, if they include maps, et cetera!

After doing some poking around on The Ramen Sandwich Press website and on their publisher page on DriveThruRPG, it seems that these scenarios are B&W books that range from 70-140 pages. They have regular typeset pages rather than the standard two-column D&D style page layouts. Their tables of contents refer to maps, but none are in evidence.

I very nearly spent $3.50 just out of sheer curiosity to check out one of these affordable ~100 pages booklets, but at that point I could be pledging to the Kickstarter!

Ultimately, this sounds tempting, but at the point that we’ve reached an 11th and 12th installment in a series I expect to see more of a sales pitch in the campaign. For me, it would come down to if the maps are good, because I’m fine at making up plot but I’m weak at creating terrain. However, my tag-team DM K____ is amazing at map-building, so that wouldn’t tempt him. It’s really down to your own strengths as a DM and if you think it’s worth $5 for >140pgs across a pair of settings.

Dalor’s Guide To Devils & DemonsDalors Guide To Devils & Demons Kickstarter featured image

On Kickstarter! Created by Daniel James. Funding goal of $680 reached! Kickstarter ends Tue, August 2 2022 11:35 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Dalor’s Guide To Devils & Demons describes itself as “A tome of fiendish design filled with Devils and Demons for your favorite TTRPGs!”

Notable Pledge Levels: $18 AUD (~$13USD) for a PDF digital copy; $20AUD (~$14USD) for a print-on-demand physical copy + PDF

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
  • Adventures & Campaigns: N/A
  • Creatures: 10 devils, 10 demons, 4 cultist tribes
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: 10 “relics”
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: 8 devilish contracts, 8 maps

Dalors Guide To Devils & Demons Kickstarter what lies within

Should You Pledge? If you love bringing weird and creepy devils and demons into your campaign that isn’t necessarily already hellish, then this is a must-buy!

Dalor’s Guide is a compelling little campaign that does everything right – from the in-character campaign descriptions to the custom illustrations on the campaign page to the 9-page sample PDF you can download (which does include actual stat blocks!). (If we’re splitting hairs, their line leading is a little tight.)

The integration of contracts into the demons & devils is especially clever. Essentially, they offer clever ways to have these fiends pop into your campaign at opportune times when characters are most in need. I love the idea that these are creatures with their own story hooks who aren’t necessarily meant to be fought.

It’s so damn smart. Every single 5e-Compatible Kickstarter project should strive to make its value proposition this clear and this unique. I had a chance to briefly chat with the project’s author, and I give this one a huge thumbs up.

The Dark Nun’s Church, a D&D 5e AdventureThe Dark Nun's Church Kickstarter featured image

On Kickstarter! Created by Matthew David. Funding goal of $25 reached! Kickstarter ends Sun, August 14 2022 5:00 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? “The Dark Nun’s Church brings gothic horror to your next Dungeons & Dragons adventure. Intended for players Levels 1-5.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $1 for a PDF digital copy; $2 for a PDF plus various assets

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
  • Adventures & Campaigns: One adventure designed for a Level 5 party
  • Creatures: 9 monsters
  • Playable Races:N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: 3 magic items
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: 5 NPCs, a “Dead to Rites” mini-game, various random tables

Should You Pledge? I think this campaign is perfectly-executed at a ridiculously low price point. If you like the idea of Hammer Horror influenced gothic D&D adventures and need a Level 5 drop-in for your party, I think it’s well worth risking your $2.

Here’s what I really love about this: With just one campaign image, it shows sample page layouts, all three styles of its maps, and confirms the current page-count to be 22 pages. If I had any questions about the usefulness of the interior, that neatly resolved them. And, if I had questions about what the adventure included, multiple quick summaries of features on the campaign page answer that.

This is as good as it gets when it comes to a Kickstarter campaign from a first-time creator building their own adventures.

Druid Wild Shape Reference Deck

On Kickstarter! Created by ClosetNerds. Funding goal of $30,000 not reached. Kickstarter ends Thu, August 18 2022 3:22 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Druid Wild Shape Reference Deck allows you to “Shape-shift in style using these Druid Wild Shape reference cards for D&D 5e.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $10 for a PDF digital deck; $35 for a printed deck.

Should You Pledge? I recently covered (and recommended!) Skwirl’s 5E Wild Shape Cards. Apparently there’s a big market for Wild Shape aids! That deck was $20 for 50 cards and this one is $35 for 91 cards, so the price is scaled similarly. What this deck has on its side is that it has already been thoroughly playtested through a bespoke version available on Etsy, and also it has much glossier, animation-style artwork compared to the slightly sketchier style of Skwirl’s campaign.

I think Wild Shape is one of those D&D 5e powers that is hard to use well working with a book or a virtual table top exactly because it can be difficult to keep track of all the options – especially since most players don’t buy a Monster Manual! The bigger and easier-to-use the deck of Wild Shape cards, the better! I love that this will be big, full-bleed tarot-sized cards (laminated so you can write on them in dry erase!) and I love the iconization of the various monster stats for easy reference. (However, I noticed that enlarging the sample card to tarot size on my screen still yielded some pretty tiny text!)

One big different between this and the Skwirl campaign is scale. Skwirl is created by an established KS creator who is a know nartist (along with other art friends), and the goal was to sell a modest 250 decks. Plus, they added some homebrew elements to differentiate their cards from paging through the Monster Manual. This campaign is created by a first-time KS creator who is commissioning art, and they’ll need to sell 858 decks – over 2x their lifetime sales on Etsy.

That feels like a really big swing to me, but the cards look incredibly sharp and more cards makes it more useful. If the Skwirl cards were a bit too whimsical for you, these might fit the bill.

A Guide to Guilds For D&D 5E

On Kickstarter! Created by Laura MCL. Funding goal of $2,379 not yet reached! Kickstarter ends Fri, August 12 2022 10:26 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? A Guide to Guilds describes itself as “a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition supplement for building guilds.”

Notable Pledge Levels: £13 (~$16) for a PDF digital copy

Should You Pledge? The campaign does not include any sample layout, art, or text, and mentions stretch goals but does not list them. Despite that, they’ve delivered several past campaigns, including a nifty one about crystals.

Ultimately it’s hard to understand why $16 is worth it to “run your very own guild.” It sounds like this is a slightly different spin on Acquisitions Incorporated that specializes each guilds to a related group of player classes. However, given the typical multi-class make-up of a campaign, I question whether hyper-specific guilds are the most functional way to approach inserting content on the business of adventuring.

 

Maps & Monstrum Compendium

On Kickstarter! Created by The Eldritch Press, LLC. Funding goal of $X reached! Kickstarter ends Sat, August 13 2022 3:58 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Maps & Monstrum Compendium describes itself as “A collection of D&D 5th Edition Adventures, Maps and Monsters”

Notable Pledge Levels: $26 for a PDF digital copy of the book, $30 for access to an at-cost print-on-demand copy + PDF

Note that there are actually three distinct books this campaign talks about that are all grouped as one reward – the main “MMC,” a “cities & settlements supplement,” and an art book. Also, it is unclear if the standard PDF comes with unmarked maps suitable for providing to players. (These are present at higher “virtual table top” pledge levels, but in the standard pledge might be available via the art book,)

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: A setting-agnostic well-mapped island nation with four major settlements
  • Adventures & Campaigns: 8 adventures – one Tier 1, five Tier 2, one Tier 3, one Tier 4
  • Creatures: Yes, but unspecified
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: Yes, but unspecified
  • Spells: Mentioned in the video, but unspecified
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: Maps, “tons of new NPCs” and factions

Should You Pledge? Here’s what I love about this project: it knows exactly what it is, the creators have an established track record, and they share plenty of examples of what the book will include. They even invite you to download a whole 46-page sample adventure for free!

Critically, it also estimates a ~200pg final product and actually links to the DriveThruRPG at-cost calculator, which is the first time I’ve ever seen a campaign do this. Basically, they are giving you a “get a print-on-demand copy” voucher at zero mark-up, but you still need to pay the materials cost of having the book printed.

This is a well-detailed campaign, the sample looks great, and all of The Eldritch Press’s prior work seems to be of a high quality with a careful eye to balance. I’d simply caution you that the main physical book is going to cost $20-40 to print “at-cost” on top of your pledge.

Quick 5e Side Quests – 1€

On Kickstarter! Created by Christian Brachert. Funding goal of $505 not yet reached. Kickstarter ends Sat, August 6 2022 11:54 PM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Quick 5e Side Quests describes itself as “some [5] quick [‘small dungeon’] side quests to be added to your DnD campaign.”

Notable Pledge Levels: €1 (~$2USD) for a PDF digital copy, €3 (~$4USD) to include stretch goals

Should You Pledge? The immediate positive here is five quick, cheap, plainly-gridded dungeons with some guidance and encounters built in.

The sample layout seems to emphasize the idea of giving a DM an entirely scripted adventure (complete with a map) on a single sheet of paper, and I love the idea of that.

However, the maps are only plainly-gridded, the sample layout is fine but tight, and from zooming in on the text I can tell you it is understandable but written in a slightly-stilted fashion.

Ultimately, it’s the right move to start a first campaign like this one at the lowest-possible price point. Even if it’s imperfect, it will be useful to some folks and the creator will learn from producing it. Unfortunately, with a $2-4 price point it’s a long way to a $505 campaign goal for a first-time project that doesn’t have some flashy art to pull people in off of KS search.

I think from a marketing perspective the idea of “one-page fully-detailed dungeons for the lazy DM” is brilliant, and the campaign should lean into that more if that’s what it really is (and not just a way they condensed a lot of information to a single image for example purposes).

Rings of Protection

On Kickstarter! Created by Bill Williams. Funding goal of $300 nearly reached! Kickstarter ends Thu, August 4 2022 2:01 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Rings of Protection is 5 single-session adventures in 56 pages for characters levels 3-5.

Notable Pledge Levels: $5 for a PDF digital copy.

It turns out that this campaign is created by the writer of one of my favorite indie comics of the past 5yrs, Punchline! This gives me a high level of confidence about the art and layout of this project. Punchline is distributed by Antarctic Press, but it’s assembled by Bill himself (often with artist Matthew Weldon, who contributes here) and it always looks super sharp.

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
  • Adventures & Campaigns: 5 single-sessions adventures
  • Creatures: An unspecified amount of stat blocks.
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: N/A
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: gridded maps, pre-generated characters, a guide to running a City Watch

Should You Pledge? The typical Kickstarter sweet spot for D&D adventures is $1-3 per adventure, and this is on the low side of that from someone with tons of experience in digital production and wrangling original art. I love any intersection of comics and TTRPGs, so this really excitements!

I wish it gave some further details about the adventures. Also, I don’t understand them being 1-5pgs each adds up to a 56pg book – lots of maps and stat blocks, I guess? Personally, I’d include the maps and stat blocks in the adventure page count.

Shipwrecks of the Astral Sea

On Kickstarter! Created by Jerry Joe Seltzer. Funding goal of $27,400 not yet reached. Kickstarter ends Sun, September 11 2022 5:45 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Shipwrecks of the Astral Sea offers seven Astral Sea shipwreck mini-dungeons to explore

Notable Pledge Levels: $12 for a PDF digital copy + maps; $29 for a hardcover book + PDF

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: N/A
  • Adventures & Campaigns: Seven Astral Sea shipwreck dungeons to explore
  • Creatures: N/A
  • Playable Races:N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: N/A
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: N/A

Should You Pledge? This is a bold campaign, in more ways than one. I’m fascinated by it.

Everything about this campaign and book seems well-polished, including several sample layouts and maps. I love that the dungeons aren’t presented as a crawl, but as a physical space for mysteries to unfurl.

Beyond its obvious quality, this campaign is an intriguing roll for initiative from experienced D&D author and illustrator Jerry Joe Seltzer. That’s because Wizards of the Coast has just announced their first official Spelljammer setting materials, which are out in a few months.

Spelljammer is one of the most popular historic D&D settings, but anyone currently running an Astral Sea campaign in 5e would have to be a master of homebrew. If that’s not you, are you ready to buy a supplement for a 5e setting you haven’t even seen yet?

On one hand, I applaud Seltzer for striking while interest is at its peak! On the other hand, it’s hard to say if all of this material will remain balanced once the setting is out, or if any of it will be contradicted. I’m especially concerned about creatures, since the campaign page doesn’t enumerate or describe them. Some are bound to be unique to Spelljammer (maybe even influenced by past editions of it). Seltzer likely doesn’t know if he is presenting stat blocks that will be entirely repeated by the upcoming official release.

If you are eager to leap feet-first into Spelljammer when it hits in a few months, none of that might matter to you. And, this quality of book for $12 is an amazing deal.

Whisper & Venom: Dark Fantasy Adventure for 5e and OSE

On Kickstarter! Created by Necromancer Games & Frog God Games. Funding goal of $8,000 reached! Kickstarter ends Sun, August 14 2022 7:03 AM UTC +12:00.

What is it? Whisper & Venom is a pre-existing regional setting adapted for 5e, alongside a multi-part adventure. It says “Otherworldly energy seeped into the distant Whisper Vale. Unseen, it channeled an unknown force and broke the barrier between worlds.”

Notable Pledge Levels: $25 for an “at least 100 pages” PDF digital copy + maps; $50 for a suggested-for-US-only hardcover physical copy + PDF

What it includes:

  • Rule Sets: N/A
  • Game Worlds & Settings: Three towns meant to be adaptable to your own campaign
  • Adventures & Campaigns: one Tier 1 campaign for 4-8 characters.
  • Creatures: Unspecified, “many creatures
  • Playable Races: N/A
  • Classes & Sub-Classes: N/A
  • Equipment & Items: Unspecified
  • Spells: N/A
  • World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids, etc: 10 “adventure maps”, NPCs

Should You Pledge? This project is one of the trend of “a popular setting established in the past 10-15 years being updated for 5e.” It’s only fair that I point out that I have found these projects consistently frustrating these past few week. They all seem to be marketing themselves exclusively to people who already have a full knowledge of their history. As a D&D player who lapsed before D20 became a popular setting, I feel as though these projects are needlessly gatekeeping me and newer fans from engaging with them.

I’m intrigued by how much time this campaign page spends describing its setting at length and then how little time it spends talking about its features. I think it’s wise to sell a campaign on mood and feel, but I came away with not the slightest clue of the content of the actual campaign or if its hooks would appeal to my players. I don’t even know what to advise you on, other than it has 3 towns and 10 maps.

The cost for this campaign is somewhat in line with the cost of a D&D campaign book. However, it’s only for Tier 1 characters and it shows tons of artwork but no layout. I have a few Frog God Games PDFs in my library, and they look professional and have decent readability.

Finally, as a non-US-based potential pledger I cannot help but be annoyed when a campaign emphasizes US-only high-quality sewn-stitched books. I get the reasons why. They creators are personally, locally sourcing their hardcover production and exclusively using USPS, and for international shipping their POD company is handling it for them. However, I’ve gotten plenty of high quality KS books from plenty of countries for under $20 international shipping.

I know every decision behind a campaign comes down to effort versus reward for the creator, but purely on principal I’m not going to be that reward in exchange for an inferior version of a book because someone doesn’t feel like coordinating affordable fulfillment.

Between leaning on the knowledge of legacy fans and the US-centric rewards, this campaign and I simply aren’t meant to be friends.

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