Crushing Krisis

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Krisis's coverage Dungeons & Dragons and 5e-Compatible supplements, board games, and the occasional video game.

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

D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: Humblewood Tales, Iron Kingdoms, Oracle Magazine, & more!

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Image by ScalyDragon from Pixabay

It’s time to ready an action, because I’m back with another review of the Dungeons & Dragons and 5e-Compatible Kickstarter projects, including the gorgeous Humblewood Tales, a pair of legacy campaign settings getting a 5e update, and several affordable adventures and informative zines!

This week, I reviewed the 12 new 5e projects on Kickstarter to find the must-buys, the best values, and the most unusual concepts.

For projects with a scope that extends beyond being a single adventure or specifically-focused supplement, 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?”

Here are links the 12 new 5e-Compatible projects out this week, all of which I review in this post:

Plus, there are another 14 currently-running 5e-Compatible projects that I already covered at length last week:

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. [Read more…] about D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: Humblewood Tales, Iron Kingdoms, Oracle Magazine, & more!

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

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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. [Read more…] about D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: Folklore Bestiary, Skwirl’s Wild Shape Cards, Terramyr Compendium, & more!

D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: Adventuring With Pride, Herbarium, Servants of the Lich King, & more!

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Image by ScalyDragon from Pixabay

Kickstarter offers a near-infinite stream of new 3rd party Dungeons & Dragons and 5e-Compatible projects ranging from entire game worlds to books focused entirely on picking herbs.

Today I’m going to offer a glimpse at the ten projects that are wrapping up in the next week, viewed through the lens of last week’s essay, “What makes a good Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition official release or 5e-Compatible supplement.”

I’m covering the following 10 projects:

(It’s pure coincidence that the first four alphabetical entries are my recommendations, since I didn’t even review them in that order!)

I know that every Kickstarter project is a labor of love. I hope if any creators catch my write-ups they’ll appreciate them for what they are: me trying to figure out if their projects are worth backing based on what I value most in D&D! In the future I’ll probably spend less time on projects I don’t recommend, but right now I want to establish a baseline of what works and what doesn’t on Kickstarter.

I’m hoping that if I keep at this for a few weeks I can make it to looking at campaigns as they are announced rather than chasing the ones that are soon to resolve. But, I’ll only keep doing that if it matters to you! Please comment on this post and share it if it’s something you’d like to see more of in the future

[Read more…] about D&D 5e-Compatible Kickstarter Round-Up: Adventuring With Pride, Herbarium, Servants of the Lich King, & more!

What makes a good Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition official release or 5e-Compatible supplement?

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I thrill at checking out every new bit of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition material, whether that’s official releases, 3rd party D&D resources, or 5e-Compatible material. And, in 2022, there is a lot of 5e material!

Wizards of the Coast has been ramping up their official release schedule, it feels like there is an infinite selection on DMsGuild, plus massive new projects appear every week on Kickstarter. Given the pandemic-era surge in D&D’s popularity, plus its mainstreaming via Stranger Things and live play shows like Critical Role, I don’t think the tempo of releases will be letting up any time soon.

With so much 5e material to choose from… how exactly do you choose? Almost every player will start with either a Player’s Handbook or a Dungeon Master’s Guide, what should be your next purchase?

I think it’s important to understand what you’re looking for out of a supplement. Otherwise, it all looks equally attractive and you wind up buying more books than you could ever reasonably play through.

Even I, notable obsessive collector of stuff, know not to pick up certain materials with additions that will never make it to my virtual tabletop.

When it comes to choosing the right materials for you, I’d say that vast majority of official D&D, 3rd party D&D, and 5e-Compatible materials offer content that falls into one or more of nine possible categories. I’ve ordered them from the most-expansive to the most-granular, in terms of what they add to the game. =

  1. Rule Sets
  2. Game Worlds & Settings
  3. Adventures & Campaigns
  4. Creatures
  5. Playable Races
  6. Classes & Sub-Classes
  7. Equipment & Items
  8. Spells
  9. World-Building, Tools, Maps, & Game-Aids

Keep reading to understand what I mean by everything on the list! And, for each category, I cover the best official books and some of my favorite 3rd Party releases! [Read more…] about What makes a good Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition official release or 5e-Compatible supplement?