Kickstarters Thread

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I was thinking if doing a message board if other boards threads.
 
The one I'm looking forward to is the Dolmenwood Campaign book from Necrotic Gnome. I way over-spent on KS projects the last couple of years, so I'm going to make every attempt to behave myself and just limit myself to that one. But heaven knows I'm a weak-willed spirit and some project I know nothing about right now is bound to catch my eye sooner or later.
 
So this game uses a similar system to some currently existing? If that is the case can anyone give a brief overview of how the game actually works?

I'm really liking the figures, but $225 is a lot just for the figures, and I don't play many board games.
 
There is a detailed how to play video linked on the KS page plus virtual tabletop.

It’s a pretty straightforward system with the sharing of action dice result to the player either side of you being the only really unique feature.
 
I would love to get some of those minis. I'll wait until they hit eBay, though.
 
I would love to get some of those minis. I'll wait until they hit eBay, though.

It would actually be significantly cheaper to buy them through the campaign. The basic pledge is 40 minis before stretch goals (which will likely double that amount at the current rate), which come in at just over $3 a piece - $!.50/a piece if my estimation regarding stretch goals is correct. On the secondhand market, minis range from $5 to $10 a piece. If one got the basic pledgejust for the minis, and sold all the game content on for around $30-40, that would be significant value for a hunk of B:TAS plastic goodness at under a buck per miniature.
 
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It would actually be significantly cheaper to buy them through the campaign. The basic pledge is 40 minis before stretch goals (which will likely double that amount at the current rate), which come in at just over $3 a piece - $!.50/a piece if my estimation regarding stretch goals is correct. On the secondhand market, minis range from $5 to $10 a piece. If one got the basic pledgejust for the minis, and sold all the game content on for around $30-40, that would be significant value for a hunk of B:TAS plastic goodness at under a buck per miniature.

That might be true if I wanted all of the minis, but I only want a few of the minions. I regularly buy minis broken out from board games on eBay. I have no problem waiting for them to hit the price I want, even if it takes a couple of years.
 
So this game uses a similar system to some currently existing? If that is the case can anyone give a brief overview of how the game actually works?

I'm really liking the figures, but $225 is a lot just for the figures, and I don't play many board games.

You can play cooperative (versus a card-based AI) or competitive (versus a human player playing the bad guys).

Each round, you roll your hero's dice and generate symbols (like Attack, Defend, Block, etc). You not only use those each turn, but the way you assign them, the heroes to your right and left get the die closest to them as well to add to their pool (and you get theirs). The hero dice don't all have the same distribution of symbols, though. For instance, in TMNT, Leonardo is weighted towards stronger melee attacks, Michelangelo is likely to get more movement, Donatello gets more defense and Raphael gets more ranged attacks.

Combat is a matter of rolling Battle Dice and comparing Hits vs Blocks.

Each hero usually has a special ability, and a number of skill cards you can select at the beginning of the mission. These are (usually) played by allocating dice results.

Gameplay is on a grid that you generally add terrain features and tokens to that can affect combat (elevated terrain, line of sight, obscuring terrain and throwable objects all come into play).

Objectives are sometimes as simple as "don't get knocked out and knock out Boss A" or more complicated ("grab Token A and transport it across the map to the Goal").

My son and I have beeb playing the TMNT version and we love it.
 
There is a detailed how to play video linked on the KS page plus virtual tabletop.

It’s a pretty straightforward system with the sharing of action dice result to the player either side of you being the only really unique feature.

Thanks, I watched the short intro video at the top, but didn't see the more detailed videos further down. It has potential, but not sure I have the right people to play it. I like that the heroes cooperate against the villains instead of competing.

It would actually be significantly cheaper to buy them through the campaign. The basic pledge is 40 minis before stretch goals (which will likely double that amount at the current rate), which come in at just over $3 a piece - $!.50/a piece if my estimation regarding stretch goals is correct. On the secondhand market, minis range from $5 to $10 a piece. If one got the basic pledgejust for the minis, and sold all the game content on for around $30-40, that would be significant value for a hunk of B:TAS plastic goodness at under a buck per miniature.

Curse you and your logic!!!!!! I have about 2 weeks to stall, but I don't think I'm going to be able to resist. If it were practically anything else I'd be good, but they really are doing a great job capturing the look of TAS in those figures. :sweat:



You can play cooperative (versus a card-based AI) or competitive (versus a human player playing the bad guys).

Each round, you roll your hero's dice and generate symbols (like Attack, Defend, Block, etc). You not only use those each turn, but the way you assign them, the heroes to your right and left get the die closest to them as well to add to their pool (and you get theirs). The hero dice don't all have the same distribution of symbols, though. For instance, in TMNT, Leonardo is weighted towards stronger melee attacks, Michelangelo is likely to get more movement, Donatello gets more defense and Raphael gets more ranged attacks.

Combat is a matter of rolling Battle Dice and comparing Hits vs Blocks.

Each hero usually has a special ability, and a number of skill cards you can select at the beginning of the mission. These are (usually) played by allocating dice results.

Gameplay is on a grid that you generally add terrain features and tokens to that can affect combat (elevated terrain, line of sight, obscuring terrain and throwable objects all come into play).

Objectives are sometimes as simple as "don't get knocked out and knock out Boss A" or more complicated ("grab Token A and transport it across the map to the Goal").

My son and I have beeb playing the TMNT version and we love it.

Thanks, I did watch one of the how to play videos. It does look interesting just not sure of I will be able to drum up the right bunch to actually play, but maybe. I do like that it is more of a super hero "wargame" than just move your tokens around the board (Candyland with Superheroes). I missed the bit that humans can play the villains, that adds another layer to things.

I do that realize card and boardgames have advanced dramatically in recent decades. The last "advanced" board games I played was when Talisman and Cosmic Encounters were the new hot thing, so I'm not exactly up to speed on the current board game trends. :goof:
 
After the recent Q&A for The GMShoe, I'm thinking of canceling my pledge for the Rainy City Zine.

The one I'm looking forward to is the Dolmenwood Campaign book from Necrotic Gnome. I way over-spent on KS projects the last couple of years, so I'm going to make every attempt to behave myself and just limit myself to that one. But heaven knows I'm a weak-willed spirit and some project I know nothing about right now is bound to catch my eye sooner or later.
I was interested in the Dolmenwood book, but since the announcement that it's going to be split up into two books I am having second thoughts.
 
I'm thinking about kickstarting a couple of my games this year. It seems to be the way to do small projects these days. I'm crazy paranoid about not completing a project so I probably wouldn't do it until I had something actually finished. I wish you could just set up a little web store and plug along that way, but kickstarter, with its one time front loaded pre-order seems to be the way to go these days.
 
There's nothing wrong with it. I just don't think it's that useful for me. It's not a city you can just plop into whatever setting you are running as it's an isolated city in an otherwise flooded world. It's also a little too out there to be generically usable for me.
 
I just backed Sagas of the Sea Peoples by Fraser Ronald. He's done games based on Vikings (Kiss my Axes), Legionnaires (Centurion: Legionnaires of Rome), and a Wuxia game set in Egypt (Nefertiti Overdrive). It's only got 4 days to go (I only found out about it a day ago). There's a Quickstart you can get for free on Drivethru or Itch.io.

Here's the blurb from the KS:

The climate is changing, causing droughts and famines. Natural disasters limit the ability of governments to respond, and those governments are involved in wars that are bankrupting them. The global trade network has collapsed. And all this has created waves of migration, which governments are characterizing as ravening hordes, coming to destroy civilization.

Welcome to the Late Bronze Age Collapse.

It’s the turn of the 11th century BCE in the Mediterranean. The kingdoms of the Achaean Greeks, the empire of the Hittites, the trade centre of Troy, and the powerful city-states that line the coast have fallen. Egypt faces ruin. The world, as you know it, is ending.

You are one of many who have fled your homeland, finding a community among those now known as the Sea Peoples. How will you survive as order and government collapse? How will you protect your community—your friends and your family—in these most unstable times? Will you ever find peace?

Sagas of the Sea Peoples is a tabletop roleplaying game set in the Late Bronze Age Collapse. The characters are leaders of the Sea Peoples, seeking better lives, struggling against innumerable enemies, and facing the fall of the civilizations in which they were born.

And info on the book itself:

The book will include rules designed specifically for Sagas of the Sea Peoples, a discussion of the Late Bronze Age Collapse and the role of the Sea Peoples in that period, a review of the Sea Peoples themselves—who they were and where they went—and a bibliography of sources in case the reader would like to do some further research or is curious regarding the topic.

The current Patreon-only version of Sagas of the Sea Peoples—which has not been independently edited and has minimal art—is 100 pages. The book produced through this Kickstarter will also likely be around 100 pages, though stretch goals might push that up to around 150 pages. It will have black and white illustrations for its interior, possibly with some colour stock art.
 
Sagas of the Sea Peoples is an historic time period I'd love to see written into an RPG setting. Not sure I'm feeling the game system after looking over the quickstart rules though. I'd be pairing the setting material with another set of rules most likely. Being that the Kickstarter is set to deliver in February 2021 means the book is nowhere close to being done (text written, just need money for art are my preferred Kickstarters for RPGs).

Still tempted to pledge for the PDF level, but will have to think it over. I've got 6-7 Kickstarters I'm waiting on to deliver already.
 
Sagas of the Sea Peoples is an historic time period I'd love to see written into an RPG setting. Not sure I'm feeling the game system after looking over the quickstart rules though. I'd be pairing the setting material with another set of rules most likely. Being that the Kickstarter is set to deliver in February 2021 means the book is nowhere close to being done (text written, just need money for art are my preferred Kickstarters for RPGs).

Still tempted to pledge for the PDF level, but will have to think it over. I've got 6-7 Kickstarters I'm waiting on to deliver already.

Given there is a version of the game available for his Patreon, I'd say it's written, but he likely wants to revise/edit material to go with any art. I also wouldn't take due dates as a given either. Many KS put out a far away date to cover themselves in case something happens (since most are always late, save Sine Nomine KS, which sometimes come early)
 
The latest map books from Loke have just hit Kickstarter: The town

We get great value out of their earlier books, I highly recommend them
 
I'm pretty excited about A Visitor's Guide to the Rainy City. I saw this through a recommendation from Steve Jackson Games' daily blog, and got super stoked when I went and looked at the campaign page. It looks wildly creative and 'game-able', particularly if you run campaigns that are somewhere near the OSR/sandbox realm.
 
I’ve decided to up my pledge to the two-book level. You get about £85 worth of books for £55 so pretty good value IMO
 
I’ve decided to up my pledge to the two-book level. You get about £85 worth of books for £55 so pretty good value IMO
The £35 level seems about right for me. I may add a pack of the "stickers" if it's not already included by the time the Kickstarter ends.
 
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The Elephant & Macaw Banner rpg has 36 hours to go, with $8,963 of $9,874 raised so far

Here's the pitch on the KS Page:

  • A roleplaying game of adventure & exploration
  • Suitable for mature players and young adults
  • Simple battle rules with compelling choices
  • Distinct and flavourful supernatural powers
  • The unique, magical and terrifying creatures of Brazilian folklore
  • No prior knowledge of Brazil required!
The Elephant & Macaw Banner is an award-winning fiction series about the adventures of the Dutchman Gerard van Oost and the Yoruba Oludara during their travels through a fantastic version of sixteenth-century Brazil. These stories, steeped in Brazilian history and folklore, have been enjoyed by readers around the globe. (And you can find out all about them at the official Elephant & Macaw Banner website.)

Now it’s time to immerse yourself in this Brazilian fantasy, full of adventure, magic and monsters, where you'll find endless opportunity to create new stories. It is with great pride that we present The Elephant & Macaw Banner Roleplaying Game. Create your own heroes and have your own adventures in this magical world!

Info on the book itself:
The Book
The Elephant & Macaw Banner core rulebook is a 224-page, full-colour 11" x 8.5" softcover.

Contents

  • Chapter 1: Player's Guide – Introduction, Skills, Resolution System, Characters, Equipment, Battle Resolution, Supernatural Powers
  • Chapter 2: Brazil in the Year 1576 – The Peoples, Portuguese Settlements, Indigenous Villages, The Jungle, The Sea, Journeys, Provisions
  • Chapter 3: Mediator's Guide – Running Adventures, Commerce, Bestiary (magical & mundane), Special Items
  • Chapter 4: Introductory Adventure – "The Fires of Bertioga"
  • Appendices: The Elephant & Macaw Banner Roleplaying Game in the Classroom, Timeline from 1500 to 1650, Bibliography, Pre-generated PCs, Quick Reference, Character Sheet
bdf5e0de38794a2b4020ebd6ae0b7079_original.jpg

Book mockup.

There is a free Players Guide on Drivethru, which can get you started playing.

I found this one late, but I like that its set somewhere I know little about, so it intrigues me. Had to support it.
 
Sagas of the Sea Peoples is an historic time period I'd love to see written into an RPG setting.
It's amazing how few people don't know about the Late Bronze Age Collapse. I learned about it through sheer chance by jumping around wikipedia one day. I'm always asking people "Did you know that the middle ages was actually the second major collapse of the pre-modern world?" And people are like "Wow, that's interesting, tell me more."
 
Tiny Cthulhu by Gallant Knight Games. It's met 2 1/2 times it's funding goal already, with 22 days to go

We know, that header is probably confusing. It's not like, a really small Cthulhu, but a Lovecraftian RPG powered by a minimalist ruleset!

Using the rules in this book, you'll be able to play investigators, doomed heroes, and classic cosmic horror characters of all types, from scientists and librarians, to WWI veterans, to mysterious guardians defending the world from the dark powers of cthonic entities!

Character creation is simple, fast, and exciting. You pick your character archetype based on the exciting stories your Game Master is going to tell, you pick a few Traits that each grant a single benefit, and you're done!

Tiny Cthulhu features a myrid of settings set throughout the world and history, ranging from prehistory to the Bronze Age, Age of Sail, World War 1, modern day, as well as fantasy, superheroes and the science fiction future!

You can survive cosmic horror in any time or place! (Lucky you!)

Additionally, each setting will have appendices that details how you can integrate other TinyD6 books like Tiny Dungeon 2e, Tiny Supers, and Tiny Frontiers: Revised with Tiny Cthulhu to create robust and unique experiences.

Sometimes as the GM, you don't have time to plot lengthy, detailed worlds, but you want that experience. Well, we've got your back, and that support comes in the form of micro-settings!

Micro-settings are short settings filled with adventure hooks, and designed to put your adventures and campaigns right into the thick of it, with as little work on the GM's part as necessary.

Our goal is to fund a softcover edition, a limited number of hardcover collector’s editions, and the Tiny Cthulhu dice. We’ve planned several stretch goals which will increase page count, add more art, add more special rules but all of our goals will provide you with more fun and engaging cosmic horror tabletop content (is fun even the right word?)!

The interior art is filled with gorgeous black and white art from the very talented Nicolás Giacondino, and the cover of the standard edition has been done by Tom Brown!

Additionally, the writing on the Tiny Cthulhu is being handled by top industry talent. We're set on paying all our contributors well, and our goal reflects our commitment to an ethical pay rate for our writers, artists, and team members.

Cover Mockup:
2dcd16fd9d009e6f00744b89991b9acb_original.jpg

Stretch Goals (Ones highlighted in yellow unlocked as of this time)
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It's amazing how few people don't know about the Late Bronze Age Collapse. I learned about it through sheer chance by jumping around wikipedia one day. I'm always asking people "Did you know that the middle ages was actually the second major collapse of the pre-modern world?" And people are like "Wow, that's interesting, tell me more."

Exactly! And Fraser (the author) knows his history. I used to follow him on G+, and he'd post about the courses he was taking. So I know if it funds, there will be enough in there for people to get a good feel of the setting to run it. Sadly, it's at $2,419 of $3,346, with only 22 hours left :sad:
 
I’ll have to check out the KS then... every little bit helps.
 
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
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