Kickstarters Thread

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I’ll have to check out the KS then... every little bit helps.

He's also offering add-ons of of some of his older games in pdf. Centurion & Nefertiti Overdrive are kind of fun
 
I wasn't planning to sign up to any more Kickstarters this year, but The Elephant & Macaw Banner caught my eye. The setting sold me already - 16th Century fantasy Brazil - but the skill-based system also looks interesting. There's a pay-what-you-want Player's Guide up on DTRPG which gives a lot of details.
It's this close to funding, only 24 hours to go - nobody else fancy a slice of 16th century fantasy Brazil?
 
This Eat Trash. Be Free is a neat idea but looks like it may have trouble getting funded, $4,000 for a zine seems like a steep goal.

 
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Also cool-looking system-neutral insect monster zine by a guy who has worked for LotFP in the past.

 
Dumarest Dumarest The character sheet does refer to the PC group as a posse... Just sayin'.
Hey, why would a designer familiarize himself with the Wild West before writing a game set in it?

Or it could be valid if the PCs are supposed to be chasing down bandidos.
 
Hey, why would a designer familiarize himself with the Wild West before writing a game set in it?

Or it could be valid if the PCs are supposed to be chasing down bandidos.
I asked and basically got the same reaction as the last time this came up.

Exerpt:
"Posse" is merely the game's catch-all term for a loosely connected group of player characters and their followers, much as "Party" is to D&D.

Ultimately it's up to the judge and their players what they call themselves, be it a posse, a gang,or a wild bunch. Posse is merely the term Setting Sun prefers.


Me: Well, a posse is by definition specifically associated with law enforcement. A gang is a group of outlaws.

By definition, yes.

EDIT: Dumarest Dumarest Is this some post-modern, millennial thing where we are entitled to use words as if their agreed-upon meaning doesn't concern us or something? I don't get it...
 
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I'd be pairing the setting material with another set of rules most likely.


My reading of the Kickstarter strongly suggests you'd be better off getting the setting information elsewhere, if you want historical accuracy.
 
My reading of the Kickstarter strongly suggests you'd be better off getting the setting information elsewhere, if you want historical accuracy.
I had briefly spoken with the author since my impression was that the Sea Peoples were not refugees but raiders. Apparently he has done a lot of research in the topic, and he claimed that the current scholarship suggests that it really was mostly the former. I can't attest to the veracity of this, but since my knowledge of the topic is entirely derived from wikipedia pages, I assume there must be something to what he's saying.
 
I had briefly spoken with the author since my impression was that the Sea Peoples were not refugees but raiders. Apparently he has done a lot of research in the topic, and he claimed that the current scholarship suggests that it really was mostly the former. I can't attest to the veracity of this, but since my knowledge of the topic is entirely derived from wikipedia pages, I assume there must be something to what he's saying.


I think that's just him wanting history to match up with his very upfront agenda. I am pretty big into research on the Sea Peoples and never encountered anything to support his assertions. But if you are in contact with him, I'd love to hear his sources.
 
But if you are in contact with him, I'd love to hear his sources.
It was just a quick back and forth through DriveThru comments. He was a nice guy, whether he's full of it or not, so I'm not eager to go back and challenge him on a topic that I don't know as much about as either of you. I suspect you could reach out to him via the Kickstarter in a friendly way and he will reply.

One thing I do get the impression of is that knowledge of the specific identity of the Sea People is a bit ambiguous. There is indication that there were multiple waves and different tribes. Considering everything that was going on, I find it highly plausible that the "Sea People" were very heterogeneous and poorly understood by the settled people of the region. But that's about as far as I'm willing to speculate.
 
It was just a quick back and forth through DriveThru comments. He was a nice guy, whether he's full of it or not, so I'm not eager to go back and challenge him on a topic that I don't know as much about as either of you. I suspect you could reach out to him via the Kickstarter in a friendly way and he will reply.

Ehhhhh, I'd just feel like I was being a dick. He's not publishing an academic paper or a history book, his RPG can be whatever he wants. I don't want to be "that guy"

One thing I do get the impression of is that knowledge of the specific identity of the Sea People is a bit ambiguous. There is indication that there were multiple waves and different tribes. Considering everything that was going on, I find it highly plausible that the "Sea People" were very heterogeneous and poorly understood by the settled people of the region. But that's about as far as I'm willing to speculate.


Yeah - the "Sea Peoples" is very much a generic term used for several seafaring groups that attacked Egypt just prior to the Bronze Age collapse. The identity of a few of them are known (The Phoenicians, or at least proto-Phoenicians, were one), but it really is just a term for what you could (anachronistically) describe as "pirates" or "vikings" - literally just "People from the sea".

Dr. Eric Kline had some good lectures about them on Youtube, if I remember I'll dig one up and post it.
 
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Ehhhhh, I'd just feel like I was being a dick. He's not publishing an academic paper or a history book, his RPG can be whatever he wants. I don't want to be "that guy"
That's why I'm reluctant to come at him a second time.
The Phoenicians, or at least proto-Phoenicians, were one
They seem to come up a lot when I read about the topic.
I'd love to hear about anything you know @TristramEvans . I know very little beyond the name and Wikipedia level stuff.
Seconding that.
 
Well, this took place during the height of Egypt (the last years of the New Kingdom), shortly before a Dark Age in the Mediterranean that saw the collapse of many cultures that would be mythologized by Homer - so roughly 1500 years before the Roman Empire. Essentially a little after the Trojan War. A change in climate led to widespread drought, famine, and there's evidence of prevalent seismic activity - earthquakes -that swept through the Mediterranean

Our knowledge of The Sea Peoples essentially comes from the Egyptian records of two battles where they were repelled in a thirty year period. There's not actually much reason to assume The Sea Peoples were the same peoples both times, but this was the Egyptian names for them. We do have images of them and depictions of the battles in Egyptian art though.

sea-people3-600x396.jpg


Egyptian-relief-invading-Sea-Peoples.jpg



The primary corpus of evidence for the Sea Peoples includes the above-depicted wall reliefs on the mortuary temple of Rameses III at Medinet Habu ( normally referred to as the ”Year 8 reliefs”) The associated hieroglyphic inscriptions record an invasion of Egypt by a coalition of six groups during the reign of Rameses III. The Year 8 reliefs and inscriptions record Rameses III repelling the invasion in two battles, one naval and one on land.

Of the second battle is written ”their confederation consisting of the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen, and Weshesh, lands united.” While there's many candidates for the others, only the last group is positivelly identified by that name, the Phillistines. Six other groups are named in other places, again with only one absolute identification as the inhabitants of Phoenicia.

The Sea Peoples were a migratory group, most likely driven to seek out other nations to plunder for resources by one or more of the aforementioned disasters. Many of them were enslaved by Egypt after the battle with Ramses III and thus assimilated into the Egyptian population.

If you have an account with Researchgate.net (it's free, but you have to go through an academic institute), there's a pretty comprehensive library of the latest archaeological and historical articles on them,

I'll try and dig up some of the more interesting theories/facts over the next day or so. Its like 4 am here right now
 
Well, this took place during the height of Egypt (the last years of the New Kingdom), shortly before a Dark Age in the Mediterranean that saw the collapse of many cultures that would be mythologized by Homer - so roughly 1500 years before the Roman Empire. Essentially a little after the Trojan War. A change in climate led to widespread drought, famine, and there's evidence of prevalent seismic activity - earthquakes -that swept through the Mediterranean

Our knowledge of The Sea Peoples essentially comes from the Egyptian records of two battles where they were repelled in a thirty year period. There's not actually much reason to assume The Sea Peoples were the same peoples both times, but this was the Egyptian names for them. We do have images of them and depictions of the battles in Egyptian art though.

sea-people3-600x396.jpg


Egyptian-relief-invading-Sea-Peoples.jpg



The primary corpus of evidence for the Sea Peoples includes the above-depicted wall reliefs on the mortuary temple of Rameses III at Medinet Habu ( normally referred to as the ”Year 8 reliefs”) The associated hieroglyphic inscriptions record an invasion of Egypt by a coalition of six groups during the reign of Rameses III. The Year 8 reliefs and inscriptions record Rameses III repelling the invasion in two battles, one naval and one on land.

Of the second battle is written ”their confederation consisting of the Peleset, Tjeker, Shekelesh, Denyen, and Weshesh, lands united.” While there's many candidates for the others, only the last group is positivelly identified by that name, the Phillistines. Six other groups are named in other places, again with only one absolute identification as the inhabitants of Phoenicia.

The Sea Peoples were a migratory group, most likely driven to seek out other nations to plunder for resources by one or more of the aforementioned disasters. Many of them were enslaved by Egypt after the battle with Ramses III and thus assimilated into the Egyptian population.

If you have an account with Researchgate.net (it's free, but you have to go through an academic institute), there's a pretty comprehensive library of the latest archaeological and historical articles on them,

I'll try and dig up some of the more interesting theories/facts over the next day or so. Its like 4 am here right now
Half researched and only 4am??? Hey buddy next time bring your A game.....this is The Pub.
 
Given the kickstarter didn't make its funding goal whether his research is faulty or not seems a moot point now, as he isn't planning on trying again
 
Given the kickstarter didn't make its funding goal whether his research is faulty or not seems a moot point now, as he isn't planning on trying again

Is that what he said in the final update? It's backers-only
 
Is that what he said in the final update? It's backers-only

The Sagas Fall Silent
user avatar

Fraser RonaldCreator
March 1, 2020
Well, it seems the Sea Peoples sagas will not be told, at least not by me. Hopefully someone will pick up the idea in a similar manner and be able to run with it. I think this is a great subject matter—as should be clear .
Also, if you have not done so already, grab the Quickstart rules from DTRPG or Itch.io. Their only purpose was to act as a proof of concept for this product and provide some insight into the rules, and since this project will not be moving forward, I’m going to remove the Quickstart from sale by 7 March.
Thank you all for your willingness to support this endeavour. Please have a look at the list of contributors on the Kickstarter campaign page, and support them in any way you can.
Stay Frosty!
Fraser Ronald
 
Autarch's kickstarter for their new superhero game Ascendant has just launched: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/autarch/ascendant
Base goal of 10000 US$ and running until April 1st. Over halfway there as of this post.

a4da21a8c78e8e437ca3c9db65b5ea53_original.jpg

The Ascendant RPG offers:
  • Elegant game mechanics that swiftly simulate the physics of a comic-book world using easy-to-reference real-life benchmarks
  • Color-coded challenge action resolution table (CHART) resolves complex actions with superspeed
  • Infinitely scalable system lets you play heroes of any power level, from streetfighters to living gods – and replicate virtually any character from your favorite anime, comic, manga, or movie settings
  • Countless powers all customizable with an easy-to-use system of modifier tags that lets you match your power’s specifics to your character concept
  • Comprehensive detective mechanics for investigating crimes, interviewing witnesses, and finding clues
  • Detailed options for super-geniuses to create inventions, cure diseases, and even bring their outlandish devices into mass production
  • Extensive rules for responding to emergencies such as asteroid strikes, avalanches, disease outbreaks, earthquakes, fires, nuclear disasters, tornados, tsunamis, and volcanoes
  • Huge catalog of pre-built characters and objects including major military vehicles such as aircraft carriers, attack submarines, and ballistic missiles
  • A dynamic mission generation system to help you create challenges for your heroes
  • An optional campaign setting with ready-to-use heroes, villains, and organizations
  • Spectacular artwork by industry-leading pencilers, inkers, and colorists
I've had a chance to check out the rules and setting background (described through press releases, leaked documents and online posts like an epistolary novel) and I really like what I've seen.
 
I was somewhat interested in Ascendant until I saw that in order to get stretch goals, you have to have a higher pledge. Given most kickstarters I've pledge on previously don't do that, that makes it a pass
 
Just two more days left to back
Other Magic #2: Monsters of the Americas

The first edition of Other Magic (ZineQuest 2019) focused on real world folk magic traditions, with an emphasis on those of the United States and Mexico. Other Magic #2: Monsters of the Americas is designed to complement the first issue by highlighting the monsters of the broader Americas where those folk magic traditions exist. These monsters come from the myths and legends of various regions within the United States, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. They are bizarre, obscure, and distinctly different from the ones found in most roleplaying games.

Since the goal is to present the monsters as they appear within folktales and myths, Other Magic #2: Monsters of the Americas focuses on their traditional behaviors, abilities, strengths, and weaknesses, without modification. As with the first issue of Other Magic, the emphasis is on magic and the supernatural as they are understood by regular people in the real world. Some of the monsters can be defeated or killed, while others can only be driven away or avoided. Most of them are not "I slay it with my sword" or "I shoot it with my gun" types of adversaries, because that is not how they are conceptualized in the real world stories.

taku_he_spread.png
 
That was unnecessary.

Edit: You know I just realized that you are the author of said work. I know, that should have been obvious, but I guess Im just really used to just shooting the shit with other posters here, rather than people dropping ads for their own stuff in, so it didn't r4eally register at first until I noticed your post count.

So I can see why you took offense to that comment. If it helps, I was being hyperbolic, I don't think it's actually a "scam".

That doesn't change my opinion on Kickstarter being used for 'Zines, though. However, there are no expectations of anyone else to listen to my opinion. Congrats on the success of your Kickstarter.
 
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I just picked up a 32 page full colour comicbook the other day for $3.99. Even that's a bit pricey to my mind, usually I'll wait for trades.

That comic has the benefit of a different scale of economy.

Personally I still just think holding a KS for a 'Zine is sombody taking the piss. But if people are willing to drop 2K on that, I wasn't joking, I wouldn't mind a piece of that pie. I can throw together an illustrated set of 13 monster descriptions in a few days.

There is a lot more to the zine than just monster stats. There is information on the cultures in which they exist, hints on how to run games with monsters that can't necessarily be defeated with violence, and a lot more, including separate inserts with paper miniatures. It is priced similarly to other Zine Quest products, without gouging on shipping. These are obscure monsters from disparate cultures, and a lot of the information on them isn't in English. That requires time to research, translate, and verify information.

If you don't like Zine Quest, why are you posting in the thread that is designed for announcing Zine Quest products? It might not be your thing, but why be a jerk about it? This place has a reputation for having reasonable, welcoming moderators.
 
If you don't like Zine Quest, why are you posting in the thread that is designed for announcing Zine Quest products?

To be fair, its for kickstarters in general, not just Zine Quest Products More importantly TristramEvans TristramEvans posted info on a KS earlier in the thread, so posting thoughts about other ones isn't really a stretch
 
Edit: You know I just realized that you are the author of said work. I know, that should have been obvious, but I guess Im just really used to just shooting the shit with other posters here, rather than people dropping ads for their own stuff in, so it didn't r4eally register at first until I noticed your post count.

So I can see why you took offense to that comment. If it helps, I was being hyperbolic, I don't think it's actually a "scam".

That doesn't change my opinion on Kickstarter being used for 'Zines, though. However, there are no expectations of anyone else to listen to my opinion. Congrats on the success of your Kickstarter.

Fair enough. It wasn't that I have an issue with someone not liking Kickstarter being used for zines, or not being interested in my project. It just seemed really rude to tell the person doing the Kickstarter that he is doing a scam, doubly so for a moderator. It sort of took me off guard, since one of my friends had recommended this place specifically because of the moderators. I didn't realize that you didn't realize that I was talking about my own project, though. We're good :smile:
 
Fair enough. It wasn't that I have an issue with someone not liking Kickstarter being used for zines, or not being interested in my project. It just seemed really rude to tell the person doing the Kickstarter that he is doing a scam, doubly so for a moderator. It sort of took me off guard, since one of my friends had recommended this place specifically because of the moderators. I didn't realize that you didn't realize that I was talking about my own project, though. We're good :smile:

Cheers. To be fair, the other Mods are way nicer than me.

I'm the sarcastic edgelord of the bunch.

 
Fair enough. It wasn't that I have an issue with someone not liking Kickstarter being used for zines, or not being interested in my project. It just seemed really rude to tell the person doing the Kickstarter that he is doing a scam, doubly so for a moderator. It sort of took me off guard, since one of my friends had recommended this place specifically because of the moderators. I didn't realize that you didn't realize that I was talking about my own project, though. We're good :smile:

Also, I originally glossed over your post (mostly because I'm at work right now), but the back and forth got me to look at your post again. So I'm in for a pdf copy. So some more good came out of it.
 
To be honest, the idea of Kickstartering zines really struck me as odd when they announced Zine Quest last year. I have always wanted to get into doing a little bit of development as a side gig, though, and people were responding well to the projects, so I thought it might be a good way to dip my toes in the water. It did a lot better than I expected, and I have had additional sales on DriveThruRPG over the course of the year. A number of last year's backers asked me when I was going to do a followup, and I was interested in seeing how a bestiary would be received, so I decided to give it another shot.

I did enough research for several hundred real world folk magic spells (the focus on last year's issue) and almost 100 folklore monsters from various parts of the Americas for this one, so I will probably do a larger project in this vein later this year, as a more traditional rpg book. I originally intended to have about 30 monsters in this zine, but when I added in the other stuff I realized that I had to limit it more, primarily because of the binding restrictions that Zine Quest has decided to add this year (stapled only).
 
Also, I originally glossed over your post (mostly because I'm at work right now), but the back and forth got me to look at your post again. So I'm in for a pdf copy. So some more good came out of it.

Oh, cool! Thank you!
 
Fair enough. It wasn't that I have an issue with someone not liking Kickstarter being used for zines, or not being interested in my project. It just seemed really rude to tell the person doing the Kickstarter that he is doing a scam, doubly so for a moderator. It sort of took me off guard, since one of my friends had recommended this place specifically because of the moderators. I didn't realize that you didn't realize that I was talking about my own project, though. We're good :smile:
Welcome to the Pub! I mean that. This wasn't how anyone I think would want your first experience here.

TristramEvans TristramEvans can speak for himself but I'm guessing he wasn't talking about it being a literal scam so much as surprise at what you can make for somethings on Kickstarter.
Good luck on your KS.
 
13 monsters for $10.

Man, I need to get in on this scam.
Zines are definitely priced in the Premium or Bespoke range, that’s a reality of the printing method and for a lot of people, part of the charm.

A pile of zines around the house in addition to all the other RPG stuff isn’t really what I need, but as pdf files easily sorted, they’re pretty cool.

I have a few books of Native American mythology and folklore, so this interests me to see the authors take. I backed the pdf.
 
Autarch's kickstarter for their new superhero game Ascendant has just launched: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/autarch/ascendant
Base goal of 10000 US$ and running until April 1st. Over halfway there as of this post.

View attachment 16056

The Ascendant RPG offers:
  • Elegant game mechanics that swiftly simulate the physics of a comic-book world using easy-to-reference real-life benchmarks
  • Color-coded challenge action resolution table (CHART) resolves complex actions with superspeed
  • Infinitely scalable system lets you play heroes of any power level, from streetfighters to living gods – and replicate virtually any character from your favorite anime, comic, manga, or movie settings
  • Countless powers all customizable with an easy-to-use system of modifier tags that lets you match your power’s specifics to your character concept
  • Comprehensive detective mechanics for investigating crimes, interviewing witnesses, and finding clues
  • Detailed options for super-geniuses to create inventions, cure diseases, and even bring their outlandish devices into mass production
  • Extensive rules for responding to emergencies such as asteroid strikes, avalanches, disease outbreaks, earthquakes, fires, nuclear disasters, tornados, tsunamis, and volcanoes
  • Huge catalog of pre-built characters and objects including major military vehicles such as aircraft carriers, attack submarines, and ballistic missiles
  • A dynamic mission generation system to help you create challenges for your heroes
  • An optional campaign setting with ready-to-use heroes, villains, and organizations
  • Spectacular artwork by industry-leading pencilers, inkers, and colorists
I've had a chance to check out the rules and setting background (described through press releases, leaked documents and online posts like an epistolary novel) and I really like what I've seen.

I’m interested a priori in anything Macris designs, and the retro inspiration (log scale, color-coded chart) is a plus, but I found the character sheet super busy and the art a bit tacky.

That being said, I’ll keep an eye out for it as reviews roll out. (Not doing KS these days.)
 
It's hard for me to get excited these days about another point buy system. I have GURPs and HERO and CORPS and EABA. Those have had decades to work out their issues. I'd probably just go with them.
 
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