Here’s a selection of crowdfunding campaigns that are counting down, ones that I’ve noticed and am currently watching as of May 3, 2021.
- 53 hours to go: “Academies of the Arcane. A new RPG book with rules to make magical schools, their houses and professors. Including 90 new spells and 36 new backgrounds!” Basically Harry Potter houses / Kids with Brooms but a magic school supplement for use with the Troika! system, an official release from Daniel Sell and Melsonian Arts Council itself.
- 3 days to go: “Ruins of Symbaroum for 5E. The acclaimed dark fantasy world of Symbaroum adapted for 5E, introducing custom rules, origins, classes, creatures and more.” From Free League, this super cool established setting and campaign, but converted to 5E; and all pledge levels get full Foundry VTT modules for the whole thing. Wish the Foundry VTT included a full implementation for the original system! But, there’s a gazillion stretch goals unlocked, so lots of stuff available even at the lowest pledge level.
- 4 days to go: “The Bleakness. An indie horror TTRPG about traveling into the North on an ancient road. Venture into The Bleakness.” From Twisted Image in Seattle, this is a complete “uniquely immersive horror experience” with a old school d20 but rules-lite stat-less survival horror “system, campaign setting, and detailed adventure arc” all in one volume. Being fulfilled by Exalted Funeral.
- 4 days to go: “Let’s Make More MST3K & Build The Gizmoplex!. Together, let’s make more MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 *without* a network + BUILD THE GIZMOPLEX, an online theater for live events!” I’m not even sure what I could say about this. If you don’t know what MST3K is, you must be living under a rock. This campaign is a bright beacon for the future of MST3K long into the future, as it includes promise of a full indie streaming and community platform for more beyond just the season being funded, and two core riffing teams, along with the potential for up to two new riffed movies with Joel himself returning!
- 8 days to go: “Orbital Blues. A Blues-infused Space Western Roleplaying Game, with an accompanying Cassette EP.” From SoulMuppet, this is a “lo-fi space western roleplaying game” which is also a “lo-fi space western roleplaying game” with a rules-lite d6 system with 3 main stats from Best Left Buried. Includes a digital EP of music, optionally available on actual tape cassette.
- 17 days to go: “Fantôme: A Multidimensional Tarot Deck. A bewitching 78-card tarot deck inspired by classical illustrations in geometric design and equipped with a multidimensional guidebook.” A new divinatory deck of “geometry, mystery, and traditional brutalist artwork all blended together with the storytelling of tarot”.
- 19 days to go: “Sirens: Battle of the Bards. 5E Campaign and Setting in a City of Artists where Bards Inspire Revolution” From Apotheosis Studios, designed by Satine Phoenix, and wit the participation of a laundry list of other D&D luminaries, a 5e campaign about bards, delivered on tabletop and across many VTT systems.
- 23 days to go: “Ironsworn: Starforged. The sci-fi evolution of the award-winning tabletop roleplaying game. Supports solo, co-op, and guided play!” From Shawn Tomkin, following Ironsworn and Ironsworn: Delve, this is a next gen PbtA for solo, co-op, and guided play as “a spaceborne adventurer sworn to undertake perilous quests.” Digital preview edition and playkit immediately available, and completely playable, for all backers since day 1. Lots of stretch goals complete, and many days left for more. There’s also a hardship pledge available.
- 24 days to go: ChangedStars – A Sci-fi TTRPG In an interplanetary future, the Trinity has emerged from the ashes of a long-dead empire to bring hope.” This is “a sci-fi roleplaying game set in a bright-yet-perilous future. Inspired by utopian feminist science fiction and contemporary gritty speculative futures, ChangedStars presents a modern-take on a post-patriarchal society for the players to navigate. Explore a non-humanocentric future full of immersive culture and diversity in this unique realistic-yet-colorful setting that’s alien without alienating anyone at the table.” Using a unique d6 success system, with four main stats, and a meta currency for pushing rolls. There’s an included adventure, but promises of more to come, so not a complete campaign yet.
- 28 days to go: “The Complete Gaia. The Complete Gaia collects the entire fantasy comic in two A4 hardcover volumes. A making-of + art book supplements the graphic novel.” Back in the days when Project Wonderful indie ad auction system still existed, this makers of this campaign were placed ads for their comics over on Hermetic Library, and apparently I was one of the more important ad placements for them. But, they contacted me to say they were running this campaign for a complete volume of their 10 year comic, which is coming to a close. “The Complete Gaia collects all 950 pages of the English version of the comic in two massive A4 hard cover volumes! Of course all pages will be printed in full color!” “Gaia is an epic high fantasy comic about a group of graduates of a magic academy who try to save their friend Lilith, an enchanting and amazingly talented wizard, from execution after she was falsely accused of murder. On their quest, Ilias & Co. cross paths with Viviana, a master thief who may be able to help them. But neither Lilith nor Viviana is quite what she seemed at first, and they soon face dark forces that move kings like pawns on a chessboard.”
There’s what I’m currently watching, and thought I’d share with you!
Have you been watching a crowdfunding campaign I should know about?! Are you running a campaign and want to tell me about why it’s awesome, maybe? What have you seen upcoming in the geeky, nerdy space that caught your eye? Get in touch!
Update 5may2021:
- Just launched, with a short funding period and 12 days to go: “Treasures Of The Troll King: A MÖRK BORG Adventure. A sewer-crawl adventure for MÖRK BORG.” By Chris Bissette, with art by Johan Nohr.
Update 23may2021:
- This one will end before my next round-up, but I noticed it with 6 days to go and still just shy of goal: “Discordia #0-#1: A Noir Horror Series. An alcoholic war veteran is tasked with finding a missing girl in the ruins of Discordia.” As it says in the image for the campaign: “Do you like: Dark Gods? Cosmic Horror? Worlds Ravaged by War? Disgusting Creatures? Sci-fi, Action and Adventure? Then you’ll love Discordia.”
Update 25may2021:
- 59 hours to go: “ILLUMINATI CONFIRMED—A New Kind of Strategic Video Game. Classic strategy game of secret societies fighting for global domination—coming to desktop & mobile!”—”Illuminati Confirmed will be a brand-new version of Illuminati: a video game, produced by key creators of 1994’s award-winning Illuminati: New World Order. It uses that version of the game as its starting point, under license from Steve Jackson Games.”
- 3 days to go: “A Wizard’s Dying Wish and Other Tales, for the Mörk Borg RPG. A pair of tri-fold brochures created under the third-party Mörk Borg license. Mini-adventures for the GM to throw at the PCs!”—”A Wizard’s Dying Wish and Other Tales is our chance to transport up to four different tri-fold brochures from PDF to print! Each 11″ x 8.5″ full-color brochure includes just enough information to get the gamemaster’s imagination rolling. From setup to actions to possible endgames, each brochure was designed under the third-party Mörk Borg license and will give you a single session of fun.”
- 4 days to go: “Discordia #0-#1: A Noir Horror Series. An alcoholic war veteran is tasked with finding a missing girl in the ruins of Discordia.” As it says in the image for the campaign: “Do you like: Dark Gods? Cosmic Horror? Worlds Ravaged by War? Disgusting Creatures? Sci-fi, Action and Adventure? Then you’ll love Discordia.”