5 Days Left in the Survive This! Fantasy Kickstarter

Although I don't think I ever got around to reviewing it, I am a fan of the Dark Places & Demogorgons game, basically a OSR based Strange Things inspired game of kids investigating weird stuff in the 1980s.  It's remarkably ugly in terms of presentation (DIY-ish), but it's well designed, taking things from basically all editions of D&D, not just the all too common house rules for S&W that we see.

Anyway, there's a fantasy version of the game on Kickstarter.

The Folio: Black Label #3 on IndieGoGo

I don't keep up on Kickstarters/IndieGoGos as much as I used to, but here's one for 1E/OSRIC.  The Folio Series from Art of the Genre wasn't very good, to be honest, being very railroady, not unlike the Dragonlance modules, but less creative.

The Black Label is a bit better, less story driven and more site based, but is mostly notable for featuring nudity in its art and is a bit more sword & socery-ish

Last Two Days for the City of Solstice Kickstarter

Only about halfway there, so it may or may not make it. It's a first edition city setting from Charles Rices who wrote a large number of OSRIC products in the early days of OSRIC

The City of Solstice is a low-magic fantasy campaign set in an ancient city, now ruled by the forces of evil. The PCs in the campaign are members of the Vigilant, the city watch. Imagine if “The Untouchables” were set in a fantasy city, rather than 1920’s Chicago. In addition to the Star Society, there are gangs, petty crime, and corrupt guards to deal with, along with every sort of crime you can imagine: murder, prostitution, drugs, and theft.

There's a free (PWYW) quickstart guide on DTRPG which is interesting.  On the flip side, it seems almost radically different from most fantasy settings and might be hard to incorporate into an existing game. I like stuff I can drop into my world. And getting PCs to play cops, even fantasy cops, might be a tough sale.

Seven days left in The City of Vermilion Kickstarter from The Merciless Merchants.

I am a big fan of their modules (well, mostly by one guy, Malrex, whose Patreon I have a link to), but they never really seem to have gotten much traction in the OSR community. Maybe because they aren't artsy or pretentious but just good? Especially good to actually run and not just read?. Maybe because they use the AD&D rules (2E for most of them, For Gold & Glory)

Anyway, presumably for that reason, they started a kickstarter for their latest module, The City of Vermilion 

However, the KS is only about halfway funded with a week left to go.  It's reasonably priced, too. $12 for a PDF of a 165 page adventure, $25 for softcover (at cost printing at DTRPG)

New Maximum Mayhem Dungeon Kickstarter

I can never get the embed things right, but the series of 1e/OSRIC modules is getting its 6th entry, Moving Maze of the Mad Master.

Honestly, most of them aren't very good. They are gimmicky/joke dungeons, but the last, #5, was pretty good. This seems to beheading back into gimmick territory with a maze that moves on a wheel.

Still, he's one of the few people actually making 1e modules and the artwork is original and usually well done. Even if you'd never actually want to run or worse, play in them.  $15 for PDF, $30 for softcover + PDF, and more expensive options as well.

B/x Essentials is apparently now Old-School Essentials and has a Kickstarter

As someone who started with AD&D and a mix of OD&D (since the DMG hadn't come out yet), I always think of Basic as being somewhat newfangled, not old school. As to why it's supposedly so hard it needs new easier versions, I don't get, but as of this writing, 858 people and nearly $60,000 of their money do get it

Still, Mr Norman is a talented man so his success is well deserved. I just wish it had been for his more original products (like the Complete Vivimancer) than a re-hash.

One amusing thing, though

Compatibility: Old-School Essentials is a 100% accurate restatement of the original Basic/Expert rules (B/X), with nothing added, changed, or removed. All material written for the B/X rules over the last 38 years can be used with Old-School Essentials, without any conversion effort whatsoever!

B/X as a rules system literally lasted for 2 years, replaced in 1983. It is literally the least successful version of D&D ever produced (even Holmes lasted 4 years)


As near as I can tell, it only had 5 modules written for it - B3, B4, X1,X2, and X3. (B1 and B2 being for Holmes)

Pacesetter Games & Simulations has a Kickstarter for yet another B/X Rules Set

I am suffering from the flu (actually fell asleep driving home from work, though thankfully I woke thanks to the rumble strip on the side of the road) so perhaps this is all a delusion of my fever ridden mind. But Pacesetter Games &  Simulations, the one by the Barshes, is apparently going to produce books of their version of B/X.

By my count, this is at least the 4th version. You had Labyrinth Lord, then Adventures in the East Mark, then B/X Essentials, now this.  I guess maybe Adventures in the East Mark is more of a BECMI clone and it never got past the first set. At least in English.

Anyway, I'm not sure the elder Barsh ever finished the kickstarter for the Acaeum (sp?), but this is being done by his son, who apparently did finish his 5e kickstarter.

OTOH, apparently it's not written yet and somehow promises to be done by June 30th. 

Blackmoor Documentary on Kickstarter...

Yeah, I know that last early D&D documentary didn't turn out so well, but apparently this one is almost already done, so the chances of the people making it getting into an argument and bickering for the next five years is probably low-ish. Hopefully.

Looks very interesting, actually. Just the Kickstarter page is interesting.

The Ice Kingdoms Kickstarter for OSRIC/For Gold & Glory

Seems like a setting plus adventure(s). Personally, I dislike ice and cold weather, but if you do, or if you want something inspired by such, it seems a pretty good deal. $20 gets you several PDFs.

It's already funded with a surprisingly low total given the apparent quality.

Realms Beyond — Gold Box (sort of) inspired CRPG on Kickstarter

I am terrible at embedding KSes, but anyway, Realms Beyond is a CRPG sort of inspired by the Gold Box games. At least it mentions them and the box it comes in (if you get physical) looks like one. On the other hand, it also mentions Realms of Arkana, a game which I literally threw out my window after my party died after losing all their shoes while crossing a mountain, causing damage every time they moved.

In Realms Beyond, you will find the tactical turn-based combat of the Gold Box Games, Temple of Elemental Evil and Dark Sun, the world exploration and camp management of Realms of Arkania, the interactivity and living world of Ultima, the choice-driven quests and reactivity of Fallout and Arcanum, and the rich NPC interaction of Baldur’s Gate and Planescape Torment, along with fresh new features that haven’t been seen before in the genre.

Looks mostly like Temple of Elemental Evil (the CRPG) and it will be using the 3.5 SRD, so not too old school, but IMHO, more old school than 5e

New Calidar Kickstarter coming tomorrow

Calidar being the new world by Bruce Heard of Mystara/Princess Ark fan and something that has exceeded my expectations as a new creation.

The next product will be a gazetteer about a wizard/demon infested province. The Kickstarter will be up tomorrow (and I'll update this) but the preview is up now

Last day (or so) for Autarch's moderately sized dungeon Kickstarter

Secrets of the Nethercity which is apparently about 240 rooms, which I would say is just a dungeon

I'm not a fan of ACKS (or rather, I think it's not particularly innovative as it's 90% BECMI with some other stuff that makes the game worse, like the weird to hit system), but really liked their previous module, Sinister Stone of Sakkara, so probably worth a look even if you don't like ACKS.

I also like their ancient inspired setting. I always thought that was a better fit for D&D than medieval feudalism (since that requires a conquered population and dominant church)

Woodfall, a dark fantasy OSR mini-setting, now live on Kickstarter

I've never been able to get the damn embed code from Kickstarter to work properly, so just check out the page for it.

Explore a dark fairytale setting, wade through a misty swamp, get caught up in the fighting between warring monster clans, discover a strange town of witches and thieves, and search for forgotten treasure.
Woodfall is a swamp belonging to a king where witches, thieves and outlaws are squatting. They have built a town on top of the swamp and have resisted several evictions. The town is a hub for black market activity and magical folk. 
The surrounding forest and swamp is a hexcrawl filled with various monster factions.

Book Content

• Approx. 100 pages of content
  
• New monsters
• DIY magic item creation system
  
• Hirelings
• Villains
• Weird shops
• A hexcrawl with 12 keyed locations
  
• Lots of random tables
• Flora and Fauna
• Rules for the setting changing over time
  
• Various random tables
• Legal system for the town
• Thieves guild
• Monster hunting content 

Looks pretty good. I am quite fond of mini-settings. Perhaps a mite expensive for the PDF at $12

Advanced Labyrinth Lord is finally on Kickstarter

He's been thinking about it for years, but too busy with his Pacesetter stuff and monkey-RPG. But he finally went with it

After a day, it's funded.

Unlike the AEC companion, which was an add on to the basic Labyinrth Lord rules (mimicking the Basic and Expert set) that provided 1e AD&D options like AD&D classes and races not as classes, this will be one simple coherent product for $30 in hardcover.  

Correction (thanks to James Mishler for pointing this out), it's $30 plus the cost of printing and shipping from DTRPG. So probably closer to $50 (figure 15 for printing and another $5 for shipping, which might still be lowballing) and maybe a better deal to just buy the 1e books on ebay.

The Kickstarter is also offering a hardback version of Realms of Crawling Chaos, his book on Lovecraftian D&D (which is for both regular and advanced LL). I reviewed it ages ago and am too tired from work to link to it, but it's solid, though not spectacular. Probably wouldn't pay the $25 for it, and again, it's plus probably another $10-15 buch, so probably $40 or so.

I participated in one of his previous Kickstarters (for Starships & Spacemen 2e) and it went well. When I couldn't use the DTRPG link (because back then it didn't work with my crappy ISP, the book marking would go in an endless loop), he emailed me a copy. And the print version was nice (though at $40 and 88 pages, a little pricey, this is much better deal all around)

New Maximum Mayhem Kickstarter — Palace of the Dragon's Princess

To me, the Maximum Mayhem modules represent what Lamentations of the Flame Princess should have been: gonzo, over the top, campy even, but not pretentious or artsy. And best of all, it's for 1E/OSRIC

It's a bit pricey at higher levels ($220 for a boxed set of all 5 of their adventures plus their monster book) but $10 for a PDF isn't bad, given the original artwork

Bruce Heard's latest Kickstarter is up

Bruce Heard, mostly notable for his Mystara work, particularly the Princess Ark series, had to come up with a new world once he left TSR/WOTC and they had no interest in giving him a Mystara license.

So Calidar was born, a world where he could continue with  Princess Ark style products.

The last one was kinda meh, but his newest Calidar entry is about a literal flying circus

Maximum Mayhem Dungeons: Monsters of Mayhem #1 Kickstarter

While his stuff is a little pricey for me, Maximum Mayhem is one of the only remaining lines of OSRIC/1E products these days. This time with a monster book

It's also got that gonzo, Heavy Metal sort of style that I like

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea 2nd Edition now on Kickstarter

And already funded!

Seems to basically be more of the same - more classes, more artwork, though that seems to be a step back from the artwork of the original, going with a more comic book look. (Though at least it's an old school comic book look, not the crappy art comics have nowadays)

Anyway, $15 for the PDF and $59 for the hardback book (and map).

Sine Nomine's Godbound Kickstarter is live!

There have been a lot of attempts at roleplaying gods, including the Immortals rules for D&D. Most of them have been pretty meh, IMHO.

Hopefully that will be different in Sine Nomine's newest game, Godbound. Given Mr. Crawford's track record, I think he'll make a very good attempt at it.

Anyway, already funded, $13,800 of $8,000.

New Hyperborean adventure Kickstater — The Mystery at Port Greely

Yeah yeah yeah, started a few days ago. And like usual, North Wind's Kickstarters are funded almost immediately


Until recently, the peculiar village of Port Greely was renowned as one of the most prolific exporters of crustaceans in the realm. Then, about three years ago, the Greely lobstermen severed all ties with outside partners. Subsequent attempts at renegotiation were shunned. More recently, a small group of Fishmongers’ Guild representatives from the City-State of Khromarium has gone missing in Port Greely, and answers have been less than forthcoming. At present, the guild seeks answers. They want to know what became of their representatives, and they wish to reestablish their lucrative partnership with the Port Greely lobstermen. Your party has been contracted to help resolve the mystery at Port Greely.


I'm guessing deep ones, but that could be too obvious. Then again, looking at the sample art, it sure looks like deep ones.